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A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was delayed Thursday, May 12, 2022, as lawmakers discussed in private how to move forward with a packed budget bill passed by the Alaska Senate. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

With thin margins in the House, floor debate is delayed

Delayed to the call.

A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was delayed Thursday, May 12, 2022, as lawmakers discussed in private how to move forward with a packed budget bill passed by the Alaska Senate. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
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Senate tables restrictive transgender sports bill

Debate will continue.

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Jordyn Ortega walks the runway during an Alaska Fashion Week event on May 7, 2022. (Courtesy photo / Sydney Akagi Photography)

Alaska’s (fashion) capital brings fashion week back

Designers, models and attendees from across the continent came to Juneau for the show.

Jordyn Ortega walks the runway during an Alaska Fashion Week event on May 7, 2022. (Courtesy photo / Sydney Akagi Photography)
In this July 8, 2021, photo, adjunct history professor and research associate Larry Larrichio holds a copy of a late 19th century photograph of pupils at an Indigenous boarding school in Santa Fe during an interview in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department is expected to release a report Wednesday, May 11, 2022, that it says will begin to uncover the truth about the federal government’s past oversight of Native American boarding schools. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

Over 500 boarding school deaths found so far

The U.S. Interior Department released a report Wednesday on Native American boarding schools

In this July 8, 2021, photo, adjunct history professor and research associate Larry Larrichio holds a copy of a late 19th century photograph of pupils at an Indigenous boarding school in Santa Fe during an interview in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department is expected to release a report Wednesday, May 11, 2022, that it says will begin to uncover the truth about the federal government’s past oversight of Native American boarding schools. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and Senate Finance Committee Co-chair Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, speak with Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, during an all-day debate on the state’s budget on the floor of the Alaska State Senate on Tuesday, May 9, 2022.

Senate OKs budget with $5,600 payments to Alaskans

Senators add nearly $1 billion in amendments

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and Senate Finance Committee Co-chair Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, speak with Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, during an all-day debate on the state’s budget on the floor of the Alaska State Senate on Tuesday, May 9, 2022.
President Jimmy Carter holds up the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which declared 104 million acres in Alaska as national parks, wildlife refuges and other conservation categories, after signing it into law at a ceremony at the White House in Washington, on Dec. 2, 1980. Carter on Monday, May 9, 2022, took the unusual step of weighing in on a court case involving his landmark conservation act and a remote refuge in Alaska. Carter filed a amicus brief in the longstanding legal dispute over efforts to build a road through the refuge, worried that the latest decision to allow a gravel road to provide residents access to an all-weather airport for medical evacuations goes beyond this one case and could allow millions of acres (hectares) to be opened for “adverse development.” (AP Photo, File)

Carter asks court to defend Alaska’s ‘unrivaled wilderness’

Carter filed an amicus brief in the long-standing legal dispute over efforts to build a road through the refuge

President Jimmy Carter holds up the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which declared 104 million acres in Alaska as national parks, wildlife refuges and other conservation categories, after signing it into law at a ceremony at the White House in Washington, on Dec. 2, 1980. Carter on Monday, May 9, 2022, took the unusual step of weighing in on a court case involving his landmark conservation act and a remote refuge in Alaska. Carter filed a amicus brief in the longstanding legal dispute over efforts to build a road through the refuge, worried that the latest decision to allow a gravel road to provide residents access to an all-weather airport for medical evacuations goes beyond this one case and could allow millions of acres (hectares) to be opened for “adverse development.” (AP Photo, File)
Courtesy photo / Dasha Pearson Dasha Pearson, second from right, with her sister Natalia Dontsova, center, and father Alexander Dontsov, second from right, in Seattle on March 8, 2022. Pearson’s family fled Ukraine when the war started, and now they and other displaced Ukrainians are trying to find a home in Alaska.

Fleeing war, Ukrainians are finding a home in Alaska

Many have family, others just can’t go home

Courtesy photo / Dasha Pearson Dasha Pearson, second from right, with her sister Natalia Dontsova, center, and father Alexander Dontsov, second from right, in Seattle on March 8, 2022. Pearson’s family fled Ukraine when the war started, and now they and other displaced Ukrainians are trying to find a home in Alaska.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during a Tribal Nations Summit during Native American Heritage Month, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, on Nov. 15, 2021, in Washington. Haaland on Thursday, May 5, 2022, announced the members of a commission that will craft recommendations on how the federal government can better tackle unsolved cases in which Native Americans and Alaska Natives have gone missing or have been killed. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

US panel to focus on Native American missing, slain cases

The panel includes members with diverse experiences and backgrounds

  • May 6, 2022
  • By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press
  • NewsState News
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during a Tribal Nations Summit during Native American Heritage Month, in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, on Nov. 15, 2021, in Washington. Haaland on Thursday, May 5, 2022, announced the members of a commission that will craft recommendations on how the federal government can better tackle unsolved cases in which Native Americans and Alaska Natives have gone missing or have been killed. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire State Sen. Josh Revak, R-Anchorage, sat down with the Empire in Juneau on Friday to discuss his bid for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Revak was personally close with the late Don Young, and has earned the endorsement of Young’s widow.

Revak runs to replace Rep. Young

State senator wants to follow in Young’s footsteps.

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire State Sen. Josh Revak, R-Anchorage, sat down with the Empire in Juneau on Friday to discuss his bid for Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Revak was personally close with the late Don Young, and has earned the endorsement of Young’s widow.
Anne Sears, the new lead investigator for the federally-funded Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative, speaks during the annual rally at the Alaska State Capitol on May 5, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

Hundreds gather for missing and murdered Indigenous people

More and more attention is being paid nationwide to the staggering violence rates.

