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CLARION
Snow 23/13 More weather on Page A2
P E N I N S U L A
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 68
$1 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Groups sue to block oil production in Beaufort Sea
In the news Delta Junction man dies in weekend snowmobile crash DELTA JUNCTION — A Delta Junction man died in a weekend snowmobile crash. Alaska State Troopers say 29-year-old Donald Bunselmeier early Saturday afternoon lost control of his machine while driving at Summit. The snowmobile landed on top of him. Bunselmeier died at the scene. The state medical examiner will conduct an autopsy.
By DAN JOLING Associated Press
Student becomes first UAA deaf commencement speaker ANCHORAGE — A student has become the first deaf commencement speaker at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Anchorage television station KTUU reports Katie Irwin addressed the UAA graduating crowd Sunday. Irwin, who has been deaf since birth, used sign language for her speech, with a translator repeating it out loud. Irwin says she doesn’t see her deafness as a disability. She said through a translator that she has the ability to communicate, just in a different way. But she says she faced challenges on her way to earning a journalism degree with a minor in art. For example, Irwin says she had to teach teachers on using captions in videos. — Associated Press
Man in Alaska arrested for threats to Pennsylvania college EASTON, Pa. — Federal authorities have arrested a man in Alaska in connection to online threats made in May to an eastern Pennsylvania college. A Lafayette College news release said the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI plan to host a press conference Wednesday on the details of the arrest in Anchorage. The campus in Easton rescheduled finals and had room-by-room searches conducted on classrooms in wake of the threats. Lafayette College officials said at the time that the threat was found to be not credible. The college worked with police and the FBI to determine the threat’s legitimacy. The email and social media threats were written by someone claiming to be a student with loyalty to the Islamic State group. — Juneau Empire
Index Opinion................... A4 Nation..................... A5 Sports......................A6 Classifieds.............. A7 Comics.................... A9 Pets....................... A10 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
The intersection of Bridge Access Road and Kalifornsky Beach Road is covered with blowing snow on Friday in Kenai. A winter storm that brought more than a foot of snow to some areas of the peninsula made for hazardous driving conditions over the weekend. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Winter storm hits peninsula Snow finally arrives, brings poor driving conditions By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula saw the first big snowfall of the season this past weekend, with snow totaling over a foot in some areas, leaving drivers sliding across the road. The weekend storm brought
significant snowfall, icy roads and high winds, leading to poor driving conditions all weekend long. Several accidents were called in after drivers lost control along the Seward and Sterling highways, including two single-vehicle collisions. One driver lost control near Mile
57 of the Seward Highway and hit the guardrail. Another lost control around Mile 45 of the Sterling Highway and entered a northbound ditch. No major injuries have been reported. Officials recommend that drivers slow down on the roads and be cognizant of how weather impacts their commute.
Lieutenant governor wants audit of election system
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District schools have remained open, but the district said that if anyone feels unsafe traveling to school they can call in for an excused absence. The Accuweather forecast predicts more snow for Kenai and Soldotna in the coming days.
By LISA MASCARO, MATTHEW DALY and CATHERINE LUCEY Associated Press
JUNEAU — Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer said Monday that he wants an audit of Alaska’s election system following irregularities in the last two primaries. Meyer, a Republican, said the more he’s learning about the Division of Elections, the more he thinks it has done a “pretty good job.” He noted the division found irregularities in a state House primary this year, which the division previously said resulted in 26 suspect ballots being sent to the Department of Law for furtherreview. In that race, the division said it had received seven absentee ballot applications for people that records indicated
WASHINGTON — The fight over President Donald Trump’s $5 billion wall funds deepened Monday, threatening a partial government shutdown in a standoff that has become increasingly common in Washington. It wasn’t always like this, with Congress and the White House at a crisis over government funding. The House and Senate used to pass annual appropriation bills, and the president signed them into law. But in recent years the shutdown scenario has become so routine that it raises the question: Have shutdowns as a negotiating tool lost their punch?
were dead. The division said But Meyer said those irreguit did not send ballots to those larities and actions by some requestors. See AUDIT, page A2
Dow Jones industrials take 2nd straight 2 percent plunge NEW YORK — Another day of big losses knocked U.S. stocks to their lowest levels in more than a year Monday. Selling was widespread. Investors dumped high-growth technology and retail companies as well as steadier, highdividend companies. Hospitals and health insurers slumped after a federal judge in Texas ruled that the 2010 Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 507 points after a 496-point drop Friday, and all the major stock indexes fell at least 2 percent. Oil closed See DOW, page A2
In this Dec. 12 file photo trader Gregory Rowe works at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)
See OIL, page A3
GOP waits on Trump as partial shutdown looms
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, center, talks with supporters in Anchorage on Nov. 6. Meyer is calling or an audit of Alaska’s election system. (Photo/Michael Dinneen/AP)
ANCHORAGE — Five conservation groups filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block oil production from a proposed artificial gravel island in federal Arctic waters. The groups asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review an offshore production plan approved for the Liberty project in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast. The groups said the plan violates federal law governing outer continental shelf drilling, the environment and endangered species. The Trump administration failed to consider impacts of an oil spill in remote Arctic waters or effects of drilling on polar bears and other endangered species, said Kristen Monsell of the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that sued. “An oil spill in the Arctic would be impossible to clean up in a region already stressed by climate change,” she said. Drilling law requires the administration to reject development if the risks to the human and marine environment out-
Monday brought few signs of progress. A partial shutdown that could occur at midnight Friday risks disrupting government operations and leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees furloughed or working without pay over the holiday season. Costs would be likely in the billions of dollars. Trump was meeting with his team and getting regular updates, said White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Trump was also tweeting Monday to keep up the pressure. Exiting a Senate Republican leadership meeting late Monday, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota said, “It looks like it probably is going to have to See GOP, page A3
Nenana Native Association gets $9M grant for bridge FAIRBANKS (AP) — The Nenana Native Association has been awarded a $9.1 million grant to complete a long-awaited bridge project in the Alaska town of Nenana. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced last week the funding to construct two permanent fixed bridges over the Nenana River and Nenana Slough, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Sunday. The project will provide year-round access between Nenana and the Nenana-Totchaket Resource Area, which includes about 1,400 square miles of agricultural land, Tanana Val-
ley State Forest resources, University of Alaska land and the Nenana Gas Basin exploration area. Access to the area is currently restricted to boats in the summer and an ice bridge in the winter. Nenana is about 55 miles southwest of Fairbanks. “The project improves economic competitiveness and quality of life by providing year-round access … reducing both travel time and cost of transporting people and goods across the waterways, both of which are important for a rural, tribal community,” the Department of Transportation said See GRANT, page A3