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Vol. 49, Issue 207
In the news Koyukuk man detained on suspicion of firstdegree murder ANCHORAGE — A man from the Yukon River village of Koyukuk has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder. Alaska State Troopers say 27-year-old Conrad Jones is in custody in Fairbanks. Online court records do not list his attorney. Troopers just after 1:30 p.m. Wednesday received a report of a homicide in Koyukuk, a village of 89 about 290 miles west of Fairbanks. Troopers traveled to the village. They determined that Jones had a confrontation with another person and caused the person’s death.
Wasilla plane crash kills sole person on board ANCHORAGE — Wasilla police say one person has died in a plane crash near the local airport. Anchorage television station KTUU reports the crash occurred near the Wasilla airport at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. Police say an officer was conducting a security check at the airport and witnessed the crash. The person who died was the only person aboard the plane.
Second defendant sentenced in theft of mammoth tusk ANCHORAGE — A second man has been sentenced in the theft of a fossilized woolly mammoth tusk from an Anchorage museum. Federal prosecutors say 41-year-old Gary Boyd of Wasilla was sentenced Wednesday to 33 months in prison. It’s the same sentence U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason handed out in April to co-conspirator Martin Elze. Both were convicted of removal of a paleontological resource. Boyd and Elze on March 18, 2018, broke into a Bureau of Land Management museum, stole the tusk, cut it into pieces and sold them. After prison, Boyd will be on supervised release for three years and banned from national parks, national forests or BLM land without permission from his probation officer. — Associated Press
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Friday, May 31, 2019 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Public to weigh in on bed tax By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
A bed tax was introduced at the May 7 Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting, and residents will have the opportunity to speak to it at Tuesday’s meeting. The 12% bed tax would
affect temporary lodging, which includes motels, hotels and bed and breakfast businesses, across the borough, and be exempt from general sales tax. The tax is estimated to generate over $1 million in additional revenues in FY 2020, and over $4 million in the next two fiscal years, ac-
cording to the ordinance. The bed tax, similar to ones defeated by the borough assembly in 2017 and 2018, is being proposed to close budget shortfalls facing the borough, a memo from Assembly Vice President Dale Bagley reads. “Due largely to the state’s
current economic crisis and proposed reductions of state funds to local governments, the borough is currently facing a budgetary shortfall estimated to be substantial,” the memo said. “The fiscal situation has worsened and the borough needs to close See BED, page A2
Bird-watchers flock to the peninsula By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
Since the beginning of May, the Kenai Peninsula has been for the birds — and the birders. The Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival drew nearly 1,000 people to Homer from around the globe to start off the month, and over the past several weekends the Kenai Peninsula Birding Festival has offered bird-watching enthusiasts even more opportunities to meet their fellow birders and hopefully cross a few rare species off their checklists. For the past 14 years, the event was a four-day festival, but this year the event took place over three weekends — from May 18 to June 1. Ken Tarbox, who organizes the Kenai Birding Festival every year with the Keen Eye Bird Club, said they wanted to
A spruce grouse, colloquially known as a “road chicken,” eyes the camera while perched along the Resurrection Pass Trail in Cooper Landing on April 29. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
make it easier for people to participate in different activities by giving more time in between each event. The extended schedule also
helped the volunteers fit the guided walks into their schedules. The first weekend featured a guided walk at the Kasilof River Flats as
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well as the annual 24-hour Midnight Sun Big Sit at the Kenai Wildlife Viewing Platform on Bridge Access See BIRD, page A2
Assembly considers repealing need for voter approval on sales tax cap By VICTORIA PETERSEN Peninsula Clarion
An ordinance removing required voter approval to increase the borough’s sale tax cap will be introduced at Tuesday’s Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly meeting. The ordinance, introduced by assembly members Kelly Cooper and Kenn Carpenter, would not raise the sales tax cap, which has been $500 since 1964 when the borough was established. Prior to 2005, voter approval was not required to increase the cap on the amount of sales subject to the borough’s sales tax. In 2005, voters approved an initiative imposing a requirement that any increase in the maximum sales tax may not take effect until ratified by voters during borough elections. In a May 23 memo from Cooper and Carpenter, they said $500 in 1964 would be worth $3,222, due to inflation. See CAP, page A3
