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Peter Segall / Juneau Empire The Alaska House of Representatives passed the state’s operating and mental health budget bills Saturday after a week of marathon floor sessions tackling amendments.

House passes operating, mental health budgets, fails to pass effective date, reverse sweep

On to the Senate.

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire The Alaska House of Representatives passed the state’s operating and mental health budget bills Saturday after a week of marathon floor sessions tackling amendments.
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file Gov. Mike Dunleavy — seen here speaking with reporters in the Cabinet Room at the Alaska State Capitol on March 8, 2022 — spoke to the Empire recently about his approach to government after having served as Alaska’s chief executive.

A Q&A with Gov. Mike Dunleavy

‘You work the hand your dealt with.’

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file Gov. Mike Dunleavy — seen here speaking with reporters in the Cabinet Room at the Alaska State Capitol on March 8, 2022 — spoke to the Empire recently about his approach to government after having served as Alaska’s chief executive.
The Soldotna Elementary School kindergarten class runs into Kaladi Brothers Coffee on South Kobuk Street in Soldotna, Alaska, on Friday, April 8, 2022, to look at their art show. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Making ‘beautiful things’

Kindergartners show off work at Kaladi Brothers Coffee shop

The Soldotna Elementary School kindergarten class runs into Kaladi Brothers Coffee on South Kobuk Street in Soldotna, Alaska, on Friday, April 8, 2022, to look at their art show. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion Joanna Samson-Sills works at the Freedom House in Soldotna, Alaska on Monday, April 4, 2022.

Reckoning with the painful legacy of opioids

Peninsula to receive drugmaker settlement funds in wake of crisis

Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion Joanna Samson-Sills works at the Freedom House in Soldotna, Alaska on Monday, April 4, 2022.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, leave the chamber after a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 10, 2017. A rural Alaska man who threatened to kill both of Alaska’s U.S. senators in a series of profanity-laden messages left at their congressional offices will be sentenced Friday, April 8, 2022. Jay Allen Johnson, who said he was too old and ill to carry out his threats, partially blamed his behavior on the mixture of pain medications and alcohol and the isolation that was prevalent during the five-month span of 2021 when he left the threatening voicemails. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Alaska man gets 32 months for threatening to kill senators

Jay Allen Johnson was also fined $5,000, ordered to serve three years of supervised release after his prison sentence

  • Apr 9, 2022
  • By Mark Thiessen The Associated Press
  • State News
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, leave the chamber after a vote on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 10, 2017. A rural Alaska man who threatened to kill both of Alaska’s U.S. senators in a series of profanity-laden messages left at their congressional offices will be sentenced Friday, April 8, 2022. Jay Allen Johnson, who said he was too old and ill to carry out his threats, partially blamed his behavior on the mixture of pain medications and alcohol and the isolation that was prevalent during the five-month span of 2021 when he left the threatening voicemails. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Andrew Marley, the 2021 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament winner, at left, holds his prize winning 25.62-pound white king salmon on Saturday, April 17, on the Homer Spit in Homer. Helping him are his father, Jay Marley, center, and older brother Weston Marley, right. The family team included Erica Marley, not shown, all fishing on the Fly Dough. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Winter King postponed to Sunday

The 28th annual Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament has been postponed to Sunday

Andrew Marley, the 2021 Homer Winter King Salmon Tournament winner, at left, holds his prize winning 25.62-pound white king salmon on Saturday, April 17, on the Homer Spit in Homer. Helping him are his father, Jay Marley, center, and older brother Weston Marley, right. The family team included Erica Marley, not shown, all fishing on the Fly Dough. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
The Challenger Learning Center is seen here in Kenai, Alaska on Sept. 10, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)

Challenger Learning Center to hold star party Saturday

Friday’s event will be held at the center’s Kenai location and is not requiring RSVPs.

