Alaska

Alaska House Republicans criticize majority’s decision to temporarily set dividend at zero in budget draft

Published

2 weeks ago

February 14, 2026

Alaska House Republicans criticize majority’s decision to temporarily set dividend at zero in budget draft

Rep. DeLena Johnson, R-Palmer, asks a question during a meeting of the House Finance Committee on Jan. 23, 2025. (Marc Lester / ADN)

House minority Republicans are decrying a procedural decision to temporarily zero out the Permanent Fund dividend size in next year’s draft budget while conversations are underway on its ultimate amount.

Majority members on the House Finance Committee have repeatedly underscored their intention to include a dividend in this year’s final budget.

In a 6-5 vote on Wednesday, majority members set the annual payout to Alaskans at zero, with the promise that the dividend size will ultimately be determined later in the session.

The move was opposed by all committee Republicans, who said that despite the fact the move was temporary, it masked the state’s fiscal challenges.

Lawmakers have not followed the existing state statute for determining the annual Permanent Fund dividend for a decade, as lower oil revenue forced them to turn to the fund’s earnings to pay for an increasing share of government services.

But Gov. Mike Dunleavy again included the statutory dividend in this year’s budget draft, asking lawmakers to draw roughly $1.5 billion from the state’s savings to cover its cost.

Republicans in the House have conceded that Dunleavy’s request for a payment of roughly $3,800 is unreasonable, but they have yet to land on a dividend size that would appease their minority caucus.

Leaders of the bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate, meanwhile, have said they will seek to adopt a balanced budget and avoid significant draws from state savings. Last year, that strategy led to a dividend of $1,000 per eligible recipient.

“Do I think that there’s going to be a full statutory PFD? Do I think there’s even a possibility of that? No, I don’t think so,” House Minority Leader DeLena Johnson, a Palmer Republican, said on Thursday. “Do I think that it could be higher and better? Absolutely. And do I think it’s the closest thing that we have to a spending cap in this universe that we live in right now? Absolutely.”

With the dividend set at zero, the budget draft that lawmakers will use as their template as they build next year’s spending plan is starting with a revenue surplus of more than $800 million, compared with Dunleavy’s starting point of a $1.5 billion deficit.

Republicans said that artificially large surplus, which also doesn’t take into account other significant funding items like disaster response expenses, could lead to misperceptions about the state’s fiscal constraints.

Rep. Will Stapp, a Fairbanks Republican who serves on the Finance Committee, said he is concerned that House majority members will use that budget surplus as the basis for adding more spending on state services to the budget.

“When I hear the co-chair of Finance talking about all the things that he’s going to spend money on, and he deposits the entirety of the PFD into the general fund, that makes me think that we’re not taking this deficit very seriously at the moment,” said Stapp. “I’m not super optimistic at the moment that they’re going to have downward pressure on the budget.”

House Finance Committee Co-Chair Andy Josephson, an Anchorage Democrat, said that the advantage of beginning the budget-making process with a dividend set at zero is that “now we can hear from all 11 members of the Finance Committee at the end of March, by amendment, and have a debate about what that number should be.”

“What constrains us is public perception and desire for a dividend,” Josephson said. “But the prospect of paying a statutory dividend is so obliterated in our fiscal position that it doesn’t constrain us anymore.”

Ultimately, Josephson said that the dividend this year is likely to be between $800 and $1,400 per eligible Alaskan, depending in part on whether lawmakers approve a draw from savings as part of the budget-making process or stick to available revenue.

Concrete discussions on the size of the dividend likely won’t begin in earnest until mid-March, when the Department of Revenue will issue an updated revenue forecast. The size of the dividend will be shaped by ongoing policy questions, Josephson said, like whether to increase education funding and whether to adopt a new public pension system.

“Once those policy calls are made, then we can better see what remains,” said Josephson.

Rep. Calvin Schrage, an Anchorage independent, and Rep. Neal Foster, a Nome Democrat, co-chair the House Finance Committee alongside Josephson. They voiced support for the budget draft on Wednesday.

“Everybody knows that the PFD is not in this. That’s the biggest elephant in the room, and I think we all need to talk about that, and it’s going to be an ongoing conversation,” said Foster.

As lawmakers continue discussions on next year’s spending plan, next week they are also set to debate a request from Dunleavy to draw more than $400 million from savings to cover a deficit in the current year’s budget.

