FAMILY FUN – Crystal Johns holds her son Zayne , 2, as she follows her son Ezekiel, 4, up an inflatable slide Saturday at Xoots Elementary School during the annual Spring Carnival. The event included games, prizes, cotton candy, and karaoke. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Rep. Rebecca Himschoot says in the discussion on educ [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Song, dance and a cast of school-aged actors will brin [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Don’t talk to people claiming to be from Medicare o [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS
Alaska Beacon
The Alaska House of Representatives voted Wednesday to allow comp [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has dismissed an appeal filed by [ ... ]
Mr. Whitekeys
In Sitka to Tell
Gold Rush Tale
Sitka Historical Society and Museum will present ‘‘Th [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 17
At 9:08 a.m. a transformer was r [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
The threat of major cutbacks to the subsistence socke [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
With the first vote on the city budget for fiscal yea [ ... ]
By Sentinel Staff
In the final day of play in the recreational division City League volleyball [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Three amateur athletes from Sitka were among tens of [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
A proposal to require Alaska schools to keep opioid-overdose-r [ ... ]
By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
Alaska’s Kobuk River, which flows out of the Brooks Range above [ ... ]
Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 16
At 8:07 a.m. a woman [ ... ]
Presentation On
Medicare, SS
SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium and Cynthia Gibson, CFP®, an [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Musicians from Sitka High and Mt. Edgecumbe High scho [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Whether you enjoy scaling mountains, walking in the p [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
Two-time Alpine Adventure Run winner Chris Brenk cont [ ... ]
By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee expanded a [ ... ]
By JAMES BROOKS and
CLAIRE STREMPLE
The Alaska Department of Education and Early Development is [ ... ]
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
April 15
A protective order was issued at 1 [ ... ]
Chamber Speaker
Event Wednesday
The Chamber of Commerce speaker series will continue noon Wednesday at [ ... ]
By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
From high costs and low availability to challenges sur [ ... ]
By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
A number of participants at Thursday’s community me [ ... ]
Daily Sitka Sentinel
Panel Fails to Agree On Changes to PF Dividend
JUNEAU (AP) — A legislative panel has failed to reach an agreement on potential changes to the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, leaving lawmakers with little guidance on a path forward on the thorny subject.
The state has struggled to address a long-running deficit. It has drawn down savings accounts and in 2018 began using fund earnings, traditionally used to pay dividends to residents, to also help cover government expenses.
The Bicameral Permanent Fund Working Group’s only recommendation was that the Legislature should not violate a 2018 law that sought to limit what could be withdrawn from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings for dividends and government expenses.
“We were able to establish and recommend that the Permanent Fund should be protected from inflation and the Legislature should not utilize more of the earnings reserve” than is outlined in the law limiting the draw to roughly 5% of the fund’s overall market value, House Finance Committee Co-chair and Republican Jennifer Johnston told KTOO-FM.
Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes is concerned that the the law limiting the draw will not limit spending from the fund’s earnings reserve, since the Legislature has previously chosen not to follow the 1982 dividend formula law and can do so again, she said. The formula, which Dunleavy has argued should be followed until it’s changed, has not been followed in recent years, amid the deficit battle. Dunleavy’s budget proposal for the upcoming year, which would pay a dividend under the formula, also would use $1.5 billion from savings.
The working group decided Monday against a specific change to the formula for setting Permanent Fund dividends.
The eight-member legislative panel was created last year to provide policy recommendations on the fund.
“It was my perspective that our scope of work was somewhat restrained, so it never felt that we never threw ourselves headlong into looking at new dividend formulas,” Democratic Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins said, adding the group’s work was not a failure.
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20 YEARS AGO
April 2004
Photo caption: Sen. Lisa Murkowski talks with students in Karoline Bekeris’ fourth-grade class Thursday at the Westmark Shee Atika. From left are Murkowski, Kelsey Boussom, Laura Quinn and Memito Diaz.
50 YEARS AGO
April 1974
A medley of songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar” will highlight the morning worship service on Palm Sunday at the United Methodist Church. Musicians will be Paige Garwood and Karl Hartman on guitars; Dan Goodness on organ; and Gayle Erickson on drums.