Morning update — Tuesday, March 20, 2018

In this newscast:

You can hear these stories and more at www.ktoo.org/listen.


In other news:

State budget advances, but how to pay for it remains unclear

The Alaska House Finance Committee finished its work on the budget on Friday. Its budget includes $5.3 billion for the part of the budget that the Legislature directly controls each year. That’s $337 million more than this year, and $37 million more than what Gov. Bill Walker proposed.

Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, comments on a state operating budget amendment in the House Finance Committee in the Alaska State Capitol on March 6, 2018. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
Rep. David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks, comments on a state operating budget amendment in the House Finance Committee in the Alaska State Capitol on March 6, 2018. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

The Senate budget still has to take shape. The Senate did pass the bill known as the fast-track supplemental last week. That includes $45 million of the Medicaid increase.


New state Forest Service leader has Alaska experience

The U.S. Forest Service is getting a new top official in April. David Schmid will have to deal with a particularly controversial land management plan that’s under attack.

David Schmid – USFS photo

Schmid began his Forest Service career in Alaska. He and his wife moved here in the early 1980s for his first agency job, in Southcentral’s Chugach National Forest. Later, he worked in the Tongass in Southeast.


Alaska’s Energy Desk has a new series about how Alaskans around the state heat their homes: The Cost of Cold

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