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A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)

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Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

Eric Osuch tries to offer papers related to his arrest in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, April 17, 2023, to a reporter as Juneau Police Department officers escort him to a nearby patrol vehicle. Osuch, who was staging a solo protest about fisheries bycatch policies, was banned from the Capitol after causing a public disruption and was arrested a short time later for another alleged disturbance inside the State Office Building. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Fisheries activist arrested at Capitol

Juneau man staging solo protest disrupts committee hearing

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, discusses what she considers inadequacies in state education funding during floor debate Monday, April 17, 2023, about the House’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year. The budget approved by a 23-17 vote will next be considered by the Senate, with a compromise version likely drafted to resolve differences before the end of the session.

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House passes budget as final month of session begins

Senate expected to take public testimony on its proposed spending plan later this week

All chairs for minority members of the Alaska State House except for Minority Leader Calvin Schrage are empty during Wednesday’s floor session after absent members fled the Alaska State Capitol over a dispute with the majority about an increase in education funding. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Education funding fight prompts House minority walkout

Republican-led majority revokes funding increase as minority threatens to withhold CBR vote

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

Bob Schroeder takes an electric chainsaw to a mock credit card during a protest outside the Wells Fargo in downtown Juneau at midday Tuesday. Schroeder cut up three mock credit cards representing three banks in Juneau protesters say are leading funders of fossil fuel development projects. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Protesters object to banks financing fossil fuel projects

Demonstrators used chain saw to cut up giant credit cards

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire An employee leaves the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, where the 60 members of the Alaska State Legislature are slated to get a 67% pay increase to $84,000 annually following the unanimous vote by the five new members of the Alaska State Officers Compensation Commission, who were appointed during the past week to replace commission members whose majority voted to rejected the raises.

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Sudden 67% pay hike OK’d for legislators

Salary commission that rejected raises is replaced by new members who recommend salaries of $84K.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, testifies about his proposed constitutional amendment that would change how Permanent Fund earnings are allocated during a House Ways and Means Committee meeting Saturday morning at the Alaska State Capitol. The committee spent two hours taking testimony almost entirely by phone from residents statewide about five proposals related to the Permanent Fund and dividends, which continued the long historical pattern of strongly divided feelings about how much money to use for dividends vs. state government programs.

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PFD proposals discussed at weekend hearing

The hearing addressed five specific legislative proposals

ConocoPhillips via AP, File This 2019 aerial photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope.

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Willow approval expected next week, Bloomberg and CNN reports

The project will allow ConocoPhillips to drill at three locations

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, reads an announcement during the Senate floor session Wednesday. Tobin, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, emerged as a potential road block to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s “parental rights” bill by declaring it would not get a hearing if referred to her committee. The bill was subsequently referred to two other committees, with Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, stating it will get a public hearing.

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Bill limiting sex, gender discussion in education will get public hearing, senate president says

However, lawmakers say it will not be a main focus.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy unveils proposals to offer public school teachers annual retention bonuses and enact policies similar so-called “don’t say gay” laws in states such as Florida during a press conference in Anchorage on Tuesday, March 7, 2023. (Screenshot from official livestream)

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Governor proposes ‘don’t say gay’-style law, year-end teacher bonuses

Dunleavy says bill is “pro-parent,” not anti-LGBTQ+.

Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File “I voted” stickers await voters on Election Day 2022. That election was the first regular general election in Alaska to include ranked choice voting, which was narrowly approved by voters in 2020. Bills to do away with ranked choice voting have been introduced in the Legislature and a petition to put the matter before voters is circulating. However, a pro-ranked choice petition has been launched to show support for the state’s current elections system, which also includes open primaries.

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Pro-ranked choice petition launched

Signatures sought to persuade Legislature not to overturn RCV and open primaries.

This photo shows the Alaska State Capitol where lawmakers have been briefed on a plan state regulators say will allow more flexibility that benefits both businesses and the environment in “Alaska’s unique conditions.” However, some senators expressed skepticism over efforts to take over what are known as “Clean Water Act Section 404” permits. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

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Alaska seeking a 404 redirect for wetlands development

State wants to take over permitting control from feds, but costs and murky legal questions linger.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka, offers an overview Wednesday of Southeast Alaska’s commercial troll fisheries while asking for support on a resolution opposing a lawsuit by a Washington-based group that would shut the fisheries down due to their alleged impacts on species in that state. The resolution passed by a 35-1 vote.

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Juneau, state lawmakers join effort against salmon lawsuit

Washington case could halt some Southeast fisheries

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire Alaska residents with disabilities and advocates providing services intended to support self-sufficiency wave a banner and noisemakers during a noontime Wednesday rally in a blizzard on the steps of the Alaska State Capitol.

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Rally for disability services held at Capitol

About 20 people made their way to Capitol to seek solutions for service shortages.

Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File Emergency lights flash on top of a police car. On Wednesday, a trio of bills seeking to increase penalties for sex and drug crimes was introduced by by Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

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Governor targets sex and drug crimes

Bills increase penalties for sex trafficking and fatal overdoses, but effectiveness questioned

Screenshot from YouTube video by Sealaska Corp. Mitchell Haldane, Sealaska’s carbon offset administrator, surveys forest land owned by the Juneau-based Alaska Native corporation that has earned more than $100 million since 2016 by putting the property into California’s carbon credits markets, which is paying to keep the land unharvested for 100 years.

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State, Alaska Native corporations see carbon market potential

Questions remain

Gov. Mike Dunleavy gives his State of the State address at the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, in Junuea, Alaska. (Clarise Larson/Juneau Empire)

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A chance ‘to change the course of Alaska’s history’

Dunleavy to deliver first State of State of 2nd term

Shawnda O’Brien, the just-departed state Director of the Division of Public Assistance, talks Dec. 27 about the problems that are resulting in months-long backlogs in processing applications for benefits commonly referred to as food stamps. Her departure as director was announced Monday following weeks of widespread media coverage about the backlog that is expected to take additional months to resolve. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

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Head of state’s troubled food stamps program replaced

Director of the Division of Public Assistance departs in wake of months-long backlog.

The Alaska State Capitol awaits a legislators forming new majority coalitions and the return of Gov. Mike Dunleavy after the winners of the general election were announced Wednesday. The Senate will have a 17-member bipartisan ruling coalition, while the House arrangement remains uncertain due to at least one likely recount and questions about partisan alignments. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire)

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Bipartisan majority formed for new state Senate

Eight Republicans join nine Democrats after many years of Republican rule