Ketchikan’s local tribe was recently awarded a $5 million grant to help develop an addiction healing center north of town. It’s part of about $250 million distributed to projects across Alaska through the Rural Health Transformation Program. That’s a federal initiative formed last year that aims to strengthen rural health systems around the country. 

Alaska’s Department of Health announced the rural funding for over 250 projects around the state on Thursday. The Ketchikan Indian Community’s healing center received more funding than most of the other projects.  

Tribal administrator and CEO Emily Edenshaw said the funding will be used for facility renovations and IT updates. 

“I’m really, really grateful for this incredible gift,” Edenshaw said. “And you know, now the real work begins.” 

The tribe purchased the former Salmon Falls Resort last year after the 11-acre facility was foreclosed on. It’s equipped with a restaurant, boat dock, bunkhouses and guest rooms that can sleep more than 50 people. There’s also space to grow the facility. 

And unlike some tribally-led healing centers, which are only open to tribal members, KIC’s facility will be open to everyone. Edenshaw said the tribe is hoping to start peer support groups at the healing center next year. She said that will be dependent on construction at the facility. 

“We’re just really excited that this gift allows us to really put into action the dreams of our council, as well as several prior council leaders, our tribal leaders, as well as our tribal citizens,” she said.

Edenshaw said the tribe is going to seek more funding from the federal rural health program to further develop the facility. She said the tribe is also working on a website to post information about the center in real time. 

The healing center project received pushback from north end residents earlier this year when the tribe asked to rezone the property. Ketchikan’s borough assembly ultimately approved the rezone request.

The Ketchikan Indian Community isn’t the only local group who received funding through the program. PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center was awarded nearly $7 million to develop robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery. Mobile integrated health units, pharmacies and nonprofits in Ketchikan and Prince of Wales Island also saw funding.

Hunter Morrison is a Report for America corps member for KRBD. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one. Please consider making a tax-deductible contribution.

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The Ketchikan Gateway Borough Assembly earlier this week voted to remove a planning commissioner for making racist remarks at a public meeting. 

Darlene D-Svenson made discriminatory comments towards the local tribe during a planning commission meeting late last month. Community leaders, state lawmakers, and local government officials immediately condemned her remarks and requested her resignation. But she did not resign. 

Borough Mayor Austin Otos co-sponsored the resolution for her removal and introduced it at Tuesday night’s assembly meeting. 

“Elected officials or appointed members sitting behind the dais representing the [Ketchikan Gateway Borough] are held to a higher standard,” Otos said at the meeting. “If any of us were to utter these words, I would hope that the same standard be applied to any one of us.”

The Ketchikan assembly has already passed a resolution denouncing D-Svenson, but because planning commission seats are appointed by the mayor, they can not be recalled like an elected official. The assembly had to change the municipal code in order to remove her from the position, which required two public hearings. 

The resolution to remove D-Svenson passed unanimously. 

In response to a parking variance requested by the Ketchikan Indian Community last month, D-Svenson asked “how much more white people will have to pay for KIC in this community.” 

D-Svenson has since said her comments were on behalf of concerned business owners and not racially charged. She did not immediately respond to KRBD’s request for comment. 

D-Svenson was appointed to the planning commission in 2023 by former mayor Rodney Dial, who now serves as an assembly member. 

“I had hoped and prayed that Ms. Svenson, realizing the near universal public condemnation of her statements that were further supported by her social media posts, would accept responsibility, publicly apologize, ask forgiveness, and resign, and then use this as an opportunity to grow as a person,” Dial said. “But that didn’t happen.”

D-Svenson’s removal is effective immediately and she has until Oct. 30 to file an appeal with the borough clerk. If that happens, the appeal will then go before the assembly. If they choose to uphold the appeal, D-Svenson would serve the rest of her originally appointed term, which runs until March. If she does not file an appeal, the planning commission will declare a vacancy next month. 

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Alaska Native education specialists stressed self-determination and the importance of culture at Tuesday’s Elders and Youth conference in Anchorage. 

