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Current Topics
Alaska
opens two special hunts to aid Southwest Alaska residents affected by
typhoon. Alaska Beacon
Alaska Department of Fish and
Game will open
an emergency moose hunt in Southwest Alaska, near the town of Quinhagak,
in order to help victims of Typhoon Halong, which devastated
communities in the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta last month.
Alaska
aims to regulate its own hazardous waste. Alaska Public Media
Alaska might soon regulate
its own hazardous waste if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
authorizes the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation’s new
hazardous waste program. Alaska is one of only two U.S. states without an
authorized program, the other being Iowa. That means the EPA
regulates the generation, storage and disposal of the state’s
hazardous waste.
Climate
threats could cost Alaska billions. After October's storm, advocates
say it's time to act. Alaska Beacon
Raising the money required to
relocate Newtok, a single Yup’ik village near the Bering Sea coast,
required more than more than a decade of effort and more than 40
grants from 35 separate state, federal and nongovernmental sources,
the report said. The cost of that project is now estimated to exceed
$150 million, according
to ProPublica.
Alaska
has a higher share of veterans than any other state. Alaska Public Media
Roughly 59,000 residents
are veterans, making up 8% of the state’s population. The national
average is 5%.
Things That I Found Interesting
Alaska's
official state medallion revealed. Alaska's News Source
This year’s design is a
baby bear holding on to a tree branch. Anchorage artist Riana Sather
had the winning design.
This
Alaska lab is key for tracking deadly tsunamis. Its seismic sensors
are about to go offline. ADN
After NOAA ceased funding
to the lab that’s been monitoring seismic activity for more than 25
years, nine stations tracking tsunami-causing earthquakes for the
agency will go offline by the end of the month.
An
increase in Anchorage wolf encounters sparks curiosity, not alarm. Alaska Public Media
Stantorf estimated there
are two or three packs of wolves in the game unit that borders the
city, but said negative encounters are unusual.
Energy
Chevron's
data center details and more biz notes. Axios
Glenfarne, developer of a
planned Alaska gas pipeline and LNG project, has tapped Baker Hughes
to supply key equipment and power generation. Baker Hughes also
"committed to a strategic investment" in the
project. The agreement fills in more blanks on the long-planned
project, but its viability remains a question mark amid competing
Gulf Coast supplies and other hurdles.
Economy
Steady
employment, but more layoff announcements. Axios
The Bank of America data
shows a widening gap between high earners and low earners, with
paychecks for the top third of earners up 3.7% year on year, but
bottom-third earners up only 1%.
Politics
Opponents
of ranked choice voting say they have gathered 48,000 signatures in
effort to repeal it. ADN
Repeal
Now supporters gather to 'Dump Ranked Choice Voting'. Alaska's News Source
The voting method has since
been used in state and federal elections. It has been celebrated by
some elected Alaska politicians who say it favors moderate candidates
more likely to work across the aisle. But conservative Republicans
have largely decried the election reform, warning that it makes it
harder for farther-right GOP members to win elections, and reduces
the power of the GOP to pick its own candidates through a closed
primary system.
(My comment: If you like the
Federal Shut-Down and dysfunctional Congress, you will love this
repeal of OPEN PRIMARY and Ranked Choice General (Instant
Runoff). Far-Right Republicans want to take control of elections
away from voters. Alaska’s present election system requires the
winner to hold more than 50% of the votes. It allows people to run
for office without having the blessing of a political party. It
allows the Top Four vote getters in the Open Primary to be on the
General Election ballot.)
Parks
trashed. Axios
America's national
parks — partially open despite the government shutdown — have
become playgrounds for unsupervised visitors who are wreaking havoc
on wildlife and fragile ecosystems.
Supreme
Court will decide whether states can count late-arriving mail
ballots. ADN
Mississippi is among 18
states and the District of Columbia that accept mailed ballots
received after Election Day as long as the ballots are postmarked on
or before that date
(My comment: This
jeopardizes the votes of overseas Alaskans and those who live in
rural Alaska.)
Sorry,
Trump. Americans still see Canada as a friend. The Walrus
Most Americans still like
the Canadians, despite current negative political postering by US.
Health Care
Trump
administration ordered to pay full $9B in November SNAP benefits amid
shutdown. Alaska Beacon
A federal judge in Rhode
Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to pay roughly $9
billion for a full month of nutrition assistance benefits by the next
day.
DOH:
State-funded SNAP benefits to be distributed as early as this week. Alaska's News Source
Alaska’s Department of
Health says state-funded SNAP benefits could be delivered as early as
this week, following the governor’s signing
of a disaster declaration Monday, promising aid to the 66,000
Alaskans impacted by the dissolution of SNAP funding from
the government
shutdown.
As
federal guidance shifts, Alaska reduces planned SNAP payment. Alaska Public Media
As recently as Friday,
division director Deb Etheridge said state officials were preparing
to fully refill SNAP debit cards following an appeals court ruling.
But then, over the weekend,
after the Supreme Court stepped in to pause that ruling, the federal
government told
states they could only issue a total of 65% of the monthly benefit. President Trump threatened financial penalties if
states did not comply.
A
week after declaring emergency, Alaska has not yet spent state funds
on food assistance. ADN
Alaska has not
spent state funds to replace lost federal food assistance, state officials said today, despite Gov. Mike
Dunleavy’s promise to do so.
As
federal guidance shifts, Alaska reduces planned SNAP payment. Alaska Public Media
Alaska
Obamacare costs would skyrocket without extension, data shows. Alaska's News Source
For nearly 28,000 Alaska
residents, their healthcare costs could skyrocket if Congress fails
to extend federal subsidies that expire in December, with some
families potentially paying more than half their income for
insurance, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation and
Alaska’s Division of Insurance.
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