Politics

The Legislative Council is seeking advice from a finance expert on what to do about the controversial lease on the Anchorage Legislative Information Office.

Senate Minority Leader Berta Gardner, an Anchorage Democrat, said her caucus members were disappointed.

“My friends, do not be afraid: Fear is the mind-killer,” Chief Justice Craig Stowers told the legislature.

“Part of this funding is set aside to address the needs that the president saw firsthand when he visited coastal communities in Alaska that are seeing their homelands eroding into the ocean at a rapid pace,” said Deputy Interior Secretary Mike Connor.

The House passed a resolution that limits committees to working on bills that raise or spend state revenue. House Democrats raised concerns that the rule change would reduce transparency.

A new law may clear an impasse in a stalled human trafficking case against Bill Allen, the former star witness in the federal corruption probe of Alaska politicians.