A matcha libre cocktail served at Amalga Distillery in July 2017. The distillery’s owners opposed an amendment to Senate Bill 76. Bill sponsor Sen. Peter Micciche, R-Soldotna, cited the amendment as the reason he killed the bill for this year. (Photo by Scott Ciambor)
The sponsor of a bill to overhaul the state’s alcohol laws announced he’s killing the bill for this year.
Soldotna Republican Sen. Peter Micciche said it took several years to build a consensus to support the bill — from groups that often disagree. He said an amendment to Senate Bill 76 that would cut the amount that breweries and distilleries can sell as samples to customers opened up disagreements over the bill again. Bar owners pushed for the late change.
“The reason we’re stopping this year is it’s late in the session; we’ve heard from hundreds and hundreds of people that appreciate the new model of breweries and distilleries,” Micciche said.
Micciche said he’ll continue to work on the legislation next year.
“We’re not giving up,” Micciche said. “This has been a huge effort. And frankly, Title IV (the alcohol law code) is a mess. I mean, it’s a mess for industry, the public and the state. And we must complete the title rewrite. However, we’re not going to do it at the expense of one side of this industry.”
The House Labor and Commerce Committee passed the change affecting breweries and distilleries last week.
“It was definitely a test,” Joel Curtis, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Juneau, said. “The message that we got here at the forecast office was pretty clear about it being a test. And the format of the message was in its usual test form.”
There is no Tsunami Warning currently for Alaska and/or the West Coast. We issued a routine communications test message at 7am AKST that has been misinterpreted. We are investigating this issue. Repeat: There is NO Tsunami Warning
According to the National Tsunami Warning Center in Alaska, a routine communications test message went out at 7 a.m. Friday, but it “has been misinterpreted.”
“We’re thoroughly investigating as to how the test message got out and was interpreted as a warning on radio and TV,” Curtis said.
Curtis says the investigation into how the alert happened will likely take a few days.
Alaska Fish & Game technician James Bryant sets a minnow trap to catch juvenile salmon on April 26, 2018 on the Taku River. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
Fish don’t care about borders. But when it comes to sharing salmon, the lines on the map matter. That demands close cooperation between the U.S. and Canada to monitor the salmon that swim between Alaska and British Columbia.
The Taku is a transboundary river. It flows from British Columbia to Alaska. Its fish don’t notice the border and neither would Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Jeff Williams if it weren’t for a cement marker.
“As you can see from the monument, it says United States and on the opposite side of the monument it says Canada,” Williams said. “So technically, I don’t know, I’m in both countries.”
Each summer, Alaska Fish and Game crews work with their Canadian counterparts to trap and tag wild salmon in this roadless area about 30 miles as the crow flies from Juneau.
The tag and recapture program is mandated by the Pacific Salmon Treaty. That’s the agreement that spells out how the U.S. and Canada share wild salmon stocks.
“It’s a joint project between the U.S. and Canada and the work that we do, we’re able to generate these estimates.” Williams said.
Alaska Fish & Game technician John Cooney sets a minnow trap on April 26 in a downed tree on the Taku River. (Photo by Jacob Resneck)
Those estimates are what’s used to manage commercial and sport fisheries between countries. Getting that data requires field crews from both countries working on both sides of the border.
Fish and Game’s James Bryant is checking smolt traps from the bow of a skiff.
“Each trap is just a matter of checking placement, re-baiting and checking for fish and putting them in the cooler and heading back to sort and tag them,” Bryant said.
Tagging hatchery fish is common. But it takes a lot of effort to trap, tag and release wild salmon stocks. In just three or four years, some of these three-inch smolt will swim back toward the the river where they hatched. After spending several years in the open ocean, the adults weigh an average of 10 to 30 pounds. Adult chinook are prized by anglers and commercial trollers alike for their beauty, value and taste.
Back at the smolt camp, the crew are assembled in a tarp-covered shack to tag the wild salmon caught that morning.
Joe Simonowicz carefully adjusts the tagging needle. If it doesn’t go deep enough the wire tag can fall out. Extend it too far and it’ll kill the three-inch fish. Nobody wants that.
“You just hold them in there hit the button and the needle pops out and injects the tag,” Simonowicz said. “”It hardly leaves a mark or anything.”
Alaska Fish & Game technician Joe Simonowicz holds up a juvenile chinook salmon, called a smolt, on April 26 at a research camp on the Taku River. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
The tags are pieces of wire, less than two millimeters long. There are number codes only legible under a microscope. But this information will tell researchers which river and season the fish originated. A fin is also clipped so it’s obvious which salmon have been tagged.
Later in the season, adults returning from the ocean are caught and checked for markers. Because biologists can estimate how many chinook left the river and eventually return as adults, they can estimate the species’ marine survival rate.
Right now it’s half of what it was a decade ago: about 1 percent.
“The production we’re seeing right now is the worst we’ve ever seen in Alaska,” Ed Jones, who coordinates Fish and Game’s chinook salmon research, said. “We know how many smolt are going out. We know the numbers are good. They’re average or even above average, so it’s not a freshwater issue, this is a marine issue.”
The numbers recorded on the Taku are consistent with a larger trend.
Across Southeast, last year’s chinook runs were the lowest on record. This year’s projections were the poorest in agency history. That’s led fishery managers to cancel sport fishing openers and close commercial fisheries for king salmon across Southeast Alaska.
The wild tagging program doesn’t answer the question of why. Why are most of the 99 percent of chinooks perishing within months after they leave the river?
Alaska Fish & Game biologist Nathan Strong pilots a skiff on April 26 along the Taku River. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
Jones said it allows biologists to rule out factors like fishing.
“What’s driving it is something that’s occurring at their first few months at sea,” Jones said. “But given that that is occurring and the rates of mortality are excessive right now, we have to pull the reins back on all the fisheries and pass as many fish as we can to the spawning grounds.”
