Anchorage police are searching for a suspect Monday after a Mountain View gas station was robbed at gunpoint in the early hours of Monday, police wrote in a press release. 

At about 12:10 a.m., police responded to reports of a robbery at the Holiday Gas Station at 4627 Mountain View Drive. 

"The suspect entered the store, went behind the counter, pointed a gun at the employee, and demanded that the cash register be opened," police wrote. The employee complied with the suspect who then removed an undisclosed amount from the register. 

The suspect fled on foot. "A K9 track was conducted but the suspect was not apprehended," police wrote.

Police say the suspect was initially described as a six-foot tall, skinny black man with no facial hair.

Anyone with information about this robbery is asked to contact police at 786-8900 or provide an anonymous tip at 561-STOP. 

A Two Rivers man was killed Saturday in after he lost control of his four-wheeler and crashed, Alaska State Troopers wrote in a dispatch Monday. 

Troopers in Fairbanks were notified at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday that Fairbanks police and emergency medical services were responding to a four-wheeler rollover between Baseline Road and Trickett Lane in Two Rivers. 

The driver of the green Polaris four-wheeler, identified as 55-year-old Daniel Begis of Two Rivers, had died by the time troopers arrived on scene. 

"Investigation determined that Begis was traveling southbound on Grange Hall Road at an unknown speed," troopers wrote. "He lost control of the four-wheeler causing the four-wheeler to roll over several times." 

Officials suspect that alcohol was a factor in Begis' death. He was also not wearing a helmet. 

Next of kin have been notified. The cause of death will be determined after an autopsy by the State Medical Examiner's Office. 

A divided state House committee has advanced legislation that would tie state employee merit increases to increases in oil prices.

The rewrite of the HB 379 that moved from the House Finance Committee Saturday calls for no merit increases until the average price per barrel for North Slope oil for the preceding fiscal year is at least $60. At that point, employees would get a portion of the 3.25-percent raises. The portion would increase when oil hits $70 and $80. The pay restrictions would be lifted when oil averages $90 for a full year.

The bill advanced on a 6-5 vote.

Supporters of the bill, sponsored by the House Rules Committee, say it makes sense as the state struggles with an estimated $4 billion deficit. Critics worry it could affect the state's ability to retain workers.

As state lawmakers in Juneau scramble to close a massive $4 billion budget gap, The Anchorage Assembly has a decidedly different problem on its hands. Assembly members are trying to determine what to do with a $15 million budget surplus.

At Tuesday's Assembly meeting, assembly members will debate what to do with the money. They'll also vote to set the mil rate for property owners.

The city says the extra money comes from belt tightening at City Hall and a lack of snow this winter that kept plows mostly parked instead of clearing off area roads.

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz is proposing the city save a little more than half the surplus. He wants the money as a contingency in case the state shifts more government costs onto the municipality.

The mayor wants to spend about a $1 million on a new voting system, moving the city from the present AccuVote machines to mail-in ballots. The municipality says voting by mail will increase voter participation in elections and save the city money.

Mayor Berkowitz also plans to spend several hundred thousand dollars to help Anchorage's homeless population.

Assembly Chair Elvi Gray-Jackson also wants to save some of the money, although at this time she says she doesn't know exactly how much. Gray-Jackson also wants the city to change to a mail-in voting system and to hire an additional fire inspector to check commercial buildings for fire hazards. She says the city doesn't currently have enough inspectors to do the job.

Gray-Jackson says she also wants the city to hire a code enforcement officer to oversee the soon-to-be marijuana business.

South Anchorage Assemblyman Bill Evans has plans for the surplus money too. Evans says he wants to save $5 million and he wants to give another $5 million to property owners for tax relief. According to Evans, right now property owners can expect to see a seven percent increase in taxes this year. Evans says that increase can be cut in half by applying that $5 million to taxes.

The assembly is expected to settle both the mil rate and what to do with the surplus revenues at Tuesday's meeting. 

A temporary power outage on Sunday has reduced oil production this week at Prudhoe Bay, BP says.

“Crews are in the process of restarting production,” a spokesman told KTUU today in an email. “No injuries or damage to the environment have been reported as a result of the incident.”

Operated by BP and owned by BP, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil, Prudhoe Bay was the third-largest oil field in the United States last year. It is a key source of revenue for the cash-strapped state, producing an average of 296,000 barrels a day with associated oil pools, according to the Tax Division.

“We are working diligently and expect to bring all of the affected oil processing facilities back into service over the next two days,” the BP statement said. “Oil production will gradually ramp back up afterwards.

