An F-35 sits on the tarmac at Eielson. (Airman 1st Class Isaac Johnson / Eielson AFB)
The Fairbanks-North Pole area is at the start of a mini-boom, as the region prepares for the basing of two squadrons of F-35 fighter jets at Eielson Air Force Base. Challenges and opportunities presented by the F-35 basing are the focus a draft plan released this week by the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
The Department of Defense funded Eielson Regional Growth Plan looks at the impacts of over 3,000 people, and more than $500 million in construction F-35 basing will bring to the area. Speaking to the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, plan consultant Shelly Wade characterized the project.
“It’s been a year of a lot of listening and really strategizing and thinking with all of you as community members and with military families directly about what recommendations will not only benefit those incoming families, but also all of you that have lived here for decades that see this as an opportunity to improve the quality of life in your community,” Wade said.
Wade shared high level findings from the 450-page plan which makes recommendations across a range of areas, including housing. She says a substantial number of F-35 personnel will live at Eielson, but many other military and civilian workers and their families will have to reside off base.
”A need of 974 housing units,” Wade explained.
That means new construction in the North Pole area, which Wade says is underway.
“Single family homes, some duplexes… so it’s a combination of homes that are already happening,” Wade continued.
The basing of F-35’s at Eielson is expected to create 4,200 new jobs in the area by 2022, two-thirds of those off-base.
“There’s this opportunity to really train not only young people, but also some of our unemployed Fairbanks North Star Borough community members,” Wade said.
The plan recommends working with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and other education providers to prepare employees.
The plan also includes recommendations to address an increase in students anticipated to exceed the capacity of some area grammar and middle schools.
”Maybe combining schools is an opportunity combining some of the middle schools with the high schools that have more capacity,” Wade said. “Anybody go to high school in a portable classroom or elementary school in a portable classroom?”
Wade says the number of students relative to the broader tax paying borough population is forecast to strain school budgets after 2025.
The plan also covers quality of life issues and meeting the expectations and needs of people moving to the area from the Lower 48.
“Retail and shopping has got to be better, and also indoor recreation,” Wade said.
Wade stresses the importance of borough residents helping to prioritize recommendations in the draft Eielson Regional Growth Plan, which is open for public comment through the end of July.
Director K. Brian Neel leads a theater exercise June 26, 2018, with student actors at Perseverance Theatre. The Douglas theater produces three student productions each season. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
After mounting debt left its future in question, Alaska’s largest professional theater now is expected to weather a severe funding crisis.
Perseverance Theatre had threatened to close down after 40 years this summer. But the theater’s leadership said that true to its name, it’s expected to… persevere.
Young actors stand in a circle and karate-chop each other at Perseverance Theatre in downtown Douglas.
“The kids are devising the show themselves. It’s all original, them telling their stories, doing funky stuff,” Julie Coppens, the theater’s newly hired director for outreach and engagement, said. “I saw last year’s performance and it’s pretty amazing what these kids come up with in just a few weeks.”
These and other youth productions are part of the theater’s five-week Summer Theatre Arts Rendezvous program. The theater also puts on about a half-dozen professional productions each season.
A lot of drama recently surrounded the theater off-stage.
The theater’s 10 staff members were back to work Tuesday, the first day after a number were furloughed during this month’s cash crunch.
“We were trying to conserve cash as much as we could while we sorted out what the theater’s financial path forward was,” the theater’s executive director Art Rotch said Tuesday.
Six-figure debt from losses in recent years had cast doubt over the theater’s very survival.
Performances of the play “Snow Child,” both here and in Anchorage, were cancelled this spring.
“We just had over extended ourselves in a number of different ways,” Rotch said. “That was the tipping point moment for us. It doesn’t have anything in particular to do with that project it’s just when it came along.”
Shutting down after 40 years would have been an ignoble end to a creative institution that’s made a name for itself with original Alaska productions.
Many productions take on distinctly Alaska themes from early mining history to the experience of Alaska Natives in rural villages.
Perseverance Theatre in downtown Douglas has, over the decades, grown to become Alaska’s largest professional playhouse. (Photo by Jacob Resneck/KTOO)
A new donor package being finalized will be presented to the nonprofit’s board of directors this week.
Until then Rotch is staying mum on many of the details.
“There will be some changes,” Rotch said. “We’ll be announcing what those are in a couple more days when we, you know, cross the T’s and dot the I’s on the finance that we’re working on. It’s been a big, big lift but we’re fortunate to have a lot of good friends that care about the theater’s mission.”
The revised lineup will be announced within the next week, as will financial details allowing Perseverance Theatre to stage professional plays both both here and in Anchorage.
Tara Sweeney has been confirmed as assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs. (Photo: ASRC)
The U.S. Senate this evening confirmed Alaskan Tara MacLean Sweeney to be the assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs. Sweeney is from Anchorage and Utqiagvik.
Sweeney is an executive at Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and a past co-chair of the Alaska Federation of Natives. She is the first Alaska Native to become an assistant Interior secretary.
She’ll oversee the bureaus of Indian Affairs and Indian Education.
Ronald Guthrie, 64, failed to show up for what was scheduled to be the last day of his trial in Palmer on Tuesday. The jury convicted him anyway, on three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
And it didn’t take long for the U.S. Marshals Service to find him: They arrested Guthrie in Puyallup, Washington on Wednesday. Alaska State Troopers assisted, and a troopers spokesperson said Guthrie had bought a plane ticket out of Alaska and was hiding at a family member’s home. He was arrested without a struggle.
Guthrie’s medical issues had helped get him out of jail prior to the trial, said Assistant District Attorney Brittany Dunlop, who had argued against his release. After about a week of trial, Guthrie asked for a continuance Monday, again due to health problems, Dunlop said. On Tuesday, Guthrie’s court-appointed third-party custodian awoke to find him gone, the prosecutor said.
Guthrie had heard evidence of his abuse of children going back more than three decades and “pretty much saw the writing on the wall,” Dunlop said.
“The level of sentence he would have been facing, or is facing, and his age, it’s pretty much a certainty that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail,” Dunlop said. “So the stakes are really, really high.”
Court documents show Guthrie was indicted and put on trial in the mid-’80s for alleged sexual abuse. That case ended in a hung jury. Investigators sent reports of more sexual abuse against a second victim to prosecutors in 2007, but Guthrie was not charged at the time.
