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P E N I N S U L A
Monday, February 4, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 131
Iditarod 2019 Peninsula mushers’ progress as of 7:09 p.m. Sunday: 31. Mitch Seavey, Seward, out of Willow 48.Ryan Santiago, Sterling, out of Willow 50. Travis Beals, Seward, out of Willow 51. Sarah Stokey, Seward, out of Willow
Alaskans weigh in on ‘super-sized’ PFD Borough back dividend bills. “This plan will take to ask money that our state needs More than 120 Alasfor government services state to kans from all over the state like the (Alaska Marine weighed-in on a pair of Highway System) and bills that would require the education,” Amy Sweenie support state to pay out a “superof Sitka said, adding that sized” Alaska Permanent she did not want Alaska to peninsula Fund dividend, incremen“become like a third world tally, over the next three country.” years, during a Senate Many of those who tes- college State Affairs Committee tified against the bills ofBy KEVIN BAIRD Juneau Empire
meeting Thursday night. From 2016-2018, dividends were capped and a portion of the Permanent Fund earnings were used to balance the state’s operating budget. Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced Sen Find more Iditarod cover- ate Bills 23 and 24 to make good on a campaign promage on Page A7.
In the news Sitka to look at options for police department investigation SITKA, Alaska (AP) — Sitka city officials plan to look at options for a thirdparty investigation of the local police department. The Sitka Assembly decision follows lawsuits by two officers and a former jailer. The Daily Sitka Sentinel reports the officers sued the city, police chief and department, alleging, among other things, they were punished for speaking out. The former jailer alleges he resigned over a hostile work environment in the department. During a recent meeting, Assembly members Valorie Nelson and Kevin Mosher said the lawsuits and comments from others in the department suggested the need for an outside review. The Assembly discussed waiting for the legal process to play out before deciding on an outside investigation but after an executive session agreed to explore the options. Sitka Police Chief Jeff Ankerfelt declined comment.
‘The president’s view is he gave nothing away. That’s what matters, not my view.’ ... See Nation, A6
Index Local................A3 Opinion........... A4 Schools............A5 Nation............. A6 Sports..............A7 Comics.......... A10 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
Laura Stats of Juneau testifies against Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s payback dividend bills, Senate Bills 23 and 24, during a Senate State Affairs Committee meeting Thursday night. (Kevin Baird/Juneau Empire).
ise to pay back Alaskans been given a full dividend. the money they would The majority of callers have received had they testified against the pay-
fered similar a sentiment. If SB 23 and SB 24 were to pass it would cost upward of $2.4 billion over three years. In exchange, government services would have to be cut. Most callers said they’d rather fund education and other state See PFD, page A2
Iditarod champ defends title with a smile By MARK THIESSEN Associated Press
WILLOW — Joar Leifseth Ulsom may not be flashy or brash, but he has sled cred. The quiet, unassuming 32-year-old defending champion of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race leads the field of 52 mushers hoping to be the first to reach Alaska’s western coast after a thousandmile trek across the wilderness. Most of the contestants are Americans, but the lineup also features international mushers: two from Norway, including Ulsom; four from Canada; and one each from
See TITLE, page A3
Defending champion Joar Leifseth Ulsom is greeted by local fan Ole Andersson during the ceremonial start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race on Saturday in Anchorage. (AP Photo/Michael Dinneen)
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
A resolution asking the state to continue funding the Kenai Peninsula College will be introduced at Tuesday’s Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting. Gov. Dunleavy’s proposed budget has reduced the University of Alaska’s budget by more than 40 percent. Such a cut would result in several campus closures, including a potential closure of the Kenai Peninsula College campus. Assembly members Wayne Ogle, Dale Bagley and Hal Smalley will introduce a resolution supporting the community’s campus, which was founded in 1964. The Kenai Peninsula College is responsible for all postsecondary education within the borough’s boundaries. With an average of 5,700 students enrolled annually, the college is the largest University of Alaska community campus and is even larger than the Juneau campus in enrollment and student credit hours. See KPC, page A3
