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Three-way race for governor complicates campaign strategies

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Gov. Bill Walker, left, former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, center, and former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy, right, are running for governor. Supporters of Walker and Begich expressed concern about the three-way race. (Walker photo by Jeremy Hsieh/KTOO, Begich and Dunleavy photos by Skip Gray/360 North)

In many ways, the three-way race for governor is complicated for voters. But it’s also keeping campaign strategists busy as they try to clear a path to victory for their candidates.

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Elections with two candidates are simple. But in Alaska’s governor’s race, there are three major candidates: independent Gov. Bill Walker, Democratic former U.S. Sen. Mark Begich and Republican former state Sen. Mike Dunleavy.

And while three is only one more than two, for political strategists, that extra candidate makes things a lot more complicated.

Jim Lottsfeldt is an Anchorage political consultant who has worked with Democrats and other left-of-center politicians. He said it’s a challenge for campaigns that want to go on the attack.

“When you’re Candidate A and you attack Candidate B, imagine, it’s like giving them an electronic zap and some of those voters clinging to them fall off after they get zapped,” Lottsfeldt said. “And in a two-person race, those voters don’t have anywhere to go, but back to the person doing the zapping.”

For Walker, any strategy that appeals to voters on the left or right sides of his coalition risks alienating those on the other side. He has said his administration has been able to do what it sees as right for Alaska, because it hasn’t had to cater to the political parties.

A Walker ad with pipefitter Brandon McGuire makes this point.

“When I look at Gov. Walker, I see somebody who is going to make the tough decisions, versus somebody who’s worrying about their next campaign,” McGuire said.

But a group backing Walker, Unite Alaska, is more combative. It has started criticizing Dunleavy in its ads:

“When you vote for governor, will you choose a leader, or a quitter? When Alaska needed him most, Gov. Walker made the tough decisions. Mike Dunleavy? He quit the Senate, abandoned his constituents and left others to do the hard work.”

One organization supporting Walker is the Alaska AFL-CIO, a labor federation.

Joelle Hall, its political director, said these ads will make Alaskans aware of Dunleavy’s positions.

“These are just perspectives and worldviews that the majority of Alaskans just don’t hold,” Hall said. “They view them as really, really extreme. And once people kind of figure this out, I just don’t think they’re going to think that he’s quite, you know, not standing so tall anymore.”

The strategy’s been a little different for Mark Begich.

Jim Lottsfeldt – who’s worked with Begich in the past – said this year has seen Begich “unleashed.”

“Begich is pounding away on choice and women’s right to choose, and then the governor — who is pro-life — comes out and says, ‘I’m pro-life, but my administration is kind-of pro-choice. It’s all fine.’” Lottsfeldt said. “Why does he do that? Mark Begich.”

Begich has made a straightforward appeal to Democrats and the political left.

“I’m the only candidate who will protect the PFD and school funding in the state constitution, taking them out of the hands of politicians,” Begich said in a radio ad.

But Joelle Hall said Begich’s stands won’t appeal to Alaskans who are currently backing Dunleavy.

“Mark has really tacked to the left and so maybe that’s not where most Alaskans are comfortable,” Hall said. “Most Alaskans are kind of in the middle. So I think when they come off Dunleavy, they go to the governor.”

Four years ago, Walker and Begich appealed to many of the same voters – but they were running for different offices. While Walker won, Begich lost re-election to the U.S. Senate. Now they’re fighting for the same voters for the same office.

John Wood is advising the group Dunleavy for Alaska. He anticipates groups on the left will try to pressure either Walker or Begich to endorse the other, depending on their poll numbers.

“The strategy is to try and get the public perception that one or the other – Begich or Walker — is pulling away from the other person, and that if they don’t narrow it down to one of the two of them against Dunleavy, they’ll both lose,” Wood said.

One sign of Dunleavy’s campaign’s strength is the large early lead for Republicans in requests for absentee ballots. By the end of September, there were nearly six times as many Republican requests as Democratic. Four years ago that ratio was 2-to-1.

John Wood said Dunleavy for Alaska has been effective at delivering its message, including through the colorful campaign signs, throughout the state.

“It did it in probably the most professional manner that Alaska campaigns have ever seen up to date,” Wood said.

His campaign has also benefited from funding from the Republican Governors Association through the group Families for Alaska’s Future. Its ads have sharply criticized the Walker administration’s performance, including this one:

“Alaska’s economy is last in the nation. Unemployment is nearly twice the national average. It’s time for a change.”

Another sign that the campaign strategies of Dunleavy and the groups backing him are working is poll results. He had a 15-point lead in results released last week by Alaska Survey Research. Begich was second, 6 points ahead of Walker. Libertarian candidate Billy Toien wasn’t included in the poll.


49 Voices: Steve Henrikson of Juneau

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Steve Henrikson of Juneau (Photo by Kavitha George, KTOO – Juneau)

This week we’re hearing from Steve Henrikson in Juneau. Henrikson is originally from Washington state and has been the curator of collections for the Alaska State Museum since 1988. He will be part of the museum’s Indigenous People’s Day celebration on Monday.