Pulling back the reins means closed fisheries, something that’s been deeply unpopular among commercial fishermen across Southeast Alaska.
But researchers say they are hopeful things turn around soon. Later this summer, Fish and Game will fly further into Canada to the headwaters of these rivers. There they hope to find young male salmon running up the river in force – the first clue that chinook stocks could be on the rebound.
Editor’s note: The Alaska Department of Fish and Game provided transportation for the reporter to the Taku River site.
This week we’re hearing from Lani Hotch in Klukwan. Hotch is a traditional Chilkat weaver who was born in Klukwan, and traveled the country before returning home.
HOTCH: You have to love it to live here, because I know a lot of people can’t make it through the winter. You know, because we have long, dark, cold winters, and some people have that hard to bear. But I… that’s when I get to focus on my artwork, so I enjoy that time, down time. I’m very much an introvert, so it doesn’t bother me so much.
Well, I’m a textile artist. Weaving is my main thing, but I also do skin sewing and felt applique, just a little bit of bead work, but not a whole lot. Chilkat weaving, which didn’t originate with our people here in Klukwan, but once our people learned it, then they became very good at it and very prolific. So the art form became known as Chilkat blankets for that reason. And we have quite a legacy of weaving here in Klukwan, and I’m doing my best to carry that forward.
Yeah, I’ve been weaving pretty steadily since 1990. And then I was involved in a few group projects. We started that Klukwan healing robe, and it took us eight years to weave it. And there were a dozen women who started out, but there were only four of us who carried it to completion, and I was one of them. So, I learned over that eight-year period. I wouldn’t say I mastered it, but I learned enough to do another robe on my own, and one robe let to the next, to the next, to the next.
I decided I needed to take on an apprentice and them them every step of the way. What really triggered that too was at the end of 2016 in December, we lost two weavers in Southeast Alaska: Clarissa Rizal and Terry Rofkar. And it’s odd that they died within a week of each other in December. But, when those women died, and they were my age, I thought, “I better get on it, because I don’t know how many days I got left.”
Because the Japanese had the advantage of time, the Americans attacked with quadruple the force — more than 12,000 soldiers. (Alaska State Library, Aleutian/Pribilof Project Collection, ASL-P233-V111)
Seventy-five years ago, Japan and the United States were locked in one of the bloodiest battles fought on American soil: the Battle of Attu.
Army veteran Allan Serroll served on Attu Island, which sits at the westernmost end of the Aleutian Islands — closer to Japan than Seattle.
Serroll is now 102. But he’s still haunted by the experience of staring down young men like himself.
“Some of the guys noticed that it was bothering me,” Serroll said. “They said, ‘Look, it’s kill or be killed. It’s your life you’re protecting.’ And they were right.”
In 1943, American troops were streaming into Alaska in preparation for one of the deadliest battles of World War II. That’s because one year earlier, Japanese soldiers had bombed Dutch Harbor, seized Attu Island and took the Alaska Native people who lived there as prisoners of war.
It was the first time American soil had been invaded since the War of 1812.
Commanding officers told soldiers like Bob Brocklehurst of the 18th fighter squadron that the Japanese were looking to invade the Lower 48 by way of the Aleutian chain.
“They figured that if the Japanese had wanted to, they could’ve come up the Aleutians, taken Anchorage, and come down past Vancouver to Seattle, Washington,” Brocklehurst said.
But according to historian Jeff Dickrell, the Battle of Attu was really about reclaiming stolen land.
U.S. forces prepare to land on Attu. (Alaska State Library, U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph Collection, ASL-P175-047)
“There was a propaganda value in that,” Dickrell said. “Some of the higher-ranking people really wanted that. They wanted to be able to say the Japanese had been cleared from American soil.”
Because the Japanese had the advantage of time, the Americans attacked with quadruple the force — more than 12,000 soldiers.
A United News newsreel showed soldiers clambering onto small boats, motoring to shore, and landing on Attu.
“The problem of supplying an expedition to take this vital subarctic outpost is tremendous,” read one 1943 newscaster. “But the Americans are well-trained for landings such as this, and they’re bringing everything they’ll need to hold Attu against future attack.”
The Americans brought heavy equipment, but the lack of roads made it useless.
“It was strictly a foot job,” Serroll, a former signal corps sergeant, said in an interview with the National Park Service. “You had to walk. You had to carry your equipment.”
The battle started on May 11, and it was supposed to last just a few days. But because of the conditions, it stretched to 19 days.
The Americans slowly advanced on the Japanese from Holtz Bay at the north and on Massacre Bay at the south, slogging their way through snowy tundra. The Japanese were camped out high in the foggy mountains above the visibility line. As the Americans sent scouts up into the hills, small skirmishes broke out when the two forces met.
American soldiers dig a tractor from the mud. (Alaska State Library, U.S. Army Signal Corps Photograph Collection, ASL-P175-050)
Many soldiers were young and inexperienced. Some — like the 7th motorized division — had been training in the deserts of California for deployment in North Africa, so they’re weren’t expecting the brutal Aleutian weather.
It was constantly raining or snowing, but Serroll said the wind was the worst of all.
“You’d be walking along and all of a sudden, you’d be flat on your face,” Serroll said. “It was unbearable. If you wanted to plant a rifle, you just couldn’t do it.”
Attu veteran Joseph Sasser told the NPS that he didn’t have clothing suitable for the conditions.
“We had rain suits, but that could prove a disadvantage to you,” Sasser said. “Because as you were walking and so forth, you would perspire. You didn’t get enough air, then you perspired. And then when you sat down to take a break, you got cold.”
Sasser was luckier than other soldiers. His clothes were wool, but some had only summer uniforms and they struggled with chills up in the mountains. Poorly constructed leather boots that never dried also led to trench foot. Soldiers’ foot tissues died, leaving their extremities to blacken and decay.
On top of all that, Dickrell said the Americans had never gone head-to-head with the Japanese on land. Every other battle had happened in the sky or at sea.
