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Current Topics
Opinion: A Permanent Fund Endowment for all Alaskans. ADN
We were blessed to have wise leaders who had the foresight back in 1976 to ask Alaskans if we should save a portion of our non-renewable resource, making it a renewable resource in the corpus of the Permanent Fund.
The vote on Proposition 2 has created enormous wealth for Alaska and is the envy of other states. Today, Alaska’s Permanent Fund and Earnings Reserve Account (ERA) has over $80 billion and is being managed and invested by experienced financial professionals.
Coeur Alaska raises $20k for Juneau youth. Mining News North
The Juneau Community Foundation May 14 thanked Coeur Alaska, along with the employees and contractor partners at the Kensington gold mine, for their donations and participation in an event that raised $20,000 to support the new Coeur Alaska Kensington Mine Juneau Schools Endowment.
Ukrainian refugees begin planning departures from Alaska ahead of expiring statuses. ADN
The Fozekoshes are among about a dozen Ukrainian refugee families in Alaska who have decided to leave the country due to a lapse in status, said Zori Opanasevych, who directs the nonprofit responsible for facilitating Ukrainian relocations to Alaska over the last three years.
(My comment: This is very unfortunate for Alaska.)
Girdwood breaks ground on major expansion to the resort town's only child care center. Alaska Public Media
The community of Girdwood has one licensed child care facility, and the building is on its last legs. Officials recently broke ground on a new building that will dramatically increase child care capacity in the resort community about 50 miles south of Anchorage.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a freeze on new state regulations. What does that mean? Alaska Beacon
If laws enacted by the Legislature and governor are the building blocks of state government, regulations are the mortar that holds them together: Regulations, proposed by state agencies or boards and commissions, cover the details that laws don’t, prescribing how state agencies should implement those laws.
(My comment: This freeze has nothing to do with “spending limits”. This is effectively preventing any laws, passed by citizen initiatives or legislative vote, from going forward. I’ll leave it at that, and let you draw your own conclusions.)
Things That I Found Interesting
Map Monday: Sticky Situation — How the Boston Molasses Flood Spurred Engineering Safety. NCSL
Why engineers need to be licensed and have standards of practice.
Science job listings plunge. Axios
Demand for scientists has plummeted this year, per new data from Indeed that looks mainly at private sector jobs listings. The drop suggests that the Trump administration's cuts have hurt scientific research and development in the private sector, including climate-focused roles.
Arctic Issues
Seaweed forests spreading, could change ocean chemistry in the Arctic. Eye on the Arctic
The Arctic’s greening from a warming climate isn’t just happening on land—it’s unfolding beneath the ocean surface too. There, seaweed forests are taking root in once-frigid fjords, with the potential to impact the ocean’s chemistry.
Economy
Middle class? Depends who you ask in Congress. Axios
The upper bound of "middle class" in America is often pegged at an annual income of between $150,000 and $250,000, but looking at legislation being drawn up by Republicans in Congress, it seems to be much, much higher. The House is considering allowing state and local tax deductions of as much as $40,000 for people making up to $500,000, Axios' Hans Nichols reported this week, a sign that some blue-state Republicans consider $500,000 to be a middle-class income.
What it means for you. Axios
If bond investors are correct about the long-term trajectory of rates, there will be higher borrowing costs and more lending activity crowded out by the government in the years and decades ahead. If the higher long-term rates hold, it implies meaningfully higher debt service costs for the U.S. government's existing debt pile. That could squeeze the government's ability to pay for other priorities, whether national defense or maintaining the social safety net.
What killing the penny means for you. Axios
Historically high insurance losses. Axios
U.S. insured losses from severe thunderstorms and tornadoes this year are running well above historic averages, and the gap's only getting worse. The Trump administration is gutting FEMA and telling states to solve their own crises, just as the climate-influenced impact of disasters is getting worse.
1 big thing: Trade threats consume the economy. Axios
The personal saving rate soared by 0.6 percentage point to 4.9%, as consumers socked away more of their income than they spent.
"The U.S. consumer remains resilient, though that resilience, to some degree, is underpinned by fear of what's likely to come," Olu Sonola, an economist at Fitch Ratings, wrote.
