Dunleavy names Alaska Republican chairman as his chief of staff
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO – Juneau
Governor-elect Mike Dunleavy told mining industry leaders today that Alaska is open for business. He also named Alaska Republican Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock to be his chief of staff and chairman of the transition team.
House member named as next speaker lacks votes he needs to be elected
Nathianiel Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The representative identified Wednesday as the next speaker of the Alaska House currently lacks the 21 votes needed to be elected to the job, according to an interview with one of his colleagues.
Trump administration downsizes NPR-A lease sale after little interest last year
Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
At its annual oil and gas lease sale, the Bureau of Land Management will offer 254 tracts for bid. Last year, the Trump administration put 900 tracts up for bid.
As more ballots are counted, Kreiss-Tomkins opens lead in House race
Enrique Pérez de la Rosa, KCAW – Sitka
The results of the House District 35 race were delayed on election night due to a technical issue in voting across Southeast. But election returns are finally in for Sitka, Petersburg and other communities affected by the malfunction.
Sitkans tell Roadless Rule committee that best action is ‘no action’
Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka
Over half of the Tongass National Forest is federally protected from road construction. The so-called “Roadless Rule” has been in place since 2001, and the subject of nearly-continuous litigation since then. But now, the state has petitioned the Forest Service to craft an Alaska-specific rule that would make way for economic development in the Tongass.
Fall whaling in Utqiaġvik: joy, excitement and this year, mourning too
Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks
Whaling Captain Crawford Patkotak says many in the community are still mourning the loss of two whalers in an accident this season, but the overarching dedication to continuing the tradition of whaling remains strong.
Nine thousand-year-old tooth holds clues to ancient Alaska
Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
A roughly 9,000-year-old tooth found in Alaska is part of new research published recently in the journal Science. It came from a child, part of a group of Ancient Beringians that crossed into Alaska from Asia across the Bering Land Bridge. The tooth itself has taken quite a journey. After it was initially found more than seven decades ago, the tooth sat in storage in Denmark.
At Anchorage library open mic, teen performers take center stage
Kirsten Swann, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
In Anchorage Public Libraries, a new series of teen open mics draws young performers from all kinds of genres. Teens come to sing, dance, play instruments and recite poetry.
Gloria Arnett, 18, performs at a teen open mic session at the Loussac Library on Oct. 19, 2018. (Photo by Kirsten Swann / Alaska Public Media)
On a busy Friday afternoon in October, a librarian set up a pair of speakers in the buzzing atrium of the Loussac Library, switched on the mic and handed it over to a rotating cast of teen performers.
They performed for passing library patrons, gathered family members and customers waiting in line at the library cafe. One recited poetry; one sang along with Bruno Mars. Nikita Idleman, 15, brought her ukulele and covered Vance Joy and Twenty One Pilots. The afternoon teen open mic was the chance she’d been looking for, she said.
“I’ve been wanting to share my singing and music for a while, and this was an opportunity, so I took it,” Idleman said after the show.
Organized through the Anchorage Public Library, the mostly monthly teen open mic sessions are a way for young musicians and poets to practice performing in front of a live audience, said teen librarian Jon Ebron. There aren’t enough venues for that around town, he said.
Sometimes the library sessions draw several performers. Sometimes nobody comes. The key is to provide the platform, Ebron said.
“For me, what I think is really important is just making it available and possible for those who choose to come and experience it,” Ebron said.
Gloria Arnett, 18, was the last performer to take the stage at the October open mic session. It wasn’t the first time she’d performed there, she said. She said she dreamed about getting discovered and starting her own record label and representing Alaska. The library open mic was a step along the way.
It’s also a place to feel safe, Arnett said. For nearly as long as she can remember, she said, music has been an escape — a way to cope with everything from homelessness to bullying in school.
“It makes me forget all the mean things that the kids would say about me,” Arnett said, waiting for her turn to take the mic. “(Music) will put me in my own little world of like, ‘Hey, you don’t need those people, you don’t need to listen to them, you’re confident, you’re beautiful, you’re not who they say that you are, they only look at the outside, not the inside.’”
When Arnett ended her October performance with acapella Beyoncé, the atrium filled with applause.
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy speaks to the Alaska Miners Association on Thursday about his plans for his administration. He named Tuckerman Babcock to be his chief of staff and transition chairman. (Photo by Wesley Early/Alaska Public Media)
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy told mining industry leaders that Alaska is open for business Thursday. He also named Alaska Republican Party Chairman Tuckerman Babcock to be his chief of staff and chairman of the transition team in Dunleavy’s first public appearance since Election Day.
Dunleavy said he’s known Babcock for a long time and trusts him.
