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The POLITICO Poll – December 2025
Day: January 9, 2026
NOTN- City officials issued a high-risk avalanche evacuation advisory today as worsening weather conditions raised the likelihood of avalanches across all known slide paths.
The advisory, updated at 10:30 a.m., urges residents in at-risk areas to evacuate as increased snowfall, warmer temperatures and several inches of rain forecast at higher elevations are significantly heightening avalanche danger.
Officials stressed that the situation is rapidly evolving and could escalate further as weather conditions deteriorate.
Emergency response crews are staged and prepared to respond in the event of an avalanche at Thane road where DOT was scheduled to close the road at the avalanche gates at noon.
An emergency shelter is available at Centennial Hall, where the American Red Cross is prepared to provide mass care services, including meals, once formally activated. City officials said resources are in place to support evacuees should conditions worsen.
Pet sheltering is also available at Centennial Hall. Juneau Animal Rescue is offering additional emergency pet sheltering through its Safe-Keeping Program, and JAR and KTOO have created resources to help pet owners prepare for emergencies.
“‘It’s a substantial portion of downtown.” Said Deputy City Manager Robert Barr, “Downtown is the area that that we’ve been able to map. That doesn’t mean avalanche doesn’t exist elsewhere. folks should just be aware.”
Authorities urged residents to take precautions during the period of elevated avalanche risk, including avoiding travel beneath known avalanche paths, following all road and trail closures, and not stopping in avalanche runout zones. Residents were also advised to closely monitor official alerts and updates.
After storms or avalanche activity, officials warned people to stay clear of debris piles and runout areas and to wait for official reopening notices before resuming normal travel. Any observed avalanche activity should be reported to authorities.
The late D’Angelo released his celebrated neo-soul epic Voodoo album in January of 2000. An anniversary celebration will feature a new release of the 2LP, highlighted by a zoetrope design.
Each side of the double-vinyl set has a different design, incorporating elements from D’Angelo’s brilliant career like music videos, album design, and lyrical content.
Voodoo is widely hailed as one of the most important albums of the 21st century. After its release, Voodoo topped the Billboard albums chart just two weeks later, won two Grammys, achieved platinum status, and produced one of the sultriest hit singles of all time with “Untitled (How Does it Feel),” thanks in large part to its iconic video.
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Last year, Rolling Stone unearthed audio from a D’Angelo conversation that took place in 2015. In the chat, the singer born Michael Eugene Archer discussed how Voodoo was inspired by the disappointment he felt after releasing his debut, Brown Sugar.
He explained, “Brown Sugar, in retrospect, it’s a great album, but I wasn’t that happy with it. I thought that a lot of the demos felt and sounded better to me that I had done in the crib on a four-track. We had to reproduce that in the studio. I felt like it was overproduced. So my main motivation with Voodoo was for it not to feel like that, for it to feel more like my demos had felt.” The raw immediacy of Voodoo is one of its most celebrated qualities.
He also spoke about expectations going into his third LP, the long-anticipated Black Messiah from 2014. He said, “Voodoo was and is what it was. It’s dishonest for me and unfair to me to think I’m gonna outdo that, so I won’t even attempt. I just wanted to make sure it was the next step in my progression. To break something down to its more essential core — that too can be evolution.”
Buy D’Angelo’s Voodoo on limited edition zoetrope vinyl.
Discover more about the world’s greatest R&B artists | uDiscover Music
By: James Brooks, Alaska Beacon
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 230-196 on Thursday to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies for three years and reverse massive cost increases that went into effect with the new year.
The reversal must still be approved by the U.S. Senate and President Donald Trump before becoming effective.
Alaska’s lone member of the House, Republican Rep. Nick Begich III, voted against the extension, as did 195 other Republicans.
Seventeen Republicans voted for the extension of subsidies that were enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency, joining all of the chamber’s Democrats.
The House’s Republican leaders opposed the extension, but a handful of Republicans signed a petition in December to force a vote.
