In this two-photo composite, Senate Finance Committee co-chairs Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, and Anna MacKinnon, R-Eagle River, take questions from reporters during a press conference on Thursday. They held the meeting to discuss the Senate Finance Committee’s version of the state operating budget. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
It’s likely that Alaska Permanent Fund dividends will be roughly $1,600 this year. That’s because the Senate Finance Committee’s draft version of the state budget introduced Thursday includes the same amount as the House’s.
The committee budget would cut $98 million to fund the operations of state government from the House’s version of the budget, House Bill 286. Most of those cuts would be to Medicaid.
The Senate would provide funding for public schools in a separate bill, House Bill 287, by drawing $1.8 billion from permanent fund earnings.
Bethel Sen. Lyman Hoffman, a majority-caucus Democrat, said that bill should provide reassurance to schools.
“It’s important to note that, with the adoption of this, depending upon how long our session goes, that the education community will not have to give out pink slips,” Hoffman said.
In addition to the public schools funding, another $2.7 billion would be drawn from permanent fund earnings to help pay for the budget and PFDs.
The Senate draft budget would include another $135 million for oil and gas tax credits. The two bodies interpret the amount of credits under state law to be different.
Eagle River Republican Sen. Anna MacKinnon described the committee’s goals during a press conference.
“Alaska’s faced huge deficits,” MacKinnon said. “We’ve drawn down our savings account and we are looking for ways to stabilize both Alaska’s economy and to provide opportunities and optimism for Alaskans.”
The draft budget relies on a $700 million draw from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, the piggy bank the state has used to cover spending gaps in previous years. The school funding bill would allow the CBR to grow, since the permanent fund earnings would replace spending that would otherwise come from the CBR.
The education funding bill could also provide early funding for education for the fiscal year that begins in July 2019. But it would only do that if the House and Senate reach agreement on Senate Bill 26, a long-term plan to draw money from permanent fund earnings to pay for state government.
The Senate Finance Committee will hear public testimony on the budget and school funding bills Friday morning, beginning at 9 a.m.
Pebble Limited Partnership owner, Northern Dynasty Minerals, and potential partner, First Quantum Minerals, have a few more weeks to finalize their option agreement.
In December, the parties announced that First Quantum had agreed to buy into Pebble at $150 million over four years. At the end of those four years, First Quantum would have the option to become a 50 percent owner of PLP. The original framework agreement gave the companies until April 6 to finalize the agreement.
After the December announcement, Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier said that the initial $150 million would help fund the permitting phase of the proposed gold, copper and molybdenum mine in Bristol Bay.
Northern Dynasty announced in a press release Thursday that the deadline has been extended to April 30. A Northern Dynasty spokesperson said that the negotiations are requiring more time than the initial April 6 deadline, but he did not provide further detail. First Quantum Minerals did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Northern Dynasty Minerals is the sole owner of the Pebble Limited Partnership. Northern Dynasty used to be partnered with Anglo American on the project. But Anglo American backed out of the partnership in 2013.
Due to record low Chinook forecasts and state restrictions, Wrangell canceled its annual King Salmon Derby for the first time. Wrangell has held the longest king derby in Southeast Alaska, lasting a whole month. The local Chamber of Commerce will hold a Silver Salmon Derby instead.
Other towns had limited or canceled their derbies in the past. But this marks the first change for Wrangell since the event’s beginning 65 years ago.
The cancellation is due to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s area closures. The agency announced in January that District 8, at the mouth of the Stikine River, would be closed for sport retention from April to mid-July.
The local chamber had anticipated further closures and got the official notice last week. Districts 6 and 7 are closed until mid-June. They encompass waters surrounding the entirety of Wrangell Island west to Coffman Cove.
Cyni Crary is the executive director of the Wrangell Chamber of Commerce.
“It’s really unfortunate that our king salmon derby is being canceled, but there’s nothing we can do about it considering the closures. And so we feel like this is an excellent opportunity to bring back the coho salmon derby,” Crary said.
Wrangell’s derby for silver or coho salmon is a throwback for the town. It was last held in the late 1970s. This marks the first time it will be held not in conjunction with a king derby.
“And so this time people aren’t going to be able to fish for quite a while and retain the fish. So this is like, it will get people really excited to get on the water and compete,” Crary said.
The silver derby is meant to supplement the excitement and the economic boost usually seen with the king derby. Folks from out of town come to Wrangell to fish the derby, and local retailers could always count on getting a boost from the event.
“Just everything that people get when they go out fishing, from their fishing licenses, to their beer, to their bait,” Crary said.
The Silver Salmon Derby will last from Aug. 11 through Sept. 3, but only on the weekends.
This year’s derby tickets will be reduced from $35 to $20. The chamber will award weekly $250 cash prizes, with a $500 prize for Labor Day weekend. The top awards will be based on a cumulative three-fish catch. Those prizes are $2,000 for first place, $1,500 for second and $1,000 for third.