Alaska ferry engineers say they are critically short-staffed, with no easy answers. Alaska Public Media
Meagan Nye doesn’t always know when or if her workweek will end. She’s an engineer on the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry Columbia. She is supposed to work two-week shifts at sea. But more and more often, those two weeks will turn into six.
1 big thing: Stag vs. flation. Axios
New forecasts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show economic growth buckling under the weight of President Trump's trade war, alongside a temporary surge in inflation.
The Paris-based group's forecasts are based on tariff policies from mid-May, including the reduction in tariff rates from the U.S.-China trade truce. Notably, the OECD also based its forecast on the expectation that the 2017 tax cuts will be extended. The group sees the global economy's fate as directly tied to Trump's tariff policies: If tensions ramp up, outcomes will be worse. If trade tensions dissipate, so do their gloomy projections.
Social Security has a big year. Axios
Social Security retirement claims are on track to rise 15% this year from 2024. From 2012 to 2024, claims increased by 3% per year, on average. At the same time, benefits payments surged in March and April, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis released last week.
Energy
Bonus: GE Vernova eyes more hydrogen projects. Axios
Over 120 GE Vernova turbines of various sizes are already running on some level of hydrogen in different countries.
"It's Time for Nuclear" to Meet Growing U.S. Power Needs, Trump Declares. The Wall Street Journal
About 19% of U.S. electricity generation comes from nuclear power.
1 big thing: The energy stakes of global trade battles. Axios
The "war" scenario "hits LNG demand" hard. What was already projected to be something of a supply glut from 2027 onward would get even more pronounced. This would squeeze the margins for U.S. LNG exporters because domestic gas prices remain "resilient."
(My comment: Alaska LNG is significantly expensive. The world market will be well supplied with cheaper LNG.)
Catch up quick on tech finance: nuclear edition. Axios
The firm is aiming to commercialize 1 megawatt reactors that can replace diesel generators to "provide resilient power for remote villages, emergency response, and military installations." That's very different from even small modular reactors, often defined as up to 300 megawatts, let alone traditional gigawatt-scale units.
What Trump's new executive orders mean for the US nuclear energy industry. Atlantic Council
The United States, technically speaking, gets a skosh under 20 percent of its electricity from nuclear power. That’s more than solar and wind power combined. On May 23, Trump issued several executive orders designed to speed up the deployment of next-generation nuclear technologies in the United States. Delving into the details, nuclear expert Jennifer T. Gordon writes, “Overall, the orders represent a policy outlook on nuclear energy that has remained relatively consistent for nearly a decade.” This includes plans to involve the US Department of Defense. “However, there are a few key breaks from precedent,” she adds, including on recycling nuclear fuel.
Trio of Trump officials tour Alaska under promise of 'unleashing' state's resource potential. Alaska Public Media
Zeldin’s tenure as EPA administrator began with what he described as “the largest deregulatory announcement in history,” rolling back a couple dozen environmental regulations.
Opinion: The estimated cost of the Alaska LNG pipeline project is likely a lot higher than the state says. ADN
The widely publicized $44 billion cost estimate comes from a 2015 analysis and, since then, materials — primarily steel and nickel alloys — labor and machinery costs have substantially increased. From mid-2015 until February 2025, the price of iron and steel pipe increased 66%, and that percentage has gone up since February in part due to President Trump’s 25% tariff on imported steel.
Education
Opinion: The Dunleavy decline — a legacy that has left Alaska's students behind. ADN
Dunleavy has been notably absent from debates and legislative negotiations on education. Even Sen. James Kaufman criticized his failure to advocate for his own education policy priorities. All we’re left with is his record to sort though — and it speaks volumes.
University of Alaska president reports $50M in grants frozen by Trump administration, warns of staff cuts. ADN
About $5.6 million worth of federal grants have been canceled, said Jonathon Taylor, a spokesperson for the university, in an interview last week.
At ANSEP, key new leadership at a time of federal uncertainty. ADN
The Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program at the University of Alaska has brought on a trailblazing engineering educator in a key leadership role at a time when the program is navigating significant changes prompted by federal policy shifts.
$81M in federal school funding at risk after Alaska fails equity test. ADN
The state of Alaska could be on the hook for $81 million in education funding after failing a federal equity test earlier in May.
