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Current Topics
Slow progress. Axios
LeanIn launched the workplace report back in 2015 with the goal of helping women advance professionally. There's been progress since then, but it's been fairly slow. The share of C-Suite leaders who are women rose to 28% this year, according to the research. Back in 2015, women only held 17% of those roles.
Alyeska Resort Unveils Bold Expansion Plan. Alaska Business
Alyeska Resort unveiled its ambitious expansion vision to the Girdwood community at the Sitzmark Bar & Grill September 21, including rental housing for employees and local workers, complete with a daycare and community center with pool, open-air hockey, and a fitness area; a traditional ski area resort village; and a low-density housing development near Glacier Creek.
Oldest sign of humans in Americas. Axios
Humans trod North America's landscape thousands of years earlier than once thought, Reuters reports from research confirming the antiquity of 61 fossilized footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The footprints, found at what was a lakeshore, date to 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, according to the study in the journal Science.
Education
Top-performing U.S. schools. Axios
The American schools achieving the best results for kids are run by the Pentagon: Last year, these schools' students outperformed every other American district in reading and math. Defense Department-run schools operate all across U.S. domestic and foreign military bases and teach 66,000 students — larger than Boston Public Schools
(My Comment: Schools performing well are well-funded and teachers are paid more. Interesting concept with interesting results.)
Economy
Alaskans get a $1,312 oil dividend check this year. The political cost of the benefit is high. AP News
But the unique-to-Alaska benefit has become a blessing and a curse in a state that for decades has ridden the boom-bust cycle of oil, and it now competes for funding with services like public education, health care programs and public safety as lawmakers tap into the earnings to help fund the state budget. Squabbling over the oil checks’ size has resulted in legislative paralysis, and a Senate proposal aimed at resolving the dividend debate this year fizzled with no agreement.
October Issue of Alaska Trends Magazine. Alaska Department of Labor & Workforce Development
To help identify what makes people likely to stick with a certain type of work, although not necessarily for the same employer, we estimated annual turnover percentages for select Alaska occupations in 2022 and ranked them from high to low...
Opinion: We need to do everything we can to keep Alaskans in Alaska. ADN
In Alaska, retiree pension spending supports 8,778 jobs and $1.6 billion in total economic output. For example, when retired public employees receive their pensions, they spend the pension check on goods and services in the local community.
(My Comment: There are about 64,000 public employees in Alaska. Their employee benefits & pensions ripple out to at least 2-3 times that many family members, probably many, many more.)
Why CPI matters for retirees. Axios
The Consumer Price Index is due out on Oct 12. While it's a number that always matters for understanding inflation trends, this one has extra significance. September's CPI is the final data point needed to calculate the cost of living adjustment that 71 million recipients of Social Security retirement and disability benefits see for 2024. It looks likely that the COLA will be in the low 3% range.
(My comment: Sounds great to hear there’s a COLA for social security. But remember that Alaska teachers and some other public employees do not qualify for Social Security. Alaska dropped out of social security system in the 1950s for public employees because we offered state defined benefit pension. That ended in 2006 and now leaves retirees without social security and elder retirees fall into poverty.)
Minerals
Canada's long forgotten lithium province. Mining News North
Lithium is used by various industries for its very light weight and its outstanding properties used in electrochemical energy storage technologies. Today, roughly 60% of the lithium produced worldwide is used to manufacture batteries, which has climbed from 30% in recent years. This lightest of all the metals is also needed for the manufacture of heat-resistant glass and ceramics, lubricants, steel and aluminum, rubber, and more.
(My comment: No renewable energy sources can be developed without mining. Northwest Territories, Canada, holds huge deposits of many of those critical renewable resource minerals.)
Why minerals don't have to be the new oil. Axios
Two boldface names in wonk circles say electric vehicle growth won't inevitably require the U.S. to be overwhelmingly reliant on China. A new essay by Brian Deese, ex-head of President Joe Biden's National Economic Council, and Columbia University's Jason Bordoff lays out why EVs and other climate-friendly tech don't simply replace oil reliance with a new form of resource insecurity.