Dunleavy also named his former campaign manager Brett Huber as his senior policy adviser. And he said he’ll be looking for smart, hard-working people to serve as commissioners.
“We’re going to work closely together, and we’re going to form a very close team to make sure that everything we’ve talked about in moving this state forward (happens): resource development, public safety, restoring trust in the permanent fund, the issue of the permanent fund, making sure that we have jobs and opportunity for everyone,” Dunleavy said, his voice hoarse from a cold that began the last day of the campaign.
Dunleavy told the Alaska Miners Association annual convention that he will work to encourage developing Alaska’s natural resources.
Dunleavy noted his own family, including his daughters, have worked at Red Dog Mine in the Northwest Arctic Borough.
“You’re going to have to put on your seat belts, because this is not going to be a slow crawl,” Dunleavy said. “We’re going to pick up speed here real fast. We’re going to be working with the industry across the board. And we’re going to be working internally in my administration to make sure that when we start to look at fines and possibilities — that the attitude is (not) going to be, ‘Meh, maybe not.’ That the attitude is going to be, ‘How can we make this happen?’”
Dunleavy answered questions from reporters after his speech about how he’ll approach different policies.
Dunleavy said the state will be able to pay out full permanent fund dividends under the formula used until PFDs were cut the last three years.
Dunleavy also said he’s interested in transferring some Alaska state land to private ownership.
“We are working on some ideas regarding land,” Dunleavy said. “We have 100 million acres of land. Very little of it is in private hands. And we got to make a decision as a state as to what we want to do with our own state land.”
Dunleavy said he expects to put his own stamp on the state budget that will be introduced two weeks after his Dec. 1 swearing in.
And Dunleavy described how his administration will approach Medicaid: “Review it. See how we can improve upon it. Make sure that it’s sustainable. Take a real hard look at Medicaid to see if it’s something we can sustain forward. Everybody wants something. We know that. But if we’re not able to sustain programs, I think it’s kind of a disappointment for the people of Alaska to rely on something that we can’t sustain.”
Dunleavy said he’ll work with outgoing Gov. Bill Walker on a smooth transition. Babcock says the transition team will announce Friday how Alaskans can give their ideas for the new administration.
The Haines Borough Police Department has been authorized once again to respond to calls outside the Haines townsite in certain emergencies. At a meeting Tuesday, the Haines Borough Assembly decided police can respond to calls outside the townsite if there is an articulable crime in progress or an imminent threat to life or property.
Two weeks ago the police department was ordered to not provide service outside the Haines townsite. Since then, there have been several incidents reported to the police department that have gone without responses, including multiple car accidents and a home invasion.
When Haines police did respond to a call from a person trapped in a vehicle outside the townsite, Borough Manager Debra Schnabel took disciplinary action against Police Chief Heath Scott for violating the borough’s order to limit police service to the townsite.
During the borough assembly meeting Tuesday, Schnabel said it was a very difficult decision to make.
“I hope that you can appreciate that it’s very difficult to ask any first responder to go against their training and to go against their oath,” Schnabel said.
Over the last year, the Haines Borough has been trying to figure out the best way to deal with police service outside the townsite since the Alaska State Troopers removed its sole “blue shirt” officer from the Chilkat Valley.
In October, residents living within the borough but outside of town rejected a proposal to increase their property taxes in order to fund an on-call police service area. As a result, the borough ordered the police to stop responding to calls out the Haines Highway, Lutak Road and Mud Bay Road. The Haines Borough Charter limits local police service to areas within the townsite.
This week, Chief Scott received a request to provide service to the entire borough from Maj. Andrew Greenstreet, the acting director of the Alaska State Troopers. The letter from Greenstreet describes the Haines Borough Police Department as the primary law enforcement agency of the borough with the state troopers providing assistance on a case-by-case basis.
Assemblyman Tom Morphet said the Alaska State Troopers have not been consistent in their policing policy.
“There’s kind of two different messages coming from the state. One is we don’t have jurisdiction, the other is we do have jurisdiction.”
Morphet questioned why Alaska State Troopers would say that policing the entire Haines Borough is the responsibility of the Haines Police Department when state troopers provide service alongside local police in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
Ultimately, the assembly voted to authorize police to respond to calls outside the Haines townsite if there is an articulable crime in progress or an imminent threat to life or property. The assembly also voted to have the borough’s attorney respond to Greenstreet’s letter.
As of Tuesday, Kanakanak Hospital, which is run by the Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation, is no longer in immediate jeopardy with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
“Immediate jeopardy” is a CMS designation for facilities that place patients at serious risk of death or injury. If a hospital is placed in immediate jeopardy and does not remedy the situation, then it loses its Medicare and Medicaid funding.
