Anguish
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Families mourn air crash victims
Niko boys, CIA girls notch victories
World/A5
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CLARION
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P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 49, Issue 141
In the news Anchor Point man killed in crash An Anchor Point man died this week when his truck crashed near Moose Pass. Alaska State Troopers report that Marc Roderick, 46, died on Wednesday. He was driving a 2007 Kenworth truck near Mile 33 of the Seward Highway close to Moose Pass when the vehicle went off the road. Roderick had been pulling a trailer with an excavator on it behind the truck, troopers wrote in an online dispatch report. “The vehicle left the snowy roadway and struck a rock wall,” the dispatch states. “The excavator came forward and crushed the cab of the truck.” Roderick was pronounced dead on the scene. His family has been notified. An investigation into what caused the crash is ongoing, according to the trooper dispatch. — Homer News
Young asks for suicide inquiry at military base FAIRBANKS (AP) — Alaska Rep. Don Young asked the Army surgeon general to investigate suicides at a military base. Young wrote to Lt. Gen. Nadja West requesting an inquiry into suicides at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, The Daily News Miner reported Tuesday. West is the surgeon general and commanding general of the Army Medical Command. Fairbanks television station KTVF reported Thursday that there have been four confirmed suicide deaths of Fort Wainwright soldiers between 2018 and 2019. Three of those took deaths place at the base, located 363 miles north of Anchorage. The Republican congressman asked West to send a team to investigate a number of mental health issues at the headquarters of the U.S. Army Garrison Alaska. "This team's assessment could be critical in combating the scourge of suicide, by providing us with a far more detailed analysis of mental health services, their usage, driving and mitigating factors of these suicides, unit assessments, and much more," Young wrote to West.
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Senate rebukes Trump on border emergency Soldotna Murkowski joins Republican defectors to block declaration By LISA MASCARO, ALAN FRAM and CATHERINE LUCEY Associated Press
WASHINGTON — In a stunning rebuke, a dozen defecting Republicans joined Senate Democrats Thursday to block the national emergency that President Donald Trump declared so he could build his border wall with Mexico. The rejection capped a week of confrontation with the White House as both parties in Congress strained to exert their power in new ways. The 59-41 tally, following the Senate’s vote a day earlier to end U.S. involvement
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
in the war in Yemen, promised to force Trump into the first vetoes of his presidency.
Trump had warned against both actions. Moments after Thursday’s vote, the presi-
dent tweeted a single word of warning: “VETO!” Two years into the Trump era, a defecting dozen Republicans, pushed along by Democrats, showed a willingness to take that political risk. Twelve GOP senators, including the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, Mitt Romney of Utah, joined the dissent over the emergency declaration order that would enable the president to seize for the wall billions of dollars Congress intended elsewhere. “The Senate’s waking up a little bit to our responsibilities,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who said the
The Kenai Peninsula Borough unanimously passed a resolution at the March 5 borough meeting to support modifying two bills that would allow the state to retain tax funds
from borough oil and gas properties. Senate Bill 57 and House Bill 59 would repeal the levy of tax by municipalities on oil and gas properties and repeal the credit for municipal payments against the state levy of tax on oil and gas properties.
If passed, the state legislation would provide an estimated tax revenue of $450 million to the state next fiscal year, according to the resolution. Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce and Assembly Vice President Dale Bagley introduced the resolution,
By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
which encourages amending SB 57 and HB 59 to allow municipalities to levy oil and gas property tax up to 15 mills. The state currently levies an annual oil and gas property tax of 20 mills. Municipalities are able to levy taxes up to
The results are official. The Soldotna field house bond failed, but the city council is exploring ways to keep the project alive. At Wednesday’s city council meeting, the council passed a resolution certifying the election results with 363 ‘no’ votes to 345 ‘yes’ votes. “I think that, obviously, we were all disappointed in the results of this,” said Mayor Nels Anderson, who said he would like to learn from this election and put the bond back to a ballot with a more positive campaign behind it. “I have heard all sorts of oddball reasons for why people did not vote for this … The bottom line is if this was a resounding defeat, I would leave it
See OIL, page A14
See FIELD, page A14
See BLOCK, page A2
Borough asks to keep oil and gas property tax funds By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
mayor hopes to revisit field house project
Peninsula educators support early funding for K-12 Economic and peninsula educators submit a separate appro- the state’s core constitu- analysis on testified during the Sen- priation bill, alongside tional responsibilities,” ate Education Committee, the operating budget, in Costello said in a press LNG project Last week, Sen. Mia which is chaired by Sen. order to fund public edu- release. “This amendment Costello, R-Anchorage, Gary Stevens, R-Homer, cation. From there, the will provide stability to expected introduced a constitu- in support of Senate Joint Legislature would have Alaska’s education comtional amendment guar- Resolution 9 Thursday to approve the education munity by requiring legis- soon anteeing early funding for morning. funding by day 45 of each lators to act early.” By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
