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Week of Aug 10
A Juneau evacuation route is restricted as the valley floods
A Juneau road is restricted to local traffic as the Mendenhall Valley floods from the Suicide Basin outburst, with about 5,000 people told to evacuate.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Situk River's Nine Mile Bridge stretch stays closed to all fishing through Aug. 31
Alaska Fish and Game extended the Situk River Nine Mile Bridge fishing closure to Aug. 31 after the Chinook run fell to 219 fish, less than a quarter of the forecast.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Sealaska Heritage honors four Southeast educators at Juneau conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute awarded four Southeast Alaska educators for weaving Indigenous knowledge into classrooms at its annual conference in Juneau.
by Melinda Communities.Newsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Ben Le, missing since a hike at Port Armstrong on Aug. 10, was found dead at the bottom of a cliff
A hiker missing near Port Armstrong since Monday is being searched by crews that added a thermal drone team Wednesday morning after ground and aerial searches found no sign of him.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Juneau asks Mendenhall Lake evacuation zone residents to leave by 3 p.m.
Juneau ordered 5,000 residents in the Mendenhall Valley evacuation zone to leave by 3 p.m. Wednesday as a glacial outburst flood crests early Thursday.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago3 min read
A Tsimshian carver, accused of inventing clan stories, is affirmed by another clan
Accused by some in his own community of inventing Tsimshian migration stories, carver David Boxley was publicly affirmed by a Wrangell clan that shares them.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Juneau's glacial outburst flood crested Thursday at 14.7 feet, above major flood stage
Juneau is responding to glacial outburst flooding, nearly 1,900 homes in its advisory area, after the Mendenhall crested above major flood stage Thursday.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
State testing finds little or no PFAS in Alaska marine fish, with one exception for pollock
Alaska tested 610 marine fish specimens from 2022 to 2024 and found PFAS in only five samples, all below European and Japanese food thresholds, suggesting locally caught fish pose little dietary risk.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
More from Southeast
From California to Southeast Alaska, salmon fisheries are closing in lockstep this week — under the same treaty
Southeast Alaska's king troll fishery hit its treaty cap and closed the same week West Coast fisheries are closing — all tied to the same shared Chinook.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Landslide on Canadian side closes Klondike Highway at the border
A landslide on the Canadian side closed the Klondike Highway at the U.S.-Canada border Tuesday evening, cutting Skagway's road link to the Yukon during peak summer travel season.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Water begins flowing over Suicide Basin ice dam, NWS tells Juneau to finish flood prep
Water is spilling over Suicide Basin's ice dam near Juneau, and the National Weather Service is telling residents along Mendenhall Lake and River to finish flood prep now.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Medicare claws back money from Petersburg's hospital as the island's new MRI takes off
Medicare cut Petersburg's hospital outpatient rate and clawed back funds — but the island's brand-new MRI is already beating projections and driving revenue.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Petersburg hospital board weighs buying housing to address staffing gaps
Petersburg Medical Center is exploring buying or building staff housing to fill nursing and technician jobs that now rely on expensive temporary workers.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Petersburg planning commission to vote next month on one-year data center ban
Petersburg's Planning Commission votes September 8 on a one-year data center ban while the borough drafts permanent rules.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Juneau hangar owners say the airport's own repaving flooded them, and it won't say if that's true
Juneau hangar owners say the airport's own regrading and repaving caused flooding now rotting their buildings, and it won't say if its work is to blame.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Sealaska Heritage publishes fifth graders' documentary on Walter Soboleff
Auke Bay Elementary students produced a documentary on Dr. Walter Soboleff. The film fills a gap in classroom history materials.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Coming up
Alaska State Parks Southeast Region Citizen Advisory Board Meeting
Online only: Microsoft Teams (Meeting ID 252 102 001 646 565 7, passcode Xq3o7kf3) or phone +1 907-202-7104, conference ID 521 494 427#
Meeting
Energy in the North: Robert Venables on Southeast Conference Economic Development
Class
Alaska Mental Health Trust Land Office Sealed Bid Deadline
Public notice
Southeast Alaska Geoduck Fishery Closure (Holiday Period 1)
Public notice
Directed Lingcod Fishery Season End
Public notice
About Southeast
Southeast Alaska is the panhandle region along the state's southern coast, an archipelago of islands and fjords that includes Juneau, Sitka and Ketchikan. Its towns, among them Petersburg, Wrangell, Haines, Skagway and Hoonah, are linked by the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system.
Its economy rests on commercial fishing, cruise tourism and the Tongass National Forest. Fish and Game manages dive fisheries for sea cucumbers and geoducks, salmon seine and gillnet fisheries, and rockfish openings across its inside and outer waters. Cruise docks, the decisions of city and borough assemblies, land use rules and heavy coastal weather are recurring local questions.
Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian communities are part of the region's life, and institutions such as Tlingit & Haida and Huna Totem run programs and businesses across it. Huna Totem ventures have built or sought to run cruise docks in Juneau and Haines.
