Loading summary
Transcript37 lines
- [00:00]
A
Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states and two US territories. If you're a highly digital business that doesn't have a physical presence here in the state, you are not paying taxes to the state of Alaska. You're paying those taxes to other states.
- [00:28]
B
State legislators hope proposed corporate income tax changes can add tens of millions to the state's budget. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Monday, February 16th. Good evening. I'm Wesley Early. Also tonight, lawmakers grill Mount Edgecombe boarding school officials over student welfare and declining enrollment.
- [00:46]
A
Just very challenging for me to understand exactly what the oversight has been of this particular facility underneath your leadership.
- [00:53]
B
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Alaska lawmakers are going for round two on a bill Governor Mike Dunleavy vetoed last year. The bill would change the way corporate income taxes are calculated, bringing in tens of millions of dollars in new revenue. Lawmakers failed to override Dunleavy's veto of the bill at the beginning of this year's session. Backers of the bill say it's necessary with a tight state budget, and it's similar to a proposal Governor Mike Dunleavy included in his fiscal plan. Representative Calvin Shrogy, an Anchorage independent who co chairs the Finance Committee, said at the bill's first hearing on Friday that it's an effort to bring the state's tax laws into the digital age.
- [01:34]
A
Currently, there is a loophole in Alaska's corporate tax income tax structure, and that loophole is that if you're a highly digital business that doesn't have a physical presence here in the state, you are not paying taxes to the state of Alaska. You're paying those taxes to other states.
- [01:49]
B
The bill would make two substantial changes to corporate income taxes in an effort to attribute more of lower 48 companies income to Alaska. The last year, the state Department of Revenue estimated the bill would raise between 25 and $65 million each year. Representative Will Stapp, a Fairbanks Republican in the minority who voted for the bill last year but voted against overriding Dunleavy's veto, says he'd like to see some technical changes. For one thing, he'd rather not make the bill retroactive to the start of this year. But Stapp says he's open to supporting it after a few tweaks.
- [02:20]
A
No change in a tax structure is perfect, but there are like impacts that we should actually understand that the public's going to expect us to kind of understand. So we can articulate it.
- [02:29]
B
Even though the bill is similar to an element of Dunleavy's fiscal plan, it's not clear the governor would sign the bill if passed. His office declined to comment on the new bill. But Dunleavy has said repeatedly he opposes new revenue measures without stricter limits on how state money can be spent. Meanwhile, state lawmakers questioned Mount Edgecumbe High School leadership about conditions at the Sitka School last week. So far, a quarter of the students have dropped out or changed schools this school year. The hearings follow months of concern about student welfare at the state run boarding school that serves primarily Alaska Native students from rural communities around the state. KCAW's Katherine Rose reports schools around the.
- [03:08]
A
State are struggling to keep up with building maintenance, teacher turnover and increased costs. Mount Edgecumbe High School is among them, with one key difference it's state run. At a House Education committee hearing on February 11, Sitka representative Rebecca Hymshute, an independent, highlighted that distinction. She said legislators are directly responsible for the safety and quality of life for students attending the boarding school. We are not here today to point fingers or to condemn any one person or any one decision. Rather, we are here to bring facts, transparency and perspective to the situation. Because Edgecombe is the only school in the state for which the state is directly responsible, it is critical that the dialogue today is open, productive and honest. Last fall, a group of alumni advisory board members, along with a handful of former and current staff, addressed the Alaska Board of Education with concerns about student welfare at Mount Edgecombe. They said recent funding and staffing cuts led to fewer programs and extracurricular opportunities, along with more restrictive policies on campus. They said the changes were taking a toll on students. Mental health and more students than usual were changing schools. As of February, 100 students have withdrawn this year, around a quarter of the student body. Every year, dozens of students leave the school early. School staff say it's for a variety of reasons, but the departures this year are also aligning with a dramatic dip in the school's budget and longtime staff departures. Education Commissioner Dina Bishop told legislators that during the coronavirus pandemic, the school expanded its staffing with around $5 million in relief funds, and after the money ran out, they found themselves $1.6 million over budget last year. At the time, what alerted me was that there was a recommendation to eliminate 14 teaching positions, and I knew from having run high schools and other things over my time that there's no way that you could have a comprehensive high school with 14 less teachers. Instead, the state balanced the budget by cutting four teaching positions along with one administrator