Outbreak
THE
Sunday
Untraceable virus clusters worry health officials Homes & Health / C1
Hoops NIkiski basketball splits with Houston, swept by Huskies Sports / B1
CLARION
W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i n * Ala o r t i n ska P g! res
P E N I N S U L A
Sunday, February 23, 2020 Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
Vol. 50, Issue 108
Elderly couple dies in collision on Sterling Highway By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
An elderly couple died Friday after their vehicle collided with a semitruck on the Sterling Highway. Alaska State Troopers responded at 12:07 p.m. Friday to a motor vehicle collision at Mile 90.5 of the Sterling Highway near Walker Street in Sterling, according to a Feb. 21 trooper dispatch. Cedric Kyle, 81, was driving southbound in a 2006 Dodge Dakota with his wife Wilma Kyle, 83, when he lost control of his vehicle on the icy pavement and slid into oncoming traffic. Jason Griner, 48, of Anchorage, was traveling northbound in a 2020 International Tractor Truck and was unable to avoid the collision, according to the dispatch. Griner had minor injuries and was transported to Central Peninsula Hospital. Cedric and Wilma Kyle died on scene. Next of kin was notified.
UA President to make State of the University address University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen will make his annual State of the University address at 12:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28 at the Marriott Anchorage Downtown hotel. Johnsen will be speaking at the annual AlaskaCAN! Educational Equity Conference being held at the hotel. “The effects of 2019 will be long lasting,” Johnsen told a joint meeting of the House and Senate Education Committees on Jan. 29, “but we are pivoting.” At the meeting Johnsen said some of the biggest challenges facing the UA system going forward were declining enrollment and staff turnover. Johnsen’s address will be livestreamed on the University of Alaska website. — Juneau Empire
Index Local . . . . . . . . . . A3 Opinion . . . . . . . . A4 Nation & World . . . . A6 Weather . . . . . . . . A8 Sports . . . . . . . . . . B1 Homes . . . . . . . . . C1 Community . . . . . . . C4 Mini Page . . . . . . . . C6 Classifieds . . . . . . . C7 TV Guide . . . . . . . . C9 Crossword . . . . . . .C12 Check us out online at www.peninsulaclarion.com To subscribe, call 283-3584.
s Clu
b
$1.50 newsstands daily/$1.50 Sunday
Knopp: We should have PFD we can afford Lawmakers: PFD earnings critical to longterm financial stability By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
As Alaska’s House of Representatives continue to work out the state’s budget for the coming year, Rep. Gary Knopp, R-Kenai, took a break from Juneau and visited Soldotna on Saturday with some of his fellow House members to discuss the state’s fiscal reality with his constituents. Knopp, along with House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, Majority Whip Louise Stutes, D-Kodiak, and Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, spent a few hours in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers to give a presentation on the options for long-term funding of Alaska’s government services and the future of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend.
The main takeaway from Saturday’s presentation was this: The four lawmakers believe that Alaska’s best bet for long-term financial security involves substantially growing the permanent fund and using its earnings to fund government services, acknowledging that revenue from the oil and gas industry will no longer be the primary revenue stream. The combination of relatively low oil prices and low production, Foster said, means that lawmakers have to look elsewhere for the funds necessary for Alaska’s state services, like education, health and social services, roads and public safety. “Up until a few years ago, oil made up for 90% of the state’s revenue,” Foster said. “Now the earnings from the permanent fund are, I believe, about two-thirds of our state’s revenue.” Alaska hit its peak for oil production in 1988 at over 2 million barrels per day,
Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion
From left, Rep. Bryce Edgmon (I-Dillingham), Rep. Neal Foster (D-Nome), Rep. Gary Knopp (R-Kenai), and Rep. Louise Stutes (R-Kodiak), discuss the state’s budget with residents of the Kenai Peninsula at the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers in Soldotna on Saturday.
according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. By 2018 production had dropped to about 479,000 barrels per day, and Edgmon
said that the 10-year forecasts given to legislators indicate that production will remain at about 500,000 barrels a day for the near future.