Fisheries
Salmon are spawning in Arctic rivers, researchers confirm. Phys.Org
Researchers have confirmed that salmon are spawning in an Arctic Ocean watershed, suggesting that at least some salmon species could be expanding to new territory as climate change reshapes their habitat.
Politics
Changes in Washington- and impacts far beyond. Axios
Tommy Beaudreau is stepping down from the No. 2 role at Interior, which regulates energy development on huge swaths of public lands and waters. He's seen as a relatively moderate voice on oil and gas who deeply understands the industry. Beaudreau was confirmed in a bipartisan, 88-9 Senate vote in 2021, and also spent years in senior roles in the Obama-era Interior.
Alaska Lawmakers Urge FTC To Block Kroger-Albertsons Merger. KSRM
Last month, a spokesperson from Kroger announced they would divest 14 stores throughout Alaska to C&S Wholesale Grocers, the parent company for Grand Union and Piggly Wiggly grocery stores.
Alaska labor union files grievance with state over payroll problems. ADN
Public employees aren't being paid accurately or on-time.
Is American Polarization a Reality or a Political Strategy? Governing
Party leaders have been selecting more extreme candidates for some time now. Party leadership is playing a big role in how extreme our candidates are getting ideologically. Voters are not getting the choices they deserve when we look at the difference between their beliefs and the beliefs of elected leaders.
Dealing with that has to do with changing incentives. Some of us are looking at things like getting rid of primaries and having ranked-choice voting, the way they've done it in Alaska, to create incentives for people to run in a less extreme way. Other academics are looking at things like proportional representation to try to get extremes out of politics.
Opinion: The Permanent Fund's trustees make enough dumb decisions in plain view. Imagine if they could shut out the public entirely. ADN
The public knows far less about the machinations of the Permanent Fund Corp. or its governor-appointed six-member Board of Trustees — which chugs along with no legislative oversight — than it really should. That is frightening. After all, paraphrasing bank robber Willie Sutton, that’s where the money is.
Health Care
Child Care Funding Deadline Approaching: It's Your Move, States. NCSL
It has been one blow after another for the child care workforce. Financial strain from rising operational costs and reduced enrollment during the pandemic forced many child care programs to cut staff or close their doors. Last summer, one-third of early childhood workers reported struggling to pay for basic needs such as housing, food or utilities. Surveys show those with the greatest financial hardship also experienced the greatest emotional distress. Researchers warn this degree of stress on caregivers can negatively affect their ability to provide nurturing and responsive care.
The Ozempic effect. Axios
As Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs become more popular, Americans might start buying less food, particularly high-calorie snacks and fast food.
Walgreens hit by pharmacy staff walkout. Axios
Walgreens pharmacists and store workers have planned walkouts at some locations through Wednesday in the latest labor unrest to roil the health sector. Pharmacies closed on Monday at Walgreens locations in Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts and Oregon, CNN confirmed, while employees took to social media to complain about understaffing and deteriorating working conditions.
(My Comment: Walgreens is under Express Scripts PBM (Pharmacy Benefit Manager). Pharmacists are caught between the PBM (whose mission is profit) and the customer (you, who need knowledgeable professionals to provide you with the correct medication and to answer your questions).
New NIST Method Can Better Identify Sneaky Sugars on Viruses' Spikey Weapons. NIST
The chief weapon many viruses use to latch onto and invade a victim’s cell is a spike-shaped protein jutting from the virus surface. Because the spike proteins play an essential role in the infection process, vaccines and treatment methods often target them, but these proteins are not easy marks. One reason is that each spike protein is draped in a varied bunch of sugar molecules. These sugars help the virus particle both infect the cell and evade the immune system. Until now, our ability to determine the types of sugars at specific spots on the spike proteins has largely depended on educated guesswork. "Answering that question requires details of the particle’s molecular structure to be known, but until now this ‘sugar coating’ has not been known with precision. Any uncertainties in its structure will lead to uncertainties in unraveling its behavior."
See what the National Institute of Science & Technology (NIST) is finding out.
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