Budget glitch could leave ferries without funding

Crew members stand on the front deck of the ferry Malaspina as it pulls away from Juneau’s Auke Bay Ferry Terminal Sept. 18, 2017. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
One Southeast senator said that the possibility that the Alaska Marine Highway System could shut down this spring is an intentional attempt to damage the ferries.
A little-known budget provision to make up for a shortfall in state health-care funding will pull about $23 million out of the system’s s