The Challenger Learning Center is seen here in Kenai, Alaska on Sept. 10, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)
This photo shows a stack of pocket constitutions at the Alaska State Capitol. A broad coalition has formed in opposition to a potential State Constitution Convention. Alaskans are asked every 10 years on ballots whether a convention should be held. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

Coalition to oppose constitutional convention grows

Group emphasizes bipartisan opposition to convention

This photo shows a stack of pocket constitutions at the Alaska State Capitol. A broad coalition has formed in opposition to a potential State Constitution Convention. Alaskans are asked every 10 years on ballots whether a convention should be held. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)
A would-be voter considers the candidates on a sample ballot released by the state of Alaska in March 2021. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file)

Lawsuit challenges Alaska campaign disclosure rules

The disclosure rules were part of a ballot measure that overhauled Alaska’s elections system

A would-be voter considers the candidates on a sample ballot released by the state of Alaska in March 2021. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file)
Members of the Kenai City Council participate in a council meeting on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Boys & Girls Clubs looks to city for expansion property

The group is asking the city to consider donating land to a potential property

Members of the Kenai City Council participate in a council meeting on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Community members participate in the Kenai Peninsula Job and Career Fair at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Job fair connects employers, those seeking work

Community members explored various sectors either offering employment, education or training services

Community members participate in the Kenai Peninsula Job and Career Fair at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex on Thursday, April 7, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
The Alaska House of Representatives spent three days in floor sessions at the Alaska State Capitol, seen here on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, and on Thursday finished working through the 87 amendments submitted to the state’s operating budget bill. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

House finalizes budget amendments, set to vote on Saturday

Only six of 87 amendments approved

The Alaska House of Representatives spent three days in floor sessions at the Alaska State Capitol, seen here on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, and on Thursday finished working through the 87 amendments submitted to the state’s operating budget bill. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID hospitalizations down from last week

Officials recommend all eligible Alaskans be up to date on their COVID vaccines to minimize the impact on communities

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
An area cleared to make way for the Cooper Landing Bypass project can be seen above the intersection of the Kenai River and Kenai Lake in Cooper Landing, Alaska, on Sept. 6, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Cooper Landing bypass construction resumes this week

Construction paused last October for the winter season

An area cleared to make way for the Cooper Landing Bypass project can be seen above the intersection of the Kenai River and Kenai Lake in Cooper Landing, Alaska, on Sept. 6, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Members of the Alaska House of Representatives spent most of the day on the floor on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, working their way through the more than 80 amendments submitted to the state’s budget bill. By Wednesday afternoon lawmakers had worked through more than 50 but passed only two; $50,000 for ice road maintenance and exempting the state’s Mediciad program from covering abortions.

House passes amendment to exempt state Medicaid program from covering abortions

Similar amendments have been found unconstitutional

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Members of the Alaska House of Representatives spent most of the day on the floor on Wednesday, April 6, 2022, working their way through the more than 80 amendments submitted to the state’s budget bill. By Wednesday afternoon lawmakers had worked through more than 50 but passed only two; $50,000 for ice road maintenance and exempting the state’s Mediciad program from covering abortions.
The commerical fishing fleet is seen from Pacific Star Seafoods in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Board of Fish votes no on Proposal 283

The proposal would have loosened restrictions for set gillnetters in a part of Cook Inlet

The commerical fishing fleet is seen from Pacific Star Seafoods in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 14, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly participate in a meeting on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Tautfest appointed to borough planning commission

Her appointment caps a monthslong process to fill the vacancy

Members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly participate in a meeting on Tuesday, April 5, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Courtesy Photo Linda Buckley, a retired Juneau educator, has written her second children’s book “The Humpback in the Herring.” Like her first book, “The Bear in the Blueberry,” the book examines the relationship between organisms big and small.

Children’s author is back with a whale tale

First there was ‘The Bear in the Blueberry.’ Now, there’s ‘The Humpback in the Herring.’

Courtesy Photo Linda Buckley, a retired Juneau educator, has written her second children’s book “The Humpback in the Herring.” Like her first book, “The Bear in the Blueberry,” the book examines the relationship between organisms big and small.
Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion A teapot holds crocheted sunflowers at Already Read bookstore on Thursday in Kenai.

Crocheted sunflowers raise money for Ukrainian refugees

The flowers are sold in multiple businesses around the central peninsula

Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion A teapot holds crocheted sunflowers at Already Read bookstore on Thursday in Kenai.
Gina Keith, with Kachemak Electric, speaks with job seekers at the 2017 Kenai Peninsula Job Fair (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion file)

Job fair returns to Soldotna on Thursday

More than 50 vendors will be at the Sports Complex

Gina Keith, with Kachemak Electric, speaks with job seekers at the 2017 Kenai Peninsula Job Fair (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion file)