Then, in 2014, Guthrie was accused of molesting a third girl and charged in that case and the 2007 case. All three were around the age of 9 when they were victimized.
Dunlop said the jurors received a special instruction that they could consider Guthrie’s failure to show up at the trial as evidence of his guilt. It took the jury about an hour to convict Guthrie, she said.
The trial had included testimony from all three victims, one now in her teens, another in her 20s and the first known victim, who is now in her 40s.
Guthrie could not be charged again for the case from the ’80s. But Dunlop said the victim in that case helped get the conviction in the subsequent cases by letting investigators record a phone call between her and Guthrie.
“It was a story that she hadn’t shared with anybody in 30 years,” Dunlop said. “And she, I think, felt a great deal of shame and embarrassment for not being able to tell her story before in a way that protected kids down the line in the future. But she put together a lot of gumption to be able to participate in that investigation.”
Guthrie is being held at the Pierce County Jail in Washington pending extradition back to Alaska.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Photo by Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media)
This week, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced he’s retiring. Now, the future direction of the U.S. Supreme Court could rest on the shoulders of Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her colleague from Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Alaska Public Media’s Washington Correspondent, Liz Ruskin spoke with Lori Townsend to explain why.
TOWNSEND: Liz, why are all eyes on Murkowski right now?
RUSKIN: Basically, you’ve got a closely divided Senate, and if the Democrats unite to oppose a nominee, the Republicans won’t be able to lose a single vote and still win that coinfirmation. Murkowski is, on many issues, the swing vote. She usually votes with the Republicans, but sometimes, on certain issues, she votes with the Democrats. One of those issues is abortion. President Trump has promised that whoever he nominates will oppose Roe v. Wade. The two Republicans who typically vote for abortion rights are Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. So, all eyes on them.
TOWSEND: Well, there is some legislative track record here. Murkowski and Collins both showed they’re willing to buck their party when they voted against the attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act last year.
RUSKIN: Right. They and John McCain crossed the aisle to sink that repeal effort. And it’s interesting because the other big vote last year, after the so-called “skinny repeal,” was the tax bill. And Republican leadership in the Senate pretty much made it impossible for Murkowski to defect on that bill by including ANWR was in it; opening the Arctic Refuge to oil drilling. It’s something she’s wanted forever. So some of the speculation I’m hearing now is, will Murkowski get something big to encourage her vote for the next justice, and what might that be? This is the power of the swing vote. It can be a very powerful position. It was for Justice Kennedy, and Senator Murkowski is in that same swing position in the Senate.
TOWNSEND: So, Liz. What is Sen. Murkowski saying about that?
She sent out a statement last night saying she’d “scutinize” the nominee’s qualifications and cast an “independent vote.” She used that word, “independent vote.” It seemed like the message was Republicans shouldn’t take her vote for granted. But I should also point out: Murkowski voted last year for Justice Gorsuch last year. I can only find two justices she voted against: Kagan and Sotomayor. And they were appointed by a Democratic president.
TOWSNEND: Well, that is interesting to examine that record. So for President Trump’s next nominee, does it really come down to Murkowski and Collins?
Not necessarily, because it’s not clear that all the Democrats will oppose the nominee. We’ve got several that are up for reelection this year in red states, states that Trump won heavily. Three Democrats last year voted for Justice Gorsuch. There’s plenty of possibility of Democrats who might vote with the Republicans and confirm President Trumps’ next nominee.
CORRECTION: In the original version of this exchange, and on air, we stated that Sen. Murkowski voted on the nominations of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. It was Sen. Frank Murkowski who cast those votes.
Where does Sen. Murkowski fit in the selection of a new Supreme Court Justice?
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.
This week, Justice Anthony Kennedy announced he’s retiring. Now, the future direction of the U.S. Supreme Court could rest on the shoulders of Sen. Lisa Murkowski and her colleague from Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Tara Sweeney confirmed as assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.
The U.S. Senate this evening confirmed Alaskan Tara MacLean Sweeney to be the assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs.
DOD releases plan for Interior basing of F-35s
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
The Fairbanks-North Pole area is at the start of a mini-boom, as the region prepares for the basing of two squadrons of F-35 fighter jets at Eielson Air Force Base.
Pebble scoping period ends tomorrow
Isabelle Ross, KDLG – Dillingham
The Army Corps Environmental Impact Statement scoping period for the proposed Pebble Mine ends tomorrow.
Salcha couple found dead in plane wreckage
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks
A Salcha couple has been found dead in the wreckage of their small plane.
Wasilla child molester fled during trial, caught and convicted
Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Ronald Guthrie, 64, failed to show up for what was scheduled to be the last day of his trial in Palmer on Tuesday. The jury convicted him anyway, on three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and two counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
Only fish on Friday if you need to, urge Kuskokwim fishermen as king salmon harvests rise
Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel
The federal waters of the lower Kuskokwim River will have a six-hour subsistence fishing opening on Friday. Openings have been limited and heavily restricted this season to conserve low King salmon stocks, and Friday’s opening will mark only the fourth opportunity to target salmon in the lower river this season.
Wrangell tribe granted Totem Park land
June Leffler, KSTK – Wrangell
The Southeast native corporation, Sealaska, gave Wrangell’s local tribe a piece of land known as Totem Park.
After weathering cash crisis, Perseverance Theatre expected to live up to its namesake
Jacob Resneck, KTOO – Juneau
Alaska’s largest professional playhouse is expected to recover from a financial crisis. The leadership of Perseverance Theatre in Douglas says a major rescue package from donors and reorganization is in the works.
New Nushagak king salmon derby promotes native culture
Austin Fast, KDLG – Dillingham
A new salmon derby on the Nushagak River this week raised $100,000 to help Bristol Bay Native Corporation shareholders pursue higher education and to fund cultural heritage grants around the region.
Derby master Russell Nelson weighs a 14-pound king salmon caught by Rylie Lyon of Naknek on June 25 at the inaugural Neqa Derby at the Choggiung Nushagak River camp. (Austin Fast / KDLG)
As the clock ticked down with just 13 minutes to go at this weekend’s inaugural Neqa Derby, Krag Johnsen of Anchorage hoisted his king salmon up to be weighed at the Choggiung camp on the Nushagak River.
