NOTN- What began as a simple solution to an overcrowded online buy-and-sell page has grown into one of Juneau’s most influential community forums.
The Juneau Community Collective, founded in March of 2014 by local resident Dan DeBartolo, now counts nearly 30,000 members and serves as a central hub for sharing information, asking for help and staying connected during emergencies and everyday life.
“So many people wanted to post all kinds of information about the community that wasn’t strictly about selling and buying.” Said DeBartolo, “So I just decided, we need to start up something else, initially, the page was called Juneau Community Concern, and that was early 2014, so we’ve been up for about 12 years now, but after a while, we switched to Juneau Community Collective, because it wasn’t just about people airing their concerns.”
Over the years, it has become a go-to resource during major events such as glacier outburst flooding, the recent winter storms and infrastructure disruptions, even a source for your local news outlets.
Members frequently use the page to report road conditions, locate lost pets or belongings and coordinate help during emergencies.
Reminiscing on favorite community posts and stories, DeBartolo said, “Somebody had a pet cat that had climbed up a tree, the cat did not want to come down, was up there for multiple days, the fire department was having a challenge getting involved. It became this big community interest piece where people had suggestions, people wanted to help these individuals just get their poor cat out of the tree. We were able to follow a story of somebody, in a town that really loves their pets, have their cat finally get rescued, and all the community support. I remember just feeling really good about having a space where people could discuss that and see it.”
Moderation has become an important part of maintaining the group, DeBartolo said.
As online discourse has grown more polarized, the Collective adopted clearer rules and more active moderation to keep discussions constructive.
“As the online space became more contentious, we needed to set very clear boundaries.” DeBartolo said, “By and large, the majority really appreciated that we spelled out what you could and couldn’t do on our page. We have those who feel it’s a little too strict sometimes, but it’s supposed to be as broad an appeal as possible, where people feel they can come in, air their concerns, or ask for help, ask questions and get those things solved.”
While the page is private to reduce spam and fake accounts, DeBartolo said membership is open to current residents, former Juneauites and those planning to move to the area, provided they follow the group’s guidelines.
Facebook’s attribution tools now clearly identify the Collective’s administrators, DeBartolo said this helps distinguish the official page from imitation groups.
“Imitation is the best form of flattery. I don’t know if the intention is flattery there, but I will tell you that if folks are worried that they’re in the authentic space that we have tried to create for this community, Facebook has allowed us to do something called attribution. So now, when you go look for Juneau Community Collective Official, which is at the back end, my name is actually on the page, and you can click on my name, and it tells you that the page has existed since 2014, you can see the authentic individual who’s actually responsible for the content on this page.” DeBartolo said, “What we see in a lot of other spaces, they don’t actually identify their moderators, or they use fake profiles. It’s very intentional. I will be transparent. My moderators will be transparent. So if you’re looking for a source you can trust, we want to be that.”
As the Collective continues to grow, DeBartolo says it’s mission remains focused on fostering connection rather than division.
“I don’t want our page to be about how people feel about national events. I want this to continue to be a place where you feel connected to Southeast Alaska, Feel connected to the Juneau community when you can’t get out and see them every day, when we have these situations like weather events that cut you off from in person communication.” DeBartolo said, “We want to be a source where you can have these discussions and feel that people are willing to help.”
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Photo byJames Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy is expected this evening to detail his plans for a long-term plan to balance Alaska’s expenses and revenue.
“There will be a temporary, seasonal sales tax concept put forward for discussion with the legislature,” Dunleavy said Wednesday during a cabinet meeting open to reporters.
Will state lawmakers approve that idea?
“I don’t have the answer to that until we start having discussions,” he said.
Since 2015, Alaska’s annual budget process has frequently been snarled by low oil prices that have made it difficult for legislators and governors to balance the state’s books without spending from savings.
Alaska relies on oil revenue for almost a third of its general-purpose revenue, and for most of the past decade, the price of North Slope crude has been relatively low.
Alaska has never had a statewide sales tax, and it hasn’t had a statewide income tax since 1980.
