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Dunleavy dissolves climate change action team

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Dunleavy dissolves climate change action team

The team was supposed to last until 2020.

Kendra Kloster, executive director of the Native Poples Action, right, and Liz Medicine Crow, President and CEO of the Alaska Native Policy Center, speak at the Native Issues Forum at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Alaska Natives want voice in budget-making process

Speakers tell people to share stories with legislators

Alaska Supreme Court Chief Justice Joel H. Bolger speaks to a Joint Session of the Alaska Legislature at the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. Senate President Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, and Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, listen from the Speaker’s desk in the House of Representatives. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Alaska’s chief justice requests funding for cybersecurity, highlights new legal tool online

Technology is taking larger role in court system.

Murkowski critical of Trump’s border wall emergency, worries overreach of executive power will become norm

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Murkowski critical of Trump’s border wall emergency, worries overreach of executive power will become norm

“The president has gotten as much as what this administration can afford.”

Senate Finance grills OMB, Education Commissioner over budget

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Senate Finance grills OMB, Education Commissioner over budget

Hoffman calls 25 percent proposed cuts to education ‘unacceptable’

Murkowski knocks Green New Deal’s ‘impossible’ timeline, wary of ‘PFD over everything else’

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Murkowski knocks Green New Deal’s ‘impossible’ timeline, wary of ‘PFD over everything else’

Murkowski talks economy, ANWR, shutdowns and Trump.

Bethany Lowrance, left, of Gavel Alaska, and Rashah McChesney, a reporter with the Alaska Energy Desk (a collaboration between stations of the Alaska Public Radio Network), cover a Senate Finance Committee meeting at the Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget may end all state funding for public radio and broadcast stations. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Alaska’s radio, TV contribution on the chopping block

Dunleavy’s budget would cut state funding for public media.

In this Nov. 30, 2018 file photo, House District 1 candidate Republican Bart LeBon points to a vote tally board with his campaign manager Brittany Hartmann during a election recount at the Department of Elections’ Juneau office. Republican Bart LeBon picked up two votes while Democrat Kathryn Dodge picked up one making him the winner of the election with a total of 2,663 votes. LeBon joined the bipartisan House Majority Coalition on Thursday. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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House fills key leadership roles

House majority, minority taking shape.

Kelly Goode, right, deputy commissioner for the Department of Corrections, sits alongside DOC Administrative Services Director Sylvan Robb, center, and Office of Management and Budget Director Donna Arduin as they present to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)

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State examining sending inmates out of state to save money

The idea is in its early stages.

Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, poses questions to Department of Corrections and Office of Management and Budget officials during a Senate Finance Committee meetingon Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Alex McCarthy | Juneau Empire)

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Senators baffled at proposed reductions to public safety departments

Budget staff expected the criticisms.

Donna Arduin, Director of the Office of Budget and Management, left, and Lacey Sanders, Budget Director for OMB, present Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s state budget in front of the Senate Finance Committee at the Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Experts: State could lose tens of thousands of jobs if budget proposal goes through

The budget director says the PFD could help offset losses.

‘To hell with politics’: House speaker elected after two Republicans cross party lines

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‘To hell with politics’: House speaker elected after two Republicans cross party lines

Partisan politics be damned.

In this June 16, 2005 photo, Jack Coghill sits by the Tanana River in Nenana, Alaska. One of the last remaining members of the Alaska constitutional convention, former Lt. Gov. Jack Coghill died Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, at age 93 in North Pole. (Dan Joling | Associated Press File)

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Signer of Alaska Constitution, Jack Coghill, dies at age 93

He was a political icon in the state.

University of Alaska Southeast Instructor Jim Powell, left, his wife, former Rep. Beth Kerttula, and Rep. Andi Story, D-Juneau, right, stand up a university sign as former Chancellor John Pugh speaks at a rally for funding the University of Alaska in front of the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Governor proposes cutting almost half of university’s total operating budget

It would be the largest budget cut in the university’s 100-year history.

Office of Management and Budget Director Donna Arduin and members of her budget team takes time to explain Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s state budget at the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Proposed Medicaid, health care cuts spark outrage

One health care advocate called the budget proposal “outrageous.”

Governor proposes cutting ferry funding at the end of the summer

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Governor proposes cutting ferry funding at the end of the summer

Administration hopes private contractor will take over.

Marijuana industry testifies against governor’s control board nominee

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Marijuana industry testifies against governor’s control board nominee

“There’s this undercurrent of trying to push back the marijuana industry.”

Donna Arduin, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, speaks to House members during an informational meeting at the Capitol on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

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Legislators brace for unknowns of Dunleavy’s budget

The budget comes out Wednesday.

Health insurance costs strain school districts’ budgets

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Health insurance costs strain school districts’ budgets

Health insurance accounts for 16 percent of one district’s budget.

Crime bill held up over conflict of interest

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Crime bill held up over conflict of interest

Lawmakers say new ethics rule too ‘fuzzy.’