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Current Topics
Public safety commissioner seeks change in Alaska's missing and murdered Indigenous people response. Alaska Beacon
Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell told lawmakers on Tuesday that he doesn’t know how the state can justify the relative lack of resources it has provided to rural Alaska.
Dunleavy makes first official Yukon visit, signs Alaska Highway maintenance agreement. Alaska Beacon
The Yukon government has estimated that the full cost of the project may be up to CAD $500 million ($370.37 million USD). The highway memorandum signed Friday was part of a five-year agreement between Alaska and the Yukon to “work together on matters of joint concern and mutual interest” and share information on common issues.
Land coverage changes across Greenland dominated by a doubling of vegetation in three decades. Nature.com
Besides the vastly decreased ice cover, we find a doubling in total areal coverage of vegetation, a quadrupling in wetlands coverage, increased meltwater, decreased bare bedrock and increased coverage of fine unconsolidated sediment.
Blaze pink may become an official hunter safety color in South Dakota. South Dakota Searchlight
“The answer is very simple: It’s safety,” Bahmuller said. “Blaze pink is not a color that occurs naturally in nature.”
Education
Gov. Dunleavy touts educational experience while defending his stance on the BSA and teacher bonuses. Alaska's News Source
“At my school, I’m to the point where I get to choose: Do I heat my school, or do I pay my teachers?” Alaska Association of School Business Officials president Heather Heineke said to lawmakers Monday during a Joint House and Senate Committee meeting.
Governor addresses education policy reforms. Frontiersman
A legislative attorney has said that the Governor’s proposed teacher incentive could raise legal challenges under the State Constitution because it treats teachers differently based on geographic location and it could also interfere with collective bargaining power of educator unions.
What will it take to reopen the Bettye Davis East High Swimming Pool? Alaska's News Source
The pools in Anchorage high schools are owned and operated by the Municipality of Anchorage, not the Anchorage School District. They’re considered a community asset, but the community hasn’t had access to the East pool for a long time. Reeves said the pool needed some repair work after the 2018 earthquake and has had some minor maintenance issues as well, but the primary reason it’s still closed is a lack of lifeguards. This means community members have to look elsewhere to swim, just like East High’s swim team.
Legislators begin negotiations on education package as Dunleavy pushes for more charter schools. ADN
A six-member legislative negotiating team began closed-door discussions on Tuesday and held its second meeting on Thursday. Its members include Democratic Senators Bill Wielechowski, Löki Tobin and Lyman Hoffman, and Republican Representatives Craig Johnson, Jesse Sumner and Jamie Allard. The Democrat-dominated 16-member House minority caucus does not have a seat at the table, and neither do Bush Caucus members of the House majority, who represent rural Alaska — without whose support the majority will likely fail to advance its priorities.
With education reform locked in negotiations, Alaska lawmakers seek school internet speed increase. Alaska Beacon
Dozens of rural Alaska schools are at risk of not gaining access to faster internet access because of legislative deadlock over a wide-ranging education bill. While legislators say they’re optimistic about the progress of the bill, known as Senate Bill 140, their actions indicate something else. On Thursday, the House Finance Committee heard a standalone bill to raise the ceiling on internet speeds in Alaska’s schools, an attempt to make statutory change before it is too late for schools to get grants to pay for it.
Gov. Dunleavy points to national study in his push to expand Alaska charter schools. It's drawing scrutiny from lawmakers and school officials. ADN
But the study, published in November, is drawing scrutiny from Alaska lawmakers, school officials and researchers — including many who are pushing to increase the state’s Base Student Allocation — who expressed concern that that national study could have an outsized impact on state education policy despite its small sample size and other limitations.
Alaska's children deserve better than this. ADN
The Anchorage School District is on life support, and judging by the public testimony I heard about Senate Bill 140, so are the rest of the districts in the state.
Ecomony
Inflation's bumpy ride to normal. Axios
"[T]he path toward inflation normalization is likely to be prolonged, with ups and downs along the way," economists at TD Securities wrote. Overall CPI rose 3.1% in the 12 months through January, a smaller increase than the 3.4% rise the prior month.
For third year, Alaska's top-paid public executive is the gas pipeline boss. Alaska Beacon
The head of the state corporation in charge of a long-planned trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline is once again Alaska’s top-paid public executive. Frank Richards, president of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., received $479,588 in compensation during 2023, according to the latest version of the state’s annual executive compensation report, released in January.
Energy
Amazon, United stake hydrogen startup. Axios
Technology could help unlock naturally occurring underground hydrogen as a new source of clean power. Created when iron-rich rocks come into contact with water, naturally occurring deposits of hydrogen have been found all over the world, often when some of the hydrogen leaks out to the Earth's surface.
Alaska politicians contemplate first statewide borrowing request since 2012. Alaska Beacon
Alaska lawmakers are considering whether to ask voters for permission to borrow money for major upgrades to the state’s electrical grids, they said this week.
