Parents Shannon Kelly, Jenny Thomas and Melissa Loggy man the petition table at Safeway (Photo by Anna Canny/KTOO) On a recent Sunday afternoon, Shannon Kelly stood in the median at the intersection of Egan Highway and Mendenhall Loop Road, facing a line of heavy traffic. She was waving a poster board sign that read “Budget deficit? Con Job,” written in bold marker. At a red light, a few passing drivers showed their support by flashing a thumbs up or beeping.  “I love the honks,” Kelly said. Kelly’s son is a junior at Thunder Mountain High School, just up the road. But next year, he’ll ha ..read more

https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20230501-News-Update.wav In this newscast: Thunder Mountain High School parents want to remove the Juneau school board’s president and vice president. The Iditarod’s Burled Arch that marks the finish line of the race fell on Saturday. The University of Alaska and a union representing graduate student workers have reached a tentative contract agreement ..read more

A wireless tower in Wrangell. (Courtesy of Tidal Network) The city of Hoonah may have high-speed internet soon, thanks to a federal award and some help building infrastructure.  Hoonah Indian Association won a broadband bid from the Federal Communications Commission in 2020, thanks to a program that allowed rural tribes to get licenses. To keep the license, high-speed internet will have to reach 80% of Hoonah’s population in just a couple of years — a timeline set by the FCC. Chris Cropley with Tidal Network — the broadband service run by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tr ..read more

Reps. Jesse Sumner, R-Wasilla, and Jamie Allard, R-Eagle River, talk to Speaker of the House Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, during a break in the Alaska House of Representatives floor session on Monday, April 29, 2024. (James Brooks/Alaska Beacon) Dozens of firefighters protested outside the Alaska Capitol last week, waving signs and chanting as they urged the Alaska House of Representatives to advance a long-simmering pension bill. They’re likely to be disappointed. On Friday, the House failed, on a 19-19 vote, to advance the pension bill for further consideration. As the Alaska Legislature enters ..read more

University of Alaska Southeast students in Professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell’s Alaska Native Studies class. (Courtesy UAS) Before Monday evening’s advanced Lingít language class, Raven Svenson and her classmate discussed how to conjugate the verb “boil” in the context of cooking. The University of Alaska Southeast class in Juneau is headed into finals week and students are preparing for dialogues that will test their conversational skills. Professor X̱’unei Lance Twitchell walked in and suggested the specific verb for cooking meat by boiling. He answered a few questions in English, then switch ..read more

Built in 1921, the New Salem Baptist Church served Black coal miners and their families in Tams, W.Va. (Cody Straley/WV SHPO/National Trust for Historic Preservation) There’s a lonely old church in the mountains of West Virginia that holds a hidden history. Black coal miners in a segregated camp worshipped there starting in the 1920s. Now, the New Salem Baptist Church is listed as one of America’s 11 most endangered historic sites. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released a list highlighting such places every year since 1988. Carol Quillen is the organization’s new president a ..read more

https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20240430-News-Update.mp3 In this newscast: Alaska gets an infusion of $125 million to build and expand solar energy. The Juneau Assembly rejected a symbolic resolution for bilateral peace between Israel and Palestine. Malin Babcock, treasurer of the Gastineau Historical Society and a descendent of victims of Juneau’s 1936 landslide, shares her story for Tongass Voices ..read more

University of Alaska graduate student workers protest in support of a contract in Fairbanks, Alaska, on April 29, 2024. (Photo provided by Alaska Graduate Workers Association) Hundreds of University of Alaska graduate students protested in marches on Monday at the Fairbanks and Anchorage campuses to increase pressure on the university system as it negotiates a contract with their union. The marches are a step down from a strike the Alaska Graduate Workers Association planned, after a Fairbanks Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order on Friday at the request of the University ..read more

Assembly member Paul Kelly speaks during a meeting on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Clarise Larson/KTOO)https://media.ktoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/30gazares-.mp3 The Juneau Assembly rejected a symbolic resolution calling for a bilateral peace agreement between Israel and Palestine in a 2-5 vote Monday night.  Residents packed the Assembly chambers during the meeting, and more than a dozen testified in favor of the resolution. Many wore the colors of the flag of Palestine and shirts with the message “ceasefire now.” After the vote — which came at nearly 11 p.m. — some people with a group ..read more

Commercial Tanner crab in Petersburg, Alaska in 2023. (Photo by Andy Wright) Three men are charged in federal court for illegally transporting Alaska crab to sell in Washington. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Alaska says Kyle Potter and Justin Welch caught crab in Southeast Alaska this spring and moved them to Seattle at the direction of Potter’s dad, Corey. The federal indictment says Corey Potter owns the two fishing vessels involved, which were run by his son, Kyle, and Welch. One of the boats is the 97-foot Arctic Dawn, which has been docked in Petersburg this spring but is registered ..read more