and two administrative support staff. Bishop said the state reviewed the school's finances and found spending for the dorm and food contractor was up significantly even though they weren't meeting federal requirements. So they switched to a new contractor, NANA Management Services. Around the same time, the longtime dorm supervisor and other residential staff stepped down. It was a big transition. Ilana Kalki was one of two Mount Edgecam students who addressed legislators. She said a disconnect between the contractor, NANA and state staff was affecting students. It seems like they have trouble communicating, which this leads to like inconsistent application of rules. Like at the beginning of the school year there's something where we can check out like a lounge and that wasn't across all dorms. There's been trouble like communicating, getting rides and just like less collaboration, which affects REC activities. While Kalki, a junior, spoke highly of her education and experiences at Mount Edgecumbe, she also said the school's aging facilities are a problem. There's leaky pipes, washers that don't work, malfunctioning showers. This isn't just the dorms but also the academic building. There's like leaks in classrooms, in the library. At the Senate Education Committee hearing, the school's new superintendent, David Lankford, said they'd been working on solutions with NANA to improve the student experience, both in the lunchroom and the dorm rooms, and they've addressed some deferred maintenance. But it's an uphill battle, not just last year or this year, but maybe a decade worth of neglect that has things have not been taken care of and moved to the next level. So we're moving as fast as we can to make changes and update the school. Bishop and Lankford pointed to several fixes made in the past year, including replacing dorm furniture and beds and kitchen equipment. Anchorage Democratic Senator Loki Tobin said the legislature had approved funding for aesthetic dorm improvements as well as structural repairs. Tobin said that funding was vetoed by Governor Mike Dunleavy in fiscal year 24. She said they never saw another ask from the school for the funding and wanted to know why it hadn't been pursued. So I'm just kind of confused a little bit about your engagement with Mount Edgecumbe, your responsibilities. You are the oversight body and yet we continue to see the governor veto since 2020 projects for Mount Edgecombe. It's just very challenging for me to understand exactly what the oversight has been of this particular fellow facility underneath your leadership. But I know that finance will dig much more into this. Legislators also questioned Bishop's decision to hire Lankford as the new superintendent when he had already accepted a job to run Chatham School District in Southeast. He's currently doing both jobs. Bishop said she was looking for someone with experience, and Lankford agreed to live in Sitka and do the bulk of the Chatham job remotely. And so we worked out some of those issues. But you will see that many superintendents don't spend as much feet on the ground in their own local places in their schools as much as really the Mount Edgecumbe superintendent can because he lives about a couple of blocks away from the school. Lankford, who has been in the superintendent role for about seven months, told legislators that while the loss of 100 students was around 25% more than typical for this time of year, he was hopeful they wouldn't lose any more. He said he was determined to get enrollment back on track for next year. Reporting in Sitka, I'm Kathryn Rose.
- [08:46]
B
Still to come on Alaska News nightly, UConn quest leader Josie Shelley says she's mushing hard the last leg of the.
- [08:52]
A
Race, even though there's not anyone immediately behind me still trying to run and kind of pushing a little bit and see what we have that's ahead.
- [08:59]
B
Stay with us. Anchorage school district officials are once again floating closing elementary schools in an effort to tackle the district's roughly $90 million budget gap. In order to address the shortfall, the district recently proposed a budget that would cut more than 500 staff and eliminate all middle school and many high school sports, among other changes. Anchored school board members requested the district provide recommendations for suggested school closures as another way to save money. On Friday, the district proposed closing three schools Fire Lake, Lake Otis and Campbell STEM elementary schools. Fire Lake and Lake Otis had previously been on the chopping block, but board members voted against closing the two schools and November, if the closures are approved, two of the buildings would be offered to two charter school programs. Fire Lake would be offered to house the Eagle Academy, while the Rilke Schule German immersion school would be offered. Lake Otis, the former Abbot Loop elementary building, which currently hosts the German immersion school, and Campbell STEM, would both be deemed, quote, excess to ASD's needs. ASD officials estimate each school closure would save the district roughly $900,000 per school, but members of the public can provide public testimony on the closure plans during Tuesday night's regular school board meeting. The board is expected to vote on the budget during a special meeting on February 24. A Juneau representative's proposal to ban law enforcement officers from wearing face masks on duty got a chilly reception from some lawmakers during his first hearing last week. KTO's Clarice Larson tells us more.
