KTOO News Update KTOO Public Media

In this newscast: Earlier this week, a swath of gray storm clouds interrupted an afternoon of clear blue skies in Juneau. A few people caught the sound of thunder and saw flashes of lightning. Juneau is no stranger to rainy days, but thunderstorms only happen once every two years or so here. KTOO’s Anna Canny explains why they’re so rare; A mother-daughter duo — a weaver and an engraver — won Best of Show at this Celebration’s Juried Arts show. Their winning entry was a spruce root hat called Dancing in the Summer Rain; A new scientific paper released by NOAA last month highlights a crucial disconnect between the needs of rural communities in the north Bering Sea and the resources available to them

In this newscast: Traditional canoes -- or yaakw -- landed in Juneau Tuesday to mark the start of the bi-annual Celebration festival; A team of local scientists and emergency managers are trying to improve flood forecasts; Tongass Voices: Dave Hanson on the cosmos of Marie Drake Planetarium

In this newscast: Last week, an Alaska Coach Tours bus backed into a totem pole at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, and drove off. Witnesses called the museum to report the accident. There’s minimal damage to the pole and city engineers made sure it was stable. But for the son of the man who carved the 57-year-old totem pole, the accident was a reminder of what this piece means to him and his father’s legacy; Naomi Michelson shares her reflections on the practice of respectful harvesting for this week's Garden Talk. 

In this newscast: Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Alaska Department of Corrections of unconstitutionally limiting prisoners’ access to attorneys at the state’s only all-female prison. For Curious Juneau, Yvonne Krumrey delves into the history of Auke Rec, where canoes land for Celebration each year.

In this newscast: The City and Borough of Juneau has negotiated an official agreement with cruise lines that will put a limit on the number of daily passengers that come into Juneau in 2026; The US Coast Guard shared their conclusions from a year long investigation into what caused the loss of a charter vessel in Sitka Sound and its five passengers

In this newscast: Bartlett Regional Hospital is facing a multi-million dollar deficit and now hospital leaders are considering cutting some services to stop the bleeding; A partnership between scientists and local hunters to monitor sea ice is helping Utqiagvik adapt to the lost of ice due to climate change