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TexasTowelie's JournalMoody's sees negative outlook for Alaska's credit rating
The outlook for Alaska’s credit rating has worsened from neutral to negative, according to Moody’s Investors Services.
The announcement on Thursday doesn’t change the state’s credit rating, but Moody’s said there’s now increased pressure to downgrade the rating in the next year or two.
Moody’s analyst Edward Hampton said that with the focus on full permanent fund dividends, the goal of balancing the budget has moved to the back burner.
“It sort of created some risks and doubt about other issues,” Hampton said of the PFD. “For example, what is the state’s plan to regain something that looks like structural balance over the long term?”
Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/07/26/moodys-sees-negative-outlook-for-alaskas-credit-rating/
Alaska House absences draw attention
Along with Alaska House members who’ve voted yea and nay on three major bills this week, there has been a third category: members who were absent.
Absences rarely receive attention, but there have been an unusually high number since Gov. Mike Dunleavy changed the location of his call for the second special session from Wasilla to Juneau.
The highest number of absences was 11, on Wednesday morning. The fewest was four on Monday.
But the Monday absences drew the most attention. That’s because the House reconsidered a bill to fund the capital budget. Thirty votes — or three-quarters of the House — would have been necessary to draw money from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, but only 29 voted yes. Any of the absent members could have changed the outcome.
Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/07/26/alaska-house-absences-draw-attention/
'We're gonna be out on the streets': Anchorage readies for a homeless crisis
The mayor of Anchorage declared a civil emergency Wednesday over concerns that the state’s fiscal crisis will cause hundreds of residents to lose access to basic shelter. If Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes stand, the next 30 to 90 days will determine whether hundreds more people have to move out of housing. That’s left some families in Anchorage worried they could soon be living on the streets.
Arianne Swihart and Galen Huntsman live in a single room with their two young boys, Azriel, 4, and Tobie, nearly 3, along with Aurura, their two-month-old daughter.
“We now have a family of five living in essentially a hotel room,” Arianne said on a recent morning.
They’re staying at a facility called Safe Harbor on the east side of Anchorage. It’s temporary, families generally live there for up to six months as they try to transition out of homelessness into into more stable permanent housing. Both parents say this is a big improvement. Prior to moving in here in April, the family was in crisis. There were problems with jobs, with the Office of Child Services, and medical care. At one point in the saga, Swihart was several months pregnant with nowhere to go, staying in an overnight shelter.
Read more: https://www.alaskapublic.org/2019/07/26/were-gonna-be-out-on-the-streets-anchorage-readies-for-a-homeless-crisis/
Puff, puff passed: Juneau Assembly OKs onsite pot smoking
Consuming marijuana at the stores that sell it will be allowed in Juneau — with a couple of big caveats.
The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly approved Monday an ordinance that would allow outdoor smoking at state-approved sellers and indoor consumption of edibles. The decision followed months of debate about whether onsite smoking could be allowed without causing problems for the city’s secondhand smoke laws.
“If you don’t like marijuana smoke, you should be for this ordinance,” Assembly member Wade Bryson said during the meeting.
He reiterated points he has made in the past that allowing onsite consumption could potentially curb the number of people illegally, publicly consuming marijuana.
Read more: https://www.juneauempire.com/news/puff-puff-passed-juneau-assembly-oks-onsite-pot-smoking/
House to meet on Monday for crucial vote
Having voted through the three bills to restore funding to the government and allocate a Permanent Fund Dividend, the House of Representatives is recessed until Monday, when a crucial, potentially final, vote will take place.
House Speaker Bryce Edgmon’s office sent out a press release Thursday evening saying that the House would vote to rescind its previous action on the capital budget bill. The House was one vote shy of passing it on July 22, but the speaker’s office said in a press release that they were confident that a 30th vote would be obtained before the end of the month, either from a legislator who was not present or from someone who had previously voted against the bill.
Friday morning the House finished its work on HB 2003, the bill which would allocate $1,600 for a PFD. When the House moved to adjourn until Monday, Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, raised an objection.
“People are tired of us wasting their money,” she said. If there was work to be done, it should be done, Wilson said, citing the expenses many legislators incur while in Juneau.
Read more: https://www.juneauempire.com/news/house-to-meet-on-monday-for-crucial-vote/
The governor wants a $3,000 PFD and may veto the bill.
'Gut fish, not Alaska': Totem pole ridicules Trump and Dunleavy
There’s a nonexistent approval rating for Gov. Mike Dunleavy and President Donald Trump in Tommy Joseph’s most recent pole.