- [10:42]
A
On Tuesday, lawmakers heard Juneau House Representative Sarah Hannon's bill for the first time during a House State Affairs Committee meeting. Hannon, a juno Democrat, pre filed House Bill 250 in early January ahead of the legislative session. In a presentation to the committee, Hannon called her bill pro law enforcement. She says it's aimed at increasing police transparency and communication. In Alaska, mass law enforcement is wrong on many levels. When officers conceal their faces, they compromise transparency, communication and the public's perception of accountability. Hannon's bill comes in the wake of public outrage across the nation after a masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a Minnesota woman. On camera Another man was killed by a U.S. customs and Border Patrol officer in Minneapolis just weeks later. The deaths drew heavy criticism. Minnesota and congressional leaders pressed the Trump administration over the facts and legality of actions by federal officers. That's as protests over immigration enforcement have ramped up across the country. Representative Andy Story, also a Democrat from Juneau, spoke about the unrest in Minnesota, which is her home state. I think about the harm that's happening what we're hearing about on the federal level now when people are coming into communities, and its significant psychological harm that I have been hearing and reading about and I think that's what you're trying to prevent in this bill for that happening here. Other states across the US have sought to impose similar bans. On Monday, a federal court blocked enforcement of a law in California that sought to bar federal and local officers from wearing masks. The judge ruled it violated a federal doctrine that prohibits state laws from discriminating against the federal government, in this case, specifically federal agents. However, Hannon's bill, as drafted, would ban anyone acting as a law enforcement officer in Alaska from wearing a mask while on duty, including federal, state and local agents. The ban does exempt medical masks, transparent safety shields, cold weather masks or masks worn by undercover officers. An officer who violates the ban would be charged with a Class B misdemeanor per violation, which is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. At Tuesday's hearing, some lawmakers were skeptical. I'm seriously concerned about this bill, actually. That's house representative Kevin McCabe, a Big Lake Republican. He argued that masks are a tool that can prevent attacks and doxxing of officers. He questioned whether the bill was necessary in Alaska. I have never seen a masked officer that wasn't on a snowmobile actually in Alaska. So I'm not sure that this is actually a problem, but I do think it is a tool. Hannon said ahead of this year's legislative session that she saw the bill as a way to start a conversation about the issue. It's unclear if it will have enough support to advance in the legislature. In Juneau, I'm Clarice Larson.
- [13:39]
B
The owners of a proposed meadow mine in Lake Clark national park are celebrating momentum as they prepare to move forward with site work this year. But a group of businesses that call the pristine wilderness home is mobilizing against the mine with the goal of keeping the coast wild. KDLL's Ashlyn O' Hara has more.
- [13:58]
A
Doreen Corey's family has owned a bare photography and fishing operation on the west side of Cook inlet since the mid-1980s. The business is at the mouth of the Johnson river, about 12 miles away from the river's headwaters, near the proposed Johnson Tract mine. There's not a lot of businesses there. I'm not going to pretend that this.
- [14:14]
B
Is, you know, a massive subsistence village.
- [14:16]
A
That'S under threat, but it's all lots of multi generational businesses for fishermen lodges. A Facebook page created earlier this month called no Johnson Tract Mine describes itself as a grassroots group organizing against the mine. Organizers include lodges, a cabin company and wildlife photographers, which are also concerned about how industrial activity could threaten endangered beluga whales. But Rick Van Neuwenhitse wants to set up a very different type of business in the area. He's the CEO of the Fairbanks Space Contango Ore, which hopes to start mining on the west side of Cook Inlet by the end of the decade. It's five metals.
- [14:53]
B
It's gold, silver, zinc, copper and lead.
- [14:56]
A
Ben Nieuwenheetsa brought his mining pitch to Kenai business owners last month, where Corey sat in the audience. She says disruption for mining operations will touch areas bigger than the project's footprint. I think there's worry about water quality for Johnson river itself, obviously. I mean, we've got acid rain, acid mine drainage, but also just turbidity. Just, I mean, there's, there's going to be trucks, there's going to be industrial activity. You know, it's going to affect the water quality and also the wildlife. Adam Rector is especially concerned about wildlife impacts. He works at the two lodges owned by Corey's family, the Silver Salmon Creek Lodge and Alaska Homestead Lodge. He says an influx of commercial activity could habituate the west side's coastal brown Bears that is acclimate them to humans.
- [15:42]
B
The biggest danger to bears all over the country is food conditioning from humans. And what makes me nervous is a company that may not have that same prioritization of protecting the bears and keeping a clean camp.