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HENRIKSON: I’ll contribute to it by talking about some of the other types of traditional Indigenous watercraft in Alaska. Everything from kayaks, umiaks, birchbark canoes, as well as different types of dugout canoes from the Northwest coast.

I started working for the National Park Service up here during the summers as a curator for the Sitka National Historical Park. I really was very interested in Alaska Native culture and the job in Sitka came open. It was supposed to be a summer job, and like many people one job led to another and, before you know it, you’ve been here for 30 years. That’s what happened to me, too.

Part of my job and due to my many family and friends among the Tlingit people, I’ve gotten to go to a lot of different ceremonies over the years. And I was adopted by the Dakl’aweidí clan of Angoon at a potlatch that we all went to in Klukwan.

I’m not sure how common it is, but it’s something something that is taken very seriously. Anyone who is adopted knows that it’s a kind of honor, but it also comes with a lot of responsibilities. And it’s necessary for you to participate in the clan doings, and I contribute to the memorial feasts and other ceremonial activities.

You know, something that’s always struck me is how Alaska is just one big small town, and how you run into people that we know all the time. Even in distant locations; in Europe and Washington D.C., we’ve run into people that we know from here. So it’s always fun.

How Alaska Eats

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Cyrus Harris and Brittnay Anderson package meat at the Siglauq in Kotzebue. (Hillman/Alaska Public Media)

Alaskans take DIY food to the extreme. They fill freezers with wild game, fish and berries that they harvest themselves then transform the raw ingredients into hearty meals like Salmon Pot Pie and moose meatballs. Food blogger and Anchorage Daily News Editor Julia O’Malley is testing classic Alaska recipes for a new project called How Alaska Eats.

HOST: Lori Townsend

GUESTS:

  • Julia O’Malley- Food blogger and Anchorage Daily News Editor

 

  • 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).
  • Send email to talk@alaskapublic.org (comments may be read on air)

LIVE Broadcast: Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 10:00 a.m. on APRN stations statewide.

SUBSCRIBE: Get Talk of Alaska updates automatically by emailRSS or podcast.

AK: Lt. Gov. Mallott remembers John Active’s contributions to language revitalization

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Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott went to Bethel last week to talk about what the Alaska Native Linguistic Emergency Administrative Order can do. He also took a moment to recognize public broadcasting’s John Active, who made major contributions to keeping language alive in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. August 18, 2017. (Photo courtesy of KYUK – Bethel)

As the ink dried on Gov. Walker’s signature finalizing the Alaska Native Linguistic Emergency Administrative Order, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott went to Bethel to speak about what the order can do. He also took a moment to recognize public broadcasting’s John Active, who made major contributions to keeping language alive in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

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Lt. Gov. Mallott says it all started back in 2014, when Alaska officially recognized it’s 21 Indigenous languages, including Yup’ik. That paved the way for the legislative resolution passed in April urging the governor to declare a linguistic emergency for Alaska’s Native languages.

“The governor received it. Agrees fully with the reasoning behind and signed in Juneau an administrative order, which itself has the force of law,” Mallott said.

That instruction stands until another governor overturns it, added Mallott. The order says that the state must do all that it can to preserve and support language revitalization efforts.

“All state agencies, all departments of the state of Alaska should work with tribes on a government to government basis, recognizing the sovereignty of those tribes,” Mallott said.

The Department of Education and Early Development is the lead agency in responding to the emergency, says Mallott, and each officer of the governor’s cabinet will need to designate a point person. State signs will also change.

“For the names of public places,” Mallott said, “major streets and freeways, and marine signage and aviation signage should recognize and reflect Alaska Native languages.”

The Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council will continue to play a role in making specific recommendations to the governor. Mallot says that the administration will continue to work to find additional resources to protect and revitalize Alaska’s Indigenous languages.

“The state is prepared to work with the legislature to do whatever is fiscally responsible to meet this emergency,” Mallott said.

Unlike other Native languages in Alaska, the Yup’ik language is spoken on a regular basis. One of the advocates for the language worked at KYUK for decades.

Before he died this summer, John Active did everything from reporting and reading the news in Yup’ik, to telling stories, conducting call-in programs, and talking with Elders in Yup’ik. He helped shape a radio station where local programming was translated and conducted in Yup’ik because he was passionate about keeping the language vital and saw radio as a tool. Locally, Active made sure listeners heard different dialects of Yup’ik, representing Upper and Lower Kuskokwim River communities as well as coastal communities.

“You should be proud, proud to hear a little Cup’ik, a little Mekoryuk, a little upriver,” Active said, speaking to class of students from Bethel Regional High School back in 2007.

When outsiders came to report or shoot a documentary, Active pushed them to use people from the community as guides to better understand the region and improve the stories and films.

“Unfortunately, a lot of times outsiders come to our area and make films and they miss the whole point about our lives sometimes: the way we live and stuff,” Active said. “They don’t understand our culture; they don’t know what’s appropriate to film sometimes.”

