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Murkowski’s message at AFN? “Climate change is real.”

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On stage at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention Saturday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski did not mince words.

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“Climate change is real,” Murkowski told the audience firmly. “Climate change is real.”

Murkowski wasn’t the only one delivering that message. Climate change was very much on the agenda this year, as delegates passed a resolution asking the federal government to make climate impacts in rural villages eligible for disaster relief.

Murkowski opened her speech Saturday with a discussion of healthcare, but quickly pivoted.

“While healthcare has been the issue that has been dominating our days, it isn’t the issue that is defining our time,” Murkowski said. “Our world is changing. The world around us is changing: socially, economically, and ecologically. And we all know that climate change is at the heart of this change.”

Murkoswki said effects are being felt across the state: “Newtok, Kivalina, Shishmaref: these are the names that seem to most make the news,” she said. “But it’s also our Interior communities as well. Almost every village faces similar impact. ”

And, Murkowski said it’s time to take action. As for what that action might look like, Murkowski focused on alternative energy systems being pioneered in remote communities around the state, saying Alaska can lead the way on energy innovation.

“Confronting climate change and adapting to it will take leadership, it will take partnership and attention to social justice if we are to find the strength to tackle the issue together,” Murkowski said.

Murkowski’s focus on climate change puts her at odds with the Trump administration and many in her own party, including the rest of the Alaska delegation. But she remains one of the oil industry’s strongest supporters in Congress. Just last week, she advanced a resolution that could be the first step in opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling — a victory she did not mention from the AFN stage.

AFN also gave prominent billing Friday to one of the villages most affected by climate change. Newtok Village Council president Paul Charles told the gathering that his community is being destroyed by rapid erosion and thawing permafrost.

“However you want to call it, it is real,” Charles said. “And my village is in trouble. So what’s next? We need funding. Not only for Newtok, but other communities that are going through the same thing.”

On Saturday, AFN delegates passed a resolution introduced by the village of Newtok, calling on the federal government to expand the definition of a major disaster to include the “slow-moving” impacts of climate change, like thawing permafrost.

The Obama administration denied federal disaster requests earlier this year from both Newtok and Kivalina, saying they did not meet the requirements of the Stafford Act, the major law governing disaster assistance in the U.S. That means Alaska villages facing climate-related erosion aren’t eligible for the kind of disaster relief currently going to Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico in the aftermath of major hurricanes.

Former ambassador Mark Brzezinski said the Obama administration was considering changing that definition during its last weeks in office, but ran out of time. Brzezinski led the White House Arctic Executive Steering Committee under Obama. He spoke on a panel at AFN Friday. In an interview afterwards, he called on the Trump administration or Congress to finish that work.

“It would be a great act of leadership on the part of our federal government to take a specific look at changing the definition of what is a disaster to help those towns and cities, as part of a reconciliation between Washington and the federal government and the Alaska Native community,” Brzezinski said.

For her part, Murkowski didn’t directly address the issue of disaster relief for villages. But she said the impacts of climate change will be felt disproportionately in rural Alaska.

“Our challenge is to improve the resilience of our communities now, not wait for the disasters to come,” Murkowski said.

At AFN, at least, many would argue the disasters are already here.


Fourth special session opens with differences over crime, tax bills

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Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, speaks about crime legislation on Monday. She said the Legislature should take time to consider what changes should be made. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)

The Legislature started its fourth special session of the year Monday in Juneau, with two items on its agenda. One bill would make changes to the state’s criminal justice laws, while the other would introduce a new tax. But lawmakers have differences over the bills.

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Of the two items on the special session agenda, there appears to be more urgency to pass the crime bill. The Senate has already passed the bill. The House moved quickly to skip one of the three committees that was scheduled to hear it.

Anchorage Democratic Rep. Chris Tuck said passing the bill is a priority.

“Crime is on the rise here in Alaska,” Tuck said. “Alaskans do want a fast fix. And much like the governor, I can’t stomach going another day, jeopardizing public safety.”

Seven Republican House members, mostly from Matanuska-Susitna Borough, voted against considering the bill. At least some of these lawmakers would like to fully repeal Senate Bill 91. That’s the state law passed last year that changed the state’s criminal sentencing, bail and probation laws.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Charisse Millett said the House should take more time considering what it should do regarding crime.

“This is the biggest issue facing my constituents in Anchorage,” Millett said. “Crime is out of control, whether it’s because of SB 91 or not. Mr. Speaker, I believe that this bill deserves a full vetting.”

The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled up to three hours of public testimony on the crime bill on Tuesday night.

Senate Bill 54 would increase the penalties for class C felonies and petty thefts. It would also increase penalties for people who violate conditions of release.

The tax bill, SB 4001, may face a more difficult road than the crime bill. Anchorage Democratic Sen. Berta Gardner said the two bills are connected. She said funds from taxes will pay for behavioral health care, police and prosecutors that will reduce crime.

“We want a state in which Alaskans feel secure and comfortable and safe in their homes and communities,” Gardner said. “And we want people to feel proud, continue to feel proud, of living in Alaska. We have to support it. Talk’s cheap. Funding public health and public safety is not.”

Senate President Pete Kelly, a Fairbanks Republican, said there are other ways the Legislature can fund public safety. He favors a bill that would draw money from Alaska Permanent Fund earnings to pay for state government. Both chambers have passed the bill, but the House tied its version to a tax increase.

“If you want to make that linkage, then what we need to have on the call is SB 26,” Kelly said. “Because SB 26 funds everything.”

While the House will stay in Juneau for the special session, most senators are going to reconvene in Anchorage to hold committee meetings. Kelly said that with much of the focus on a crime bill that the Senate has already passed, it doesn’t make sense for the Senate to remain in Juneau.

Kelly said the move to Anchorage would save money and prevent disruption.

“There’s no reason for us to be down here waiting for the House to act on a bill we can do nothing about,” Kelly said, referring to SB 54. “We’ve already voted for it.”

The Senate did take one set of actions today. It removed Palmer Republican Sen. Shelley Hughes from three of her four committee assignments, after she left the majority caucus.

Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens will take her place on the budget-writing Finance Committee. Soldotna Sen. Peter Micciche will sit on the Labor and Commerce Committee, and Fairbanks Sen. Click Bishop will be on the Resources Committee. All three of Hughes’ replacements are Republicans.