Since 2018, the state’s No. 1 source of general-purpose revenue has been the proceeds of the Alaska Permanent Fund, followed by oil.
Dunleavy’s proposal will mark a major shift for the governor, who is term-limited and in the final year of his second term. For his first seven years in office, the governor has attempted to resolve the long-term imbalance in state finances by cutting services and spending.
On the rare occasions that legislators have passed new tax measures, Dunleavy has vetoed them, saying he will accept no tax bills that are not part of a complete fiscal solution.
The governor is expected to unveil his proposal for a complete solution on Thursday. He said he views any tax measures as a temporary “bridge” until the North Slope begins producing more oil and a proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline comes to fruition.
“The proposal and the fiscal plan has multiple components, and basically what it is, it’s a road map to inject stability, especially over the next five years when revenue is not quite what will be in the out-years,” he said.
In addition to proposing a statewide sales tax, the governor is expected to propose bills changing oil taxes and the Permanent Fund dividend.
“There’s always room for negotiation, but there’s two sides. That (goes) both ways,” he said.
Dunleavy’s remarks came during a Wednesday cabinet meeting that saw the leaders of state departments praise Dunleavy and point to ways in which the state’s position has improved since he entered office.
Crime is down, commissioners said, statewide employment is expected to reach a new historic high this year, and the state’s gross domestic product is also up.
Alaska remains near the bottom of national rankings in educational performance and violent crime, but Dunleavy said he wanted to emphasize that many of the state’s problems are improving.
“We wanted to make sure that people in Alaska know that … there’s a lot happening. These people are working hard. State employees are working hard. There’s a lot going on,” Dunleavy said. “It is a safer place. Is it the safest place in the country? No. That’s a motivator to keep going. We are creating more jobs. Can we, should we, do better? Absolutely. Keep going.”
Members of the Alaska House of Representatives leave their chambers on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, the first day of the second session of the 34th Alaska State Legislature. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska lawmakers opened the second year of their regular legislative session on Tuesday with an ambitious agenda but low expectations amid a tight budget that appears likely to draw the lion’s share of legislators’ attention.
“It’s one big log jam,” said Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka.
The Alaska Legislature operates on a two-year cycle between elections; bills are carried over from the first year to the second, but if they don’t pass the Legislature by the end of the second year, they expire and must start all over again.
Speaking Tuesday, members of the coalitions in charge of the House and Senate said they hope to address pensions for public employees, the proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline, a long-term plan to balance state expenses and revenue, elections legislation and a handful of other major topics — all while dealing with an annual state budget that’s tightly constrained by the price of oil and a reluctance to enact legislation that will raise revenue.
On top of that, there are two newly appointed members of the state House, two members of the House who switched to the Senate, and new leaders in both the House and Senate’s minority caucuses.
The regular session is scheduled to end May 20.
Topic No. 1 is the state’s annual budgetary balancing act
“I think the big topic always is the budget,” said Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham.
In December, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed a $7.75 billion state budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 plus additional spending in the current fiscal year.
Alaska lacks the revenue to pay for that spending, so the governor has proposed spending $1.8 billion from savings.
Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel and co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, noted that the governor’s budget proposal calls for a large Permanent Fund dividend.
Reduce the governor’s proposal to $1,000 per recipient, and the deficit disappears — but only if you don’t include additional expenses that the governor left out of his budget, Hoffman said.
The Legislature could use savings to balance the budget, but members of the Senate majority believe the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve — the state’s primary savings account — shouldn’t be used for recurring expenses.
“I’ve said it a couple of times, we shouldn’t be spending those dollars on one-time items,” Hoffman said.
If that position holds, the governor’s budget will need to undergo major changes before becoming final.
It takes 45 votes — 30 in the House and 15 in the Senate — in the 60-person Legislature to spend from the Constitutional Budget Reserve.
Getting those votes has historically been a challenge because it will require members of the majority caucuses to compromise with members of the minority caucuses.
In prior years, the Legislature has deadlocked over the issue, driving the state to the brink of a government shutdown.
