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P E N I N S U L A
Thursday, May 2, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 49, Issue 182
In the news Anchorage gathering planned to remember missing Native women ANCHORAGE — Alaska advocacy groups are hosting a public weekend ceremony in Anchorage to remember missing and murdered indigenous women. The free Saturday afternoon event at the Alaska Native Heritage Center is being held to coincide with the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Native Women and Girls, to be observed Sunday. The Anchorage event is billed as a community gathering and “heartbeat of drums.” It will feature dance and drum groups, speakers and traditional Alaska Native foods, including moose and seal soup. The event comes amid a national crisis — the disappearances of hundreds of Native American and Alaska Native women and girls from across the country. Native women experience some of the highest rates of murder, sexual violence and domestic abuse.
Body recovered, tentatively identified in Southwest BETHEL — The body of a Southwest Alaska man missing since October has been recovered from a river. Alaska State Troopers say a body tentatively identified as 21-yearold Wassillie Keene was found floating Saturday in the Johnson River about 4 miles up from the Kuskokwim River. Keene was last seen Oct. 24 as he operated his boat alone near the confluence of the Kasigluk and Johnson rivers. He was reported missing Oct. 25 and his boat was recovered. Troopers found Keene’s wallet and identification in a pocket. The body has been sent to the state medical examiner in Anchorage for a positive identification and an autopsy. — Associated Press
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Senate passes budget, with full PFD By Alex McCarthy Juneau Empire
Juneau’s senator stood alone at the end of a long day of debates Wednesday, as he was the lone senator to vote against the body’s budget proposal. Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, was the only detractor on a budget that preserved a full $3,000 Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. The proposal cut about $258 million of spending, according to the Senate Majority, which is more than what the House proposed and less than what Gov. Mike Dunleavy proposed in his budget. On the floor, Sen. Bert Stedman (co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee) said that having a full PFD puts the Senate proposal more than $1 billion over budget. The bud-
Electronics recycling day Saturday By KAT SORENSEN Peninsula Clarion
interview afterward. “It’ll be a different bill when it comes back. We’ll have
Central Peninsula residents are invited to recycle their electronics of all shapes and sizes this Saturday at the annual electronics recycling event. From 10 a.m. to 3 pm. on Saturday, May 4, ReGroup Recycling, Cook InletKeeper, the Kenai Peninsula Borough Solid Waste Department and the Weaver Brothers will be sponsoring the annual recycling event at the Central Peninsula Landfill in Soldotna. “Electronics recycling happens once a year because the organizational part is quite extensive,” said ReGroup member Jan Wal-
See PFD page 7
See DAY, page A3
Senate President Cathy Giessel, left, listens to Senate leaders on the floor at the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday. (Alex McCarthy/Juneau Empire)
get now goes back to the House, which proposed a budget that allows for about a $1,200 PFD.
“When you’re 1.1 billion short on about $5 billion, the numbers just don’t work,” Kiehl said in an
New signs create gateway to Soldotna By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
When coming into Soldotna from any direction, drivers may have spotted some recent additions to the landscape. Over the past month, the City of Soldotna placed three 18-feet tall, obelisk-shaped gateway signs that welcome people to the city: one on the corner of the Kenai Spur Highway and Knight Drive, one on the Sterling Highway in front of Whistle Hill and a third on the Sterling Highway where it crosses the Kenai River. The placement of these signs is part of a larger effort by the city to develop a vibrant downtown area for Soldotna and encourage the growth of local businesses in the community. The Downtown Improvement Plan was developed back in 2014 and came out of Soldotna’s 2011 Com-
A new sign welcoming people to the City of Soldotna stands near the intersection of the Sterling Highway and the Kenai River on Wednesday. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/ Peninsula Clarion)
prehensive Plan, Envision Soldotna 2030. In 2016 the city allocated funds for new signage and began exploring bids for the contracts to
build gateway signs, banners and park signs. The city’s Director of Planning and Economic Development John Czarne-
zki said on Tuesday that initially, the lowest bid the city found for the three signs was for more than $287,000. As a result, the city opted to
build them in-house with the help of Soldotna’s Street and Maintenance Department. The maintenance team, led by Scott Sundberg, worked through the winter and constructed the signs for just under $120,000. Czarnezki said that he was happy that the city saved the taxpayers a substantial amount of money while still delivering quality results, and Sundberg said on Wednesday that he was proud of the work his team put into the signs. While most of the fabrication was done by Sundberg and his team in their shop, they did contract some work out to local businesses. Sherman Signs crafted the letters and the signs were made weather resistant thanks to Peninsula Powder Coating. These were the first signs that Sundberg and the maintenance team had fabricated, and he said See SIGNS, page A7
Dunleavy constitutional amendments discussed By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
The House State Affairs Committee met Tuesday to listen to public testimony on Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed constitutional amendments.
During the hearing, government officials presented information on House Joint Resolutions 5, 6 and 7, discussed the resolutions in detail with lawmakers and then the floor was opened to the public for comment.
Issues brought up during the meeting included whether or not some of the amendments should be considered constitutional revisions, and the impact the resolutions could have on promoting or inhibiting democracy.
Dunleavy said in a January press release that the resolutions serve as a foundation for his permanent fiscal plan. HJR 5 is an amendment “prohibiting the establishment of, or increase to, a state tax without the ap-
proval of the voters of the state,” according to the bill’s title. The resolution also requires voterled initiatives — which are formed and approved by the people without including government — to create new taxes to be See HJR, page A2
Barr, Mueller trade barbs as rift goes public By ERIC TUCKER and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Private tensions between Justice Department leaders and special counsel Robert
Mueller’s team broke into public view in extraordinary fashion Wednesday as Attorney General William Barr pushed back at the special counsel’s “snitty” complaints over his handling of the Trump-Russia investiga-
tion report. Testifying for the first time since releasing Mueller’s report, Barr faced sharp questioning from Senate Democrats who accused him of making misleading comments and seeming at
Marijuana regulators vent over investigative help By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
JUNEAU — Alaska marijuana regulators expressed frustration Wednesday with the limited co-operation they say they’re receiving with investigations from the state Department of Public Safety.
The dispute dates to last fall, during then-Gov. Bill Walker’s administration, when an acting director of the Alaska State Troopers notified the Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office its investigators would no longer have access to certain databases. Erika McConnell, the office’s director, told the
Marijuana Control Board access is based on one of two qualifications: being a criminal justice agency or peace officers. She said it’s debatable whether the office is a criminal justice agency but said “for decades” the state considered investigators related to the office’s See VENT, page A7
times to be President Donald Trump’s protector as much as the country’s top law enforcement official. The rift fueled allegations that Barr has spun Mueller’s findings in Trump’s favor and understated the gravity
of Trump’s behavior. The dispute is certain to persist, as Democrats push to give Mueller a chance to answer Barr’s testimony with his own later this month. Barr separately informed
See BARR, page A7
Man convicted of spreading pesticide at homeless site By DAN JOLING Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — An Alaska businessman who acknowledged spreading a pesticide on a public right of way used by homeless people has been convicted of reckless endangerment and polluting. Ron Alleva, 67, president of Grubstake Auction
Co. in Anchorage, also was convicted Tuesday of unauthorized pesticide distribution and misuse of a pesticide, state prosecutors said. Alleva formerly owned property across the street from a homeless shelter,, the Brother Francis Shelter, and a soup kitchen, Bean’s Cafe. The pesticide
See SITE, page A3