Government

Senate leaders had hoped to pass the bill early in the day but were forced to wait after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., objected. Paul plans to force the Senate to wait until early Friday morning.

The House rejected the part of the bill that would use state savings to fund it.

Gov. Walker posed the rhetorical question at a Juneau Chamber of Commerce event. He said more of the money the state spends to manage the permanent fund should be spent inside the state.

In a recent letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, VOICE wrote, “with respect to the Arctic [Outer Continental Shelf] announcement on the [Draft Proposed Program], we feel the concerns of local organizations were ignored and that deeply disturbs us.” 

Mayor Jenny Durkan says getting the criminal convictions wiped from personal records is “a necessary step to right the wrongs of what was a failed ‘War on Drugs.'”

Legislators in Juneau are hearing some hard numbers this week on how difficult things have gotten for state prosecutors. Alaska has had upward trends in recent years with violent crime, like murder and assault, and property crime, like vehicle theft and burglary.