"Safety will remain our highest priority as we move through this process," the statement said.

A BP spokesperson refused to say exactly how much production has dropped as a result of the interruption to power transmission on the largest North Slope oil field.

A state Department of Revenue spokesperson said Prudhoe Bay production numbers for Sunday were not yet available. The Department of Environmental Conservation reports no spills associated with the outage, said spokeswoman Candice Bressler. 

The disruption to power on Prudhoe Bay comes days after a vent fire at a pump station forced a nine-hour shutdown of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

The legislature has recommended moving into the Bill Ray Center in Juneau to continue the overtime legislative session when construction picks up in the Capitol, according to an email sent to lawmakers on Monday.

Floor sessions will be held in the gym at the Terry Miller building, according to the email. The Capitol will need to be vacated by the end of May 1 because construction will intensify.

Moving into the Bill Ray center will cost $15,000 a month pro-rated while the cost to delay construction would be about 15,000 per day.

ORIGINAL STORY: Alternate meeting sites being weighed as session continues

Associated Press

Lawmakers planned to tour alternate meeting sites Monday as the extended session continued and the deadline for being out of the state Capitol approached.

The Capitol effectively will need to be cleared out by next Monday under the current schedule for the building's renovation.

Lawmakers have been meeting in extended session after the House was unable to reach agreement on an oil and gas tax credit bill.

RELATED: Legislature may soon need new venue for overtime lawmaking, speaker says

Senate Majority Leader John Coghill had said the noise was expected to ratchet up over the weekend, making the building unwelcoming.

Senate President Kevin Meyer said Monday that he had a headache from the jackhammers.

He says legislators have been told they can stay in the Capitol until Sunday, assuming they can work around the noise. He says they're looking at other spaces in Juneau where they could continue working if needed.

...

An expert witness for the defense said today there’s no way Her Yang Thao could have avoided hitting an Anchorage girl who was riding her bike in a South Anchorage trailer park, a collision that claimed the life of 5-year-old Ashley Xiong in 2014.

Robert Butcher, a traffic accident investigator for Wilton Adjustment Service, testified that the pillar that holds the windshield in place on the Toyota Highlander Thao, 48, was driving had obstructed her vision. She was unable to see the spot where Xiong was biking, the former Anchorage police officer told jurors.

Butcher testified that the pillar was among a series of factors made the death unavoidable, including the unconventional angle of the street Thao turned onto when she struck the child as well as the position of the sun. Another child biked in front of Thao seconds before Xiong did, creating a distraction, he said. And then there was the picket fence and parked cars that obscured the child as she pedaled her pink bike with training wheels on Turquoise Street as Thao turned left from Garnet Street, Butcher testified.

“Ashley was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Butcher told the jury. “This was every driver’s worst nightmare.”

For “any number of reasons” Thao didn’t see the girl, he said.

Thao is charged with one count of criminally negligent homicide, a class B felony, for causing the little girl’s death on May 9, 2014. If convicted, Thao could be sentenced to up to four years in prison.

Assistant district attorney Arne Soldwedel sought to punch holes in Butcher’s testimony, having him acknowledge that most cars, except for a few models like convertibles, also have pillars but that it’s a driver’s responsibility to look around any blind spots they create.

“It’s important to look where you’re going, right?” Soldewedel asked.

“Yes,” Butcher responded

Soldewedel also noted that when Butcher tried to recreate the accident himself, he was driving his Subaru Outback, not a Toyota Highlander. And the photos shown to the court of how a pillar could obscure Thao’s vision were taken in a Ford sedan, not a Highlander.

The prosecutor also questioned Butcher’s math equations that resulted in the traffic investigator concluding that Thao would have had less than a second to react to Xiong biking in front of the SUV.

Butcher’s analysis of what happened is all “based on assumptions,” Soldewedel said, asking Butcher to respond.

“Of course. That’s the nature of traffic accident reconstruction,” Butcher conceded.

As the trial continued, Thao sat next to her public defenders and a court-certified interpreter, who translated the proceedings from English into Hmong.

The defense had earlier presented a witness from the Division of Motor Vehicles who testified that Thao had a clean driving record. Neither alcohol nor substances were found in Thao’s system following the collision, both the defense and the prosecution agree.

Thao was talking on her iPhone 5 to a daughter who lives in California just prior to Xiong’s death. The daughter was crying and told her mother that her husband had left her with her young children and she didn’t know where to go. Thao didn’t say whether she had hung up at the time of the collision or whether she was still talking on the phone, according to police audio recordings after the crash and officer testimony last week.

