Articles written by becky bohrer
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Donors sue to block Alaska's campaign finance disclosure rules
JUNEAU (AP) — Political donors have sued over state campaign finance rules enacted under a 2020 voter initiative, arguing the donor disclosure rules are burdensome and could lead to reprisals against them and their business interests in a climate of...
Special primary election June 11 to fill Don Young's seat
JUNEAU (AP) — State election officials on March 22 announced plans for a June 11 special primary and an Aug. 16 special election to fill the U.S. House seat left vacant with the death of Alaska Rep. Don Young. The winner would serve the remainder o...
Dividend, abortion rights may drive decision on constitutional convention
JUNEAU (AP) — Simmering public anger in Alaska over the Legislature’s failure to settle the state’s most radioactive issue — how big a check residents should receive from the state’s oil-wealth fund — is colliding with a once-a-decade opportunity for...
State House passes campaign finance bill; Senate action uncertain
The Alaska House has narrowly passed legislation that would set a limit on individual contributions to candidates after previous limits were struck down by a court The bill passed 21-18 on March 16, with all the no votes coming from Republicans. It...
Legislation would ban marriage by 14- and 15-year-olds
JUNEAU (AP) — A bill in the Alaska House would repeal a provision of law that allows a court to grant permission for someone as young as 14 to marry. House members last Wednesday adopted the repeal as an amendment to a bill dealing with witness r...
Governor joins legislators in call for state to divest from Russia
A growing number of state lawmakers are asking the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. to divest assets from any Russian government or state-owned institutions amid Russia’s war against Ukraine. Senate Democrats last week were the first to initiate the call....
Ketchikan schools apologize for insensitivity toward Metlakatla
The Ketchikan High School pep club’s “country” theme, for which some students dressed like cowboys for a basketball game against Metlakatla, wasn’t intended to be “racially provocative” but it had a negative effect that was “predictabl...
State House drops proposal to remove Eastman from committees
Alaska House leaders last Friday backed away from a proposal to strip committee assignments from Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman, a member of the far-right organization Oath Keepers. For now, th...
Ranked-choice voting a big change for Alaska this year
Alaska elections will be held for the first time this year under a unique new system that scraps party primaries and uses ranked-choice voting in general elections. The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld...
State commission recommends changes in legislative pay
A commission tasked with making recommendations for state legislative pay advanced a proposal Jan. 4 to raise the annual salary for Alaska lawmakers from $50,400 to $64,000, but also to significantly reduce and place limits on the daily allowance...
Congress works to extend CARES Act deadline for Native corporations
JUNEAU (AP) — The U.S. House has passed legislation to extend a year-end deadline for Alaska Native corporations to use federal coronavirus relief funds. The U.S. Supreme Court in late June ruled the corporations were entitled to receive the CARES A...
Lt. Gov. did not receive nearly as many election complaints as claimed
Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer last year said the issue his office seemed to be getting the most email on after the 2020 election was the narrow victory of a ballot measure to overhaul Alaska’s election process. His chief of staff said they were getting up t...
Mat-Su Borough gains population but not House seats
JUNEAU (AP) — A fast-growing area north of Anchorage known as a hotbed of conservatism gained the most population since the 2010 Census but will keep the same number of House seats in the Legislature under a new map of state political boundaries t...
Legislature nears end of inactive special session
The Alaska Legislature is in special session but it’s quiet at the Capitol, where many legislative offices have been dark, floor sessions in some cases have lasted seconds and little progress has been made toward resolving the state’s fiscal iss...
No new numbers from Dunleavy recall effort
A group seeking Gov. Mike Dunleavy's ouster has yet to gather enough signatures to force a recall election, nearly two years after getting started and with just over a year before the 2022 primary election. Recall Dunleavy Chair Meda DeWitt said the...
Opponents land deal would further block Pebble Mine
An agreement between an Alaska Native village corporation and conservationists would restrict development on lands in the Bristol Bay region where the Pebble Mine developer has proposed a road, a move that could create another obstacle for the...
Administration defends earlier decision to allow North Slope Conoco oil project
Biden administration attorneys are defending a decision made during the Trump administration to approve a major oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. Critics say the action flies in the face of President Joe Biden’s pledges to address climate cha...
Alaska shares vaccine doses with residents of Stewart, BC
HYDER - Gov. Mike Dunleavy has offered COVID-19 vaccines to residents of the small British Columbia town of Stewart, with hopes it could lead the Canadian government to ease border restrictions...
State will provide airport vaccination shots to help attract tourists
Free COVID-19 vaccinations will be made available at four airports in the state starting June 1, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said April 16 as he unveiled plans aimed at bolstering the state’s pandemic-battered tourist industry. Dunleavy also outlined plans fo...
Isolated Alaska towns among the leaders in vaccination rates
John Waghiyi remembers rushing his cousin to the clinic in the Bering Sea city of Savoonga in December, worried he was having a possible heart attack while out butchering a bowhead whale. Waghiyi...
Alaska's largest newspaper wins Pulitzer Prize
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska’s largest newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize in public service Monday for its work examining law enforcement in rural communities, a feat coming less than three years after the outlet was rescued from the brink of fin...
Alaska governor seeks to assert calm over virus concerns
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, seeking to assert calm concerning the new coronavirus threat, said Monday he sees the fall in oil prices as a ``momentary issue’’ that with the stock market will work itself out. The virus has affected...
Alaska Senate passes state operating budget
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) – The Alaska Senate has approved a spending proposal that would cut education funding, reject pay raises for public employees and otherwise make deeper agency cuts than the House. The vote Friday evening was 16-4 and followed h...
Begich speaks out against proposed Pebble Mine
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) _ U.S. Sen. Mark Begich has come out against the proposed Pebble Mine, calling the massive gold-and-copper project “the wrong mine in the wrong place for Alaska.’’ In a statement released by his office Monday, Begich said he ha...
Petersburg seeks clarification on physicals
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — School officials in Petersburg want clarification on a decades-old law their attorney reads as leaving districts responsible for the cost of school entrance physicals, an interpretation that could have financial implications f...