Begich did not sign that petition, and on Wednesday, he joined other Republicans in an unsuccessful procedural vote intended to block Thursday’s decision.
In a written statement explaining his vote on Thursday, Begich said extending subsidies would not fix the problems he sees with the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare. “The health insurance system created by Democrats under Obamacare has proven completely unaffordable for the American healthcare customer,” the statement said. “An extension of Obamacare COVID subsidies does not fix what is broken.”
He said he would like to see reforms to the Affordable Care Act, without which he said the extension “has no credible pathway forward in the Senate.”
In December, Begich voted in favor of a Republican-proposed alternative to the extension. That alternative, which focuses on drug costs, would not stop or reverse the new cost increases and has thus far been rejected by the Senate.
The Congressional Budget Office reported that the alternative would reduce health insurance premiums for insured Americans but would also reduce the number of Americans who are insured.
“I remain committed to working on reforms that lower costs, expand access, and improve outcomes for all Americans,” Begich said in his statement. “Temporary extensions without meaningful reform are not the solution. Real reform that puts patients first is.”
In December, Alaska’s two U.S. Senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan — both Republicans — joined Senate Democrats in an unsuccessful attempt to advance a condition-free extension similar to the one passed by the House on Thursday.
That was a change in position for Sullivan, who had previously opposed extensions that were not coupled with changes to the Affordable Care Act.
Begich and Sullivan are each up for election this fall. Sullivan does not have a Democratic Party-backed opponent yet, but former U.S. House Rep. Mary Peltola is widely expected to enter the race this month.
Begich is being opposed by Anchorage pastor Matt Schultz. Alaska Democratic Party Chair Eric Croft said by email that Thursday’s vote will be a campaign issue in the fall.
“After allowing lifesaving ACA tax credits to expire on December 31, Nick Begich doubled down on his betrayal of Alaska families and blocked the extension of these credits,” he wrote. “We cannot afford these health care price hikes, and we won’t forget about Nick Begich’s betrayal this November.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announced on Jan. 7, 2026, that it will cease all operations effective May 3. The daily newspaper, founded in 1786, has been the city’s paper of record for nearly a century and is one of the oldest newspapers in the country.
Block Communications, the company that owns the Post-Gazette, says the paper has lost “hundreds of millions of dollars” during the past two decades. The shuttering of the Post-Gazette comes after a three-year strike by newspaper employees who were asking management for better wages and working conditions. The strike ended in November 2025 after an appellate court ruled in favor of the union workers. The Post-Gazette was found to have violated federal labor law by cutting health care benefits and failing to bargain in good faith. Then, on Jan. 7, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the paper, stating that the Post-Gazette was required to adjust its health insurance coverage for union members. Hours later, Block Communications announced that the paper would shut down.
Victor Pickard, an expert on the U.S. media and its role in democracy, was born and raised just outside Pittsburgh. He talked to Cassandra Stone, The Conversation U.S. Pittsburgh editor, about what the closing means for local journalism and democracy.
Newspapers have been in decline for decades. How significant is this closure?
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has long been a vital part of the local community throughout western Pennsylvania. This would be the first major metropolitan newspaper closing since the Tampa Tribune shut its doors in 2016, and it’s a devastating blow to residents in that entire area of the state. Block Communications also closed down the Pittsburgh City Paper, which is an alt-weekly newspaper in Pittsburgh, in January 2026. The loss of the Post-Gazette will likely create a major gap in local news coverage.
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
How much did the labor strike from 2022-2025 affect the newspaper’s profitability?
I wouldn’t pin the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s loss of profitability on the strike – which was legitimate and did have a profound impact – as much as on the structural forces affecting nearly all local newspapers at this time.
Throughout the country, local journalism increasingly is no longer a profitable enterprise. The core business model of being reliant on advertising revenue has irreparably collapsed, and subscriptions rarely generate enough financial support.
