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Current Topics
State's
salary study conveniently lost in 'Byzantine bureaucracy' The Alaska Memo
In one of the more fiery
hearings of the session so far, the House Finance Committee on Monday
learned the state is once again punting on pay raises, arguing that
the latest delay is because they need to go out for a second study to
study whether the implementation of the salary study is feasible.
Legislators from both the bipartisan House Majority and the more
Dunleavy-aligned Republican Minority were broadly and understandably
irate at the twist in a saga already marred by accusations that the
Dunleavy administration was trying
to rig it.
Retirement
in America: An Analysis of Retirement Preparedness Among Working-Age
Americans NIRS
Working Americans
Struggling to prepare for retirement. Typical working American has
less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
Anchorage
seniors will soon be able to ride the People Mover bus for free on
Fridays Alaska Public Media
Anchorage seniors will soon
be able to ride the city’s People Mover bus for free two days a week.
In
their own words Axios
Seven lawsuits filed
against OpenAI have alleged that plaintiffs' loved ones were harmed
by their use of ChatGPT, including claims of wrongful death, assisted
suicide and involuntary manslaughter, the
WSJ reported.
Almost
one in four Alaska workers doesn’t live in the state, new report
concludes Alaska Beacon
In 2024, almost 23% of
non-federal jobs in Alaska were held by someone who did not live in
the state. Nonresidents earned roughly $3.8 billion, or about 17% of
every dollar earned from a non-federal job.
State
DOT pledges $30M to projects meant to improve safety along
Anchorage’s dangerous roads ADN
Following pressure from
Alaska legislators and the LaFrance administration, the state’s
transportation department increased the amount of money available
this year for road safety projects in Anchorage.
FEMA
approves additional areas to qualify for disaster relief following
West Coast storms Alaska Beacon
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency has approved additional regions to be included in
Alaska’s disaster declaration following the Western Alaska storm
disaster last year, and more communities will be eligible for federal
disaster assistance.
Officials
estimate $125 million in Western Alaska storm damage so far, and a
long road to recovery Alaska
Beacon
Bryan Fisher, director of
the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management,
presented an update to lawmakers and said that according to a recent
FEMA assessment, the storm damage is estimated to cost $125 million.
He called the storm damage “catastrophic and stressed that the figure
is an early estimate. “I would suspect, just based on my experience
doing this for a long time, that that dollar figure is going to go
up,” he said.
U.S.
Governor Approval Rating Tracker The Juneau Independent
Reynolds ties with Dunleavy
as the most unpopular: With
the highest disapproval ratings of any U.S. governor (49%), Kim
Reynolds of Iowa remains America’s most unpopular governor for the
eighth quarter in a row, but this time is tied with Michael Dunleavy
of Alaska. The Iowa Republican, who isn’t seeking re-election next
year, is one of only two governors with an underwater net approval
rating.
‘Bad
management’: Lawmakers blast DOC’s $24M ask—part of $1.1B emergency
budget Alaska News Source
“If the overtime situation
is going to be an ongoing cost, this is seriously bad management,”
Hoffman said during the Feb. 4 hearing, echoing frustration over what
Stedman called a years-long pattern of prison cost overruns. The
request, presented to the Senate Finance Committee last week, would
cover shortfalls driven by unbudgeted overtime, staff vacancies and
inmate medical costs. Corrections Commissioner Jen Winkelman
pointed to unexpected incidents as one cost driver, citing a “small
riot on the yard” at Spring Creek Correctional Center this month that
cost nearly $200,000.
Alaska House leaders commit
to passing pension reform amid concerns from Senate budgeters ADN
The elimination of defined
benefits has hit particularly hard for Alaska’s educators and some
local government workers, who do not pay into Social Security and
thus miss out on the country’s primary old-age safety net program.
State employees benefit from the Alaska Supplemental
Benefits System, which replaces Social Security. Teachers and many
local governments in Alaska are not part of the system.
Things That I Found Interesting
Young
lawmakers eye exits Axios
State legislatures are
pipelines for Congress, governors and future national leaders. If
younger lawmakers leave early, the system increasingly favors the
wealthy, the retired or those insulated from threats and financial
strain. 81% of respondents said their legislative
pay does not cover the cost of living.
Seward
student to present salt brine alternative to Alaska Senate Peninsula Clarion
“Basically,
the graphene nanoplatelets have these additives in them which help
reduce the freezing rate of water molecules and increase the melting
rate of ice and water molecules,” she said.
(My
comment: This is so cool!! Bravo, Hannah! And Bravo to Seward High
School and Teacher Amelia Bagheri! Our public schools and teachers
are not failing. These amazing Alaska students are succeeding.)