“The budget is in an environment that’s fiscally constrained, and it’s going to be challenged by additional expenses that we’re going to see in the supplemental measure. That’s our top priority,” Edgmon said.
Governor’s veto of transportation projects looms large
One of the “additional expenses” that has legislators worried the most is funding for the state’s annual transportation construction budget.
Last year, Dunleavy vetoed a chunk of that budget because lawmakers intended to pay for it by diverting money from previously funded projects. Legislators did not take up a veto override during their August special session.
That’s left a hole of about $70 million needed to unlock ten times that amount of federal money.
Filling the hole will likely require spending from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, which needs a supermajority in the House and Senate.
“There are businesses that are going to close if the next construction year is not funded, and so I’m pretty concerned about it,” said Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage.
Stedman called it a “significant issue.”
“We do have a deficit in this current fiscal year, and it is very difficult to deal with the three-quarter vote. … So we’ll wait and see what the governor’s proposal is to fix the mess he created,” Stedman said.
More than 20 groups representing a variety of organizations across the state have been urging lawmakers to act on the issue, going so far as to launch a statewide ad campaign that asks Alaskans to also join the lobbying effort.
Without quick action, the groups say, there will not be enough time to put money to work during the summer construction season.
Members of the Alaska House’s all-Republican minority caucus pose for photographs on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, the first day of the second session of the 34th Alaska State Legislature. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Governor expected to reveal fiscal plan during State of the State
Shortly after opening their session on Tuesday, lawmakers formally invited Dunleavy to deliver his annual State of the State address at 7 p.m. Thursday.
That’s unusually early, but Dunleavy is expected to use the speech — his final State of the State before leaving office in December — to unveil a comprehensive plan to bring state expenses and revenue into alignment over the long term.
That’s likely to require significant new taxes or major budget cuts: A 10-year plan published by the governor’s office in December showed that the state will need to raise as much as $1.6 billion in additional money per year to keep state services at current levels in 2035.
Since oil prices plunged in 2015, state legislators and governors have been unable to fully resolve a fiscal gap that has bedeviled the state.
“It’s something that’s been on the docket for a long time, but it comes with a certain level of controversy, angst and maybe outright resistance,” Edgmon said.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, said lawmakers initially expected the governor to propose a handful of bills, “but now there’s going to be an omnibus bill that has all of the issues in it,” he said.
House and Senate leaders were briefed on the outline of the governor’s plan earlier this week without receiving details.
Stevens, Edgmon and other legislators reserved comment on the governor’s ideas until they see the full text.
“It’s impossible to opine on it at this point without seeing the bills, without seeing what he’s truly putting forward,” Edgmon said.
Newly confirmed Sen. Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, shakes the hand of Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, on the first day of the session at Jan. 20, 2026 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Veto override vote possible on Thursday
Hours before the governor talks about a comprehensive fiscal plan, legislators will vote on an incremental bill that would provide funding for education programs across the state.
The House and Senate passed Senate Bill 113 last year but Dunleavy vetoed it. If lawmakers override the governor, online companies would be required to pay corporate income taxes in Alaska for services delivered in Alaska.
Current law allows them to pay those taxes at the site of their server farms or other physical offices.
“I think Senate Bill 113, quite frankly, is a litmus test for where we’re going to go with the fiscal plan,” Edgmon said.
Pension bill awaits attention in the Senate
On Friday, the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee will begin hearing a bill that would re-establish a pension plan for state employees and teachers.
The House passed the bill last year, leaving the issue in the hands of the Senate, which passed a similar bill in 2024. While Dunleavy has previously voiced opposition to the idea of a pension revival, a narrow majority of legislators appear favorable to the idea, saying it is important for Alaska to offer competitive benefits when hiring prospective workers.
Rep. Garrett Nelson, R-Sutton, introduces his wife and youngest daughter (standing at background) on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, the first day of the second session of the 34th Alaska State Legislature. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
New legislators and legislators take their seats
Last year, Sens. Mike Shower, R-Wasilla, and Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, resigned from the Legislature to cover statewide office. Dunleavy appointed Reps. George Rauscher, R-Sutton, and Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, to fill those Senate seats.