Mental health clinicians work to keep students safe in Kodiak schools

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Kodiak High School. (Photo by Kayla Desroches / KMXT)

It’s been at least nine years since a student in the Kodiak Island Borough School District has taken his or her own life. That’s in part due to the work that many organizations in Kodiak work to keep children safe. The Kodiak Island Borough School District and the Providence Kodiak Island Counseling Center have partnered for years to provide mental health services to the region’s schools.

It’s been a long time since the Kodiak Island Borough School District has lost a student to suicide. For at least nine years, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services says not a single person between the ages of 5 and 19 has taken his or her life in the Kodiak Island Borough. It also said from 2012 to 2016, the Kodiak region had one of the lowest rates of suicide in the state.

Dr. Larry LeDoux is the district’s superintendent. He said he’s lost students to suicide in the past, so he’s grateful for this reprieve.

“Sometimes I don’t know why we haven’t had any, I’m just thankful we haven’t had any,” LeDoux said.

The school district includes around a dozen schools across the Kodiak archipelago. LeDoux said the recent lull can’t be attributed to any one thing.

“If I were to point a finger at why do we have fewer suicides it’s because we have a community working together to keep kids safe,” LeDoux said. “And so we can do our best as a school system as a community just to make sure that people have services readily available and that’s what we’re doing.”

LeDoux said that community includes mental health professionals. The district partners with the Providence Kodiak Island Counselling Center, also known as PKICC, to bring mental health clinicians into schools. Mary Guillas-Hawver is the director of PKICC.

“Our clinicians have their fingers on the pulses on what’s going on in the school,” Guillas-Hawver said,

Guillas-Hawver thinks the lack of suicides over the last 9 years has a lot to do with the counseling center’s relationship with the district. The counseling center has worked with the school district to keep students safe for over 20 years.

Four clinicians are embedded in Kodiak’s public schools. Two serve the city’s elementary schools and two serve its middle and high school. As for rural schools, they, also get regular visits from clinicians, who are constantly on the lookout for signs of distress in students. Among the red flags: thoughts of suicide.

“They are trained to watch for any behavior or anything that might indicate that child may be in need of additional help,” Guillas-Hawver said.

The clinicians work with students on issues ranging from learning disabilities, addiction, and trauma. Guillas-Hawver thinks their interventions have been key to preventing tragedies in Kodiak communities. That’s especially important in Alaska, which had the second highest suicide rate in the United States in 2015 according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Alaska is a vast, vast, geographical place, but when it comes to population we’re really are very small, Guillas-Hawver said. “So, one person lost affects the community very very badly.”

Jolene Rogers worked as a clinician in Kodiak Schools for two years. She now works with older teens and adults. Rogers says she loved working with students.

“It’s catching kids that are falling through the cracks,” Rogers said. “That might get overlooked and it’s giving them a place where they feel like they belong.”

As a clinician, Rogers got to see kids grow and feel more confident. She said it was also good to work with school counselors and teachers to figure out what it would take to make a student feel supported.

“Do they need a snack at this part of the day? Do they just need a high five from a certain adult figure in the school? Do they need a positive male figure in their life? Who can we use to fill that need?” Rogers said. “And I think at the end of the day our goal is to have our kids learn and thrive in their classrooms.”

PKICC clinicians don’t stop treating students when the school year is over. They stay in contact with them over summer breaks as well. It’s this kind of attention that makes the program so effective.

The district plans to continue improving and revising its partnership with the Providence Kodiak Island Counseling Center to keep students safe — and successful.

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If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts please call the Alaska Careline at 1-877-266-4357. That’s 1-877-266-4357. You can call 24 hrs a day, seven days a week. You’ll be connected with someone who you talk to about what you’re going through. It’s free and confidential. They can help, really. Call the Alaska Careline at 1-877-266-4357.

National tribal advocacy group calls for reinstating Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area

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(NOAA photo)

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) held its annual conference the same week as the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. The national tribal advocacy group passed a resolution urging the federal government to restore the Northern Bering Sea Climate Resilience Area as originally issued and to incorporate traditional knowledge “into all federal decision-making that would affect the northern Bering Sea region.”

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The resolution mirrors similar resolutions passed by the Association of Village Council Presidents and the Kawerak native regional non-profit corporation. Both groups, along with the Bering Sea Elders Group, had advocated for the designation.

The Resilience Area was created in December 2016 in an executive order signed by President Obama. The order required the federal government to consult with Alaska Native tribes on decisions affecting the Northern Bering Sea and to gather traditional knowledge to inform decisions regarding the region.

In April of this year President Trump extinguished that order, removing the tribal consultation requirement and potentially opening Arctic waters to off-shore oil and gas leasing.

Juneau warming shelter plan takes shape

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The Alaska Department of Public Safety building in January 2012. (File photo by Casey Kelly/KTOO)

The City and Borough of Juneau is pushing forward with plans for an emergency warming shelter that would open its doors to the homeless when temperatures drop below freezing.

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A key Assembly committee met Monday and agreed – in principle — to commit $75,000 for the downtown warming shelter it hopes to have ready by mid-November.

City Manager Rorie Watt said his office is in talks with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority to rent a portion of the former state public safety building on Whittier Avenue.

The rent would be at market rate, around $8,000 for the winter, though he said the city could apply to the Trust’s board for a discount.

“We recognize that the Mental Health Trust is a willing building owner that would be easy to work with on this topic that I don’t think would be true of all private building owners,” Watt told Assembly members.

The city had looked at using its downtown transit center, which already is a common place for homeless people to congregate. But Watt told the Assembly he could see problems with that idea.

“The transit center, you know, it has a day function, and part of the thinking was that if it is a night warming shelter, and then magically at 7 a.m. in the morning it stops being a warming shelter and tries to become a transit center, that’s not really going to be successful,” Watt said. “It’s going to be a day-round shelter.”

The warming center would be designed to accommodate about 25 people.

The city estimates it would be open as-needed between mid-November and mid-April.

The Juneau Commission on Housing and Homelessness brought the idea of a warming shelter to the Assembly’s task force on homelessness, which endorsed the plan.

The Juneau Assembly must formally authorize the warming shelter next month for it to open by Nov. 15.

Test results point to achievement gaps among Sitka’s students

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Sitka co-assistant superintendent Sarah Ferrency explains the methodology behind district testing. Rationalizing the dip in scores following the adoption of new standards in 2012 she said, “Let’s be realistic. Kids on average don’t change a lot year to year. The kids’ learning has stayed roughly the same, but the way the test measured it has changed.” (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

Based on the latest test scores, Sitka’s school district is performing above the state average — but the numbers are not necessarily something to brag about. Instead, Sitka’s educators hope the new test results help them focus their efforts on under-performing populations in the schools.

