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CLARION P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 84
In the news
Borough to test alert system The Kenai Peninsula Borough will be testing its alert system at the end of the week, a Monday press release from the borough’s office of emergency management said. The alert system — which is sent out as an automated phone call or text message to local land lines and registered mobile phones — is checked periodically to ensure it is working properly. The test will take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Friday, Jan. 24. Residents with land lines and residents with registered mobile phones will receive a recording indicating that the call is a test and no action is necessary. Residents wishing to register their mobile devices into the borough’s warning system can do so online at alerts.kpb.us or by texting “KPB” to 99411, which will send the user a mobile link to complete the registration process. The borough also encourages residents to follow “KPB Alerts” on Facebook and Twitter. Residents who have questions or feedback regarding the test can reach out to the borough’s office of emergency management at 907-2624910 or complete an online comment form on their website at www. kpb.us/emergency. The release says reports about the test are essential to assist the borough in determining the effectiveness of the system. — Victoria Petersen
Volcano smoke rises 5 miles above Aleutian island ANCHORAGE — Smoke has risen miles above a volcano on one of the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said. Lava flowed down the side of Shishaldin Volcano on Unimak Island Saturday and smoke rose more than 5 miles high Sunday, Anchorage Daily News reports. The National Weather Service issued an alert for pilots Sunday as plumes were recorded 30,000 feet in elevation and extending up to 90 miles east. The volcano observatory tweeted late Sunday that the ash emissions ended
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Tuesday, January 21, 2020 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Legislature 2020
PFD is 31st session’s big-ticket item By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
Last session featured a prolonged budget conflict and contentious special session. Here’s a look at what Alaskans can expect lawmakers to tackle this session, which starts today. Several lawmakers who spoke to the Empire expressed a cautious optimism this year’s session would be more productive than last, but
there’s still a lot of uncertainty.
A change in the PFD formula? Like last year, much of what the Legislature will have to debate will revolve around the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend. When he released his budget last month, Gov. Mike Dunleavy told reporters he intended to allocate a dividend based on the formula in statute. That would mean
roughly $3,170 for this year’s dividend but it would also mean drawing the state’s Constitutional Budget Reserve down to about $540 million. But many legislators have said there isn’t money to pay a full statutory dividend, and that smaller payouts were more sustainable for the state’s budget. Dunleavy has repeatedly said he intends to follow the law when it comes to the dividend and strongly opposed the limited payouts issued by the Legislature last year.
Some legislators are proposing to change the formula. “We are focused on solving that formula,” Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, told the crowd at the Resource Development Council on Jan. 9. “Amending that 40-yearold law that has been driving our budget.” Giessel made the argument that with smaller dividends, more money See PFD, Page A3
State lawmakers are greeted with little ceremony By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
Last year, the first day of the legislative session was filled with much pomp and circumstance. Lawmakers had flowers pinned to their clothes, local Boy Scouts
carried flags onto the floor and led lawmakers in the Pledge of Allegiance. This year, not so much. Today marks the second session of the 31st Alaska State Legislature. New Legislatures begin following elections, and with a few exceptions,
there are no new legislators this session. Sen. Josh Revak, R-Anchorage, was already sworn into the Senate where he will take the seat of the late-Sen. Chris Birch, who died unexpectedly last year. Filling his former seat in the House will be
Cold start for Census
Rep. Mel Gillis, R-Anchorage. Both lawmakers were sworn in during the interim, according to Jessica Geary, executive director of the Legislative Affairs Agency. But aside from that, the Legislature See start, Page A3
Dunleavy names new OMB director By Ben Hohenstatt Juneau Empire
to marsh that’s difficult to traverse. The mail service is spotty and the internet connectivity unreliable, which makes door-to-door surveying important. For those reasons, they have to start early here. The rest of the country, plus urban areas of Alaska such as Anchorage, will begin the census in mid-March. Some of the biggest challenges to the count are especially difficult in Toksook Bay, one of a handful of villages on Nelson Island, which is about 500 miles west of Anchorage and only accessible by boat or plane. Some people speak only Alaska Native languages such as Yup’ik,