It was unclear whether her responses were due to translation issues or whether she was avoiding answering the question.

It’s also unknown what speed Thao was driving at when the collision occurred. When asked by the officer, Thao answered in Hmong “very slowly” but her daughter Kong Thao translated that to 15-miles per hour, according to court testimony.

When Butcher calculated that Thao had no time to react before Xiong collided with the SUV, he used the 15-mile-per-hour estimate, noting that it was slower than the 20-mile-per-hour limit set by the trailer park

But it’s an assumption that Thao was driving at that speed, Soldewede pointed out. He noted that at least one witness said Thao was driving above the speed limit.

Butcher said accounts given by people are the scene of accidents and collisions are notoriously unreliable.

“Eyewitnesses are all over the map,” Butcher said.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Tuesday.

Longtime Alaskans might remember the record-breaking winter in 1955 (before Alaska was even a state!) when 18 inches of snow fell on Anchorage in April.

It wasn't until 2012 that the city officially broke that record. Before then, in 2008, more than two feet of snow fell in April, with a major snow storm starting April 25 that produced 15-22 inches across Anchorage.

Fast forward a few years and the weather seems a lot different. This year, it appears spring has started early. Some people are already starting to complain about allergies.

"It's awesome actually," said Matt Tocchini while playing with his son at Valley of the Moon Park. "I like it, but it's kind of hell on allergies even though cotton wood haven't bloomed yet."

If you think spring seemed early this year, you're right.

"We have a pocket of warmer water in the Northeastern Pacific, as well as one of the strongest El Niños on record," explained National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Clay. "What the El Niño does is it keeps the jet stream oriented to where we get a lot of warmer air from the sub-tropics which keeps our temperatures well above normal."

The National Weather Service describes El Niño as follows:

"El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases of a recurring climate pattern across the tropical Pacific. The pattern can shift back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and each phase triggers predictable disruptions of temperature, precipitation, and winds. These changes disrupt the large-scale air movements in the tropics, triggering a cascade of global side effects."

Clay says while this has seemed to be the pattern for a while now, we should expect a more "normal" winter this year.

While it's called the Anchorage Bowl Land Use Plan Map Project, it's much more than a simple map: It's a plan for Anchorage's future. And it's all based on a colorful, highly-detailed map of town, and extensive data collection, that are serving as the base of a much-needed update for 2001's predictions for Anchorage in 2020: The Anchorage Bowl Comprehensive Plan.

"With our recent economic challenges, challenges for affordable workforce housing and our need to attract and retain young people, we felt that this was an important opportunity," said Tom Davis, Project Manager for the Anchorage Bowl Land Use Plan. "We needed to update and modernize this really outdated land use plan to meet the challenges we have here in the 21st Century."

The last plan was adopted in 1982 to set the stage for growth around the community over the last few decades. But, as Davis said, now it's time for an update. The current project will help direct land uses in the Anchorage Bowl over the next twenty years, advancing the goals of Anchorage 2020.

"Think of this as an investment map," said Planning Director Hal Hart. "This is an investment in the future that we're making here."

According to Hart, Anchorage does investments totaling somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 million each year, attracting an especially large contingent from up and down the West Coast.

"And we want a beautiful place to live too," Hart said. "People are starting to ask questions. They want to protect their neighborhoods from the things they don't want, but they also want a great neighborhood in general."

The Anchorage Bowl Land Use Plan Map Update, also known as the LUPM Update, is meant to accommodate the projected growth of Anchorage over the next few decades in order to ensure efficient and valuable growth within the Anchorage area. 

"We're going to make this a reality over the next 20 years," Davis said. "There are areas of more change and then there are areas of greater preservation. We want to coordinate where we grow."

Where future residents will live, for example, will be relative to where the Muni would invest in streets, schools and sidewalks.

"We're trying to make this an even better place for families too," Hart said, "and attract Millenials. Those are the folks that are going to field the future."

The plan is meant to be a 21st Century update to cover the changes and growth in Anchorage since adopting the Anchorage 2020 Plan back in 2001. It incorporates significant analysis of Anchorage's ever-changing demographics, according to the Municipality, and takes a hard look at the projected growth of the city, its economics, land uses and land capacity.

"We want to make sure we focus new growth on those neighborhoods and centers that are most able to handle and capitalize on it," Davis said.

The LUPM Update is also being designed to accommodate the projected growth of Anchorage in the coming years, which includes nearly 50,000 additional jobs and even more new residents by the year 2040.

