capital focus

Sen. Gary Wilken of Fairbanks says he’ll encourage members of the Interior delegation to say No to a $100 million state crime lab unless lawmakers also get behind the $113 million biological sciences facility proposed for the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus.
“If we can build a crime lab, we can build a research facility,” he said.
The crime lab proposal comes from Palin and involves getting the money by issuing bonds. While Wilken and other Fairbanks lawmakers have sought direct appropriations in the past, Wilken says bonds could work for BIOS, too.