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Depending on the subject area, Sitka’s rates of proficiency are “pretty low” according to assistant superintendent Sarah Ferrency — running from around 33 to over 60-percent.

In general, Sitka students are performing at far higher levels in Science (67-percent) than they are in Math (37-percent). In English Language Arts, just over half — about 55-percent — are proficient.

Ferrency told the Sitka School Board during a work session earlier this month that none of this was unexpected.

“The standards that this assessment is assessing were only adopted five years ago,” Ferrency said. “It took districts a couple of years to get their new instruction in place. In a lot of ways this new set of standards is more rigorous than the old standards, so it’s not super-surprising that our students may not be proficient yet, because they haven’t had a lifetime of instruction in these new, more rigorous standards.”

It has been a rocky road for testing in Alaska since the adoption of new standards in 2012 — many of which were aligned with a national effort to improve curriculum called “Common Core.” Sitka students fared pretty well under the old testing regime — called the Standards Based Assessment, or SBA. Following the adoption of the new standards came the new test, the Alaska Measures of Progress — or AMP — which was eventually cancelled after an internet connection was severed during the middle of testing in the spring of 2016, causing catastrophic delays.

The new, new test is called PEAKS, or the Performance Evaluation for Alaska’s Schools.

Both Sitka’s AMP results — and now its PEAKS results — are far lower than the SBA. Nevertheless, Ferrency said that Sitka’s kids are not going downhill.

“Let’s be realistic. Kids on average don’t change a lot year to year,” Ferrency said. “The kids’ learning has stayed roughly the same, but the way the test measured it has changed.”

School board member Dionne Brady-Howard argued that education advocates should carry a clear message to the Alaska legislature next January.

“That our test data is changing not because they’re not getting enough for their money spent, but because nobody’s been able to land on a consistent set of standards or testing that has spanned these students’ careers, to consistently figure out where they are,” Brady-Howard said.

But even though the standardized test results don’t fully address the quality of education in the district, Ferrency said they had value — primarily in identifying troubled population groups in schools.

According to Ferrency, the biggest at-risk group in Sitka’s schools is not who you might think it is.

“About 35-40 percent of Sitka’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and that number’s been going up in recent years,” Ferrency said. “I think it’s of note that economically-disadvantaged students are actually our largest subgroup, of all the groups that we look at.”

The other large subgroup performing below its peers has been of concern for years: Alaska Natives. Ferrency explained that the best way to improve overall district performance was to put energy into economically-disadvantaged students and Alaska Natives.

“These two are the areas we want to focus on. I don’t want to call it low-hanging fruit, because it’s not easy,” Ferrency said. “But these are the areas where we’ll have the most impact. It’s where the highest numbers of students are affected, and where the achievement gaps are largest.”

PEAKS, Ferrency pointed out, is designed to test only whether students meet or exceed a certain standard. It doesn’t point out shortcomings in knowledge or content. For that, it turns out, you need more than data. You need teachers.

Ask a Climatologist: First snows accumulate around the state, about on time

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Snow blankets the hidden lake trail above Anchorage, Oct. 22, 2017. (Photo by Elizabeth Harball/Alaska’s Energy Desk)

The first measurable snow of the season fell in Anchorage Saturday. The city got three-tenths of an inch.

The snow came six days later than normal, according to Brian Brettschneider, with our Ask a Climatologist segment.

Brettschneider says the first measurable snow is different than the first trace of snow.

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Interview Transcript:

Brian: A trace means less than one-tenth of an inch. That could be a snow flurry or it could be a dusting that’s less than one-tenth of an inch. Normally, the first trace of snow would be observed on Oct. 5, but we didn’t even get a flurry until our measurable snow on Oct. 21, so our trace amount was actually 16 days late versus six days late for measurable snow.

(Graphic courtesy of Brian Brettschneider)

Annie: What about the rest of the state?

Brian: This season, the rest of the state is pretty much on track. Some places were a little early. Some places are a little late. The only place that’s pretty late right now is Bethel. They should have had their first measurable snow on Oct. 11. So they’re pushing two weeks late on their measurable snow.

Annie: Has climate change impacted when the first snow occurs in Alaska?

Brian: The first snow is this great marker for the season: it’s winter. Because we are warming, that’s incontrovertible, we are warming, Alaska’s warming faster than the rest of the world, that means we’re having shorter winters. That being said, the date of the first snow fall is really a very poor marker for climate change because you can have a small confluence of local events dump a quick tenth or two-tenths of snow and then you’ve marked it in the books as your first snow date. So generally around the state we haven’t shifted that date very much over time. For example Fairbanks, their first measurable snow date is about three days earlier now than it used to be. Other places like Bethel, it’s about three days later. So most places are within about a week or so of the date now versus when the date was say, more than 40 years ago.

Annie: Does the first snow of the season mean anything for how much snow we’re going to get during the winter?

Brian: Everyone likes to say, “Oh we had an early snow, that means it’s going to be a good snow winter,” or “man the first snow was really late. We haven’t had much snow in October, that means it’s going to be a really low snow winter.” The thing is, in Alaska, it makes no difference at all. If you plot out all the dots of when snow fell versus the seasonal total, you get just complete random patterns. It means absolutely nothing.

Amid doping scandal, a mushing whodunit

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Dallas Seavey coming into the checkpoint at Galena. (Photo by Zachariah Hughes/KSKA)
Dallas Seavey at the checkpoint in Galena during the 2016 Iditarod, which he won.(Photo by Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media)

The mushing world has been rocked by an unfolding scandal over doping in the Iditarod. It started two weeks ago, when the race’s governing body announced it was changing rules for drug tests after a banned substance was found in four dogs from a top team.

Speculation ignited.

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On Monday, the Iditarod Trail Committee announced they were dogs belonging to four-time champion Dallas Seavey. But Seavey insists he didn’t do it, which is fueling a mystery right beside the ballooning controversy.

As the dust settles on news that four of Seavey’s dogs tested positive for the synthetic opioid tramadol, there are a few major questions looming. The biggest is: did Seavey give his dogs drugs to do better in mushing’s most high-profile and lucrative race?

“I am probably the only person on the planet who can say one hundred percent definitively that I did not give this to my dogs,” Seavey said in a phone interview on his way to the airport for a pre-scheduled business trip out of the country.

“This timing is not ideal,” Seavey said.