Since the early 2000s, the U.S. has lost about 40% of its local newspapers and about 75% of the jobs in newspaper journalism, according to a 2025 report from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. A study published last year by Rebuild Local News and Muck Rack shows that in 2002, there were roughly 40 journalists per 100,000 people in the United States. Today, it’s down to about eight journalists.
This evisceration of local journalism leads to ever-expanding news deserts across the country, where tens of millions of Americans are living in areas with little or no local news media whatsoever.
How might this affect local civic engagement and democracy in Pittsburgh?
Democracy requires a free and functional press system. When a local newspaper closes, fewer people vote and get involved in local politics, and corruption and polarization increase.
Without local news outlets, people often turn to national news or even “pink slime” news sites. These sites masquerade as official local media institutions but in fact are often propagandistic outlets that amplify misinformation and disinformation.
With the retreat of newspapers, people are receiving less high-quality news and information. This means that people living in these areas are less knowledgeable about politics. They often don’t know who’s running for office in their communities, or what their political platforms are, and there’s just less civic engagement in general.
AP Photo/Chris O’Meara
Most Americans have 24/7 access to unlimited news and information through their social media feeds, including local news influencers. Does this counteract the loss of local reporting?
I think an important distinction needs to be made between carefully reported and fact-checked articles and what seems like a glut of information at our fingertips at all times. Beyond the surface-level appearance of countless news sites, social media reports offer relatively few new facts that have been borne out of rigorous reporting.
You could say that Americans are living in a new golden age of political discourse, where we constantly see a churn of social media-based forms of expression. But that’s not necessarily journalism.
When we’re talking about the collapse of newspapers and fewer newspaper journalists working their beats, it would be an entirely different story if that journalism were being replaced by other institutions, by influencers, by podcasters. But many of those outlets are amplifying opinion-based commentary and punditry.
That’s not the same thing as reporting that adheres to journalistic norms and introduces new information into the world. Losing this kind of knowledge production hurts communities everywhere – from small towns and rural areas to major cities like Pittsburgh.
Victor Pickard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Politics + Society – The Conversation
What is an election and when is it completed?
That’s the legal question at the heart of Watson v. Republican National Committee, the mail-in ballot case the U.S. Supreme Court took up in November 2025. The court will most likely hand down a ruling before the midterm elections in 2026.
Mississippi law, similar to that of 15 other states, allows for mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be received by election officials up to five days later, then counted.
But the Republican National Committee is arguing in the Watson case, which was brought against the state of Mississippi in January 2024, that this procedure is not legal. An election, the argument goes, includes the receipt of ballots; therefore, all ballots must be in hand at the close of Election Day – the congressionally established “Tuesday after the first Monday” in November.
President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order 14248 similarly calls for ballots to be received no later than Election Day if they are to be counted, saying that doing otherwise “is like allowing persons who arrive 3 days after Election Day, perhaps after a winner has been declared, to vote in person at a former voting precinct, which would be absurd.”
The Supreme Court’s decision on mail-in ballots could have major consequences for the 47.6 million Americans who voted by mail in 2024, as well as more than 900,000 overseas military and civilian voters covered under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. More than 28 million of the 47.6 million domestic mail-in votes and nearly 800,000 of the 900,000 votes cast and counted under the uniformed and overseas citizens act were from states that allow for return of mail-in ballots after Election Day.
As a political scientist and scholar of migration, I have conducted research for over 20 years on military service members and civilian U.S. citizens living overseas.
Currently, 16 states plus the District of Columbia allow domestic absentee ballots that are postmarked by Election Day to be counted if they arrive after Election Day; 29 states extend that right to military and civilian voters living overseas, recognizing that international mail often delays ballot return.
According to the U.S Constitution, states administer elections. Under the equal protection clause, however, the federal government can pass legislation to prevent inequalities in access to voting. This includes facilitating the right to vote of military service members and civilian U.S. citizens living overseas.
The Supreme Court will decide whether federal law overrides state election administration in determining whether ballots that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive later can be counted.
A 250-year history
The history of absentee, or mail-in, ballots in U.S. elections stretches back 2½ centuries.