Joseph, a Tlingit master carver who resides in Sitka, carved a totem pole meant to shame Trump and Dunleavy over the weekend, and it’s received some attention outside his home where it currently stands and on social media.
“I’m compelled, motivated and feel the need to say what I have to say,” Joseph said in an interview.
While the pole has contemporary subject matter in the sitting president and governor of Alaska, it’s made in the spirit of traditional shame or ridicule poles. Shame poles were totem poles meant to tell the story of a misdeed or unpaid debt.
Read more: https://www.juneauempire.com/news/gut-fish-not-alaska-totem-pole-ridicules-trump-and-dunleavy/
Ferry workers strike continues; State says strike 'illegal'
Commissioner Kelly Tshibaka announced in a teleconference Thursday the state was working to bring the Inlandboatman’s Union of the Pacific back to the negotiating table after IBU workers went on strike, mooring the ferries of the Alaska Marine Highway System to their piers, engines cold.
Ferry workers picketed the Auke Bay Terminal in Juneau Thursday morning after the IBU declared that negotiations with the administration had run aground. Many cars and trucks passing the picketers could be heard honking their horns as they passed, possibly in solidarity with the workers. Picketers seemed unfazed by dreary weather and disappointed with the administration’s failure to negotiate in earnest.
“One of the provisions they are striking is illegal, which means the strike is illegal and unprotected,” said Tshibaka. She said this threat had been communicated to the IBU via letter at 12.30 p.m. on July 25.
“There are different consequences for that,” Tshibaka said, mentioning that taking this affair to court would be the next level of escalation. Her claim that the strike is illegal is tied to the IBU’s request pertaining to a cost of living differential. When this was communicated to the IBU, they amended their statement to bring it within the boundaries of protected strikes, but the state refused to recognize this and still holds the position that the strike is illegal.
Read more: https://www.peninsulaclarion.com/news/ferry-workers-strike-continues-state-says-strike-illegal/
GovGuam could end up with $38M more in revenue than projected for 2019
The government of Guam's revenue collection has been at a better-than-expected rate and could end up about $38 million higher than projected by the end of fiscal 2019.
Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero has been championing more aggressive tax collection while also asking senators to maintain the business privilege tax at 5 percent. Some senators have called for a rollback of the business privilege tax to 4 percent because the 2018 increase was supposed to be temporary and cushion more than $100 million in revenue reductions due to federal tax reform.
The tax increase was supposed to be paired with spending cuts, which never materialized.
Actual GovGuam revenue for the first three quarters of fiscal 2019 reached $635.2 million, or $32.2 million more than the adopted projected revenue for the year-to-date period, which was $603 million.
Read more: https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2019/07/24/guam-2019-budget-shows-millions-more-in-revenue-than-projected/1811143001/
(Guam Pacific Daily News)
Hansen Helicopters attorneys ask to throw out warrants, evidence in helicopter fraud case
Defense attorneys representing a Hansen Helicopters executive and a company employee in their federal criminal case have asked the court to throw out three search warrants and any evidence gathered from those warrants.
“The judges who issued the search warrants were misled into concluding that probable case for the issuance of the search warrants existed,” the attorneys stated in a motion to suppress evidence, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court of Guam.
Hansen Helicopters owner John D. Walker and Phillip Kapp, the company’s director of maintenance, are among four men indicted last year. They're accused of fraud and falsifying documents.
The company, which provides regional aviation services to the fishing industry and others, is based on Guam, with offices off Route 16 in Harmon. It has operated on Guam since 1985.
Read more: https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2019/07/26/guam-helicopter-fraud-case/1835288001/
Dozens of TMT supporters turn out for rally
HILO -- Yvonne Verburgt of Hilo is a retired chemist, a substitute teacher, and on Thursday, she was one of nearly 100 people lined up along Kanoelehua Avenue in support of the long-contested Thirty Meter Telescope.
Verburgt stood with the crowd gathered on the busy Hilo thoroughfare holding a handmade sign that read “TMT = Education.”
Passing cars frequently honked in support, which was met with cheers from the crowd.
“We’ve been called the silent majority who support TMT,” Verburgt said. “We’re scientists. We’re engineers. So public rallies and everything is probably not our strong suit, but this is such an important issue for all of us that we just have to come out.”
Read more: https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2019/07/26/hawaii-news/dozens-of-tmt-supporters-turn-out-for-rally/
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