His 19-pound Chinook wasn’t enough to best a 31.8-pounder that retiree David Baldwin of Las Vegas brought in two hours earlier near the Portage Creek sonar, earning the $3,000 first prize and a custom ivory pendant carved by Naknek artist Everett Thompson.
“We’ve certainly caught bigger fish than that, but not this trip,” Baldwin said. “Big fish live charmed lives, and we’d just assume they go up(stream) and pass some of those genetics on, so that’s OK.”
Some of Baldwin’s buddies have been coming north to fish the Nushagak for 20 years, but Baldwin first joined them seven years ago. They said he spits on his bait for good luck, but Baldwin said there’s really no secret to landing the big ones.
“The truth is the more you think you know, the less you know. And so you just got to fish,” Baldwin said.
Ninety-nine sport fishermen were doing just that on Sunday and Monday, looking for Chinook up and down the Nushagak in the new signature fundraiser for the Bristol Bay Native Corporation Education Foundation.
Carol Wren uses a traditional ulu to slice the head off Rylie Lyon’s 14-pound king salmon at the Neqa Derby on June 25. (Austin Fast / KDLG)
Alongside the $100 entry fee and thousands of dollars raised through sponsorships, derby master Russell Nelson explained the fishermen also gave a more unusual sort of donation.
“We’re trying to bring back as many (fish) heads as we can to the elders as a part of the deal, teaching (derby participants) about the culture of the local people,” Nelson said.
Over on the chopping table at the Choggiung camp, BBNC’s Shareholder Development Manager Carol Wren made quick work slicing up the unwanted fish heads with a traditional ulu — or women’s knife.
“As you’re going down the gills, to reduce waste, you follow all the way down the ridge line and then it’s off, and you’ve kept all the meat,” Wren explained. “You’ve got all the nasty innards out, and so you’ve got little waste.”
Zach Anderson, 32, has been coming from Las Vegas to fish the Nushagak for two decades. He held up the prizewinning salmon’s cleaned head and said he never knew you could eat so much of a fish until this derby.
“We picked up some recipe cards, and we’ve already started with the cheek meet,” Anderson said. “I’ve never had any of the meat from the head. It’s like the thigh meat of a chicken for the salmon. It’s really tender, really juicy and nice. We started cooking up their bellies. We smoked some of their bodies, too. Usually we just chuck those in the river.”
As another way to share their culture, Angela Peacock, program manager at the Bristol Bay Native Corporation Education Foundation, presented a map of Native place names showing points all along the derby boundaries from Black Point to the mouth of the Kokwok River.
Zach Anderson, 32, shows off the winning king salmon’s cleaned head, which will be donated to elders from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. (Austin Fast / KDLG)
“Where there are berries or salmon, there are place names for that area that people have used for generations. They weren’t written on paper, but they were preserved in our elders’ history and passed down through families for generations,” Peacock said.
With less than a minute left in the inaugural Neqa Derby, Rylie Lyon of Naknek ran up to the scale with the final fish. It wasn’t enough, though, at 14 pounds.
Brian Cornell with Alaska Kingfishers took second place with his 30.2-pound fish. Third place went to Mike Phipps from Mission Lodge with a 24.7-pound Chinook.
A special “843 Prize” for biggest fish caught by a local went to Maggie Carr. Derbymaster Nelson also handed out goodies for the first fish (Bill Barrickman), last fish (Lyon), smallest fish (Kelly Droop) and largest fish caught by a woman (Wenke Freiss).
The Bristol Bay Native Corporation Education Foundation plans to bring the derby back in 2019 so it can help shareholders reach their higher education goals and promote their cultural heritage with grants throughout the region.
Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams speaks to reporters after Gov. Bill Walker announced his appointment in January 2016. Williams is seeking alternatives to traditional halfway houses. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
Alaska’s Department of Corrections is starting to test alternatives to the halfway house system in an effort to reduce the number of offenders who commit new crimes after they’re released from prison.
Corrections Commissioner Dean Williams said it doesn’t make sense to keep doing things the same way, when the majority of prisoners cycle in and out of state custody.
Williams said one of the most important things the Department of Corrections can do is help people leaving prison find a stable place to live.
“Without a place to stay, you’re desperate, and you’ll go wherever you can go,” Williams said. “That’s why our recidivism rate has been 60, 65 percent for the last 20 years.”
Halfway houses are the traditional approach for people making the transition out of prison. They are privately operated buildings that allow inmates to live beyond the prison walls. They serve inmates who have not completed their sentences, and who are expected to have challenges moving back into the community.
But Williams also wants to try different models.
One approach could be based on Haven House, which serves women in Juneau, and My House, which serves homeless teens in Wasilla.
“Most of the people in those homes are former heroin addicts, or former opioid addicts,” Williams said. “So they’re all kind of on a treatment plan. They all kind of hold each other accountable. What really happens in these peer-oriented places is that people start to get a connection with each other and they get invested in each other’s success.”
Haven House serves both women who are on parole and those who haven’t committed offenses.
Julee Douglas said it could also serve those who haven’t completed their sentences. She’s the house manager at Haven House. She said other parts of the state could learn from the experience of Haven House’s residents.
“We just take their hand and gently support them along the way,” Douglas said. “And we’ve had good success doing that.”
The department has also launched a pilot program with inmates at Wildwood Correctional Center in Kenai.
Thirteen of them are working this year at Pacific Star Seafoods’ cannery in Kenai. They live at a bunkhouse operated by the cannery. While prisoners have worked at Pac Star for several years, they used to go back to the prison at night. Now they’re staying in the community.
Nate Berga is Pac Star’s plant manager in Kenai. He said the pilot program has been going well since it started more than three months ago.
“To be honest with you, there’s no difference from those employees that are through the pilot program or employees that we’ve hired in any other part of the state or outside Alaska,” Berga said.
Berga said some of the workers actually have more job skills than other cannery hires.
Williams is looking at another model to help residents from rural Alaska return to their communities, since there are no halfway houses in Alaska villages. The Department of Corrections is considering working with community leaders to find stable housing in their home communities.
Community members, landlords or family members would work with the state to supervise inmates who haven’t finished their sentences.
Williams said the state would pay a housing voucher to the people providing rental housing to the inmate.
