COULD THE SUPREME COURT RULING ON VALDEZ TAX HELP KILL THE CRUISE SHIP HEAD TAX?
(Juneau Empire): The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday slapped down the city of Valdez’s tax on oil tankers, which may have legal implications on the state’s $46 tax on cruise ship passengers. Both sides of the state’s cruise ship fight said the decision could be relevant to cruise lines’ quest to undo the head tax. “I don’t think it’s a stretch,” said John Binkley of the Alaska Cruise Association, the industry’s lobbying group here. Such a challenge could come from passengers as a class-action lawsuit or from one or more cruise lines, Binkley said. But Joe Geldhof, a Juneau lawyer who co-wrote the 2006 ballot initiative that included the head tax, says he thinks it’s possible but unlikely the Supreme Court would strike it down. ALASKA SCIENTISTS CONTRIBUTE TO NATIONAL CLIMATE CHANGE REPORT (Red Orbit): “Two University of Alaska Fairbanks researchers are among key contributors to a new national report that details visible effects of climate change in the United States and how today’s choice
