Casey Kelly

The candidates for House District 34 agreed on many of the major issues facing Alaska at a Juneau Chamber of Commerce forum Thursday. But there were also areas where they differed, especially on education funding.

Incumbent Republican Cathy Muñoz and Democrat George McGuan are vying for the seat representing Juneau’s Mendenhall Valley and out the road in this year’s general election.

Muñoz and McGuan both expressed support for state efforts to build a natural gas pipeline. They both said Alaska’s current oil tax structure should be given three to five years to work before its effect on production and state revenue is re-evaluated.

Education was one of the areas where the candidates disagreed. McGuan said the current Republican leadership in the House hasn’t done enough to fund schools, and he said he supports universal pre-kindergarten in Alaska.

“Early beginnings is the biggest, best investment we can make in our education system,” he said. “The sooner we can get kids into a structured learning environment, the more they’ll succeed throughout their career.”

Muñoz defended education funding levels. She described last year’s increase to the state’s per-student funding formula as a step forward, even if it wasn’t as much as some had hoped. Muñoz said overall state spending on education has increased since 2008.

“We are doing what we can, and we will continue to meet our obligations under the constitution,” Muñoz said. “We need to always focus on public education as our top priority, and you have my commitment that I will continue to do so.”

Another area of disagreement was on the Juneau Access Project, a priority for the chamber. McGuan said he would defer the proposed Lynn Canal highway to help pay for more education funding. Muñoz supports the project, saying it will be of economic and social benefit to residents of northern Southeast Alaska.

Muñoz was first elected to the valley state House seat in 2008.

The general election is Nov. 4.

One race on this year’s municipal election ballot led the way in campaign spending.

Areawide Assembly candidates Norton Gregory, Tony Yorba and Maria Gladziszewski spent a total of more than $20,000, according to reports filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission. The winner, Gladziszewski, spent more than $17,000 on her campaign alone. Yorba spent over $5,000, and Gregory spent less than $100.

Both Yorba and Gladziszewski spent money on things like yard signs, direct mail and ads in local media. In Gladziszewski’s case, that included about $1,000 in underwriting on KTOO.

Even though he ran unopposed for a second term, Assemblyman Jesse Kiehl spent more than $2,000 on his campaign this year.

Assembly District 2 winner Debbie White was the only candidate in that race who registered with APOC to report campaign income and spending. The other four contenders were exempt, meaning they agreed to raise and spend less than $5,000. White reported just over $1,000 in campaign income, and no major expenses.

Officials will count about 1,440 absentee and questioned ballots from the municipal election, starting today at 10 a.m. at city hall.

Juneau police have arrested a 31-year-old man for allegedly stealing $41,000 in jewelry from Costco last month.

Officers say Joseph John Finn committed the burglary Sept. 17. After waiting inside the store until it closed and all the employees had gone home, police say Finn smashed the jewelry case and stole watches, rings and necklaces.

JPD recovered jewelry worth about $32,000 when they arrested Finn on Wednesday afternoon. Many pieces are still missing, according to a release.

Finn is charged with several felonies related to the theft, as well as drug charges for unnamed substances found in his possession at the time of his arrest.

Daricka Clark, 29, was arrested with Finn. She faces drug charges as well.

Police say the case likely will result in additional arrests.

It’s municipal Election Day, and Juneau voters head to the polls from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Voters will decide who should fill three seats on the Juneau Assembly and two seats on the Juneau School Board, as well as whether the Assembly should be allowed to create an empowered board to manage the city’s swimming pools.

Tony Yorba, Maria Gladziszewski and Norton Gregory are the candidates for Areawide Assembly.

Debbie White, Joshua Warren, Kory Hunt and David Fox are running for Assembly District 2, representing the Mendenhall Valley and out-the-road. Karla Hart’s name also appears on the ballot for that seat, but she previously announced she was pulling out of the race.

Jesse Kiehl is running unopposed for Assembly District 1, representing downtown Juneau and Douglas Island. This will be Kiehl’s second term on the Assembly.