After Kanakanak Hospital was removed from immediate jeopardy status on Tuesday, BBAHC president and CEO Robert Clark said, “We are pleased that CMS has recognized the good progress underway to quickly but effectively bring the pharmacy to full compliance.”
The survey concluded that medications were being mishandled, that serious medication errors had occurred, and that hospital leadership was aware of a rise in medication errors and had not responded appropriately.
In mid-October, the hospital submitted a corrective action plan to CMS. The plan was accepted, and the hospital had 90 days to enact the plan. But implementation was rocky.
When CMS visited on Oct. 23, it extended the hospital’s immediate jeopardy status because key elements of the plan were not implemented.
BBAHC said that the immediate jeopardy status was extended due to problems with staffing.
It explained in a statement, “Due to the qualifications needed and BBAHC’s remote location, it has always been difficult to find the right pharmacy personnel with appropriate training and experience for the scope of services BBAHC provides. Hiring highly qualified and appropriately licensed personnel for remote, Alaska health care facilities is a lengthy process, and is challenging to complete in a matter of a few short weeks.”
A former Kanakanak Hospital pharmacist who worked there at the time said that problems also included insufficient training for pharmacists.
In the meantime, serious medication errors were still occurring. Dillingham resident Alannah Hurley is a caregiver for her 97-year-old grandmother. She said she has encountered numerous mistakes at the pharmacy.
“Over the course of the last eight months or so, we’ve noticed multiple errors, not only in packaging, but in dosage and medications being in the wrong bottles with the wrong labeling. We’ve put in multiple complaints and have only seen those errors get worse,” said Hurley. “One hundred percent, these are life-threatening mistakes.”
Hurley said some of the most serious errors occurred in October, when the pharmacy was supposed to be implementing its corrective action plan. She said she believes the medication errors began after the hospital administration fired or forced several longtime pharmacists to resign.
“Before longtime dedicated pharmacists were fired or resigned due to the toxicity of the environment out there, we never had problems like this,” said Hurley. “We had pharmacists like Evelyn Olson who cared, who worked with us to make sure that we were receiving the best care possible, people who really, really care about our people in this region.”
Olson was born and raised in Dillingham. Between attending college and then pharmacy school, Olson has worked at Kanakanak Hospital in various capacities since 2005. In 2013, she became a staff pharmacist at Kanakanak Hospital, and her husband, Kane Olson, became the pharmacy director.
The couple bought a house in Dillingham and planned to stay, but Evelyn said Kane was fired in Sept. 2017 and wasn’t given a reason. She resigned in January.
State law requires that every pharmacy designate a pharmacist-in-charge (PIC) to ensure compliance with all regulations. Evelyn Olson said Kanakanak Hospital administration had not designated a new PIC by the required deadline in late January. Olson said she requested direction from hospital administration, but did not receive any. Unsure if it was legal to operate, she and the other pharmacists closed the pharmacy until administration identified a PIC.
The pharmacy reopened hours later after hospital administration named a new pharmacist-in-charge, but Olson says the hospital took action against her.
“My boss at the time and a representative of HR essentially handed me a piece of paper that accepted responsibility for the pharmacy closing … and I would be placed on immediate administrative leave without pay,” explained Olson. “So I said, ‘I’m not going to sign this.’ I wasn’t going to accept responsibility. It was up to them to work with the state to work out the new pharmacist-in-charge situation.”
At least three community members wrote letters to the BBAHC board in support of Olson after she resigned, and the state Board of Pharmacy found she did not violate any statutes or regulations.
Despite the rough ending, Olson praised Kanakanak Hospital medical staff and employees.
She said, “I really, really love my job there. It was so important to me, as a lifelong Dillingham resident, to give back to my community, the community that always supported me through all of school, whether that be high school, undergrad or pharmacy school. So it was really important for me to return.”
Both Evelyn and Kane Olson now work as pharmacists in Anchorage.
After Evelyn left, at least three full-time, permanent pharmacists have left or resigned and two spots continue to be filled by temporary duty pharmacists. In October, no pharmacist working at Kanakanak Hospital had been there longer than four months.
The CMS survey only illustrates deficiencies. It does not suggest possible causes. However, it does note that medication errors rose sharply in the first half of 2018.
It reads, “There were 29 medication errors from January to July 2018 compared to six during this same time frame in 2017. The (Executive Committee meeting) minutes did not reflect the significance of the medication events and the lack of investigations, or action plans to be implemented.”
The CMS survey also found that hospital “leadership staff” took no actions on the increase in medication errors prior to being placed on “immediate jeopardy” status.
