Anchorage Daily News

Lawmakers disagree over office building

A disagreement over a new office building proposed for Juneau is one of the issues holding up last-minute progress in the Alaska Legislature.

Lawmakers have until midnight tonight to wrap up business in the 90-day session.

Juneau lawmakers and others are making a push for a new office building that could provide upgraded space for about 500 employees of the departments of Labor, Public Safety and Fish and Game.

The employees are now in three leased buildings that Juneau lawmakers say are near the end of their useful lives -- or worse.

Juneau Republican Rep. Cathy Munoz says mold detected at the Labor Department building has sickened workers.

A measure that could lead to construction of a new $44 million building on Mental Health Trust land remains in the Senate Finance Committee.

New bill expands animal cruelty law

The state House has unanimously approved a bill that outlaws sex with an animal.

State Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, filed the bill in response to an incident last year in Klawock in which a 26-year-old man was accused of taking a family's dog, tying it to a tree, taping its muzzle and having sex with it.

The man was a registered sex offender. He was charged with theft.

Lynn says there's no Alaska law that applies to such an attack on an animal.

He says research indicates links between animal attacks and abuse of children.

His bill would ban bestiality by expanding the animal cruelty law to include sexual conduct.

The offense would be a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Representatives approved the bill Friday night 40-0

Representatives vote Feb. 2 as Marmot Day

Alaskans will have a new holiday to celebrate under a bill approved by the state House.

State representatives voted 38-0 Saturday to celebrate Feb. 2 as Marmot Day.

The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Linda Menard, a Republican from Wasilla. Her husband, the late Sen. Curt Menard, argued for a similar bill 20 years ago when he was a legislator.

State Rep. Bill Stoltz spoke in favor of the bill.

He says Curt Menard wanted to upstage Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog famed for his winter weather forecasts, on Groundhog Day.

Stoltz joked that the measure sparked tension between Sen. Linda Menard and another Mat-Su senator, Charlie Huggins.

He says one wants to honor marmots and the other wants to make sure Alaskans can still hunt them.

ADVERTISEMENT