The team in charge of the project, headed by Davis and Hart, is headquartered at the Anchorage Planning and Development Center. According to Hart, the group has been working on the project since September. Open houses and discussions, however, have taken place around the community since the start of March and continue through this Wednesday.

"If you care about the future of the neighborhood, or what kind of town your kids are going to grow up in, this a great thing to get involved in," said Davis, who is Anchorage born and raised. He's also raising his children here.

"I want this to be a town where they have the same opportunities as they would if they were in the South 48," he said. "I want this to be a town that, if my kids go off to college somewhere, they want to come back."

The last three planned meetings will take place this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday:

-- Monday, April 25, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Anchorage Senior Center, 1300 E. 19th Ave., Anchorage; focus on Fairview, Downtown, South Addition, Mountain View

-- Tuesday, April 26, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at ChangePoint Church, 6689 ChangePoint Dr., Anchorage; focus on Sand Lake, Take-Campbell, Ocean View, Klatt, Abbott Loop

-- Wednesday, April 27, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m at Begich Middle School, 7440 Creekside Center Dr., Anchorage; community presentation and discussion about Anchorage Bowl as a whole.

"This is a team effort, this is everyone's plan," Davis said. "We are interested in what folks have to say and really appreciate it, so please come out and help."

For more information and to see the interactive map, click HERE.

UPDATE:

The Girdwood Board of Supervisors has voted to request a proposal from the Whittier Police Department to provide law enforcement to the community, according to board member Tommy O’Malley.

O’Malley said he was unsure of how long it would take for the department to draft the proposal but hopes that Girdwood will have police officers by July 1st, the day Alaska State Troopers are scheduled to vacate their Girdwood post.

ORIGINAL STORY:

Girdwood property owners will pay an additional .59 mils between July and the end of the year to pay for a local policing option. The increase was approved by the Girdwood Board of Supervisors Monday.

The increase equates to an $59 increase in taxes for every $100,000 in assessed property value.

Although the new revenue was approved, there’s still discussion over what will be the best policing option for the community. Mike Opalka with the Girdwood Public Safety Task Force says a contract with Whittier Police is the only real option.

“This is the most viable option for us. Some say 'oh we need to go out and look for somebody else.' Well maybe so, maybe we ask Seattle police department or Los Angeles but that’s a stupid idea,” said Opalka.

At the GBoS meeting, Co-Chair Sam Daniel said considering the close vote on proposition 9, it’s appropriate to revisit options.

“It’s up to us to provide the Best safety service organization that can provide us with the best service possible and the most cost effective service possible ” said Daniel.

Hal Henning, the Chief of Police for Seldovia, said he can ask the city to bring forward a policing bid if there’s interest from the Public Safety Task Force.

...

Fisheries researchers say a mass of exceptionally warm water in the northeast Pacific Ocean could shake up recent predictions of higher salmon runs in Alaska this year.

KTOO-FM reports that Brian Beckman with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the issue is that biologists aren't sure exactly how the warm water known as the Pacific Blob affects different salmon along the West Coast.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently predicted chinook numbers to range between 125,000 and 219,000 kings this year along the Kuskokwim River in southeast Alaska, a higher king salmon run than in previous years.

Juneau biologist Joe Orsi says last year's pink salmon harvest in southeast Alaska fell short of predictions, and it's still not clear whether the Pacific Blob had an impact.

Alaska State Troopers are looking for the driver of an all-terrain vehicle who fled after a weekend crash that left a person injured on a Fairbanks-area road.

Troopers say a four-wheeler Sunday afternoon was towing a three-wheeler on the Old Steese North Highway.

The man driving the four-wheeler maneuvered the ATVs in a way that caused them to crash together.

A rider on the three-wheeler was ejected. The person suffered serious injuries and was transported to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital.

The four-wheeler driver was a white man in his early 20s.

The name, age and gender of the injured person were not immediately released.

Alaska State Troopers say they're investigating an online fundraising effort that took in $6,110 to pay medical expenses of a Fairbanks girl who was not sick.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports 80 people donated to a cancer recovery fund on a GoFundMe site.

GoFundMe provides a platform for fundraising and takes an 8 percent cut of donations.

Christina Barron says she started the fund drive page Feb. 10 on behalf of the girl's parents. Barron donated $200 herself. The page was taken down last week at Barron's request when she learned the girl did not have cancer.

Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain says investigators began reviewing the fund drive and the girl's parents last month when a community member reported possible fraud.

DeSpain says the investigation continues.

JUNEAU – Legislators are settling in for a potentially lengthy overtime battle, but a week after the voter-approved regular session ended, none of the biggest solutions taking aim at the state government financial crisis have passed.