Some of Abby Slater’s Easter bread. (Photo by Victoria Petersen, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)
Russian Orthodox Easter comes April 8, and families across Alaska are preparing for the event with Easter Bread. The symbolic bread came to the state with Russian colonists, but has taken on new life with Alaskans who have added their own traditions to it.
Scraping the sides of the bowl, Abby Slater is forming a dough of milk, sugar, yeast and flour. It’s Slater’s first time making Easter bread. She’s observed and helped her Aleut family make it many times before though.
“My earliest memory of Easter bread was actually later in life, because we didn’t reconnect with my aunt until I was a little bit older,” Slater said. “She was the one who had the recipe for the Easter bread. My grandma died before I was born, my native grandma, my kukax. So she didn’t get to pass that along to us grandkids,”
The recipe her aunt uses is the same the family has been using for generations. Originally from Kashega, a small village near Dutch Harbor, Slater’s family traditionally used dried berries and candied fruits in their Easter bread.
“It’s interesting hearing all the different variations of it because at the end of the day, it’s just a bread recipe, right? We talk about things about how some people put berries in it, or candied fruit,” Slater said. “That’s the version I grew up with. And other people are like ‘that’s not how you make it.’ And other people frost it, and in my mind I’m like ‘that’s not how you make it.’ But that is how people make it, it’s just not what I grew up with, you know?”
St. Innocent Russian Orthodox Church in Anchorage. (Photo by Victoria Petersen, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)
Diane Chris says that the Easter bread in Prince William Sound is elaborately decorated. She’s a Matushka — priest’s wife — at St. Innocent Russian Orthodox church in Anchorage.
“On Easter, when you’re in a church, I’ve been in the churches, they’re small in the Sound. I’ve been there, and you’re fasting, and all you can smell is this sweet kulich, and the frostings and it’s just amazing,” Chris said. “Normally they put a candle on the top of them, and it’s lit for the blessing. It’s very festive.”
Easter bread, also known as kulich, is a decadent, egg-rich, dairy-rich, yeast-risen bread. Mother Capitolina, the only nun at St. Innocent Russian Orthodox church in Anchorage, says the bread symbolizes Easter.
“We’re doing everything we have fasted from: butter, eggs. Now it’s the resurrection,” Mother Capitolina said.
Chris helps make food for a bake sale the church is having. She says the bread is baked in coffee tins, representing the tomb Jesus resurrected from.
Traditionally, Easter bread is always made by women and is a skill mothers pass down to daughters.
Every year, St. Innocent church has an annual bake sale where church members bake Easter bread, fry bread, piroshkis, pirok and other traditional foods. The money from the sale goes to their church and is open to the public.
“We have lots of people throughout the state that have grown up with the bread, from the villages,” Chris said. “They have different types of breads that they’re used to, so we have a variety here that are baked by the ladies of the church.”
It’s not just the Alaska Russian Orthodox population that enjoys the tradition of Easter Bread. Chris says that St. Innocent’s annual bake sale is always the Saturday before unorthodox Easter.
“We try to do it prior to everybody else’s Easter, because they like it for their Easter,” Chris said. “It’s become a tradition for a lot of people who aren’t necessarily orthodox.”
There are over 50,000 followers of Russian Orthodoxy in Alaska, and 49 parishes set up across the state. The first Russian Orthodox Church established in Alaska was on Kodiak island in 1795. Many of these Russian Orthodox churches are baking Easter bread in mass quantities; some are even shipping it.
St. Tikhon, another Russian Orthodox Church in Anchorage, also sells Easter bread. Via their Facebook page, St. Tikhon takes orders for Easter bread and sometimes ships to villages across Alaska.
The bread is blessed on Easter Sunday by members of the Russian Orthodox church and then shared with the congregation. Easter bread is only eaten by the Russian Orthodox between Easter and Pentecost, which is 49 days after Easter.
Slater isn’t Russian Orthodox, but the making of Easter bread ties her to her Alaska Native family.
“I feel really connected, I guess,” Slater said. “Maybe that sounds silly ‘cause it’s just bread. But I feel like I’m participating in something– It’s kind of the way that I feel when I cook anything that’s an old recipe. You just feel like you’re part of something that’s older than you, and bigger than you.”
Harold Goode of Kotzebue (Photo by Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage)
This week we’re hearing from Harold Goode in Kotzebue. Goode is a chef at Maniilaq long-term care facility. When he moved to the region a year ago he had to learn to cook in a very different way.
GOODE: I’ve been a chef, or in the cooking field, for about 26-27 years. Just been in it, and then our home is in Montana, so we cooked deer, elk and all that, so it’s nothing different cooking the traditional foods here. Now… seal and whale, that’s a different beast. Hey, I’m willing to learn it.
They received a seal, so I helped them skin it and everything. And it was so deep, deep, deep red. So it was rich in iron, because their deep-water [animals], you know, they swim deep. So, the flavor is a little irony, a little bit of iron in there. But, you know, I tasted it fresh and it wasn’t that bad. It was actually good. I was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ But, the seal oil has been a little tough one for me. And I just, I think I might have to pass on that.
