KTOO News Update

In this newscast: Wrangell's search and rescue efforts in the aftermath of the deadly November landslide used specially-trained dogs in the search; Amid prolonged salmon crises in Western Alaska, calls have grown for tribes to have a greater say in the way fisheries are managed; Mat-Su students and parents who sued the local district in November over the removal of books from school library shelves are asking a federal court to order the books back during the court case

In this newscast: Juneau welcomed the first baby of 2024 over the weekend; Redevelopment planning is underway for Telephone Hill in Juneau. A mini exhibit currently at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum presents the history of telephones in Juneau,; Alaskans can now apply for food stamp benefits online; The Alaska Public Offices Commission has upheld complaints that Anchorage pastor Art Mathias violated multiple campaign laws in their efforts to overturn ranked choice voting

In this newscast: Minor slide activity has been documented near Wrangell's landslide site 11 miles south of town, but city officials say it's nothing to be worried about; Glaciers across Southeast Alaska and British Columbia are retreating fast, possibly creating new habitat for Pacific salmon, but the melting ice will also expose land that mining companies are eager to explore; The community of Hoonah gathered to raise funds for Wrangell after November's deadly landslide

In this newscast: Juneau's longtime downtown shelter moved to a new location in 2021, and now it's converting the old property into affordable apartments; Starting this week, brewery and distillery taprooms can stay open an extra hour in the evenings, thanks to regulation changes the Alaska Legislature passed in 2022; Last year, a state senator from Bethel introduced a bill for the state to take over Anchorage's port

In this newscast: Sealaska Heritage Institute is seeking Alaska Native artists to pitch designs for Celebration; Cruise tourism is on the rebound in Petersburg, but more visitors are putting pressure on the town's supply chain; State economists are predicting modest job growth in 2024 across Alaska

In this newscast: Alaskans can now apply for their 2024 PFDs; Alaska's 2023 cruise ship season broke records, even in Unalaska; The tribe of the village of Holy Cross, near the Yukon River, has won a $1.2 million grant to organize a multi-tribe ancestral homelands conservation district

In this newscast: A network of Artic observers spanning nearly all of Alaska's northern coast is helping to center Indigenous knowledge in climate change research; Sitka struggles to cope with the crowding and congestion from the rapid growth of cruise tourism in recent years; In Anchorage a lawsuit in federal court seeks to have Donald Trump disqualified from Alaska's 2024 presidential election ballot.

In this newscast: Juneau Police Lt. Krag Campbell with become Deputy Chief of Police on Jan. 1; A Washington man has pleaded guilty to Misrepresentation of Indian Produced Goods and Products; A Ketchikan grand jury indicted four people and police arrested another on felony drug charges this month

In this newscast: The National Weather Service office in Juneau issued a high wind warning for downtown Juneau and Douglas; Sealaska Heritage Institute released new language learning apps in endangered Southeast Alaska languages; The Alaska Marine Highway System is unsure if it will have enough crew to operate all seven ferry ships this summer; The Alaska Marine Highway System plans to ask shipyards in the coming weeks to submit proposals to build a replacement for the ferry Tustumena.

In this newscast: Juneau's new cold weather emergency shelter opened in a warehouse south of town in October. KTOO visited to see how it's going; In August, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a petition to list the Alexander Archipelago wolf on the endangered species list