“If I can support someone back in a local community and pay almost the daily rate I would pay for them to be in a halfway house, why wouldn’t I pay the same amount for them to live in Hoonah, for example, or another Southeast community, if I can find a place where they can be supported and be supervised?” Williams said.
Williams said half of Alaska inmates who re-offend commit new offenses quickly — within six months, which makes the transition to stable housing important.
“They’re failing early on,” Williams said. “And the reason why they fail early on is that they don’t have a place to live, they don’t have a job, and they don’t have a purpose. Without that, it doesn’t matter what we do behind the walls or any fancy treatment that we do. If you do not have a place to live, a job to have, a function, some support network, it’s all over.”
Williams said the voucher program will start small, with perhaps two to five residents. And it will only occur in communities that support it.
Marcos Yánez and Christy Youngblood celebrate after running more than 30 miles up and down a mountain to raise awareness for the bone marrow donation registry. (Marcos Cabrera, Photographer, Alaska #RunforLeucemia)
Marcos Yánez is swiping through a series of high-quality photos on his phone.
In one, he chugs a bottle of water. In another, it’s raining and he’s running up a steep incline on the side of a highway. The Alaska Range towers in the background. The white lettering on his orange rain jacket reads Alaska #RunforLeucemia. Names of sponsors run down the sleeve.
Yánez just finished the last leg of a 300-kilometer run yesterday, and he still sounds tired.
“Today I’m exhausted. I’m really exhausted because it was five stages,” Yánez said. “Every day I had to run over 50 kilometers.
In total, Yánez ran around 187 miles, in just five days. And the terrain was anything but flat. Yánez started at Eklutna Lake outside of Palmer and ended his last leg outside of Healy, near Denali National Park. He ran up and down mountains in between.
Yánez was running to raise awareness for the bone marrow donation registry. Bone marrow transplants have revolutionized the treatment of blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma. For a little over 30 years, the National Marrow Donor Program through the Be the Match Registry, has been collecting cheek swabs from potential donors. But the registry still lacks diversity and numbers. Perfect matches are hard to make, and many of the patients who require a transplant, never receive it.
Yánez is from the Canary Islands, which are owned by Spain, but for one of those legs he was joined by an Alaskan. Christy Youngblood is a 33-year-old lymphoma survivor.
“It was hard, we were cold and it was raining, and I just wanted to keep pushing for all those who can’t run,” Youngblood said. “And just to show people that you can get back into doing something that you love after going through cancer.”
Marcos Yánez and Christy Youngblood run along the side of a highway. The Alaska #RunforLeucemia aimed to raise awareness for the bone marrow donation registry. (Marcos Cabrera, Photographer, Alaska #RunforLeucemia)
And Youngblood found the perfect person to do it with. Yánez’s father died from Leukemia in 2014. After that, he ran around 75 miles in Iceland to raise awareness for the bone marrow donation registry. And then in 2017, he came across Youngblood’s story online. They both loved running and cats. He’d lost his father and she’d recently lost her mother. He sent her a Facebook message telling her about his idea to run in Alaska and make a documentary.
“We just kept messaging back and forth and quickly grew into a friendship,” Youngblood said. “And of course I wanted to help him and his crew get over to Alaska and to make this documentary happen and increase the awareness for the need of bone marrow donors.”
Youngblood was first diagnosed with lymphoma in 2016.
“I was a marathon runner, a vegan, super healthy,” Youngblood said. “The last thing I would think of was that I would be the one to get cancer.”
Youngblood finished chemotherapy in early 2017, but after a few months, they thought the cancer was back and that she needed a bone marrow transplant.
“I know that feeling when they told me that I would need a transplant,” Youngblood said. “They may have been able to use my own cells, but if they couldn’t, that feeling of just being so helpless. And I don’t want anyone else to feel that way.”
Luckily, Youngblood didn’t end up needing it, and a few months after finding out she was in remission, she decided to start running again. Training was exhausting. But when she got the message from Yánez, it inspired her to keep going. She ended up running over 30 miles with him, including up and down Mount Healy.
Youngblood said people they met along the way wanted to learn more about the bone marrow donation process. Some even wanted to run with Yánez.
“I haven’t imagined it, this kind of emotion that I can communicate it. And I’m able to inspire people too,” Yánez said. “It’s so amazing when you are running with people like Christy that has a big heart, and she move with her heart, more than her legs, you know.”
The Be the Match representative for Alaska, Tori Fairhurst, says people need the same tissue type to become marrow matches and because tissue types are inherited, that means they need similar ancestry. Certain groups, like Alaska Natives, are underrepresented on the registry.
“There are 14,000 patients in the United States searching and a lot of them are never going to find a match and it doesn’t mean there wasn’t a match,” Fairhurst said. “It means the match didn’t sign up yet.”
Eighty percent of the time it’s as simple as donating stem cells through a blood transfusion. The other 20 percent, they’re donating marrow to the patient.
“The patient’s marrow would be destroyed and their perfectly matched donor’s cells would be given to them, and they would rebuild an immune system using the donor’s cells,” Fairhurst said.
Bone marrow donor SandraLynn Hinton and transplant recipient Jonathon Leon meet for the first time at the end of Yánez’s run. “Thanks to her I’m alive and breathing,” Leon said. “So I had to come visit her in Alaska.” (Tori Fairhurst, Be The Match)
That’s exactly what Wasilla-resident SandraLynn Hinton did. About eight years after Hinton registered by ordering a swab kit online, 24-year-old Jonathon Leon was diagnosed with Leukemia and in need of a transplant. Hinton was a perfect match. Leon’s now in remission, and they met for the first time at the end of Yánez’s run.
“There are just no words to know, you know, that something small that I had in me that I could give to him is a gift of life for him,” Hinton said. “To see his parents, mom and dad and family just so happy that they have their son. It’s just overwhelming.”
Leon and his family made the trip all the way from Miami to meet Hinton.
“Thanks to her I’m alive breathing, so I had to come visit her in Alaska,” Leon said.
Hinton said the donation process wasn’t as painful as many people think.
“You’re under general anesthesia,” Hinton said. “I basically felt, for me, like I just had fallen down on the ice and hurt my rear end for a couple days.”