Rauscher and Tilton sat as senators for the first time on Tuesday, while their replacements sat as representatives for the first time in the House — longtime legislative aide Steve St. Clair and Sutton Community Council member Garret Nelson.
Both are stalwart Republicans and aren’t expected to significantly change the mix in the state House, where they will sit in the 19-member, all-Republican House Minority caucus.
The House is controlled by a 21-person coalition of Democrats, independents and two Republicans.
The House’s Republican minority has a new leader this year — Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, who replaced Rep. Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, during the legislative interim. Johnson gave up her position on the powerful House Finance Committee — a hurdle for any bill with a price tag — in order to take her role as the face of the minority.
Replacing Johnson on the finance committee is Rep. Elexie Moore, R-Wasilla.
Some members of the House minority were unhappy with Johnson’s election as leader in part because that vote took place before St. Clair and Nelson were appointed. Since then, Johnson has been confirmed with a second vote, and any division among members of the House has quieted.
In the Senate, Shower’s departure required the selection of a new leader for the six-person, all-Republican minority caucus there. Sen. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, was elected to that role by his fellow minority Republicans.
The Senate continues to be led by a 14-person coalition that includes nine Democrats and five Republicans.
Newly appointed House Minority Leader Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Anchorage and House Minority Whip Rep. Justin Ruffridge speak with reporters on the first day of the second session of the 34th Legislature on Jan. 20, 2026 (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)
Legislators prepare to take up natural gas pipeline issues
The proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline will be the top priority of the Senate Resources Committee, Giessel said on Tuesday.
Developers of that project have said they intend to make a go/no-go decision on the pipeline’s first phase early this year, and Dunleavy has floated the idea of a large state property tax break in order to encourage the project.
On Tuesday, members of the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee voted to spend up to $250,000 to hire Pegasus Global to advise the Legislature on the pipeline project. The Legislature already has an advisory firm, GaffneyCline, on contract, but that firm’s parent company, Baker Hughes, plans to get involved with the pipeline project.
NOTN- The City and Borough of Juneau is asking residents to weigh in on what city services matter most as officials prepare for budget cuts in the coming fiscal year.
CBJ is asking Juneau residents to take the CBJ Community Compass Survey before mid-February. Community feedback collected through this survey will help inform the CBJ assembly’s budgeting process this spring.
“What we hope to achieve is basically gathering community input to have a deeper understanding and depth of knowledge of the community values and priorities.” Said Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon, “And the other thing that we’d like to do is just increase awareness of our budget process and how that all works.”
Following the passage of Proposition 2 , which expanded sales tax exemptions in the October 7, 2025 Regular Municipal Election, significant reductions in sales tax revenue are expected and will likely require service-level cuts to the city’s annual budget.
CBJ officials say they seek to better understand community funding priorities and values, including where residents are willing to make tradeoffs and which services are critical to quality of life.
This effort will include an online survey, in-person workshops, and Assembly listening sessions.
“We’re also looking for one broad community listening session where we’ll take public testimony on the budget.” Said Weldon, “That, in a nutshell, is what we’re trying to do for our public engagement through this process, trying to figure out what the public sees as important, and trying to figure out some kind of consensus on where the cuts are going to come from.”
Lisa Vanderpump is not only a reality TV star, but also an entrepreneur with multiple restaurants. Unfortunately, she tasted failure at these two eateries.
Mashed – Fast Food, Celebrity Chefs, Grocery, Reviews
Long live Andrea Swift and Donna Kelce’s heartwarming friendship.
The duo—whose respective kids, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, got engaged in August—braved the winter weather for a sweet moms’… E! Online (US) – Top Stories
In the wake of another fatal shooting involving immigration agents, Trump administration and Minnesota officials are locked in a heated dispute over what exactly transpired and who’s to blame for the death of 37-year-old Alex Pretti.
And they don’t just disagree in their interpretation of the events — they fundamentally differ on how the shooting transpired and what exactly triggered it.
