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Me working in the Alaska House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

Sports

Out of the Office: Juneau

It was kind of happenstance that I spent the last month living and working in Juneau.

Michael Jones, Louie Flora and Crystal Schwartz participate in a candidate forum for the Homer Electric Association Board of Directors hosted by KDLL 91.9 FM, KBBI AM 890 and the Peninsula Clarion at the Soldotna Public Library in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, March 18, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

HEA board candidates talk renewables, gas shortage at Monday forum

Candidates running for seats on the Homer Electric Association Board of Directors gathered in the Soldotna Public Library…

The Alaska State Capitol on March 1. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Some KPBSD schools could benefit from internet bill passed by House

If House Bill 193 becomes law, an additional six KPBSD schools would be eligible for the state’s grant…

Armageddon waits to be shown at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Bjorkman farm tax relief bill clears Senate

The bill is now up for consideration in the House

A slash pile containing non-organic construction debris is seen at the Snug Harbor Slash Disposal site on Sept. 22, 2020 in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Borough Lang Management)

News

Assembly OKs concrete lease in Cooper Landing

A Kenai-based concrete company will set up shop in Cooper Landing to help build parts of a state…

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Liz Hayes, left, presents preliminary fiscal year 2025 budge information during a school board committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

School district committee builds multiple budget scenarios amid uncertain state funding

‘We don’t get to play around on this one’

Nikiski Republican Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, right, speaks against the Alaska Legislature’s Monday failure to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of a comprehensive education bill during a press conference on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

News

‘The ball is now very clearly in their court’

Senate looks to House on next steps for education funding

The Alaska State Capitol on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

House passes bill altering wording of sex crimes against children

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer

Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, walks into the Alaska House of Representatives before consideration of a veto override regarding education funding on Monday, March 18, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

News

By 1 vote, lawmakers sustain Dunleavy veto of education bill

The bipartisan bill included $680 increase to per-student funding

Nikiski Middle/High School student Maggie Grenier testifies in favor of a base student allocation increase before the Alaska Senate Education Committee on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot)
Nikiski Middle/High School student Maggie Grenier testifies in favor of a base student allocation increase before the Alaska Senate Education Committee on Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot)

News

Students report mixed responses from lawmakers in education discussions

Delegates from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District lobbied the Alaska Legislature for more state funding and other…

The Kachemak Selo Middle-High School building sits against a backdrop of the ridge separating the village from the Kenai Peninsula Borough road system Thursday, Aug. 30 in Kachemak-Selo. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

News

Borough, state at odds over best path forward for Kachemak Selo school

Micciche said Wednesday that he and the Senate president are working together to determine a viable path forward

Bud Sexton, chief of staff for Alaska House Rep. Justin Ruffridge, reviews amendment language in their office at the Alaska State Capitol building on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

In Juneau, making laws is a group effort

Ruffridge chief of staff says team shares commitment to hard work

Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski, speaks in opposition to an executive order that would abolish the Board of Certified Direct-Entry Midwives during a joint legislative session on Tuesday, March 12, 2024 in Juneau, Alaska. (Ashlyn O'Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Legislature kills most of Dunleavy’s executive orders in rare joint session

All the proposed orders would have shuffled or eliminated the responsibilities of various state boards