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.

New findings predict a sharp drop in Southeast Alaska’s population over the next few decades; plus, Wrangell tribal leaders bless the Capitol Christmas tree in Washington; and, a summer camp in Sitka is going cell phone free. 

Jeremy Bynum resigns from the Borough Assembly. Geologists assess Hillside Road following a small landslide. Southeast Alaska author Ken Post talks about working with the Forest Service and writing about the region.

Heavy rainfall triggers a small landslide in Ketchikan, while winter weather creates hazardous conditions in Juneau; plus, advocates for limiting cruise visitors in Sitka have submitted another petition for a ballot proposition; U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski proposes a bill to improve natural disaster forecasting; and, an Alaskan fourth-grader gets to help light a Christmas tree at the U.S. Capitol.