Yánez said he’ll be back in Alaska to screen his documentary when it’s finished. His goal is to get 3,000 new donors on the registry, 10 for each kilometer he ran.
This week we’re hearing from Apayo Moore from Aleknagik. Moore is an artist who recently painted an 80-foot mural at the Yukon Kuskokwim Fitness Center in Bethel.
MOORE: When I was younger, just like little kids like doing… especially little girls, they like impressing their dads. And my dad saw that I kinda had a natural ability with drawing and he said, “Hey, you’re an artist.” And I really grabbed onto that and I was like if he says I’m an artist, I must be an artist.
And so, he would teach me how to draw things like dogs. He would give me pointers and I would really hold on to every word that he said and follow his advice and kinda get coached that way.
And then as I went into school, it just kinda came out with my classmates, where they recognized it themselves and when we had to do drawing projects, I’d have a little little line of people coming over, “Will you draw me this? Will you draw this for me?” And it was just kind of a position that I was placed in by the people around me recognizing what skills I had to contribute.
Yeah, I’ve always been a tomboy. At one point, I wanted to be in the WNBA. So when I went to community college, I was only going because I could play basketball there. I wanted to work on the Slope, and I was gonna drive rigs. I also wanted to be a carpenter. But that’s the wonderful thing about living in rural Alaska is that I’m able to do a lot of the things that I’ve always dreamt of, and there’s not really any limitations. I get to learn how to work on motors if I want to. I know general construction, you know, I did a tiny home building class.
I live off-grid in Aleknagik, so I have a generator, and it kinda forces me into needing to do these other trade skills that… be careful what you wish for because you might end up working really hard. But in my perspective, it’s what makes me mentally healthy and it makes my well-being continue to see things that are inspiring, so my artwork is effective in just sharing our way of life.
Feedback that I was getting was, “Well if you wanna be an artist, you can’t live in rural Alaska.” And I said, you’re dead wrong. I am so inspired when I’m in rural Alaska. How am I going to produce if I’m living in a city when all my inspiration is a $300 dollar ticket away.
Attendees at the Kokhanok scoping meeting in April. (Avery Lill/KDLG)
As the EIS scoping period for the proposed Pebble Mine draws to a close, Pebble Limited Partnership is adjusting to First Quantum’s decision not to buy into the project, which was announced late last month.
Pebble spokesperson Mike Heatwole doesn’t anticipate the decision will impact plans this summer.
“We’re continuing with our work, primarily focused on a range of tasks associated with supporting our permitting,” Heatwole said. “As we go forward with the Corps of Engineers, they have a lot of things called ‘requests for information’ as they ask for information that requires additional technical work – that’s the type of work we’re really focused on. Other aspects of the work are doing what we call Geotechnical drilling, which is where we’re proposing to put some of our mine facilities, wanting to make sure that all the information the engineers need to finalize those decisions are in place; drill the bedrock, make sure the solo stability is everything they need from the technical side of things. I’d characterize it as a full summer worth of work, continuing full-steam right now. And obviously we’re looking longer-term at the potential for other interests in the project.”
The Army Corps doesn’t anticipate that the financial uncertainty following First Quantum’s decision will impact the EIS analysis, either.
“As of this time, it has not affected the development of the analysis,” Program Coordinator Shane McCoy said at a press pool last week. “And until such time that either the applicant withdraws their application, or at which time they cannot provide information that we require for our analysis, we will continue to develop the Environmental Impact Statement. It is really not the Corps’ issue with regards to the financing of the project or of the Pebble Limited Partnership.”
Several changes have been made to the permit application since early May. The updated plan reduces the peak mining rate to 75 million tons per year and increases the milling rate to 180,000 tons per day. This means there will be no requirement to store large volumes of low-grade ore during the first 14 years of operation.
It also increases the total amount mined by approximately 1.5 billion tons – 1.3 billion of ore and 200 million of waste. That annual concentrate production will also lead to a 10 percent increase in associated road and marine traffic.
The two water management ponds have been replaced by a single, significantly larger pond located at the NFK North site that will allow for significant additional process contact water separate from the Tailing Storage Facilities.
The increase in mill thoroughput requires more power, so the updated plan expands the 12-inch diameter of the natural gas pipeline to include the marine, lake and land portions of the alignment.
Heatwole said that changes also included moving the line peg tailings closer to the pit to allow them to be moved into the pit at closure. He also said they have discussed replacing dredging with lightering at the Amakdedori port facility, using barges to move the concentrate containers to deeper waters.
The permitting application is an iterative process. That means the plan will continue to change throughout the permit application.
The Pebble Limited Partnership is also applying for a five-year land use permit to install a temporary helicopter portable skid mounted radio repeater station on the Alaska Peninsula.
It is in this context that EPA administrator Scott Pruitt proposed changes to how the agency would use the Clean Water Act. Announced June 27, the proposal would eliminate the agency’s ability to veto permits for waste discharge in waterways both before a permit application had been filed with the Army Corps or the state and after a permit had been issued. Critics immediately opposed the proposal.
Northern Dynasty is currently the sole owner of PLP, though they are looking at long-term interests in the project. Once the public comment period is over, a scoping report will be made available on the Pebble Project EIS website.
The state ferry Columbia, seen here in 2016, was evacuated Friday morning after crew found smoke onboard. The ship was docked in Bellingham, Washington. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News)
The Alaska state ferry Columbia was evacuated Friday morning after crew noticed smoke onboard after the ship had docked in Bellingham, Washington.
Black smoke was discovered but no flames in the bow thruster room.
“The vessel was docked at the Bellingham dock and the bow thruster is part of the mechanism (that) moves the ship left and right. So it’s used to dock,” ferry system spokeswoman Aurah Landau said. “The ship had already docked. Half of the passengers were off the boat. One of the crew members went back to the bow thruster room, opened the door, discovered the smoke and then sounded the alarm to do the evacuating and activate the fire-fighting system.”
The Bellingham fire department also responded to assist.
Passengers and crew were evacuated and no injuries were reported. The passengers were all disembarking in Bellingham. The bow thruster room was being ventilated Friday morning. Landau said the source of the smoke is not yet known.
“Well at this point we don’t know how the schedule will be impacted,” Landau said. “We don’t know what happened. We still need to investigate. When the Marine Highway System knows what the source of that smoke is then we’ll be able to understand what the impacts to the vessel and sailing will be.”
