ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Colony High School students in the choir, orchestra and marching band rehearsed for the last time before flying to Ireland for a long-awaited trip.

Dr. Jamin Burton, Band Director at Colony High School, said making this trip happen has required years of planning and fundraising. This isn’t the first big step his music students have taken – Colony musicians have played at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and in Normandy, France.

Inside the Anchorage dome the marching band ran through several of the songs they’re set to play in multiple performances during their trip, marching on the field preparing to keep their form while on foreign streets.

“Band is just such a great thing for everyone to be a part of because it teaches you, teamwork teaches you responsibility,” high school sophomore and snare drum player Kourtney Allen said. Allen’s sister was part of the group that went to France in 2019, and this time her parents are coming along too. Allen expected the trip to be work intensive to make their performances shine, but Allen said that’s part of the fun.

Bridger McIntosh, a senior trumpet player planning to study music theater at the University of Montana School of Music said this was the first time the band has performed together in several months. “It’s kind of awesome to see the band back together,” McIntosh said. “I just feel like we’ve really bonded, and I feel like we keep going doing that going forward.”

The groups are going to hit the ground running upon arrival, Burton said their plan is to go directly from the airport to their first performance and wake up the next morning for another event – but he felt ready for the pace.

“All the logistics are done. The passports are in, the music’s ready, I’m feeling pretty confident now… if you asked me that 24 hours ago, it would have been a different story,” Burton said, “but feel like we’re there now.”

Burton said he believes their groups were chosen for their reputation – Colony students have proven they’re able to hold up under the pressure.

″When you go to those types of events and you perform well and logistically, when you’re organized,“ he said, “then people are like, ‘Oh, that’s a group that can handle the stress, the preparation, the logistics and the fundraising,’ and then it all comes together.”

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March is not the typical month to start thinking about summer travel.

But this is not a typical March. With little to no snow on the ground, travelers are itchy to make plans for a great adventure.

Springtime is officially “early season” too. Still, it’s hard to imagine that next month is the beginning of cruise season in Alaska.

Norwegian Cruise Lines offers some solid deals on the first cruises of the year aboard the Norwegian Jade.

Sail on April 28 from Whittier all the way to Vancouver, B.C., for as little as $492 per person, double occupancy. That’s the price for an inside cabin. It’s $50 more for an oceanview cabin. Do you want a balcony? That’s a little more: $712 per person.

Something wonderful is happening to cruise prices this year, thanks to a new law in California. The Consumer Legal Remedies Act requires companies operating in the state to include all mandatory taxes and fees in the initial price.

Previously, cruise companies could advertise super-low prices, then tack on hundreds of dollars in fees, taxes and port charges later. That scheme is no longer allowed: Prices must be all-inclusive.

Three more sailings in May on the Norwegian Jade are available for $518-$542 per person, double. Ports of call for the Jade include Vancouver, B.C., Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait (Hoonah) and Whittier. Travelers are responsible for their own airfare to or from Vancouver.

One cruise offer for Alaskans really stands out. Alaskan Dream Cruises, based in Sitka, operates a fleet of small ships, for 40-89 passengers. Instead of sailing to or from Seattle or Vancouver, the ships cruise between Juneau and Sitka, taking in out-of-the-way sights and spending more time in places like Glacier Bay.

For the past few years, the company has offered an early-season discount for Alaska residents. This spring, Alaskan Dream Cruise has four sailings in May at 70% off.

Because the ships are smaller, the regular prices are more: exceeding $5,000 for a weeklong itinerary. The price includes accommodations, all activities (including kayaks and guided excursions to beaches along the way) and meals. With the discount, prices start at $1,529 per person. Sure, that’s more than a cruise on the big ships. But with fewer people and a smaller ship, travelers get a little more elbow room.

There are three itineraries available at the Alaska resident rate. Sailing dates range from May 17 and May 30. Ports include Petersburg, Sitka, Auke Bay (near Juneau) and the company’s private lodge at Orca Point, on Colt Island.

Travelers can go to the website and check out the itineraries, but no online booking is permitted. The Alaska resident special only is available over the phone: 855-747-8100.

Alaska is not the only destination where cruise companies are offering specials. But the Alaska specials are a good excuse for travelers along the Railbelt to explore the beautiful Inside Passage, including Juneau and Ketchikan.

Carnival Cruises offers a good deal on the Panorama between Long Beach and Baja California. Prices start at $503 per person, departing May 18. Ports include Ensenada and Cabo San Lucas. All taxes and fees are included in the price.

There are other specials on cruises that stay closer to shore.

Both Kenai Fjords Tours and Major Marine Tours are offering four-hour cruises of Resurrection Bay from Seward. Watch for gray whales as well as birds and wildlife on the shore. There might even be some sea lions on the rocks.

Kenai Fjords Tours offers a “Kids Sail Free” special. Adults can sail for as little as $99 and two kids (age 2-11 years) can cruise free through May 15. A hot lunch is included on the cruise.

