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P E N I N S U L A
Tuesday, February 12, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 114
Alaska House has yet to organize 1 month into session By BECKY BOHRER The Associated Press
JUNEAU — Almost all Alaska House members have been able to make $8,000 each in allowances so far this legislative session while the chamber has been at a standstill. The House hasn’t set up any formal committees or heard a single bill this session due to the lack of an organized majority. Lawmakers said Monday they’ve kept busy with constituent work and getting up to speed on various issues, with some saying they’ve gotten little pushback from people in their districts. But with the scheduled 90-day session nearly one-third over, frustration is bubbling up. Rep. Dave Talerico, a leader of the Republican caucus, said Alaska residents are upset and “have every right to be.” He said assignments of “significant power and position” have been offered in hopes of luring lawmakers to join a GOP-led majority, with little response. “Every day that we sit here without a fullyfunctional government, we waste valuable dollars that we cannot get back,” Talerico said in a statement. He knocked as unrealistic the concept of a power-sharing structure that has been floated. The 40-member House has 23 Republicans but just 20 of them have aligned with the GOP caucus. Alaska lawmakers don’t always See HOUSE, page A3
Correction In the Homer News Sea Watch column, published Monday in the Clarion, the article quoted Malcom Milne. He said that some of the statements attributed to Glenn Merrill and International Pacific Halibut Commission officials were not accurate. Those quotes have been removed from the online version and should not have run in the print version.
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Critics protest ANWR drilling By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — Protesters in Alaska urged federal officials to keep oil rigs out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge despite a federal law requiring lease sales in the wilderness area. At a Bureau of Land Management environmental review hearing in Anchorage, Laura Herman urged that no drilling be allowed because of the effects of extraction on the region and the long-term effects of burning the fossil fuel. Herman, 29, said she was too young to be telling “old-timer” stories about how cold it used to be in Alaska, but she did say signs of climate change are all over her home state. “If you’ve lived in Alaska for more than 15 years, you can see it with your own eyes,” she said. Until last summer, she said, her family always
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1960 during President Dwight Eisenhower’s
A decades-old mural discovered behind the Kenai Municipal Airport’s siding will be remembered through a pictorial display in the renovated terminal. The mural, discovered last month after construction crews removed the airport’s metal siding, was painted by an advanced art class taught by Renae Larson at Kenai Central High School in the spring of 1977. The mural depicts peninsula icons, like a Russian Orthodox Church, a dog musher and a fishing net. Airport manager, Mary Bondurant, said a photographer is taking photographs of the mural, which will be displayed in the new termi-
See ANWR, page A11
See MURAL, page A2
Protesters hold up flags during a public hearing on a draft environmental plan on proposed petroleum leasing within Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge on Monday in Anchorage. Congress in December 2017 approved a tax bill that requires oil and gas lease sales in the refuge to raise revenue for a tax cut backed by President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Dan Joling)
stocked their freezer with salmon from the Copper River. However, they weren’t able to fish for salmon last summer be-
cause warming ocean temperatures did not allow sufficient salmon to return to allow spawning and fishing, she said.