“When you fight on an island, there is nowhere to retreat,” Dickrell said. “It’s a battle to the end, and we didn’t know how the Japanese would react to that.”
By the end of May, both sides were feeling the toll of the battle. Food and supplies were scarce. The Japanese were down to 800 able-bodied men.
American soldiers carry a litter across Attu. (Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
“We didn’t know if they would surrender once they were surrounded,” Dickrell said. “We didn’t know if they would fight to the end. The last thing we expected was a mass suicide.”
The Japanese soldiers followed the Bushido code, a samurai warrior ethic in which surrender was dishonorable. So every Japanese soldier who could walk assembled for a final Banzai charge, trying to catch the Americans off guard.
Sasser was part of that last stand on Engineer Hill.
“The Japanese just kept coming up the ravines and stacking on top of each other,” Sasser said. “Some, seeing that everything was futile, that there was nothing they could do, just took their hand grenades and pulled the pins. Blew their stomachs out completely.”
Serroll was there too. He ran over after hearing the commotion.
“When the Japs came at us running and screaming, they were ridiculous,” Serroll said. “They had grenades wrapped around their foreheads and around their chests. We lost quite a number of guys from the grenades.”
In total, 549 Americans died fighting. The Japanese casualties were catastrophic: 2,300 men died and just 28 soldiers were captured. Both Serroll and Sasser helped to bury the dead in mass graves.
But the real killer on Attu was the weather and disease. It took more American soldiers out of action than the Japanese.
An American solider look at a Japanese graveyard. (Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
“After three weeks of costly fighting marking the first major American victory since Guadalcanal, Japan’s high-water mark advance was stopped dead,” read a Pathé News newscaster. “A turning tide proved a military milestone of the century.”
After a battle with so many unexpected losses, the U.S. stepped back and tried to learn from it.
Attu veterans were interviewed so that other soldiers could be better trained for cold conditions. Changes were also made to Army footwear, clothes, outdoor gear and food to prevent injuries.
While they were too late to save the lives and limbs of many Attu veterans, military officials credited the lessons learned with preventing casualties in the Italian campaign.
Still, many of those who fought in the cold and dodged the Japanese grenades came through the experience with more complicated feelings.
Looking back on the battle, Serroll said it was hard to wrap his mind around his own survival.
“When something good happened, I looked up and I said, ‘Thank you, God,’” Serroll said. “It made me feel good that the war with the Japanese was over and I survived it. But what about the poor guys who didn’t survive it? Japanese or American. It’s pure luck. What else can you say?”
Serroll remained stationed on Attu after the fighting ended. He spent time exploring the island, collecting samples of plants and filling a book with pressed flowers.
Now, 75 years later, he hasn’t forgotten the battle. Back then, it bothered him to shoot people, and he said that’s still true today.
“When you see people fall, it does something to you,” Serroll said. “I keep thinking that these people have wives and they have parents. How different are they from us? They’re just wearing a different uniform.”
Today, Attu is uninhabited. The Attuans who survived imprisonment in Japan were never allowed to return home, and the only hint of the island’s wartime history is the abandoned equipment left to rust.
Mark DeSimone is led away from the courtroom May 11, 2018, after a jury convicts him on a charge of first-degree murder. DeSimone stood trial in Juneau Superior Court on charges related to the May 2016 death of Duilio “Tony” Rosales in Excursion Inlet. DeSimone‘s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Deborah Macaulay, is at left. (Photo by Matt Miller/KTOO)
Mark DeSimone has been convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Duilio “Tony” Rosales. A Juneau jury returned with a verdict Friday morning after roughly six hours of deliberations that started Thursday. The trial started April 25.
Maria Gonzales says it was painful reliving the details of her husband’s death over the last three weeks. Gonzales is the widow of Rosales who was shot and killed at an Excursion Inlet cabin in May 2016.
Gonzales broke down and ran from the courtroom shortly after the verdict was read.
“I think there will always be an open hole in my heart forever,” Gonzales said. “Forever, because he took my husband. He was a really good man, you know. He didn’t deserve to die like that. Nobody! Not even him. Not even him!”
Gonzales and Rosales had a little girl, who’s now kindergarten age. For Gonzales, feelings are still raw after two years.
“I’m still emotional,” Gonzales said. “I’ve been waiting for this for two years, and finally I can say that he’s going to be fine with God. And, anyways, they’re going to give him a hundred years, but it’s not going to bring my husband back. But…that makes me feel a little bit better.”
Duilio Antonio “Tony” Rosales poses for a photo on the last day of his life on May 16, 2016, in Excursion Inlet. (Photo courtesy Rosales family)
First-degree murder was the most serious of the charges filed against DeSimone. He was also charged with two counts of second-degree murder, manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. But the jury did not have to deliberate on those lesser charges after agreeing on a verdict for first-degree murder.
The defense attorney never disputed that DeSimone shot Rosales. Instead, Assistant Public Defender Deborah Macaulay argued that the two shots were unintentional discharges from a revolver that did not have a required safety modification.
Prosecution said there was nothing wrong with the operation of the revolver. Assistant District Attorney Amy Paige argued that a repeated cocking, aiming, and firing of the single-action revolver was DeSimone’s own choice.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 12. DeSimone faces a term of between 20 and 99 years in prison.
State Forestry Division spokesman Tim Mowry says the fire was reported around 1 p.m.
“It was a tree on a power line that started a couple of fires, and they merged together,” Mowry said. “And it got into a grassy field and spread pretty quickly with the wind that’s blowing down there.”
The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory effective until 6 a.m. Saturday for the area while there are high winds. Mowry says the fire is burning in a residential area in the northern part of town.
“Tanana Loop Extension – there’s quite a few people who live on that road,” Mowry said.
Delta city officials have opened up the community center in town in case evacuations are ordered, but Mowry says that hadn’t happened as of 3:30 this afternoon.
