Support for Alaska Public Media On Demand comes from Aleut, an Alaska Native regional corporation serving over 5,000 Unangak shareholders and descendants with a mission to provide economic growth. Aleut's portfolio includes government contracting, real estate, technology, and energy. Learn more at aleutcorp.com.
You need people to understand that when indigenous people go missing, it's so much deeper than anyone realizes. Alaskans around the state gather to remember missing and murdered indigenous loved ones. From Alaska Public Media, This is Statewide News on Alaska News Nightly for Tuesday, May 6th. Good evening, I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, lawmakers propose a corporate income tax change to raise revenue for the state. By us putting this in, could it cause prices to go up? Maybe.
maybe in the big scheme of things. But will they have an Alaska tax? I don't believe so. Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. The Alaska House is scheduled to vote tomorrow on a change to corporate income taxes that could raise millions of dollars for the state.
Lawmakers say it would generate cash as the state faces hundreds of millions of dollars in deficits and an uncertain financial future. It's also tied to funding for two key elements of an education bill that's pending on the governor's desk. Lawmakers are pitching it as a tax on large, out-of-state businesses. So what does it actually do? Alaska Public Media's Eric Stone reports.
Senate Bill 113 would change the way companies calculate their state corporate income taxes. Here's how Senator Bill Wilkowski, an Anchorage Democrat, explained it to House lawmakers at a recent hearing. If you buy a Netflix subscription, instead of Netflix claiming the sale occurred at its headquarters in Los Gatos, California or at its server farm in Texas,
The sale is deemed to have occurred where the service is delivered under this bill in Alaska. And for companies who do a majority of their Alaska business over the internet, the bill would change the corporate income tax formula to look primarily at sale.
The tax code currently takes companies' Alaska payroll and property into account. That means lower taxes for companies that don't have much of a physical presence in the state. Welkowski says that means companies aren't paying their fair share for state infrastructure like roads, bridges, and ports.
And guess who's picking up the tab for that? Alaskan consumers, Alaskan businesses. That is not fair to our brick and mortar companies. And in fact, I would argue that's taking Alaskans permanent fund dividend checks. That's taking money out of Alaskans pocket.
because these out-of-state corporations are not paying what they should be paying. The bill enjoyed broad support in the Senate, where it passed 16-4, with crossover support from two Republicans in the Minority Caucus. The bill would only apply to so-called C-corporations, which... large businesses. Representative Jamie Allard, an Eagle River Republican, says she's concerned the bill could result in higher prices for Alaska consumers.
I think it's going to impact people greatly. I feel like this is a hidden... costs to Alaskans that the government doesn't want to come out full and transparency. At least 36 other states from Alabama to Hawaii have made similar changes to their tax codes. Welchowski said he didn't think Alaska was a large enough market to make a substantial difference on price. And he said across the U.S., no matter your state's corporate income tax system, a Netflix subscription is the same price.
And at least a few House Minority Republicans on the House Finance Committee agreed. Representative Jeremy Bynum, a Ketchikan Republican, says he doesn't expect the bill to result in across-the-board price increases. Whether it's Netflix or some other digital company, that when they're paying taxes, they build that into their pricing structure overall. So by us putting this in, could it cause prices to go up? Maybe.
Maybe in the big scheme of things. But will they have an Alaska tax? I don't believe so. Another minority Republican, Fairbanks Representative Will Stapp, said he thought taxing out-of-state businesses would level the playing field for Alaska businesses who are looking to compete with them. Where I live in Fairbanks, everyone has seen these small businesses go out of business and being replaced by big national chains.
And perhaps if we didn't tax our local businesses unfavorably compared to the ones who don't live in here, fewer of them would go out of business. The state's tax division says the bill could raise $25 to $65 million. If House lawmakers greenlight the bill, it would be the first significant revenue bill to pass this year, as lawmakers reckon with large deficits.
Money from the bill would go towards incentive grants for school districts, rewarding student reading performance, and bolster career and technical education. Lawmakers tied the two programs to the tax bill because of those looming deficits.
