KTOO News Update

By KTOO Public Media

KTOO News Update episodes

August 27Newscast – Wednesday, August 26, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260826New-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
The University of Alaska Southeast is seeing a boost in enrollment of out-of-state students,
A niche subset of scientists has started exploring a new and controversial question: whether its possible to save glaciers by engineering them,
Tongass Voices: Holly Huber on competing for Miss USA
11 min
August 26Newscast – Tuesday, August 25, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260825News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
A Superior Court judge heard oral arguments this morning over the legality of the city’s planned redevelopment of Juneau’s Telephone Hill,
A former Juneau fire captain has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for assaulting his stepdaughter, and KTOO examines how the city dealt with having a public safety employee charged for child assault,
Around 250 U.S. Coast Guard crew members stationed across Alaska and the Pacific Northwest traveled to Juneau for a week-long training. And on Wednesday, they competed in what’s called the Buoy Tender Olympics,
Sitka teacher Bridgette Reynolds was recognized at Sealaska Heritage Institute’s 2026 culturally responsive education conferences earlier this month,
A home in Sitka sustained fire damage last week but remains standing thanks to the quick action of a good Samaritan and local emergency responders
12 min
August 25Newscast – Monday, August 24, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260824-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to end Juneau’s annual glacial lake outburst flood before the flood of 2030,
The state approved the first segment of a new access road for the controversial New Amalga gold mine in Juneau,
The Alaska Marine Highway System will finally receive $410 million in federal grant money,
Federal investigators say a charter plane crashed into a remote area of Southwest Alaska on Thursday after attempting a second landing,
At least nine brown bears have been eating out of Kodiak Island Borough’s landfill this summer
12 min
August 22Newscast – Friday, August 21, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260821-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
Eight people died Thursday after the charter plane they were flying in crashed on a remote cape in Southwest Alaska,
Just days after opening to students, the main structure on a new playground at a Juneau School District campus is closed,
More than two years after Juneau’s only compounding pharmacy closed its doors, a new one is taking its place — literally,
Seventeen-year-old Elly Carpenter made history as Juneau’s first female Eagle scout,
A Juneau landmark burned down earlier this summer. It was beloved by many in town, and around the world — thanks to a visitor who took a photo of it nearly 30 years ago,
The Alaska State Fair kicks off its 90th anniversary in Palmer today
13 min
August 21Newscast – Thursday, August 20, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260820-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
The U.S. Department of Agriculture filed to rescind the Roadless Rule on Tuesday. A rescission would allow new road construction in undeveloped parts of national forests across the country, including the Tongass National Forest,
Today is the first day of school for Juneau students in first through twelfth grade. KTOO’s Mike Lane interviewed Shawn Arnold about the start of the year,
Juneau students went back to school Thursday. The glacial outburst flood didn’t delay the first day of school like it did last year, but the summer brought new leaders to some schools and a new, highly anticipated structure.
12 min
August 20Newscast – Wednesday, August 19, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260819-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
The City and Borough of Juneau did a preliminary assessment of residential damage form the glacial outburst flood that crested Thursday,
Two Democrats and two Republicans are leading in early primary election results in the race for governor,
Early results show Alaskans approving a ballot measure seeking to reinstate limits on individual campaign contributions by a roughly 3-to-1 margin,
It looks like Alaska will have two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the November ballot for U.S. Senate, as well as Democrat Mary Peltola,
Alaska’s highest court heard oral arguments earlier this month over the constitutionality of a school district’s bathroom policy
12 min
August 19Newscast – Tuesday, August 18, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260818-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
Alaska Wildlife Troopers arrested long-time Chilkat Valley resident Steve Kroschel on Monday, nearly a year after the state first filed charges against him related to alleged animal cruelty,
A former Juneau fire captain has been sentenced to more than a year in prison for physically assaulting his stepdaughter,
The Juneau Assembly voted last to sell City Hall to its neighbor, Sealaska Heritage Institute,
For four weeks this summer, Talkeetna residents may have seen a film crew capturing scenes around town
12 min
August 18Newscast – Monday, Aug. 17, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260817-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
Juneau’s Egan and Vanderbilt intersection is back open after months of construction.
The Juneau School Board approved a new lease for after-school childcare at Sayéik: Gastineau Community School last Thursday.
With Alaska’s primary election on Tuesday, money is pouring into Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, and not just for the two candidates running multi-million-dollar campaigns. Pop-up political groups have also spent more than $2 million to support fringe candidates and political unknowns, some who’ve never lived in the state.
A landslide last week blocked off the only route between Skagway and Whitehorse, Yukon. No one was injured but the road is now partially closed.
13 min
August 15Newscast – Friday, Aug. 14, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260814-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
The Juneau Assembly will decide the fate of Juneau’s current City Hall building at its meeting on Monday night.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday that it will go through a fast bidding process, like the TV show “Shark Tank,” to select an industry partner that will help end Juneau’s glacial outburst floods. This comes just one day after Juneau avoided catastrophe during the annual flood.
Juneau residents in the glacial outburst flood zone celebrated Thursday afternoon as the Mendenhall River crested at a level well below initial predictions. The event was much less destructive than disastrous floods that struck over the past three years.
At a press conference Thursday evening, Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson, president of the Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, called the glacial outburst flood event “anticlimactic.”
Primary Election Day is this Tuesday. Voters can choose which candidates for governor, U.S House and Senate, and their local state legislators will move on to the General Election.
13 min
August 14Newscast – Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026
https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/20260813-News-Update.mp3
In this newscast:
The glacial outburst flood has officially crested at 14.7 feet.
KTOO reporter Alix Soliman provides an update on the flood in the Mendenhall Valley.
An Alaska Seaplanes aircraft made an emergency landing in the Mendenhall River in Juneau late Thursday morning, during the glacial outburst flood.
11 min