Welcome to the site for news in the Mat-Su, where we’re surrounded by fantastic scenery – from Denali to Pioneer Peak to Tahneta Pass.
The Mat-Su View is a creation of the Valley staff of the Anchorage Daily News, and is updated frequently from the newsroom in Wasilla.
Check in for breaking news, advance word on upcoming ADN reports from the Mat-Su, for links to Outside stories with a Mat-Su connection and to read or post comments about hot topics in the Valley.
Keep your comments civil and on point. Avoid personal attacks. Do not use profanity. Posts that violate the Terms of Use will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be banned.
Going for gas - 5/13/2008 1:31 pm
The state vs. local school districts - 5/13/2008 1:08 pm
Borough budget give-and-take - 5/9/2008 2:48 pm
Teachers, School District reach tentative contract - 5/9/2008 2:29 pm
Audit online - 5/9/2008 1:17 pm
Filling in the doughnut hole - 5/9/2008 11:37 am
The People Speak - 5/8/2008 2:24 pm
42 months in prison for Kohring - 5/8/2008 12:00 pm
Shouldn't Happen to a Dog - 5/7/2008 3:42 pm
Trick or Treat - 5/7/2008 3:18 pm
MAY 13, 2008 - 1:31 PM
From Mat-Su business reporter Zaz Hollander:
Yet another Mat-Su natural gas prospector is eying the Mat-Su, this time in the Upper Susitna Valley. And the state wants to know what you think.
Anchorage energy independent Lapp Resources is moving toward drilling beneath 21,000 acres from Houston to Nancy Lake and east toward the Talkeetnas. The state wants public comment on a license to give Lapp and his partners exclusive rights to the gas.
Lapp owner David Lappi hooked up with a couple of familiar out-of-state investors: Samuel Cade, from Dallas and Daniel Donkel from Daytona Beach, Fla. The two have partnered up on various oil and gas leases around the state before.
MAY 13, 2008 - 1:08 PM
From Mat-Su education reporter, Melodie Wright:
What do you think?
The state Education and Early Development Department's proposal to regulate correspondence study programs run by local school districts has generated heated discussion among home schooling parents and school district officials. They say these in district programs are already regulated by their local school boards. They say that, as long as their children are proficient at standardized tests, why bother them with more bureaucracy?
The state says its mandate is to regulate programs that use public money.
Is this proposal an erosion of local control on education or a fair attempt at leveling the playing field with statewide programs, which are already regulated?
MAY 9, 2008 - 2:48 PM
From Mat-Su reporter Rindi White:
The Mat-Su Borough Assembly took a second swing at shaping the borough fiscal 09 budget Thursday. Assembly members snipped and trimmed and, before the night was done they cut $675,000 and added $13,800 in revenue.
The budget trimming isn't over. Assembly members meet at noon Tuesday in borough Assembly chambers to take another whack.
Cutting waste:
Borough transfer site operators are out of the budget, at least for now. A recent management audit (see "Audit online" post) claims the borough is wasting nearly $525,000 on staffing transfer sites in Trapper Creek, Willow and elsewhere. Some of the remote sites where people dump their trash legally see fewer than 10 loads per day. But the six full-time employees who staff the sites make, on average, $43,000 plus benefits.
MAY 9, 2008 - 2:29 PM
From Mat-Su editor Joe Ditzler --
The Mat-Su School District and its teachers announced a tentative agreement, reached Thursday night, on a two-year contract.
The main points:
* A 4 percent pay hike next school year and 3.75 percent the following year.
* Payment of health insurance premiums continues as in the previous year, 90 percent by the district and 10 percent by members of the Mat-Su Education Association. MSEA pays anything above a 12 percent increase in premiums in the second year, said union president George Stuart.
* Teachers get two more paid working days in the second year, basically to allow them more time to prepare for parent conferences, Stuart said.
MAY 9, 2008 - 1:17 PM
From Mat-Su reporter Rindi White:
Today's Mat-Su edition reports the findings of a management audit that examines the Mat-Su Department of Emergency Services, and the borough Division of Solid Waste, which oversees landfill operations.
Assembly members are in budget discussions now, and it's possible some of the audit recommendations will be adopted as part of the fiscal 09 borough budget. Read the audit for yourself here: Management Audit
MAY 9, 2008 - 11:37 AM
From Mat-Su editor Joe Ditzler:
Dennis Brodigan, head of the Mat-Su Emergency Services Department, once referred to that part of the borough between miles 81 and 95 Parks Highway as "the hole in the doughnut."
Meaning that if you live in the Caswell Lakes area, roughly between Willow and Talkeetna, and your house catches fire, kiss it goodbye. There is no fire department there, and no fire service area to provide the financial support necessary to put firefighters in the field.
That may change. The borough is holding two open houses next week to discuss creating a fire service area.
Bottom line: Will you, who live there, pay in property taxes to create a Caswell Lakes fire department?
MAY 8, 2008 - 2:24 PM
From T.C. Mitchell, Mat-Su reporter
Here’s what a random sampling of Valley residents had to say Thursday about Vic Kohring’s 3 1/2 –year prison sentence on federal corruption charges:
“I wish they would’ve made it a little light on him. Out of all them, he seemed the most remorseful, like he didn’t know what he was doing there. But that doesn’t make it right, I guess.”
Cindy Murphy, Wasilla
“I was disappointed in his lifestyle. He wasn’t what he professed to be. Three years is appropriate. We all have to live with our consequences, but he never admitted he did anything wrong. He projected blame onto someone else, like he wasn’t solely responsible for his actions.”
MAY 8, 2008 - 12:00 PM
From David Hulen, ADN state/local news editor --
Former Wasilla state Rep. Vic Kohring was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison this morning for his role in the Veco corruption scandal. You can find extensive coverage on the ADN home page and our Alaska Politics blog.
Below is a story today from one of our Valley bureau reporters, Stephanie Komarnisky, with Mat-Su reaction to Kohring's conviction. We're interviewing people in his old district today, and we'd also like you to let us know what you think about all this. Is the sentence fair? Has Kohring's conviction changed the political landscape in the Valley?
Valley voters still divided on Kohring
By S.J. KOMARNITSKY
skomarnitsky@adn.com
WASILLA -- Jim Garhart and Bill Stanfill believed in Vic Kohring.
They liked the big, affable Kohring's preference for minimal government and his pledge to hold the line on taxes.
But when it comes to how much prison time the former Wasilla legislator deserves for his conviction on federal corruption charges, the two men part ways.
MAY 7, 2008 - 3:42 PM
The Mat-Su Borough public information officer, Patty Sullivan, this afternoon announced this discovery by animal control officers over the past two days.
MAY 7, 2008 - 3:18 PM
Kendra Butts pleaded guilty in a Palmer courtroom this afternoon to one count of first-degree robbery.
Butts, 19, is one of two young women from Mat-Su -- Amber Martin, 20, is the other -- charged with robbing eight Halloween trick-or-treaters in downtown Talkeetna last year.
She faces a sentence of seven to 11 years as a first offender, according to state law. She also agreed in court to refrain from seeking a lighter sentence by raising mitigating factors when she's sentenced Aug. 26
In return, the remaining six counts against her of robbery, one of attempted robbery and eight of assault, will be dropped.
Important warning about e-mails purporting to be from the adn.com staff.
© Copyright 2008, The Anchorage Daily News, a subsidiary of The McClatchy Company 
Contact Us | Newsroom Contacts | Communication Forms | Subscriptions | Advertising | Terms of Use
Daily News Jobs | RSS Feeds | ADN Store | Newspapers in Education | Privacy Agreement
