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P E N I N S U L A
Monday, April 1, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 155
In the news Police: 1 dead, 2 injured after Anchorage shooting ANCHORAGE — Police say one man is dead and two others are hospitalized following a shooting outside an apartment building in east Anchorage. The Anchorage Daily News reports police responded to Oklahoma Street to a report of gunshots early Sunday, finding one dead and two others injured. Police say one man was shot in his upper body and was pronounced dead at the scene. They found another man who also had been shot in his upper body. He was transported to the hospital with injuries considered life-threatening. Police say a woman had been assaulted, and she was taken to a hospital with less serious injuries. No arrests have been made. Police say multiple people are being questioned.
Anchorage airport reroutes planes as runway work resumes ANCHORAGE — The north-south runway at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport will be closed for repairs starting Monday, the Anchorage Daily News reported. The airport is using its east-west runways for all flights, causing most planes to approach from over the water on the west side and take off to the east over the city. The planes normally take off over the water of the coastal city. “We as the airport are going to do our best to mitigate the noise,” said Jim Szczesniak, the airport’s manager. The airport will work with airlines on ways to reduce the noise, including having pilots pull back on throttles when they are above the city, then going back to full power once at a higher altitude, Szczesniak said. The airport closed the runway last summer for renovations, leading some residents to complain about rattled homes and lack of sleep. The noise had jolted residents of the Hillside area, which was not accustomed to the aircraft sounds. — Associated Press
The governor gets down to business By VICTORIA PETERSEN and BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
Ahead of last week’s forum in Kenai, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his team sat down with Clarion reporters Brian Mazurek and Victoria Petersen to discuss his recently proposed budget, education, local industry, public safety and more. In the final installment of this series, we look at the governor’s approach to the economy. Many aspects of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget would have impacts on local government and the economy. The governor has proposed a bill, SB 57, that would allow the state to absorb local taxes on oil and gas properties within municipalities. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly recently passed a resolution asking that the state modify the bill to allow the borough to maintain portions of the property taxes.
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Office of Budget and Management Director Donna Arduin, right, weighs in on a discussion of the Kenai Peninsula and state economies during an interview with Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday, in Kenai.
The borough has said losing the revenue the borough receives from local oil and gas property taxes could result in higher local taxes to cover the costs of essential
borough services. Clarion reporter Victoria Petersen: Part of your campaign was creating no new taxes. Our local borough has said that SB 57
could drastically increase local property taxes, sales taxes and potentially cause new taxes. How do you expect local municipalities to make up for the shortfall
that could be coming from the loss of that revenue? Dunleavy: I think we all have decisions we have to make. Again, the devil’s in the details. Is the local community looking at taking on all of the programs funded at the levels that they are funded right now, is that what they’re talking about? Because I’m not really sure what the local communities are wanting to take on, or willing to take on, or choosing to take on. These are questions I guess they would have to have a discussion with. My campaign commitment was no taxes and that was from a statewide perspective. What they do at the local level — and I live in a municipality up in Mat-Su — that’s a discussion for those folks at the local level. Clarion reporter Brian Mazurek: People have voiced their concerns about the budget as it’s proposed. One of the biggest concerns See GOV, page A6
Judge rejects plan for Izembek refuge road Hospitals
in critical need of blood
By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — The Trump administration violated federal law with a proposed road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska, a federal judge ruled Friday, saying the project would have reversed previous policy without explanation. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejected an Interior Department land exchange that would have led to a road through Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, an internationally recognized habitat for migrating waterfowl. Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed a land exchange agreement for the road more than a
By MOLLIE BARNES Juneau Empire
Alaska hospitals need blood. There’s a critical need for local hospitals, and In this Sept. 23, 2013, file photo, a driver passes a small boat harbor in King Cove. the Blood Bank of Alaska A federal court judge says Trump administration plans for a road through a national is encouraging donors to wildlife refuge in Alaska violates federal law. (James Brooks/Kodiak Daily Mirror via schedule an appointment to help patients in need. AP, File) “Our donors are amazyear ago. Nine environ- the road was a reversal of findings without a reasoned ing and help save lives mental groups sued a week previous Interior Depart- explanation,” Gleason each day. We are currently later. ment policy and to provide wrote, quoting a previous in critical need for several In her written decision, an explanation. case. “But that is not what blood types such as O NegGleason said Zinke was re“An agency may not happened here.” ative and O Positive,” said quired to acknowledge that simply discard prior factual See ROAD, page A3 See BLOOD, page A2
Family donates ice classic clock to Museum of the North By KYRIE LONG Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
FAIRBANKS — A clock from the beginning of the Nenana Ice Classic has come home to Alaska while the tripod still stands on the river for this year’s round of betting. “The reason we’re donating the clock is because our family feels it’s a part
of Alaska history and that it needs to be up here, not with us,” Jim Hlavacek said. Hlavacek, for whom the clock was a family belonging, donated it Thursday to the University of Alaska Museum of the North. “It’s a clock — it’s actually a ships chronometer,” Hlavacek said. “It was manufactured by the Waltham Watch Company which, at
the time, was actually one of the largest clock manufacturing companies in the world.” Waltham Watch Company shut down in the 1950s, and Hlavacek, of Salinas, California, wanted to know more about his own Waltham antique. So he sent it to clock collectors in Pennsylvania. Uncovering the serial number on
the back, they discovered the clock would have been made around 1913. “This is the kind of thing that’s such a treasure here,” museum Director Pat Druckenmiller said to Hlavacek as they inspected the chronometer. Housed in a wooden box, the clock face is seated in gold and is protected by a screen, which can be lifted to turn the face
over and get the serial number off the back. Hlavacek initially contacted the museum in November, when he spoke to Angela Linn, in collections. Linn said it was “one of those cold calls that you just love to receive.” The chronometer was used to keep time and mark when the tripod dropped See CLOCK, page A2
House majority leaders are ready to form state budget By ALEX MCCARTHY Juneau Empire
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After hearing from hundreds of Alaskans around the state, House and Senate leaders shed a little light on their budget outlook and process Thursday. Rep. Neal Foster, DNome, the co-chair of the House Finance Committee, said around 1,800 Alaskans weighed in on Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget during recent community meetings around the state organized by the committee and during House Finance Committee public testimony. Foster said that by a 5-to-1 margin, members of the public who spoke to the committee
people on the other side of the spectrum. “It’s not to belie the fact that there are a lot of people out there who want a full PFD and would like to say deep cuts, probably deeper cuts,” Edgmon said, “but the vast majority of people we heard did not give us that message.” Now, legislators continue their work of putting together their own version of the budget in response Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, sec- to Dunleavy’s proposal. ond from right, speaks during a House Majority press House Finance Committee conference at the Capitol on Thursday. (Michael Penn | meetings next week will dive deeply into formulatJuneau Empire) ing a budget proposal. were opposed to the state Bryce Edgmon, I-DillFoster said the commitmaking the extensive cuts ingham, said while most tee is starting not with the proposed by the governor. people were opposed to the governor’s proposed budSpeaker of the House cuts, they still heard from get but with last year’s bud-
get. They’re starting there and building from that, Foster said. He also said the issue of Permanent Fund Dividends will not be addressed in the committee’s meetings next week. Representatives are looking at the budget and the PFD separately, he said. “Once we’ve done that we’ll have a good idea at what we’re looking at in terms of the overall size of the budget, and what funds can be used for dividends,” Foster said. “That issue will be taken up later, separately from the operating budget.” In a press conference later in the morning, Sen. Donny Olson, D-Golovin See STATE, page A2