APRN Alaska News

Long-time Juneau resident Jean Rogers is being remembered as a loving mother, beloved children’s book author, and patron of the arts. Rogers died Wednesday of heart failure. She was 93.

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Elaine Andrews. Photo by Ellen Lockyer, KSKA – Anchorage

What do Alaska’s judges do when they are not sitting on the bench?   Do they ponder weighty tomes, or engage in deep discussion about the legal issues of the day?  Maybe some of them do that, but KSKA’s Ellen Lockyer found that quite a number of Anchorage judges get together and play ukulele’s for after hours fun.

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This week we’re heading to the tiny Southeast community of Port Alexander. The village of just 62 people is on the south end of Baranof Island. Robin Griggs teaches school there.

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It started modestly enough with Joe Redington and a few others wanting the old mail trail to the gold mines retraced. Now the whole world watches the Iditarod. It’s Iditarod time again on the next Talk of Alaska.

HOSTS:

• Steven Heimel

GUESTS: 

• Zack Steer
• Callers Statewide

PARTICIPATE:

• Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
• Send e-mail to talk [at] alaskapublic [dot] org (comments may be read on air)
• Call 550-8422 in Anchorage or 1-800-478-8255 if you’re outside Anchorage during the live broadcast

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.

SUBSCRIBE: Get Talk of Alaska updates automatically by e-mail, RSS or podcast.

TALK OF ALASKA ARCHIVE

Citizens give testimony at Thursday night’s Anchorage School Board meeting, where the district’s budget was passed 6-1. Photo by Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage.

The Anchorage School Board passed their budget Thursday night with one amendment restoring some counselors. The Board heard final public testimony then passed budget passed 6-1.

Nearly 30 people testified in front of the Anchorage School Board before members passed the 2013-2014 budget. Carol Benroth is a counselor at Bartlett High School. She testified about the importance of keeping regular and special education counselors and argued against the idea of replacing specialized counselors with generalists.

“One size does not fit all. What is fair, is not always equal. Students with disabilities thrive with counselors devoted to support their individual differences and specialized needs. When you consider cutting these positions tonight please ask yourself, is this what’s best for kids? I think you will find it difficult to answer yes,” Benroth said.

Keneth Mayer spoke about his own experience and about the importance of keeping counselors available for students, especially graduation coaches.

“I was bullied throughout school, I constantly thought about giving up on my education, my parents were addicted to drugs and alcohol and I became suicidal. I was fortunate to have a pair of loving grandparents help me through it, but I would have been one of the kids that these graduation coaches reached out and helped had they been in schools while I was attending. However a lot of kids today don’t even feel like they have the safety net that I had. Now these are the kids that these graduation coaches are focused on,” Mayer said.

Bonnie Paskvan testified in support of the Ignite program, for gifted students.

“This tiny cost-savings of $26,000, a tiny, tiny percentage of $25 million will result in a significantly less rich, meaningful and in-depth course offering to our students,” Paskvan said.

Donna McCarrey, a retired school teacher told a story from her time working at Dimond High School to make her point that cutting counselors could have terrible consequences. The story was about a student who was being bullied and couldn’t get in to see a counselor.

“I saw her and I asked her to wait for a minute, but she didn’t. Instead she went to her locker, left the counselor and myself a note and she walked home. Worried, we went to the security guard who immediately drove to her home and there she was on the living room floor having consumed a bottle of sleeping pills. Many months after her funeral, the police returned the letter she’d written to me and for the rest of my career I left it taped to my classroom wall as a reminder that some kids need us now,” McCarrey said.

Malcom Roberts, is a parent of a third-grader and the president of the PTA for Government Hill Elementary School. He said the budget cuts were the result of a bad paradigm set up by the state legislature.

“That paradigm should not make us make these hard choices between counselors, between coaches, between ignite, between special education. We need to fund public education in this state and we need to fund it in Anchorage. How are we going to change this paradigm? How are we going to unite these good folks out here and have them help us change the future. Cause if we don’t do that, we’re going to be here next year having the same debate, and the year after that,” Roberts said.

After about an hour and half of testimony, School Board Member Gretchen Guess proposed an amendment to restore eight counselors. School Board Member Don Smith proposed several amendments to restore career counselors, TA nurse assistants and library media assistants, by taking funds out of savings. All were voted down 6 to 1, with Smith the only yes vote.