Alaska schools need teachers. They're hiring them from the Philippines. Alaska Beacon
Kodiak Island Borough School District spent about $28,000 to send a team of 4 people this year, including Gutierrez. Teams like that screen hundreds of candidates in a single trip. Working with lawyers and visa fees cost an additional $7,000 per teacher hired. Districts also can pay another $2,400 if they want to work with immigration lawyers to extend visas. Hiring through an agency can cost a district about $27,000 per teacher.
(My comment: Kodiak joins many rural schools that are hiring teachers from the Philippines. They are great teachers, mesh into the communities, and have been very effective. It makes no sense for the Federal Administration (and some of our Congressional team) to oppose immigration! Filipino nurses and health aides provide critical services in Alaska as well.)
Alaska state school board considers rules that would limit local funding for public schools. Alaska Beacon
On Alaska school districts facing steep budget deficits, and now a potential further limit on what local municipalities can spend on their schools: "To further reduce local contributions while taking $81 million from local school districts is pretty incredible to me." – Nils Andreassen, director of the Alaska Municipal League, which represents cities and boroughs.
(My comment: Unbelievable the extent to which the Dunleavy administration will go to in order to decimate public education, a Constitutional mandate.)
Artificial Intelligence
1 big thing: Your AI survival kit. Axios
In the flood of conflicting views, one broad consensus emerged. Every U.S. citizen should start preparing today for society-shifting AI advancements coming soon.
(My comment: This was a summary of a complex topic. I found it helpful)
Part 2: How to own AI. Axios
This is the first advanced technology that you don't need to be a computer nerd or coder to master. You simply need to master the art of prompting
(My comment: I found it helpful to question the answers AI gives. I asked a question I knew the answer to; AI gave me a completely wrong answer which I corrected it on. AI is not completely reliable on facts, as others have demonstrated as well)
Why AI is still making things up. Axios
AI makers could do more to limit chatbots' penchant for "hallucinating," or making stuff up — but they're prioritizing speed and scale instead. High-profile AI-induced gaffes keep embarrassing users, and the technology's unreliability continues to cloud its adoption. Hallucinations aren't quirks — they're a foundational feature of generative AI that some researchers say will never be fully fixed.
Politics
DOGE efforts face pushback at Social Security. Axios
Some changes implemented by the Department of Government Efficiency at the Social Security Administration are reportedly being rolled back, but the agency is still struggling with fallout from the Elon Musk chainsaw. The retreat shows the limits of DOGE's slash-and-burn strategy at an agency that is deeply enmeshed with Americans' lives. Last week, multiple outlets reported that Social Security was ending a key DOGE policy, a three-day hold put on telephone claims to conduct fraud checks.
Exclusive: Trump's "Gold Card" launch. Axios
The "gold card" website allowing people to buy U.S. permanent residency for $5 million will launch within a week. President Trump has suggested the U.S. could sell 1 million of the cards — enough to retire the national debt.
Harvard ban backfire. Axios
Around 44% of U.S. unicorn companies — startups valued at $1 billion or more — are founded or cofounded by immigrants. Some of them moved to the U.S. as children, but many came for school, then stayed to build their businesses. An Axios analysis shows that around two dozen U.S. unicorns were founded or cofounded by international students who studied at Harvard. Under Trump's rule, none of them would have been allowed to enroll. Among those unicorns are payments giant Stripe, cybersecurity firm CloudFlare, crypto brokerage FalconX and generative AI startup Writer.
King Charles' Canadian mission. Axios
King Charles III arrived in Ottawa yesterday on a visit that Canada's leader says will underscore his nation's sovereignty in a message aimed at President Trump's talk of annexing America's northern neighbor.
Opinion: A plea to our congressional delegation: Fix the tax bill before it hurts Alaska families. ADN
For so many Alaskans, SNAP is the difference between feeding your kids or going to bed hungry. If the bill passes in its current form, 6,000 adults in Alaska could lose access to SNAP, and another 14,000 people in households with school-age children could see their SNAP benefits reduced.
The "big beautiful bill" treats single parents differently. Axios
Parents of children ages 7 to 17 must work 80 hours a month in order to qualify for SNAP benefits. But in households where parents are married, only one must work. That means single parents with kids as young as 8 must work, while people who are married to a working adult don't have to under the provision. 80% of single-parent households are headed by mothers, per census data.
