|
Current Topics
History behind Juneteenth
On June 19, 159 years ago, Union Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger delivered General Order No. 3 in Galveston, Texas, which declares: "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free."
On Juneteenth, Gov. Dunleavy weighs adding a new legal holiday for Alaska. Alaska Beacon
As Alaska celebrates Juneteenth this Wednesday, Gov. Mike Dunleavy is weighing whether to sign a bill to make it a legal holiday in Alaska.
Woman with 5 kids accused of 24 fraudulent Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend filings. Alaska Public Media
Court records show Otaota Mokoma, 35, charged with 24 counts related to falsifying records in the case, spanning from 2018 to 2021, plus one count each of first-degree theft and scheme to defraud.
Stuff I Found Interesting
You can renew U.S. passports online again. ADN
The State Department on Wednesday reopened its online passport renewal portal, bringing back a trial service that had not been available for more than a year.
Willie Mays!
Remembering the "Say Hey Kid" Axios
Willie Mays — the electrifying center fielder whose powerful bat and defensive skill made him the best all-around baseball player ever — died at 93.
Remembering the "Say Hey Kid" Axios
Many experts believe Mays could have broken Babe Ruth's all-time home run record, as Hank Aaron later did, had he not had to serve in the military in 1952 and 1953.
(My Comment: What an incredible event - “the Catch” and “the Throw”.
Willie Mays, Baseball’s Electrifying Player of Power and Grace, Is Dead at 93 New York Times
Video of the Catch and the Throw
Another video of The Catch and The Throw
Economy
Next phase of modernization project underway at Don Young Port of Alaska Alaska's News Source
The massive project, expected to cost between $1.8 to $2 billion, will include two new modern cargo terminals when it’s completed over the next several years.
Number of the day: $1,987. Axios
That represents the median annual energy bill savings for adopters of rooftop solar, per a new peer-reviewed analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab researchers. But "off-bill" costs like loan repayments reduce that figure to $691.
Fisheries
Pacific salmon move north to Arctic Canada from Alaska when ocean conditions allow. Alaska Beacon
As the climate warms, more Pacific salmon from Alaska are showing up in the Western Arctic waters of Canada
(My Comment: In 2012-13 I served on the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission. Those 12 years ago, the Commission envisioned the day when Pacific Salmon would appear in Canadian Arctic waters. That day has arrived and was reported a couple years ago, with salmon being found in the waters around Kaktovik.)
Alaska lawmakers rejected Dunleavy's first pick, a talk show host, for a lucrative fish job. His new pick? An ex-talk show host. Northern Journal
After the failure of that pick, Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy has chosen a new appointee with a similar — though not identical — background for the six-figure job at the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission, or CFEC. On the airwaves for more than 15 years, Green was known as Rick Rydell during a colorful career as a talk host. His on-air character was that of an “unabashed redneck,” according to one of the books he wrote. The salary has drawn attention from policymakers in recent years for what critics say is a small workload and yearly commissioner salaries that can exceed $135,000.
An influx of chum salmon in the Canadian Arctic could be the same fish missing from Western Alaska. Alaska Public Media
In recent years, all five salmon species have shown up in rivers from northeast Alaska to Nunavut, in Canada’s eastern Arctic. Chum salmon, one of the most cold-tolerant salmon species, are the most commonly found. Storr said some people eat them, but personally he doesn’t prefer salmon. “We were releasing them just because we really prefer char around here,” he said.
Education
Alaska faces consequences as federal education funding equity dispute continues Alaska Beacon
A dispute between Alaska’s education officials and their federal counterparts over whether the state spent pandemic relief equitably has had its first tangible consequence: the state must receive a federal OK before it can spend nearly $1 million in grants.
ASD superintendent talks about their ‘boldest, most transformative years that we’ve seen’. Alaska's News Source
Anchorage School District’s superintendent Dr. Jharrett Bryantt spoke with Alaska’s News Source about possible changes coming to the district in the future, which include longer classes and more class options. He also touted the new career academies where high school students will learn technical skills from multiple industries during their freshman year before choosing a career-themed academy. For the duration of their high school education, students will then enroll in at least three electives related to that career.
Gov. Dunleavy claims early success for Alaska's new reading law. Some teachers say the story is a bit more complicated. ADN
State reports promising first-year results from Alaska Reads Act. Alaska's News Source
Gov. Mike Dunleavy touted new data this month that he said demonstrates Alaska’s students between kindergarten and third grade are “experiencing significant advances” in reading as a result of a bill he signed into law in 2022. But some educators tasked with implementing the law say its rollout has been bumpy and the data Dunleavy cited doesn’t necessarily prove the legislation led to improvements.
As Alaska high court preps for correspondence school arguments, here's what each side says. Alaska Public Media
The Alaska Supreme Court will hear the case later this month, but the issues are starting to take shape now as the state and the plaintiffs submit briefs outlining their arguments. But first, a reminder of what this case is all about — one sentence in the Alaska Constitution. The final sentence of Article 8, Section 1: “No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.” Anchorage Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman found that two statutes underpinning the homeschool system as it stands today violated that provision.
Politics
Disabled Alaskans encountered barriers in recent elections, Justice Department investigation finds. Alaska Beacon
Alaska failed to accommodate people with disabilities who were trying to cast votes in various 2022 and 2023 elections, a violation of federal law, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.
Lawmakers override Gov. Phil Scott's veto of annual property tax legislation. News from the States
The Vermont Legislature on Monday overrode Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of the annual property tax legislation that funds the state’s public school districts, solidifying an average projected property tax increase of 13.8%. This year’s historic increase in property taxes is driven by increased school spending of roughly $180 million. Health care costs, student mental health needs, ailing infrastructure and inflation contributed to the surge.
(My Comment: Alaska is not the only state dealing with increased education costs.)
Online state checkbook improves access to finance details, but it's not enough. Reporting from Alaska
The goal is to create a site that allows a member of the public to “understand all state financial information and that allows a member of the public to view all state financial information in a centralized location.”
Childcare
Parents with kids enrolled in Anchorage child care are being turned away because there's not enough staff. ADN
Child care centers are so thinly staffed that a single staff absence can force centers to close classrooms or cap capacity with little notice in order to maintain strict safety ratios mandated by the state.
Healthcare
State strategies for preventing substance use and overdose among youth and adolescents. NASHP
Substance use in youth can lead to a variety of negative outcomes, including health issues, poor academic performance, and increased risk of addiction and overdose. Increased rates of mental health challenges among youth, as well as rising overdose rates driven by illicit fentanyl (even as youth substance use remains at historically low levels) underscores the need for multi-faceted prevention strategies that reduce risk factors that lead to drug use, support early intervention and linkage to services, and provide information and access to overdose prevention resources such as naloxone.
(My Comment: This is not a fun topic. But it’s very real, here in Anchorage as well as rural Alaska. It exists in all socioeconomic groups. This is why I have offered, several times, a policy that makes available mental health outreach to students age 16 years and older. Prevention is the key. Treatment, after a person is caught in the web of addiction, is very long and of limited success.)
Somebody dies of an overdose every five minutes. State could do much more to lower that toll. Governing
In 2023, for the third consecutive year, drug overdose deaths robbed more than 100,000 Americans of their lives, according to recently released data. The scale of this loss — a fivefold increase from the early 2000s — is shocking: Overdose deaths today outnumber fatalities from gun violence and car accidents combined. Despite the crisis we are in, 85.1 percent of people with a substance use disorder didn’t receive any addiction treatment in the past year
|