More from Southeast
The Situk's Rodeo Hole reopens Wednesday, the kings already gone upstream
The Situk's Rodeo Hole reopens to sport fishing Wednesday after five weeks closed, once surveys showed the king salmon had already moved upstream.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Lower Barracks Street closes Wednesday morning for Sitka crosswalk painting
Lower Barracks Street closes Wednesday morning from 8 a.m. to noon for volunteers to paint crosswalk art as part of Sitka's pedestrian safety project.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska Senate Majority sets Anchorage press availability on stalled gas session
Alaska's fourth special session on the gas pipeline tax has gone two weeks without a vote, as a looming Cook Inlet supply cliff raises the stakes.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Week of Aug 3
A Petersburg-area drift gillnet fishery opens for about 40 hours
The state will open a fishing section near Petersburg to about 40 hours of unrestricted drift gillnet fishing, from Tuesday evening through Thursday noon.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Juneau pilots pay $12 a gallon for fuel, and want an alternative to the airport's only seller
Juneau pilots pay over $12 a gallon for avgas, about 50% more than Anchorage, from the airport's only seller. Fifty-plus want a self-serve option added.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
The state will renew a Sitka hatchery's Deep Inlet lease for 10 years, not the 25 it wanted
The state will renew a Sitka hatchery's Deep Inlet net pen lease for 10 years, less than half the 25 it asked for, and the notice doesn't say why.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Juneau's paratransit service for seniors has failed riders for nine months
A 96-year-old left at Foodland, 25 calls for one trip: Juneau's paratransit for seniors has failed nine months, the commission says — and the city renewed it.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A viral claim about a Zuckerberg yacht and a Coast Guard call remains unverified
An unverified viral claim says a Zuckerberg-linked yacht ignored a Coast Guard call for a stranded Southeast skiff. The Coast Guard hasn't confirmed any of it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A Whittier man trying to sell booze on a family glacier-tour boat
A Whittier man is fighting a plan to serve alcohol on the family Ptarmigan glacier-tour boat, which has run dry for decades. The Assembly decides by Aug. 15.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
Electric bills would rise in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities
Electric bills would rise about 4.75% in Bethel, Yakutat and 50-plus rural communities under an AVEC proposal, on customers already paying several times urban rates.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Sitka Assembly takes first reading Aug. 11 on ordinance replacing taxicab code
Sitka is rewriting its taxi rules for the first time since the '90s — pulling tours, shuttles, limos and pedicabs into one framework with flat zone fares.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Sitka Harbor Office closes at noon Friday, reopens Monday
Sitka Harbor Office closes at noon Friday and reopens Monday, leaving boat owners and fishers without walk-in service or phone access until then. Call 907-738-0835 for emergencies.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Ketchikan anglers can keep more kings this month, even with a slow run
Ketchikan anglers can keep more kings this month even though the run is slow, though area closures still apply and the department hasn't explained the increase.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Sitka's old pulp mill site keeps filling up — another lot goes out for development
Sitka is seeking a developer for another lot at its former pulp mill site — long mostly empty after the mill's 1993 closure, and now steadily filling up.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
A sixth straight weak week points to a below-average chum run near Petersburg
A sixth straight below-average week points to a weak chum run near Petersburg, with pinks running low and mixed, as the season's test fisheries close out.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sealaska Heritage concludes ninth annual education conference
Sealaska Heritage Institute concluded its ninth annual education conference in Juneau, drawing hundreds of educators from Alaska and beyond for sessions on culturally responsive teaching.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Situk River sockeye fishery has all but ended, ADF&G says
Situk River sockeye runs have collapsed to their lowest in five years, forcing ADF&G to tell anglers the sport fishery has ended even though the daily limit stays at three fish.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alaskans split over ranked choice repeal at state ballot measure hearing
Alaska voters will decide in November whether to repeal ranked choice voting, the top-four primary, and campaign finance disclosure rules approved in 2020.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago3 min read
King salmon retention at Blind Slough ends Aug. 15
King salmon retention in Blind Slough near Petersburg closes at 11:59 p.m. Aug. 15, ending a summer window that opened after hatchery returns exceeded projections.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Bartlett hospital recruiting four directors at once among 29 openings
Bartlett Regional Hospital is recruiting four directors at once and 29 positions total, the most of any Juneau employer on the state's weekly job list.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Injured hiker rescued by boat along George Inlet near Ketchikan
A hiker injured in a fall near Ketchikan called for help Tuesday afternoon, and Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Ketchikan Volunteer Rescue Squad reached him by boat and took him to a hospital.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Pacific halibut hit a 40-year low as Alaska absorbs the deepest cuts
Pacific halibut are at a 40-year low, and Alaska's waters took the deepest 2025 cuts, including 22% in the Central Gulf, hitting commercial, charter and subsistence fishing alike.
by Bill AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
HESCO barrier repair was a week from done, Juneau committee told
Juneau's HESCO flood barriers were nearly complete in early July, with the Army Corps finishing Phase 2 of temporary defenses protecting nearly 1,900 homes under evacuation advisory.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Winter ferry bookings open on the system that's the only road many Alaska towns have
Winter ferry bookings are open on the Alaska Marine Highway — the federally funded "road" for the four-in-five Alaska towns with no highway — even as some communities say this winter's schedule is still too thin.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