state K-12 public education. Several state entities
The resolution would require the governor to
session. “Education is one of
In the press release, See K-12, page A14
the state. “That is astounding,” Gardner said during a Thursday presentation at the Southeast Housing Summit. “Look at what we’re doing by not responding to this.” Using that number, 2010’s 36 percent non-response rate translated to a loss of $798.93 million per year. That’s nearly $8 billion lost over 10 years. The next 10-year census will be conducted next year. Specialists said that’s federal money that could go toward Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicare Part B, highway planning and construction, Pell Grants, school lunch programs, temporary assistance for needy fami-
JUNEAU — An analysis on whether a major liquefied natural gas project is economically viable is expected to be complete within the next two months, a top adviser to Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Thursday. Brett Huber said Dunleavy’s position has been that the project has to make sense for the state and be judged on the economics. Huber is with the Republican governor at an energy conference in Texas. During a call with reporters Thursday, Dunleavy said one reason for attending the conference was to gauge investor interest in the project, which he said was lacking. Alaska for years has pursued a gas project, seeing it as a way to help shore up state revenues, create jobs
See LOSE, page A3
See LNG, page A2
Low census response loses Alaska billions By BEN HOHENSTATT Juneau Empire
Every 10 years, Alaskans leave millions if not billions of dollars on the table. U.S. Census Bureau specialists said Alaska is historically the least responsive state to the decennial — 10year — census with only 64 percent of its estimated population responding in the most recent census year 2010. The national response rate was 72 percent, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. While the national response rate climbed by 5 percentage points between 2000 and 2010, Alaska’s response rate fell by 3 percentage points during that time. Myrna Gardner, tribal partnership specialist for the
Myrna Gardner, tribal partnership specialist for the U.S. Census Bureau, said Alaska’s low census response rate is costing the state millions every year, during a presentation at Southeast Housing Summit, Thursday. (Ben Hohenstatt/Juneau Empire)
Census Bureau, said because the census is used to determine distribution for federal funds, every 1 percent
of Alaskans (about 7,500 people) who don’t respond to the census equates to $22,192,500 less per year for
Advocacy group pushes measure barring police sexual contact By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
The Alaska Legislature may once again consider a measure that would make it illegal for officers to have sexual contact with sex workers before arresting them. In 2017, two bills — HB 73 and SB 112 — were introduced on the issue, but were met with pushback from local law enforcement agencies, including Anchorage Police Department. An Alaska-based advocacy group, Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP), was the main proponent for the
legislation in 2017, and this year CUSP is back in the fight. Activists from CUSP held a meeting at the Christ Lutheran Church in Soldotna on Monday where they laid out their plan to remove legal gray area from the Alaska criminal code on sexual contact between police officers and those they are arresting. Terra Burns, an advocate with CUSP who led Monday’s meeting, said that CUSP is pushing for an amendment to a House bill currently under consideration — HB 52 — that would make it illegal for police to have sexual contact or sexual penetration
during an investigation. HB 52 is the House companion bill to SB 35 and would update the criminal code around sexual assault in various ways. SB 35 was introduced by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office and includes eliminating marriage as a defense in sexual assault cases, classifying sending unwanted pictures of genitalia as second-degree harassment, and requiring anyone registered as a sex offender in another state to also register in Alaska upon moving here. On Friday, the public will have the opportunity to testify on HB 52, and CUSP is urging people to
See CUSP, page A6
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
Bill would make permanent Alaska Native Heritage Month By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
Former Gov. Bill Walker issued multiple proclamations declaring November as Alaska Native Heritage Month, but those proclamations didn’t do anything permanent. Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska President Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson said he appreciated having the recognition and the chance to get more exposure for tribes around the state. Still, it didn’t feel like quite enough. “It’s important for us to be able to put a positive light on the Native
population of Alaska,” Peterson said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s meant a great deal that our previous governor’s done that, but even then, I asked in some of my own speeches for a permanent recognition, a more formal recognition.” On Wednesday, two senators proposed a bill that would make it permanent. Sens. Elvi GrayJackson, D-Anchorage, and Donny Olson, D-Golovin, introduced Senate Bill 86, which establishes Alaska Native Heritage Month permanently as November. The bill now begins its journey through the legislative process, and
See BILL, page A6