By Sam FriedmanSFRIEDMAN

@NEWSMINER.COM

A Fairbanks wildlife veterinarian wants the public’s help in deter-mining the date that an exotic (for here) deer died near North Pole.

The answer will help her know whether the deer had introduced to Alaska a feared par-asite called the moose winter tick.

Last week, Alaska State Troopers report-

ed finding a dead stag mule deer that had been hit by a car near the Mr. and Mrs. San-ta Claus bridges over the Chena Flood Con-trol Project, according to a Thursday news release from the Alas-ka Department of Fish and Game.

Veterinarian Dr. Kimberlee Beckman performed a necropsy on the deer, which was healthy and clearly had died from being hit by

Classified » C1-5 | Comics » C8 | Dear Abby » C7 | Faith » B3 | Markets » C6 | Obituaries » A3 | Opinion » A6 INSIDE

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX. » AXInside Today Deputy AG Rosenstein briefs full US Senate on Trump-Russia investigation. » A5Inside Today

SOURDOUGH JACK:

“I always wanted to be the caretaker of the Clay Street Cemetery.”

The weather.

Partly sunny. A slight

chance of rain in the

afternoon. Tonight:

Mostly cloudy with

a slight chance of

showers.

High today ..............64

Low tonight ........... 43

Sunrise: 4:08 a.m.

Sunset: 11:26 p.m.

WEATHER » A7

GOODMORNING

• • •

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• • •

THEY HAVE SOME PULLTeens keep the

Fairbanks Trap Club

running smoothly.

OUTDOORS

Page B1

NHLPLAYOFFSDucks pull out win

over Predators in

overtime.

SPORTS

Page D1

One dollar newsminer.comFRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017

T H E V O I C E O F I N T E R I O R A L A S K A

Borough cuts $3M from schools

By Amanda BohmanABOHMAN@NEWSMINER.COM

The Borough Assembly approved a $3 million cut to public schools Thursday when it adopted the 2017-18 munic-ipal budget but left the door open to reverse some of that reduction at a later date.

Under the borough’s new $161 million spending plan, effective July 1, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District will get about $51 mil-lion, down from about $54 mil-lion last year.

Public education is the largest slice of the borough budget, and the cut this year is the largest to any borough function in an otherwise flat budget that rais-es the areawide mill rate from 11.418 mills to 11.938 mills.

Several assembly members agreed to take a second look at

the local contribution to public education when state funding has been decided.

The school district is fac-ing a threatened cut from the state of as much as 5 percent of the per-student allocation, or $7.6 million.

“If we get to a point where it really is about the kids, I’ll be there for the kids,” Assembly-man John Davies said.

Taxes in the borough are going up by the maximum allowed under the voter- approved tax cap, which limits

how much money the govern-ment can collect from property owners from year to year.

Borough Mayor Karl Kassel proposed cutting the local con-tribution to public education, hoping the school district’s fund balance of about $15 mil-lion would cushion the blow.

“We needed to make some cuts from somewhere,” he said.

To cut $3 million from the borough budget, “we would need to close the Big Dipper, a couple of swimming pools, the Carlson Center,” he said. “We

would be shutting down an awful lot to get there.”

Assemblyman Matt Cooper proposed reducing the public education cut by $1 million — spending money from the borough’s reserve — but he was persuaded to wait for state funding first.

“We can tap into our fund balance in two months or three months just as well as we can do it now,” Assemblyman Van Lawrence said.

Special session: Political division marks first day By Matt BuxtonMBUXTON@NEWSMINER.COM

State legislators were back at work Thursday under the orders of Gov. Bill Walker, but with plenty of finger pointing over unfinished budget work, talk began to percolate about layoff notices for state employ-ees.

On Wednesday, lawmakers ran up against the 121-day deadline set by the Alaska Constitution with every major part of the state’s budget and financial plan still a work in progress. With a budget defi-cit of nearly $3 billion, legis-lators have not agreed on the shape and size of state spend-ing or a variety of new revenue streams.

Thursday saw little mate-rial action on the budget as legislators went through the motions: making floor speeches and holding news conferences to lay out their positions for the remaining 29 days of the 30-day special session.

BUDGET » A8

SESSION » A3

GRADUATES » A8

City will maintain cemeteryBy Kevin Baird KBAIRD@NEWSMINER.COM

Budget constraints have prompted the Fairbanks Public Works Department to maintain the Clay Street Cem-etery using department staff this summer.

Public Works Director Jeff Jacobson said in a phone interview that three vendors showed up to the mandatory field visit, but after the city received bids it decided to maintain the cemetery itself.

CEMETERY » A8

Tax increase also in budget

WEST VALLEY GRADUATION

Graduates watch a slideshow during the West Valley High School 2017 Commencement ceremony Thursday evening at the Carlson Center. ERIC ENGMAN/NEWS-MINER

Macayla AlexanderThomas AllenCesar AlmendarezSabrina AngeloMason ArpinoJesus AyalaLouis BastilleFelicity BenavidesThomas BergmanCleary BettisworthBryant BoydFeather BradyPiper BraseAaron BravoDamien BrayMcKinley BrophyJacob BrowningBrandon BryantCaitlyn BryantVincenzo CaciariSean CadiganKristin CaliceLee CaptainMadison CaseKasey CasortEthan ChapmanDavid ChenDavid ChoHannah ChowaniecGideon ColeLauren Criss Carboy

K a t e l y n n C r i s s CarboyJoshua CummingsTrae CurtisNasualuk DanRama DandekarEverett DarrowGregory DavisJavier De Leon

Tyler DeweeseVanessa DewildeSteven DieringerJenna DiFolcoAlana DobbsJessica DobleDustin Duperior

Class of 2017

Shane Gillette & The Divine Wanderers perform during the West Valley High School 2017 Commencement ceremony Thursday evening at the Carlson Center. From left are Kelsey Slater, bass; Stefano Fochesatto, sax; Andrew Sheets, drums; Gillette, vocals; and Blake Swarthout, piano.

See the photos and the graduate list from the Eielson High graduation. »

INTERIOR, A4

DEER » A8

State checks dead mule deer for parasite

A mule deer roams near Phantom Lake in Yellowstone National Park in November 2014. Alaska Wildlife Troopers near Chena Lake recently found a dead mule deer.JIM PEACO/CREATIVE COMMONS