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Sens. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, right, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, and Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, discuss a bill proposing a nearly 17% increase in per-student education funding Wednesday at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini /Juneau Empire)

State Senate bill would bump per-student funding amount by $1,000

If approved, the legislation would bump state education funding by more than $257 million

Sens. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, right, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, and Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, discuss a bill proposing a nearly 17% increase in per-student education funding Wednesday at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini /Juneau Empire)
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. The Biden administration issued a long-awaited study on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, that recommends allowing three oil drilling sites in the region of far northern Alaska. The move, while not final, has angered environmentalists who see it as a betrayal of President Joe Biden’s pledges to reduce carbon emissions and promote green energy. (ConocoPhillips via AP)

Biden administration recommends major Alaska oil project

The move — while not final — drew immediate anger from environmentalists

  • Feb 1, 2023
  • By Becky Bohrer and Matthew Daly Associated Press
  • NewsState News
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. The Biden administration issued a long-awaited study on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, that recommends allowing three oil drilling sites in the region of far northern Alaska. The move, while not final, has angered environmentalists who see it as a betrayal of President Joe Biden’s pledges to reduce carbon emissions and promote green energy. (ConocoPhillips via AP)
Homer Electric Association General Manager Brad Janorschke testifies before the Senate Resources Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot via Gavel Alaska)

Senate group briefed on future of Cook Inlet gas

Demand for Cook Inlet gas could outpace supply as soon as 2027

Homer Electric Association General Manager Brad Janorschke testifies before the Senate Resources Committee on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot via Gavel Alaska)
The logo for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is displayed inside the George A. Navarre Borough Admin Building on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Peninsula voices join state debate over school funding

Lawmakers heard pleas from education leaders around Alaska to increase the state’s base student allocation

The logo for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is displayed inside the George A. Navarre Borough Admin Building on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
This September 2011 aerial photo provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, shows the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, effectively vetoed a proposed copper and gold mine in the remote region of southwest Alaska that is coveted by mining interests but that also supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. (Joseph Ebersole/EPA via AP)

EPA blocks Pebble Mine

Pebble called the EPA’s action “unlawful” and political and said litigation was likely

This September 2011 aerial photo provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, shows the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, effectively vetoed a proposed copper and gold mine in the remote region of southwest Alaska that is coveted by mining interests but that also supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. (Joseph Ebersole/EPA via AP)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19 cases continue to climb

Statewide hospitalizations decreased slightly

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
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.

State, Alaska Native corporations see carbon market potential

Questions remain

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.
The deadline for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which comes from the fund managed by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, is coming up fast, landing on March 31, 2023. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

2023 PFD filing available, ends March 31

Applications can be filed online through myAlaska, or by visiting pfd.alaska.gov

The deadline for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which comes from the fund managed by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, is coming up fast, landing on March 31, 2023. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: Hospitalizations jump, 4th consecutive week of rising cases

4 patients are on ventilators and two are located in the Gulf Coast region

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
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)

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

Dunleavy to deliver first State of State of 2nd term

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)
In this June 15, 2014, file photo released by the U.S. Geological Survey, a polar bear dries off after taking a swim in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska. A polar bear has attacked and killed two people in a remote village in western Alaska, according to state troopers who said they received the report of the attack on Tuesday, Jan 17, 2023, in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula. (Brian Battaile/U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File)

Rare attack in Alaska renews interest in polar bear patrols

A polar bear attack killed a mother and her 1-year-old son in Wales, a tiny, remote Alaska whaling village

  • Jan 20, 2023
  • By Gene Johnson and Mark Thiessen Associated Press
  • NewsState News
In this June 15, 2014, file photo released by the U.S. Geological Survey, a polar bear dries off after taking a swim in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska. A polar bear has attacked and killed two people in a remote village in western Alaska, according to state troopers who said they received the report of the attack on Tuesday, Jan 17, 2023, in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula. (Brian Battaile/U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File)
Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Arsenio “Pastor” Credo and other Alaska Native veterans listen to a presentation Thursday afternoon on how to apply for up to 160 acres of the more than 27 million acres of public land available to Alaska Native veterans who were unable to apply for their acres of in-state land due to serving during the Vietnam War.

Millions of acres are available for Vietnam-era Alaska Native veterans, but many in Southeast don’t want it

‘We want Southeast Alaska.’

Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire Arsenio “Pastor” Credo and other Alaska Native veterans listen to a presentation Thursday afternoon on how to apply for up to 160 acres of the more than 27 million acres of public land available to Alaska Native veterans who were unable to apply for their acres of in-state land due to serving during the Vietnam War.
Graph showing monthly changes in employment from 2019 to 2022, by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development using data from their Research and Analysis Section. (Screenshot)

Jobs up in 2022, fall short of predictions

The department predicted that 9,800 jobs would be added in 2022, overshooting the real numbers by 53%

Graph showing monthly changes in employment from 2019 to 2022, by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development using data from their Research and Analysis Section. (Screenshot)
A map of updated marine zone boundaries, set to be put into effect on March 8, 2023. (Screenshot)

Weather Service to update marine zones for better forecasts and warnings

Changes are set to be implemented March 8.

A map of updated marine zone boundaries, set to be put into effect on March 8, 2023. (Screenshot)
Nurse Tracy Silta draws a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the walk-in clinic at the intersection of the Kenai Spur and Sterling Highways in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

State health officials: COVID vaccine is safe

Alaska state health officials hosted a Public Health ECHO on Wednesday

Nurse Tracy Silta draws a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the walk-in clinic at the intersection of the Kenai Spur and Sterling Highways in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
Tuberculosis bacteria (File)

State tuberculosis case counts reach 10-year high

Active tuberculosis cases in Alaska have spiked 66%

Tuberculosis bacteria (File)
Chelsea Berg, a nurse at Peninsula Community Health Services, administers a flu shot during a free drive-thru flu shot event at Kenai Central High School on Oct. 24, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion file)

Influenza and RSV declining in Alaska; COVID trends upward

That increase is seemingly driven by the appearance and increasing prevalence of a new subvariant of omicron

Chelsea Berg, a nurse at Peninsula Community Health Services, administers a flu shot during a free drive-thru flu shot event at Kenai Central High School on Oct. 24, 2020. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion file)
The State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin that includes “Syphilis Update — Alaska, 2021.” (Screenshot)

State syphilis epidemic continues; officials urge testing

The number of cases reported in 2021 were 447, a 26.6% increase over the 353 reported in 2020

The State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin that includes “Syphilis Update — Alaska, 2021.” (Screenshot)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: 2nd week of statewide case increase; hospitalizations drop

In the Gulf Coast region one patient was reported hospitalized with COVID-19

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
A person walks up the steps of the Alaska Capitol on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. The new legislative session begins on Tuesday, Jan. 17. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)

Alaska Legislature to face familiar challenges this year

The Alaska Legislature convenes for a new session Tuesday

A person walks up the steps of the Alaska Capitol on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. The new legislative session begins on Tuesday, Jan. 17. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)