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Current Topics
Palmer Potato Pioneers chosen as 2024 Farm Family of the Year. Alaska Business
Longtime Palmer-area farming family Bruce and Vickie Bush were selected as the 2024 Farm Family of the Year this week by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Agriculture and the Alaska State Fair.
Farmers markets strengthen Alaska's economy and community spirit. ADN
Stuff I Found Interesting
The New York Cafe celebrates 100 years on Stedman Street with a historic preservation grant. KRBD
Stephen Reeve, a local architect and historic preservationist, said the New York Café is the longest running restaurant in Alaska. He’s the one who entered the café into the running for the National Trust for Historic Preservation grant. He was Ketchikan’s first city planner, and he owns the historic building that now houses the New York Café.
Economy
2024 Second-quarter ConocoPhillips Alaska earnings review. ConocoPhillips Alaska
10 states with America's worst infrastructure, and most to gain from billions in federal dollars. CNBC
Alaska has worst infrastructure in the nation.
(My comment: See narrative and specifics at end where Alaska infrastructure is described. If we had spent even half of the $23 Billion paid in PFDs on infrastructure, we would not be in this sad condition. Yes, we’ve handed out $23 Billion in PFDs and have nothing to show for it. People are moving out, despite the PFD allegedly intended to keep them here.)
New job numbers raise alarm bells on recession risk. Axios
Something is going wrong in the mighty U.S. economy. The evidence has been building for months in various minor data points. Now, the big kahuna of economic data confirms it. The July employment numbers showed weak job creation and the highest unemployment rate since October 2021. The jobless rate is still low, but in a healthy economy, the kind of rise we've seen — a gain of 0.6 percentage points since January — simply doesn't happen.
Fisheries
Cook Inlet setnetters turn to seining in effort to save east side fishery. Alaska Public Media
Gillnets catch when fish swim into the diamond-shaped spaces in the net. Gills get caught on the net, and the fish can’t swim away. That makes the nets effective for catching fish, but also means most of the fish are dead by the time the net is pulled out of the water. That can be problematic when fishermen catch a non-target species — in the cast of the east side setnet fishery, king salmon.
Childcare
Lawmakers say they're puzzled by Gov. Dunleavy's veto of $5M for K-3 reading, a goal of his signature education bill. Alaska Public Media
A pair of state House lawmakers are calling on their colleagues to reconvene to restore millions in funding erased by Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s line-item vetoes that they say was meant to achieve one of the governor’s signature priorities. Among Dunleavy’s more than $225 million in line-item budget reductions was $5.2 million set aside for students in kindergarten through third grade.
Senate Republicans block a child tax credit expansion. ADN
Senate Republicans blocked legislation Thursday to cut taxes for working families and extend some corporate tax breaks, dooming a bipartisan compromise that the House had overwhelmingly approved and raising the stakes on taxes for this fall’s elections.
(My comment: Sad. An example of how the US Senate, and Congress in general, is out of touch with American families and workforce. Thankfully, we in Alaska did pass a child care tax credit law, and Governor allowed it to become law.)
Alaska child care study shows sizable state subsidy group. ADN
The study shows the average monthly cost of providing child care at licensed centers across Alaska ranges from $1,785 for infants to $1,250 for preschoolers. The average monthly cost of providing child care at home-based centers averages at $911 per child.
New Anchorage school start times have families wondering where they'll find care for young kids. Alaska Public Media
In a survey of nearly 1,000 Alaska parents last year, one in four people said they had reduced work hours, quit or changed their job to care for their children over the last four years.
Politics
Number of the day: 15-4. Axios
That's the easy passage of bipartisan permitting legislation through the Senate's energy committee on July 31. The bill aims to speed development of fossil fuels, renewables and transmission.
(My comment: We need “all of the above” to light and heat Alaska. That’s the direction we are going but need all Alaskans to realize the need to more forward.
Trump says immigrants are taking "Black jobs," but there's no such thing. Axios
The notion that immigrants take U.S. workers' jobs away has been debunked and debated by economists for years. "On balance, when you read the data, it appears that the effect of immigration on the employment of natives is small or nonexistent," said Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan.
Immigrants don't only work in the U.S., they also are consumers themselves — meaning they increase demand for goods and services, which can help economies grow. They also start new companies that end up employing thousands of Americans. For starters, there are no Black jobs in the U.S., because there is not any kind of racial requirement for employment.
The vanishing soul of Alaska. ADN
Gov. Dunleavy vetoes 5 bills adopted by the Alaska House after legislative deadline. ADN
Governor vetoes 5 bills passed after 2024 legislative deadline. Alaska's News Source
Gov. Dunleavy vetoes 5 bills passed after midnight on last day of legislative session. Alaska Public Media
Gov. Mike Dunleavy said Thursday that he had vetoed five bills that were adopted by lawmakers after the constitutional deadline for the end of the legislative session.
Healthcare
Wells Fargo relationship with Express Scripts under scrutiny in new lawsuit. Fierce Healthcare
Across approximately 300 generic drugs, Wells Fargo and Express Scripts made employees pay a markup on average of 114.97% what it costs pharmacies to obtain the drugs, the lawsuit alleges. For specialty drugs, employees said they paid a markup of 383% on average.
Charted: Mental health market surges. Axios
The findings help quantify the scope of mental health and opioid crises even before the worst of the pandemic, while acknowledging there's still a large undiagnosed population.
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