Funding

by The Associated Press Saturday, May 15, 2010 FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- The Alaska Gasline Port Authority has lined up corporate sponsorship money to help pay off debt while it seeks funding for its plan to truck natural gas from the North Slope. The nonprofit port authority is also seeking about $100,000 from the city of Valdez and the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Port authority auditors last year identified $264,000 worth of debt. But the organization has lined up $150,000 in corporate sponsorship money from Mitsubishi Corp.

Tuesday night the Anchorage Assembly unanimously approved $380,000 toward starting a police academy in the fall of 2011. While the money won't completely cover the cost of an academy, it will begin the process of preparing for an academy of 28 officers. The money will go toward various indirect costs of an academy, including psychological testing services, ammunition costs and recruitment advertising costs. The money comes from re-routing money granted to the municipality by the federal government, as a result of joint Drug Enforcement Agency and Anchorage Police Department operations.

The state Legislature’s task force on higher education discussed options Friday to fund Gov. Sean Parnell's scholarship program, which gives tuition money to students who meet certain curriculum and grade requirements. Lawmakers fear the program will be unsustainable if the state tries to fund scholarships year by year. The program might soon include assistance based on need, and there's also the problem of grade inflation. The goal of the task force is to come up  with a long-term funding plan, which includes making an endowment from oil revenues.

by Channel 2 News staff Tuesday, January 26, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- In a poll conducted by Channel 2 News, respondents were asked if groups outside of Anchorage should be allowed to spend money on campaigns for Anchorage offices. Here is the official question and results of the 368 people who voted. Should groups outside of Anchorage be allowed to spend money on campaigns for Anchorage offices? Yes 26 % No 74 % All polls conducted by Channel 2 News and KTUU.

Among the city's requests from the legislature for funding for big ticket items like money for the port and a police tactical range, there is a request for more than $4 million to fix a few problems at the 35-year-old Chugiak-Eagle River Senior Center. “I love it! I have been a waitress forever,” Renee Malay says of her job at the senior center. But as excited as she can get when planning a meal at the center, she knows things here aren't always fun and games. “Between the food coming across here, and food coming across here, and people trying to get through, you can slip, you can fall, anything can happen here,” Malay said.

by Christine Kim Tuesday, April 6, 2010 ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Plans to build a state crime lab four times the size of the current one are being met with controversy. Two former directors of the lab say the multi-million dollar project would be a misuse of millions of dollars. The proposal for a new crime lab started years ago during the Palin administration. The Department of Public Safety is waiting for more funding to start construction on the new facility, but some former employees say there's no need for a new lab. "We're seeing more and more of this large volume of work out there that needs to be addressed, that is not being addressed because we don't have the capacity to do it," said Orin Dym, the crime lab's manager.

At a briefing Wednesday, Mayor Dan Sullivan announced 14 grants totaling just over $1 million to spend on traffic calming measures. Earlier this week, Anchorage Democrats Rep. Pete Petersen and Sen. Bill Wielechowski criticized the administration for not taking advantage of state money appropriated to calm traffic. City Community Planning and Development Director Greg Jones said there are some projects fully designed and others that are ongoing. Jones added the municipality is currently defining projects and looking at the status of funding from grants to move forward.

The Emmonak Women's shelter says it may have to close by the end of the summer. Officials with the shelter say they provide services to women from 14 villages. Joann Horn the shelter's director says they've applied for a federal grant, but won't know if the money will be funded until September. The current grant runs out August 31 st .  "It's sad," Horn said, "you know we're we don't want to see women out there wondering where to go and where to sleep. " The Executive Director for the Council on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, Lauree Morton, said the shelter never applied for funding from the state in 2009, or this year.

Alaska's U.S. senators split on legislation that would extend increased federal support for Medicaid funding. Democrat Mark Begich voted with the majority in supporting the measure, while Republican Lisa Murkowski opposed it. The measure would provide $16 billion to help states fund their Medicaid budgets, and $10 billion in emergency education aid aimed at avoiding mass layoffs. Alaska faces a Medicaid funding gap without a continuation of the federal support. Begich said the bill will save the state from putting $47 million more in general funds toward the program, and allow it to focus on other priorities.

The State of Alaska's only dedicated domestic violence prosecution unit says it needs more funding to continue its work. The unit is awaiting word on whether it will receive a state grant similar to one it says will run out in a year. The Anchorage unit is a part of the Municipal Prosecutor's office, and works exclusively on domestic violence cases. Its supervisor, Jo-Ann Chung, says the city has laid the groundwork to start enforcing bail conditions statewide, which may help stop the cycle of domestic violence.