The bill has already passed the Senate, and if lawmakers in the House approve it, it will go to Governor Mike Dunleavy. It's not clear whether he'd sign it. His press office says Dunleavy will make a decision if it reaches his desk. Reporting in Juneau, I'm Eric Stone. Alaskans statewide turned out in their communities to recognize the epidemic of violence against indigenous people on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday.
In Kenai, around 30 people wore red and gathered for a vigil just outside the Kenaitze Indian tribe's Dena'ina Wellness Center. No local missing or murdered indigenous people were mentioned by name. Instead, the tribe spotlighted Alaska's high rates of missing and murdered indigenous women and used the opportunity to recognize local support services available for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
In Kotzebue, about 50 people marched down Front Street after a prayer from an elder. Most wore red, some with red handprints on their faces, and carried photographs of missing and murdered people and signs with slogans like, No More Stolen Sisters. Almost all the marchers carried roses, leaving a trail of red petals on the pavement as they walked several blocks.
Menelik Family Crisis Center organized the event now in its fifth year. After the walk, employees with the center read the names of 11 people that community members asked to be remembered. One was Kevin Douglas Lane. He was reported missing in 2019, and his body was found in Anchorage four years later.
Kevin was fun, goofy, and always trying to make us laugh. He had a heart of helping others and brought joy in his own unique way. His absence is deeply felt every day, but his spirit lives on in our memories and our hearts. Buckland, Deering, No Attack, Shugnack, and Selowick also held MMIP events on Monday. At least two other communities in the northwest arctic have events scheduled for later this month.
In the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, 50 residents clad in red marched a one-and-a-half-mile stretch along Bethel's main highway. That event was organized by the regional tribal organization, the Association of Village Council President. Among Bethel's MMIP marchers was Irma Goodwine from Bethel. She says having a committee bridging members from the local police forces, state troopers, and community members to form a response plan would be a good first step toward change.
I know so many family members that have passed on into domestic violence. And when I first came to Bethel, I was one of the advocates at the Tender Woman's Coalition. And we got to see firsthand the many violence that our sisters and brothers. I'm here to support them. I'm here to support my cousin because my cousin's daughter was murdered and the case was never solved. So I'm here as her voice that we care and all lives matter.
In Kodiak, roughly a dozen residents took individual roses and placed them in the near island channel to represent those from Kodiak archipelago communities who are still missing. The ceremony followed a week of wellness and cultural events. In Juneau, one name comes up consistently at MMIP events, and that's Tracy Day. She went missing six years ago at the age of 43. Her family is still looking for her.
Kaelin Schneider is her daughter and says that she feels disconnected from Thlingit culture because her mother's time teaching her was cut short. We need people to understand that when Indigenous people go missing, it's so much deeper than anyone realizes. not only are these our family members who we love and miss
every single day but these are the people who pass on sacred knowledge to the next generation of her family. Schneider says she's grateful for the people who come together at gatherings like these to share their traditional knowledge with her family. She says they help the families of people lost to violence grapple with their unanswered questions as a community and fill some of the space left behind. Lieutenant Governor and former U.S. House candidate Nancy Dahlstrom is running for governor.
Dahlstrom says the state's dire budget situation, the economy, education, and public safety will be especially important issues in her campaign. I love the state of Alaska and even though we have a lot of challenges, going on right now, I think that we can bring the appropriate people together and we can come up with some solutions. Dahlstrom joined Governor Mike Dunleavy's administration in 2018 as corrections commissioner. Dunleavy picked her as his running mate for his second term in 2022.
Dahlstrom also ran for U.S. House in 2024 and stressed her ties with now President Donald Trump, who endorsed her. She dropped out after coming in third in the primary and threw her support behind Nick Begich III, who went on to win. She echoes some of Dunleavy and Trump's priorities, including bolstering parental rights and resource development.
She applauded Trump's January executive order rolling back Biden-era policies restricting oil drilling, mining, and other resource projects in the state. We need to continue getting our resources opened and unleashing them. And luckily for us, we have some friends in D.C. who... are helping us in that area I mean we're the only state that got our own executive order on day one
Though she closely aligned herself with Trump during her campaign for US House, Dahlstrom says she's willing to work across the aisle too. I'm a good Republican that has the ability to work with all Alaskans. and I respect the values of all Alaskans and know that we have to find compromises on things in order to be successful in our state.
