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Vol. 50, Issue 71
In the news
Coast Guard says 5 missing after crab boat sinks JUNEAU — Five people were missing and two were rescued after a 130-foot crab fishing vessel from Dutch Harbor sank Tuesday night, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Authorities said the vessel’s last known position was 170 miles southwest of Air Station Kodiak. The Scandies Rose sank at approximately 10 p.m. Tuesday with seven crew members aboard, the Coast Guard said. It received a mayday distress call and immediately commenced a rescue operation. Helicopter and airplane crews from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak were involved in the search. A helicopter crew arrived on scene and hoisted two survivors from a life raft. Their condition was not immediately known. A Coast Guard cutter was diverted from the Bering Sea and was expected to arrive on scene Wednesday evening. “We are conducting an extensive search in a 300-square mile area to locate the five missing persons from the Scandies Rose,” said Lt. Wade Arnold, command duty officer at 17th District command center. The Coast Guard reported wind in excess of 40 miles, 15 feet to 20 feet seas and one mile visibility.
Kodiak hopes reality show will attract police recruits KODIAK — An Alaska police department hopes a new reality show featuring its officers will attract new recruits to an area where staffing has been difficult. The Kodiak Police Department will be featured in “Alaska PD” on the A&E network beginning Jan. 1, The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported Monday. The program will look at the lives of police officers in Kodiak, Fairbanks, Kotzebue and Petersburg. Kodiak Sgt. Francis de la Fuente hopes the show will draw attention to the department, which is frequently understaffed. “We want to see if it can be a hiring tool for Kodiak,” he said. The idea for the show came from an article See news, Page A3
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Alaska Senate president in spotlight with dividend fight By Becky Bohrer Associated Press
JUNEAU — During her first year as Alaska Senate president, Cathy Giessel won over one-time political adversaries and angered some within her own party for her willingness to buck Gov. Mike
Dunleavy, a fellow Republican, on key pieces of his agenda. Giessel’s ascension to the role just three other women have held coincided with Dunleavy’s 2018 election. She was among those who argued cuts proposed by the governor were too much, too
fast, and that the formula he wanted to follow for paying checks to residents from the state’s oil-wealth fund, the Alaska Permanent Fund, was no longer workable. Tuckerman Babcock, a former state GOP chair and former Dunleavy chief of staff, said Giessel’s position
on the dividend changed. “That’s one issue, and the other is, to be so publicly, adamantly at odds with the governor is just bizarre,” he said, noting he would not support her again. Giessel said as Senate leader, she’s an easy target. Rather than dictating views
Kaladi starts new year giving back
to her 14-member caucus, which includes a Democrat, Giessel said she gives them room to wrestle with issues to reach agreement, or not. Her caucus was sharply divided on the dividend last year, which she said reflected See senate, Page A2
Blizzard conditions shut down Seward Highway By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion
Shift leader Melanie Smith serves up a hazelnut latte at the Kaladi Brothers Coffee shop on Kobuk Street in Soldotna on Wednesday. Kaladi Brothers donated all of their proceeds from coffee sales on New Year’s Day to the Students in Transition program, which provides resources to homeless students on the Kenai Peninsula.
By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
A locally owned coffee chain rang in the new year by giving back to the community. Kaladi Brothers Coffee, a coffee chain based in Anchorage, dedicated New Year’s Day to supporting the Students in Transition Program, which provides resources and services to
homeless students in the Kenai Peninsula School District. Kaladi Brothers locations around the state participated in giving back, including the shop located on South Kobuk Street in Soldotna. Melanie Smith, shift leader at the Kobuk location, said on Wednesday that the store had been busy since she started her shift. “I got here at one, and
it went really well today,” Smith said. “We had a line out the door pretty much the whole day, so it was really nice to see how many people came out to support this.” Smith said that 100% of the proceeds from coffee beverage sales for the day would be donated to Students in Transition, which by closing time was about $1,800. Smith said that people were also
donating money on top of what they spent on their coffee. “We actually had a little jar that people were putting money in because they wanted to donate more to the program,” Smith said. “I was so amazed, I couldn’t believe that many people were willing to donate to a charity just because we were donating as well. It was really humbling.”
Heavy snowfall throughout Southcentral Alaska prompted a closure of the Seward Highway on New Year’s Eve as well as blizzard warnings for the Kenai Peninsula. Seward Highway was closed from Girdwood south to Jerome Lake, according to a community notice posted to Facebook Tuesday night by the Alaska Department of Transportation. DOT reported that Girdwood had received 18 inches of snowfall. The highway remained closed until about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, when DOT announced that all lanes had been reopened. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service extended its blizzard warning through Wednesday afternoon for the western Kenai Peninsula. Areas along Kachemak Bay were expected to be impacted, including Homer and the Homer bluff. The warning asked residents to plan for hazardous travel conditions, blowing snow and near zero visibility. Additional snow accumulations of up to 4 inches were expected. Snow and winds were expected to gradually diminish through the afternoon. For the latest road conditions call 511 or visit 511.alaska.gov.
State minimum wage Borough looks at policy for junk and abandoned car removal increases to $10.19 By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
Alaska’s minimum wage increased 30 cents beginning Jan. 1, 2020. The wage increased from $9.89 an hour to $10.19 an hour. In 2014, Alaskans voted to raise the minimum wage by $1 in both 2015 and 2016, and required the rate to be adjusted annually for inflation, according to an October press release from the Office of the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Tips do not count toward the Alaska minimum wage. To adjust for inflation, the state uses the previous calendar year’s Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in
the Anchorage Metropolitan Area. The index is a measure of the average change in prices paid by urban consumers over time. Last year, minimum wage rose 5 cents, from $9.84 to $9.89. In 2017, 2018 and 2019 the minimum wage only rose 5 cents. By law, Alaska’s minimum wage must remain at least $1 per hour over the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25. Alaska is among 30 states with minimum wages above $7.25. Washington state, California and Massachusetts have state minimum wages of $12 and Washington, D.C., offers workers a minimum of $14 an hour. The federal minimum wage hasn’t risen in over a decade.
By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly will consider changing its policy on abandoned vehicles at its meeting Tuesday. An ordinance on Tuesday’s agenda would repeal current code and replace it with a new policy that bolsters the borough’s ability to enforce the removal of junk and abandoned vehicles by incorporating Alaska statutes into the policy. The ordinance states that vehicles abandoned on public roadways or public property are public nuisances that create health and safety hazards. Addressing abandoned and junk vehicles in the borough is a growing issue, a Nov. 21 memo from borough roads
director Dil Uhlin to the assembly said. The proposed code is more detailed than the current code and incorporates policies more aligned with state statute. The proposed code aims to make the policy for addressing junk and abandoned vehicles more clear. “It is in the best interests of the borough to have a clearly established procedure for the abatement, removal, and disposal of vehicles abandoned on public property,” the ordinance said. “The public is served by the establishment of code-driven procedures that meet the requirements of state law.” The current policy has “proven to be inadequate for enforcing the removal of junk and abandoned vehicles within the borough as
it lacks many of the requirements of Alaska statute,” the memo said. The current policy also fails to address junk vehicles and the process for addressing vehicles left on private property. The proposed policy says it is unlawful to abandon a vehicle on public property and on private property without the consent of the land owner and the owner of the vehicle is responsible for removing the vehicle and any associated costs. The proposed policy change also addresses vehicles considered both junk and abandoned, the memo said, by providing “a mechanism for the Road Service Area to address the growing issue regarding the abandonment of vehicles on See junk, Page A3