Capital and operating budgets have not been finalized, meaning the level of spending reductions and what exact programs and services will be cut remains uncertain.

Plans to use Permanent Fund earnings to pay for government, proposed tax hikes, and attempts to overhaul the state's oil tax credit system have not gotten a floor vote in either chamber.

But lawmakers, meantime, have passed a variety of legislation: establishing Alaska Wild Salmon Day, making sure courts can consider the well-being of pets during divorce proceedings, and changing gaming rules so Dave and Buster's can open in Anchorage.

Drugs described as life-saving have also been legalized, and an omnibus Medicaid reform bill also passed.

Here’s a rundown of exactly what has -- and has not -- been accomplished so far:

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Established August 10 as Alaska Wild Salmon Day. H.B. 128 was sponsored by Rep. Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham, and unanimously passed the House and Senate. According to a sponsor statement, the change will “provide opportunities to promote our wild salmon’s deliciousness, purity, and healthfulness to visitors.” The Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, Alaska Trollers Association, and United Fishermen of Alaska wrote letters supporting the bill.

Updated the state Uniform Code of Military Justice for the first time in decades. H.B. 126 unanimously cleared both chambers and was sponsored by the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage. “The reason for this bill is to allow the Alaska National Guard to handle bad actions and bad actors, to give them swift discipline,” LeDoux said. Alaska’s code has rarely changed since it was established in 1955, and this policy change comes on the heels of reports that began surfacing in 2014 that the Guard had “systemic command climate issues” in handling allegations of sexual assault, fraud and other serious crimes.

Passed non-binding resolutions calling for a federal Constitutional Convention due to “government overreach.” “Recent actions taken by the White House and Department of Interior constitute a new threshold of overreach in Alaska unlike anything in recent history,” wrote Rep. Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, who sponsors H.C.R. 4 and H.J.R. 14. The joint resolution calls for Congress to hold a single-issue countermand convention, while the concurrent resolution enables the state Legislature to institute tight parameters to ensure a “runaway convention” is not possible. In order for the effort to succeed, dozens of other states have to pass similar resolutions.

Approved a contract to sell royalty oil to the refining company, Tesoro. Gov. Bill Walker requested legislators consider H.B. 373, a bill that passed both chambers unanimously and has since been signed into law. The five-year deal allows the company to purchase up to 25,000 barrels of oil daily and is expected to add $25.4 million into Nikiski’s economy annually. The Department of Natural Resources expects an additional $9 million to $11 million in revenue with the new approach, which is known as a royalty volumes in-kind contract, meaning the state is directly selling the resource.

RELATED: Governor signs bill allowing Tesoro to purchase up to 25,000 barrels of oil per day

Passed a “pet divorce bill” that allows courts to award ownership of animals in divorce and dissolution proceedings and to consider their well-being. H.B. 147, co-sponsored by Anchorage GOP Rep. Liz Vazquez and the late Anchorage Democratic Rep. Max Gruenberg, drew national attention as the so-called “pet divorce bill.” The legislation was Gruenberg’s final bill to pass the Legislature, with unanimous votes from each chamber, and also makes it so people can be held responsible for the costs of caring for their pets if the animal is seized due to animal cruelty and neglect.

Re-named a shooting range in the Knik River Public Use Area as the Kenny and Patti Barber Shooting Range. The Senate State Affairs Committee, led by Sen. Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak, sponsored S.B. 204 to name the range on behalf of the Barbers. The Butte Community Council wrote in favor of the change because “their work with state policymakers has led to the creation of the KRUPA and the subsequent trail development as well as a secure shooting range,” wrote council president, Darryl Dreher.

Legalized the sale of an opioid overdose antidote drug, and required insurance companies to cover intravenous and orally administered cancer treatments. The change requiring expanded coverage of cancer treatments came in S.B. 142, sponsored by Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage: “Patients should not be prohibited from receiving oral cancer treatment due to preferential insurance coverage favoring intravenous forms of treatment,” she wrote in a sponsor statement. Lawmakers unanimously approved the legislation.

S.B. 23, sponsored by Sen. Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage, became the first bill from a minority senator to pass the Legislature. It approves the sale of naloxone, which counteracts the effects of a heroin overdose and comes as the state is grappling with increased usage of the drug and other opioids.