1
big thing: Everything is gambling now Axios
Gambling culture is
enveloping American life: What was once a fringe vice is fast
becoming a mass-market habit — raising urgent questions about
addiction, fairness and regulation. You can now wager on
everything: the midterms, the Oscars, the Second
Coming (5%
chance before next year
The
cost of babysitting Axios
Average babysitting
rates rose nearly 5% last year —
faster than inflation — hitting $26.24 per hour for one
child. Parents are paying nearly $30 an hour on average for
two kids, the sitter-finding platform says.
🚁 1 fun thing: The drone
Olympics Axios
Drones and other tech
advances are reshaping how viewers experience the Winter
Olympics. New camera angles can pull the audience into the
athlete's perspective, making the sheer intensity and speed of events
like skiing and bobsled easier to grasp.
Arctic
Alaska
plans long ice roads in Northwest Alaska to allow airport
construction at remote town Alaska Beacon
As the Alaska Department of
Transportation and Public Facilities prepares to build a new
airport for the Northwest Alaska town of Noatak, the agency says it will need to build a 67-mile
ice road for three consecutive winters in order to transport
supplies.
Greenland
and U.S. territorial purchases North of 60 Mining News
That structure removes
Denmark from the position Russia held in 1867 or Denmark itself held
in 1917. Legal authority to negotiate a sale no longer rests with the
government in Copenhagen but with the population and institutions in
Nuuk, meaning any transaction would require not just Danish agreement
but Greenlandic consent – something no price or strategic argument
can compel under self-government law.
(My comment: This is a
great history of Alaska’s purchase from Russia in 1867, US history of
expansion, and present law.)
New
hazards to be analyzed in Alaska’s updated statewide threat
assessment Alaska
Beacon
The independent federal
agency that provides Alaska with utilities, infrastructure and
economic support is considering a number of new environmental hazards
as it updates its statewide threat assessment.
The Arctic's first inhabitants
shaped thousands of years of ecological development PhysOrg
they documented nearly 300
archaeological features, including Early Paleo-Inuit tent rings and
hearths, proving that people were visiting these islands repeatedly
as far back as 4,500 years ago. Kitsissut sits in the heart of
Pikialasorsuaq, which is a unique polynya environment stretching
between northern Greenland and Canada. Polynyas are areas of Arctic
ocean that never freeze, even in winter, so reaching these islands
requires a dangerous 50km open-water crossing—the longest such
journey by watercraft yet inferred for this period in the entire
Arctic.
In
new agreement with state, Indigenous landowners soften resistance to
Ambler Road Alaska
Beacon
It needs approval from two
private companies that own some of the land the route would cross:
the Indigenous-owned regional corporations for Northwest Alaska and
the Interior, known as NANA and Doyon, respectively. A tense
relationship between those businesses and the Alaska Industrial
Development and Export Authority, the state agency pushing the road,
has been a key challenge for the project. But an agreement quietly
reached between the two corporations and Alaska state agencies
signals that those dynamics could be shifting.
10,000
U.S., allied troops prepare for large-scale training exercise KUAC
An 11th Airborne
news release says the exercise is intended to test the readiness of
11th Airborne soldiers to deploy quickly and conduct
large-scale combat operations in cold weather alongside other U.S.
and allied military units. The spokesperson said about 10,000
servicemembers in the exercise, including some who are working in
support roles. Multinational partners and allies participating in
JPMRC include servicemembers from Canada, Sweden, Norway, and Italy.
Some will be participating, and some will be observing, the
spokesperson said.
Economy
Why
Japanese stocks are outshining the U.S. market Axios
The Nikkei is just one of
the foreign stock indexes beating the major U.S. benchmarks this year
— as investors "Sell
America" and look to buy elsewhere in the world.
Education
Anchorage
School Board holds special meeting to address $90 million deficit Alaska News Source
The Anchorage School Board
held a special meeting Monday evening to discuss a resolution
regarding school consolidation as the district faces a $90 million
budget deficit. The resolution directs administration “to identify
potential school consolidations and operational efficiencies that
could increase student services and use short-term savings to restore
cuts to essential programs,” according to the announcement.
Energy
⚛️ Nuke waste recycling
companies get $19 million from DOE Axios
Alpha Nur Inc. will
research and validate a process that will recover highly enriched
uranium from used fuel from research reactors and transform it into a
form to be reused in small modular reactors. Curio Solutions
will develop a process designed to produce uranium hexafluoride gas
from used fuel. Flibe Energy Inc. will study electrochemical
methods to process used fuel. Oklo Inc. will study heavy element
deposition — the accumulation of heavy metals — in molten salt. It is
developing a commercial-scale facility to recycle used fuel from
conventional reactors into fuel for its Aurora fast-neutron
microreactors. SHINE Technologies will develop a process
design that incorporates transport, storage, and disposal together
with hydro processing of used fuel.