The 45-year-old ship was scheduled to sail north from Bellingham with about 300 people and a full car deck at 6 p.m. tonight. Passengers will be notified of any schedule changes. Updates will be posted online.
The Columbia is 418 feet long and can carry up to 499 passengers and 133 vehicles. The ship makes weekly runs between Bellingham and Skagway, stopping in Southeast Alaska communities along the way.
The plan is still in its “infancy,” according to Alaska Department of Fish and Game deputy commissioner Charlie Swanton, but one projection for Kodiak is about $11.5 million. That was included in a table which Kodiak’s lobbyist sent to the Kodiak Island Borough and was then forwarded to the assembly.
Swanton said ADF&G originally calculated the Gulf’s numbers in 2016 based on previous years’ ex-vessel values and losses in the Gulf of Alaska. The data eventually made it to the desk of the Secretary of Commerce to help support whether the fishery merited a federal disaster declaration, and the 2016 pink salmon season in the Gulf was declared a disaster in 2017.
Swanton says the review committee could factor the amounts into its planning process moving forward.
“They’re useful as kind of a basic foundational basis for looking at the damages, if you will, by respective area,” Swanton said.
But Swanton says the money might be distributed differently than the table projects, and lots of elements go into that decision.
Julie Speegle, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirms that a spending plan is in the works, and representatives from the state, NOAA, and the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission met recently to discuss who will receive relief funds and how much.
“The spending plan can cover a range of activities in support of commercial fisheries and support industries such as processors, fish houses, or communities affected by the disaster,” Speegle said.
The table of projected allotments sent to the Kodiak Island Borough also includes roughly $32 million for Prince William Sound, $10 million for Southeast, $1.8 million for the South Alaska Peninsula, $543,000 for Chignik, $310,000 for Lower Cook Inlet and $47,000 for Yakutat.
Speegle says the review committee may settle on the spending plan in the next few months.
Community members, staff, and inmates gathered at Goose Creek Correctional Center on July 27, 2018, for Community in Unity.
On the next Talk of Alaska we’re stepping outside of the studio and into Goose Creek Correctional Center. During the special, pre-recorded episode inmates at the prison speak with community members about substance use treatment. It’s a chance to hear from people who can’t call in but have something to say.
This episode is part of Alaska Public Media’s Solutions Desk and Community in Unity. The conversation was recorded at Goose Creek on June 27, 2018 and has been edited for clarity and length. Listen to other Community in Unity conversations here.
HOST: Anne Hillman
GUESTS:
Inmates and staff at Goose Creek
Community members
Broadcast: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.
Please note: This special episode is pre-recorded. We will not be accepting phone calls.
SUBSCRIBE: Get Talk of Alaska updates automatically by email, RSS or podcast.
The Coast Guard is characterizing the incident as “minor;” no oil was spilled and no injuries were reported.
But it comes at a time of intense scrutiny for Alyeska Pipeline Service Company, which operates the trans-Alaska pipeline and the Valdez Marine Terminal, and the tugboat’s operator, the Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore. This summer, Alyeska is replacing Crowley Marine Services with Edison Chouest as its spill response and prevention contractor in Prince William Sound.
According to Coast Guard Lieutenant Carlos Quintero, the tug called the Ingot, hit the tanker during a docking maneuver.
“The Ingot made the routine approach on the tanker, which consists of having the bow of the tug lean and touch perpendicular against the hull of the tanker,” Quintero said.
It was during this process that Quintero said “it was reported that minor damage was sustained.”
Alyeska reports that after the two vessels made “a hard landing and metal-to-metal contact,” the tanker ended up with a dent 20 inches long, six inches wide and three inches deep.
Joe Lally with the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, a watchdog group that is closely monitoring the transition from Crowley to Edison Chouest, said tugs and tankers commonly make contact during docking maneuvers.
“It happens. I think it was sort of unique in that it was struck hard enough to cause the dent,” Lally said.
Alyeska spokesperson Michelle Egan said Alyeska ordered an immediate investigation of the incident. Based on Alyeska’s preliminary review, it has ruled out mechanical issues or vessel design as the cause. But Egan said it’s not necessarily the tugboat captain’s fault — two other parties, the master of the tanker and the pilot, also play key roles in the docking process.
“We don’t know where the breakdown occurred,” Egan said.
Egan said Alyeska is taking measures to prevent another incident, including slowing the speed of the vessels and increasing the level of communications during docking and undocking.
“Scrapes and dents are not unheard of,” Egan said in an email. “Even so, we don’t want to see damage to either vessel and we will learn what happened in this case and take action to reduce the risk of it happening again.”
Egan said the damaged tanker was cleared to load after an inspection. It departed Valdez on Thursday.
The Holland America cruise ship Zaandam docked in Juneau on June 22, 2018. (Photo by Adelyn Baxter/KTOO)
There’s been another reported outbreak of norovirus on an Alaska cruise ship. At least 38 passengers fell ill with the stomach bug while sailing through Southeast Alaska last week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention publishes reports of outbreaks on cruise ships on its website. But that’s not how the director of Juneau’s emergency room heard about a recent outbreak. Bartlett Regional Hospital’s Kim McDowell first read about an infected Holland America ship on social media.
“So I called the port agent to verify if there was any validity to it and they did confirm that there was but that they were at a level where they were able to contain it on the ship and didn’t expect to have any patients coming our way,” McDowell said in a Friday interview.
The Zaandam recently left Juneau on its way north without any major reports of the illness spreading in town. But McDowell said norovirus – which causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and gastrointestinal distress – is something you don’t want to be around.
“When you’re talking about something so contagious as norovirus, it can really just spread and go through the communities,” McDowell said.
A day later the Seven Seas Mariner called into Juneau. The CDC published a note on its website confirming that tests for norovirus came back positive.
“I didn’t hear anything about that one,” McDowell said.
That may be because the CDC didn’t post anything on until five days after the Regent Seven Seas cruise ship left Juneau.
Those that regularly come into contact with cruise visitors would appreciate more notice.
“There are certain cases that if they know in advance when they’re coming to port, we’d certainly like to know that,” John Neary, director of the U.S. Forest Service’s Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center, said. It’s by far the community’s most popular attraction with thousands of cruise visitors daily.