The lieutenant governor took time to recognize Active’s legacy, pointing also to the Yup’ik people who worked to get the linguistic emergency officially recognized.

“There are many from the Yup’ik regions who are very active, and leaders in the overall development of this administrative order and the recognition that we do have a linguistic emergency,” Mallott said. “So it is both timely and reminiscent to mention people like John Active.”

Long before John Active became an Elder, he recognized the importance of getting Elder interviews on the air and archived. Before he died, he talked about why it was important to record and keep this oral tradition so cultural wisdom and history would not be lost.

“The Elders don’t have anything written down. Their brains are computers; their knowledge is in their head from remembering back when they were growing up how they were taught by their parents and Elders,” Active said. “So when Elders die, all that information that they have in their heads will be lost.”

Thinking back on his memories of Active, the lieutenant governor reflected that it was his first time being back at KYUK since Active died.

“He was such an incredible personality, such an incredible teacher of language, and I miss him very much and I know we all do,” Mallott said.

John Active will be inducted into the Alaska Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame soon.

Chris Ho and KYUK Reporter Krysti Shallenburger contributed to the reporting of this story.

Murkowski votes ‘No’ but Kavanaugh nomination advances

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski. (Image: C-SPAN)

Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court is cleared for likely passage, but without the help of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. She said she found Kavanaugh’s angry, confrontational demeanor at a Senate hearing last week to be a breach of the Code of Judicial Conduct.

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She cast the lone Republican “no” vote Friday on ending debate so the Senate can proceed to a final vote on confirmation.

Murkowski took to the Senate floor Friday evening to explain. She said the bar is extremely high for a Supreme Court justice. Even if he’s accused of attempted rape, as Kavanaugh was last week, Murkowski said he needs to follow the rules for displaying judicial temperament

“Even in the face of the worst thing that could happen, a sexual assault allegation, even in the face of an … overtly political process, a politicized process,” Murkowski said, ” … even in these situations, the standard is that a judge must act at all times in a manner that promotes public confidence” in the impartiality of the judiciary.

Misty Nickoli of Fairbanks is one of the Alaskans who flew to Washington, D.C. to urge Sen. Murkowski to vote no on Kavanaugh. Photo: Liz Ruskin

The vote was 51-49, so Murkowski’s “no” wasn’t decisive.

Kavanaugh is very close now to confirmation. Two senators who seemed on the fence, Susan Collins and Joe Manchin, say they will confirm.

But outside Murkowski’s D.C. office shortly after the morning vote, a few dozen Alaskans who oppose Kavanaugh were celebrating their senior senator.

“Thank you to Sen. Murkowski. Stay strong. Alaska is behind you,” said organizer Molly Haigh, to cheers from the crowd.

Some 150 Alaskans or more have flown to Washington in recent days to lobby Murkowski in person, many of them sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union. There are so many that Murkowski has had to meet with them in groups of 18.

“Half of the women in our group had been raped sexually assaulted,” said Diana Rhoades, of Anchorage, who had one of the mass appointments. “It was so powerful. Everyone was crying. She was so strong, Lisa, and she said … ‘I feel like I’ve sunk six feet from the weight of your testimony, your stories.'”

Many of the Alaskans told Murkowski it would put a cloud over the Supreme Court to elevate a man accused of attempted rape to that bench. They said it would tell victims what happened to them means nothing.

Murkowski said she didn’t make up her mind until she walked into the Senate chamber for the vote. She said last week she found Kavanaugh’s  initial accuser, Christine Blasey Ford “very credible.” But she’s not condemning Kavanaugh’s character.

“I believe Brett Kavanaugh’s a good man,” she told reporters after her vote. “It just may be that in my view he’s not the right man for the court at this time.”

Murkowski said she’s been wrestling with competing values – fairness to the nominee, vs. the perceived fairness of Congress and the courts.

She said she respects her colleagues who support the judge, but “I think we’re at a place where we need to begin thinking about the credibility and integrity of our institutions.”

It’s bad for the country if people who are victims feel the system lacks fairness, Murkows said.

The final vote is expected Saturday. Murkowski said she will actually vote “present” to help out Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who is at his daughter’s wedding. He would vote “yes” if he were here, likely resulting in a 51-49 tally. The Daines-Murkowski agreement deducts one vote from each side, leading to the same outcome.

Alaska News Nightly: Friday, Oct. 5, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @AKPublicNews

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In preliminary vote, Murkowski is sole Republican ‘no’ vote on advancing Kavanaugh

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court advanced one crucial step this morning, but without the help of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. She cast the lone Republican “no” vote on ending debate to proceed to a final vote on confirmation.

Three-way race for governor complicates campaign strategies

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

There’s a large early lead for Republicans in requests for absentee ballots.

Key Alaska seafood products dropped from list of Chinese tariffs

Aaron Bolton, KBBI – Homer

Some of Alaska’s seafood industry has escaped the Trump administration’s trade war with China for now.

