The State Senate is currently hearing Senate Bill 182, a bill that aims to assist with pupil transportation.  One of the issues brought up during the debate was the way that transportation is funded.  We spoke to School District spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff, asking her if this would help with the issues the local district is facing in the south peninsula.

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The district has been scheduling meetings in Homer and Ninilchik to discuss future changes to bus routes in that area.

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The Soldotna City Council is scheduled to meet tonight.  Soldotna Mayor Peter Micciche said the meeting will begin with a work session at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the city’s capital plan.

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Micciche said that the city will also be discussing some utility improvements.

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The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m.

The city of Soldotna has made some waves in the past when it comes to discussing annexation. We asked Soldotna Mayor Peter Micciche if annexation is still up for discussion in the future.

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Micciche did say if the city does discuss the issue, it won’t be approached like it was in years past.

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In the past, Soldotna has considered annexing portions of Ridgeway, K-Beach Road, the Sterling Highway near Skyview High School, and portions of Funny River Road. 

Central Peninsula Hospital says accusations of sexual abuse at the Heritage Place have been under investigation, recently.  Hospital spokesperson Bonnie Nichols said someone had made an anonymous post on the social networking site Craig’s List, saying a resident had been sexually abused.  She said the investigation found no evidence of the abuse.

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In response to the anonymous complaint being made public on Craig’s List, Heritage Place Administrator Charlie Franz released a statement.  Franz said Heritage Place takes the safety of its residents and the quality of care provided by the Heritage Place staff seriously.  He says they have used this situation to remind staff of the many avenues they have available to confidentially report ethical issues and concerns. 

Meanwhile, Nichols also added that there are several avenues for the public to report concerns about patients and residents.    The list includes:

Central Peninsula Hospital Ethics Hotline……1-800-340-5877

Office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman……1-800-730-6393 or

                                                                                              www.akoltco.org

Alaska Healthcare Licensing Complaint Hotline.1-888-387-9387

Soldotna Police Department……………………..262-4455

Alaska State Troopers……………………………..262-4453

The proposed budget was part of a work session held yesterday afternoon by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School Board.  District spokesperson Pegge Erkeneff said this was the first time the proposal was in front of the board.

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She said there is nothing in the proposed budget that hasn’t been there before.  She calls it a “bare-bones” budget.  We asked her if it utilizes any of the school district’s reserve fund.

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She said the district is asking for a slight increase in the Borough funding, compared to last year.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has issued a permit to the Alaska Moose Federation that allows the diversionary feeding of moose in Game Management Units 13, 14, 15 and 16 on the Kenai Peninsula, the Mat-Su and Anchorage.  We spoke to Tony Kavalok with the Department of Fish and Game

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Tony said that this will be away from the state rights of way

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Tony said that the department isn’t sure if the program will make it’s way to the Kenai Peninsula.

The public utilities and municipalities of the Kenai Peninsula received good news, last week, with the President’s signing of the federal disaster declaration as a result of the November windstorms.  The borough suffered almost two million dollars in damage from the storms that left thousands without power.  Borough Mayor Mike Navarre’s Chief of Staff Paul Ostrander said only the utilities will be reimbursed for damages.

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Homer Electric Association, Chugach Electric, the Kenai Peninsula Borough and any municipalities will see reimbursement.  Ostrander wasn’t certain when the federal funds would become available.   

The Pebble Partnership continues its uphill battle for permitting the Pebble Mine near Illiamna.  Mike Heatwole with Pebble said that the EPA has unfairly targeted them.

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Heatwole described some of the hurdles they’ve faced with the EPA.

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Heatwole was speaking at the Industry Outlook Forum last month.   

Buccaneer Alaska continues its efforts to bring a jack-up rig to the Cook Inlet.  Buccaneer Alaska’s President Jim Watt gave our news department an update. 

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We asked if Buccaneer will have issues similar to those of Escopeta, when it brought a jack-up rig to the inlet. 

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Watt said they hope to start transporting the rig to the Cook Inlet in mid-March.

Escopeta has been unsuccessful in its efforts to get out of the $15 million dollar fine it faces for violating the Jones Act, last year, while bringing its jack-up rig into the Cook Inlet.  The petition was in front of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.  The Maritime Executive reports that the CBP is ordering the full amount to be due at the end of March. 

The Jones Act says that any shipment between two U.S. ports must be moved on a U.S.-flagged vessel.  Escopeta’s Spartan 151 jack-up rig was transported onboard a Chinese-owned vessel from Texas to Canada to the Cook Inlet.  Escopeta previously had received a Jones Act waiver in 2006.  However, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary ruled the waiver was now invalid.       

On October 13^th, CBP issued a penalty in the amount of $15 million against Escopeta. The oil company argued that there was no U.S.-flagged vessel capable of making the trip for them; and, they were on a deadline to get the jack-up rig to the Cook Inlet.  The company asked that the assessed penalty be based on five percent of the rig’s value, or $675,000.  On January 25^th, John Connors, from the CBP, wrote that the facts of the case support the conclusion that the Jones Act violation was deliberate, saying coastwise-qualified vessels were available to transport the rig.