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Alaska

Musician performs under the aurora in Nenana — without gloves, in 17 degrees

Published

9 hours ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Musician performs under the aurora in Nenana — without gloves, in 17 degrees

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – A musician with Alaska Native roots recorded an hour-long live set in Interior Alaska beneath the aurora.

Chastity Ashley, a drummer, vocalist and DJ who performs under the name Neon Pony, celebrated a year since she traveled to Nenana to record a live music set beneath the northern lights for her series Beats and Hidden Retreats.

Ashley, who has Indigenous roots in New Mexico, said she was drawn to Alaska in part because of the role drums play in Alaska Native culture. A handmade Alaskan hand drum, brought to her by a man from just outside Anchorage, was incorporated into the performance in February 2025.

Recording in the cold

The team spent eight days in Nenana waiting for the aurora to appear. Ashley said the lights did not come out until around 4 a.m., and she performed a continuous, uninterrupted hour-long set in 17-degree weather without gloves.

“It was freezing. I couldn’t wear gloves because I’m actually playing, yeah, hand drums and holding drumsticks. And there was ice underneath my feet,” Ashley said.

“So, I had to really utilize my balance and my willpower and my ability to just really immerse in the music and let go and make it about the celebration of what I was doing as opposed to worrying about all the other elements or what could go wrong.”

She said she performed in a leotard to allow full range of motion while drumming, DJing and singing.

Filming on Nenana tribal land

Ashley said she did not initially know the filming location was on indigenous land. After local authorities told her the decision was not theirs to make, she contacted the Nenana tribe directly for permission.

“I went into it kind of starting to tell them who I was and that I too was a part of a native background,” Ashley said. “And they just did not even care. They’re like, listen, we’re about to have a party for one of our friends here. Go and do what you like.”

Ashley said the tribe gave her full permission to film on the reservation, and that the aurora footage seen in the episode was captured there.

Seeing the aurora for the first time

Ashley said the Nenana performance marked her first time seeing the northern lights in person.

“It felt as if I were awake in a dream,” she said. “It really doesn’t seem real.”

She said she felt humbled and blessed to perform beneath the aurora and to celebrate its beauty and grandeur through her music.

“I feel incredibly humbled and blessed that not only did I get to take part in seeing something like that, but to play underneath it and celebrate its beauty and its grandeur.”

The Alaska episode is the second installment of Beats and Hidden Retreats, which is available on YouTube at @NeonPony. Ashley said two additional episodes are in production and she hopes to make it back up to Alaska in the future.

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Alaska

Over $150K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

Published

21 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Over 0K worth of drugs seized from man in Juneau, police say

JUNEAU, Alaska (KTUU) – An Alaska drug task force seized roughly $162,000 worth of controlled substances during an operation in Juneau Thursday, according to the Juneau Police Department.

Around 3 p.m. Thursday, investigators with the Southeast Alaska Cities Against Drugs (SEACAD) approached 50-year-old Juneau resident Jermiah Pond in the Nugget Mall parking lot while he was sitting in his car, according to JPD.

A probation search of the car revealed a container holding about 7.3 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, as well as about 1.21 gross grams of a substance that tested presumptively positive for fentanyl.

As part of the investigation, investigators executed a search warrant at Pond’s residence, during which they found about 46.63 gross grams of ketamine, 293.56 gross grams of fentanyl, 25.84 gross grams of methamphetamine and 25.5 gross grams of MDMA.

In all, it amounted to just less than a pound of drugs worth $162,500.

Investigators also seized $102,640 in cash and multiple recreational vehicles believed to be associated with the investigation.

Pond was lodged on charges of second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, two counts of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, five counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a substance and an outstanding felony probation warrant.

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Alaska

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

Published

1 day ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

Sand Point teen found 3 days after going missing in lake

SAND POINT, Alaska (KTUU) – A teenage boy who was last seen Monday when the canoe he was in tipped over has been found by a dive team in a lake near Sand Point, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Alaska’s News Source confirmed with the person, who is close to the search efforts, that the dive team found 15-year-old Kaipo Kaminanga deceased Thursday in Red Cove Lake, located a short drive from the town of Sand Point on the Aleutian Island chain.

Kaminanga was last seen canoeing with three other friends on Monday when the boat tipped over.

A search and rescue operation ensued shortly after.

Alaska Dive Search Rescue and Recovery Team posted on Facebook Thursday night that they were able to “locate and recover” Kaminanga at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

“We are glad we could bring closure to his family, friends and community,” the post said.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated when more details become available.

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