Major Marine Tours offers Alaska residents a 20% discount on all cruises, including summertime sailings on the six-hour national park cruises. If travelers choose to book a hotel stay at Harbor360 Hotel, Major Marine will offer a 25% discount on both the hotel and the cruise (through April 30). To receive the Alaska resident special, travelers must call to book: 907-224-8030. Proof of residency is required at check-in.

For a land-lubber’s getaway, check out Alyeska Resort, where they offer Alaska residents up to 30% off the base rate.

The Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge, which now opens in March for spring and summer stays, offers a 30% discount for travelers who stay between March 27 and May 4. Use the coupon code “SPRING.” The regular price is $225 per night, plus $28 in taxes. Using the coupon brings the total to $186.38 per night.

If you’re traveling from Anchorage to the Kenai Peninsula by air this summer, there are changes in the works.

Between Anchorage and Homer, Ravn Alaska has ended its daily service. That leaves Aleutian Air the only operator, with two flights each day on the Saab 2000 aircraft. Aleutian charges $145-$180 each way.

Between Anchorage and Kenai, the situation is a little different. Grant Aviation offers 22 flights per day. Kenai Aviation has another five flights per day. Both carriers use planes that can accommodate nine passengers.

Beginning June 6, Aleutian Air will start operating twice each day, using the Saab 2000 aircraft, which seats 50 passengers. Initially, Aleutian plans two flights each day. Right now, Aleutian is just matching the fare charged by the other carriers: $145 each way.

On June 9, Aleutian resumes its seasonal service between Anchorage and King Salmon with two flights each day. Alaska Airlines also flies the route twice each day.

Special rates for Alaskans to explore the state take the sting out of high travel costs. Just as important: The deals offer residents a chance to see a slice of their own backyard … vast as it is.

There’s a nearly 50-50 chance that the Alaska Permanent Fund won’t have enough spendable money to pay dividends and the state’s bills at least once over the next decade — unless lawmakers change the structure of the fund to function more like a university endowment.

That’s the message Permanent Fund leaders and the Legislature’s chief budget analyst delivered to lawmakers on Tuesday.

The head of the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget analysis agency, Alexei Painter, presented lawmakers with a financial model showing a 46% chance that the fund’s spendable account would not have enough money to provide a payment to the state’s general fund that makes up the second-largest overall source of state revenue — second only to the federal government.

Permanent Fund Corporation Executive Director and CEO Deven Mitchell and Board of Trustees Chair Jason Brune told the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee that the issue is not with the $80-plus billion Permanent Fund itself, but with the fund’s two-account structure.

“We want to ensure that there’s an ability to provide a payment to the state of Alaska each and every year,” Mitchell said. “We don’t want to have a 46% probability of failure. We don’t want to have any probability of failure for this revenue stream at this point.”

The Permanent Fund is separated into two accounts. The $60 billion principal can’t be spent without a vote of the people.

The earnings reserve account, which has about $9 billion in spendable money, is more flexible. Legislators could spend every last dollar of the account — and possibly more in unrealized gains — by a simple majority vote.

Lawmakers have drawn 5% of the fund’s value every year to fund dividends and state services since 2018 after oil prices crashed in the mid-2010s. Today, the Permanent Fund provides more than half of the state’s general-purpose revenue.

This year, lawmakers are considering amending the Alaska Constitution to combine the two accounts into one.

That would solve the problem, Painter said.

“The [earnings reserve account] balance would no longer be something that would stop us from continuing to draw,” he said. “That would reduce the risk to zero. There’d be no risk at all.”

Lawmakers in the largely Democratic majority caucuses in the House and Senate have introduced amendments that would combine the accounts. Minority Sen. James Kaufman, R-Anchorage, has introduced a similar proposal.

The amendments would also place a constitutional cap on the annual draw. The current 5% cap is set in statute, but lawmakers could vote to ignore the law by a simple majority.

A pair of similar proposals sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee and Rep. Calvin Schrage, I-Anchorage, would constitutionalize the current 5% maximum draw rate.

Kaufman’s proposal would cap it at 5.5% to provide what called “headroom,” though he said at a news conference Tuesday that he was open to changing the maximum figure. It would also require the state to pay a dividend set by a formula set in law, though the proposal is silent on what the formula should be. Kaufman is a cosponsor of a bipartisan bill that would set the dividend at 25% of the state’s annual draw from the Permanent Fund.

Brune, the Permanent Fund board chair, said combining the two accounts and capping the draw would provide “predictability and sustainability” for the fund going forward.

Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, said limiting the draw with a constitutional amendment would prevent lawmakers from raiding the fund when facing a deficit. Lawmakers are currently looking for ways to fill a more than half-billion dollar hole in the state’s budget.

“The little piggies in the trough are getting hungry in this building,” he said.

Stedman, a co-chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has suggested on more than one occasion that the 5% draw rate may be too high to be sustainable.

Combining the accounts and capping the draw is broadly popular among senators in both the largely Democratic majority and the all-Republican minority. The Permanent Fund’s board has been pushing to combine the accounts for decades. Last year, they published a rare analysis paper illustrating the importance of the concept.

Lawmakers could place a constitutional amendment on the ballot for the next election with a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate. The governor would not be able to veto it.