These elders here, I love them. Beautiful people. Beautiful. There’s a woman out there who… she doesn’t say anything, but she looks so strong. So, I asked one of her caretakers, and she said, ‘Yeah. She used to be the breadwinner in her family. And she would go out whaling by herself. Just crazy.’ But she looks the part. She’s just a strong, beautiful Alaska Native woman. So, there’s a couple in here like that, but she just really… every day I come in, I make sure she’s okay. She’s something else, I feel.
You know, we’re in their world. And we have to, I think as a chef and food service provider, I think it’s very important that we give them, within regulations, what they’re used to. I mean, that’s food for the soul, you know what I mean.
Volunteers watch a U.S. Coast Guard vessel approach the St. Nicholas during a training exercise in Juneau waters on Wednesday. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
Juneau emergency responders took part in a training exercise this week to test their ability to work together in the event of a large-scale threat. Part of the simulation involved responding to a nuclear bomb aboard a ferry.
About 30 community volunteers got the chance to ride along for a close-up view of operation “Shielded Eagle.”
On Wednesday, the St. Nicholas took off from a dock by the ferry terminal with passengers and a handful of crew.
It may have looked like a typical tour excursion, but the St. Nicholas was standing in for the Alaska Marine Highway ferry Columbia. It was also carrying an imaginary nuclear threat.
Later on, members of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Juneau and the Juneau Police Department would board the vessel. But for now, Allen Marine Tours put out coffee and doughnuts for passengers, who range from retirement age to college students. Despite the serious nature of the exercise, volunteers are enjoying themselves.
“Like everybody said, I really want to thank you for being here. I mean, although, it’s a pretty nice day for a boat ride,” Rich Baenen, a member of the Coast Guard Exercise Support Team, said.
Baenen explains that the training scenario involves a radiological device planted somewhere on the boat by terrorists. Earlier, a device that emits low levels of radiation — for real — was hidden on board.
Volunteers take part in a training exercise for Juneau emergency responders aboard the St. Nicholas in Juneau waters on Wednesday. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
“What your role is, is simply passengers, right? Somewhere in this scenario, there could be some bad guys, some bad gals, but you’re not one of them,” Baenen says.
Jack and Judy Marshall, both in their 70s, went along for the free boat trip.
“You know, with all this sun and everything, it’s going to be really beautiful out here,” Jack Marshall said. “A lot of mountains are white. Should be great. Maybe see a whale or two.”
And they did, almost immediately. A humpback whale surfaces near the boat.
Carolyn Garcia is on the email list for Juneau’s emergency planning committee and signed up as soon as they put out the call for volunteers last week.
“I’m interested in the drill just because I’m also a Red Cross volunteer and I’m interested in helping respond to emergencies and participate and just know what’s going on as far as what the rest of the community is doing,” Garcia said.
After a few hours spent floating offshore, a Coast Guard boat approaches. They pull up alongside the boat and board quickly, plastic guns in their holsters.
A member of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Juneau uses a radiation detector aboard the St. Nicholas on Wednesday. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
The team asks passengers to sit with their hands above their heads until they can verify identities.
Passengers secured, the team searches the boat and locates the hidden device.
Coast Guard Lt. Tim Storbeck was part of the team of coordinators in charge of the exercise. He said they were happy with the team’s performance. While a terrorist scenario may seem like a remote threat for Juneau, he said the point was to test response capabilities and make Juneau safer.
“If something major happened where we absolutely needed the police department to go out, if we hadn’t practiced beforehand,” Storbeck said. “For example, they don’t have life jackets, ’cause they don’t have a maritime unit, so the Coast Guard had to provide life jackets for the police department. We wouldn’t want to find that out when we’re going out to respond to some sort of scenario.”
Police Lt. Krag Campbell agreed. They regularly practice on their own, but don’t get the chance to collaborate much.
“We don’t get that many opportunities to work with them like that, so this was a good opportunity to us to work together to see how are things were working, how’s our communication,” Campbell said.
The exercise continued Thursday, with the teams picking up right where they had left off. Evaluators will debrief at the end of the week.
Rebecca Logan and Ethan Berkowitz appeared on Alaska Public Media’s Alaska Insight program in mid-March (Photo: Alaska Public Media)
Since returns first came in for Anchorage’s local elections Tuesday night, more than 20,000 additional ballots have been counted, and the preliminary results appear to be holding.
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz maintains a 19-point lead over his main challenger, Rebecca Logan. On Thursday evening, Logan conceded the race, writing on her campaign’s Facebook page that she wishes Berkowitz the best in his second term.
Proposition 1, the effort to change how public bathrooms are regulated, is failing. The gap between yes and no votes has remained at about 4,000 ballots, even as more returns have come in. However, opponents of the measure have not yet declared victory and are monitoring the final ballot count.
One school board race between Alisha Hilde and Tosha Hotch remains close, but Hilde’s lead has grown over the last few days.
