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1 month ago | 
ktoo.org | Jack Darrell |Michael Fanelli
A rockslide near Ketchikan on Thursday morning has blocked the island’s main road, leaving people who live north of the slide cut off from the city and its airport. It’s not clear when the road will be open again, but city and borough officials are urging residents to make plans for an extended closure. “We understand how frustrating it is,” said Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich.
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2 months ago | 
krbd.org | Jack Darrell
The Alaska Board of Fisheries kicked off their highly-anticipated regulatory meeting in Ketchikan on Tuesday. The board composed of seven members from across the state who are appointed by the governor deliberates on state fishery regulations and their decisions dictate how the Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages fishing in Alaska waters. The board meets every three years to review policies and regulations in Southeast Alaska fisheries.
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2 months ago | 
ktoo.org | Jack Darrell
A major Canadian mining prospect upstream from Southeast Alaska is drawing legal challenges from both sides of the border, as tribal groups fear the project could pollute their ancestral waterways. At the river’s mouthThe Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, or SEITC, is worried about the region’s rivers.
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2 months ago | 
treefrogcreative.ca | Jack Darrell |Michael Fanelli |Russ Taylor |Russ Taylor Global
With Trump’s new pro-timber order, Alaska conservationists poised to rehash Tongass Roadless Rule By Jack Darrell and Michael Fanelli Alaska Public Media January 27, 2025 Category: Forestry Region: United States, US West In the first two days of his new term, President Donald Trump signed more than 200 executive orders.
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2 months ago | 
krbd.org | Jack Darrell
According to Emilio Torres, the last movie filmed in Ketchikan was the 1950’s noir film “Cry Vengeance.” That is until he completed “The Ladder,” his first feature-length film, last year. Torres is an NYU film school graduate who grew up in Ketchikan. For him, it was a no-brainer to shoot his first film here.
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2 months ago | 
ktoo.org | Jack Darrell |Michael Fanelli
In the first two days of his new term, President Donald Trump signed more than 200 executive orders. One was aimed at accessing more natural resources in Alaska. It attempts to roll back protections on over 9 million acres of Tongass National Forest, potentially opening them up for logging.
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Jan 18, 2025 | 
krbd.org | Jack Darrell
Seven tribal organizations across the state of Alaska, from Mary’s Igloo to Metlakatla, received over $12 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in December. The grants, which range from $1 million to $2 million, are part of a program called the Indian Community Development Block Grants. In total, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development doled out $72.6 million for the program to 38 tribes nationwide.
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Jan 16, 2025 | 
krbd.org | Jack Darrell
Saxman residents are being asked to boil their water prior to drinking or cooking with it, following a failure at the city’s water treatment plant. The boil-water advisory was issued Tuesday. Saxman receives its water from a nearby mountain reservoir. It is then filtered at the city’s treatment plant and held in a storage tank. The city said in a notice to residents that recent heavy rains and dirty raw water coming from the reservoir caused the treatment plant to go offline.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
krbd.org | Jack Darrell
Ketchikan Police Chief Eric Mattson outside the precinct. January 10, 2025. (Jack Darrell/KRBD)Ketchikan recently hired a new police chief. Eric Mattson received his law enforcement training in Sitka and spent his early career policing communities in the North Slope Borough and Montana but he has spent the last 20 years rising in the ranks of the Ketchikan Police Department.
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Jan 9, 2025 | 
krbd.org | Jack Darrell
The Ketchikan City Council is still on track to approve an ordinance that would hike electric rates by 12.5%. The increase was approved in its first reading at Tuesday’s rescheduled city council meeting. Outgoing Ketchikan Public Utilities Electric Division Manager Jeremy Bynum told the council that the rate increase is long past due. “We’re getting so far behind every year that that mountain is just – it’s exponential at this point. We’re so far behind,” Bynum said. “I don’t like rate increases.