Soldiers first voted by mail during the American Revolution, when men from the town of Hollis, New Hampshire, wrote their town leaders asking to have votes counted in local elections.
Pennsylvania passed the first law allowing soldiers to vote absentee in the War of 1812, a right expanded in the Civil War when 19 Union and seven Confederate states allowed soldiers to vote absentee.
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Absentee voting for soldiers from all states was codified in federal law in 1942. A 1944 amendment specified that ballots that were postmarked by Election Day and arrived within two weeks after Election Day could be counted.
Some civilians residing overseas, including civilian government employees and spouses and dependents of military and civilian employees, gained absentee ballot voting rights with the 1955 Federal Voting Assistance Act. All overseas U.S. citizens were enfranchised with the 1975 Overseas Citizens Voting Act. The 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act consolidated military and civilian voting rules. Later laws addressed electronic communications.
Over 1,000 military service members requested an absentee ballot in Mississippi’s 2024 election, along with nearly 1,000 civilian overseas voters. Nationally, more than 900,000 people voted in 2024 under the uniformed and overseas citizens act.
Many of these U.S. citizens would be affected by a ballot receipt deadline on Election Day. Their votes, coming from around the world, are often not able to be counted because of late arrival.
National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Under the magnifying glass in Florida
Overseas absentee military and civilian ballots came to widespread notice in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. That election – and ultimately the presidency — centered on state election law being waived by canvassing boards under pressure from the Republican Party to count military and civilian absentee ballots received after Election Day.
The Supreme Court decided in December 2000 to stop further counting of mail-in ballots received after Election Day because of tight certification deadlines, with the Electoral College meeting just six days later.
Congress was concerned about the unequal treatment of ballots at home and abroad in the 2000 election. To move toward addressing these concerns, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act in 2002, which includes measures to facilitate overseas voting.
Ensuring that everyone gets a vote
Increasing mail-in voting has been a question of making sure everyone who qualifies to vote can do so. Oregon was the first state, in 1998, to offer mail-in voting. Surveys have shown that more Democrats than Republicans voted by mail in 2020. Sending ballots to all voters reduces that gap.
By 2020, 33 states offered “no excuse” domestic absentee voting, with others expanding or facilitating mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic that year.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program is charged with making it easier for overseas voters to vote. It continues to find obstacles, including problems in returning ballots on time. Meanwhile, Florida election supervisors in November 2025 requested that Florida officials reinstate a checkbox that was dropped from Florida absentee ballots in 2021. The checkbox allowed the voter to request an absentee ballot for the next election.
Mail-in ballot security
Following concerns about the security of mail-in ballots in the 2000 election in Florida, the 2002 Help America Vote Act required that all states have a minimum security requirement.
The multiple levels of scrutiny include signature comparison, ballot tracking and penalties for malfeasance from the moment of registration to ballot request, to ballot receipt. With these layers of security there were only an estimated four fraudulent votes cast for every 10 million mail-in ballots in the 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 U.S. general elections.
Mail-in voting elsewhere
The United States is one of 32 countries worldwide that allow mail-in voting for at least some of its citizens. These include the United Kingdom since 1945 and Germany since 1957.
In Germany’s federal elections in 2025, 37% of all voters, or 18.5 million citizens, cast a ballot by mail. German citizens who are eligible to vote automatically receive ballots. In the United Kingdom’s 2024 election, just under 5%, or nearly 1.3 million citizens, applied for mail-in ballots.
The bottom line
The Supreme Court case could reshape the voting landscape in the United States, potentially affecting 47 million people, including some 5 million military and civilian voters living abroad. Watson v. Republican National Committee could also affect laws in 29 states. The outcome of the case has the potential to make voting more difficult for millions of civilian and military voters at home and abroad.
Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Politics + Society – The Conversation
The Trump administration has released a new food pyramid. However, some say its nutrition advice may not entirely be an improvement. Here’s why.