Murkowski: Pushing health care, disaster costs to states would spell trouble for Alaska. Alaska Public Media
Trump's AI powerbrokers. Axios
Lost in the rush to win the AI arms race is any real public discussion of the rising risks: The risk of Middle East nations and companies, empowered with U.S. AI technology, helping their other ally, China, in this arms race. The possibility, if not likelihood, of massive white-collar job losses as companies shift from humans to AI agents. The dangers of the U.S. government becoming so reliant on a small set of companies. The vulnerabilities of private data on U.S. citizens.
Charted: Elon's slim DOGE savings. Axios
Elon Musk claims DOGE saved $175 billion in taxpayer spending. An outside analysis estimates the verified savings are closer to $16 billion. Even those savings are at risk of being washed away by Trump's "One, Big Beautiful Bill. The bill is projected to add $3 trillion to $5 trillion to budget deficits over the next 10 years.
Federal appeals court upholds emergency subsistence hunt in Southeast Alaska village of Kake. Alaska Beacon
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the board which regulates subsistence hunting on federal lands within Alaska acted legally when it created an emergency hunt for a Southeast Alaska village during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
Health Care
"Weekend Warriors" have similar heart health benefits compared with those who exercise daily. Consultant 360
When we compare those three activity patterns, and again just to summarize, inactive, where individuals did not meet physical activity guideline recommended levels, active regular, where people did meet guidelines, but their activity was more distributed, and then the Weekend Warrior pattern, which was people meeting guideline activity levels, but most of their activity was concentrated in one or two days of the week. When we compared across those three groups, we saw 20 to 40% reductions in risk of each of those four outcomes, atrial fibrillation, heart attack, heart failure, stroke. And those benefits were very similar between the Weekend Warrior group and the active regular group.
State of Alaska Epidemiology Monthly bulletin. Alaska Department of Health
The hidden health costs associated with legalized sports gambling. JAMA Network
Research also associates sports betting with reduced household savings, increased credit card debt, higher bankruptcy rates and debt collections, and more loan delinquencies. Another study found that financial losses from sports betting appear to amplify emotional cues and increase intimate partner violence. Some experts have even suggested that the pressure sports betting puts on college athletes might be contributing to a rise in deaths by suicide in this group. Sports gambling and binge drinking also coincide—studies have found that sports betters not only consume more alcohol than nongamblers but also gamblers who don’t bet on sports. In a recent study published in JAMA Network Open, Grubbs and his fellow researchers sought to explore the association between sports gambling and drinking-related problems.
Integrated behavioral health on the rise. Axios
The system, known as the collaborative care model, involves having a patient's primary care provider, behavioral health manager and psychiatric counselor create and carry out a mental health treatment plan.
(My comment: Collaborative care concept has been implemented in a few clinics since 2013. But only now is it being recognized. Innovation in healthcare moves at glacial speed.)
Alaska senators have a chance to protect Medicaid and safeguard vital services for Alaska's youth. Alaska Beacon
Alaska has one of, if not the highest rates of suicide, child abuse, domestic abuse, and sexual assault in the nation. Many of the victims utilize services that are funded by Medicaid. This may include individualized therapy and family therapy, intensive behavioral support in community and school settings, case management that secures outside resources for families in need such as food stamps, housing, therapeutic foster care placements, and reunification with families or adoption.
(My comment: Reducing or limiting Medicaid access for Alaskans demonstrates a complete disconnect with the healthcare needs of our state. Alaska needs an increase Federal support for Medicaid and an increase in Medicare reimbursement so that providers can provide senior services as well.)
Opinion: Sullivan and Murkowski need to stop the attack on Medicaid. ADN
After Alaska Rep. Nick Begich voted to advance a budget reconciliation package that would be catastrophic for Alaska — it passed 215–214, making him a deciding vote — we are counting on our senators to step up.
1 big thing: PBMs resist state restrictions. Axios
Drug middlemen are going to court to fight a first-in-the-nation effort to police their ownership of pharmacies as more state legislatures and Congress crank up scrutiny of their role in drug pricing.
1 big thing: Insuring a family of 4 costs $35k. Axios
The cost of covering a family of four through workplace insurance now exceeds $35,000 — nearly triple what it cost 20 years ago as annual growth in health costs have far outpaced wages.
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