So what is next for the hospital as it works to improve patient safety and keep its CMS funding?
Because CMS lifted the hospital’s immediate jeopardy status after a site visit on Tuesday, the hospital will keep its Medicare and Medicaid funding as long as it successfully completes its plan of correction.
BBAHC said that plan includes working with the Indian Health Service to hire qualified pharmacists. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium has also deployed a team to assist Kanakanak Hospital in training pharmacy staff and addressing deficiencies.
The new deadline for BBAHC to bring the pharmacy into compliance is Jan. 11, 2019.
The Justice Department filed suit Thursday against R.D. Robinson, a Juneau sculptor, who took possession of the M/V Challenger in 2014.
A previous owner had used the converted 96-foot tugboat as a floating bed-and-breakfast in Seattle. Robinson had planned to use it as an artist’s studio.
But the aging vessel’s wooden hull had deteriorated, and the vessel sank in 2015.
The Coast Guard raised the tug and towed it away for disposal using funds from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
In an interview with the Juneau Empirein 2016, Robinson disputed he was the Challenger’s lawful owner and therefore responsible.
Gov. Bill Walker signed Senate Bill 92 this year which creates a new titling program requiring owners to register their boats. The bill also streamlines impound procedures.
Derelict vessels are a growing problem in Alaska.
The M/V Lumberman, another World War II-era tug, currently lies abandoned in Gastineau Channel tidelands not far from where the Challenger sank.
(From left) Judson Rusk, Calvin Drake and Seaton Bryan play Nyctophobia, a board game where players are unable to see the board. The three traveled to SHUX earlier this fall to try new board games and meet the creators of some of their favorites.
The tourism season has come to a close and that means that things in Southeast Alaska are slowing down for the winter. Some spend their winters adventuring in warmer places, vacationing on tropical islands, trying to miss as much of the rain and cold as they can. But a group of Sitkans decided to take a vacation to an equally cold and rainy place- Vancouver, B.C. for a board game convention.
Inside a gargantuan convention hall in the middle of hundreds of tables covered in black tablecloths, sit groups of four to five conferring amongst themselves. At one of those tables, a handful of Sitkans are in their own world, wandering through some imaginary woods, trying to escape from a vicious axe murderer.
They’re playing Nyctophobia, a board game where players never actually see the board. They wear plastic blackout sunglasses, as one player who can see guides their hands. They feel each piece on the board, stumbling blindly through the forest looking for rocks, stopping at trees, and desperately searching for the car so they can escape.
They’ve traveled to SHUX, a convention for tabletop gamers to gather and try some new board games on the market. In its second year, SHUX is put on by Shut Up and Sit Down, a team of people who review board games professionally on Youtube, and they produce some of the most popular podcasts and videos in the tabletop gaming community. Sitkan Seaton Bryan relies on their reviews to decide what games to add to his growing library.
“I’ve been playing board games religiously since high school,” Bryan said. “Started with some basic stuff. But, I have around 200 games now in my collection, just as many kinds as possible.”
The board game library at SHUX. (Photo by Katherine Rose, KCAW – Sitka)
While Bryan has been into it for a while, many more people are dipping their toes in the tabletop world. Board games have seen a massive resurgence over the past ten years. SHUX co-founder Matt Lees has a theory about why the market is booming.
“I think personally it’s that people are starting to self-moderate a little bit,” Lees said. “Our lives are becoming increasingly digital and people are looking for ways to step away from that. Still spend time with people, still spend time thinking about complex puzzles and stuff, but just away from screens.”
With a growing demand, the market is flooded with new games that appeal to mainstream audiences and some to more niche interests. In the SHUX expo hall are games like Fog of Love, a two person role player that simulates a relationship in a romantic comedy, to a game called Chai, where you actually play a tea merchant trying to “brew the perfect blend of tea.”
“It’s very exciting for us because we think that lots of people grew up playing board games that were, frankly, a bit bad,” Lees said. “Monopoly is only fun if you’re winning, which means that 75 percent of people playing aren’t having a good time.”
And it’s not just about loading up on new cardboard. For people from a small town like Sitka, it’s nice to be able to come to a place where there is literally a convention hall half Sitka’s size, filled with 2,000 people in the building that share their passion for tabletop gaming.
“Just being able to run into people that saw what game you were playing and say “Oh I love that game!” or do that yourself, walk around, see something you’ve never played before, sit down and find out, it’s amazing,” Bryan said.
Board game culture has roots in Southeast Alaska. In Juneau, Jack Eddy runs a board game review site of his own, The Cardboard Herald. He produces podcasts and videos, and he’ll likely have a table at Juneau’s own growing board game convention in January, Platypus Con, which is in its fifth year.