With 2013 only about a quarter of the way through, a longtime local non-profit group says it's already seeing big contributions from residents. Bean's Café says it's received record contributions this year from the Pick.Click.Give. program, which allows Alaskans to donate all or part of their Permanent Fund Dividend checks to their choice of charities. More than 2,000 people have given the Downtown Anchorage soup kitchen a total of $119,000. According to Bean's, people are also honoring the memory of its late executive director, Jim Crockett, by contributing in many other ways.

Alaskans have only a few more days to apply for a 2013 Permanent Fund Dividend, with the March 31 deadline to do so coming up Sunday -- and application offices closing for the weekend Friday afternoon. A statement from the Alaska Department of Revenue says online applications, which can be submitted on the Permanent Fund Division's website from most computers, iPads and iPhones, must be completed by 11:59 p.m. Alaska time Sunday. The department encourages people planning to file over the weekend to ensure their devices' compatibility beforehand, by using a browser-testing tool on the website.

A former president of the Alaska Native village of Tatitlek was arrested Wednesday for allegedly misappropriating more than $200,000 of village funds for personal use by herself and her brother. According to U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler's office, a grand jury named Anchorage woman 45-year-old Lori Clum -- known as Lori “Sue” Johnson before her marriage -- in three counts of a four-count Thursday indictment for theft from an Indian tribal organization. Clum's brother, 47-year-old James Kramer of Valdez, was named in the indictment's fourth count.

Senate Majority Leader John Coghill, R-Fairbanks, wants to close any loop holes in the state's Medicaid law where someone could use public money for a non-medically necessary abortion. "Because it's a Supreme Court Ruling, because it's a very narrow law, and because it's highly contentious in many areas, it's very difficult to define,” said Sen. Coghill.  “It has a lot of court rulings to navigate through. " For the past eight years, Sen. Coghill has tried to define what a medically necessary abortion is in the Legislature, but to no avail.  Coghill adds, "Right now the state is actually funding about half the abortions that happen in Alaska, and there's a little more than 1600 [that]

It's been a juggling act for some Alaska school districts, between funding teacher salaries, infrastructure improvements and classroom instruction supplies. "You'll probably see an education package come out of the Senate," said Senator Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, who co-chairs the Senate Finance Committee. "It will probably answer most people's questions, it's not going to be exactly what everyone wants.”  Sen. Kelly says, “We got some serious budget times approaching here, we have to figure out how to fund state government and education is part of that.

State flags were lowered to half-staff Thursday in remembrance of slain Manokotak village public safety officer Thomas Madole, as a memorial fund for his family was established for donations from the public. In a statement, Gov. Sean Parnell expressed his condolences to Madole's family, after Alaska State Troopers said he was shot by Leroy B. Dick Jr. while trying to speak with Dick Tuesday afternoon. “Sandy and I were saddened to learn of the tragic, senseless death of Officer Madole,” Parnell said.

Anchorage's main library is hoping for a facelift, with officials asking the state Legislature for $8 million to renovate the structure. Administrators at the Z.J. Loussac Library say the building is 27 years old, but sees 74 percent more visitors than the Sullivan Arena each year. Since its construction in 1986, the library has only had one update to its roof. According to Mary Jo Torgeson, director of the Anchorage Public Library system, nearly 500,000 people visit the Loussac Library each year.

You need not look any further than a couple blocks from Alaska's capitol building to see what the potential effects of an $8 million cut to behavioral health would have on Juneau's Polaris House . Executive Director Dorothy Green says her facility provides community support to adults with a history of mental illness. "We help people find housing; we help them keep their housing, providing supported housing to them in the community" said Green.  "We provide vocational support.

A Southeast lawmaker wants to bring Alaska's transportation issues to the forefront -- by funding them in an amendment to the state constitution. Rep. Peggy Wilson (R-Wrangell) is proposing a dedicated transportation fund. Her House Joint Resolution 10 has cleared the House Transportation Committee, and is headed for the House Judiciary Committee. HJR 10 would need a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate before making it onto the ballot for voters to decide if the fund should become part of the constitution.

When Alaska's constitutional convention assembled more than 50 years ago, framers were explicit in barring the use of public money for the direct benefit of private institutions. Senator Mike Dunleavy wants to give the voters a chance to change that, through Senate Joint Resolution 9 , which if passed would put that question on the ballot in 2014. "I'm fully aware that there is a lot of folks out there that are interested in vouchers for K-12, some folks are interested in supporting private schools,” said Dunleavy (R-Wasilla)