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P E N I N S U L A
Thursday, October 11, 2018 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 10
In the news
Rocket launch planned at Kodiak’s Spaceport KODIAK (AP) — California-based Astra Space Inc. has scheduled a commercial rocket launch at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island. Notices from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Alaska Aerospace Corporation indicate the launch is planned for Friday with backup dates scheduled through Oct. 16, the Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Tuesday. The notices don’t name the company behind the launch, but other government filings name Astra Space, which is licensed for a suborbital flight of its “Rocket 1” vehicle. “I can only verify it’s the same company that launched last time,” Alaska Aerospace Corporation CEO Craig Campbell said. The private space company conducted a test launch at the spaceport in July that was terminated 21 seconds into the rocket’s flight. The rocket was terminated before it reached its suborbital destination, but the launch was still considered successful, Campbell said. A suborbital flight is used for testing and does not travel into space. “They got a whole bunch of data and a lot of good information from this launch, but it didn’t complete its full cycle,” Campbell said in July. The company based in Alameda, California, also considered the launch successful. “The launch exceeded our minimum success criteria,” the company said after the launch. “Our team, customers and investors are all thrilled with the outcome.” A company representative said in July that it was planning a second test launch in Kodiak. The first launch was canceled multiple times before occurring in July. That launch was also the first that the Alaska Aerospace Corporation facilitated for a private spaceflight company. It had handled nearly 20 launches for the federal government since the complex opened in 1998.
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Governor hopefuls visit Soldotna By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
Alaska’s three candidates for governor met at Wednesday’s joint chamber luncheon to discuss issues affecting Alaska and the peninsula. The conference room at the Soldotna Sports Center was packed tight as former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, Gov. Bill Walker and former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy gave their opening remarks. Begich, who was born and raised in Anchorage, told the crowd he is in the election to focus on the future of Alaska. He said he wants to focus on creating opportunity and keeping young people in Alaska. Walker focused his opener on the Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas project, which he said was a major opportunity for Alaska and the Kenai Peninsula. He said he doesn’t always make popular decisions, but that he makes them for the future of Alaska. Dunleavy said Alaska is a magical place, which is what brought him up here in 1983. He said Alaska is full of opportunities, but people in the state have run out of optimism, good policies and leadership. The first question for the candidates asked how they felt using Permanent Fund Dividend earnings to balance the budget. Walker said there was no so-
Gubernatorial candidates Mike Dunleavy, Gov. Bill Walker and Mark Begich discuss issues at the joint chamber luncheon on Wednesday in Soldotna. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)
lution that didn’t involve using earnings to balance. “It has got to be part of it,” Walker said. “It’s what’s allowed us to be only 30 percent
dependent on oil, not 90 percent.” Dunleavy said using the earnings now is part of the solution moving forward. He said
the way it was done before was that isn’t broke,” Dunleavy the wrong thing to do at the said. “Our spending needs to be time, and that the people should contained.” have been engaged. See GOV, page A8 “Don’t change something
Fairbanks police release Kenai Peninsula video of fatal shooting unemployment at 9 percent
By JAMES BROOKS Juneau Empire
Two weeks after the Alaska Department of Law declined to criminally charge the Fairbanks Police Department in the shooting death of 20-yearold Cody Eyre, the department has released an annotated video showing what officers saw on the night Eyre was killed. In a press conference Wednesday afternoon that was broadcast on Facebook Live, Fairbanks Police Chief Eric Jewkes showed the graphic and profane scene that took place on Christmas Eve 2017 when Eyre, depressed, walked with a gun down one of Fairbanks’ major highways. Eyre, a Thunder Mountain High School graduate, was raised in Juneau, and members
By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
This screenshot of a video provided by the Fairbanks Police Department shows Alaska State Troopers and Fairbanks officers shortly before the fatal shooting death of 20-year-old Cody Eyre on Dec. 24, 2017. (Screenshot)
of his family still live here. In of the video. Juneau attorney a September interview with the Mark Choate said at that time Empire, Eyre’s sister said the See DEATH, page A8 family was awaiting the release
An update to the peninsula’s unemployment rate was announced at Tuesday’s Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting. Tim Dillon, executive director of the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development Inc., said the area’s unemployment rate is 9 percent. He was optimistic and said that many retail stores are hiring to prepare for the busy holiday shopping season. “Home Depot is hiring. Walmart is hiring. Fred Meyer is hiring — a lot of those kinds of places,” Dillon said. He said driving schools have seen a rise in people try-
Tim Dillon is the executive director of the Kenai Economic Development District.
ing to get their CDL licenses. Enrollment in the Alaska Petroleum Academy, where people can get professional trainSee RATE, page A3
Murkowski on Trump: I know Injured sandhill crane Alaska ‘better than he does’ colt found in Homer WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is brushing back against President Donald Trump, saying she knows her state’s political terrain “better than he does.” Trump says voters “will never forgive” Murkowski for opposing Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and he says the senator will “never recover” politically. Murkowski, who isn’t up for re-election until 2022, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, turns to answer a reporter’s tells reporters that her “ba- question after the Democratic policy luncheon on Capitol Hill rometer is not necessarily Wednesday in Washington. See TRUMP, page A3
By MICHAEL ARMSTRONG Homer News
Volunteers with Kachemak Crane Watch on Monday morning rescued an injured sandhill crane colt from Beluga Slough. After being taken to the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, the colt had to be euthanized on Tuesday because of a broken wing that couldn’t be treated. The young crane and its parents had been staying in the slough past the migration of most of the Kachemak Bay sandhill crane flock last month. The parents left on Saturday, Oct. 6, and
volunteers were able to capture the young crane on Monday. The crane was taken to Bird TLC, a nonprofit that treats and rehabilitates injured birds and educates people about wild birds and their habitat. In a phone interview on Monday, Crane Watch co-founder Nina Faust said the colt might have a broken or dislocated shoulder. “We’re keeping our fingers crossed and hoping they can do something for it,” she said. That turned out not to be the case after Bird TLC staff examined the colt. See CRANE, page A3