- [15:56]
A
We just don't know what's going on. 12 miles away, contango Ore is an established Alaska mining operation. The company owns some or all of two mines already operating in Alaska. 30% of the Mancho Gold mine near Tokyo, in all of the Lucky Shop project near Willow. But the company's Johnson tract project is unique. The mine is in the middle of Lake Clark national park, near the base of Mount Iliamna. The actual mine sits on a roughly 20,000 acre car bout that's owned by the Cook Inlet Regional Native Corporation, or CERI. SERI has led some of the exploration at the Johnson Tract mine site, including with Contango Ore. They say the project is an opportunity to responsibly develop mineral resources in a way that benefits shareholders, respects the environment, and preserves the land. Even though the project area is privately owned, getting materials in and out of the site requires moving through public land. That means various parts of the project need to go before groups like the National Park Service, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. army Corps of Engineers, and others. Van Nuanjica says Contango still has a ways to go before it starts taking any metal out of the ground. Work this year will continue to focus on environmental studies needed to advance permits. Those permits correspond to either mining operations or to site access. We still have more exploration work to.
- [17:12]
B
Do, so we're not making any mining decisions anytime soon.
- [17:16]
A
It'll be a couple of years, at.
- [17:18]
B
Least a couple of years from now.
- [17:20]
A
We are in the middle of the permitting process for a number of aspects of developing the mine. Under Contango's proposed schedule, mining would start in 2029. This year, Van Nuhienhitze says they plan to build a road up to the mouth of the mine. Van Nuhenjica says Contango is being mindful of the environment. They're working to fill data gaps in prior studies of the area's endangered beluga whales, and they're able to tap into the National Park Service's extensive data on the area. Plus, Kintango's signature mining model shifts a lot of the heavy industrial work away from the actual mine site. Rector isn't convinced, but he says he wasn't expecting for he and Van Nuhenjiza to change each other's minds. We're not on the same side of this issue.
- [17:59]
B
So I didn't expect to agree.
- [18:00]
A
I came to get information and I.
- [18:02]
B
Think the next step for me is to public comment periods and get outreach.
- [18:07]
A
To my friends and other people that work in the area. And businesses aren't the only ones rallying against the mine. A group of plaintiffs are challenging one of the mine's permits in federal court. As of early February, that case is still pending. Reporting in Kenai, I'm Ashlyn o'. Hara.
- [18:23]
B
Josie Shelley is carrying a commanding lead toward the finish line of The Yukon Quest Alaska 750 sled dog race. As Shelby Herbert reports for the Alaska desk, the front runner says she won't be coasting into Fairbanks. Instead, she'll use the last leg of the race to prepare her team for their next big competition.
- [18:44]
A
Communities across the Yukon Quest Trail have enthusiastically welcomed mushers, and here in Rampart, hardly anybody was more hyped than the kids. Rampart grade school students are volunteering at the village's checkpoint and even writing articles about the race in their school newspaper, the Mid Yukon Current. On Friday night, a pack of kids stood outside the checkpoint to watch Shelley's headlamp bobbing up and down as she drove her dogs across the Yukon river heading into town. Is it worth being out in the cold, Josie? Her dogs dashed up the banks of the river and race judge Steve Hilton recruited the kids to get her attention. Josie pulled up beaming, and that's not just a reference to the big headlamp she had on to guide her team through the darkness over the river. As vets checked out the dogs, she let a few kids climb onto the back of her sled. With the race almost won, Shelly said her 10 dog team is in great shape. Team is super strong. They're eating really well. They've kind of reached that point. The amount that they're eating right now is like what I would plan to feed 14 dogs earlier in the race. So they're chugging away on the last few legs of the race. She said she's especially pleased to see her younger dogs learning from the older ones. My younger leader, Eagle, who did a lot of learning with Ferdinand on the run between Beaver and Steven's village, she was kind of taking command like, no, no, no, the trail's over there. You know, not only did she get to experience that, but she's also like starting to like think and do stuff on her own, even if she's not in lead being in swing there. So that was pretty exciting to see on this run too. She said that's the type of thing that'll help her team as they ramp up to compete in the Iditarod in early March. Some Yukon Quest sled dogs have been dealing with a stomach bug this week. Shelly said she's hopeful that by exposing her team to other dogs and their germs, they'll be more acclimated for the next race. So when you get a bunch of dogs together, just like kind of when school goes back into session, right, there's stuff that goes around with sled dogs. It's never fun to deal with that on a race, but it's also like if it's kind of nice to like have it out of the way. As for the trail ahead, Shelly said it's not just a victory lap. She plans to move along at a comfortable pace to avoid race ending mishaps, but she sees it all as more training time her team can bank. Even though there's not anyone immediately behind me still trying to run and kind of push them a little bit, see what we have, you know, every, every race is an opportunity not just to, you know, obviously see how your team stacks up with other teams and conditions and things, but also to see, you know, what can you ask of your team, you know, what are they able to give, where can you push a little bit and things like that. So it's a dog race, so you never know until you get to that finish line what could happen. Shelley and her team are currently dashing from Nenana to the finish line at Pike's Landing in Fairbanks. She's on track to get there later this evening. Reporting in Rampart, I'm Shelby Herbert.
