Newscast – Thursday, April 23, 2026

About this episode

This episode covers various local news topics including city service reductions, a plane crash investigation, changes in the Tongass National Forest, state budget revisions, and a lawsuit over voter data sharing in Alaska.

In this newscast: The Juneau Assembly discussed a list of more than 40 city services and facilities that could face reductions or closures for the first time at a finance committee meeting Wednesday night; A week after a Ward Air plane crashed and sank into Favorite Channel near Juneau, officials are still piecing together what happened; The U.S. Forest Service is rethinking how it defines areas of the Tongass National Forest. One of its ideas is to designate recreation areas according to commercial use, which could guide where the Forest Service concentrates permits for tour operators; The state Senate Finance Committee released its first revision of the state’s operating budget Wednesday, including a $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend and a $150 energy relief check; Civil rights advocates are suing over Alaska’s decision last year to share confidential voter data, including home addresses, dates of birth and partial Social Security numbers, with the federal government.

Topics covered

• city services
• plane crash
• Tongass National Forest
• state budget
• voter data lawsuit

Keywords

• Juneau Assembly
• Ward Air
• U.S. Forest Service
• Alaska budget
• voter data lawsuit
• city services
• plane crash
• Tongass National Forest

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Juneau Assembly, Ward Air, U.S. Forest Service, state Senate Finance Committee, civil rights advocates

Places: Juneau, Favorite Channel, Alaska

More episodes of KTOO News Update

• Newscast – Friday, May 8, 2026 · May 9, 2026
• Newscast – Thursday, May 7, 2026 · May 8, 2026
• Newscast – Wednesday, May 6, 2026 · May 7, 2026
• Newscast – Tuesday, May 5, 2026 · May 6, 2026
• Newscast – Monday, May 4, 2026 · May 5, 2026
• Newscast – Friday, May 01, 2026 · May 2, 2026