Local groups tackle homelessness By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
Members of the community gathered for a Shelter Development Workgroup at Love, INC on Thursday to discuss expanding shelter access across the peninsula. Love, INC Executive Director Leslie Rohr led the meeting, and laid out two major priorities for the workgroup going forward: To create emergency coldweather shelters by coordinating with churches in the community, and to acquire a location that could function as transitional housing for homeless families. Both of these services are currently lacking on the Kenai Peninsula, with shelter access limited to places like
Love, INC’s executive director Leslie Rohr leads the Shelter Development workgroup at Love, INC in Soldotna on Thursday. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
the LeeShore Center, which focuses on women experiencing domestic violence, and Friendship Mission,
which only serves men. The goal of organizing an emergency cold-weather shelter service could be
accomplished soon, Rohr said. The policies and procedures created by Anchorage’s emergency coldweather shelter system have been reviewed by Love, INC and adapted to fit a model that would work on the peninsula. The plan is for a group of churches to open their doors and serve as emergency shelter when the temperature drops below a certain point, which Rohr said would be 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The churches involved would share the responsibility on a rotating list, and the list would be posted publicly so that people can know which church will act as the cold-weather shelter on any
See LOCAL, page A11
Students, school reps voice concerns to senators at Q&A By MOLLIE BARNES Juneau Empire
Even teenagers are getting worried about budget cuts to education. In an emotional meeting on Monday, high school students and school representatives from all over the state spoke passionately about the importance of teachers at a Q&A with senators. “It’s not taking money; it’s taking people,” said Kevin Lubin, a student from Anchorage, to a standingroom only crowd of about 80 people. “It’s not a budget, not an approval — it’s students’ lives.” While the students gave emotional testimonies pleading the cause of edu-
School district representatives from around the state sit in for a Q&A with senators at the Capitol on Monday. (Mollie Barnes/Juneau Empire)
cation to the senators and representatives at the meeting, some school board representatives played to the numbers, specifically
the high cost of insurance and retirement for teachers across the state. Pete Hoepfner, former Association of Alaska
School Board President, spoke about how Cordova School District is experiencing budget strain. “A lot of it boils down to money,” he said. “One of the things that struck me recently was the health insurance, we’ve seen in the last four years a huge increase, 16 percent of our total budget is going to health insurance.” It costs $369,000 a year for Cordova School District to pay for health insurance, he said. Per student, that’s $1,130 dollars. He said this is money that is being taken out of the classroom. He also mentioned how cuts to the ferry system affect the Cordova School District, See Q&A, page A11
Legislators brace for unknowns of state budget By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget will be released Wednesday, and very few people outside his office know what to expect. Finance Director David Teal, who has worked in the Legislative Finance Division for about 20 years, said the
Airport mural to be immortalized in photos
budget process has been a little less transparent this year than most years. The Office of Management and Budget and the governor’s administration haven’t tipped their hands much, he said in a phone interview Monday. “We just don’t know what’s coming,” Teal said. Many legislators know that at the very least, cuts
are coming. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mia Costello, RAnchorage, said lawmakers are bracing themselves for major budget cuts. “I expect, from what we’re hearing about it, that it’s going to be surprising to a lot of people in terms of the reductions,” Costello said of the budget. In meetings, press confer-
ences and news releases, legislators have expressed that they’re expecting major cuts in the budget. For example, Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, proposed legislation Monday to try and raise money for school districts with the expectation that there will be budget cuts. It’s difficult for lawmakSee STATE, page A3
Conflict of interest holds up crime bill By MOLLIE BARNES Juneau Empire
New conflict of interest laws enacted last year are causing some hold up for a crime bill in the Senate. At Monday’s floor session, Sen. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, requested that Senate Bill 32 (one of the four crime bills the governor introduced) be dismissed from the judiciary committee, which she chairs. Her reasoning for requesting the dismissal was that she has a conflict of interest with the bill, since her husband works at a health clinic as a primary care provider, and the clinic sometimes treats Alaskans with addictions who have been ordered by a court for treatment. “Am I frustrated? Absolutely,” Hughes said on the Senate floor. “I made a commitment to my constituents. (Crime) is the number one mission my constitutions asked me to take on.” The bill was dismissed unanimously from the Judiciary committee and reassigned to State Affairs committee. It will now have to start over in the legislative process. Hughes said later in the floor session that the new ethics laws are overreaching. “When the ethics law erodes an essential function of the Legislature, there’s a problem,” Hughes said. “Yes, our laws should prevent selfenrichment by legislative measures, but the recent changes overshoot that target by quite a bit. The law needs to be fixed.” The new rules, instituted as part of House Bill 44 and signed into law last year, dictate that a legislator can’t vote on a bill if they or a family member can benefit financially from that bill. The law See BILL, page A2