“You may be interested to know that two of the original Magic the Gathering artists are actually from Sitka, Alaska- Anson Maddocks and Mark Tedin,” Eddy said. “They actually met at Sitka elementary school, and went to college together.
That’s no surprise to Eddy, who thinks Southeast is the perfect setting for breeding creative energy and fostering human connection.
“I think it’s that we have a desire for interaction. Particularly in Southeast, we’re a really artistic community and a community oriented community,” Eddy said. “The level of participation in any sort of community event seems like way higher per capita than anywhere else.”
And back at SHUX, Matt Lees has an idea of why Southeast Alaska may have a strong tabletop gaming culture.
“It’s really unsurprising to me that a group has come all the way from a place where, in the winter it’s boring and dark. I think lots of people who get into board games do so for reasons like that,” Lees said. “Maybe they’re having a difficult time in their life, maybe they’re having issues with mobility, maybe they’re living somewhere where you can’t go out and have a good time outside. People gravitate to board games for different reasons but when they find them they really stay. I think more people should give it a go, because it’s brilliant.”
And Bryan and his friends did give it a go – they left Vancouver with suitcases full of board games, back to Sitka stocked up on cardboard and prepared for the winter.
Friends and relatives including Rosanna Lemen, the captain’s mother-in-law, help to bag up portions of the whale to give to the community. October 25, 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Fall whaling concluded in Utqiaġvik in late October, and was characterized this year by events that brought additional excitement, but also sorrow to a usually celebratory time for the community.
In the early evening, a few days after the last whale has been brought onshore in Utqiaġvik, Ross and Justina Wilhelm’s house is crowded with about 20 friends and relatives. They’re setting out doughnuts and pineapple cake, arranging plates of whale meat and unaalik — which is boiled whale blubber and skin — and bagging up servings of whale for people to take home.
Ross Wilhelm is a whaling captain and his crew, with help from others, brought in the final whale of the season. His wife Justina is responsible for organizing tonight’s “crew’s serving,” an event where anyone in the community can come get a portion of the whale.
The group circles up to pray before the serving starts. As the captain’s wife, Justina Wilhelm, second from right, is responsible for organizing the event. October 25, 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
When everything is ready, the group joins hands. Ross’ mother Lagoo Kunaknana says a prayer in Iñupiaq, expressing gratitude for the whale they’re about to serve.
The prayer is broadcast over VHF radio, along with the family’s house number and an announcement that they’re ready to serve. Soon there’s a steady stream of people revolving through the house, yelling congratulations and trading hugs in the Wilhelm’s living room.
Ross Wilhelm spends the evening shaking hands and greeting visitors.
“It’s just what puts us together is the whale, the bowhead whale. Just gets us all together,” Wilhelm said, before breaking off to say hello to an approaching friend.
Wilhelm says that the usual energy around fall whaling was boosted this year, coming off a big success at the meeting of the International Whaling Commission in September. At that meeting, the IWC made some key changes to the bowhead whale quota that Alaska subsistence hunters had been pushing for.
But on the other end of the emotional spectrum, the community just experienced a profound loss. About a month ago, Captain Roxy Oyagak Jr. and crew member Ron Kanayurak were killed in a whaling accident off the coast of Utqiaġvik when their boat capsized while towing a whale to shore.
Ross Wilhelm says that the crew’s serving is a time of joy, and that seems to be the main emotion in the room during the event. But in conversations around town it’s clear there’s still a lot of pain related to the accident. It’s also an important reminder of something that whalers already know well: that whaling can be dangerous.
Wilhelm says that he was shaken by what happened.
“I’d make myself look bad if I said it doesn’t scare me,” Wilhelm said. “I’d be stupid if I didn’t say that of course it does.”
The group circles up to pray before the serving starts. As the captain’s wife, Justina Wilhelm, second from right, is responsible for organizing the event. October 25, 2018. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
Despite what happened this season, and a close call he himself had in the past, Wilhelm isn’t deterred from the hunt. He says sometimes things happen that are outside your control, but the only thing you can do is renew your vigilance when it comes to basic safety.
He’s not the only one thinking along those lines.
The Barrow Whaling Captains Association is reviewing what happened, and will be discussing what safety lessons may be drawn from the accident at upcoming meetings. That’s according to Crawford Patkotak, a whaling captain and board member. He says that many in the community are still mourning the loss of the two men, but the overarching dedication to continuing the tradition of whaling remains strong.
“For the most part our people are able to rebound and continue our life, our culture,” Patkotak said. “And knowing that Roxy and Ron would have it no other way, they would want us to continue our culture.”