Anne Sears, the new lead investigator for the federally-funded Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Initiative, speaks during the annual rally at the Alaska State Capitol on May 5, 2022. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
In this Oct. 1, 2017, photo, North America’s tallest peak, Denali, is seen from a turnout in Denali State Park, Alaska. National park rangers in Alaska on Friday, May 6, 2022, resumed an aerial search for the year’s first registered climber on North America’s tallest peak after he didn’t check in with a friend. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

Rangers locate climber’s body on Alaska’s Denali

Rimml began his climb April 27 from the Kahiltna Glacier base camp at 7,200 feet, officials said.

In this Oct. 1, 2017, photo, North America’s tallest peak, Denali, is seen from a turnout in Denali State Park, Alaska. National park rangers in Alaska on Friday, May 6, 2022, resumed an aerial search for the year’s first registered climber on North America’s tallest peak after he didn’t check in with a friend. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)
Alaska state Senate President Peter Micciche, center, looks on as lawmakers gather in front of him on the Senate floor on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. A bill dealing with the annual dividend paid to residents was bumped from the Senate floor on Wednesday. Micciche said it did not have the votes to pass. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

State lawmakers struggle with dividend debate

Legislative leaders have said they see resolving the divisive debate as critical

Alaska state Senate President Peter Micciche, center, looks on as lawmakers gather in front of him on the Senate floor on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. A bill dealing with the annual dividend paid to residents was bumped from the Senate floor on Wednesday. Micciche said it did not have the votes to pass. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Anchorage Police Det. Dave Cordie, left, addresses reporters Thursday, May 5, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska, about the disappearance nine years ago of a 6-year-old boy and hopes that the public will provide new leads on the whereabouts of Deshawn McCormick. On the right is attorney Rachel Gernat with the Office of Special Prosecutions, which provides legal assistance to the police on cold cases. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Anchorage police seek new leads in missing child cold case

DeShawn McCormick disappeared nine years ago when he was 6 years old

Anchorage Police Det. Dave Cordie, left, addresses reporters Thursday, May 5, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska, about the disappearance nine years ago of a 6-year-old boy and hopes that the public will provide new leads on the whereabouts of Deshawn McCormick. On the right is attorney Rachel Gernat with the Office of Special Prosecutions, which provides legal assistance to the police on cold cases. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

Statewide COVID case numbers remain steady

Cases have increased by just 1% from the week of April 20-26

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
Dana Zigmund / Juneau Empire File A Carnival Cruise Lines vessel similar to one due in Juneau following a COVID outbreak aboard steams past Douglas in 2021.

City contacting ship on way to town following COVID outbreak

The ship, due to arrive here Saturday, experienced an outbreak enroute from Miami to Seattle.

Dana Zigmund / Juneau Empire File A Carnival Cruise Lines vessel similar to one due in Juneau following a COVID outbreak aboard steams past Douglas in 2021.
Lawmakers held a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, to vote to confirm Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s appointments to state boards and commissions. All nominees were confirmed. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Lawmakers confirm Dunleavy appointees, work on PFD

Senate attempts to rework dividend formula

Lawmakers held a joint session of the Alaska State Legislature on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, to vote to confirm Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s appointments to state boards and commissions. All nominees were confirmed. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Lisa Denny wears “The Handmaid’s Tale”-inspired garb while holding a sign stating “I stand with Planned Parenthood” during a protest held near the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, May 3, following a leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn the landmark case Roe v. Wade.

What does the leaked Supreme Court draft mean for Alaska?

Abortion access would remain, but elections and appointments would be heated

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Lisa Denny wears “The Handmaid’s Tale”-inspired garb while holding a sign stating “I stand with Planned Parenthood” during a protest held near the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, May 3, following a leaked draft of a Supreme Court decision that would overturn the landmark case Roe v. Wade.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issues a community alert about the relationship between fentanyl and fatal drug overdoses at a press conference at the True North Recovery and Wellness Center in Wasilla, Alaska, on May 4, 2022. (Screenshot)

Dunleavy spotlights dangers of fentanyl

The governor calls for harsher punishments for dealers as overdose deaths rise

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issues a community alert about the relationship between fentanyl and fatal drug overdoses at a press conference at the True North Recovery and Wellness Center in Wasilla, Alaska, on May 4, 2022. (Screenshot)
The Senate Judiciary Committee moved a bill that would ban transgender student athletes from competing on teams of the sex they identify with on Monday, May 2, 2022. The bill could go to a floor vote sometime this week. (Screenshot)

Transgender sports bill ready for Senate vote

Senate Bill was moved out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday

The Senate Judiciary Committee moved a bill that would ban transgender student athletes from competing on teams of the sex they identify with on Monday, May 2, 2022. The bill could go to a floor vote sometime this week. (Screenshot)
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire From left to right: Willard Jackson, Dennis Jack and Bill Thomas, Alaska Native veterans from Southeast Alaska who met with lawmakers at the Alaska State Capitol on Friday, April 29, to discuss their issues getting land allotments from the federal government. Jackson and Thomas are veterans of the Vietnam War who are eligbile for land allotments, but no lands are available in Southeast Alaska, and veterans are frustrated by the lack of action.

Haaland’s visit stirs optimism for Alaska Natives, but tensions remain

Access to lands remains a critical issue

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire From left to right: Willard Jackson, Dennis Jack and Bill Thomas, Alaska Native veterans from Southeast Alaska who met with lawmakers at the Alaska State Capitol on Friday, April 29, to discuss their issues getting land allotments from the federal government. Jackson and Thomas are veterans of the Vietnam War who are eligbile for land allotments, but no lands are available in Southeast Alaska, and veterans are frustrated by the lack of action.