New calls to raise Alaska’s mining taxes and royalties come as state officials face difficult fiscal decisions.
State Government
Lawmakers fail to override Gov. Dunleavy’s veto of school funding bill
Concerns over the state’s ability to pay for the $1,000 increase in basic funding, given the state’s worsening fiscal outlook, played a role in the failed override vote.
Alaska House encourages school districts to limit students’ cellphones, with some exceptions
House Bill 57 isn’t a ban on phones in classrooms, but it allows limited bans if local school districts approve them.
Alaska’s governor flew to Taiwan to sell LNG. China’s not happy.
China says Dunleavy’s trip “sends a very wrong signal to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”
Education bill veto leaves Alaska school leaders disappointed, frustrated and confused
Alaska Public Media spoke with school leaders from Ketchikan to Kotzebue about the Gov. Dunleavy’s veto of a school funding bill. Here’s what they had to say.
Bill seeks to cover fewer workers with paid sick leave recently approved by Alaska voters
Larger businesses would be exempted from the requirement, and seasonal workers would not accrue sick leave, under changes to Ballot Measure 1 mandates.