Seavey reiterated many of the points he discussed in a 17-minute-long video he posted just as his name was coming out in the press. He doesn’t believe it makes sense that someone familiar with the race’s drug-testing program would give high-levels of a banned substance to dogs in the hours close to finishing in Nome. He was only away from his dogs for a few minutes at the last checkpoint in Safety, and for four or five hours after arriving in Nome for dinner and rest. Seavey does not know when his dogs might have been exposed to tramadol, but he sees a few opportunities.

However, Seavey doesn’t dispute the positive drug test results, which has left him and everyone else involved searching for an explanation of who gave illicit painkillers to his dogs.

“I can’t honestly say,” Seavey said. “I don’t know. I want to find out, and I think this is the type of stuff the Iditarod should be looking into.”

According to Seavey, when race officials told him about the positive drug test in April he worked with them to figure out where the tramadol came from. His understanding was that based on the facts of the investigation, he was presumed innocent of breaking the rules and knowingly giving his dogs a substance to gain a competitive advantage. And the Iditarod Trail Committee’s Board of Directors never sanctioned him. His second-place finish still stands, he wasn’t asked to return any prize money, nor was he banned from future races.

But here is where things get complicated.

The Iditarod announced on October 9th that its board of directors had voted to change the race’s drug testing rules in a way that places the burden of proof on the musher if there’s a positive drug test. Previously, intent on the part of the musher had to be proven, which is a difficult standard to prove. When the Iditarod Trail Committee announced that change in a press release, they referenced a top-place musher’s failed test — without naming him or her, citing the sensitivity of the matter. Rumors of who it could be exploded, as did a demand from mushers for the offender to be identified.

In that vacuum of information, Seavey said enough clues emerged in ITC releases and leaks to members of the media that it was only a matter of time until people began accusing him of intentionally doping his dogs.

“I would have been shut up,” Seavey said, adding that once accusations started it would have removed his credibility. The video was a way to try and get ahead of what he saw as a damning and false narrative.

This brings up the case’s other significant question: was this incident mishandled?

Seavey says yes. He feels mistreated by the Iditarod’s Board of Directors, which he believes made it sound like he was guilty when there was no evidence he gave his dogs drugs. In the past, Seavey has used his star-power to criticize board decisions, like the allowance of two-way communication devices. But because of the so-called “gag rule,” which limits mushers’ ability to publicly criticize the race or its sponsors, Seavey felt he couldn’t speak openly about flaws he saw in the investigation and its handling. This is why he withdrew from the 2018 race.

“I will not subjugate myself to this board, the only authority they have over me is when I choose to compete in this race,” Seavey said. “The feeling from the board is that they can do whatever they want. The mushers will kick and scream, but come March we will be at the start. So I’m saying ‘no,’ I will not be at the start.”

“If you take all of the elements that we have in front of us, somehow those dogs were provided with tramadol,” Chas St. George, ITC’s Chief Operations Officer, said.

According to St. George, since the race started screening dogs for banned drugs in 1994 this is the first time there’s been a positive test in this mold. If the process of handling it appears flawed, St. George said that might be in part because it’s a precedent-setting response. And St. George pointed out, friction and disagreement between ITC’s board and mushers is as old as the race itself.

In his mind what’s concerning is that there is no prevailing explanation of how a top musher’s animals were given a powerful controlled substance used in veterinary medicine to treat chronic pain after surgery and from diseases like cancer.

“That unanswered question is disturbing,” St. George said.

Right now, Seavey and others are floating around the word “sabotage.” Perhaps from another competitor, a disgruntled handler, a rival fan or an anti-mushing animal-rights group. Several people mentioned the 2017 film “Sled Dogs” by director Fern Levitt, which ITC and Alaska mushers say was surreptitiously filmed under false pretenses to tell a one-sided story about abuses within a small number of kennels.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has been using the unfolding incident as an opportunity to further condemn the race for alleged mistreatment, though a spokesperson said Tuesday they had no personnel in Alaska during last year’s Iditarod.

If these theories seem conspiratorial and far-fetched, for many closest to the world of elite mushing they are more plausible explanations than the idea that Seavey intentionally doped his dog. On Facebook, a number of mushers have come out on Seavey’s side, including former champions like Lance Mackey to outspoken upstarts like Monica Zappa, who wrote simply, “I believe Dallas.”

One prominent defender is Jeff King, a four-time Iditarod winner and one of mushing’s elder statesmen, who’s competed neck-and-neck with the younger Seavey in recent years.

“I would love to find out who did this,” King said in an interview Tuesday. “I can think of several scenarios that are more believable than Dallas doing this. It strikes me as ludicrous.”

King has watched Seavey’s career progress over the years, and holds him and his prominent mushing family in the highest regard.

“His brothers took my daughters to the prom. And I don’t let just anybody take my daughters to the prom,” King said.

To King, the idea Seavey cheated in a way that was so surely going to be caught does not add up.

King thinks mushing is getting a black eye from what’s happening, but he isn’t pointing at any particular person or group as deserving of blame. He wishes the information had come to light sooner. But also hopes the issue will not become a wedge the divides Iditarod mushers from Iditarod’s governing body.

Seavey said one of the only redeeming parts of what’s unfolded in the last few weeks is the outpouring of support he’s received from fans, peers, and sponsors, none of whom have dropped him at this point.

“I have been through some incredibly physically challenging things, but I’ve always done OK on that,” Seavey said. “This is stressful and exhausting on a different level.”


Key critic says the votes aren’t there for full repeal of crime bill

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Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage; Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, R-Anchorage; Rep. Zach Fansler, D-Bethel; Rep. Matt Claman, D-Anchorage; and Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, D-Sitka, listen to testimony on Senate Bill 54 on Tuesday. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)

The Alaska Legislature is looking to revise last year’s law that overhauled the criminal justice system. But lawmakers don’t appear likely to repeal it.

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The House Judiciary Committee heard a variety of proposed changes to Senate Bill 54 on Tuesday. The bill would scale back some of the reductions in criminal sentencing enacted last year.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Charisse Millett is seeking to amend the bill. She expects that some representatives will introduce a repeal of last year’s Senate Bill 91.

“Reading the tea leaves, I see that we probably don’t have enough votes to do a full repeal, so I’m going to work on things that I see in the bill that are great changes that could significantly change what SB 91 has done to my community,” Millett said.

Millett said the largest change she’s seeking is to nix the reductions in criminal sentences made last year.

The House Judiciary Committee began considering amendments Tuesday. Public testimony on the bill was underway Tuesday night.

STEM advocates build network for Southeast classrooms to connect with local experts

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Brenda Taylor addresses teachers and would-be collaborators at a SouthEast Exchange STEM networking event. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)

Holding the attention of tomorrow’s scientists and engineers can be tricky. Fortunately, Juneau is rife with professionals who work in those fields every day.