Sanders wins Nevada caucuses Vermont senator takes national lead in Democratic contests
See PFD, Page A3
City offers incentives for land leasing By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
By STEVE PEOPLES, MICHELLE L. PRICE, JONATHAN J. COOPER and BRIAN SLODYSKO Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Bernie Sanders scored a commanding victory in Nevada’s presidential caucuses on Saturday, cementing his status as the Democrats’ national front-runner but escalating tensions over whether he’s too liberal to defeat President Donald Trump. As Sanders celebrated, Joe Biden was in second place with votes still being counted. Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth
“In the future, we’re going to have a state government that’s going to be funded
Briana Sanchez/The El Paso Times via AP
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with his wife Jane O’Meara Sanders, waves his hand during a rally in El Paso, Texas, Saturday.
Warren trailed further behind. They were all seeking any possible momentum heading into next-up South Carolina and then Super Tuesday on March 3.
Nevada’s caucuses were the first chance for White House hopefuls to demonstrate appeal to a diverse group of voters in a state far more representative of
the country as a whole than Iowa and New Hampshire. Sanders, a 78-year Vermont senator and self-described See caucus, Page A2
The city of Kenai is expanding land development and leasing incentives across the city. Incentives for development include no lease payments for up to five years and opportunities for lease with the option to purchase. Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander said the Kenai City Council wanted to find a way to encourage responsible growth and development within the city, and tasked the city’s administration to come up with ways the city could work together with local business owners. “We’re encouraging people to invest in See lease, Page A8
PFDs for land? Gov introduces land vouchers bill By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced legislation Friday that would allow Alaskans to exchange their Alaska Permanent Fund dividend checks for land vouchers that would be used to purchase state-owned land. Under the proposed legislation, announced by
Dunleavy in his State of the State address, Alaskans would be able to choose either receiving their PFD or a voucher worth double the statutory formula which can be applied only to the purchase of state lands. “It’s a priority for Gov. Dunleavy to grow the amount of land that Alaskans own,” said Department of Natural Resources
Commissioner Corri Feige in a press conference. “This is an innovative way to take (the state’s mineral wealth) and convert it to buying a piece of Alaska.” So far the bill has no official sponsor in the Legislature and has been referred to the House Rules Committee at the request of the governor. The state owns land in
abundance, according to Martin Parsons, director of the Division of Mining, Land and Water at DNR. The state will designate areas it deems suitable for settlement, and those lands will go into a land sale contract, Parsons said. The value of land varies throughout the state, Parsons said, with land in Southeast being more expensive and land in the Interior being
cheaper. The average price of land across the state was about $3,000 an acre, Parson said, and the state was looking at selling 5-acre parcels. Vouchers can be used toward lands being sold through various state programs. Lands for sale by the state can be found at the Division of Mining, Land and Water’s website. See land, Page A2
Alaska Natives say their voices ignored in ferry reshaping group By Peter Segall Juneau Empire
With the Alaska Marine Highway System in dire straights, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced in January the formation of an AMHS Reshaping Work Group to come up with a long-term plan for a sustainable ferry
system. The governor’s administrative order creating the group called for two members of the Legislature, representatives from the Marine Transportation Advisory Board, Aviation Advisory Board, Roads and Highways Advisory Board, a representative from one of the three maritime unions
who work on the ferries, and three members of the general public. When members of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Alaska Native Sisterhood heard about the work group, the thought they should have a seat at the table as well. As people who have lived in Alaska for thousands of years
and who have traditionally used the state’s waterways for a number reasons, the cuts to AMHS are of significant importance to Alaska Native communities, ANS Grand President Paulette Moreno said. “I understand the numbers and I know they’re working through the numbers,”
Moreno said. “But there also is an effect on our cultural activities, on our spiritual strength, because of the decreases in ferry service.” For many communities in Southeast Alaska, the ferry system is the main link to the outside world. Travel by See ferry, Page A3