Former ADN owner reaches settlement in bankruptcy case

Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

The former owner of the state’s largest newspaper has reached a settlement in a federal bankruptcy case. The deal comes just over a year after the tumultuous fiscal situation left the paper’s future in doubt.

Katmai kicks off ‘Fat Bear Week,’ polls are open 

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Katmai National Park’s 4th annual Fat Bear Week has returned, to – as the park’s announcement put it – “determine which gluttonous giant sits atop the brown bear oligarchy of obesity.”

AK: Lt. Gov. Mallott remembers John Active’s contributions to language revitalization

Christine Trudeau, KYUK – Bethel

As the ink dried on Gov. Walker’s signature finalizing the Alaska Native Linguistic Emergency Administrative Order, Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott went to Bethel to speak about what the order can do. He also took a moment to recognize public broadcasting’s John Active, who made major contributions to keeping language alive in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.

49 Voices: Steve Henrikson of Juneau

Kavitha George, KTOO – Juneau

This week we’re hearing from Steve Henrikson in Juneau. Henrikson is originally from Washington state and has been the curator of collections for the Alaska State Museum since 1988. He will be part of the museum’s Indigenous People’s Day celebration on Monday.

Campaign finance enforcers fine Republican Governors Association and Dunleavy support group

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The Alaska Public Offices Commission on Friday found the Republican Governors Association violated state election law. The commission said the violation occurred when the RGA reserved TV time for political advertisements without registering with the state.

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The commission also found that the group Families for Alaska’s Future – Dunleavy violated the law when it reserved TV ad time before it registered.

The commission ordered the RGA to register with the commission. It ordered Families for Alaska’s Future – Dunleavy to file accurate reports. And it ordered both groups to pay fines of $4,450. It could adjust the penalties at the next commission meeting.

The commission order was the result of a complaint by the campaign of Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott.

Voting for 4th Annual Fat Bear Week ends Tuesday

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One of the “competitors” ofor Fat Bear Week is Bear 747, which people have compared to a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. (Photo via Katmai National Park Facebook page)

Katmai National Park’s 4th Annual Fat Bear Week has returned, to – as the park’s announcement put it – “determine which gluttonous giant sits atop the brown bear oligarchy of obesity.”

Bears in the March Madness-style bracket are advancing – toward a championship on Tuesday with votes from fans online. Many watch Katmai’s bear cam and know the bears by number or name.

And as Katmai National Park’s Andrew Lavalle explained to Alaska Public Media’s Casey Grove, there’s no fat shaming here.

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GROVE: Why do we care how fat a bear gets? I mean shouldn’t we be encouraging the bears to be healthier or does fattiness mean happiness for bears?

LAVALLE: There’s no pushing them to eat more salad here. A fat bear is a sign of a successful bear, and these bears will lose up to one third of their body mass over the course of the winter and it will be hibernating for up to six months. And so they need to get as much body fat on their bodies as possible. And so it’s really something to celebrate in the bear world. All ours bear seem to be doing pretty well in the Brooks camp area of Katmai. This is a pretty good place. If you are going to be a bear, this is a great place to be one. The sockeye salmon runs have been very large the past two years out of Bristol Bay. And so all of our bears do seem to be doing pretty well.

GROVE: So when did voting start and how is the competition going so far?

LAVALLE: This year’s Fat Bear Week started on October 3rd, which was Wednesday, and it is off to a pretty exciting start and it will all culminate on Tuesday, which is October 9th — Fat Bear Tuesday in which we will crown the fattest bear of 2018. We’ve had some surprises so far. We’ve had Bear 409 absolutely dominate the competition so far. She is a sow who has really packed on the pounds after emancipating some cubs earlier this summer. And we have a couple other bears coming up soon, including Bear 747 which people have compared to a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon. And we have Bear 435, nicknamed Holly, who is a crowd favorite as well.

GROVEL You mentioned a sow with two cubs who had emancipated those Cubs. What does that mean?

LAVALLE: Yeah, so sows — female bears — will keep their cubs for about two and a half years. And at about two and a half years old, she will give them the boot. She’ll kick them out and we had one bear particular, Bear 409, who had a set of two pretty large cubs at the start of the season, and she emancipated them, I believe, in late May or early June. So she only has to worry about feeding herself and she’s been quite successful at that this fall.

GROVE: So I hear you using the number for the bears, but I’ve also seen names kind of attached to those bears like human names and I wonder about how people feel about anthropomorphizing them and are there concerns about that.Do you hear from people with those concerns?

LAVALLE: Yeah. It’s a very fine line. So only a few bears have nicknames, and they are not official nicknames. We want to generally stray away from nicknames that are too cutesy or too bias one way or the other. As much as we get to know them and we think we know them on the bear cams or streaming them online, they are still wild animals and untamed and it’s important for us to remember that. This is more than entertainment. It is really a way to educate the public on the idea that this is a struggle for survival for these bears.


Juneau man found dead in Gastineau Channel

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The area where police recovered the body of Ricardo Willard (Photo by Kavitha George / KTOO)

A 53-year-old Juneau man named Ricardo Willard was found dead in Gastineau Channel Sunday afternoon, close to the U.S. Coast Guard Station, according to the Juneau Police Department.