“Every day there’s a concern because whether or not there’s been a recorded outbreak there’s always viruses on board these ships – as well as with any large concentration of people – so we have to take measures every day about hand washing and not shaking hands and these kinds of things,” Neary said.
His staff often fall ill mid-season, he said, so he’s appealed to cruise ship agents to communicate directly to his office when they know there’s a ship carrying sick people coming into port.
“We want to be welcoming here and at the same time we want to protect our own staff,” Neary said.
Meanwhile, those who suspect they’ve come into contact with norovirus, should use plain old soap and water.
Charlee Gribbons, infection preventionist at Bartlett Regional Hospital, said hand sanitizers don’t work as well.
“Alcohol isn’t as effective on norovirus by sanitizing so you physically want to lather up with soap and water to remove the virus from your hands,” Gribbons said.
Last year the CDC reported eight norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships nationwide. Half of those were on Holland America cruises in Alaska.
One approach could be based on Haven House, which serves women in Juneau, and My House, which serves homeless teens in Wasilla.
Oil tanker dented after ‘hard landing’ with new tugboat in Valdez
Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The Coast Guard is characterizing the incident as “minor;” no oil was spilled and no injuries were reported.
Ferry Columbia evacuated after docking in Bellingham
Joe Viechnicki, KFSK – Petersburg
The Alaska state ferry Columbia was evacuated Friday morning, June 29 after crew noticed smoke onboard after the ship had docked in Bellingham, Washington. Black smoke was discovered but no flames in the bow thruster room.
King salmon appear to surge through lower river just as Kuskokwim opens to gillnets
Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel
The lower Kuskokwim River is opening to gillnets on Friday, June 29 just as a surge of king salmon appear to be swimming by. The timing could result in a high harvest of kings during a year when conservation was the intent.
State plans distribution of 2016 pink salmon season disaster relief funds
Kayla Desroches, KMXT – Kodiak
The state is working on distributing roughly $56 million in relief funds to those affected by the 2016 Gulf of Alaska pink salmon season disaster.
Norovirus on a cruise ship? Juneau would like a call.
Jacob Resneck, KTOO – Juneau
There’s been another norovirus outbreak on a cruise ship docking in Juneau. Health and tourist officials say next time they’d appreciate a courtesy call before the an infected ship arrives.
AK: Two runners, an Alaskan and a Spaniard, run for bone marrow donation awareness
Erin McKinstry, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Sometimes all it takes is a cotton swab to save someone’s life. For a little over 30 years, the National Marrow Donor Program through the Be the Match registry, has been collecting cheek swabs from potential donors. But the registry still lacks diversity and numbers and many of the patients who require a transplant, never receive it.
49 Voices: Apayo Moore of Aleknagik
Krysti Shallenberger, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Bethel
This week we’re hearing from Apayo Moore from Aleknagik. Moore is an artist who recently painted an 80-foot mural at the Yukon Kuskokwim Fitness Center in Bethel.
Fairbanks skier David Norris is the men’s Mount Marathon record holder. Seward runner Allison Barnwell is chasing a top finish her hometown race. (Emily Russell/Alaska Public Media)
David Norris was born and raised in Fairbanks, but has been living in Anchorage for five years, skiing professionally for Alaska Pacific University.
“In Fairbanks, mountain running wasn’t really a thing,” Norris explained. But, on a whim, he and his older brother put in for Mount Marathon twice when they were kids.
They didn’t get in, so Norris said the race fell off his radar. Then, when Norris was in high school he happened to camp in Seward during the Fourth of July. Finally, he saw what all the excitement around Mount Marathon was about.
In 2015, Norris watched the race live on television. That year some of the top mountain runners in the world made the trip to Seward, including elite Spanish runner Kílian Jornet, who has taken home gold in more than 20 European and World Championship races.
Norris on a training run on Peak 3 in the Chugach Mountains. (Ophira Group photo courtesy of David Norris)
Jornet ran with ease across the Mount Marathon finish line in 2015 with a time of 41 minutes, 48 seconds, breaking Alaska runner Eric Strabel’s 2013 record by more than a minute.
“I was super impressed with all those guys,” Norris said, “and I was definitely wondering if I could keep up with them if I was racing.”
In 2016, he got his chance.
As a Mount Marathon rookie, Norris said he didn’t have his sights set on the record, “or even necessarily winning. I just wanted to get to the top as fast as I could.”
Because Norris is a professional cross-country skier, he knew he was strong on the uphill, but wanted to be cautious coming down. So he focused all of the effort on the uphill.
He managed to summit Mount Marathon a minute faster than Jornet, which Norris said took a lot of out him. “You get to the top and you’re ready to sit down, but you have to start running down the mountain,” he laughed.
It had been weeks since he had been on the top of Mount Marathon. “The snow melt had changed quite a bit, so I didn’t even know necessarily how to approach coming off the top.”
There was still a large snowfield on the side of the mountain, so, as a skier, Norris took advantage of his downhill skills.
“I just jumped on the snow and got down as fast as I could,” which made his legs feel like Jello.
He hit the pavement for the final stretch of the race, which was a shock to his body. “I really struggled to run there because your legs aren’t ready to turn over in that high speed gradual downhill running,” Norris explained.
“The mountain just pounds your legs and takes everything out of them.”
Norris got a boost of energy from the crowd lining the road. “People are sticking their hands out for high fives and cheering loud enough that you can’t hear yourself breathe or your feet hitting the ground.”
Crossing the finish line in 41 minutes, 26 seconds, Norris broke Jornet’s record by more than 20 seconds.
“If you ever want to feel like a hero, race [Mount Marathon],” Norris said. “Whether you’re in 1st or 50th, everyone is cheering and just having a good time.”
Norris heard from so many people who were thrilled to have an Alaskan hold the Mount Marathon record once again.
This year he’s aiming to break his own record– not the one to the finish line, but the one to the top of the mountain. After that, getting down the mountain safely is his main priority. If he ends up in first across the finish line, that will be just an added bonus.
Allison Barnwell grew up in Seward, so almost every Fourth of July during her childhood she saw her hometown swell with runners and tourists. She joined the cross-country running team in middle school, and raced as a junior in Mount Marathon four times.
