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P E N I N S U L A
Thursday, January 10, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 86
‘We need to be ready’
In the news Man in apartment wounded by shot fired from parking lot ANCHORAGE — A shot fired in the parking lot of an Anchorage fast-food restaurant wounded a man in an apartment across the street. Anchorage police department spokesman MJ Thim says police have not determined whether the man was targeted or hit by a stray bullet. The man was wounded early Wednesday by a shot fired outside a McDonald’s restaurant on Northern Lights Boulevard in west Anchorage. Police took a call shortly before 1 a.m. of shots fired. Investigators found the injured man with a wound to his upper body in a second-floor apartment. He was taken to a hospital with what police say are nonlife-threatening injuries. Police are looking for witnesses who can identify the shooting suspect.
Fairbanks teen charged in fatal stabbing of older brother FAIRBANKS — An 18-year-old Fairbanks man has been charged with manslaughter in the fatal stabbing of his older brother. Dustin Charley is charged in the death early Monday of 29-year-old Jonathan Titus. Charley called 911 after the stabbing and told police he had armed himself with a small knife because he was afraid of how Titus was acting. Police say Titus spent Sunday night drinking and twice woke the younger man to have him make Titus a drink. They also engaged in what police described as a pushing match, and later, a fight. Police say after the second physical encounter, Titus returned to Charley’s sleeping area and the younger man stabbed his brother. Charley is represented by the Alaska Public Defender’s office, which did not immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.
LNG project committee focuses on potential community impacts By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Chairman for the Alaska LNG Advisory Committee, Tim Johnson, presented an update at Tuesday’s Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting, saying the group is focusing on potential impacts the proposed project would have on borough communities. The role of the Alaska LNG Advisory Committee is to monitor the activities and developments related to the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas project slated for Nikiski. In his presentation, Johnson emphasized the importance of planning and being prepared for when the project comes to fruition. “Even though there’s not
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feedback from borough communities about potential impacts the LNG project could have across the peninsula. Through their bimonthly meetings, the committee is hoping to elicit more comments from the public regarding the project. Johnson said the committee has heard a lot of public testimony, especially when it comes to concerns about rerouting the Kenai Spur Highway. Currently, the highway passes through the approximately 900-acre footprint of the planned LNG plant, which will liquefy and export gas sent from an 800-mile pipeline from The industrial area of Nikiski is pictured in this undated photo. the North Slope. (Photo/File/AJOC) Johnson said the project is very important to Alaska and the a project now, we need to be son said at Tuesday’s meeting. borough. working toward having a plan in The borough mayor’s office “We want to get input from place if it’s sanctioned,” John- is currently working on getting See LNG, page A3
See LIMBO, page A3
See TAX, page A3
Erik Scholl, who owns cafes at the Hurff Ackerman Saunders Federal Building and the State Office Building in Juneau, talks Wednesday about having about half the patrons at the Federal Building location since the partial federal shutdown started on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018. (Michael Penn/Juneau Empire)
car this month. That plan is certainly on hold. There are no date nights for the time being and no impulse purchases. He said it’s been surreal to be without work for the first time
since he was 13. He’s worked through multiple government shutdowns, but none this long. Wednesday was the 19th day of the shutdown. “I think we kind of figured
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
it might be a paycheck or two just because of the state of the administration and everyone digging their heels in,” McCabe said.
By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
On day 19 of the federal government shutdown, Joe McCabe stood in the lobby of the Hurff Ackerman Saunders Federal Building and gazed up toward where his office was. “My plants are up there dying, I think,” McCabe joked. “Who knew it would be this long?” The plants in his office — where he’s not legally allowed to go as he’s furloughed — are the least of his and many of his colleagues’ concerns. McCabe, 55, is a paralegal specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s General Counsel’s Office. Federal employees across the country are either on furlough or working without pay as a result of an impasse in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump and Congress have been unable to reach an agreement about the national budget. At the center of negotiations is funding for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. McCabe’s hoping to retire in a couple years, and hopes this shutdown doesn’t drag on as he’s still saving. He and his wife were hoping to buy a new
Borough looks to join online sales tax efforts An ordinance introduced at the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting would appropriate $10,000 to help set up a work group, which would establish a system for Alaska municipalities to impose a sales tax on online purchases. Once set up, the borough could gain an estimated annual $1.5 million in additional sales tax revenue, according to the ordinance. The Alaska Municipal League, a nonprofit organization of 165 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities, is spearheading the effort to collect sales tax from remote sellers, who are vendors not within the borough or state. At Tuesday’s assembly meeting, borough Mayor Charlie Pierce said he met with city officials from around the borough on Dec. 20, to discuss collecting sales tax through online sales. Pierce said borough attorneys will be involved with the process as it evolves. “It is coming — it’s the change of the times,” Pierce said at the meeting. The Alaska Municipal League is requesting contributions from Alaska cities and boroughs to support efforts in establishing an initial working group that will hire a contractor who will implement a statewide, independent online sales tax administration system for sales by remote sellers. The borough plans to make $10,000 available for the Alaska Municipal League.
Federal workers in limbo as shutdown continues
ACLU prepares lawsuits against Dunleavy admin Juneau Empire
—Associated Press
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska is preparing to file a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration, it announced Wednesday. The ACLU is alleging that the administration violated
the constitutional rights of state employees by firing them. Details of the lawsuits will be released at a 10 a.m. Thursday press conference, according to a press release from the ACLU of Alaska. The press conference will take place at the ACLU office in Anchorage. Casey Reynolds, a spokes-
person for the ACLU of Alaska, declined to comment about the lawsuits Wednesday and said more information would be available at the press conference. It’s not publicly known how many employees have been terminated since Dunleavy took office. A records request from the Empire to
Bill would require rape kit testing within 6 months By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
On Monday, Alaska House Rep. Geran Tarr (D-Anchorage) pre-filed public safety legislation that would require the timely testing of sexual assault/ rape kits in Alaska. HB 20 aims to prevent a backlog of untested kits by requiring testing within six months, according to press release sent Tuesday by Tarr’s office. “In many cases, rape kits are evidence of heinous crimes. Justice for victims demands that
Rep. Geran Tarr, D-Anchorage, and Rep. Andy Josephson, DAnchorage, listen during a hearing at the Capitol in January 2017. (Michael Penn/Juneau Empire file photo)
we find ways to remove bureau- sexual assault kit goes untested cratic hurdles and test these kits is another day that a predator is See TEST, page A2 in a timely manner. Every day a
the governor’s office asking for the number of employees terminated have not yet been returned. After his election in November, Dunleavy requested hundreds of state employees submit resignations and indicate if they wanted to work for the upcoming administration. The Associated Press re-
ported about 800 employees, including commissioners, scientists, prosecutors and others, received the request. This isn’t an uncommon request for an incoming governor, but Dunleavy’s team told the Associated Press at the time that this request had a bit wider scope than normal.
Anchorage Museum exhibit remains closed ANCHORAGE (AP) — An exhibition featuring Alaska Native artifacts at the Anchorage Museum will remain closed until earthquake-cracked display cases are repaired. The Anchorage Daily News reports the exhibit displaying hundreds of items on loan from the Smithsonian Institution is expected to reopen in mid-March. Museum deputy director Kirsten Anderson says the
magnitude 7.0 earthquake caused “minor damage” in the form of small cracks on specialized glass cases. The Nov. 30 quake did not damage any of the artifacts. The quake did cause minor damage in the museum’s older part of the building, but normal operations mostly resumed within days. The main exhibit of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center opened in 2010 and closes in 2022.