So far, the clerk’s office has processed nearly 71,000 ballots and estimates there are still another 10,000 to count.
Legislature picks up pace, with little time to spare
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
After a slow session, the Alaska Legislature advanced budget proposals this week. Both the House and Senate would draw money from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for state government for the first time.
After pushback, public comment period on Pebble Mine extended
Rashah McChesney, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Juneau
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will take public comment on its initial scoping for an environmental permit through June.
Killing of 10 Denali wolves sparks debate over increasing protections for the animal
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
The killing of 10 wolves by a single hunter north of the Denali Highway, has raised new calls for protection of the animals in the Denali National Park region.
Logan concedes Anchorage mayoral race to Berkowitz as returns come in
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Since returns first came in for Anchorage’s local elections Tuesday night, more than 20,000 additional ballots have been counted, and the preliminary results appear to be holding.
Moose stomps on Alaska man’s foot after he kicked her
Associated Press
State officials say a man was injured north of Anchorage after a moose that he had just kicked stomped his foot in return.
New map shows the potential future of permafrost on the North Slope
Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks
“We hope that this tool will be useful for engineers who [are] doing some projects in this area, for government thinking about what they should expect, and also for any people who live in Alaska,” Vladimir Romanovsky said.
U.S. Coast Guard, Juneau police test response capabilities with nuclear scenario
Adelyn Baxter, KTOO – Juneau
Juneau emergency responders trained for a simulated a terrorist threat with a nuclear device aboard a ferry. About 30 Juneau residents got to ride along for the exercise.
AK: The sweet traditions of Russian Orthodox Easter
Victoria Petersen, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Russian Orthodox Easter comes April 8, and families across Alaska are preparing for the event with Easter Bread. The symbolic bread came to the state with Russian colonists, but has taken on new life with Alaskans who have added their own traditions to it.
49 Voices: Harold Goode of Kotzebue
Anne Hillman, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
This week we’re hearing from Harold Goode in Kotzebue. Goode is a chef at Maniilaq long-term care facility. When he moved to the region a year ago he had to learn to cook in a very different way.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced on April 6 that it would add two months to its initial scoping period. Public comments during that scoping process help the Corps decide what to focus on during the environmental review of the project.
The Corps had initially scheduled a 30-day scoping period that would have ended in April. Now, people will have until June 29 to weigh in.
Alaska Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Andy Mack and Senator Lisa Murkowski wrote to the Corps asking for more time. Both said the federal review process needs to include longer public comment periods given the scope of the massive mining project.
Murkowski also asked the Corps to reach out to Alaska Native Corporations and expand its outreach to rural communities in the Nushagak River watershed who are likely to be impacted by the mine.
The mine would be located near some of the richest salmon fisheries in the world.
Permafrost researcher Vladimir Romanovsky, pictured in his office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in April, 2018. On his computer screen is a new map he helped develop showing permafrost scenarios out to 2090. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
All infrastructure in the Alaska Arctic — from roads to homes to the trans-Alaska pipeline — rely on stable permafrost to be functional. And it’s no secret that as the Arctic warms, that stability is being threatened.
Now, researchers have put together a tool that’s designed to help visualize how thawing might play out in specific places, so they can better prepare for the future.
Vladimir Romanovsky is a permafrost researcher at the Geophysical Institute and a professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He’s sitting in his office looking at a map on his computer.
“If you’re interested in Barrow, you can make this map kind of blow up a little bit and then see what is the situation in Barrow,” Romanovsky said, zooming in.
The map is almost identical to what you’d see if you looked up the North Slope on Google maps. But instead of the normal grays and greens, the whole region is lit up in vibrant colors representing ground temperatures.
The map allows you to see what might happen to those temperatures if, say, greenhouse gas emissions come down a bit from what they are now. In that scenario — 70 years from now — the permafrost remains frozen, at least in Utqiaġvik (formerly known as Barrow). In another scenario, emissions stay the same and as a result:
“We see it completely change in the colors… and now we see the temperatures are all somewhere above 0ºC, above this threshold, around +1,” Romanovsky said.
No surprise — right around that freezing point is where permafrost starts to thaw. And that’s not great for the structures that rest on top of it.
A few things make this map possible. One is that scientists have already mapped the ecology and geology of the North Slope in a pretty detailed way. And based on that, along with temperature data they’ve collected from 35 sites around the region, they can project how specific parts of the landscape might react to warming temperatures.
“Say if you have two different conditions next to each other, we can say that in this 100 by 100 feet permafrost will behave this way, and next to it, it could behave differently,” Romanovsky said.
In addition to the two different climate scenarios, you can also see how adding gravel, say for a road, or seeing an increase in vegetation might change the temperature of the ground.
Romanovsky emphasizes that the map is not a prediction. Instead, it’s simply a projection of how a few scenarios might play out, based on different assumptions.
“We hope that this tool will be useful for engineers who [are] doing some projects in this area, for government thinking about what they should expect, and also for any people who live in Alaska,” Romanovsky said.
