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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 49, Issue 109
In the news Power-sharing among options Alaska House is exploring JUNEAU — An Alaska House Democratic leader says members will need to wrestle with whether a power-sharing agreement is the best option for organizing the chamber. Rep. Bryce Edgmon says lawmakers have explored other options and none so far has materialized. A group of eight representatives has been looking at power-sharing arrangements in other states. Edgmon says other scenarios are also floating around. Tuesday marked the 22nd day of session, matching the longest period it’s taken to elect a permanent speaker. The prior distinction was in 1981. The organization that year was tenuous and the speaker chosen on Day 22 was later replaced. Edgmon said the House did not come off well during a failed speaker vote Monday, which was initiated amid ongoing efforts to try to organize.
Forest Service reschedules meeting on Alaska timber sales JUNEAU — The U.S. Forest Service has rescheduled a public meeting about planned timber sales in southeast Alaska. Alaska’s Energy Desk reports the federal agency has scheduled the meeting for Feb. 20 in Klawock on Prince of Wales Island after it was announced and then canceled within a week last month. The agency had worked on the timber sales project, which could take place on Prince of Wales Island, during the partial government shutdown, prompting criticism by environmental groups. Buck Lindekugel, an attorney with the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, says the agency should not have been working on the project, but he’s pleased the Forest Service is taking more time consider his objections. — Associated Press
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State of the Union
Trump calls for end of resistance politics By JULIE PACE and CATHERINE LUCEY Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Facing a divided Congress for the first time, President Donald Trump on Tuesday called on Washington to reject “the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution.” He warned emboldened Democrats that “ridiculous partisan investigations” into his administration and businesses could hamper a surging American economy. Trump’s appeals for bipartisanship in his State of the Union address clashed with the rancorous atmosphere he has helped cultivate in the nation’s capital — as well as the desire of most Democrats to block his agenda during his next two years in office. Their opposition was on vivid display as Democratic congresswomen in the audience formed a sea of white in a nod to early 20th-century
By MOLLIE BARNES Juneau Empire
President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, as Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., watch, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
suffragettes. Trump spoke at a critical moment in his presidency, staring down a two-year
stretch that will determine whether he is re-elected or leaves office in defeat. His speech sought to shore up
Republican support that had eroded slightly during the See SOTU, page A2
State employment down slightly By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Statewide, employment in December was down .3 percent, or 900 jobs, from December 2017, according to new data from the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Retail, manufacturing and professional and business services each lost 400 jobs while information and financial activities each fell by 200, the state’s press release said. Health care grew with 400 jobs. Transportation, warehousing and utilities also added 200 jobs, as did the hospitality, mining, construction and logging industries. See JOBS, page A3
Alaska ferry system braces for budget cuts
Data shows the borough’s annual unemployment rate through the years. (Graphic by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
Advocates for the Alaska Marine Highway System are prepping for budget cuts. House representatives held an informational meeting about the economic impacts of the AMHS in anticipation of the governor’s 2020 budget proposal, which is expected to contain significant cuts to spending across the board. The governor’s office is expected to release the budget by Feb. 13. “Given the scope of the anticipated cuts that are being discussed, we decided to hold this meeting,” said Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak. One option that could move the AMHS forward would be to turn it into a public corporation. J. Robert Venables, the Executive Director for the Southeast Conference and member of the AMHS Reform subcommittee, said at the meeting on Tuesday that turning the AMHS into a public corporation would be the best way to provide stability and allow the system to strategically balance the issues it is facing, including declining traffic due to more people opting to travel by air. “We need to be a step away from the political treadmill that keeps going on and have an executive board that can bring expertise,” Venables said. “(It could) actually look at some strategic partnering that will allow job creation. Should the State of Alaska actively
See CUTS, page A3
Sullivan questions Facebook over ivory sales policies By MOLLIE BARNES Juneau Empire
Alaska U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan targeted Facebook Tuesday in an open letter discussing questionable offenses by the social media giant against Alaska Natives selling art on Facebook Marketplace. Late last week, Sullivan said in a press release, he was made aware of the policy issue by the Juneaubased Sealaska Heritage Institute, which informed him that Sitka skin sewer Robert Miller posted a sea otter hat for sale on Facebook and received a message saying
In this Feb. 26, 2018 photo, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, RAlaska, gives a thumbs up during his annual speech to a joint session of the Alaska Legislature at the Capitol. (Michael Penn/Juneau Empire File)
it was not approved because it didn’t meet Facebook’s
commerce policies. Facebook has since indicated the
removal of these ads was a mistake. However, Sullivan is requesting greater clarity on the scope of prohibited items for Alaska Native craftsmen and their customers around the world. “The Alaska Native community has for thousands of years used animal products for survival, subsistence, and as a key means of cultural expression,” Sullivan wrote in his letter. “Inhibiting the sale of these items not only limits the cultural exchange Facebook has empowered the Alaska Native community to share, but also threatens one of the key economic opportunities
in remote Alaska villages.” Last February, Sullivan worked with Alaska Native artists to resolve an issue with Etsy — an online marketplace of crafts and handmade items — that initially refused to sell Alaska Native artists selling products or artwork with sealskin, sea otter and ivory. Previously in October 2016, he convened a Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee field hearing at the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention to discuss a series of reported problems and confusion surrounding See SALES, page A2
Flu cases in Alaska are way up Woman found shot, cases of the flu in Alaska, ac- more than 300, according to killed in vehicle on cording to the report. In Jan- the report. uary, there were 750 — there While the majority of casIt looks like a lot of Alas- have been 1,014 total — with es in January and in general Anchorage street kans resolved to get the flu most of them coming in the were in Anchorage, there BY BEN HOHENSTATT Juneau Empire
in 2019 based on recent flu reports. Lab-confirmed cases of influenza have risen dramatically beginning in January, according to the Alaska Influenza Report issued by the Alaska Division of Public Health. Through December 2018, there were 84 lab-confirmed
back half of the month. “These past couple of weeks there’s certainly been an increase,” said Louisa Castrodale, epidemiologist for the Alaska Division of Public Health. The week of Jan. 12, there were still fewer than 100 flu cases reported. In each of the next two weeks, there were
were 54 confirmed cases in Southeast Alaska in January and 127 for the season as a whole. “We’re detecting flu throughout the state,” Castrodale said. It’s also just flu season in Alaska. The CDC’s most reSee FLU, page A3
ANCHORAGE (AP) — Anchorage police are investigating the shooting death of a woman along a downtown street. Police just after 11 p.m. Monday received a report of shots fired in the 1100 block of Cordova Street. Officers found a woman
dead in a vehicle. She had been shot in the upper body. The woman’s name was not immediately released. Police say they have no suspect information to release. They’re asking for information from the public, including surveillance video.