Border Patrol agents shot and killed Pretti on Saturday during a tense encounter between observers and federal agents, a dynamic that has led to several violent interactions as the Trump administration escalates its nationwide immigration crackdown. His death comes less than a month after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good. The scenes of the shootings were roughly two miles apart, and protesters flooded the streets after both.
Border Patrol commander Greg Bovino on Sunday accused Pretti of having “injected” himself into a law enforcement investigation. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Pretti had committed a “felony” by impeding law enforcement. And Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche blamed local state officials for what he called an “entirely avoidable” event.
But Minnesota officials see a different story in the footage. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said Pretti was lawfully armed and exercising his constitutional rights, and Democrat Sen. Amy Klobuchar told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the video shows him holding a cellphone and helping a woman up, not acting aggressively toward agents.
Shortly after Saturday’s shooting, Noem offered one account of the incident: She said Pretti “approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a 9mm semi-automatic handgun” and that he “violently resisted” when the officers attempted to disarm him.
Noem then told Fox News Sunday that agents on Saturday “clearly feared for their lives” before shooting Pretti. She and other federal officials have claimed that Pretti was approaching agents with a gun.
“We do know that he came to that scene and impeded a law enforcement operation, which is against federal law. It’s a felony. When he did that, interacting with those agents when they tried to get him to disengage, he became aggressive and resisted them throughout that process,” Noem said. “These officers used their training, followed their protocols and were in fear of their lives and the people around them.”
Despite Noem’s claim that the agents feared for their lives, O’Hara, speaking on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning, said he had seen no evidence Pretti brandished a weapon during the encounter.
“You have a Second Amendment right in the United States to possess a firearm,” O’Hara said during an interview with host Margaret Brennan. “And there are some restrictions around that in Minnesota, and everything that we see that we are aware of shows that he did not violate any of those restrictions.”
But in an interview with CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Bovino said a person’s Second Amendment rights “don’t count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct and impede law enforcement officers.”
Noem seemingly suggested the fact that Pretti possessed “a gun and ammunition, rather than a sign” meant the scene was a “violent riot.”
“We have someone showing up with weapons and are using them to assault law enforcement officers,” she said Saturday of the situation.
Amid conflicting accounts over whether Pretti’s hand at any point during the incident was near his gun, video verified and analyzed by several media outlets, including the New York Times, show the item Pretti appeared to be holding was a phone he was using to film the scene before he attempted to help a woman who had been pushed to the ground by Border Patrol agents. According to a Washington Post analysis of video footage, federal agents appear to have secured Pretti’s gun just moments before an agent shot him.
“What you see is someone brandishing a cellphone who is simply there with a cellphone helping someone up, a woman up, as his parents point out, when she had slipped,” Klobuchar told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And so when I hear these officials from the Trump administration describe this video in ways that simply aren’t true, I just keep thinking, ‘Your eyes don’t lie.’”
Just as in the aftermath of Good’s shooting, federal and state officials disagree about who bears responsibility — and how to manage the fallout.
Blanche on Sunday told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Pretti’s shooting was a “tragedy” but added that “this was entirely avoidable if we had a governor, if we had a mayor, if we had leadership in Washington and over in Minnesota that actually cared about their citizens.”
But Gov. Tim Walz and local officials say it’s the Trump administration that has sown chaos. Walz deployed the state’s National Guard to Minneapolis in the aftermath of Pretti’s killing, which he called “sickening.”
“I just spoke with the White House after another horrific shooting by federal agents this morning. Minnesota has had it. This is sickening,” Walz posted on X. “The President must end this operation. Pull the thousands of violent, untrained officers out of Minnesota. Now.”
“This administration and everyone involved in this operation should be reflecting. They should be reflecting right now and asking themselves, what exactly are you accomplishing?” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, said at a Saturday press conference. “If the goal was to achieve peace and safety, this is doing exactly the opposite. If the goal was to achieve calm and prosperity, this is doing exactly the opposite.”
Sam Adams is a classic beer, started in the 80s and thriving today. But where did this now iconic lager get its start? To the surprise of none, a pub in Boston.