- [22:00]
B
The Alaska Department of Transportation has faced intense scrutiny in recent months over its plan to build a new ferry terminal between Juneau and Haines. Now the agency is drawing fire from a panel of lawmakers charged with overseeing it. Members of the House Transportation Committee accused the agency last week of pursuing a project that stands to benefit private interests but not ferry users themselves, the Alaska desk's Avery Elfelt reports.
- [22:25]
A
Members of the House Transportation Committee slammed DOT officials on Tuesday during a fiery hearing focused on the Cascade Point ferry Terminal project. The state over the summer signed a $28.5 million contract to kickstart the effort. It would entail building a ferry terminal roughly 30 miles farther north of Juneau than the current one in Auk Bay. The move ignited a wave of local opposition, including during a public comment period. Here's Rep. Louise Dutes of Kodiak during the hearing and you're talking about how important this is and what you think. Public comment 622 comments came in 92% of the people said we don't want Cascade Point. The pushback has largely centered around concerns that the new terminal would make regional travel less convenient and efficient as opposed to more like the state has argued. People have also argued the funds would be better spent on improving existing ferry service. Christopher Goins is DOT's South coast region director. During the hearing, he acknowledged that the numbers stutes cited are correct and that the project has sparked a lot of, quote, fear in the public. But Goins added that the agency is taking public feedback seriously. That includes by extending the original comment period and planning two additional rounds of public meetings in Hanes, Skagway and Juneau.
- [23:46]
B
My staff is going to sit there.
- [23:48]
A
And we are going to listen to what people have to say because we want them to be able to put that on the record. That is fair and that is just. And I think this project, of all the projects, needs that process. Goins acknowledged public concern over the state's decision to move forward with the initial contract before soliciting public feedback. Still, he says the agency plans to go through the proper engineering, permitting and consultation process. That answer didn't seem to satisfy lawmakers, Stootes among them. You're talking about having all this public outreach and we've got what, 30 million bucks invested? Committee co chair Ashley Carrick of Fairbanks echoed that point. When you talk about there being controversy and welcoming the dialogue, it doesn't seem to jive with the fact that dollars are already dedicated towards this project. Lawmakers also grilled Goins and DOT Commissioner Ryan Anderson over their concerns that the project stands to benefit private interests but not the public. For starters, the new terminal is expected to benefit a Canadian mining company's proposed gold project, which would likely use Cascade Point as its logistical base. But the terminal would also serve as a boon to Gold Belt Native Corporation, which owns the land. Here's Kerik again. It feels very strongly to me like what's really happening is Goldbelt is the primary beneficiary of a project. The state is going to utilize federal dollars to support. Anderson, the DOT commissioner, emphasized the importance of the private sector to the state's economy and said working with industry can help promote economic development in Alaska. And, you know, the, the welfare of Alaska, the extraction of resources, those are all what the statutes say. You know, DOT should be doing so. Other lawmakers pressed agency officials over a controversial economic analysis of the project, the new terminal's overall cost and whether it would actually generate significant savings for the state. Reporting in Hanes, I'm Avery Elfeldt.
- [25:55]
B
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online@alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone and Clarice Larson in Juneau, Catherine Rose in Sitka, Ashlyn o' Hare in Kenai, Avery L. Felton Haynes and Shelby Herbert in Rampart. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us@newslaskapublic.org Our audio interview Engineers Crystal Hyde, Lori Townsend produced tonight's show. And I'm Wesley Early. Good night.
- [26:29]
A
This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.