RELATED: Bill approving drug that counteracts heroin overdoses unanimously passes House

Passed a bill reducing state spending on the health subsidy, Medicaid. Sen. Pete Kelly, R-Fairbanks, describes S.B. 74 – which passed the House 33-6 and the Senate 19-0 – as starting “the process of cost containment and reform needed to slow the growth of the Alaska Medicaid program.” The bill was praised by the governor and makes several changes: expansion of telemedicine, more use of primary case management and health homes for people with chronic health conditions and behavioral health needs, reform of the behavioral health system, increased public-private partnerships to reduce non-urgent use of emergency room services, and enhancement of fraud detection. Republican lawmakers, who are suing the governor over his unilateral expansion of access to Medicaid, have long said reform is needed first before expansion. The end result is projected to save $365 million in six years, an average of $60.8 million annually – that’s less than 10 percent of unrestricted general fund spending on Medicaid during the current fiscal year.

Required school districts to provide kindergarten through eighth grade students a minimum of 54 minutes of daily physical activity. S.B. 200, sponsored by Sen. Mia Costello, an Anchorage Republican, requires districts to provide 90 percent of the recommended exercise time for adolescents by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Ensuring adequate physical activity will allow Alaska’s students the opportunity to learn from each other, to improve their academic performance, to fight childhood obesity through exercise, and to reduce the stress levels that have adverse effects on our children,” she wrote in a sponsor statement. The bill had support from the Alaska National Education Association and passed the House 35-4 and the Senate 18-2.

Changed state gaming laws to allow Dave and Buster's to expand to Anchorage. S.B. 157 was introduced by Sen. Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorage, in February and quickly made it through the House and Senate without opposition. She described the need for the bill in a sponsor statement: “Elsewhere in the United States, popular restaurant businesses feature arcade areas where patrons play games of skill to win tickets which can then be redeemed for toys and other novelties. Unfortunately, Alaska’s outdated laws are so vague that the legality of these operations is far from clear. S.B. 157 would clarify that playing these arcade-style amusement games of skill, winning tickets and redeeming them for small, non-cash prizes does not constitute gambling under Alaska law,” McGuire wrote.

NOT ACCOMPLISHED

Oil and gas tax credit reform. The Revenue Department projects the state will pay out $775 million in subsidies to oil and gas companies during the upcoming fiscal year, while taking in $1 billion in petroleum revenue. The state offers a variety of credits, some designed to attract new development by relatively small companies in Cook Inlet and on the North Slope, and others allowing companies of any size to write off operating losses. The governor in H.B. 247 proposes dramatically reducing credits effective immediately, saving $400 million, and also increasing production taxes from 4 percent to 5 percent, raising $100 million in additional revenue next year. The proposal has languished in the House, where the Republican majority caucus is divided over what to do, and the opinion of the Democratic minority – which favors a plan similar to Walker’s – carries weight because of upcoming votes to draw from state savings accounts to cover the budget deficit.

Capital budget. The state construction budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts on July 1, is contained in S.B. 138. The proposal is expected to be shoestring compared to years past when state government was flush with cash from high oil prices, with almost all spending going to activate matching federal funds. One lingering question is whether or not $7 million will be approved to complete construction of a school in Kivalina.

RELATED: In Juneau, battle brews over construction funding for village school

Operating budget. While the House and Senate have each passed H.B. 256, a bill that approves the fiscal year 2017 spending plan, lawmakers have not sorted out the differences between the two conflicting proposals. A conference committee has been working through the differences over the past couple weeks, but even when their review is done, funding for various programs and services on the chopping block could still end up getting funding through the capital budget. That leaves uncertainty for state agencies grappling with the reductions, maybe most of all the University of Alaska, which would see a $50 million reduction under the latest plan.

Tax proposals. The governor's overall fiscal plan calls for increasing taxes on the fishing, mining, and tourism industries, as well as increased alcohol and cigarette taxes. He also calls for increasing the oil production tax, reforming the oil and gas tax credit system, and implementing a personal income tax. While many of the proposals have received significant discussion during legislative committee hearings, none has yet passed either chamber.

Plans to use Permanent Fund earnings to pay for government. The most significant piece of the governor's proposed fix to the state government financial crisis is a transformation of how government is financed: drawing most money used to pay for government from the Permanent Fund's earnings reserve instead of continuing to rely on volatile natural resource royalties. While the governor initially called for a fixed $3.3 billion draw from the reserve, he has voiced support for Anchorage Republican Sen. Lesil McGuire's S.B. 128, which instead calls for a yearly draw equal to 5.25 percent of the earning reserve's value.

RELATED: Here's what has the Alaska Capitol gridlocked

Marijuana regulators in Alaska plan to consider this week rules for onsite consumption at authorized retail pot stores.