Teck,
borough agree to new Red Dog PILT North of 60
Mining News
Teck Resources Ltd. Jan. 30
announced that its Alaska subsidiary has finalized a renewed Payment
in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) agreement with the Northwest Arctic Borough
that details contributions from Red Dog over the coming six years,
which aligns with the current plans to wind down the Northwest Alaska
zinc mine's operations on NANA Corp. lands by 2032.
(My comment: Payment in
Lieu of Taxes (PILT) is a mechanism for local governments to levy
property tax. It was a topic under the Exxon-led gas pipeline in the
2010s. A working group of mayors/city managers along the gas pipeline
route met to work out what portion of any property tax would come to
their jurisdictions. They never reached agreement. Exxon and partner
oil companies (BP, ConocoPhillips) abandoned the gas pipeline project
as uneconomic, so the property tax issue became moot.)
EIA
forecasts lower oil prices in 2026 and 2027 due to persistent stock
builds EIA
We forecast that production
of petroleum and other liquids will continue to exceed global demand,
which results in Brent crude oil prices falling from an average of
$69 per barrel (b) in 2025 to $58/b in 2026 and $53/b in 2027.
(My comment: Oil
price/revenue makes up about 30% of Alaska Unrestricted General
Funds. Continued decrease in oil price means less production tax
revenue.)
Politics
Opinion:
Trump’s threat to annex Greenland: Sovereignty and the rules-based
order ADN
European leaders are no
longer reacting with surprise to President Trump’s foreign policy
threats. They are responding to them.
Black
history fight as America turns 250 Axios
America's 250th
anniversary is colliding with a renewed battle over Black
history, as the White House moves to smooth over and narrow how race
and equity are discussed. Federal agencies and cultural
institutions have deleted or revised Black history content in
response to President Trump's anti-DEI
mandate, which the administration says restores neutrality.
👓 On my screen: New climate
dashboard and Trump minerals analysis
Want to make sense of the Trump administration taking stakes in mineral
companies? Check out industrial policy analyst Arnab Datta's "A User's Guide to
Government Equity Investing. "Not since the Great Depression has the
government taken ownership stakes in private corporations at such
scale and speed," writes Datta, who works with the groups Employ
America and the Institute for Progress. The piece walks through
upsides, like helping to level the playing field with geopolitical
rivals who intervene aggressively. But it carries risks, too, like
picking favorites and pressuring companies into bad decisions.
Murkowski
tries to reassure Greenlanders still shaken by Trump's threats Alaska Public Media
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in
Greenland Monday that she feels terrible for the anxiety her country
inflicted on the Danish territory. Murkowski was the sole Republican
among four senators who took the trip to try to repair the
relationship with Greenland after President Trump’s repeated threats
to acquire the island. The trip was part of her initiative to bolster
what she calls a trans-Arctic alliance. She was part of another
congressional trip to
Denmark a few weeks ago.
Alaska
commander won’t testify on Minneapolis troop stand-down, lawmakers
say Alaska
News Source
The 11th Airborne Division
commander will not testify before Alaska lawmakers this week
about a
reported stand-down order affecting more than 1,500 Alaska soldiers who had been
on standby to deploy to Minneapolis to protect ICE agents, the
legislative committee chair said Monday. ABC News reported Feb. 3
that the Pentagon’s Northern Command stood down the troops, citing
two U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the situation.
Alaska’s News Source has not independently confirmed the stand-down
order, and the 11th Airborne Division did not respond to requests for
comment Monday.
Health Care
PODCAST Taking
the mystery out of mental health | Line One Alaska Public Media
On this episode, our goal
is to take some of the mystery out of mental health care. Many people
know they’re struggling, or know someone they care about who is
struggling, but feel unsure where to turn. Should I see a counselor?
A psychologist? A psychiatrist? What’s the difference and how do you
know what’s right for you?
1
big thing: The dangers of using AI for mental health Axios
A fundamental problem is
that bots like ChatGPT and Claude are designed to keep people
engaged, and tell them what they want to hear without
judgment. "You can say something totally stupid and it
tells you what a great idea it was," Insel said. "People
who are good therapists are helping you to change what you think, how
you feel, how you behave — and that's just not what chatbots
do."
💊 Many TrumpRx drugs are
cheaper elsewhere
More than half of the
drugs listed on the new TrumpRx
websitehave cheaper generic versions available
elsewhere, Axios' Maya Goldman reports. Pristiq, a Pfizer
antidepressant, costs about $200 with a TrumpRx coupon for a
30-day supply. But a comparable generic goes for less than
$30 on GoodRx and for just $16.65 on Mark Cuban's CostPlusDrugs.
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