Dahlstrom says she's planning to stay on as lieutenant governor and work on the campaign during nights and weekends. She's the second candidate in the race. Former Fairbanks Senator Click Bishop also filed to run yesterday. Governor Dunleavy cannot run again because of term limits. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a therapist offers advice on how to discuss divisive issues with loved ones. The week of the election,
That was all my clients talked about. It was affecting everyone in one way or another. That's ahead. Stay with us. The Central Council of the Thlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska announced today that it is rejoining the Alaska Federation of Native. The move comes almost exactly two years after the tribe withdrew its membership from the statewide Alaska Native organization over concerns that tribal voices were not being equitably represented.
In a written statement, tribal officials say the reversal is in response to the current political climate, which, quote, demands greater unity among Alaska Native people. The decision was made by the tribe's executive council. It comes a few months after the Fairbanks-based Tanana Chiefs Conference also rejoined AFN after withdrawing around the same time as Lingit and Haida.
AFN has a membership of more than 200 tribes and corporations and promotes cultural preservation, political advocacy, and economic development. Flingit and Haida is Alaska's largest federally recognized tribe. According to the statement, the tribe says rejoining AFN is not a reversal of its concerns, but, quote, a commitment to ensure that tribal governments have a seat at every table where decisions are being made, end quote.
AFN also released a statement saying it is honored to welcome the tribe back. The tribe recently concluded its annual tribal assembly last month. The topic of rejoining AFN was not an agenda item. The tribe's president was not immediately available for comment. A lawsuit over Juneau's Mendenhall River levee will now focus on how the cost of the flood protection project will be divided.
This comes after the judge said the plaintiff's property will be included in levy construction. As KTO's Alex Solomon reports, the case now comes down to a question of whether or not the city must compensate homeowners for using their land. Samuel Hatch lives next to the Mendenhall River on Meander Way. During the 2023 glacial outburst flood, he opened the door to his crawlspace and saw water just beneath the floorboards. My foundation is shaped like a Pringle.
So it's like high in one spot, kind of in the middle, and then like down on all the corners. Floodwater cracked its foundation. So my house essentially folded around the corners where it settled. That was before the levy plan, so he and his wife felt they had two options. try to move their family of five with Juno's tough housing market, or retrofit their home to defend against future floods. They chose to retrofit and paid thousands to lift their house up on steel pilings.
Last week, Hatch joined a lawsuit with another homeowner who's suing the city for putting flood barriers on their land without compensating them. The lawsuit was originally aimed at stopping the construction of flood barriers along Mendenhall River, but has shifted its goals after a judge said homeowners could not opt out of having flood barriers on their land. The plaintiffs now say they want the city to pay homeowners for hosting the levy.
Hundreds of households in Mendenhall Valley are expected to pay the same amount for the project that is intended to keep flood water out of homes there. It's about $6,300, whether or not they're losing part of their property to the levy that will be there until the city comes up with a permanent flood protection solution. Hatch says that doesn't feel fair. I get paying my share, but at the same time, I'm like...
But the other people on the interior, they've lost nothing to this. And they're paying the same as me. The judge ordered that the levy will go up because it's in the public interest. but the court has yet to decide how the cost will be divided. City officials say the order was a sigh of relief. Contractors building the levy initially skipped construction on one homeowner's land, but barriers have now gone up on his lawn.
Scott Perkins is the attorney representing the homeowners. He says the case's court question is constitutional. Did the city have the powers to put up the barriers and not pay for them or are they gonna have to pay for them under the fifth amendment he's getting at whether the city is taking the land they're using for the barrier Both the U.S. Constitution and the Alaska Constitution forbid the government from taking private land for public use without paying the owner.
Perkins says he's confident the homeowners will prevail. If the court agrees, Emily Wright, the city's attorney, says the city's strongest argument is that taking the land is necessary to protect the public. When there's an emergency, we have to act. Sometimes that means that the individual is secondary to the greater good of the whole. And there are special circumstances.
An Alaska Supreme Court case ruled that the state is not required to pay if using the property is quote, necessary to prevent an impending or imminent public disaster from fire, flood, disease, or riot, end quote. The court will have to decide whether a flood likely to happen in a few months is considered imminent enough.