The first retail stores are months from being licensed but it will take time for the rules surrounding onsite consumption to be finalized.

The Marijuana Control Board plans to consider three similar but separate sets of proposed rules at its meeting in Anchorage on Wednesday. Whatever is settled on would be put out for public comment.

Board staff, board chair Bruce Schulte and board member Peter Mlynarik each proposed a set of draft rules to be discussed. Schulte said each is conservative in its approach and it will be up to the board to pull something together from them.

JUNEAU -- Details of a new plan to reform Alaska's oil and gas tax credit system, an issue that has divided the Legislature for weeks, were released Tuesday by the House Rules Committee.

The latest proposal comes in a draft revision to H.B. 247, which in a previous form languished on the House calendar in the days leading to the end of the voter-approved 90-day regular legislative session, only to be sent back to committee when it became clear the bill did not have the 21 votes needed to pass.

It remains to be seen whether or not the revised proposal has enough momentum to pass, but the latest plan calls for credits to be phased out over the next few years and is estimated to have a positive impact on the state's bottom line of $230 million to $305 million during the fiscal year that begins in July.

The new plan calls for phasing out most of the state's tax credit program by 2020, a more gradual change than Gov. Bill Walker's plan. Only so-called "middle earth" tax credits -- given to companies operating in places other than the North Slope and Cook Inlet -- would remain beyond the phasing out, and even those would disappear in 2022.

The draft was released by Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage,  who chairs the House Rules Committee following weeks of intense discussions between the various factions who want everything from the status quo to wholesale reforms.

Johnson was not available for an interview Tuesday, according to his staff.

House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said in a brief conversation moments after the draft was publicly released that he is unsure if this latest attempt will garner enough support but that he is hopeful. Chenault said he had not yet reviewed the entire bill and was not prepared to discuss specifics.  

Gov. Bill Walker is among those who wants an overhaul to the system -- which is projected to have the state pay oil companies $775 million in credits during the upcoming fiscal year while taking in $1 billion in overall petroleum revenue -- a key part of a broader solution to the state government financial crisis.

The governor originally called for a $400 million reduction in credits, some of which are meant to motivate development and others that let companies write off their operating losses, as well as an increase of production taxes from 4 percent to 5 percent. The tax hike was projected to generate $100 million in extra revenue next fiscal year.

Democratic legislators, whose votes are needed in the House to approve drawing from savings accounts to pay for government operations while the state is running at a deficit, prefer something close to the governor's plan.

While he had not thoroughly reviewed the bill yet on Tuesday afternoon, House Minority Leader Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, said he is concerned by a few aspects of the bill that he perceives as skewed in favor of large oil companies.

"On the surface, it looks as if the tax credits in Cook Inlet will eventually be eliminated," Tuck said. "But what it does up on the North Slope is it continues the tax credits for the majors up there and makes them a little bit heavier for them."

House Republicans have been divided over the issue, with some supporting an overhaul but most saying the changes would be devastating to the already struggling industry that has long been key to Alaska's economy.

While the House has battle over this issue, the Senate has been idling, as tax proposals, plans to use Permanent Fund earnings to pay for government, and capital and operating budgets are all on hold.

Senate President Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage, said he is cautiously hopeful that this signals impending progress on oil and gas tax credit reform.

"There are some things in there that, in glancing over it, that I like and I think other members will like. But there's also some things that aren't so good," Meyer said. "Maybe that's the compromise that we need. It's just hard to get real excited about it because we've done this before. We've been here before, only to find out there wasn't a majority in the House to pass something."

Here are some of the changes called for in the work draft of the latest proposal:

- A per company annual limit of $85 million for cash tax credits.

- Prioritization of refunds to companies that hire at least 80 percent Alaskans.

- Public disclosure of some information about how much companies receive in credits and the dollar amount refunded to companies each year.

- Companies operating on the North Slope that produce more than 20,000 barrels of oil per day would no longer be able to get credits to write off 35 percent of operating losses at the end of 2016.

- Companies operating on the North Slope that produce less than 20,000 barrels of oil per day would continue to receive 35 percent credits to write off operating losses until the end of 2019.

Please check back for updates to this developing story.

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Smoke from prescribed burns will be visible along the Glenn Highway and portions of Anchorage, Eagle River, and the Mat-Su starting on Monday.

Prescribed burning on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) will last three days to a week, according to the Alaska Division of Forestry. Crews from the Division of Forestry, Chugach National Forest and JBER Fire Department will all take part in the operation.

