KFSK Midday Magazine

Federal workers in Juneau are dealing with layoffs; Anchorage parents could be held legally liable if their child brings a deadly weapon to school; and a bill that would boost state funding for public schools took a step forward on Wednesday.

Alaska Marine Highway officials say they're struggling with staffing for the ferry system; state lawmakers are considering a new student loan repayment program; and Petersburg held a town hall last week to talk about the future of tourism in Alaska's Little Norway.

Nearly 250 people gathered outside Petersburg's courthouse yesterday to show support for recently fired federal employees; a look at a bill that would return public-sector workers to a defined benefit pension system; and the Petersburg Borough Assembly will hear an annual report from the police department at tonight's meeting.

Petersburg's high school basketball teams played in Haines over the weekend; Alaska's Board of Fisheries rejected a proposal that would've closed a bay near Sitka to commercial herring fishing; and Ketchikan's school board approved combining its three elementary schools by grade level.

Wrangell's new water treatment plant is almost done; a yearly test of Alaska's tsunami warning system has been cancelled; and Petersburg Borough officials say it'll be tough to get the local funding that the school district says it needs.

A new report in Haines highlights parts of the borough that might be prone to landslides; three people arrested on felony drug charges were arraigned in Wrangell; and a team of researchers in Alaska have banded together to investigate a famous Alaska shipwreck.

Hatchery production of chum and pink salmon will continue as usual this year in Southeast; the man suspected of providing the drugs that lead to deaths in Skagway is now facing federal charges; and Petersburg's high school basketball teams had their final home games of the season last weekend.

State senators passed a bill that would lower the minimum age to serve alcohol at restaurants; Southeast anglers will be able to harvest king salmon all season under new regulations the Board of Fisheries adopted last week; a conversation about the economic benefit of outdoor recreation and trails.

Petersburg middle schoolers qualified for a national robotics competition earlier this month; three Southeast Alaskans delivered traditional Knowledge reports to the Alaska Board of Fisheries last week; and a look at wintertime gardening in Alaska.

Ketchikan is now officially classified as rural in the eyes of federal subsistence regulations; Petersburg's annual Project Connect resource fair and Point in Time count happened last week; the borough of Bristol Bay plans to build housing for one third of Naknek's teachers.