Brian Holst and Sean O’Brien’s names are on the ballot for school board. Former Floyd Dryden Middle School Principal Tom Milliron also is running as a write-in for one of the two open seats on the board.

Tune in to KTOO-FM tonight after polls close for the latest results, or check out our 2014 Municipal Election Guide.

A small group of electric vehicle owners on Friday celebrated the first of five public EV charging stations to be installed on the Juneau road system thanks to $50,000 raised by local businesses and nonprofits.

The two-outlet station is located at Eagle Beach State Recreation Area, about 27 miles from downtown Juneau.

Kyle Cuzzort owns a Nissan Leaf, which has a range of about 84 miles per charge. Like most EV owners, Cuzzort has a special outlet in his garage to allow for overnight charging. But he says he and his wife are excited to have the option of powering up out the road.

“We come out here to walk the dog pretty often, and everybody goes, ‘Oh, you drove all the way out the road?’ It’s great, I love it!” Cuzzort says. “It doesn’t cost me a whole lot. So I go out and I get to use all the trails all the time, because I’m not worried about, you know, ‘Oh crud, I just burned $10 in gas to walk the dog.'”

The Juneau Economic Development Council secured a $25,000 grant from Florida-based Funders Network for Growth and Livable Communities to expand the number of charging stations in the capital city. The grant required local matching funds, all of which came from private donations. Duff Mitchell is with Juneau Hydropower, which gave $10,000 to the cause.

“Three years ago I think we had two electric cars running around (Juneau), and now we have probably 25,” Mitchell says. “With the chargers, I think you’re going to see more and more people. They’re just going to have that safety net to be able to go in and charge everywhere, and you’re going to see a lot more people become comfortable with electric vehicles.”

Besides Eagle Beach, EV charging stations will be installed at Eaglecrest Ski Area, the Marine Parking Garage, the new Mendenhall Valley library and the University of Alaska Southeast. Additional grant money will be used to buy charging stations for local businesses that pay the cost of installation.

Juneau Assembly member Jesse Kiehl is supporting a ballot measure that would legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Alaska.

On Thursday, the pro-Ballot Measure 2 Campaign to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol sent out a press release touting the formation of a “statewide coalition of moms and dads” to support the initiative. Kiehl was one of three Juneau residents mentioned in the release, along with Ken Alper and Steve Handy.

Kiehl says for him the issue is one of public safety.

“I’ve talked with police officers, who say for all the people they’ve arrested who were drunk and committing crimes and hurting people, they haven’t arrested anybody, or maybe in their entire career they arrested one person who was using marijuana,” Kiehl says. “We need to put our public safety resources where they can do the most good, and that’s not marijuana.”

Kiehl says he’d rather see public safety dollars spent on things like domestic violence prevention, or drugs like heroin.

In August, Police Chief Bryce Johnson told the Juneau Chamber of Commerce that if Ballot Measure 2 passes, the enforcement of driving under the influence laws could be a challenge. Johnson also expressed concern that pot-related DUI cases could increase.

Kiehl, who also works as an aide to Juneau Sen. Dennis Egan, says the measure is not perfect. But he thinks the legislature can fix any problems with it.

“And the first thing I plan to do is talk to legislators about child resistant containers,” Kiehl says. “I think that’s important, it’s not in there now. But there’s never been an initiative that didn’t need some tweaks.”

Kiehl is running unopposed for his second term on the Juneau Assembly. Some communities in Alaska have taken a stand against legal weed. Juneau is not one of them.

Kiehl has two young daughters, and says he often talks to them about not doing drugs and making healthy choices. He says he has not used marijuana since trying it in college.

Ballot Measure 2 appears on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot. It would legalize recreational pot for people 21 and older in Alaska, and set up a tax on the sale of the drug. Colorado and Washington are currently the only states where recreational marijuana is legal. Oregon and Washington, D.C. are also voting on legalization measures in November. The federal government still considers marijuana an illegal drug.