Volunteers from Delta city and Rural Deltana fire departments along with Forestry equipment and firefighters out of Delta, Tok and Fairbanks are working to suppress the blaze. Mowry says an aerial tanker out of Palmer dropped a load of retardant this afternoon.
“Kids are being kept at the school rather than being shipped home, just to make sure that things are safe and that school buses aren’t getting in the way,” Mowry said.
This is the Fairbanks Forestry office’s first significant wildfire of the season.
Mowry says the fire isn’t yet contained, and he had no estimate on when it might be.
Immigration has been in the news a lot this year. Most of the coverage involves undocumented immigrants. But what does it take to cross the border legally? The requirements for entry into the U.S. can vary widely from one country to the next and it can be surprisingly hard.
HOST: Lori Townsend
GUESTS:
Vered Mares – recently helped her husband through the process.
Lea McDermid – immigration attorney.
Indra Arriaga – immigration advocate
Call 550-8422 (Anchorage) or 1-800-478-8255 (statewide) during the live broadcast
Post your comment before, during or after the live broadcast (comments may be read on air).
Legislature is forced to compromise on the state’s budget
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
The lawmakers crafting a compromise budget for the state have proposed a $5.4 billion dollar spending plan.
Bill to overhaul Alaska’s alcohol laws is dead, for now
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
An amendment to Senate Bill 76 that would cut the amount that breweries and distilleries can sell as samples to customers opened up disagreements over the bill.
Emergency Alert System sends test warning
Tripp Crouse, KTOO – Juneau
An emergency tsunami warning alert that went out over the air was just a test.
Firefighters battle residential blaze in Delta Junction
Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks
Firefighters from around the Interior are battling a 30-acre wildfire by a residential area in Delta Junction this afternoon.
‘How much, how fast?’ Alaska researchers ask of melting Antarctic glacier
Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks
“The report that triggered this proposal call originally had a title that I think was quite catching. It asked ‘how much, how fast?’ ” researcher Martin Truffer said. “And that’s really the question here.”
75 Years after the Battle of Attu, veterans reflect on the cost of reclaiming US soil
Zoe Sobel, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Unalaska
Seventy-five years ago, Japan and the United States were locked in one of the bloodiest battles fought on American soil: the Battle of Attu.
AK: Cross-border effort tracks Taku wild salmon
Jacob Resneck, KTOO – Juneau
Wild salmon are meticulously trapped and tagged by U.S. and Canadian researchers on both sides of the border as part of the Pacific Salmon Treaty. The data helps gauge marine survival rates of salmon after they leave fresh water.
49 Voices: Lani Hotch of Klukwan
Daysha Eaton, KHNS – Haines
This week we’re hearing from Lani Hotch in Klukwan. Hotch is a traditional Chilkat weaver who was born in Klukwan, and traveled the country before returning home.
Alaska House of Representatives members wait during a break a few minutes before ending the legislative session at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The Legislature passed its operating and capital budgets on Saturday. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO)
The Alaska Legislature ended its session in the early hours of Sunday morning. It agreed to the next state budget.
There would be $5.4 billion spent on the part of the operating budget the Legislature focuses on. It’s $433 million higher than the current budget.
Most of the increase is for a boost to the permanent fund dividend. It would be $1,600 this year.
The budget draws from Alaska Permament Fund earnings to pay for government services for the first time.
Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman, who caucuses with the majority, said it’s an important step.
“I believe that it’s historic that we are using what many refer to as the rainy day account for the first time,” Hoffman said.
The budget also includes a $942 million transfer from permanent fund earnings to the fund’s principal. That money is intended to keep up with inflation. It’s the first such transfer in three years.
The Legislature also passed the capital budget. It includes $20 million in funds for the Port of Anchorage. It would increase public school funding by $20 million, as well as $6 million for pre-kindergarten. It would fund an enhanced statewide 9-1-1 system. And it would cover most of a shortfall in Medicaid funding for the next seven weeks. Some health care providers would have to wait until July to be paid.
Nome Democratic Rep. Neal Foster said lawmakers made concessions to reach the agreement.
“I realize that we may not get everyone’s vote for this budget, but we’ve been able to get enough support to get it this far,” Foster said shortly before the House passed the capital budget. “The capital budget is the product of compromise and it’s the result of folks who want the best for the state.”
Gov. Bill Walker held a 2:30 a.m. press availability Sunday, after lawmakers adjourned. He said the permanent fund draw represents progress.
“It gives predictability,” Walker said. “It protects the dividend going forward. It protects the permanent fund. And it closed 80 percent of the fiscal gap. We went from a $3.7 billion hole to a $700 million hole. Boy, that’s a significant, significant step. Is it done? No, it’s not.”
The remaining budget gap would draw from another piggy bank, the Constitutional Budget Reserve. The size of the draw depends on the price of oil.
The Legislature passed other major bills on Friday and Saturday. They include legislation to sell bonds for oil and gas tax credits. And a bill banning smoking from workplaces statewide.
Other passed measures include a bill to overhaul the state’s workers’ compensation system.
Another bill affects legislative ethics. It would prohibit lawmakers from raising money from foreign donors. It would prevent lawmakers from collecting per diem to cover their expenses if they don’t pass a budget by the 121st day of legislative sessions. The bill would pre-empt an initiative that’s scheduled to appear on the November ballot.
Gov. Walker must decide whether to sign the bills before they become laws.
The House adopted the operating budget, House Bill 286, by a 21-19 vote on Saturday, with Anchorage Republican Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux joining the minority caucus in voting no. The Senate adopted it in a 15-4 vote. Anchorage Democrats Tom Begich and Bill Wielechowski; Palmer Republican Shelley Hughes; and Wasilla Republican Mike Shower voted against it, and Sitka Republican Bert Stedman was absent.