Superintendent Jim Browder supported Guess’s amendment. He says he came to that decision by talking with high school principals.

“What we came out of that discussion with was a sense that reinstating a guidance position in those eight comprehensive high schools would give the principals more flexibility to deliver those services that we were afraid we were gonna lose – scholarships, mentorships, graduations.”

The budget was passed 6-1 with Guess’s amendment to restore counselors. The eight counseling positions were exchanged for eight direct instruction teaching positions. Smith was the only no vote. Guess said cuts totaling $140 million are expected to continue for the next six years, and the Anchorage School District needs the public’s help to convince lawmakers to provide adequate funding.

“It is a big uphill battle to fight and we need everyone to help us fight with it,” Guess said.

Guess encouraged people to call on the legislature to make education funding a priority. She encouraged people to turn out for a public hearing with the Anchorage Caucus this Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers at the Loussac Public Library and make their voices heard.

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The Coast Guard lifted an order restricting movement of Shell’s Kulluk drill rig Thursday morning. Petty Officer David Moseley says the company had to provide information about assessments of the rig and their tow plan to the Coast Guard for review.

“The inspection, its seaworthiness, was done by industry class certification,” Moseley says. “They are the experts on those type of vessels. They inspected, they gave us their inspection for review, so we could understand what they found, if there were any concerns, or not, that needed to be addressed prior to its being transferred, or transported, from Kiliuda Bay.”

Now that the Captain of the Port order has been lifted, Shell is free to start towing the rig to Unalaska whenever it sees fit. It’s not clear when that will be, but Moseley says that the Coast Guard will be notified.

“We will know once they start that transit and we will monitor it as they make their transit to Unalaska.”

For now, the rig is anchored in Kiliuda Bay, on the south side of Kodiak Island.

That’s where two of the tugs that will be towing the Kulluk to Unalaska collided on Friday afternoon, as the Anchorage Daily News blog Progessive Alaska first reported. While working in close proximity, the Corbin Foss ran into the port side of the Ocean Wave. Petty Officer Moseley says there were no injuries and that the damage was minimal, but that the Marine Safety Detachment in Kodiak inspected both vessels.

“When we have an incident with reported damage that could impact the vessel, we, as the Coast Guard, want to ensure the safety of that vessel and the crew onboard so we will provide an inspection and an investigation into the incident to include things like drug testing of the crew, taking down statements of what was going on at the time, so we get a clear understanding of what was going on to see if there’s anything that needs to be addressed in the future with similar operations.”

The Ocean Wave is still tied up at the dock in Kodiak. The Corbin Foss is with the rig in Kiliuda Bay.

You can find more information about the Kulluk’s tow plan here.

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U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski says she’ll soon introduce a revenue sharing bill for off-shore energy production.

Speaking to the Alaska state legislature this morning, Murkowski said she’s still working out final details of the bill with Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu.

“We realize that an Alaska only bill isn’t going to pass Congress. What we wanted to do was focus on the national prospective. What our legislation will do is direct 27.5% of the revenues from all forms of off shore energy production to our coastal states.”

She says the plan goes beyond offshore oil and gas projects. And that could help sway skeptical lawmakers in Washington.

“If you have offshore wind, if you have ocean energy, these would also be part of a revenue sharing proposal. We offer an additional ten percent of revenues if states establish funds for clean energy and conservation projects.”

Her plan, as she outlined today, differs from other revenue-sharing bills.

Senator Mark Begich introduced his own earlier this month that would give the state 37 and a half percent of off-shore oil and gas revenues.

Murkowski says if the plan were implemented, it could lead to billions of dollars in new revenue for the state.

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The village of Tuluksak regained power early this morning after a two-day outage. It took some help from of the Alaska Energy Authority to finally get the lights back on.

The lights went out in Tuluksak around 4pm Monday afternoon, when its only generator stopped running.

“The water pump overheated and stopped,” said Tuluksak’s Power Utility Manager Willie Phillip. He says the village received another generator engine just yesterday.

That engine came from the Alaska Energy Authority’s Emergency Response Program.

“And what we able to do is locate an engine for one of their generators to get it back online. We diverted one of our remote maintenance workers who was in the area. And we sent him over to Tuluksak,” said AEA’s Deputy Director for Rural Energy Sandra Moller.

