Parnell's budget aims to please

-- Fence off $400 million of the state’s savings to fund scholarships for Alaska graduates attending in-state higher education or vocational programs.

-- Expand the state’s programs dealing with sexual assault and domestic violence by launching prevention programs, beefing up prosecution and hiring more rural law enforcement officers. Parnell allocated $7 million toward this goal.

-- Funnel $8 million to study and permit an 90-mile road from the Dalton Highway west to Umiat. The road, expected to cost about $360 million to build, would offer oil and gas producers access to the foothills of the Brooks Range, where explorers want to tap into rich reserves of oil and natural gas. The gas is dry, compared to that found on the North Slope, and wouldn’t require much treatment before being fed into a pipeline.

-- Direct $108.6 million to a biology science center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Interior legislators have fought long and hard for the appropriation, but haven’t been able to loosen the state’s purse springs, yet.

-- Realize another much-awaited capital project: a new state crime lab in Anchorage. Parnell said the original price tag of $110 million has been whittled to about $75 million, which he’s included in the budget.

-- Sock $25 million into a fund that grants money to communities with renewable energy projects at play. The grants are administered by the Alaska Energy Authority.

-- Channel $165 million to natural gas work. The bulk of that ($150 million) will go toward the state’s contract with TransCanada for a mega-pipeline through Canada. Alaska agreed to reimburse the pipeline company up to $500 million in expenditures made pursuing federal approvals. Also included is $6.5 million to continue exploring an in-state pipeline as a backup, and about $10 million for state staff coordinating work with TransCanada on the mega-pipeline.