The House passed the capital budget, Senate Bill 142, by a 27-13 vote, with five minority-caucus Republicans joining the majority in voting for it. They were Chris Birch, Chuck Kopp and Charisse Millett of Anchorage, DeLena Johnson of Palmer, and Steve Thompson of Fairbanks. The Senate voted 17-2 to concur with the changes the House made. Hughes and Shower were the only noes.
Gretchen Boone flips through a picture book for an infant at the Gold Creek Child Development Center in Juneau on May 11, 2018. Boone is the center’s director. (Photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO)
Proposed regulations may make it harder for child care facilities statewide to do business.
In Juneau, some daycare directors say the new rules would reduce capacity and worsen the shortage of affordable child care.
Gold Creek Child Development Center’s infant room caters to children ranging from six weeks to 18 months. They nap, play and gurgle under the watchful eye of their teachers.
On a recent afternoon, Director Gretchen Boone explained what the impact of one of the proposed regulation changes from the Department of Health & Social Services would be.
“This room, we currently have up to 10 children, and we have three teachers,” Boone said. “This room would be directly affected by the regulations … and if the age ranges and group sizes change, we would have to remove, or not fill, two spaces.”
There are 51 pages of changes being proposed to child care center licensing regulations in Alaska. Some are related to compliance with federal child care standards. Others address the types of foods child care workers can consume on the job.
Gold Creek has 60 children and about 16 staff members. It’s one of Juneau’s largest child care providers. But the demand is way higher, according to Assistant Director Colleen Brody.
“We have, currently, 97 families on our waitlist,” Brody said. “So we have 51 infants and 46 toddlers on our waitlist and that’s a lot of infants and toddlers that don’t have care.”
The proposed change that most concerns Brody and Boone would lower the maximum group size and child-to-teacher ratio allowed for toddlers and infants. Gold Creek would lose two spots in both its infant and young toddler rooms.
Boone and Brody said losing the tuition from those spots would result in a loss of more than $4,000 in revenue per month, which could force them to cut teacher positions.
“Ideally we would try and balance it without cutting anybody but $4,000 is a lot of money,” Brody said.
Samantha Adams recently closed her child care business in Juneau after 12 years due to increasing overhead costs. She said she was losing an average of $30,000 per year.
“I’m of the opinion that regulation and oversight is really crucial to ensuring that those programs are keeping kids safe,” Adams said. “At the end of the day, I think it’s very important to have regulations.”
But Adams feels many of the proposed changes overstep. She knows firsthand the financial challenges of running a daycare.
“If you’re going to implement regulations that limit our ability to make money, absolutely there should be some financial backing for those mandates,” Adams said.
Adams, Boone and Brody recently signed a statement with a group of eight local child care providers concerned by the proposed changes. They worry many of them could result in the closure of more programs.
Adams wants providers to have a seat at the table for these decisions.
“We as stakeholders in the state of Alaska for the child care workforce, we should be at the table when these are being proposed–before they’re ever proposed, before they ever go out to public comment,” Adams said. “I think a lot of us were feeling overlooked because they don’t do that.”
Besides the ratio issues, some providers are concerned about a requirement that center administrators have a certain number of college credits in early childhood education.
Providers must have one designated administrator on site for every 30 children. They already need to meet a number of qualifications to be an administrator, and some providers feel mandating more classes adds to the financial strain workers feel in a field that doesn’t pay much.
The state’s Child Care Program Office did not respond to requests for comment on the proposed changes.
The public comment period for the proposed changes ends May 31. After that, department officials will decide what, if anything, to change.
The Department of Health and Social Services is holding a public hearing on the proposed changes in Anchorage at 1 p.m. Monday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is based in Washington state. But Sitka Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins wants to see NOAA’s Alaska-focused staff, programs and assets relocated closer to home.
House Resolution 8 requests NOAA fully staff the Auke Bay Laboratories, located at the Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute in Juneau. The resolution also asks for the Alaska Fisheries Science Center Director to remain in Juneau. AFSC is currently headquartered in Seattle.
Kreiss-Tomkins, one of the resolution’s sponsors, wants to see Alaska’s fisheries management happen on the ground.
“Just as I think people get frustrated with decisions being made from Washington D.C., particularly if those decisions don’t incorporate the nuance of a local issue, you can have a similar dynamic. I think it just makes sense for resources to be managed in the place where resources exist,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
House Resolution 8 passed the House earlier this month by a vote of 36 to 1. Kreiss-Tomkins calls it ammunition for a larger effort by Alaska’s congressional leaders.
“We’re going to continue to work with Senator Lisa Murkowski and Senator Dan Sullivan’s offices to try to make sure the National Marine Fisheries services – there’s a couple of specific asks we’re going to pursue – to basically make sure that the agency follows through with the spirit of this resolution and the work that our congressional delegation is doing,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
Alaska’s fisheries generate approximately $4.5 billion a year.
Speaking with KCAW over the phone, Kreiss-Tomkins had good news for Sitka’s habor infrastructure.
Both the Senate and the House have carved out $5 million in their capital budgets for Phase 1 of replacing Sitka’s Crescent Harbor. The House’s version of the budget also includes $1.5 million for electrical upgrades to Eliason Harbor.
“It’s not in the Senate budget, so it’s subject to negotiation. But I am cautiously optimistic that we’ll prevail,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
Kreiss-Tomkins also received word that there’s intent language in the operating budget, requiring VPSO firefighter training to remain in Sitka.
“I’m concerned about the Trooper Academy being nibbled away piece by piece and this intent language will forestall any such efforts,” Kreiss-Tomkins said.
There was discussion last year about relocated that training to Palmer.
Kreiss-Tomkins expected the state legislature would finalize passage of the budget within a week. As for education funding, he said there was a chance for a modest funding boost that would impact the base student allocation (BSA).
Sealaska Board Chairman Joe Nelson poses at corporate headquarters in Juneau after he was elected to the position in June 2014. Nelson announced a new shareholder burial assistance program on Monday. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
Sealaska is helping its shareholders with burial and cremation costs. The Southeast regional Native corporation’s board voted Monday to offer bereavement benefits of up to $1,000.