The controlled fires will target grassy fuels present on about 1,775 acres of military training ranges. The goal is to reduce the threat of wildfires from incidental starts that sometimes occur during training.

For more information, contact fire management officer Norm McDonald at the Anchorage-Mat-Su Area Forestry office at 907-761-6302.

The criminally negligent homicide trial of an Anchorage motorist accused of fatally striking a 4-year-old girl moved into its ninth day today.

Her Yang Thao, 48, faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

The first witness to take the stand on Tuesday was Robert Butcher, a crash investigator and former Anchorage cop. He's concluded that Thao could not have avoided the collision that killed preschooler Ashley Xiong. A number of factors likely contributed to the crash but most largely the frame of the car created a blind spot that made it impossible to see the child despite her being in the center of the road, Butcher testified.

Assistant Distruct Attorney Arne Soldwedel questioned Butcher's history of working in favor of defense attorneys, including the public defender agency that is representing Thao, and his conclusion about the crash.

Soldwedel presented the lead Anchorage Police Department investigator for the case, Officer Steve Dunn, who gave the following response when asked about the blind spot.

"Every vehicle has an A-pillar. We don't make vehicles without A-pillars. They're there for a reason and you have to, as a driver, be aware of that and drive accordingly," Dunn testified by telephone.

Dunn said if Thao had been more attentive, including not talking on the phone, she would have been able to avoid the collision.

When Soldwedel asked officer Dunn if an A-pillar can block a driver's view, Dunn said, "You have to be aware of that and drive according."

Earlier testimony in the trial raised question about whether or not Thao was talking the moment she ran over Xiong. Thao has told police she was on the phone in the moments before but she has been unclear as to whether she was talking when the collision took place.

"Collisions occur for any variety of reasons but just because someone is using a cell phone when a collision occurs doesn't mean the crash occurred because they were talking on a cell phone," said Butcher.

According to the prosecution, a cell phone was a major factor in the case.

Closing arguments are expected tomorrow.

A team of smokejumpers was preparing to respond to a wildfire near Bethel Tuesday afternoon when they were called off after rain helped extinguish the flames.

According to Division of Forestry spokesman Tim Mowry, the 10 acre wildfire was reported to the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center at around 4:06 p.m. The fire was seen burning through the tundra about a mile northwest of Bethel and was moving away from the town, Mowry said. No structures were in danger.

Six Bethel firefighters responded to the fire while smokejumpers were mobilized to assist them. The smokejumpers were expected to arrive in the area within hours, however they were called off when when rain passed over the fire helping to extinguish some of the flames, Mowry said.

Local firefighters will remain at the scene until the fire is completely contained. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, Mowry said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

One Alaska Airlines flight, the Last Frontier Honor Flight, is making a world of difference for more than 20 Alaskan veterans.

As the 50-year anniversary of World War II approaches, 23 veterans from around Alaska boarded a flight to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, departing Anchorage for a five-day experience in the national capital.

And for these brave men and women, it could be one of the last chances they get.

"The clock is running," said Ron Travis, president and co-counder of the Last Frontier Honor Flight, noting that America loses about 400 World War II veterans each day. When the Last Frontier Honor Flight first began, he said, that number was in the neighborhood of 1,500.

"They're running out of gas, so it's important that we do it," he said. "If we don't do it now, we're not going to get it done at all."

Travis and his wife started the mission in Alaska in 2013 after learning about the trip in other states and realizing the nationwide effort had no Alaskan hub.

"We thought, well, when we get back to Alaska, we will find out and we will help," he said. "Well, we've got more veterans than any other state per capita, and we don't have this program?"

The couple gathered some friends and made it happen.

"When people say it's a lot of work, it's a lot of work. We work 24/7," Travis said. "But when someone comes up – 93, 94 years old – with tears in his eyes and says 'Thank you,' the bills are paid."

It's a team effort: The cost for a single Honor Flight is around $60,000 round trip, which includes the plane tickets for veterans, their guardians, a medic, and a photographer, hotels, meals, motorbus transportation and the like, according to Board Member Carol Marvel. The trip can only happen with help from numerous volunteers, donors and Alaska Air - which provides the plane tickets for veterans themselves - and Geneva Woods - which supplies wheelchairs and oxygen tanks.

Marvel said the Last Frontier Honor Flight is on its sixth run from Alaska this week, having served nearly 150 veterans since the first trip three years ago.

"It's such an honor," she said. "What it means is we are giving time and effort to help our vets who served, to give them the opportunity to see these memorials. It's really quite an event."

To learn more about the Last Frontier Honor Flight, click here.