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A magnet promoting the Alaska Reads Act released by the state last year sits atop a stack of Alaskan-authored and Alaska-centric books. A shortened session last year meant the bill, announced by Senate Minority Leader Tom Begich, D-Anchorage, and Gov. Mike Dunleavy, didn’t make it through the last Legislature. But there’s a new bill, nearly the same as the old bill, working its way through the Senate. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file)

News

Reworked reading bill gets 2nd act in Legislature

Still a ways to go.

Members of the Alaska House of Representatives gather for a Finance Committee meeting on Monday, March 1, 2021 even after a staff member had tested positive for COVID-19. Meetings were canceled last week after Rep. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, tested positive. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Work continues even with new cases at the Capitol

“Hell or high water.”

This still image from Gavel Alaska shows Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum as he speaks to a Senate committee on Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2021. Lawmakers questioned Crum on the legality of Gov. Mike Dunleavy's emergency disaster declarations and extensions. (Screenshot)

News

Different reasons, same conclusion: Disaster extensions concerns state lawmakers

Committee to resume Thursday.

Staff, lawmakers and members of the press gather for the first Senate Judiciary Committee meeting of the 32nd Legislature on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. While Senators moved ahead with work, the House of Representatives was once again unable to organize. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

News

Deadlock continues as senators forge ahead

Only one member of the House Coalition — a 20-member group of mostly Democrats that also includes independents…

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire The Juneau Police Department and other law enforcement agencies say they are prepared for the possibility of political violence at the Capitol building on the day of the presidential inauguration.

News

No known threats of violence, but Juneau police say they’re prepared

“The Juneau Police Department and our partners have not received any specific threats,” the agency said.

Rep. Jennifer Johnston, R-Anchorage, gets her temperature taken as she enters the Alaska State Capitol on Monday, May 18, 2020. New policies will require all staff and legislators to wear masks in chambers. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

News

Legislative Council sets mask policy for upcoming session

Only one representative out of twelve legislators voted against the mask policy.

Associated Press Alaska state Rep. Gary Knopp was piloting his plane even though his medical flight certification was denied eight years ago because of vision problems, the National Transportation Safety Board reported Tuesday.

News

NTSB: Lawmaker in plane crash flew despite vision problems

Rep. Gary Knopp was flying a Piper PA-12 when it collided with a de Havilland DHC2.

Rep. Gary Knopp is seen in this undated photo. (Photo courtesy Jayme Jones)

News

Lawmakers remember colleague killed in crash

State Rep. Gary Knopp, who represented Kenai-Soldotna area, was one of seven people killed Friday.

The Capitol building in Juneau, Alaska. (Peter Segall | Juneau Empire File)

Opinion

Voices of the Peninsula: Dividends don’t grow on trees

“Without taxing for the extraction of our oil, there will be no dividends.”

Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, speaks to constituents during a town hall at the Betty J. Glick Assembly Chambers in Soldotna, Alaska on Jan. 16, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Micciche releases results of annual survey

Locals weigh in on budget, taxes and state spending

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.

News

Knopp: We should have PFD we can afford

Lawmakers say PFD earnings will be critical to state’s long-term financial stability

House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham, looks on as Juneau Alaska Music Matters students from Glacier Valley School and singers from Sayéik: Gastineau Community School perform “Alaska’s Flag” on Tuesday.(Peter Segall | Juneau Empire)

News

House provides first day fireworks while Senate takes it slow

Legislative session starts with split votes and objections.

Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, speaks against an override vote during a Joint Session of the Alaska Legislature to vote on an override of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes at the Capitol on Wednesday, July 10, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

News

Legislators use ‘symbolic’ vote to deliver verbal smackdown to vetoes

The vote failed, but they said a lot.

Michael Penn | Juneau Empire House Finance Committee Co-Chairs Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, and Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, listen to testimony on Tuesday at the Capitol about how Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes will effect local communities around the state.

News

Even ‘right-leaning’ groups, bankers and builders are calling for an override

They had one message to the governor.

Photo by Michael Armstrong / Homer News Women draped in black sit down Tuesday at WKFL Park in Homer as part of a statewide art intervention to protest Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a $2.8 million state appropriation to the Alaska State Council on the Arts. They also supported a general override of Dunleavy’s vetoes that will affect funding for the University of Alaska, public radio and other programs.

News

Homer artists protest Dunleavy veto

About 10 people draped in black a sculpture by artist Sean Derry in front of the Kachemak Bay…

Michael Penn | Juneau Empire Ron Lumba, of the Alaska State Capitol’s maintenance staff, adds the Majority Leader plate to the front of the office of Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, on the first day of the Second Special Session of the Alaska Legislature in Juneau on Monday.

News

Special session starts with a manic Monday

All roads — and planes — may lead to Wednesday.

University of Alaska President Jim Johnsen in 2017. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

Opinion

Opinion: State’s budget climate puts value of Alaska’s higher education at risk

Thousands of students could be affected by a governor veto.

Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, chairs the House Finance Committee with Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, right, as they work on House Bill 14 at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)

News

Legislators will collect pay despite not finishing budget on time

They’re reinterpreting a law from last year.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, left, expresses his displeasure with Sen. John Coghill, R-North Pole, right, as Sen. Tom Begich listens, during debate on the capital budget in the Senate at the Capitol on Thursday, June 13, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

News

One session ends as another one is set outside Juneau

There are numerous concerns with the new location.

Co-Chairs Rep. Jennifer Johnston, R-Anchorage, left, and Sen. Click Bishop, R-Fairbanks, prepare to gavel into a joint committee to work on the future of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend at the Capitol on Wednesday, June 12, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

News

Group of legislators wants to take ‘emotional debate’ out of Permanent Fund

Lawmakers are deeply divided on what to do.