KRBD Evening Report

The Prince of Wales city of Craig is considering raising sales taxes to help cover education budget shortfalls; Alaska lawmakers add several Indigenous languages to the state’s official list of languages; a bill regulating community solar projects is poised to pass in the Legislature; and a look at why the pre-statehood executions of two Black men should be remembered. 

The Ketchikan borough is the victim of cybercrime. The shocking similarities between gold mines in Canada and Ponzi schemes. Inflation in Alaska is going down but so is the population - and there may be a connection.

The Northern Lights are heavily in the forecast this weekend. Ketchikan residents protest a pair of imitation totem poles made by a convicted murderer. Local weaver Holly Churchill’s visit to Wrangell. 

Researchers look into the possibility of a hatchery-only king salmon sports fishery in Southeast, with input from a Ketchikan fisherman; Petersburg high schoolers take part in a “Financial Reality Fair”; and Kodiak’s Filipino community celebrates a prominent holiday.

Ketchikan’s First City Haven homeless shelter will stop offering a place to sleep next week; a cruise ship employee in Juneau is arrested for allegedly stabbing multiple people; Alaska launches a fentanyl education campaign; the FEMA deadline for the Wrangell landslide is approaching; and Petersburg residents march for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People awareness.

State lawmakers race to craft a bill to protect homeschool programs; Wrangell students have the opportunity to present at a national conference; and one woman’s killer whale encounter reminds us that we live amongst the natural world.

A Ketchikan high school volleyball coach is convicted of misdemeanor assault and harassment for a 2022 incident involving one of his players; the supplemental nutrition program known as WIC will now include more low-mercury fish; and the Petersburg school district is taking steps to try to prevent an outbreak of Measles.

Opening statements were made today in the trial of a local volleyball coach; Sitka’s tourism task force has completed its work and offered recommendations; and a look at Petersburg’s response to opioid crisis and the effectiveness of overdose reversal medication. 

The U.S. Forest Service is revising its plan for the Tongass National Forest; state lawmakers work to push forward a pension system for public workers; and the Juneau Assembly rejects a resolution calling for a peace agreement between Israel and Palestine. 

The Ketchikan School Board upholds a decision to keep a book in the high school library; the Sitka School Board prepares to adopt a budget that would cut 18 positions; and a national coalition comes to Alaska to hear from boarding school survivors. Plus, a compilation of our Poetry Month readings!

Ketchikan police confirm that a man was found dead Saturday in the water downtown; the Petersburg School District joins a group planning to sue the state of Alaska; a commission of Juneau residents aims to address the pressures of tourism; and Alaskans compete in the annual Battle of the Books.

The Ketchikan School District faces a $6 million budget deficit; a Metlakatla man is indicted for a deadly car crash; the state House passes a bill to regulate property assessments; and Alaska passes a grim milestone for opioid overdoses.

Three southeast cities lost power today when a fire sparked on an electrical pole in Ketchikan; Ketchikan gets an upgraded baseball field; three crabbers are charged for trying to sell Alaska crab out of state; and a call for ornaments for this year’s U.S. Capitol Christmas tree, which is set to come from the Tongass National Forest.

Ketchikan’s Trident processing plant officially changed hands today, a new Tlingit and Haida culture campus is coming to Juneau, a seafood co-op in Sitka is upgrading its energy systems, and a look at the many options for treating alcohol use disorder, including medications.

Alaska tightens residency requirements for hunting and fishing licenses. University of Alaska tackles climate change’s economic impact on fishing in the Gulf of Alaska. Getting to the root of silverweed.

A Ketchikan man receives an award from the FBI, a tragedy in the personal life of Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon, a closer look at the court decision on Alaska’s homeschool program, and an update from the state’s first Amazon ground-delivery station. 

Tonight on the KRBD Evening Report... The Denver Art Museum is under fire for refusing to repatriate Tlingit cultural items, and a look at an Arrakis-like landscape in Alaska.

Tonight on the KRBD Evening Report... A new nonprofit in Craig hopes to reclaim the Haida language, we'll hear from ADF&G commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang on the state of fish, and we'll step behind the curtain of the Alaska Independence Party. Those stories and more.

Some Ketchikan students spent spring break putting on a play based on a Tsimshian origin story. Gov. Dunleavy defends the state’s homeschooling program after a Superior Court ruled it unconstitutional. The issues around bycatch in the Bering Sea Pollock fishery boiled over at a recent meeting of the NPFMC.

Borough, city and Saxman leaders move forward with the disaster declaration stemming from last week’s South Tongass fire. AMHS finds a new way to fund projects across the state. The state’s homeschool system under fire. Alaska Native tribes see a rise in cultural tourism.

The Division of Forestry releases its plan for selling timber on Revilla Island. Peter Pan Seafoods shutters its doors. The US Interior Department begins initiative to document Native boarding school abuse. An extremely rare sight in Southeast Alaska – a bowhead whale. 

Ketchikan’s local leaders signed an emergency declaration today in response to this week’s South Tongass fire, an Alaska senator and congresswoman address the current state of Alaska fisheries, and a recent scientific paper examines when Southeast Alaska was first populated.

A sentence was handed down this week for the murder of Dr. Eric Garcia in Ketchikan. The first cruise ship of the season makes port in the First City. 

Wrangell is sending an ambulance to Ketchikan after this week's South Tongass fire. A Juneau group wants to keep cruise ships from coming on Saturdays. A new bill in the sate house aims to expand telehealth coverage.

Ketchikan residents woke up this morning to the South Tongass Fire Department engulfed in flames. A car accident on a remote road far outside of town. The Norwegian Bliss, the first cruise ship of the season makes its way towards Ketchikan. A Juneau high school swimmer makes history. Silver Bay Seafoods, Ketchikan’s soon-to-be newest seafood processor, is expanding.