“There was nothing suspicious, no signs of injury, no obvious signs of foul play,” JPD Officer Nick Garza said. “At this point, we’re not sure how Mr. Willard ended up in the water, but at this point we don’t have any reason to believe that foul play was involved.”

According to police, a pedestrian walking on the path on Egan Drive across from the Prospector Hotel saw the body floating about 50 feet from shore between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. The pedestrian notified police, who arrived on the scene with Capital City Fire/Rescue (CCFR). CCFR declared Willard dead at the scene. Officer Garza said JPD was in contact with the Coast Guard to request assistance recovering the body, but ultimately JPD recovered it themselves.

JPD is unsure of how Willard ended up in the water, and had no missing person reports on him prior to the discovery. Garza said his body is being sent to Anchorage Sunday evening or Monday so a medical examiner can complete an autopsy.

“The medical examiner’s office, post-autopsy, might give us a clearer picture on what happened. We’ll be awaiting that information and the results of the complete investigation,” Garza said.

Willard’s family, who live in Juneau, have been notified.

Alaska GOP vows ‘significant response’ against Murkowski

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Tuckerman Babcock, chairman of the Alaska Republican Party. 2016 photo: Lawrence Ostrovsky.

The chairman of the Alaska Republican Party has vowed there will be repercussions for Sen. Lisa Murkowski for opposing the confirmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

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Tuckerman Babcock said in a Facebook post the party will have a “significant response.” He said he’ll leave it to the party’s State Central Committee to decide what action to take against the Republican senator.

Murkowski said her opposition was based on what she thought was best for the credibility of the Supreme Court and the country, not on politics.

“There are consequences,” Murkowski told reporters after the vote. “But if I were to worry every day about political repercussions, or somebody saying that they were going to run against me, or say something in a newspaper story, I wouldn’t be able to do the job that Alaskans expect me to be able to do.”

Murkowski is also getting flak from liberals for participating in what’s called a “vote pair” so that Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., could go home for his daughter’s wedding in Montana.

Murkowski said she changed her “no” vote to “present” on Saturday to offset the “yes” vote that Daines would have cast if he had been in Washington. The final vote was 50 to 48 with one “present.”

Murkowski says her vote pair didn’t affect the outcome and was a gesture toward the civility she’d like to see more of in the Senate.

“Every little, small baby step that we can take to be more gracious and more generous with one another makes us better senators and better human beings,” she said.

Alaska tribes gather together to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day

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Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson speaks at an Indigenous Peoples Day celebration at Alaska Pacific University. (Photo courtesy of Governor Bill Walkers office.)

Today is Indigenous Peoples Day in Alaska, and there are gatherings across the state commemorating and celebrating Alaska Native people.

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In Anchorage, Alaska Pacific University held a celebration with food, dancing and cultural activities. Among the speakers at the event were Governor Bill Walker, Anchorage mayor Ethan Berkowitz and state health commissioner Valerie Nurr’araaluk Davidson. Davidson says it gives her immense pride to see Native people from around the state celebrating their culture and heritage.

“As a Yup’ik person, I think every day is a great day to be Indigenous,” Davidson said. “But on days like today, Indigenous Peoples Day, when we all come together to really celebrate who we ultimately are as people, it’s an especially great day to be Indigenous.”

Recently, Governor Walker issued an order recognizing the danger that Alaska Native languages are in. By some estimates, many Native languages could be extinct by the year 2100. The order works to increase partnerships between government and tribal organizations, integrate Native languages into schools and update public signs to include both English and Indigenous names. Davidson says these steps help preserve Native culture.

“When our children know who they are, when they speak their language and their culture is ingrained in their everyday life, that builds resiliency in children,” Davidson said. “And we have much better outcomes for our children and families when we know exactly who we are as people.”

Several speakers touched on the high rates of violence against Native women, including the recent murder of ten-year-old Ashley Johnson Barr in Kotzebue. In her remarks, Davidson spoke of her own experiences with abuse as a child. She says the high rates of violence against Native women creates a negative stigma about village life.

Despite the sometimes tough subject matter, the overall tone of the celebration was optimistic, complete with food and tribal dancing. Celebrations were also held at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Alaska State Museum in Juneau.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Ashley Johnson-Barr was ten years old, not seven. 

Alaska News Nightly: Monday, Oct. 8, 2018

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Stories are posted on the APRN news page. You can subscribe to APRN’s newsfeeds via email, podcast and RSS. Follow us on Facebook at alaskapublic.org and on Twitter @AKPublicNews

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Alaska GOP vows ‘significant response’ against Murkowski

Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington D.C.

The chairman of the Alaska Republican Party is vowing to repercussions against Sen. Lisa Murkowski for opposing the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

Campaign finance enforcers fine Republican Governors Association and Dunleavy support group

Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau

The commission said the violation occurred when the RGA reserved TV time for political advertisements without registering with the state.