The other key question is whether the Juneau Assembly followed the right process when it passed an ordinance that created a local improvement district and approved the levy project. Landowners had the chance to vote it down, but only a quarter formally objected. Perkins says that the assembly was wrong to count people who didn't vote as yes votes.
but the judge wrote that the city's actions were lawful, so the levy's approval is expected to hold up in court. A trial has been scheduled for September 15 through 17. In Juneau, I'm Alex Solomon. The controversial mining exploration project near Haines has been in limbo since its biggest investor backed out late last year. Now the project's parent company wants to step back too.
As Avery Elfelt reports for the Alaska Desk, there won't be a drilling program at the site this summer, and the project's long-term future is less clear. American Pacific Mining Corporation confirmed last week it plans to distance itself from the mineral exploration site, known as the Palmer Project. The proposed mining site has fueled debate in Haines for a year. The news came in a video posted to American Pacific Mining's YouTube channel. The company first bought the project in 2022.
but in the video, American Pacific CEO Warwick Smith said the company aims to quote, transact on it, which could entail selling to an Alaska-based company. We're in the midst of having those conversations and looking to move that asset to a new home and take equity back from it. which would put us in an incredibly strong position both cash-wise and equity-wise.
The plan comes about five months after Doha Metals and Mining, a Japanese company, gave up its majority stake in the project. American Pacific took full ownership when that happened. At the time, Warwick said the deal provided a clear path forward for Palmer. But now, the company has decided to prioritize a different Montana-based exploration project over Palmer.
smith emphasized that the latter still has a lot of potential but it will require a major investment in the interim it's going to take money to do that and it's alaska it's outside of our wheelhouse if we're completely honest we think that there are If we're being honest we think that there are better groups that are more well suited. towards Alaska on their way
For years, the project has fueled local debate over a mine's potential economic benefits and environmental repercussions. The exploration site is near the village of Klukwon and sits above a tributary that runs into the Chilkat watershed, which supports a run of all five species of Pacific salmon. During the video, one participant asked if Palmer will ever realistically be developed into a mine amid permitting challenges and local dynamics.
peter mercer the president of constantine mining llc which operates the project locally responded that it's possible palmer will become a mine he nodded to other successful mines in southeast alaska and said the region boasts a quote tremendous amount of mineral potential.
Mercer added that President Donald Trump's executive order that aims to unleash Alaska's extraordinary resource potential, including as it relates to minerals, also works in the project's favor. Yes, this can be done here. You have to incorporate discussions around salmon, the landscape, the environment, the culture, you'll have to incorporate all of that into your planning, but that's what you have to do for all these projects.
A Konstantin spokesperson told KHNS the project is in a quote transitional period and that there will not be a drilling program at the exploration site this summer. The spokesperson added that these types of deals are not uncommon in the mining exploration business. It remains unclear what a potential sale might mean for Constantine, the project, or the community in the long term. In Haines, I'm Avery Alfelt.
A Juno-based author's graphic memoir won the Pulitzer Prize yesterday for autobiography and memoir. Tessa Hulls spent close to 10 years writing and drawing what would become feeding ghosts. KTO Radio interviewed Hulls last month about the memoir. I didn't feel like I had a choice. My family ghost literally told me I had to do this. The story is detailed and meta. It isn't a quick read. Every page takes time to digest.
It's the story of her grandmother's life, living through the Maoist revolution in Shanghai and chronicling that experience in a book after fleeing Hong Kong. And for her... writing was the way in which she tried to assert her own reality even as she watched the government take over and deny everything that was happening.
Then her grandmother began to lose her sense of reality, and the story follows her daughter, Hull's mother, and eventually Hull's herself, as they travel to China and Hong Kong, piecing together their family history. So the places where there weren't clear answers,
I forced that uncertainty on my reader and said, look, it's kind of a choose your own adventure here because there's no way to actually discern what actually happened. And here are the competing narratives. And I leave it up to you to decide what path to take through it. Hulse has lived in and out of Alaska for years. She would alternate seasonal work for the state with jobs in restaurant kitchens and take a couple of months for an extended bike trip in between.