A group of local STEM — or science, technology, engineering and math —  advocates is working on a database to make it easy for teachers to connect bookwork with real world work and find those professionals.

Jordan Watson is a fisheries scientist at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. Watson and other members of SouthEast Exchange, or SEE, wanted to find a way to bring all of those resources to teachers. They hosted a networking event recently to help bridge that gap.

“From mining expertise and engineering, kind of geology, we have the glacial, we have University of Alaska Southeast, University of Alaska Fairbanks has fisheries here, we have NOAA fisheries, we have all the state organizations,” Watson said.  “We have so many different expertise here and in such a small town, it would seem a shame to not be using it in the classrooms.”

About 150 educators and STEM professionals came to network and register in SEE’s directory.

Professor Shannon Atkinson introduces her new class to DEMBONES in December 2016. (Photo by Quinton Chandler/KTOO)

The goal is to create a database where teachers can search a topic such as “glaciers” or “bridge building” and immediately find contact info for someone local with expertise in that field.

For science and math educators, the opportunity to bring a professional into the classroom is not just a respite from the daily grind of teaching.

Carol May used to be an engineer, but found herself drawn to education. Now she’s an statistics and computer science teacher at Thunder Mountain High School.

“I can tell the kids, yeah, when I was an engineer I did this, but that was a long time ago and it doesn’t have the same credibility as somebody who’s actually doing it day to day,” May said.

Brenda Taylor is one of the co-chairs of the Juneau STEM Coalition and teaches math at Juneau Community Charter School. She said the kind of professionals they want to join their community aren’t just scientists and engineers, but photographers, artists and members of the Native community.

“The thing I think is really wonderful when you say STEM is you’re thinking about the discipline of how do you look at the world and how do you ask questions and how do you think about it?” Taylor said. “Here are all these different people who look at the world in all these different ways, right? As a piece of that as well is Alaska Natives who are looking at the world not only in terms of what they see right now, but all of their stories and tradition that they have inherited and that are their ancestors kind of talking through them. So how have people been understanding and making sense of this specific world here for 10,000 years?”

Thunder Mountain High School already hosts one very successful STEM collaboration.

About eight years ago, UAF professor Shannon Atkinson approached the school administration about creating a partnership between the campus and school.

It led to juniors and seniors rearticulating a marine mammal skeleton in class each semester. They learned about anatomy, ecology and environmental stewardship along the way.

Thunder Mountain marine sciences teacher Kristen Wells said somewhere between 300 and 400 students have taken the class to date, earning both high school and college credit.

“It’s a beautiful pairing that they actually get to work on a marine mammal,” Wells said. “There’s marine policies that don’t allow us that access, so it’s incredible that we actually get that access through this partnership and the kids really value that.”

The program has expanded to include field trips to NOAA’s labs, Berners Bay and cultural bearers from the Tlingit community.

Students with Sitka Sound Science Center’s summer camp week finished assembling the skeleton of this California sea lion in 2016. (Katherine Rose/KCAW)

They’ve also done similar classes at Yaaḵoosgé Daakahídi Alternative High School and Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka.

By the end of the coalition’s networking event, 80 teachers and 63 community members had registered in SEE’s directory, paving the way for more dissections and skeletal articulations to come.

Congress could decide fate of Tongass plan to move away from old-growth timber

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The Tongass National Forest, near Ketchikan, Alaska. The spruce, hemlock and cedar trees of the Tongass have been a source of timber for the logging industry. (Photo by Elissa Nadworny/NPR)

Congress can now deny the U.S. Forest Service’s move to transition away from old-growth logging in the Tongass National Forest.

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Conservationists and timber industry groups thought the Forest Service’s decision was finalized last year. But a letter submitted by Sen. Lisa Murkowski prompted the Government Accountability Office to look into it.

The office determined Monday that Congress can review the forest service’s decision. Now the agency must follow their old plan until Congress reaches an agreement.

Owen Graham, the executive director at the Alaska Forest Association, says it’s a step in the right direction.

“I’ve been working hard trying to persuade people to rescinded or reject it or withdraw it. Choke it to death or something,” Graham said. “Because it’s literally going to put our industry completely out of business.”

Timber industry groups, like Graham’s, worried the Forest Service wouldn’t make enough young growth trees available, as the agency moved away from selling valuable old growth.

Meredith Trainor, from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said she didn’t agree with everything in the plan. She thought it left too much old growth on the table. But for conservationists, there were also some substantial wins.

Trainor said when she heard that Congress can decide the Tongass’ fate her “heart sank a little.”

“We hoped Sen. Murkowski won’t use her position to attack the Tongass land management plan amendment,” Trainor said.

In a written statement, Murkowski praised the Government Accountability Office’s decision.

Congress now has 60 days to decide whether to step in to deny the Forest Service plan.

Trump administration offers more NPR-A land for oil leasing than ever before

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Map of northern Alaska showing location of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ANWR-en:1002 area, and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). (Map courtesy USGS)

The Trump administration is making a lot more land in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska available for oil exploration this year.

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On Wednesday, the Bureau of Land Management announced all 900 tracts set aside for leasing will be up for bid. That compares to just 145 tracts offered last year.

It’s the largest lease sale ever in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, or NPR-A.

In the past, BLM decided which tracts to offer based on industry interest. But this year, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order telling BLM to maximize the amount of land available for leasing in the Reserve.

Alaska’s congressional delegation praised the announcement.

“This decision is a testament to our work to spearhead new development and fight back against the status quo that has underserved Alaskan communities and interests for years,” Congressman Don Young said in a statement. “The NPR-A was always intended for development, not to be locked away in perpetuity like the previous administration attempted.”

An environmental group, however, said offering all the leases at once isn’t a good idea.

“Americans should not stand by and allow our public lands to be plundered without restraint,” Nicole Whittington-Evans of the Wilderness Society said in a statement. “We need a thoughtful, careful approach that emphasizes responsible development and recognizes that some places are simply too special to drill.”

Still, just under half of the Indiana-sized Reserve won’t be available at this year’s sale. The Obama administration decided to make that land off-limits to leasing, citing the need to protect important bird and caribou habitat.

The Trump administration is currently reviewing that decision.

The National Petroleum Reserve is seeing a spike in interest from the oil industry. There was a big increase in bids at last year’s BLM lease sale, spurred by a series of major oil discoveries around the northeast part of the Reserve.

This year’s lease sale will be held on December 6.