Romanovsky says that the North Slope is just the first region they’ve made a map for. Eventually, they’d like to make others for permafrost throughout the state.
The project was paid for by the Alaska Climate Science Center at the U.S. Geological Survey. It will be available to the public in a few weeks.
Marijuana grown at a Juneau warehouse leased by THC Alaska on March 6, 2018. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
Marijuana has been legal in Alaska since a voter initiative passed in 2014. Retail businesses and commercial growers are operating and paying millions in taxes to the state, but one of only three testing facilities recently shut down and there’s still no decision regarding on-site consumption.
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The suspect took off with tens of thousands of dollars worth of ivory and other Alaska Native artifacts. (Photo provided by the Anchorage Police Department)
Early Saturday morning, a man broke into an antique store in South Anchorage and walked away with tens of thousands of dollars worth of ivory and other Alaska Native artifacts.
Employees of Duane’s Auction Market arrived at work at 9 a.m. Saturday and found the front glass window smashed. Security footage from the store shows a man in a black trench coat broke in around 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Timothy Hayes was arrested by the Anchorage Police on charges of burglary, theft, and criminal mischief. (Photo provided by the Anchorage Police Department)
He grabbed ivory artifacts, including a large ivory tusk, wrapped them up in a rug and made off in a late 90s sedan.
Anchorage Police put a call out for the suspect, sending photos of the man and his car out to the public.
Then, Saturday evening Airport Police responded to a welfare check.
An older man was asking for gas money. When Airport Police arrived they found 60-year-old Timothy Hayes in his 1999 green Ford Contour. In the backseat of Hayes’s care was the rolled up rug with a large ivory tusk sticking out.
Hayes was arrested by the Anchorage Police on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief. The Alaska Native artifacts were seized by the police as evidence.
Rep. Neal Foster responds to a reporter’s question about the legislative session during the House majority press availability on Tuesday. Foster said a long-term plan for the state’s budget or proposing changes to the Alaska Constitution aren’t things the Legislature “must have” this session. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
After a slow session, the Alaska Legislature advanced budget proposals last week. Both the House and Senate would draw money from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for state government for the first time.
While the House and Senate have been far apart on some of the major questions facing the state, the House budget and the Senate’s draft budget are pretty similar.
Both would increase the portion of the budget the Legislature directly controls by more than $500 million. Nearly half of those increases would go to permanent fund dividends, which would be roughly $1,600 — an amount that Gov. Bill Walker said on Friday he’d support.
There are differences between the House and Senate. The Senate would spend less on government operations and more on oil and gas tax credits. And the Senate Finance Committee proposed making a couple of complicated changes related to school funding that would have the effect of moving $1.8 billion from permanent fund earnings to the piggy bank the state has used for years to close budget gaps, the Constitutional Budget Reserve. Senators are concerned that that fund is getting too low.
Walker on Friday criticized the Senate budget for including cuts to public safety funds, including more than $2 million for troopers to travel to rural communities.
On Day 81 of the 90-day session set by state law, it will be a challenge for the Legislature to finish on time. The Senate is looking to pass its version of the budget by Day 90, April 15. Toward that end, the Senate Finance Committee heard public testimony on the budget Friday. But the Senate and House will have to resolve their differences. So the session will likely go at least a few days longer.
The biggest remaining question is whether the two chambers will compromise on a plan on how to use permanent fund earnings to pay for state government in the future. Permanent Fund Corporation CEO Angela Rodell has said fund managers’ job will be harder if they don’t know what the Legislature is going to do from year to year.
But the two sides have so far refused to budge. The House wants to completely close the state’s more than $2 billion spending gap. On top of using fund earnings, the House majority would add taxes on income or the oil and gas industry. The Senate majority position is that it’s enough to pass the permanent fund plan this year.
Earlier this week, Nome Democratic Rep. Neal Foster said he doesn’t think the permanent fund plan bill – Senate Bill26 – or putting the draw or PFD in the state constitution are ideas the Legislature must have completed this session.
“I personally don’t see SB 26 or constitutionalizing (the plan or PFD) as … ‘must haves’ right now for us to leave here,” Foster said.
Outside of the budget, it’s been a slow session. Last year, the Legislature set records for the most number of days in session and fewest bills passed in Alaska’s history. This year, they likely won’t spend as much time in Juneau. But they’re on track to break the record for fewest bills, with only five so far this year compared with 32 last year.
There are a few bills left that the Legislature could focus on. Senate Bill 176 would use bonds to pay off oil and gas tax credits. Several bills are intended to help public safety. Senate Bill 150 would allow judges to use information from other states to determine whether people who’ve been arrested should be released before their trials. Senate Bill 146 would allow the attorney general to schedule newly available drugs as dangerous.
