Jeremy Hsieh, KTOO - Juneau
Jeremy Hsieh is the deputy managing editor of the KTOO newsroom in Juneau. He’s a podcast fiend who’s worked in journalism since high school as a reporter, editor and television producer. He ran Gavel Alaska for 360 North from 2011 to 2016, and is big on experimenting with novel tools and mediums (including the occasional animated gif) to tell stories and demystify the news. Jeremy’s an East Coast transplant who moved to Juneau in 2008.
Epidemiologists Confirm First Case Of PSP In 2015
State epidemiologists have confirmed the first case of paralytic shellfish poisoning in Alaska this year.
Joyce Kerttula Dies At 91
Joyce Kerttula died Monday at age 91 after a long fight with lymphoma, but not before helping two generations of Kerttulas rise to political power in the state.
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Chugiak Lawmaker Proposes Legislature Move
Sen.-elect Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, plans to introduce a bill to move the Alaska Legislature to Anchorage. Stoltze isn’t proposing a full-on capital move. Instead, KTUU reports that the bulk of state government would remain in Juneau and legislative sessions would be held at the Anchorage Legislative Information Office.
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Pick. Click. Give. Donations Up, Number Of Donors Taper
Annual giving in the Pick. Click. Give. program has grown robustly since its 2009 launch, though the total number of donors appears to be tapering off.
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Juneau Assembly Committee: Scale Back Senior Sales Tax Exemption
A package of sales tax recommendations that could take a big bite out of the city’s anticipated $7.2 million budget deficit is headed for public hearing.
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Walker To Be Sworn in Monday
Gov.-elect Bill Walker and Lt. Gov.-elect Byron Mallott will be sworn into office Monday morning at Juneau's Centennial Hall. The public inauguration ceremony begins at 11:30 and is expected to last about an hour. There will be seating available in the main ballroom for nearly a 1,000 people.
City engineer: No Good News On Juneau’s Sewage Sludge Disposal
The way the City and Borough of Juneau disposes of its sewage sludge isn’t sustainable, and the long-term solution consultants are recommending will be expensive.
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Cost, Avalanche Danger High On Juneau Access Opponents’ Concerns
At a public hearing Tuesday night in Juneau, locals spoke out nearly 4-1 against transportation officials’ effort to extend the capital city’s main road 48 miles farther north.
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DOT Puts Out New Juneau Access Project Document
DOT puts out new Juneau Access Project document
Thursday, the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities put out a draft document that addresses environmental issues stemming from the battle to extend Juneau’s only highway north toward Haines and Skagway.
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The Tongass Tightrope: Balancing Diverse Interests By Committee
For three days last week, a few dozen people holed up in a Travelodge conference room in Juneau. There was coffee and donuts, PowerPoint presentations and an easel with big sheets of scratch paper. It was the second in a series of meeting that the Tongass Advisory Committee has leading up to its May deadline to produce its recommendations.
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Can The Tongass Support Sustainable Logging?
A regional committee tasked with advising the National Forest Service on how to manage logging in the Tongass began three days of meetings in Juneau Wednesday.
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Dems’ Gubernatorial Nominee Makes Juneau Campaign Stop
About 60 people attended a rainy campaign rally on the steps of the Capitol building for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Byron Mallott on Sunday.
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Touring by Tesla: From The Mexico Border to Fairbanks
Guy Hall is an electric car evangelist. He drove from the California-Mexico border to Fairbanks in a Tesla Model S, and stopped by KTOO in Juneau to let a reporter take his wheels for a spin.
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Indian Village totem poles come down In Juneau
The two totem poles that stood for 36 years in Juneau’s old Indian Village have been hauled off. A work crew with a 12-ton boom truck pulled the delicate poles and hauled them to a warehouse Tuesday. They had deteriorated badly over the years, but were taken away more or less intact.
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With Capitol renovations on schedule, contractors get more work
The Alaska Legislative Council approved an additional $650,000 to its $5.8 million Capitol building renovation contract on Thursday. Demolition of the north wall of the west wing of the Capitol will proceed this fall, instead of in 2015. The updated contract won’t change the overall scope of the renovations in Juneau.
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Why the FAA is Paying for New Hiking Trails In Juneau
The Southeast Alaska Land Trust plans to donate about 128 acres of land to the City and Borough of Juneau this fall for preservation and natural recreation. The deal is technically an airport project—most of the money the land trust used to get the land in the first place traces back to the Federal Aviation Administration.
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New Eagle and Raven Totem Poles to Rise This Month
Haida carving brothers Joe and T.J. Young are back in Juneau to finish a pair of Eagle and Raven totem poles.
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As Budget Deficit Looms, Juneau Assembly Eyes Tax Breaks
With another year of multimillion dollar budget deficits on the horizon for the City and Borough of Juneau, an Assembly committee is reviewing the city’s 37 sales and property tax exemptions.
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Memorial to WWII Internees Dedicated
After Pearl Harbor was attacked, Juneau’s Japanese population was forced from their homes and sent to internment camps in the Lower 48. Teenager John Tanaka was among those shipped out. He was the valedictorian of Juneau High School in 1942, but didn’t get to graduate with everyone else. An empty wooden chair was put on stage in his place. Now, a bronze replica of that chair will remain at the Capitol School Park permanently.
Should E-Cigarette Vapors Be Treated Like Tobacco Smoke?
The Juneau Assembly is considering a ban on e-cigarette vapors in nearly all indoor public spaces. The local chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence led the push at an Assembly Committee meeting Monday. Kristin Cox, a naturopathic doctor and the council’s tobacco prevention program coordinator, argued that the new tobacco alternative is being marketed to youths and misrepresented as harmless.
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