17 national parks could see fee increases, including Denali

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The National Park Service is considering fee increases at 17 parks, including Denali. Higher entry fees would be in effect during peak season, or the busiest five months, starting May 1st.

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An NPS press release announcing the proposal said additional money raised would be used to address aging infrastructure at the popular parks which also include Glacier, Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Denali National Park spokeswoman Katherine Belcher said under the proposal the Denali entry fee would jump threefold.

”The current fees here in Denali are $10 per person,” Belcher said. “Under the new proposal, that would go up to $30 per person.”

Denali season passes would jump from $40 to $75 under the proposal, but a nationwide annual park’s pass would remain $80. Kids are not charged fees, and there are special passes available for seniors and veterans. At Denali, where visitation tops 500,000 people annually, the fee increase could bring in an additional several million dollars a year, money Belcher said would help pay for deferred maintenance.

”At last check, our maintenance backlog was between $51 and $53 million,” Belcher said.

Belcher said 80 percent of fees are retained by individual parks, with the remainder going into a national pool for distribution to parks across the country. Under the proposal, permit fees for tour operators would also be adjusted up at the 17 parks. The National Park Service is taking public comment on the fee increases through November 23rd.

‘Re-establishing a sense of identity:’ RIVR gives indigenous people a voice on broadcast radio

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James Dommek Jr is the sole operator for Rising Indigenous Voices Radio, or RIVR. RIVR was launched in September and can be streamed at therivr.net. (Photo by Samantha Davenport, Alaska Public Media)

A new streaming radio channel aims to give young, indigenous musicians and artists a voice on broadcast radio. RIVR, an acronym for Rising Indigenous Voices Radio, launched at the end of September, and streams 24/7 to provide a unique playlist, from top 40 hits to podcasts of Native American food bloggers.

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James Dommek Jr. is spearheading the radio project for Koahnic Broadcast Corporation. Dommek wants to include American Indian and Alaska Native millennials in the project that revolves around their culture.

“I think that Native people in general through media have in the past really have seen ourselves as mascots, have seen ourselves as vilified. I think the time is now for us to just have our own voice on our terms,” Dommek said.

Dommek’s background is in music and film; he played drums in the indie group The Whipsaws and tribal funk group Pamyua before being hired by Koahnic. Since then, Dommek has been the sole visionary for the online channel and the one-man-band for RIVR.

Dommek was brought on board about a year and a half ago. When he was hired, there was no name or website for the project, only a vision.

Finding Indigenous musicians can be a challenge and Dommek has to oftentimes dig for new content.

Dommek is half-Inupiaq and was born and raised in Kotzebue. He thinks the way television has portrayed Native Americans is disparaging.

“It’s important that Native young people hear themselves, and see themselves in media, and I think that’s the direction that the RIVR is going to head, where the content will be produced by the demographic itself, and so that they hear themselves on the product, on the station. And I think just re-establishing a sense of identity,” Dommek said.

Currently, a good amount of musicians, rappers and DJs occupy RIVR’s air time, but Dommek hopes to eventually air speeches by inspirational Native Americans, or comedy bits.

RIVR can be heard at therivr.net.

USFWS designates Tuntutuliak elder James Charles a “conservation hero”

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized Tuntutuliak elder James Charles as a “Conservation Hero” at the 2017 Alaska Federation of Natives Convention for his more than 50 years of partnership with the federal service. (Photo by Anna Rose MacArthur / KYUK)

When there’s a meeting on the Kuskokwim concerning fish or wildlife, Tuntutuliak elder James Charles is usually at the table. He’s been at that table for decades, kindly looking at managers over his glasses and offering a guiding voice. At the Alaska Federation of Natives Convention, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recognized Charles as a “Conservation Hero.”

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Greg Siekaniec, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Regional Director for Alaska, easily characterized what James Charles has meant to co-management as he took the AFN stage to present the award.

“Thank you for showing us how to be better partners, James,” Siekaniec said as the crowd began applauding.

James Charles is 77 years old. He’s served on the Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council, the Fish and Game Advisory Council, the Kuskokwim River Salmon Management Working Group and the Kuskokwim River Intertribal Fisheries Commission. His partnership spans more than half a century, often in uncompensated positions.

The person who taught Charles the importance of partnership was his mother. He can still hear her voice.

“Keep doing the job you are given until you can’t work anymore,” Charles said in Yup’ik before translating the memory to English.

His mother taught him this lesson after they endured one of the most traumatic events in Alaska’s history: the TB epidemic of the 1950s.

“My father, uncle, grandmother all died from tuberculosis in the same winter,” Charles said.

Charles’ mother and two younger siblings survived; he was eight years old at the time. The community of Tuntatuliak took care of them, with people sharing their subsistence catches.

“Community was the community those years,” Charles said. “They were helping everybody in the town.”

That long winter, it was Charles’ uncle who taught him how to weave fish nets from twine to prepare for the coming summer; each mesh a different size, for a different fish.

“Using our fingers, not numbers,” Charles remembered, holding up his hand. The tip of the thumb to the tip of the hand measured mesh for king salmon. A smaller section of the hand measured for chum.

Charles says that his community of a few dozen people didn’t have hospitals, medicine or stores. What they had was the land and the river. They also didn’t have fishing and hunting regulations. Instead, they had elders. But as time passed and the river’s population grew, technology advanced, government strengthened, and so did the rules governing fishing and hunting.

James Charles also grew, working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and later the Lower Kuskokwim School District, serving in the Army National Guard and flying as a bush pilot. All the while, he helped guide the decision making behind fishing and hunting regulations.

As an example of what his guidance looks like, Charles supported restricting fishing on the Kuskokwim during the recent summers of low king salmon runs.

“I come from the mouth of Kuskokwim,” the elder said. “And I have to think of people upriver too, so they can have salmon.”

As Charles is helping to guide the management of the river, he is also being guided by the lessons learned from his mother, his uncle and his community through that terrible winter of loss and generosity.


Walter Harper, the first person to summit Denali, subject of panel discussion

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Formal Portrait, Walter Harper, 1916. (Photo courtesy of UAF Rasmuson library)

A panel discussion tonight in Fairbanks examines the short life of the first person to summit Denali. Walter Harper was an Athabascan guide and mountaineer who played a critical role in the 1913 expedition that climbed to the top of North America’s tallest peak.

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Mary Ehrlander is the author of new book on Walter Harper. She said it was his subsistence skills that brought him to the attention of Episcopal missionary Hudson Stuck. She said Harper had been raised by his mother in the Athabascan tradition, and even at 16 years old, Harper exhibited determination, skill and judgement whether in school or at fish camp and hunting.