And there’s still a possibility that the Legislature could pass House Bill 75, which would allow judges to temporarily take guns from people who they find to likely be threats to themselves or others.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, pictured here in March 2017, ended a meeting early Saturday after Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, tried to pass a constitutional amendment that would make a full permanent fund dividend part of the Alaska Constitution. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
Three pieces of legislation were scheduled to receive a hearing Saturday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Only one received brief consideration, after which Committee Chairman Sen. John Coghill, a North Pole Republican, abruptly ended the hearing early.
The meeting was scheduled to consider a resolution to put Alaska Permanent Fund dividends in the state constitution.
Another bill sought to repeal the 2016 law that made changes to Alaska’s criminal justice system and a third, House Bill 214, would have renamed crime legislation after murder victim Bree Moore.
But when Anchorage Democratic Sen. Bill Wielechowski made a motion to pass Senate Joint Resolution 1, to amend the constitution to mandate a full PFD under a legal formula used until two years ago, Coghill ended the meeting.
Because Coghill brought down the gavel to adjourn the meeting, the two other bills on the agenda weren’t heard.
Those bills would have repealed the criminal justice law known as Senate Bill 91 and rename a portion of the Alaska Safe Children’s Act as Bree’s Law.
The meeting was unusual in the first place.
It occurred only after three senators banded together to force Coghill to hold the hearing.
Wielechowski, Anchorage Republican Mia Costello and Wasilla Republican Mike Shower used a rarely invoked rule that allows bills to have committee hearings even if the committee chair doesn’t want to hold them.
Coghill said the use of the rule was fair.
“I have been reluctant to hear this and so you guys twisted my arm,” Coghill said. “I think it’s appropriate.”
But Coghill wasn’t willing to have the committee advance the PFD amendment.
Costello said she wishes the Senate Bill 91 repeal she sponsored — Senate Bill 127 — had been heard.
SB91 changed the state’s criminal sentencing, bail and probation laws and has been the subject of a lot of public criticism.
“I think it’s a vital conversation that we have to have with the Legislature and the public, because, in my community, people are not able to walk out their front doors even with a feeling of safety,” Costello said.
It was not immediately clear after the meeting if any of the legislation would be scheduled for a future hearing in another meeting.
Alaska was invited to participate in the California cap-and-trade market in 2015 after lobbying from the Chugach Alaska Corporation. Chugach is also working on developing its own carbon offset credits. (Creative Commons photo by Xa’at)
Big greenhouse gas emitters in California are now able to buy carbon offset credits based in Alaska. The Southeast regional Native corporation Sealaska is using some of its lands for carbon sequestration. Thousands of acres of old growth trees will stay intact for over 100 years. It’s the first carbon bank in the state to be approved for the market.
Sealaska says its another way of securing a future for shareholders.
On the fourth floor of Sealaska Plaza, there’s a board room with an amazing view. A long glass window overlooks the Gastineau Channel. Beyond that, you can see a canopy of evergreens.
Anthony Mallott gestures to the landscape.
“We think we live in a very protected, amazing sacred place on this Earth,” Mallott said. “But there’s room for economic activity.”
Anthony Mallott in his Juneau office. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska News)
Mallott is Sealaska Corporation’s President and CEO. At 42 years old, he’s one of the younger leaders. This morning he went skiing. But he jokes he doesn’t always feel so youthful with a bad knee.
Mallott began working at Sealaska over a decade ago.
“I started in a time period where we could see effectively the end of our timber harvests without getting additional news lands,” Mallott said.
The corporation manages around 360,000 acres in Southeast Alaska, and Mallott says developing the natural resources, like timber, was an important part of creating the first dividends for its shareholders.
But Mallott says the original land allocation Sealaska received only represents a small part of the region.
“It wasn’t the be all and end all,” Mallott said. “It was something that allowed us to move forward. But it hasn’t fulfilled all the expectations.”
The corporation is expected to make money for its shareholders. But it’s already cut close to a third of its trees, and not all of the sites left are ideal for logging, like old growth stands next to salmon streams.
So, Mallott says the corporation faced a challenge. How do you protect those sensitive areas and still make money for shareholders?
“It was really the need to stretch our harvest and diminish our harvest from a higher level that put us in this framework thinking, ‘OK, what really is sustainability for Sealaska?” Mallott said.
Enter the California cap-and-trade program.
Basically, big polluters in the Golden State receive an allowance to release a planned amount of carbon each year. For anything over that cap, companies need to buy additional permits. They can also purchase carbon credits to help negate harmful emissions, and those credits represents an actual, tangible thing: carbon stored in trees — in this case, trees belonging to Sealaska.
Mallott says carbon sequestration looked like the right opportunity. The money generated would help shareholders and nearly half of the trees on Sealaska land could stay in the ground.
Mallott is quick to point out this land isn’t locked up. The corporation can can still develop parcels for tourism or mineral exploration.
Mallott says the project has already attracted a buyer. It’s too early to put a dollar figure on the deal. But he thinks the amount could be huge.
“Multiple millions,” Mallott said. “The financial benefit of this is very significant for Sealaska.”