She said the Emergency Response Program was implemented for emergencies just like this one.

Phillip said the village’s backup generators were non-functioning as well, so the new engine was vital.

“So we got it online about 2:00 a.m. or 2:30 a.m. or somewhere around there,” Phillip said.

He said the power wouldn’t have come back on without help from community volunteers helping to transport and install the new engine.

The AEA may be able to help villages like Tuluksak with yet another program “called the Rural Power Systems upgrade program,” Moller said.

“We’ve just completed a six or eight month process of evaluating all power plants in rural Alaska.”

In the future, Tuluksak and other rural villages in-need, may qualify for assistance through that program, pending legislative funding.

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The Alaska House of Representatives has come out against genetically engineered salmon, or as critics call it, “Frankenfish.”

Representatives unanimously approved House Joint Resolution 5 on Wednesday. It urges the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reconsider a preliminary finding that genetically modified fish would not significantly impact the environment. The resolution also urges the agency to require labeling for GM salmon, if the product is ultimately approved.

The legislation was sponsored by Anchorage Democrat Geran Tarr. She says genetically engineered fish has not been proven safe.

“The resolution opposes this move for three reasons,” Tarr said on the House floor. “Threats to wild salmon stocks; threats to human health and consumer confidence in wild Alaska salmon; and potential negative economic impact on our wild seafood industry.”

The House joins the Parnell administration, the state’s Congressional delegation, and thousands of Alaskans represented by seafood industry groups in opposing genetically modified fish.

The resolution now goes to the state Senate.

Massachusetts-based biotech company AquaBounty petitioned the FDA to approve the genetically engineered fish — an Atlantic salmon with genes from a Chinook salmon and an eel-like fish to make it grow faster. The company has spent nearly $70 million dollars since forming in 1991.

The FDA recently extended the public comment period on AquaBounty’s petition through April 26th.

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The scope of Alaska’s sex trafficking problem remains unclear, but there’s plenty that can still be done to help victims — that’s the conclusion of a report issued by astate task force charged with studying the issue.

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A measure that would require voters to show photo identification at the polls got its first hearing today (on Thursday).  Rep. Bob Lynn, a Republican from Anchorage, sponsored the bill, and he views it as a simple way of preventing voter fraud.

If a person doesn’t have photo ID available, they would have show two alternate forms of identification, like a birth certificate or tribal organization card. A person could also be okayed to vote if they are recognized by two election officials. If a voter doesn’t meet any of these requirements, then they have to cast a questioned ballot. During the hearing, the director of the Alaska Division of Elections answered questions about the mechanics of the bill and number of cases of voter fraud that Alaska had seen.

She said the state had experienced very few cases, and that those would not have been prevented by the proposed law. Questions were also raised about the effect the proposal would have on the Bush and whether it would be constitutional, with representatives from the Association of Village Council Presidents and the American Civil Liberties Union speaking against the bill. Rep. Lynn Gattis, a Republican, also commented that some of her constituents from Wasilla have raised concern about the bill.

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The Violence Against Women’s Act that is making its way through Congress has the support of the Association of Village Council Presidents for the most part. However, the Native non-profit organization which represents 56 tribes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta is opposing part of the legislation, the part that doesn’t allow Alaskan tribes to prosecute non-tribal members.

That’s a sticking point for AVCP President Myron Naneng.

“Why do they always have to have an exclusion for non-tribal members?” Naneng said. “The tribal court should be able to deal with all people who live in the village.”

Reauthorizing VAWA has passed the Senate and will be considered by the House next. It does allow tribes on reservations to prosecute non-tribal members for domestic violence that occurs within their boundaries. However, in Alaska, there is only one reservation–Metlakatla in South East– so other tribes in the state would not have that right.

Senator Lisa Murkowski voted for the bill, saying she focused on ensuring that Metlakatla was treated no different than other reservations in the country. She said for the state’s other tribes, there is language that confirms that they have the power to issue domestic violence protective orders against their own members.

“So, what this does is simply maintain the status quo,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski included language to re-establish the Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission, which has the tribes, state, and federal governments working together on rural safety issues.

About 20 villages in the Y-K Delta have tribal courts, but the state court still deals with most crimes region-wide. Naneng says access to state courts is difficult for some villages because they are so remote, sometimes hundreds of miles away.