Borough questions state oil and gas tax proposal By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
A resolution modifying state bills that could repeal the levy of tax by municipalities on oil and gas exploration, production and pipeline transportation property will be introduced at Tuesday,
Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting. When Gov. Mike Dunleavy released his proposed state budget, he submitted two bills, SB 57 and HB 59 to the Legislature, which would repeal the credit for municipal payments against the state levy of tax on oil
property and allow the state to retain all tax on oil and gas exploration, production and pipeline transportation property, with estimated tax revenues of $450 million to the state next fiscal year. Revenues from oil and gas properties provide the borough with an estimated
$15 million per year — more than 18 percent of the borough’s revenues for 2020. The loss in revenue would cripple the borough’s ability to fund education, maintain and improve roads throughout the borough, provide services like 911, hospital, solid waste, fire and emergency
medical, senior citizen, and recreational services to visitors and residents in the borough, according to the borough’s resolution. “This measure would cause the Kenai Peninsula Borough to seek other sources of revenue to fund basic See TAX, page A3
Fairbanks woman saves yesterday’s news for today’s readers By KRIS CAPPS Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
Inside
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
FAIRBANKS — An important period of Alaska history is now preserved and available online thanks to longtime Fairbanksan Colleen Redman.
Redman’s brother, pioneer journalist Tom Snapp, was publisher of the AllAlaska Weekly, a newspaper that printed news of Alaska from 1970 to 1987 in Fairbanks. Snapp was relentless in his passion for covering news of
the day and known for his diligence — not to mention the All-Alaska Weekly masthead was often emblazoned in red ink. He specialized in police and political reporting. Snapp worked as a reporter for the Fairbanks
Daily News-Miner from 1960-1962 after coming north from Virginia to visit his sister. He never left. He co-founded the Tundra Times newspaper with Howard Rock in 19621963, worked as editor of the pioneer newspaper
Jessen’s Weekly, and then founded the All-Alaska Weekly in 1970. He died in Fairbanks in 1995 at the age of 66. “Ever since he died, I wanted people to see what he had put all his time into See NEWS, page A2
House Majority: Tax increase off the table Coast Guard releases report By KEVIN BAIRD for deadly crab boat sinking Juneau Empire
The House Majority Coalition says a tax is off the table this year, and there will be budget cuts. “The sheer complexity of taking on the proposed change to the budget itself will consume most our time going forward,” House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, said in a morning press conference. “To take on the issue of new revenues as we did in 2017 takes a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of agency participation.” Edgmon said he’s asked caucus members to “help share the pain.”
In this February file photo, then-Speaker Pro Tempore Neal Foster, D-Nome, right, shakes hands with newly elected Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, in the House. (Michael Penn/Juneau Empire)
“Not everybody’s going to be happy with this budget this year,” Edgmon said during a Friday
press conference. “Some are going to think we’ve cut too much, others are
See HOUSE page A2
SEATTLE (AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard report blames a crab boat’s owner and captain for a fatal 2017 voyage in the Bering Sea. The Seattle-based fishing vessel Destination went missing Feb. 11, 2017, off a remote Alaska island. The bodies of its six crew members have not been found. It was the worst Alaska crab-boat disaster in more than a decade. The Coast Guard’s 138-page document was made public Sunday after a private Saturday meeting that Coast Guard officials scheduled in Seattle for the families of the lost crew, The Seattle Times reported.
The report concluded the boat was overloaded when it left port; the captain set out in freezing spray with a fatigued crew that failed to remove a heavy buildup of ice on the hull and gear; and an open hatch would have allowed rapid flooding. The vessel started to capsize within a matter of minutes, leaving the crew very little time to react, the report said. The sinking prompted the Coast Guard to form a three-person marine board to understand what happened and make recommendations. It’s the latest Coast Guard investigation See CRAB, page A3