In the past, conservation groups have been critical of the rate Sealaska has clear cut its forests.
Buck Lindekugel is a grass roots attorney for the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, and he says that old model of logging doesn’t make sense for the region’s economy today. He welcomes the corporation’s new venture.
“We’re excited that Sealaska is seizing this opportunity to explore those options,” Lindekugel said. “We think it’s good for their shareholders, and it’s certainly good for all of us who care about the forest.”
But Mallot says Sealaska has always cared about sustainability and the bottom line.
“The carbon project. Is it a shift? It’s a recognition in the way we’ve always thought,” Mallott said.
Mallott says the corporation isn’t going to stop logging on its remaining land. But it’s also planning to allocate more acreage to carbon sequestration in the near future.
As for what happens to the trees after the 110 years is up, Mallot says that’s up to a younger generation to decide.
The #MeToo movement is being mischaracterized in popular culture. That was a primary message of #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, who spoke at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Friday. Burke says the power of Me Too lies with individuals, not the media.
“It’s your movement. It’s our movement. It is a survivors movement. You are in it if you say you’re in it,” Burke said. “You know, if you need to see MSNBC declare that so-and-so is part of the #MeToo movement, it won’t happen.”
Burke first began using the words “Me Too” as a means of connecting with young women she counseled in Alabama, but dispels the common belief that #MeToo is solely a women’s movement, emphasizing that people of both genders can be victims of sexual violence. Burke is also critical of media over focus on powerful men identified as perpetrators, which she says misses the point of why so many victims of sexual violence are coming forward.
“These people who are standing up are asking for healing. They’re asking for resources,” Burke said. “The other stuff, the punitive stuff, is very… not even secondary. And so this is not a movement about taking down powerful men.”
Burke cautions that there’s a lot at stake.
”I feel like we’re in a unique historical moment,” Burke said. “And if we don’t reshape the narrative, we are going to miss an opportunity to really shift the culture.”
Burke says she hopes people who hear her speak, leave thinking about their role in driving the movement forward.
“We can do this work. We don’t have to wait for somebody else to validate us,” Burke said. “So if y’all are willing to do this work, the only thing I can leave you with are these two words: Me Too.””
Tarana Burke was brought to UAF by the Nanook Diversity and Action Center.
Juneau Democratic Sen. Dennis Egan addresses the Alaska Senate in 2014. He plans to introduce an amendment restoring reductions to the chamber’s ferry system budget. (Photo by Skip Gray/Gavel Alaska)
The state Senate’s spending plan cuts funding from the Alaska Marine Highway System – but not a lot.
Its version of the operating budget shrinks the ferry system’s fuel budget by $370,000, about 2 percent of the total sought.
It also takes $2 million for operational costs out of what’s called the Marine Highway Fund. That holds ticket and other revenues until they’re needed. The House budget put $13 million into the fund and the Senate committee reduced it to $11 million.
“It’s not sustainable. We shouldn’t be spending more out of that fund than we expect to get in ferry revenue. The way to spend more from the ferry fund is to get more people riding the ships,” Egan said.
The ferry system came close to shutting down this month because money had been removed from the Marine Highway Fund. That was replaced in a supplemental appropriations bill passed in March.
The Senate is still working on its full operating budget bill for the fiscal year beginning in July. During an April 3 meeting, Egan said he would try to restore cuts to Marine Highway Fund through an amendment.
“The Alaska Marine Highway System is our road. It just happens to be on water. It needs a stable budget like the rest of the department. Roads, airports and ferries,” Egan said.
Clinic Board Members reported the theft to the Bethel Police Department a week ago, on March 30. According to Police Chief Burke Waldron, the miles accrued on the clinic’s corporate credit card account were being forwarded to a private, personal mileage account instead.
Executive Director LaTesia Guinn unexpectedly resigned from the clinic last week, four days before the theft of the million miles was reported. The Bethel Police went to her home this morning to question her, but they were referred to her attorney, Jim Valcarce.
Waldron would not comment on whether the Bethel Police had any suspects in the case, adding that their investigation is in its early stages. Multiple clinic board members and Valcarce, Guinn’s attorney, declined KYUK’s requests for comment.
Alaska’s Legislature could finish the legislative session within a few days of its scheduled 90-day length. But it’s not clear which bills lawmakers will pass in the remaining days, other than those related to the budget.
Chairman ends meeting after move to advance PFD constitutional amendment
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
Three pieces of legislation were scheduled to receive a hearing Saturday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Only one received brief consideration, after which Committee Chairman Sen. John Coghill, a North Pole Republican, abruptly ended the hearing early.
Pebble begins public scoping meetings in Naknek
Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is starting public scoping meetings this week for Pebble Mine, a proposed gold, copper and molybdenum mine in Southwest Alaska that has generated significant controversy.
Valdez woman run over by drunk driver
Renee Gross, KBBI – Homer
A drunk driver ran over and killed a woman in Valdez Sunday morning outside of a local bar. The Valdez Police Department arrested Ero Walli for striking and killing Chellsie Hoffman, a 31-year-old mother of four, with his pickup before fleeing the scene.