Then, she graduated to the senior division and has raced in that for the past seven years.
For her, Mount Marathon is a family affair.
Her parents help out with the race and Barnwell and her two sisters compete almost every year. “There’s a lot of nerves in our house because there are a lot of runners in our house,” Barnwell said.
She knows the mountain like the back of her hand.
“The faster way to go is right up a cliff right in the beginning and then there are smaller cliffs on the way up.” She tries to stay with the lead pack of women, and since there’s no set route, she said going up is a good time to pass people.
Then, on the way down, she holds on and has fun.
“Running down the shale is actually surprisingly easy,” Barnwell said. “It kind of feels like your glissading or skiing, almost. You have this soft landing and you squish a little bit, so it’s really fun, I really love it.”
Friend Abby Jahn along with Allison Barnwell and her two sisters, MacKenzie Barnwell, Isabell Barnwell at 2017 Mount Marathon. (Photo courtesy of Allison Barnwell)
After the final, most exposed cliff, you hit the pavement, which according to Barnwell is not only a shock to the body, but to the mind.
“There’s people up on the mountain, but you’re kind of alone, so it’s always just a huge shock to look out and be like, ‘Oh my goodness. There’s a crowd five people deep cheering me on!'”
The first year Barnwell placed well in the race her mom was volunteering at the halfway mark on Mount Marathon.
“I came out of the trees in fourth place and I remember seeing my mom’s jaw drop and her eyes just got huge,” Barnwell said. “She hardly could yell because she was so excited.”
Barnwell is competitive and has been training for this race by running races in the Chugach Mountains, like Bird Ridge and Government Peak. Her goal is to finish Mount Marathon in the top ten, which she’s done every year since 2012.
Barnwell also said she tries to relax, have fun and enjoy time at home with her family.
“We have a great time. Typically there’s a few people camped out in our yard and an RV parked in our garage way and there’s just a ton of people everywhere,” she said.
“It just feels like a hometown race with a lot more excitement and a lot more people,” Barnwell laughed.
In this 2011 photo, an exploration camp sits on top of the Pebble deposit, one of the largest undeveloped copper, gold and molybdenum deposits in the world. (Photo courtesy U.S. EPA)
Gov. Bill Walker has asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to suspend the Environmental Impact Statement process for the proposed Pebble Mine.
In a letter to the Army Corps on Friday, Walker and Lt. Governor Byron Mallot contend that Pebble Limited Partnership has yet to present a “feasible and realistic” project. For the Corps to fully consider all alternatives in the draft EIS, they recommend a preliminary economic assessment, at minimum, and preferably a pre-feasibility study.
Gov. Walker said that he believes the project needs to catch up to the process.
“The Corps of Engineers is evaluating all the options on Pebble Mine,” Walker said in an interview. “We want to make sure that there’s sufficient opportunity for input on the actual project itself, and we felt that it wasn’t far enough along to really warrant this review. I think it’s appropriate for them to look at suspending the permit until the information sort of catches up.”
The letter was submitted on the final day of the EIS scoping period. Walker said the next step is for the Corps to decide.
“Really, the next step is- we don’t necessarily have one administratively, ourselves, that I’m aware of. But really, the ball’s in their court at this point — how they’re going to respond to the information they’ve received,” Walker said.
Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation CEO, Norman Van Vactor, called the decision “fantastic.”
BBEDC has long opposed the mining project.
In a press release, Pebble Limited Partnership CEO Tom Collier said that the purpose of the Corps’ EIS process is to evaluate Pebble’s potential environmental impact, including whether it would be able to operate without harming the region’s salmon habitat. He said that the governor’s request to suspend this process was unclear and Collier says he sees it as a “stall tactic.”
The protests stemmed from an original wave of outrage at the separation of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border.
In Kodiak, people gathered at the main downtown intersection Saturday to show support for keeping migrating families together and for a more compassionate approach to immigration policy.
Over 30 people have gathered on the grassy triangle at the Y, the center of traffic in downtown Kodiak.
Cars honk on the way past. Demonstrators hold up signs saying things like “Less Fear, more Compassion,” and “They are children.”
Organizer Breanna Peterson says she pulled the gathering together last-minute after seeing interest on Facebook. She says she is horrified by the stories of children being separated from their families.
“People seem really be lacking empathy for this situation and it’s just in my opinion inhumane to take kids away from their parents.”
For the past few months, the federal government has been placing migrant children in facilities established for that purpose.
Last week, the Trump administration changed its policy in reaction to backlash from the public. Now, families seeking asylum, mostly from countries in Central America, are being detained together.
Erin Manilin sits in the center of the green with her son and says she imagines what it must be like for families at the border.
“I have two kids of my own, and I put myself in the shoes of their parents, their moms, and it just made me feel sad. It didn’t feel right. At all. Doesn’t matter where you’re from, you keep your kids with their parents.”
She says no one should be locked up or jailed, and suggested the alternative of finding volunteers to offer families a place in their homes.
That idea also appeals to Michelle Weakly, who says she’d offer her home up if she were in the position.
“It’s a medieval practice to separate children from their families, but I know it’s a big problem. How do you house all these people that are trying to come in? The problem is vast, but as long as we keep our families together.”
The United States has a long history of separating children from parents, from the days of slavery to the colonization of Native Americans. While during World War II, Japanese American families were held in camps together.
Carol Holt sees the administration’s policies as a regression.
“The worst possible scenario is that what Trump is moving toward is detainment camps like this country did with Japanese in WWII and I don’t want us to get anywhere near what we did then. I want us to remember our history, remember who we are and move the process forward.”
Organizer Breanna Peterson says the shift to detaining families together is a positive step forward and believes it’s a direct result of public protest.
“But I guess we’ll see. Once we see the kids reunited, I think that’ll be a bigger statement from the government.”
She says it’s easy to feel helpless hearing and seeing the news. As of June 28, about 2,000 children were estimated to still be held apart from their families.
“It’s just awful and so I think this protest against those actions and what our government is doing, I think it’s just really important the we do show up and have a voice for these people that don’t have a voice and we use our privilege in this way.”
Current regulations prevent the government from holding families for longer than 20 days, but the Trump administration is trying to change that.Organizers of the Families Belong Together movement said they’d estimated that over 750 events would be held across the country.