Green energy advocates say Anchorage utility "freezing our" efforts for gas-saving price structure. Alaska Beacon
A green power advocacy group says Anchorage’s electric utility is thwarting its efforts to propose an energy-saving payment scheme for customers, and it’s asking state regulators to step in to force the utility to hand over detailed data.
(My Comment: This is Alaska; blocking itself from prosperous future. Solar and wind will never be baseload for Arctic energy. Hydro will fill baseload need; Nuclear will fill baseload need. When one group demands priority, Alaska fails again.)
How serious is Alaska's natural gas crisis really? ADN
A recent cold snap in Southcentral Alaska raised the profile of a looming problem for the region: Natural gas from Cook Inlet powers a big chunk of Alaska, including Anchorage, the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su – but energy companies say that gas won’t be available for much longer. How is that possible, in a state that has enormous gas reserves? And what does that mean for future energy bills?
Cold winter underscores Alaska's need for reliable hear and power. ADN
During the coldest week of winter, Cook Inlet Natural Gas Storage Alaska (CINGSA), a gas storage system managed by Enstar, started experiencing issues with a portion of its reservoir network, compromising its ability to supply a full complement of gas to utility customers throughout Southcentral Alaska. In the recent cold snap, hydro, wind, and solar accounted for less than one-seventh of our power.
(My comment: Alaska will always need “baseload”, which is the source of power that is constantly available. Wind and solar are episodic. Hydro, nuclear and natural gas are baseload, always on duty. The opinion writer was in error to imply that hydro is not reliable; in fact, Bradley Lake Hydroelectric is a 120-megawatt facility that generates about 10 percent of the total annual power used by Railbelt electric utilities at some of the lowest-cost power to more than 550,000 Alaskans. We need more hydro projects around the state. Small modular reactors (nuclear power) is being trialed at Eielson Air Force Base in the next couple years and would be a game-changer for Alaska.)
Politics
Alaska governor says he'd like to send troops south to aid Texas, but cost is a hurdle. Alaska Beacon
Gov. Mike Dunleavy told reporters on Wednesday that he’d like to answer Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for National Guard soldiers to support a state-run effort along the Mexico border, but he’s not sure the Alaska Legislature will approve the cost.
Ranked choice repeal group appeals big fine for violating Alaska campaign finance laws. Alaska Beacon
Supporters of a campaign seeking to turn back the clock on Alaska’s voting system laws are appealing more than $90,000 in fines levied by the Alaska Public Offices Commission. The appeal alleges that Alaska’s campaign finance regulator made mistakes when it fined the four for their participation in a system that sent campaign money through an organization registered as a church in Washington state.
(My Comment: When Alaskans voted to hold open primary elections they said they wanted to be heard. It removes the control of political parties. An open primary means that all the candidates are on one ballot; no longer are republican candidates on one ballot, and democratic candidates on another ballot – forcing voters to choose one ballot or the other. Now voters can choose a republican for one position, a democrat for another position, and a non-partisan person for another position. I support open primaries. In addition, voters said that they want more power in the general election. They want to be able to vote for their favorite person, but if that person doesn’t get over 50% of the vote, they want to be able to choose their 2nd favorite candidate. That’s what the instant runoff/ranked choice vote general election does. The result? Alaskans elected a far-right-of-center Republican Governor; a moderate Republican US Senator; and a moderate Democrat US Congresswoman. Districts elected people that most accurately represented their voters (far-right-of-center districts, moderate republican districts, moderate democrat districts). This new election system is working well for Alaska. I support this.)
Gov. Dunleavy casts doubt on future of Senate-passed public-sector pension bill. Alaska Public Media
The proposal passed the bipartisan-majority Senate in late January. If signed into law, many employees of state and local governments, including teachers, would have the option to switch from the existing defined-contribution retirement plan to a pension plan. Proponents pitch it as a way to improve hiring and retention.
Alaska legislators hear vocal opposition to Dunleavy plan to eliminate boards overseeing midwives, barbers and massage therapists. ADN
Members of the affected professions have raised concerns that they will no longer be regulated by their peers; state employees would be too overworked or not knowledgeable enough to regulate their fields; and there has been frustration about a lack of notice that the three boards were on the chopping block.
Healthcare
Alaska GOP legislator's child care bill advances toward a final House vote. ADN
Alaska’s beleaguered child care sector has long struggled with long waitlists, low wages and high tuition costs. House Bill 89 was introduced last year by Anchorage GOP Rep. Julie Coulombe as a way to give corporations child care tax credits, and to subsidize tuition costs for more children.
Bill would relax food stamp income eligibility requirements for Alaskans. Alaska's News Source
Alaska senators gathered public testimony Tuesday in Juneau on a bill that would relax certain eligibility requirements for receiving federal food assistance, including increasing the income limit and doing away with an asset test.
What is Alaskapox? Recent death brings attention to virus seen in small animals. AP News
For nine years, Alaska health officials have been aware of an unusual virus causing rare, relatively mild illnesses in the Fairbanks area. But a recent case in another part of the state — this one resulting in a man’s death — has brought new attention to the so-called Alaskapox virus.
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