Fall whaling concluded in Utqiaġvik with hunters bringing in a total of 19 whales, the full number of whales permitted by their quota.
After two days of contract negotiations, the Anchorage School district and the Anchorage Education Association — that’s the district teachers’ union — have agreed to a third round of mediation.
Negotiations with the mediator went late into the night on Wednesday, ending at about 1:30 a.m. But the district and the teachers’ union still haven’t reached an agreement. It was expected that if the mediation failed, the negotiations would move to arbitration.
However, ASD Chief of Human Resources Todd Hess says that both mediation sessions brought the two sides closer to a resolution.
“Then, at the end of that, after everybody has a chance to get a couple hours sleep because it was a long day yesterday (Wednesday), people say, ‘you know, we made good progress. We’re hopeful. We think we can reach a positive resolution,'” Hess said. “And the mediator agrees again to come back up. So I think that’s very positive.”
Anchorage Education Association president Tom Klaameyer echoed that sentiment. He says the two main points of contention have been over salary increases and curriculum changes.
“And frankly, it’s not so much the actual curriculum, although there some people that aren’t exactly happy with that, but it’s more the implementation,” Klaameyer said.
Klaameyer says the new curriculum was implemented poorly and described the lesson plans as “scripted.” District representatives say the new curriculum was introduced to help improve low student performance on standardized tests.
During school board public testimony for the last couple months, many teachers testified that the curriculum changes were negatively affecting their teaching. They also specifically accused both Hess and Superintendent Deena Bishop of minimizing teachers’ complaints. Hess was quoted in several testimonies, describing the situation as a manufactured crisis in a district general leadership meeting.
When questioned about that comment, Hess said the remark was taken out of context.
“I was actually referring to an article put out by the Oregon School Board’s Association,” Hess said. “And they were talking about tactics that were used by unions around the country, and the term crisis was included in that document that I was sharing with people.”
In a video of that leadership meeting obtained by Alaska Public Media, Hess makes no mention of the Oregon School Board’s Association when he makes those remarks.
Hess explicitly states “we have a manufactured crisis.” He then goes on to list ways that he believed the union was “rallying the troops.”
“They identify issues. Some are correct; many are not,” Hess said during the leadership meeting. “Talking about principal intimidation, I believe that’s a manipulation. Talking about certain curricular issues, I believe those are exaggerations.”
In a separate interview, Hess clarified that he believes the unions are employing the “manufactured crisis” tactic, and not the teachers.
Another part of the contract disputes involves salaries. Right now, the union has brought their proposal down to a 9.5 percent increase to annual salaries over three years; the district’s counter offer is 2.25 percent over three years. The district says that the raises that the union is asking for would cost millions, resulting in layoffs and increases to class sizes, both of which tend to negatively affect school performance.
AEA president Klaameyer says a point of contention is that a section of the Anchorage School District budget that was set aside for pending negotiations last year was not included on this year’s budget. Hess says that money wasn’t specifically designed to be used only for salary negotiations.
“There was a misunderstanding that that section was specific to labor negotiations,” Hess said. “That wasn’t accurate. We negotiate for fuel. We negotiate for power. We do all of those different things, along with labor.”
Klaameyer says that aside from the various issues being negotiated for the contracts, another strain on teachers has been time.
“I think a lot of our members are frustrated because the process has taken so long, [to do] what they view as doing the right thing. ‘Why is it so hard to do the right thing?'” Klaameyer said.
Both Klaameyer and Hess said their respective agencies hope that the negotiations can be resolved before the worst case scenario, which would most likely be a strike.
The date for the third wave of mediation has not yet been set.
Clare Baldwin, USUAA vice president at the University of Alaska Anchorage. (Photo by Wesley Early / Alaska Public Media)
This week we’re hearing from Claire Baldwin in Anchorage. Baldwin currently serves as the Student Body Vice President at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
BALDWIN: I never even saw myself being a part of…I was kind of shy, a little nervous, and didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my position, so I joined last year as a Senator. And then when we had a little bit of shuffling around with leadership positions, I was asked to move up to be the vice president.
Yea, some of it’s very boring work but I really enjoy the people. So even though some of the things we’re doing are very minute, and sometimes it feels like we are making just very small differences, being with the people and enjoying the atmosphere and the environment here is what really keeps bringing me back.
So when people ask if I am born and raised in Alaska, I feel bad saying yes, because it’s not true. But to me, Alaska’s all I remember, so to me, I was basically was born in Alaska.
