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P E N I N S U L A
Tuesday, April 9, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 162
In the news Alaska Senate OKs bill for fair liquor license JUNEAU — The Alaska Senate has passed legislation intended to allow the Alaska State Fair to continue selling alcohol. The bill, which passed 19-0 Monday, creates several new liquor license types, including a fair license. Soldotna Sen. Peter Micciche says the bill is in response to a more stringent reading of state law by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The board’s actions followed audits that found the board approved recreational site licenses that didn’t strictly meet the definition for such licenses. The measure also would explicitly allow skiing and snowboarding under the definition of recreational sites, which Micciche said had been traditionally permissible previously. Micciche sponsored the bill and characterized it as friendly to small businesses. The bill next goes to the House.
Commission director resigning over rifle sticker complaint ANCHORAGE — The executive director of the state human rights commission says she will resign, after being suspended for posting on social media about a “Black Rifles Matter” sticker she believed to be racist. The sticker was on a vehicle in the commission’s parking lot last month. The commission voted Friday to suspend Marti Buscaglia without pay for 15 working days and ordered her to send an apology letter to the truck’s owner. The 15day suspension began Monday. Anchorage TV station KTUU reports Buscaglia says her resignation will be effective April 26. In her resignation letter, Buscaglia says she has been considering retirement for some time. She wrote she considers her leaving now to be in the commission’s best interest so it can continue its work and put the controversy behind it. — Associated Press
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Glaciers shrinking faster than thought Public asked to weigh in on pipeline efforts By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON — Earth’s glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. The most comprehensive measurement of glaciers worldwide found that thousands of inland masses of snow compressed into ice are shrinking 18 percent faster than an international panel of scientists calculated in 2013. The world’s glaciers are shrinking five times faster now than they were in the 1960s. Their melt is accelerating due to global warming, and adding more water to already rising seas, the study found.
By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
“That’s clearly climate change if you look at the global picture.”
The Cook Inlet Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council will be providing an opportunity for citizens to weigh in on CIRCAC’s efforts to improve the Cook Inlet’s pipeline infrastructure, according to a press release from April 8. From now until April 25, the public can go online to fill out a survey consisting of eight questions related to
See FAST, page A11
See PIPE, page A11
This Sept. 22, 2018, file photo shows the Baishui Glacier No.1 on the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the southern province of Yunnan in China. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)
“Over 30 years suddenly almost all regions started losing mass at the same time,” said lead au-
thor Michael Zemp, director of the World Glacier Monitoring Service at the University of Zurich.
Service organization receives employment assistance grant By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
A peninsula community service organization recently received a $50,000 grant to support training and to provide resources to its employment assistance program. The Alaska Mental Health Trust (AMHT) awarded the grant to Frontier Community Services, which provides assistance in seeking employment for those who may struggle to find a job on their own. The grant will provide Frontier’s employment specialists with training in the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model, as well as the resources to incorporate the IPS model into their current programs. Frontier’s Executive Director Amanda Faulkner said that AMHT awarded the grant to Frontier partly to test the effectiveness
From left to right, Amanda Faulkner, Ron Paul, Troy Bailey and Nikki Marcano of Frontier Community Services stand in front of Frontier’s mission statement on Monday. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
of incorporating the IPS model into employment assistance programs, and said that its success could lead
to other agencies around the state being awarded similar grants. “They always partner
with us on new pilots and are always open to invest in our ideas on how to make things better or bring new
things to our community,” Faulkner said. The IPS model is geared toward people with serious mental illnesses and those dealing with substance abuse. According to the IPS website, the model stresses gainful employment in a position that appeals to the individual based on their strengths as well as their particular disability or mental health issue. Frontier’s Disability Employment Specialist Ron Paul said that an individualized approach is key when assisting people who struggle with issues related to mental health, substance abuse or developmental disabilities. “We match the client with a proper employment setting,” Paul said. “We never set anyone up for failure, so we always make sure people are capable and willing to perform the duSee GRANT, page A11
Barr faces Congress as he readies Mueller report By ERIC TUCKER and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr is facing members of Congress on Tuesday for the first time since taking office — and amid intense speculation over his review of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report. Barr isn’t coming to Congress to talk about the report, but lawmakers are expected to ask about it anyway as they anxiously wait to see it in the coming days. The topic of the House appropriations subcommittee hearing is the Justice Department’s budget, and Barr’s prepared remarks sent to the commit-
all. Mueller sent his final report to Barr on March 22, ending his almost two-year investigation into potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Barr released a four-page letter summarizing the report two days later and said he would release a redacted version of the full report by mid-April, “if not sooner.” The new attorney general’s budget testimony — traditionally a dry affair, In this Jan. 15, 2019, file photo, William Barr takes ques- and often addressing the tions at his confirmation hearing to become President parochial concerns of lawTrump’s top law enforcement officer, on Capitol Hill in makers — comes as DemoWashington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file) crats are enraged that Barr is redacting material from tee on Monday focused on combat violent crime and the report and frustrated that funding requests for immi- opioid addiction, not men- his summary framed a nargration enforcement and to tioning Mueller’s report at rative about President Don-
Nikiski man allegedly leads trooper on high-speed pursuit By BRIAN MAZUREK Peninsula Clarion
A Nikiski man has been charged with reckless endangerment after allegedly leading state troopers on a high-speed chase, accord-
ing to an affidavit filed at the Kenai courthouse on Thursday. Trevor Hallstead, 24, was allegedly driving more than 100 mph while being pursued by troopers through Nikiski. At around
5 a.m. on April 4, a trooper was driving on Wik Road in Nikiski and was approaching the intersection with the Kenai Spur Highway when a vehicle sped past the intersection. The See SPEED, page A11
ald Trump before they were able to see the full version. The Democrats are demanding that they see the full report and all its underlying evidence as Trump and his Republican allies are pushing back. In excerpts from her opening statement released Monday night, House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., said that Barr’s summary letter “raises more questions than it answers.” The chairman of the subcommittee, Democratic Rep. Jose Serrano of New York, also said there were unanswered questions, including “serious concerns about the process by which See BARR, page A11
University board votes no on education school accreditation ANCHORAGE (AP) — University of Alaska’s governing board has voted not to seek reaccreditation for some licensure programs at its Anchorage education school. KTUU reported Monday that the university’s
Board of Regents voted Monday to discontinue efforts to reaccredit the University of Alaska Anchorage’s School of Education initial teacher licensure programs. The university says See UAA page A3