“He had been performing so well and showing so much talent and potential, that Hudson Stuck offered him the job being his riverboat pilot and trail guide,” Ehrlander said.

Stuck and Harper developed a sort of father-son bond of affection. That bond and Harper’s skill insured his place on the expedition that would make history. Ehrlander said Stuck wisely secured an experienced climber and guide Harry Karstens who co-led the Denali expedition. Ehrlander said without Harper and Karstens, it’s doubtful the venture would have succeeded.

“It was mainly Harry Karstens and Walter Harper who carved steps, a three-mile-long jumble of ice blocks, over the ridge that was pathway to the summit,” Ehrlander said.

Ehrlander said Harper’s youth and stamina put him at the head of the expedition when it made its final push to the top of Denali. Five years later, in the fall of 1918, Walter Harper’s future seemed bright. At 25, he had been accepted into medical school and married Frances Wells a missionary nurse serving in Fort Yukon. The newlyweds boarded the ill-fated Princess Sophia, heading back east. On October 25, the ship went down in Lynn Canal, claiming all aboard. Ehrlander says it was a terrible loss.

“Because he navigated so comfortably in both his traditional Athabascan world and the Western culture, had he lived, he would have been a great leader,” Ehrlander said.

Tonight’s panel discussion on Walter Harper is at 7 p.m. at Raven Landing.

Alaska U.S. senators quiet on colleagues’ critique of Trump

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Sen. Jeff Flake, Oct. 24, 2017 (C-SPAN)

Yesterday afternoon, two Republicans rocked the U.S. Senate with harsh criticism of President Trump for what they call flagrant disregard for truth and debasing the nation. One even sounded a call-to-arms from the Senate floor, as he announced he won’t run for re-election. So far, Alaska’s two senators aren’t engaging on the issue.

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Tuesday was not a normal day in the Senate. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., essentially called the president, the chief of his own party, a serial liar and a danger to the country.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., took to the Senate floor to, among other things, call on colleagues to stand up to Trump, even if it means alienating Republican voters back home.

“We are not here simply to mark time,” Flake said during his 18-minute address. “Sustained incumbency is certainly not the point of seeking office. And there are times when we must risk our careers in favor of our principles. Now is such a time.”

Flake says senators should think about how they’ll answer when the next generation asks, “why didn’t you do something?” He didn’t say it, but it was clear Flake was talking about the danger he sees in not speaking out on President Trump.

A day later, most Republican senators aren’t embracing Flake’s message, at least not publicly. Sen. Lisa Murkowski hasn’t issued a statement on the matter. Her tweets included a happy birthday to the United Nations, a notation of her support for disaster relief and a news story about a seal on the runway at Utqiaġvik. Her spokeswoman said she had no time for an interview on the subject of the president’s Republican critics but said Murkowski respects Flake and Corker.

Sen. Dan Sullivan didn’t issue public statements either (though he, too, tweeted about the seal on the runway.) When asked if Corker was wrong when he said the president “has great difficulty with the truth,” Sullivan chalked up Corker’s remarks to a feud.

“Look, I don’t want to get involved with the ongoing dispute between Sen. Corker and the president,” Sullivan said.

As for heeding Sen. Flake’s call to arms, Sullivan said he didn’t listen to the speech because he was chairing a subcommittee meeting Tuesday afternoon, and then was busy with other things. But Sullivan said he does call out the Trump administration on policies he thinks are wrong.

“And, you know, I don’t support the tweets,” Sullivan said. “I don’t think they’re helpful, particularly on foreign policy. And the insults. I have been saying that for months.”

The Alaska senators spoke up to criticize candidate Trump last year. Both Sullivan and Murkowski called for Trump to give up the Republican nomination after the Access Hollywood tape emerged, in which Trump bragged about grabbing women by the genitals.

Sullivan started his Senate career as a more persistent critic of the president, though at that time it was Democrat Barack Obama. Sullivan said that’s because Obama’s policies were bad for Alaska and his administration shut down access to natural resources in multiple ways.

“When this new administration is actually trying to help us, trying to reverse a lot of that, I want to be as supportive as possible,” Sullivan said. “Particularly when we’re a state that’s in a recession right now.”

Alaska’s senators will no doubt have other opportunities to weigh in on their colleagues’ criticism of the president. Both Corker and Flake have announced they’re not running for re-election, but they will remain in office until January 2019.

Oil production is up, and DNR expects it to keep climbing

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Pipelines lead to one of BP’s facilities on the North Slope. (Photo courtesy BP)

Lawmakers got some good news in Juneau on Tuesday, as the state’s Department of Natural Resources unveiled the fall production forecast.

Oil production is up. And they expect it rise again next year.

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It was a difficult year for the North Slope in 2016. After the drop in oil prices, operators cut 44 percent of their spending. They let drilling rigs go idle and laid off hundreds of workers.

At Alaska’s Division of Oil and Gas, Ed King said they were surprised when they started putting together this year’s production forecast.

“When we read the news of rigs getting laid down and kind of this global contraction of the industry, we kind of expected that to manifest itself in reduced production,” King said. “So, yeah, it is a little bit surprising to see how much they’ve been able to do in this low price environment.”

For the year, King said production was up about 3 million barrels, and the state is predicting that it’s going to be up next year too.

King said a big part of that prediction is coming from the companies.

“You know, last year they told us, the Prudhoe Bay operator (BP) at least, they told us that they were expecting to be able to hold production relatively flat and we were a little bit skeptical and this year they told us the same thing – now we have a tendency to want to believe them a little bit more,” King said.

And, this isn’t new oil. At least, it’s not coming from new fields.

ConocoPhillips brought another portion of its Colville River oil field online and that increased production. But the increases mostly came from places like Prudhoe Bay.

King said the oil companies trimmed operations, cut costs and found ways to squeeze oil out of old fields.

“A lot of it is just facility optimization and just management of the resources and that’s really something that they weren’t paying as much attention to, I think when they were out there trying to find new places to drill and new oil – now they’re focused more on the assets that they do have and getting the most out of them,” King said.

In some places, like ConocoPhillips’ Kuparuk River Oil Field – operators drilled new wells. In others, like the Oooguruk offshore oil field in the Beaufort Sea, Caelus Energy has been fracking.

And Hilcorp took over operation of three fields, Endicott, Milne Point and North Star. The company’s business model is to find ways to get new oil out of old fields.