Health Digest – Health News, Wellness, Expert Insights
NOTN-Eaglecrest Ski Area officials say the resort continues to operate even with the extreme winter weather, closures, infrastructure problems and leadership turnover.
One of the most significant operational challenges for Eaglecrest has been a major water system failure beneath Fish Creek Lodge. Officials said the break was caused by aging infrastructure, not freezing, but repairs were complicated when a separate heating-system water line was damaged during initial work.
Contractors are now scheduled to install a supplemental water line, with hopes of restoring service next week. Water testing will be required before potable use can resume.
Mountain operations crews are continuing grooming and trail preparation as the snowfall allows, though mechanical issues with snowcats have slowed the progress.
Contractors are on site assisting with repairs. Plans are also being developed for snowmaking improvements and the possible return of night skiing.
According to the managers report released after the meeting last night, Eaglecrest has seen access improvements. For the 2025-26 season, the City and Borough of Juneau assumed responsibility for maintaining Fish Creek Road.
City crews are currently widening the road to improve traffic flow to the ski area.
Despite the continuous operational hurdles, the report discussed strong participation in snowsports programs. The ski area hosted three holiday camps with 125 students and launched its first multi-week programs in early January.
Thursdays meetings also brought notable leadership changes.
First reported by the Juneau Independent, General Manager Craig Cimmons resigned, after taking up the position on September 30 of 2024.
Board chair Hannah Shively stepped down for health reasons. Erin Lupro, a longtime employee and former acting general manager, was appointed interim general manager, with Cimmons assisting in the transition for up to 30 days.
Eaglecrest has faced financial strain as well, including a reported 40% drop in season pass sales and major projected deficits in the years leading up to the proposed gondola project.
On January 5, a report was presented during a Special Finance Committee Planning Meeting that shows Eaglecrest is facing mounting budget deficits.
Eaglecrest entered the current fiscal year with a budget deficit of $691,600, with the lowest previous fund balance in fiscal year 2006.
Under the current projections, the report estimates the fund balance could reach between negative $2.5 million and negative $3.0 million at the start of fiscal year 2027.
The mountain’s long-term financial planning is tied heavily to the proposed gondola project, but the first potential gondola related revenue is only expected in the final two months of fiscal year 2028.
Officials said additional updates on operations, infrastructure repairs and leadership transitions will be shared as the season continues.
Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here’s an offering of the best of this week’s crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.Politics
NOTN- All Juneau School District (JSD) schools will be closed today January 9, due to the weather.
A statement was released by JSD yesterday evening saying that for the safety of students, staff and families all classes, meetings and activities are cancelled.
City and Borough of Juneau engineers are continuing to monitor the roofs at CBJ facilities during the closures.
Thane Road will be closed at the avalanche gates beginning at noon today due to a high risk of avalanches. An avalanche advisory for all known slide paths also went into effect yesterday evening, and officials warn that hazardous conditions are expected to intensify over the coming days.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced the emergency closure for Thane Road, the closure is scheduled to be re-evaluated at 8 a.m. Saturday.
“The avalanche hazard is expected to remain high over the next few days,” DOT said in their social media post, “If a natural avalanche reaches the roadway, it is unlikely DOT&PF will be able to safely remove the avalanche debris until the hazard can be minimized from mitigation work or once the hazard has decreased naturally.”
At the same time, the City and Borough of Juneau warned that avalanche risk across the Mount Juneau slide paths remains high and is expected to significantly increase over the next few days.
An atmospheric system bringing warmer air and precipitation has raised concerns about destabilizing the deep snowpack that has built up over weeks of heavy snowfall. While the situation does not currently warrant an evacuation advisory, city officials said preparations are underway.
Officials said an emergency alert would be issued if an evacuation advisory is called.
Authorities are continuing to monitor avalanche conditions closely and emphasized that public safety remains the priority.
The city is bracing for heavy rain and potential the for more flooding of roadways and storm drains as an atmospheric river is expected to impact much Southeast Alaska into the weekend, weather officials are saying Juneau will see a transition to rain later today.