“This is one that’s been out there for a long time and we haven’t been able to get there. But this year, because of our financial performance and our anticipated continued solid performance, that I think everybody in the company’s just excited that we’re able to move on this one this year,” Nelson said.
Survivors will receive $1,000 when an original shareholder dies. That covers those enrolled in the corporation since it formed in the early 1970s.
Descendants of original shareholders, and those who inherited or were given stock, will receive up to that amount. The corporation said payments will be based on the number of voting shares at the time of the shareholder’s death.
“It’s a function of being in a healthy financial position and then having the specific carbon project where we want to associate that carbon program to a benefit that all shareholders will feel for generations to come,” Nelson said.
That project allows Sealaska to sell carbon offset credits through a program based in California. It’s complicated, but basically, the corporation keeps some of its forests intact, in exchange for payments from polluters.
Shareholder bereavement benefits began May 7, the day Sealaska’s board of directors approved the new program.
“I think this is fantastic news for shareholders,” Nicole Hallingstad said. Hallingstad is a former Sealaska corporate secretary who’s running for the board as an independent candidate. She’s among other candidates and corporate critics who’ve called for bereavement benefits.
“The most important thing about this announcement is that it just proves that when shareholders are united and are persistent in their voice in raising an issue, that we can actually accomplish the change that we’re asking for,” Hallingstad said.
Nelson said a recent survey showed the benefit among shareholders’ top priorities. It was outranked by scholarships and dividends.
“Whenever we go out in the communities, just in our regular shareholder engagement, it is a regular theme — that a lot of folks could use help with burial assistance. And it’s also part of our cultural values, especially in Southeast, where we come together and support each other during times when someone passes,” Nelson said.
Some other regional Native corporations already provide a similar benefit.
Nelson said the mechanics of payments are being worked out, but applications will be available sometime in June.
Sealaska estimates around 300 shareholders die every year. The corporation has between 22,000 and 23,000 shareholders.
Alaska Division of Forestry firefighters and equipment halted the progress of the North Eielson Fire Saturday. Forestry spokesman Tim Mowry says the fire spread quickly Friday from a forested area off the Tanana Loop Extension road northeast of Delta across three grassy farm fields before running into a forested area near several homes.
“There’s quite a few people who live on that road,” Mowry said, referring to the Tanana Loop Extension.
Mowry says investigators are looking into the cause of the fire, which was initially thought to be caused by a tree falling on a powerline. But fire managers said Saturday there are no powerlines in the area where the fire began. The fire moved quickly Friday, pushed by south winds in the area blowing 20 to 30 miles an hour, gusting to 50.
“It got into a grassy field and spread pretty quickly with the wind that’s blowing down there,” Mowry said Friday. The North Eielson Fire was the fire significant wildfire of the season, he added.
“We’ve had a lot of debris burns that’ve escaped,” Mowry said, “But nothing to this extent where we’ve got an air tanker and got crews and things like that.”
Firefighters with state Forestry, BLM Alaska Fire Service and Rural Deltana Fire Department kept the blaze from damaging any homes. An air tanker from Palmer dropped at least two loads of retardant help keep it from spreading.
“There were some structures immediately threatened, but that’s been mitigated,” Mowry said. “And like I say, we also have fire department on hand that’s helping out with structure protection.”
Residents of the area were on alert in case evacuations were ordered, but that didn’t become necessary.
According to a Forestry report posted to AKfireinfo.com, three 20-person initial attack crews and a load of eight smokejumpers worked into the early morning Saturday to contain the fire. A bulldozer was being used Saturday to break up windrows and berms that caught fire while about 80 personnel searched for hot spots and mopped up the perimeter of the fire, which was fully contained Saturday night.
Forestry’s Delta Area Fire Management Officer Mike Goyette says most of the estimated 250 acres burned by the fire was farm fields. He says conditions throughout the area are expected to remain extremely dry until greenup.
According to a Trooper dispatch, the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center notified Troopers that an emergency location transmitter had gone off in the area Saturday morning.
Troopers were not able to access the crash site due to weather, but both Rescue Coordination Center and U.S. Coast Guard helicopter crews were able to confirm the sole occupant of the small aircraft was dead.
A Department of Public Safety helicopter team and the Alaska Mountain Rescue Group were able to reach the site Monday and recover the pilot’s remains. Troopers say the body has been handed over to the State Medical Examiner Office and next of kin has been notified.
As of Monday morning, the pilot had not been publicly identified.
Retired Lt. Colonel Bob Brocklehurst and Tara Bourdukofsky spoke at the 75th commemoration of the bombing and evacuation of Dutch Harbor. (Berett Wilber/KUCB)
This week, we’re sharing stories from the Battle of Attu and the greater Aleutian campaign of World War II.
The conflict ended in the 1940s, but its legacy is still very much alive — both for the veterans who served and the Unangan people who were forced to leave during the fighting.
Even now, many vets have never spoken to an evacuee, and vice versa.
To commemorate what happened 75 years ago, KUCB invited people on both sides to sit down and reflect together.
Today, we hear from Tara Bourdukofsky and retired Lieutenant Colonel Bob Brocklehurst. Her grandmother survived the internment, and he served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
A note to listeners and readers: A person in this story uses an offensive word for Japanese people.
BROCKLEHURST: We were all young. We were 21 years old. The oldest could have been 27. And we were ready to go. We wanted to fly, and we wanted to just come on down to the Aleutians. I don’t think anybody in my squadron thought anything about being afraid. You have to do your job. It was war. That’s all we thought about.
BOURDUKOFSKY: My experience of the whole evacuation and internment time comes from the perspective of my grandmother, who was interned in Funter Bay. You know, the Aleuts of St. Paul, and specifically her. Her experience.