Dunleavy receives endorsement from Public Safety Employees Association

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Mike Dunleavy, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, won an endorsement today from one of the largest police unions in Alaska.

In Interior Alaska, reinvestment in coal power runs counter to national trend

Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks

Even after decades of talk about getting affordable natural gas to the Interior, Fairbanks as of yet has only a limited supply of natural gas. And unlike many other places in the country, it’s not price-competitive with coal.

August marijuana tax revenue hits $1.5 million in Alaska

Associated Press

Monthly marijuana tax revenue in Alaska hit $1.5 million in August, another new high.

Topkok prevails in appeal, will join Nome City Council; challenge over residency is overturned

Emily Hofstaedter, KNOM – Nome

On Thursday, Meghan “Sigvanna” Topkok won her appeal to the Nome City Council, resolving an official challenge to her candidacy.

Praise and opposition over the progress of the Donlin gold mine

Krysti Shallenberger, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Bethel

One of the biggest gold mines in the world could be built along the Kuskokwim River, north of Bethel. The Donlin mine has so far escaped the intense level of public scrutiny aimed at the Pebble Mine, but it’s much farther along the permitting process.

Alaska tribes gather together to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day

Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Today is Indigenous Peoples Day in Alaska, and there are gatherings across the state commemorating and celebrating Alaska Native people.

Roadless advocates pack Tongass hearing

Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska – Juneau

Gov. Walker’s advisory panel is looking at where roads could be built inside the Tongass National Forest. But more than two dozen people testified at a hearing in Juneau against the idea.

Chignik salmon fisheries made $3000 between six permits in 2018

Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released its summary of the 2018 Chignik salmon season last week. The Board of Fish already declared it a disaster. Then the governor declared an economic disaster in August.

Roadless advocates pack Tongass hearing

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Part of the Tongass National Forest, between Wrangell and Petersburg, is seen in this view from an airplane in 2014. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska)

Governor Bill Walker’s advisory panel tasked with recommending ways to relax the U.S. Forest Service’s roadless rule is taking public comment across Southeast Alaska. At a recent hearing in Juneau, most people supported keeping the roadless rule intact in the Tongass National Forest.

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Gov. Bill Walker appointed the 12-member advisory committee to make recommendations to the state on where roads could be built inside 7.4-million acres of roadless areas in the Tongass National Forest.

In Juneau, more than two dozen people told the committee they didn’t like the idea of rolling back the roadless rule.

“Expanding roadless areas to make access for logging in Southeast Alaska amounts to a government subsidy of private industry,” said retired federal research chemist Jeff Short.

Juneau resident Carl Brodersen complained that the hearing was announced with little warning and held in the middle of a workday.

“It’s akin to holding a vote on a salmon issue during a king opening,” he told the committee.

Fly fishing guide Mark Hieronymus was among those in the tourism industry who have argued for keeping the roadless rule. He said people from the Lower 48 come to Southeast Alaska, “in greater and growing numbers for the incredible fishing opportunity in natural roadless settings still enjoyed here in the Tongass.”

A pair of supporters for more access also spoke out.

“I feel like I’m a weird duck sitting in here listening to all these people that really don’t know much about what’s going on out there,” Ketchikan City Councilman Dick Coose said. “But that’s beside the point. I’m retired forest service, 35 years.”

Coose was Ketchikan’s district ranger in the 1980s. He said there’s room for managed development in the Tongass.

“And my goal’s very simple: you manage a healthy forest, you have healthy communities and you have healthy businesses,” Coose said.

State Forester Chris Maisch presides over the advisory committee.

“Certainly, the weight of the testimony that we heard was not to change the rule, or in some cases, even to provide more protection,” he said in an interview.

The State of Alaska fought the nationwide 2001 roadless rule in federal court. The Bush administration granted an exemption. But the ninth circuit court of appeals struck it down in 2011.

An appeal filed in 2017 is pending in the D.C. Circuit Court.

Maisch said that makes the state’s position very clear: it’s against the roadless rule.

“And one way or the other the state’s been engaged in trying to overturn the rule since the day it was put in place,” Maisch said.

But on the ground the federal roadless rule is polarizing in Southeast Alaska.

The Tongass National Forest makes up most of Southeast Alaska (Courtesy U.S. Forest Service)

“There’s a lot of passion around this issue,” said Brian Holst, executive director of the Juneau Economic Development Council. He’s one of the 12 appointed to sit on the advisory committee.

Holst said the group hopes to find some compromise. The historic fight has been between keeping the roadless rule intact or doing away with it altogether.

“Our task is not to endorse either of those sides because both of those options are out there,” Holst said, “but is to generate alternatives somewhere in the middle and that’s challenging, that will be challenging.”

The panel doesn’t have much time to deliberate. It’s charged with crafting an Alaska-specific rule that would keep some areas roadless while accommodating areas for road building and development –principally logging – before the end of November.

Before that happens the panel will convene and hold meetings in both Ketchikan from Oct. 24 to 26 and in Sitka from Nov. 6 to 8.

Anchorage School Board votes not to change school start times

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On Monday night, the Anchorage School Board voted against changing school start times for the district.