After Prop 1 vote, groups look to Anchorage ahead of midterm elections
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Voters in Anchorage rejected a controversial proposal last week that would have banned transgender people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. The “bathroom bill,” as it was called, mirrored legislation passed in Houston and North Carolina.
Police arrest suspect, recover stolen ivory from Anchorage antique store
Emily Russell, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Timothy Hayes, 60, was arrested by the Anchorage Police on charges of burglary, theft and criminal mischief. The Alaska Native artifacts were seized by the police as evidence.
A million airline miles reported stolen from Bethel family clinic
Teresa Cotsirilos, KYUK – Bethel
A million Alaska Airlines miles have been reported stolen from the Bethel Family Clinic.
UAF hosts talk by #MeToo founder Tarana Burke
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
The #MeToo movement is being mischaracterized in popular culture. That was a primary message of #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, who spoke at the University of Alaska Fairbanks on Friday.
Sealaska Corporation announces multimillion dollar deal to keep trees in the ground
Elizabeth Jenkins, Alaska Public Media – Juneau
Southeast’s regional Native corporation is using some of its lands for carbon sequestration. It’s the first carbon bank in the state to be approved for the California cap-and-trade market.
Ferry cancellations cause challenges for Southeast students
Angela Denning, KFSK – Petersburg
There are no roads linking most of Southeast Alaska. Residents rely on planes and ferries to get from one community to another. But the ferry service has been spotty this year, which has caused challenges for many students traveling to regional events.
Member of the Senate Majority attend a press availability in the Alaska State Capitol, April 9, 2018. Sens. Seated left to right they are Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, and Anna Mackinnon, R-Anchorage. The Senate leaders said the session could end soon. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
Alaska’s Legislature could finish the legislative session within a few days of its scheduled 90-day length.
But it’s not clear which bills lawmakers will pass in the remaining days, other than those related to the budget.
Senate President Pete Kelly said Senate leaders are optimistic about ending the session shortly after Sunday, the last day under the schedule set by state law.
Kelly, a Fairbanks Republican, said there’s been less disagreement between the two chambers this year.
“Last year, it was a full-on war between the House and the Senate,” Kelly said Monday.
By comparison, Kelly describes “high-level cooperation” this year on the budget.
Still, only six bills have passed both chambers. That number is much lower than the current record for the fewest bills passed in the state’s history – 32, set last year.
The Senate passed the sixth bill today – House Bill 168, a measure that repealed the Administrative Regulation Review Committee, which hasn’t done anything in 15 years.
Kelly said the slow pace is the result of differences between the Senate and House.
“It’s just going to be the natural outcome of having two bodies that are philosophically different,” Kelly said. “And we haven’t had that for a long time.”
Eagle River Republican Sen. Anna MacKinnon said there will be opportunities to pass several more bills before the session ends.
“There are many things we agree on and you’ll see those coming to fruition in the last seven days,” MacKinnon said.
They include minor bills to extend boards and commissions into the future.
A leader in the House agreed that much could happen quickly.
“It’s often late in the session when you pass the bills, especially on the second session,” Homer majority-caucus Republican Rep. Paul Seaton, the co-chairman of the House Finance Committee, said.
Bethel Sen. Lyman Hoffman, a Democrat, said that along with budget legislation, the most important remaining bill for the Legislature to consider is Senate Bill 26, which would close most of the long-term gap between state spending and revenue.
“How are we going to have the permanent fund be involved in addressing our fiscal crisis? That I think is probably the most important question,” Hoffman said.
The Senate Majority has stopped short of saying they wouldn’t end the session without a bill like Senate Bill 26, which would draw a percentage of the Alaska Permanent Fund’s market value to pay for state government.
But Hoffman – the longest-serving lawmaker — acknowledged that the two sides continue to differ.
“I wouldn’t be a happy camper” if the session ended without passing a plan, Hoffman said. “Having been here for many years, you have to live with what can get accomplished.”
The House has refused to pass a permanent fund plan without additional taxes that would fully close the budget gap.
The House majority has argued that passing a plan with taxes would be more responsible, and more fair to lower and middle income residents who are losing a significant share of their income through cuts to permanent fund dividends.
The House Finance Committee is discussing House Bill 411, which would raise taxes on oil and gas companies.
Senate leaders said it’s too late in the session to fully debate the bill.
Seaton said the House has been consistent in saying more revenue is essential. And he said the oil tax bill is identical to provisions in a bill the House passed last year.
“They’ve had this,” Seaton said of the tax legislation. “If they haven’t analyzed it, it means they weren’t interested in getting SB 26 done.”
One high-profile bill that could pass is Senate Bill 63, which would prohibit smoking in workplaces, including bars, and in outdoor spaces near workplaces.
The House Rules Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the bill Tuesday.
Committee Chairwoman Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, an Anchorage Republican, had declined to hold a hearing so far this session.