The Legislature’s new session will be joined by a new Office of Management and Budget director. Gov. Mike Dunleavy on Monday named Neil Steininger director of OMB, which will be effective as of Tuesday, the first day of the Legislature’s session. Steininger is a lifelong Alaskan and has had multiple roles at the office responsible for prepare the annual capital and operating budgets over the past five years, according to the governor’s office. Those include serving as budget analyst, chief budget analyst, and as the Administrative Services Director for the Department of Education and Early Development. “Governor Dunleavy believes Mr. Steininger’s experience and reputation in finance and state government made him an excellent choice to run the Office of Management and Budget,” said Dunleavy spokesperson Jeff Turner in an email. “As a current OMB employee, he also has the institutional knowledge and relationships with its staff, administration officials and legislators to lead the department through the challenges of creating a sustainable and affordable state budget.” That experience is a contrast to Donna Arduin, who Dunleavy named
See census, Page A3
See OMB, Page A3
Gregory Bull / Associated Press
A girl waits for her mother Sunday in Toksook Bay. She will be among the first Americans to be counted in the 2020 Census starting Tuesday in the Bering Sea coastal village.
By Mark Thiessen Associated Press
TOKSOOK BAY — There are no restaurants in Toksook Bay, Alaska. No motels or movie theater, either. There also aren’t any factories. Or roads. But the first Americans to be counted in the 2020 census live in this tiny community of 661 on the edge of the American expanse. Their homes are huddled together in a windswept Bering Sea village, painted vivid lime green, purple or neon blue to help distinguish the signs of life from a frigid white winterscape that makes it hard to tell where the frozen sea ends and the village begins.
Fish drying racks hang outside some front doors, and you’re more likely to find a snowmobile or fourwheeler in the driveway than a truck or SUV. In this isolated outpost that looks little like other towns in the rest of the United States, the official attempt to count everyone living in the country will begin Tuesday. The decennial U.S. census has started in rural Alaska, out of tradition and necessity, ever since the U.S. purchased the territory from Russia in 1867. Once the spring thaw hits, the town empties as many residents scatter for traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and the frozen ground that in January makes it easier to get around by March turns
See news, Page A3
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McConnell proposes swift trial with long days By Zeke Miller, Eric Tucker and Lisa Mascaro Associated Press
WASHINGTON— On the eve of President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, the Senate leader proposed a compressed calendar for opening statements, White House lawyers argued for swift rejection of the “flimsy” charges and the Capitol braced for the contentious proceedings unfolding in an election year. Final trial preparations were underway Monday on a tense day of plodding
developments with Trump’s legacy — and the judgment of both parties in Congress — at stake. The president’s legal team, in its first full filing for the impeachment court, argued that Trump did “absolutely nothing wrong” and urged the Senate to swiftly reject the “flawed” case against him. “All of this is a dangerous perversion of the Constitution that the Senate should swiftly and roundly condemn,” the president’s lawyers wrote. “The articles should be rejected and the president should immediately be acquitted.”
The brief from the White House, and the House Democratic response, comes as the Senate could be facing 12-hour sessions for the rare Senate trial, with some of the very senators running to replace Trump as president sitting as jurors. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell proposed a condensed, two-day calendar for each side to give opening statements, ground rules that Democrats immediately rejected. Voting on the Republican leader’s resolution will be one of the first orders of business when senators convene
Tuesday. It also pushes off any votes on witnesses until later in the process, rather than up front, as Democrats had demanded. The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, called the GOP leader’s proposed rules package a “national disgrace.” Senators are poised for only the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history, coming just weeks before the first primaries of the 2020 election season and as voters are assessing Trump’s first term and weighing the candidates See impeach, Page A2