Ethan Daayoosh Petticrew spent over 30 years in education and holds a master’s degree in K-12 instruction and curriculum. He is Unangax̂ and Tlingit – Yeil of the Kiks.adi from Gagaan Hit – and grew up in Wrangell in Southeast Alaska. He oversees early education for the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. 

“We should not have to choose between academic excellence and cultural identity. Our children deserve an education that makes them stronger in both worlds. Our children should never have to leave their culture at the door of the classroom,” said Petticrew, followed by applause.

Tlingit and Haida opened culture-based early education programs this year in Craig and Klawock on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast. Petticrew also talked about the tribe’s plans for a 12-acre tribal education campus in Juneau, which will serve students of all ages. Fundraising is ongoing, but it’s expected to cost about $90 million. 

“Think about what that represents,” Petticrew said. “Children beginning their education in a culturally grounded preschool, going all the way through university level, where our culture, our language, our identity are interwoven with academic excellence. That is tribal self-determination in action.”

Petticrew was joined on stage by several others, including educator and culture bearer Joel Łiq’a yes Isaak, a member of the Keniatze Indian Tribe from the Dena’ina region in the Kenai Peninsula. He holds a doctorate degree in Indigenous Studies. Isaak highlighted improved test results for Ketchikan students who joined a tribally operated program run by tribal teachers. He said the Western educational system wasn’t serving Native students well, but that has changed.

“Within three months, they’re making years’ worth of growth. It’s amazing,” Isaak said, and the audience applauded. “And that’s because our youth are brilliant. And when the tribe is valuing that brilliance and connecting with language, culture, and creating safety, learning happens very rapidly.”

Tina Náakw Laatseení Woods also spoke to the Elders and Youth crowd. She is Unangax̂ and Chamorro from Guam and is originally from Saint Paul Island. She holds a doctorate in Clinical Community Psychology with a Rural Indigenous Emphasis and has worked in youth wellness programs for decades. She said bringing culture into education could help address the high rates of suicide among Alaska youth. She said her own academic journey was really difficult as a child because she was removed from her mom for seven years, and she suffered from mental health issues.

“Even though I struggled and I had unstable living environments, there were adults in my life,” she said. “My faith and my education has really brought me to where I’m at today.”

The education panel was one of many discussions and workshops held at the Elders and Youth Conference in Anchorage. Hundreds of people participated in the event, which ran from Oct. 19-21 at the Dena’ina Convention Center.

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In the Nov. 3 general election, Alaska voters will decide consequential races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor and the state Legislature, in addition to determining the fate of two ballot measures.

You’ll see fresh Q&As with the candidates who made the ballot in the three statewide races: U.S. Senate, U.S. House and governor and lieutenant governor.

And for the state House and Senate races, we’ve carried forward the Q&As we did with those candidates ahead of the August primary election, but cleaned up the candidate lists to reflect who didn’t advance or has dropped out.

KRBD will soon be adding an additional questionnaire for candidates running for State House District 1. We will also be hosting a live candidate forum which will be posted online shortly after broadcast.

If you have questions you’d like us to ask during the forum, email us at news@krbd.org.

The post 2026 Alaska Voter Guide appeared first on KRBD.

KRBD’s 2027 Community Calendars are here! Packed with local information, meetings, and performances and featuring twelve gorgeous photos that were voted Photo of the Day in 2026!

Calendars are $15 and can be purchased at KRBD 1101 Copper Ridge Lane, Parnassus Books in Ketchikan or online below. They make a fantastic gift!

The post KRBD 2027 Community Calendars are Here! appeared first on KRBD.

To submit a local photo, send it to photo@krbd.org. You can vote for your favorite Photo of the Day submission by going to our Facebook page and hitting “like!” We announce a new winner each week, and the winner gets a bag of Raven’s Brew coffee (prize must be picked up at the station).

The post Southern Southeast Alaska Photo of the Day appeared first on KRBD.