As 2024 comes to a close, we look back on some of the biggest stories of the year, and reflect on how they shaped Ketchikan.

Tonight on the KRBD Evening Report….

As part of a CoastAlaska series on education, we’ll see how one remote Southeast school is working to keep kids safe; free Wi-Fi debuted on an Alaska Marine Highway ferry; and the small town of Gustavus is opening a food bank.

Those stories and more…

Tonight on the KRBD Evening Report….

As part of a CoastAlaska series on education, we’ll go into a classroom to find out the challenges of learning and teaching reading; the community of Hoonah faces some hurdles in forming a borough; and a Native-run health consortium has acquired another healthcare facility in Juneau.

Those stories and more coming up…

Tonight on the KRBD Evening Report….

We’ll hear the first part of an education series. This segment looks at challenges for students who don’t speak English as their first language, there's an increase in Alaskan’s experiencing hemorrhaging during and after birth, and a chess club that started up in Juneau. 

The city of Ketchikan passes its 2025 budgets. Alaska refugees fear deportation. A retiring traveling oncologist reflects on a career serving Southeast Alaska.

The Ketchikan Indian Community receives a grant to build a new permanent supportive housing building; the Fairbanks School Board is considering replacing custodians to save money; Juneau’s Planned Parenthood center closes and won’t reopen; and a leak at Petersburg’s hospital is the latest breakdown at the aging facility. 

A mining company wants to explore for new mineral deposits near Juneau; this year’s Bristol Bay sockeye run came in above forecast, but fishermen didn’t necessarily see extra income; Petersburg’s tribe is using federal money to improve local quality of life; and, an interview with an archaeologist who says the first Americans ate a lot of wooly mammoth.

The collapse of a staffing agency has left emergency medical physicians in Ketchikan facing months without pay; a group of locals announces they have acquired the Ward Cove cruise port and surrounding property; the Petersburg Borough is looking to sell land to a developer who wants to build cheap housing; and a problematic sea lion is harvested by two Tlingit brothers.

As House Republicans form a minority caucus in the Alaska legislature, Ketchikan’s Jeremy Bynum will join the finance committee; plus, the local government and tribal leaders are collaborating in Juneau; Sitka considers creative solutions to the childcare shortage; and a recent study about salmon size relied on indigenous knowledge to inform its research. 

The Ketchikan School District considers consolidating its elementary schools. Eaglecrest kicks off the winter ski season in Juneau this weekend. An international film festival kicks off in Anchorage.