I was probably about 21 years old when I found out about it. And she would talk, but I could tell that it was difficult. She would only she would only talk for so long, and she would just have to stop. I didn’t really push her, but she did want to tell her story. She did want other elders to get up and talk about it. She did realize how important it was for us to know our own history.
To hear what happened to the Aleuts, the Unangax, here in Unalaska … There are other communities that were equally impacted and affected by this. I know very, very little about their experiences. I wonder a lot about Attu and the Aleuts who were taken as prisoners of war over to Japan.
BROCKLEHURST: See, I didn’t know that at the time. We didn’t know that. When I got there, our army was still fighting three battle areas …
BOURDUKOFSKY: So Bob, when you were in Attu, during that time …
BROCKLEHURST: I was the first fighter pilot to land on Attu and Shemya. Yes, ma’am.
BOURDUKOFSKY: And when you were there, were the Aleuts already taken as prisoners of war at that point?
BROCKLEHURST: I never heard anything about the Natives. I often wondered what happened to the Natives up here. I flew into Atka, I flew in to Adak, and I never heard anything or saw anything about the Natives. It was always on my mind. I didn’t know about the evacuation of the Natives and that they were sent to other places in Alaska. Of course, here at the 75th commemoration of the bombing of Dutch Harbor, I learned the story of the elders as you describe it. A very, very touching story.
BOURDUKOFSKY: I’ve always had kind of mixed emotions and thoughts about it, all these years growing up. It has to do with the profound and deep respect that my grandmother, Mary Bourdukofsky, had for the military.
I think I’ve heard that Alaska Natives serve at the highest rates per capita. And among Alaska Natives, the Aleuts are the highest. Maybe that’s where some of that respect comes from. Because my grandfather was Alaska Territorial Guard, and my dad a Vietnam veteran.
And yet, at the same time, when I was learning about what happened during WWII, there would always be these horrific stories about the shape of the homes, the damage that was done, and personal items that were stolen and whatnot at the hands of our own. The military. The two scenarios that I’ve grown up with have always presented in my mind a little bit of like, “Wow. I don’t know.” I respect the military, and yet I also feel badly that something like that happened by our own military. I’m not even sure what my question would be …
BROCKLEHURST: At the time we came up here, the impression we were given — and this was voiced oral stuff — was that we had nothing to stop the Japanese. They figured that the Japanese, if they wanted to, could have come up the Aleutians, taken Anchorage, and come down past down Vancouver to Seattle, Washington.
So we were rushed up as an additional squadron with the 18th, which was up here. The impression was given that if the Japs came, we were the only force to stop them. And we probably couldn’t with that limited force.
And I was talking to my son last night after the meeting, and I was thinking we didn’t have much choice but to move the Aleut Natives out. Because they could all have become prisoners of the Japanese or killed. It was probably the best thing that we could do to save the Native population. It was done very poorly. [They were] sent to a bad place, and it certainly wasn’t handled professionally. But I still think that it was probably the best thing to do. It’s just too bad that we couldn’t handle it properly.
This story was produced by Zoe Sobel and Laura Kraegel with KUCB.
The Air Force Times reports that officials with the North American Aerospace Defense Command said the incident took place over international waters north of the Aleutian chain. F-22 Raptor fighter jets were dispatched from Alaska to intercept the Russian Tu-95 Bear Bombers, which never entered actual U.S. air space, and were escorted away without any problems.
Such incidents are fairly routine in the airspace around Alaska. There were multiple interceptions last summer after a lull in 2016. Elsewhere around the globe this year, U.S. planes were escorted away by Russian aircraft in the Black Sea region.
While there is nothing illegal about the probing flights, the tactic is seen as a mild provocation and way of testing an adversary’s air defense response capabilities.
The first of several defendants charged in the high-profile 2016 murder of Palmer teenager David Grunwald went on trial Monday before a packed courtroom.
Prosecutors say Erick Almandinger, 18, was part of a small group of teenage accomplices in Grunwald’s beating, kidnapping and execution. Almandinger’s attorney says it’s true his client failed to stop the others, but that he isn’t guilty of murder.
Jurors heard testimony that Grunwald was a clean-cut kid who never stayed out past his curfew. But one night in mid-November, the 16-year-old didn’t come home at all. That prompted a massive volunteer search, and his Ford Bronco was found torched outside of town the next day.
Grunwald’s girlfriend, Victoria Mokelke, cried while testifying about the difficult days that followed.
“Everyone was looking for David,” Mokelke said. “It was restless nights for weeks. I didn’t get to sleep for days and days looking for him. It was just… We were hoping for anything.”
About two weeks later, one of Almandinger’s alleged accomplices led investigators to Grunwald’s body at another location, frozen to the ground and covered in a thin layer of snow.
In his opening statement, Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak offered no clear explanation as to why the group allegedly lured Grunwald to a trailer at Almandinger’s house and then decided to attack him. That included beating Grunwald with Almandinger’s heavy pistol.
But Kalytiak said Almandinger and the others all agreed on what to do next.
“And that unanimous decision by them was that, because the beating was so bad, because the gang beating was so bad, they could not leave a witness,” Kalytiak said. “So they made a unanimous decision to kidnap David, take him to a remote location and execute him.”
The prosecutor showed photos of Almandinger and his friends dressed in gang colors, throwing up gang signs and read aloud their text messages using slang terms for guns.
In court Monday, Almandinger looked different from the pictures, wearing a white shirt with his red hair slicked back. He appeared to wipe his eyes when Kalytiak described Grunwald pleading for his life.
Grunwald had apparently made a one-time mistake to hang out with the wrong crowd, and Almandinger’s attorney, Jon Iannaccone, said as much, describing the murder victim as “all-American.”
But the lawyer insisted his client was only playing at being a gangster. Iannaccone said the promise of smoking Almandinger’s marijuana attracted others to the trailer, and that Grunwald’s death was the result of their bad intentions.