That pattern stopped about a decade ago when Hulls felt a deep calling to start the project that would eventually become her memoir. Now, in the wake of this project, she's living in Juneau and working at the Alaska State Capitol. Hulls is launching the softcover version of Feeding Ghosts tonight at Alaska Robotics Gallery in Juneau. The political and ideological divide in the US is wider than it has been at any point in recent history, according to the Pew Research Center.
Social media has stoked anger and hatred across political lines. And in small Alaska towns like Ketchikan, anger plays out among family, friends, and neighbors. KRBD's Jack Darrell booked some time with a therapist and has this story. Good to meet you. Caitlin Andrews has tea and a noise machine outside her office. She owns Oil on Wellness.
It's Irish for island. Right now the practice is just her and her therapy dog, Guinness. He's half a poodle. He's a good boy. In recent weeks, Ketchikan has seen a lot of demonstrations. Protests and rallies against and for the federal government, mass firings, private interests, abortion. Donald Trump. Living in America right now kind of feels like you and your dad are trying to fix a car together, but you can't even agree on where the engine is.
And neither of you can fathom how the other one could have been so wrong this whole time and still drive a car. And now you're glaring at them, holding a wrench. And the car's still broken. And that seemed to be the one thing people on all sides at all of these protests had in common. They talked about resenting people they love because of their politics. How much it sucks. I'm sorry. These liberals are miserable. And a lot of people, oh no, you're a conspiracy theorist. And it's not the truth.
We need to know that as working people, we have each other's backs. And they're all under attack, calling us parasites, saying that we're all lazy, which we're not. Andrews says it's something her clients have been experiencing more and more. This is huge. I mean, the week of the elections, that was all my clients talked about. It was affecting everyone in one way or another, whether arguments with their family, like we're talking about, not seeing eye to eye.
or feeling like their household was going to be affected or their access to services. going to be affected or they didn't feel safe being open in their relationship. Those are all really real things that I think therapists across the country are faced with right now. Andrea says she works with a lot of teenagers and their families in Ketchikan. all across the political spectrum. Maybe a very unanswerable question, but what...
Does a healthy relationship with your parents look like? Oh boy. Politics, by the way, are far from the only family disagreement Andrews helps clients with. But her advice is often similar. Really important to have... your support people so find the people that you can have constructive healthy discussions with it's sad that it can't be like the people you've always had in your life but that's
It's just life. She gets it. She's been going through it herself. When my husband and I are silent on the topic, my one parent knows it's because we disagree. the other parent assumes we agree and I could let that really bother me and trust me this is Like something that takes up a lot of my brain space. Andrews says it's normal to be angry sometimes with the people closest to you. But what's under the surface? Anger's not ever by itself.
I tell people it's a secondary emotion. There's always something causing anger. So is it really the fact that dad Embarrassing you pointing out you have a crumb on your face or is it something deeper? And she says sometimes protecting yourself means drawing a line in the sand. Go and prepare.
to say this conversation is going to a place that i'm not comfortable with this is getting ugly and i love you too much we're gonna have to stop talking about this topic that's a boundary Research from Rice and Stanford universities show that Americans feel like they're on opposite sides of a cavernous divide, and the stakes feel higher than ever. Andrew says in a small town like Ketchikan. It just feels really heavy. She says it can often make people feel powerless.
Like, no one is listening. But she says there's one thing you can control. Your reaction to the headlines and the people in your life who may read them differently than you. And Andrew says it's a good place to start. You can catch a can. I'm Jack Darrell. And finally tonight, a correction to a story last night that said a lawsuit against the Alaska Department of Corrections was filed on behalf of at least six people who died under DOC care.
The lawsuit does not represent anyone who died in DOC care, but the stories of those who died in DOC care are included in it. And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online at alaskapublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts.
We had reports tonight from Eric Stone, Yvonne Crumery, Clarice Larson, and Alex Solomon in Juneau, Davis Hovey in Kodiak, Samantha Watson in Bethel, Desiree Hagen in Kotzebue, Hunter Morrison in Kenai, Avery Elfeld in Haines, and Jack Darrell in Katchikan. our audio engineer is Chris Hyde, Tim Rockies, our producer, and I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska.