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Gear heads create devilish designs
Tourneys get rolling on the Peninsula
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CLARION
Clouds, snow 29/23 More weather on Page A-2
P E N I N S U L A
Friday-Saturday, DEcember 19-20 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 45, Issue 69
Question How much do you recycle? n Everything that I can. n I recycle items accepted at borough transfer sites/stations. n I recycle a few things here and there. n I very rarely or never recycle. To place your vote and comment, visit our Web site at www. peninsulaclarion. com. Results and selected comments will be posted each Tuesday in the Clarion, and a new question will be asked. Suggested questions may be submitted online or e-mailed to news@peninsulaclarion.com.
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Fears, hopes loom as wages set to jump By Ian Foley Peninsula Clarion
With the passage of Ballot Measure 3, Alaska is set to increase the minimum wage in the coming years. While the future impact of the increase remains to be seen, it is clear that some Alaskans are skeptical about the increase and others are optimistic it will only benefit the population. Alaska’s minimum wage is currently $7.75 for hourly workers, but will increase to $8.75 on February 24, 2015. The change was intended to happen on January 1, 2015, but
state law requires 90 to pass after Division of Elections certified the results on November 26, 2014. That rate will increase again on January 1, 2016 to $9.75. Each subsequent year will stay $1 more than the federal minimum wage, or change based on inflation measured by the Anchorage Consumer Price Index, whichever is higher. The last time an Alaska minimum wage increase went into effect was January 1, 2010, when minimum wage went from $7.25 to the current $7.75 an hour, according to the Alaska’s Division of Labor Stan-
The percentage of Americans making at or below minimum wage has decreased significantly since 1979. In 1979, 13.4 percent of hourly paid workers in the U.S. made minimum wage; in 2013, 4.3 percent of hourly paid workers made minimum wage. -Statistics from a March 2014 Bureau of Labor Statistics report
dards and Safety According to the group Alaskans for a Fair Minimum Wage, Alaska used to have the highest minimum wage in the United States, but is now 19th despite
having the fourth highest cost of living in the country. Ed Flanagan, cofounder of the group and a former Alaska Labor Commissioner, credited the current discrepancy to the
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Alaska pot activist in dispute with neighbor ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A former Alaska television reporter who quit her job on-air and vowed to work toward legalizing marijuana is involved in a dispute with a business neighbor that’s prompted a flurry of restraining orders. Marijuana activist Charlo Greene and Sarha Shaubach have filed for seven restraining orders against each other and associates within the past week, Shaubach also was arrested after sending a text message, which she called an accident, to Greene. Greene, founder of the Alaska Cannabis Club, shares the same downtown Anchorage address as Shaubach, owner of the Alaska Center for Alternative Lifestyles, which includes a bondage and masochism leather boutique. Greene, whose legal name is Charlene Egbe did not immediately return a call to her club from The Associated Press on Thursday.
Correction In Wednesday’s story, “Local marijuana discussion begins,” Marc Theiler’s title reported incorrectly. Theiler manages a Kenai law firm with his wife Shana Theiler. The Clarion regrets the error.
Index Opinion.................. A-4 Nation.................... A-5 World..................... A-6 Sports.....................B-1 Classifieds............ C-3 Comics................... c-8
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See WAGE, page A-10
Deadline could extend for LNG trucking project
In the news C
Alaska legislature’s repeal of the Cost of Living Adjustment in 2003, which had been attached to some previous minimum wage bills. If the Cost of Living Adjustment had not been repealed, minimum wage in Alaska would be $9.53 per hour today, according to information released by the group. “The whole purpose (of the measure) was to get (wages) back on track,” Flanagan said. He said that every time the minimum wage has been increased in the past, many people have been afraid that the costs of goods and services would
and had become more independent, meaning there was some overlap in what they were doing, he said. One of Gamble’s biggest challenges has been prolonging the collaborative relationship that the board of regents and Legislature demand and the public expects, he said. Gamble, a retired Air Force general, came to the university from the Alaska Railroad Corp., where he served as president and CEO. As UA president, Gamble launched an outreach effort to better understand what the university system was doing well and what it wasn’t. Issues that emerged on the academic side included low graduation rates and the length of time it was taking students to earn degrees, he said. The board of regents and the state board that oversees K-12 public education began meeting together two years to begin looking at ways to better prepare students for post-secondary success. Gamble said the joint effort was unprecedented. The UA system says the completion rate for bachelor’s degrees across the system was at an all-time high of nearly 32 percent during the past fiscal year that ended June 30. The system says it awarded its highest number of degrees and certificates ever during the last
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority may extend an agreement it signed with the firm that wants to build a North Slope liquefied natural gas plant for trucking gas to interior Alaska. AIDEA and MWH Global in September signed a concession agreement creating a legal framework for ownership, development, financing, construction and operation of an LNG plant. The agreement, AIDEA said at the time, allowed the parties to design a plant and gather financial information. The agreement expires at the end of the year, but contracts expected to be signed for future work remain up in the air and were not presented at an AIDEA board meeting Tuesday, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. One problem is the revised estimate of the LNG plant cost. MWH projected the facility as a $185 million project earlier this year. Bob Shefchik, chairman of the board of Interior Gas Utility, said the estimate has increased to $228 million with an additional $20 million for cost overruns, higher than what’s acceptable to produce affordable gas for interior Alaska. Two of the three Fairbanks utilities expected to be gas customers, Golden Valley Electric Association and Fairbanks Natural Gas, requested that AIDEA extend the agreement to give MWH a chance to bring down the plant’s projected cost. AIDEA board member Gary Wilken, a former Fairbanks state senator, said after the meeting an extension for a short period is in the works. “We don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he said. “Let’s press on for a limited amount of time with a new set of rules.” The board of AIDEA, a quasi-state agency with the mission of encouraging Alaska economic growth, has ongoing concerns with the plant costs and other aspects of natural gas delivery such as trucking contracts, Wilken said. He remains optimistic that a deal can be reached to re-
See GAMBLE, page A-9
See AIDEA, page A-10
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion
Greetings and felicitations Newly-elected Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, greets a crowd during a reception on Thursday at the St. Elias Brewing Company in Soldotna.
Gamble reflects after announcing retirement By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska — University of Alaska president Pat Gamble said he loves coming to work every day. But at age 69 — and with the university system in a position he feels comfortable with — Gamble said it’s time to retire. UA announced Monday that Gamble will retire June 1, which will mark five years in the position. In an interview with The Associated Press, Gamble said his proudest point as president has AP Photo/The Juneau Empire, Michael Penn In this photo taken on Monday, Dec. 1, 2014, University of Alaska been bringing the leaders of the President Pat Gamble speaks about the university’s needs for three main universities together the upcoming legislative session during an interview in Juneau. to work on issues across the system rather than having the campuses compete for resources. That means looking for areas where the schools can be cost of an annual parking more efficient and integrating Some fees at state pass hasn’t changed since their budgets. parks rising Jan 1 2004 while state park opera“Nothing that we’re doing now that is successful, in my JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) tional costs have risen over opinion, would be either pos— Fees for some activities 20 percent. The annual parking pass sible or anywhere near as sucat Alaska state park facilities cessful if it were not for the are set to increase on Jan. 1. fee will increase by $10, leadership that the chancellors The Department of Natu- with a second pass for the of the three universities are proral Resources says fees will same family going up by $5. viding to their schools, along rise for overnight camp- Annual boat launch fees will with their provosts,” Gamble ing and boat launching and go up by $25, with a second said. for annual parking and boat pass for a family going up by $10. “It’s about what’s best for launching passes. Overnight camping and our university system and our Daily parking fees at trailstudents,” he said later. heads or other developed ar- boat launch fees will vary but generally increase by When he first took the job of eas won’t change. president, the universities were The department says the about $5. going through a growth phase