“How much does it cost to go from one of the villages to Bethel to go to court, especially from Lower Yukon?” Naneng said. “It’s probably over $1,000 round trip.”

Giving tribal courts more leverage to deal with crimes would help, he says.

Tribal courts can use traditional forms of resolution such as banishment, a form of punishment for people who consistently cause problems in a community. Naneng says tribes should be able to exercise that with non-tribal members as well.

“I think that the village should have the ability to ban these people from their communities which has been done and is still going on today,” Naneng said.

Naneng says AVCP would like to see changes made to the VAWA legislation in the House and they plan to work with other tribes in Alaska to lobby for that.

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Alaska’s oil wealth portfolio has hit an all-time high: $45 billion.

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. announced the fund hit the mark Tuesday.

The corporation tracks the fund daily. CEO Mike Burns said hitting $45 billion is a sign the Alaska Permanent Fund has not only regained ground lost during the recession but also that it is growing.

Burns says the fund, by any measure, has been very successful. He says the patience Alaskans have had in growing the fund is extraordinary, and says it takes a lot of political will to keep the fund off limits for use on other things.

Since 1977, the corporation says the fund has received more than $16.5 billion in mineral royalties and general fund appropriations and paid out $19.8 billion in dividends.

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The State of Alaska has a problem with derelict vessels and lawmakers in Juneau are looking at how to address it.   Municipalities would be given greater authority to deal with derelict and abandoned vessels under a bill introduced by Homer representative Paul Seaton. Seaton introduced HB131 on Wednesday.

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The anchor-handling vessel, the Aiviq, tows the drilling unit Kulluk to a safe harbor location in Kiliuda Bay, Alaska on Jan. 7, 2013. Photo by U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg.

Two tugs scheduled to tow a damaged Royal Dutch Shell PLC drill barge collided while maneuvering in a bay off Kodiak Island.

KTUU-TV reports the collision happened Friday when the tug Corbin Foss hit the other tug, the Ocean Wave.

Drug tests were conducted on crew members but the Coast Guard did not respond to the non-injury collision.

The Kulluk ran aground Dec. 31 near Kodiak Island as it was being towed to Seattle for maintenance and broke free in a storm. It was refloated and taken to a sheltered harbor.

A Shell spokesman says in an email to The Associated Press that poor weather has delayed the Kulluk from being towed to Dutch Harbor, but plans to take it from there to Asia in dry transport remains viable.

Assembly members and Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan heard criticism of the Mayor’s proposed labor union ordinance at a work session held Wednesday at City Hall. Photo by Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage.

Attorneys representing labor unions made a presentation to members of the Anchorage Assembly at a work session at city hall Wednesday (3/20). They outlined their concerns about an ordinance to limit unions that was recently proposed by Mayor Dan Sullivan. The Mayor also launched a media campaign supporting his proposal. KSKA’s Daysha Eaton has the story.
As you flip through the radio dial you may hear a new radio ad by Mayor Dan Sullivan.

Ordinance 37, was proposed less than two weeks ago.The Anchorage Assembly is now reviewing it. The ordinance would impact approximately 22-hundred municipal employees from accountants to police officers and fire fighters. It limits pay, benefits and mediation, and eliminates the option of a strike. But it’s centerpiece is the introduction of managed competition, a process in which a public agency competes with private firms to provide public services. The Mayor says fire and police departments as well as emergency services would be exempt. The competition in other departments though, he says, would save the municipality money and make public employees more efficient. Attorney’s representing unions disagree. They say the wording of the ordinance is too vague, and gives the Mayor’s office too much power. Justin Roberts is the General counsel for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 1547 (IBEW).

“It has conflicting terms throughout, it suffers from basic lack of definitions, it removes power from the assembly. It gives virtually unchecked power to the employee relations board to interpret the terms of this ordinance.”

Roberts says members of the employee relations board are appointed by the Mayor so the set-up is political and problematic. He and the other two attorneys representing unions were especially concerned about the lack of a clear definition for managed competition. Assembly member Jennifer Johnston admits that the definition needs sharpening. She says she’s been advocating for managed competition since she was elected nearly six years ago. This is how she attempted to explain it.

“You are saying to the service center, the public sector service center that has the employee in it, how much would it cost for you to do this. This is what it costs outside your unit, how much is it going to cost. This brings the employee and the management together to form a team to say we can do it better.”