But, it’s not all good news. Alaska’s Department of Revenue also put out a forecast today. This one, an early look at oil prices. Analysts are saying that oil prices won’t increase as quickly as previously thought.

They predict oil won’t climb to $75 per barrel until 2027, and they attribute most of that increase to inflation.

Public testimony directs anger at crime law

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Ketchikan resident Christine Furey speaks during public testimony on Senate Bill 54. She opposes repealing last year’s criminal justice overhaul. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)

Many Alaskans are calling for the repeal of last year’s criminal justice overhaul. Others want the law to be given more time.

The Legislature is trying to follow a middle path, which may leave many dissatisfied.

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Alaskans disturbed about rising crime are focusing their anger on a law passed more than a year ago, Senate Bill 91. The law was the subject of intense testimony Tuesday night.

Sherry Miller from Eagle River said she’s concerned the law will repeatedly require her family to confront David Joseph Thomas, the man who killed her daughter, Linda Bower, three years ago.

“If he is denied parole, this murderer gets an automatic parole hearing every two years until granted,” Miller said. “This means that me and my family have to endure this monster – and horror of her murder – every two years until parole is granted.”

Most people who spoke during more than three hours Tuesday night expressed concern during public testimony about SB 91.

Anchorage resident Leonard Martens said his cousin Gregory Gill was killed in September by a man who had committed earlier offenses.

Martens said these offenses should have led to tougher penalties than the new law allows.

“I urge you to repeal SB 91 and take SB 54 off the table until we can put facilities in place to do the treatment and the rehabilitation,” Martens said. “You got the cart ahead of the horse on this, guys.”

But while lawmakers are looking to make changes to SB 91, they’re unlikely to support the repeal of the law.

Instead, the debate is focusing on Senate Bill 54, a measure that would make limited changes to the law.

It would increase the penalties for those who commit class C felonies and petty thefts, as well as those who violate the conditions of release.

Some members of the public are cautioning lawmakers against acting too quickly to reverse SB 91. They said the reductions in jail time under the law are providing savings that will fund treatment and other services for offenders. They said these services will reduce the number of repeat offenders.

Ketchikan resident Christine Furey said she has struggled with addiction, and that substance abuse led to the early deaths of her sister and her best friend. She doesn’t want to see the law repealed.

“It’s like you guys are dangling a way out in front of our faces just to rip it away without giving us a chance, without giving the people who have supported these bills a chance,” Furey said.

And police chiefs who spoke during the hearing supported passing SB 54.

Soldotna Police Chief Peter Mlynarik said the Legislature should take several steps to support police. He said it should begin by passing SB54 and increasing funding for public safety. Then it should take more actions.

“Fulfill the promises of SB 91, so fund drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs,” Mlynarik said. “Place statutory limitation on releasing repeat offenders on their own recognizance. Restore the bail schedule. And enable courts to sanction those who pays fines and restitution.”

The House Judiciary Committee debated amendments to Senate Bill 54 today.

Coalition works to reduce recidivism on Kenai Peninsula

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Wildwood Correctional Center in Kenai.
(Courtesy of the Department of Corrections)

In the year since the major criminal justice reform bill, Senate Bill 91, was signed into law, there has been plenty of debate over whether it’s working to reduce Alaska’s prison population, and the Legislature is reconvening to consider changes to the bill. But as lawmakers decide whether to tweak criminal justice reform, an organization is forming on the Kenai Peninsula that also hopes to reduce the number of Alaskans ending up back in jail.

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When someone leaves the Kenai Peninsula’s two state correctional facilities, they may be re-entering the community without a support system. They might not even know what the first step in rebuilding their life is.

“A lot of times people coming out of incarceration, you open the gates and it’s like opening the screen door for a two-year-old,” Audrey Cucullu explained. She’s the executive coordinator for the Kenai Reentry Coalition. “We don’t really know what to do, like, ‘Ok, what do I do now?’ Because a lot of times people just know how to survive.”

The coalition got its start a little over a year ago. With about $150,000 in funding and help from about 20 agencies and organizations, the group is setting up shop in a Peninsula Community Health Services building in Kenai.

The idea is for the coalition to be that first step outside of prison doors, a one-stop shop for anything someone might need to get a foothold in their community, from parenting classes to dental care.

The coalition won’t directly be providing these services, but it will streamline what’s available and potentially spark additional help. Jodi Stewart is the probation liaison with the coalition and a Department of Corrections employee.

“Some people need help with employment. Others need help with getting just the basic things met like food, shelter. Others need just an extra person to call when they don’t know what to do next,” Stewart explained.

Both Cucullu and Stewart say the need for these services is high on the peninsula and around the state. According to the Department of Corrections, about 70 percent of people leaving prison in Alaska will end up behind bars again. Stewart added that the probability for children of incarcerated parents winding up in jail also sits around 70 percent.

Other communities around the state have been working to reduce that statistic. Juneau, the Mat-Su, Fairbanks and Anchorage all have re-entry coalitions, but are they working?

Devon Urquhart is the coalition coordinator in Anchorage, and she says they’re working on that answer. All four groups receive some funding from the state to hire case managers that meet with prisoners three months before they get out in order to get them lined up with services.

All four groups receive some funding from the state to hire case managers that meet with prisoners three months before they get out.

“Each returning citizen has a plan that the case manager works with them on to make sure they have housing, to make sure they have employment and that their connected to the right treatment and wellness resources,” Urquhart explained.

Case managers continue working with clients for another six months after their release and can handle about 40 cases at a time. The coalitions started getting referrals from correctional facilities back in May.

The state is tracking those clients through a database to see how many return to prison, essentially measuring the recidivism within the program. That could mean measurable success for the coalitions to point to after the first round of clients complete the program in early 2018.

“If this works and we’re seeing the kind of results that we need to see and we want to see, it means everything to us,” Urquhart said. “Our communities are safer. People are connected to their families. We have healthy returning citizens.”

The Kenai Peninsula coalition plans to use that same system eventually, but they want to get some services off the ground first.

“It’s going to be a rollout. Right now, we’re working on peer support services because with peer support services, we can get people better connected with the services that actually already exist in all of the communities,” Cucullu explained. “That might mean somebody needs a ride to get a driver’s license, or to get to treatment, or to get their assessment done.”

Coalition partner Peninsula Community Health Services is working to hire four peer support professionals by the end of October.

The coalition has also held community meetings on the central peninsula and in Homer to find out where there are gaps in services. It has additional meetings planed in Seward and Ninilchik over the next two months. The coalition hopes to open its doors officially in January.

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