I was born in Oklahoma City, my dad was in the military, and when it came time for him to switch locations, Alaska popped up on the list, and him and my mom were like, ‘OK! Let’s take a chance on Alaska.’ So we drove up here on the ALCAN, me and my brother, and they moved here, we lived on base, in Chugiak as well, and they loved it here, so I’ve been here ever since.
I always feel very home in Alaska — the type of people that when you’re in a ditch and it’s 7 o’clock at night, they pull up, no questions asked, they pull you out of a ditch (it’s actually happened to me, random stranger). They help you out, even when they don’t even know your name; don’t ask anything in return.
I decided to stay in Alaska mainly for the cost of college; I do plan on going to graduate school and that was kind of on my mind. I think I’ll come back to Alaska. I didn’t always love Alaska, but the longer I’ve stayed here, I’ve learned to love it even more.
I’m thinking of after I graduate, either going in the direction of data analysis or public policy. I imagine myself sometime hopefully working in government. Not being the politician myself, but being the person behind the politician — the one who really makes all the decisions.”
Dunleavy’s transition chairman Tuckerman Babcock also announced that former Libertarian Party state legislator Dick Randolph will be an adviser on constitutional amendments.
University of Alaska copes with increasing Title IX complaints
Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbankd
The University of Alaska system continues to receive increasing numbers of reports of sexual offenses, ranging from sexual assault to harassment, discrimination and other misconduct.
Health care price transparency law may be helpful, but it’s unlikely to make care cheaper
Renee Gross, KBBI – Homer
Beginning next year, a new law will require health care providers in Alaska to be more transparent about their prices. While it may help prevent sticker shock, experts said the move likely won’t result in cheaper medical procedures.
Court hears arguments in case that could curtail Arctic Ocean oil drilling
Elizabeth Harball, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The U.S. District Court in Anchorage heard arguments in a case that could determine whether millions of acres of Arctic waters should be closed to oil development.
As teacher contract dispute continues, Anchorage School District and teachers union schedule third round of mediation
Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
After two days of contract negotiations, the Anchorage School district and the Anchorage Education Association have agreed to a third round of mediation.
AK: SHUX, the Canadian board game convention with Southeast Alaska roots
Katherine Rose, KCAW – Sitka
A group of Sitkans decided to take a vacation to an equally cold and rainy place — Vancouver, B.C. — for a board game convention.
49 Voices: Clare Baldwin of Anchorage
Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
This week we’re hearing from Claire Baldwin in Anchorage. Bladwin currently serves as the Student Body Vice President at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy announces his transition policy council at the Security Aviation hangar in Anchorage. Nov. 9, 2018. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
Gov. Bill Walker has made advancing a gas line one of his signature efforts. But it will be Walker’s predecessor that Dunleavy’s transition will be turning to as a special adviser on the project.
Transition chairman Tuckerman Babcock said Parnell is well-positioned for the work. He made the announcement at a press conference Friday in the hangar at Security Aviation in Anchorage.
“No one knows more about the project than the former governor,” Babcock said. “Sean Parnell, in his previous work on AK LNG (Alaska Liquefied Natural Gas), moved the project along to a point it had really never reached before. And he stands ready to evaluate where we are as we move forward and advise the governor-elect.”
Babcock also announced Dick Randolph will advise the transition on constitutional amendments. He led the effort to abolish Alaska’s income tax in 1980.
Dunleavy has supported guaranteeing permanent fund dividends in the constitution. And he’s suggested the state should limit revenue for state government in the constitution. He’s pointed to Colorado as a potential inspiration for an amendment. Colorado requires voter approval for any tax increases.
And Dunleavy wants to lower the spending limit in the state constitution.
Colorado also requires that voters approve any spending increases higher than the combination of population growth and inflation.
Dunleavy announced the transition policy council will have two co-chairman: John Moller, a Juneau commercial fisherman who was senior rural affairs advisor to Parnell, and Brett Huber, who managed his campaign and will be a senior policy advisor in the administration.
Moller said the transition will examine the role of the tribal advisory council formed by Walker. Moller noted that Dunleavy has proposed a rural sub-cabinet that could serve a similar objective.
Huber said Alaskans can provide their ideas about how to implement Dunleavy’s agenda.
“We’re already hearing comments from Alaskans as to how best to help put this plan in place,” Moller said.
The transition will not have separate teams working on each policy area like previous transitions have had, according to Babcock. Instead, the policy council will form separate advisory teams as needed. Babcock says the council’s role is to take the policy statements that Dunleavy made during the campaign and flesh them out for the commissioners of each state government department.
State Rep. Dan Saddler, whose term ends in January, will serve as the policy council’s executive director.
Dunleavy said much work needs to be done in the next three-and-a-half weeks.