UA official discusses streamlining university programs By Alex McCarthy Juneau Empire
At this point, budget cuts are the norm for the University of Alaska system. In the past five years, the university has had to cut about 1,200 jobs, University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfield said to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce on Thursday. This year, with extensive budget cuts proposed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration, university officials are bearing down and seriously looking at the future of the university system. One of those options, Caulfield said, is having just one accredited university instead of three. Instead of the three universities (Anchorage,
University of Alaska Southeast Chancellor Rick Caulfield speaks at the Juneau Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Moose Lodge on Thursday, May 30, 2019. (Alex McCarthy/Juneau Empire)
Fairbanks and Southeast) all ter approach,” Caulfield said. having their own programs It’s an idea that’s been and their own autonomy, they floated in the past, he said, but would all have a “cookie-cut- the Alaska Legislature is ask-
ing the Board of Regents to do it once again. “A lot of people have said over the years, ‘Why do we have three universities? Why don’t we just have a single University of Alaska?’” Caulfield said. “You can think about that and there’s a logic to it in terms of efficiencies and so forth, but at the same time, Alaska is a vast state. The programs and the needs of students in the Anchorage area are quite different than in Fairbanks and are quite different in Southeast Alaska.” The Board of Regents will soon form a task force to look into it, Caulfield said, and members of the task force will likely have recommendations for the regents (and for the Legislature) in September
or November. The Legislature’s request for this task force, Caulfield said, is included in the Legislature’s budget proposal — which has not yet been passed. That proposal, which was put together by a committee of members from both the House and Senate, would cut the university system’s budget by just $5 million instead of more than $130 million (or 41% of the state’s funding for the system) as proposed by the governor. The issue of accreditation has been a hot topic this year for the system, as UAA lost its accreditation for its education program in December. Caulfield said Thursday that “it should never have happened, See UA, page A3
Dunleavy removes 3 human rights panel members By Becky Bohrer Associated Press
JUNEAU — Gov. Mike Dunleavy removed three members of Alaska’s human rights commission Thursday, completing a near-total overhaul of the typically underthe-radar commission more than two months after a so-
cial media uproar put it in the spotlight. Dunleavy spokesman Matt Shuckerow said by email that Christa BruceKotrc of Ketchikan, Megan Mackiernan of Nome and Kathryn Dodge of Fairbanks are being replaced. The new appointees to the seven-member commission
are William Craig of Sitka, Elizabeth “Betsy” Engle of Fairbanks and Evelyn Falzerano of Anchorage According to the commission’s website, Bruce-Kotrc was first appointed in 2011, which made her the longestserving current member. Mackiernan was recently elected chairwoman and said
Thursday the commission had been moving forward. With Thursday’s changes, all but one member of the commission will have been appointed by Dunleavy. “This change will further help restore trust in the Commission tasked with protecting the rights of all Alaskans,” Shuckerow said
in an email. The stated mission of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights is to “eliminate and prevent discrimination for all Alaskans.” The commission’s website says it’s tasked with enforcing state human rights law. It accepts and investiSee RIGHTS, page A3
UAA hockey to play home games on campus
Raven with dart in head euthanized in Juneau
ANCHORAGE (AP) — The University of Alaska Anchorage hockey program will play home games on campus next season, officials said. The university has announced it will move games out of Sullivan Arena in Anchorage and into the Wells Fargo Sports Complex for
By Alex McCarthy Juneau Empire
the 2019-2020 season, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday. The move comes as the university faces “increasing financial constraints due to state budget cuts requiring the university to evaluate its venue needs,” according to a statement by the athletic department.
Relocating games from Alaska’s largest entertainment venue, which seats about 6,300 for hockey, to the smaller campus venue will save $200,000 per year, said university athletic director Greg Myford. Capacity at the Wells Fargo rink, which has seating See PLAY, page A3
The raven who was flying around downtown Juneau with a blow dart lodged in its head was euthanized Tuesday night, Kathy Benner from the Juneau Raptor Center said. Benner, the manager of
the JRC, said in an email Wednesday that someone trapped the raven in a gated area at the Glory Hall homeless shelter at about 1 p.m. Tuesday. JRC personnel were called to the scene and were able to catch the bird — which had been eluding them since early April. See DART, page A3