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(Anchorage School District screenshot)

The proposed memorandum would’ve had high school days start 30 minutes later from 7 am to 7:30 a.m. Elementary schools would start 15 minutes earlier at 8:45 a.m. from 9 a.m. Middle schools would’ve had the largest shift from 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., a change of 75 minutes.

The board voted 5-1 against the change. Board member Deena Mitchell was the sole yes vote.

Two amendments to the memorandum also failed: one proposed by Alisha Hilde and another by Mitchell. They failed 4-2 and 5-1 respectively, with Hilde voting for hers and Mitchell voting for both.

The school board has been exploring the decision to change start times since March, pointing to studies that show high school students would benefit from an extra 30 minutes of sleep. However, opponents of the change felt that it shifted schedules too much and negatively affected both staff and parents.

The seven-member board currently only has six members. Bettye Davis resigned last month. School Board President Starr Marsett says a new school board member will be in attendance at the next meeting, scheduled for Oct. 22.

In Interior Alaska, reinvestment in coal power runs counter to national trend

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The University of Alaska Fairbanks recently held an event to celebrate the completion of their new coal fired power plant, the only coal plant to be built in the U.S. since 2015. August 29th, 2018. (University of Alaska Fairbanks).

An oft-cited trend in the Lower 48 is that coal plants are closing, in a large part due to the availability of cheaper natural gas.

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But in the Interior of Alaska, that picture looks different. Last year, almost 40 percent of the Interior’s electrical generation came from coal, according to a 2018 report by the McDowell Group, and the area is home to the only coal power plant built in the United States since 2015. So why has coal has hung on in the Interior? And are there challenges to it on the horizon?

On a sunny day at the end of August, University of Alaska Fairbanks chancellor Dan White stood on a dais at the edge of campus. He addressed a crowd of people who had shown up to celebrate the completion of UAF’s coal-fired power plant, expected to come online in November.

“This is the university where the world class research for all of the Arctic is done,” White said. “And we can’t do that without a reliable supply of heat and power.”

Instead of a ribbon cutting, there was a switch to flip, prompting light bulbs that spelled out “U.A.F.” to jump to life.

This power plant is a big deal to UAF, considering its old one was in danger of failing. But it also has a more symbolic significance. In a decade when hundreds of coal plants have been retired across the United States, UAF’s reinvestment in coal shows just how different things are in Alaska’s Interior.

Why is it different here?

One of the big factors is that even after decades of talk about getting affordable natural gas to the Interior, Fairbanks as of yet has only a limited supply of natural gas. And unlike many other places in the country, it’s not price-competitive with coal.

“There’s an ad at the Fairbanks Economic Development Corp. from the News Miner: ‘Gas is coming!’” said Brian Rogers, former chancellor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “It’s from the 1958 News Miner.”

Rogers was part of the team that explored fuel options for the new plant. He says they looked at a slew of them, including trying to get natural gas.

“I didn’t particularly want to go with nuclear; we looked at it,” Rogers said. “I would have loved to have gone with natural gas, we don’t have it. Oil would have been super expensive… There’s not enough solar to heat a university campus in the middle of winter.”

He says that coal wasn’t their first choice, mostly due to its higher C02 emissions. But when they narrowed the field down to the types of energy that were available, feasible and affordable coal won, hands down.

UAF’s is one of six power plants that rely on coal in the Interior. One is at Fort Wainwright, another at Eielson Air Force Base and three more generate electricity for the local electric utility, Golden Valley Electric Association.

All of that energy comes from the Usibelli Coal Mine, which is a two hour drive from Fairbanks and just 10 miles north of Denali National Park.

The Usibelli Coal Mine is located just outside Healy in Alaska’s Interior. It produces about a million tons of coal a year, and supplies 6 Interior power plants. October 1st, 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk).

Usibelli is the only operating coal mine in the state of Alaska, and has been owned by the Healy-based Usibelli family for 75 years.

“Emil Usibelli came to Alaska in the ‘30s,” said Vice President of External Affairs Lorali Simon. “And he actually first started in the Matanuska coal fields and then he moved up here to the Interior, and in 1943 started Usibelli Coal Mine.”

Simon says Usibelli’s operation is pretty small when you compare it to most coal mines in the Lower 48. The company employs about 100 people, and produces around a million tons of coal a year. In 2011 its production was over twice that, but it’s dropped since, mostly due to a declining export market. It stopped exports altogether in 2016.

On the other hand, local demand recently went up. Just last month Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) brought a previously-built coal plant online, upping the percentage of their coal-generated electricity from about 30 percent to over 65 percent.

So, that’s the way things are. But what about the future?

When asked if he’s under pressure to move away from coal, Cory Borgeson, President and CEO of GVEA, answers in the affirmative.

“There is a drive to reduce CO2 emissions,” he said. “So how does that affect the future of coal in the Interior and at Golden Valley? I would say if you’re a futurist here and you’re looking at where things are going, you’re going to see a reduction in the production of power from coal.”