“Erick Almandinger’s not guilty as the principle,” Iannaccone said. “What do I mean by that? He’s not the one who pulled the trigger. Erick Almandinger’s not guilty as an accomplice. Why? Because he did not have the criminal purpose for David to die. He did not have the criminal purpose to kill David Grunwald.”
Iannaccone admits Almandinger is guilty of lying afterward to help cover up Grunwald’s murder, but he pointed to another man charged as the shooter: Austin Barrett.
The 20-year-old Barrett is implicated in the slaying, along with Dominic Johnson and Bradley Renfro. They are being tried separately.
In murder of ‘all-American’ Palmer teen, first alleged accomplice goes on trial
Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Prosecutors say Erick Almandinger, 18, was part of a small group of teenage accomplices in David Grunwald’s beating, kidnapping and execution. Almandinger’s attorney says it’s true his client failed to stop the others, but that he isn’t guilty of murder.
Legislature passes state budget before adjourning
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
There would be $5.4 billion spent on the part of the operating budget the Legislature focuses on. It’s $433 million higher than the current budget.
MacKinnon won’t seek re-election to Alaska Senate
Associated Press
Alaska state Sen. Anna MacKinnon says she will not seek re-election.
Alaska F-22s intercept Russian military bombers
Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
The military says it intercepted two Russian long-range bombers in the air space near Alaska on Friday.
Firefighters mop up 250-acre wildfire in Delta
Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks
Firefighters mopped up the remains of a 250-acre wildfire Sunday that busted out two days earlier in a largely residential area near Delta Junction.
Man crushed, killed baling scrap metal at Mat-Su landfill
Associated Press
Alaska State Troopers say a man died when he was crushed at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough landfill facility in Palmer.
Pilot dies in crash near Whittier
Aaron Bolton, KBBI – Homer
Alaska State Troopers say a pilot is dead after crashing early Saturday morning near Whittier.
DeSimone found guilty on first-degree murder charge in Excursion Inlet shooting death
Matt Miller, KTOO – Juneau
The family of Tony Rosales wept in the front row of the gallery after the jury found Mark DeSimone guilty of first-degree murder.
Sealaska offers burial, cremation assistance to shareholders
Ed Schoenfeld, CoastAlaska – Juneau
Sealaska is helping its shareholders with burial and cremation costs. The Southeast regional Native corporation’s board voted Monday to offer bereavement benefits of up to $1,000.
Lt. Colonel Bob Brocklehurst and Tara Bourdukofsky reflect on the Battle of Attu
Zoe Sobel and Laura Kraegel, KUCB – Unalaska
Today, we hear from Tara Bourdukofsky and retired Lieutenant Colonel Bob Brocklehurst. Her grandmother survived the internment, and he served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force.
Dan Kirkwood says the part of this location’s appeal is that float planes could make due without a dock. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Southeast Alaska is projected to see upwards of one million tourists this year. Many of those visitors will venture into the wilder parts of the Tongass National Forest for a guided hike or bear viewing, and that requires a special use permit from the Forest Service. But as tourism increases and federal budgets shrink, a permitting backlog has been growing.
Dan Kirkwood, a guide with Pack Creek Bear Tours, recently took a float plane to a remote spot in the Tongass National Forest. But the purpose of his trip wasn’t to spot a bear.
“We’re here because this is an outstanding, cool location that we have the opportunity to explore in the Tongass,” Kirkwood said. “And we’re really excited about getting access to a new place. So we want to scope it out.”
The scenery includes a big broad meadow and rapids that will squirm with salmon when the fish spawn.
This is Kirkwood’s and his guiding partner’s first time here. They want to see if it’s a good place to bring small tours of up to five people: visitors who want to experience brown bear country up close with the safety of a guide.
“For us, this is the wilderness. This is a place that’s unfamiliar,” Kirkwood said. “But [for bears] this is main street. This is their living room. The trails in here having probably been used for centuries.”
But to be able to bring people into this bear’s house, Kirkwood must first receive what’s called a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service, and he might he have bit of wait.
There’s a backlog of well over 6,000 of these permits nationally. That includes a variety of commercial interests. In the Tongass specifically, there are dozens of recreation outfits waiting to hear back.
Kirkwood wonders how the forest service will manage to process all of the special use permits, which seem to be piling up.
“I think that we just really need the forest service to really buckle down and focus on tourism and plan long term,” Kirkwood said.
Dan Kirkwood and Bjorn Dihle get ready to check out this area in the Tongass National Forest, which could be the sight of future bear tours. (Photo by Elizabeth Jenkins/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
The reason for the backlog has nothing to do with bears. Wildfires are burning a massive hole in the agency’s budget.
Twenty years ago, wildfires accounted for 16 percent of the forest service’s annual funds. In recent times, that number has ballooned to more than half of the budget, a phenomenon attributed to longer burning seasons due to climate change.
Patrick Shannon manages the Alaska Forest Fund for the National Forest Foundation, which was created in 2015 to help the forest service maintain its national lands in Alaska after funding continued to be slashed.
“What that has done is it’s taken away money the forest service could use, for instance, for recreation,” Shannon said.
Shannon is hopeful that more help is on the way. Congress recently granted the forest service the ability to tap into additional emergency funds.
“They haven’t identified where that other money is going to come from yet,” Shannon said. “But the first step is to give them the authority to spend other money.”
That won’t happen until 2020.
In the meantime, Congress did increase the forest service budget for this fiscal year. But it’s still too early to tell if it’s enough to compensate for the wildfire season to come and how that will shake out for recreation funding.
Packing up after scouting out the area, Dan Kirkwood concludes this spot in the Tongass has plenty to offer.
“We would definitely apply for permits here,” Kirkwood said. “It’s fabulous bear habitat. The scenery is off the charts.”
But Kirkwood is uncertain how long it will be before he can show it to tourists. According a regional forest service spokesperson, a special use permit can take up to two years.
And he doesn’t see the demand to explore these wilder places slowing down.