Johnston says she plans to introduce an amendment with a clearer definition for ‘managed competition’ soon. Assembly member Paul Honeman says he’s doubtful that managed competition is the way to go, but he says the bottom line is that the process needs to slow down.

“I think we’re moving way to fast in what I call a major revision of this code. And I would like to see it postponed for a long period. We’ve got some major issues before us.”

Honeman says there’s no need to push to get the new law in place before union negotiations begin at the end of March or beginning of April, as the Mayor wants. Honeman says the negotiations can always be extended. Several Assembly members expressed concern that the ordinance could make the assembly responsible for the ultimate decision on which contracts to got with. Although Assembly Chair Ernie Hall helped introduce the Mayor’s proposed ordinance, he also has concerns.

“It could be very political, handling that. And what we’re doing is really trying to put thought into this into the future and you’re not worried about who’s in charge.”

As the proposed ordinance stands, the Mayor’s office would gain significant power over how labor is managed. Hall says he anticipates an amendment addressing that issue. Public testimony on Ordinance 37 begins Wednesday, February 27th at the Loussac Library Assembly Chambers at 6 o’clock. The Wilda Marston Theater will also be open to accommodate the expected crowd, with video from inside the assembly chambers.

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Power has been out in the village of Tuluksak the past few days. The village is located 50 river miles upstream of Bethel.

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The normally dry subject of committee referrals is creating a bit of a stir in the Capitol.

Senator Gary Stevens

Last week, a group of five senators introduced a resolution to amend the Alaska Constitution to allow for a school voucher program. The measure was supposed to be heard in the education committee. That is, until it suddenly wasn’t, as Sen. Gary Stevens – a Republican from Kodiak and chair of the education committee – discovered while traveling in Kentucky on business.

“I learned an important lesson last Friday. Never, never, never leave town. No matter how calm and uneventful you think things will be in your absence, don’t believe it. Stay in Juneau until the bitter end,” Stevens said.

The voucher resolution was removed from his committee, and will instead be heard in judiciary and finance. A similar resolution to strike language from the Constitution that prohibits direct funding of religious school stalled in education during the last legislature.

During the Senate floor session on Tuesday, Stevens announced that he would hold hearings on the issue of vouchers, even if his committee wasn’t processing the measure. He described it as the “most momentous education issue” that he had encountered during his years in the legislature, and he also said he didn’t believe in bottling up legislation just because he didn’t support it.

“I have no objection to the resolution moving ahead, though I don’t personally agree with it, and I would, if eventually it makes it to the ballot box, probably vote against it based on our constitutional principle of separation of church and state. You see, Mr. President, I really like the first amendment to the Constitution. I like it a lot,” Stevens said.

Senator John Coghill

When talking about the constitutional question of funding religious schools, Stevens quoted James Madison to back up his position. He also cited Alaskan founding father, Jack Coghill – former lieutenant governor and father of Sen. John Coghill, a cosponsor of the voucher resolution and the current judiciary chair.

Coghill, a Republican from Fairbanks, said in a later conversation that he didn’t mind having his father’s arguments used against his own. He also said that he thinks vouchers are an education issue, but that the resolution should come through judiciary first.

“So, what Sen. Stevens is saying is accurate and probably one of the debates. But we can’t even have that debate until we ask the people, ‘Can we have that debate?’ And he says it’s unconstitutional. Well, he’s right in that our Constitution now has that barrier,” Coghill said.

This isn’t the first time this session that committee referrals have been questioned. Last week, Senate Democrats objected that a bill defining what qualifies as a “medically necessary” abortion was not referred to the health and human services committee and that a measure concerning the development of a hydroelectric site in a state park was not directed to resources.

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The U.S. Postal Service recently announced an end to Saturday delivery.  People will stop receiving letters on Saturdays by the end of summer.

A postal reform bill is expected before then, and bypass mail will likely be targeted for reforms.

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Attu Island is overdue for some spring cleaning. Seventy years after World War II, the island is still littered with shards of old Coke bottles, lead-based batteries, leaking fuel drums and unexploded artillery.

This summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages the remote island as a refuge, will survey the extent of World War II debris and contamination. As KTOO news intern Kelsey Gobroski reports, the entire ecosystem could be affected by the decades of pollution.

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