In a blow to native communities throughout Alaska, on July 9, state legislators decided to cut back on rural villages’ allotments of a $15 million federal grant to give more money to larger cities. Under Gov. Frank Murkowski’s plan, the federal grant would be split evenly between all municipalities, but the legislators felt that would be unfair to the state’s urban centers. Instead, they voted to give each local government the skewed percentage they received last year under a state revenue sharing program that Murkowski vetoed.
