Friday, February fourteenth, the UN says at least 22 people have been killed in a village in the Northwest region of Cameroon. Over half of those killed were children. No one has claimed responsibility for Friday’s incident but the opposition parties blame the killing on the government.
Alaskan residents not pleased with yearly divident checks
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Yes, you could call it free money.
But that doesn’t mean all Alaskans are happy about the
$1,022 dividend checks nearly every resident will receive starting Thursday
from the state’s oil wealth fund.
Folks were looking at getting more than twice that
amount.
“It’s really putting the hurt on my community,” said Joel
James, mayor of the tiny Yup’ik Eskimo village of Gambell, which, like many
remote communities around the vast state, is plagued by chronic unemployment
and astronomical living expenses. “I’m definitely disappointed.”
Each year, residents get the checks from the Alaska
Permanent Fund, a reward of sorts for living here at least a full calendar
year.
It’s fun money for some, with businesses offering highly
advertised dividend deals. For others, it’s a way to make ends meet. The amount
of the annual checks is based on a five-year average of the multibillion-dollar
fund, and they took a hit when recession years were part of the formula, with
$900 checks issued in 2013 before payouts rebounded again.
Last year, the amount for every person was a record
$2,072. And this year, the check was estimated to be even higher at about
$2,100. That is, until Gov. Bill Walker stepped in and shrunk the amount because
of the state’s multibillion-dollar budget deficit, a situation exacerbated by
low oil prices.
Walker’s action is being challenged in court by state
Sen. Bill Wielechowski and two former lawmakers who allege the governor
illegally vetoed fund earnings appropriated for dividends.
“It was not done legally, it was not done appropriately
and it did not belong in the budget,” said Wielechowski, an Anchorage Democrat.
“And because it didn’t belong in the budget, the governor couldn’t veto it.”
Walker said in a statement he did not take his decision
lightly, and he acknowledged it may have upset some Alaskans. He said setting
the amount of this year’s dividend “more in line with the historical average”
will ensure there’s money for future distributions.
“Alaska lost over 80 percent of its income in just two
years, and we are burning through $12 million of savings each day,” Walker
wrote. “This is simply not sustainable.”
James, the Gambell mayor, is among those also questioning
Walker’s veto, saying it leaves a financial vacuum for rural residents who
depend on the money for life necessities. Another is Shirley Adams, a clerk in
the tribal government office in the Inupiat Eskimo village of Kivalina, on
Alaska’s northwest coast.
“I’m wondering does he have the right to do that,” said
Adams, who often uses the money to catch up on bills.
Some people are asking the same thing in the Yup’ik
village of Manokotak, said Nellie Alakayak, the community’s temporary tribal
administrator. The money often goes to survival expenses, such as clothing and
other basics, for many people in her village.
“I think they kind of feel cheated,” she said of this
year’s check.
The fund was established in 1976 after the discovery of
oil on Alaska’s North Slope, with the first dividends distributed to residents
in 1982. Excluding the upcoming payout, more than $21.1 billion has been
distributed to Alaskans over the decades since.
This year’s distribution has prompted mixed feelings for
longtime Anchorage resident Jerry Wolf, 85, who moved to Alaska’s biggest city
as a teenager in 1947.
On the one hand, he understands the governor’s action and
believes the lawsuit is a distraction from the real problem — that the state
has been too dependent on its shrinking oil resources. On the other hand, many
rural residents really need the money.
“I can see in our villages across the state that they
have been very dependent on this little boost, and in many cases maybe even to
put some more food on the table,” Wolf said.
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