Borgeson thinks Golden Valley could move in that direction by expanding its renewables and battery technology, perhaps collaborating with other Railbelt utilities. He also thinks there’s a possibility that natural gas could become a more economical option as the Interior Gas Utility moves forward with its efforts to expand gas supply in Fairbanks.

Another thing that could play a role — at least in the future cost analysis for the Fairbanks-area power plants —  is the air quality issue. Coal and oil fired power plants aren’t the biggest contributors to the problem; the main source is wood smoke. Even so, if the issue isn’t fixed, the state and federal governments may have to place stringent requirements on those plants, which would likely make the energy produced by them more expensive than it is currently.

But, for the moment at least, the equation still doesn’t add up to an imminent challenge to coal.


Dunleavy receives endorsement from Public Safety Employees Association

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Mike Dunleavy, the Republican gubernatorial candidate, won an endorsement from one of the largest police unions in Alaska.

The Public Safety Employees Association represents Alaska State and Wildlife Troopers and officers at several police departments around the state. The union has more than 800 members.

In a letter to Dunleavy announcing the endorsement, union president Doug Massie says public safety appears to be Dunleavy’s number one priority.

The 500-plus-member Anchorage Police Department Employees Association announced its support for Democrat Mark Begich earlier this fall.

Two Utqiaġvik whaling crew members die in apparent whaling accident

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The coastline off of Utqiaġvik. September 25, 2014. (Flickr photo by Andrew Petersen)

Two members of an Utqiaġvik whaling crew have died, reportedly after a boat capsized during fall whaling.

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In a statement Monday, Oct. 8, North Slope Borough Mayor Harry K. Brower Jr. confirmed that two lives were lost and said that the Borough is not releasing details about the incident until all the facts are gathered and all family members have been notified.

On Facebook Monday, members of the Utqiaġvik community and others from around the state posted condolences, remembrances and prayers for the whalers and their families.

Canadian company to purchase Alyeska Resort

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Girdwood’s Alyeska Resort is set to be sold.

In a statement Tuesday, Marketing Director Eric Fullerton said the resort has entered into a contract to sell “substantially all of it’s resort assets” to the Canadian company Pomeroy Lodging.

Fullerton said the transaction is expected to close before the end of the year.

Pomeroy Lodging is a hospitality company based in Grande Prairie, Alberta. The business owns and operates hotels in Western Canada.

Fullerton said he has nothing more to add right now.

Pomeroy Lodging did not return requests for comment by the time this story was reported.

Alyeska is currently owned by John Byrne, who lives in Alta, Utah and bought the resort in 2006.

Beadnose 409 crowned as the 2018 Fat Bear Week champion

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(Courtesy of Katmai National Park)

There is a new champion, fattest bear in Katmai: The winner of Katmai National Park’s 4th Annual Fat Bear Week is — number 409.

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409 – also known as “Beadnose” – advanced through this year’s bracket to become champion, carried through each round by votes at the park’s Facebook page. In a post, Katmai said of 409, “her radiant rolls were deemed by the voting public to be this year’s most fabulous flab.”

Beadnose 409’s prize for being a monument to hefty ursine living? A good shot at surviving the winter. She will have a few more weeks to expand her already impressive figure before resting on her laurels, in a den, for the winter.

Poll shows challenger closing in on Rep. Young

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Photos by Emily Russell and Wesley Early.

A new poll suggests Alaska Congressman Don Young may be in a tight race. Alaska Survey Research shows challenger Alyse Galvin is within four percentage points of Alaska’s lone U.S. House member.

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“Certainly Alyse Galvin has put herself in position where it’s possible that she may win,” pollster Ivan Moore said.

Moore, though, pointed out that Young has been winning elections for 45 years.

“For someone who’s been re-elected so many times, Don Young does fairly routinely get himself in fairly close races,” Moore said. “Or at least they appear close for a while.”

Moore’s survey, conducted in the first week of October, shows 49.7 percent of respondents said they’d vote for Young, if the election were held that day. Forty-six percent said they’d vote for Galvin – even though nearly that many said they didn’t know who she was.

Moore said respondents who don’t like the Republican incumbent may have been giving Galvin the benefit of the doubt.

A word of caution here: In 2008 a slew of polls, including Moore’s, showed Ethan Berkowitz was going to beat Young. He didn’t. Moore has a theory about that.

“Maybe in polls, people flirt with the idea of dumping Don,” Moore suggested. “But then when it comes to Election Day, they consider the upside – his seniority and so on.”

The weighted sample was 500 likely voters, reached by cell and landline. The error rate was plus or minus 4.4 percent with 95 percent confidence. Moore conducted it as part of a series, funded by a group of clients that he said do not include candidates or political parties.

A similar survey he conducted in late September showed Galvin was behind by 11 points.

Galvin is an independent who won the Democratic Primary in August.

Moore’s firm, Alaska Survey Research, also released poll results Monday for the race for governor. Republican Mike Dunleavy had a nearly 20-point lead over independent Gov. Bill Walker. Democrat Mark Begich was third.

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