“We have a very short window, a very short timeframe, to do this,” Dunleavy said.
The Trump administration has re-opened large parts of the Arctic Ocean to oil leasing, but environmental groups are challenging that decision in court. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey)
A federal court in Anchorage Friday heard arguments in a case that could close off millions of acres of Arctic waters to oil development.
A few months after taking office, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to re-open large parts of the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas for offshore oil leasing. Former President Barack Obama had withdrawn those areas, citing environmental risks.
Environmental groups are legally challenging President Trump’s ability to undo Obama’s withdrawal.
In court, they argued that Congress gave presidents the power to take offshore areas off the table for oil development, but not the reverse.
Their argument hinges on a single line in the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act: “The President of the United States may, from time to time, withdraw from disposition any of the unleased lands of the outer Continental Shelf.”
“Congress is precise about the amount of power it delegates,” Earthjustice attorney Erik Grafe said after oral arguments. “It delegated the power to withdraw, but it didn’t in the statute, anywhere, say that a president can revoke withdrawals. That’s a power that’s left to Congress.”
A lawyer for the Trump administration disagreed, arguing that this reading of the law is too narrow and not what Congress intended when it created the legislation in 1953. He argued that if the environmental groups’ reading of the law is correct, the president could hypothetically remove all federal waters from oil development.
“Congress does not hide elephants in mouse holes,” Department of Justice attorney Jeffrey Wood said during oral arguments.
A decision in the case is not expected for months, and no matter the outcome, it’s likely to be appealed. But the outcome could have near-term impacts, because the Trump administration has tentatively proposed holding an oil lease sale in the Beaufort Sea next year.
Community members at Spring Creek Correctional Center gather to discuss life behind the prison walls. (Photo courtesy of DOC)
Having a criminal record can hamper efforts to find a job, get a loan or even a place to live. The Alaska Criminal Justice Commission has new recommendations to redact or hide from public view, some past convictions. Will it help those who are working to improve their lives after completing their sentences? What about the public’s right to know?
HOST: Lori Townsend
GUESTS:
Cathleen McLaughlin – director of the Partners Reentry Center
Greg Razo – Alaska Criminal Justice Commission
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).
The Northwest Arctic Borough village is where his wife Rose Dunleavy is from. Dunleavy announced the location on Saturday, to the Alaska Outdoor Council in Fairbanks.
A release from Dunleavy’s transition team said the governor-elect chose Noorvik to honor residents of rural Alaska.
Dunleavy will be the third governor in Alaska history to be sworn in outside of the State Capitol in Juneau. Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell had their ceremonies in Fairbanks.
Dunleavy’s swearing in will be on Dec. 3. He will hold his inaugural celebration the next day in Wasilla, where he lives. Dunleavy’s transition team will announce celebrations in other communities as the details are confirmed.
The M/V Fairweather steams through Chatham Strait in 2011. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld / CoastAlaska)
Once headed for mothballs with its sister ship, the fast vehicle ferry MV Fairweather appears likely to return to service in Southeast Alaska next summer, according to a proposed schedule released Friday by the Alaska Marine Highway System.
The Fairweather would make three runs a week between Juneau, Haines and Skagway, plus a weekly run to Sitka from May to September.
“We’re just really glad to see it didn’t get mothballed and put out to pasture,” said Robert Venables, chair of the Alaska Marine Transportation Advisory Board. “It’s still in working condition. It was put up that way at the end of the season this year, and I’m glad to see that it’s available for use next year.”
The 14-year-old catamarans are expensive to run and can be difficult to maneuver in rough conditions. Cost-cutting by the ferry system has left the Fairweather’s sister ship Chenega tied up since 2015.
State lawmakers have consistently cut funding to the state ferry system to the tune of about $35 million over the past five years.
“It’s increasingly more challenging for the department to meet the service needs the way the boats have been demanding more and more repair and servicing,” Venables said. “It’s still a work in progress but we’re really glad to see them fill the gaps as much as they’ve been able to.”
The schedule also doesn’t anticipate the new Alaska-class ferries to go into service before September. Originally ordered as day boats by the Parnell administration, those ferries are having crew quarters added to extend their service range.
The proposed schedule isn’t final. The marine highway is asking for written feedback sent on or before Nov. 23 via email at dot.amhs.comments@alaska.gov or faxed to (907) 228-6873.
The gold claims are immediately behind Herbert Glacier, viewed from the banks of its eponymous river, on August 12, 2017. (File photo by Jacob Resneck / KTOO)
Drilling near Southeast Alaska’s Herbert Glacier has yielded encouraging results for a Canadian mining company.
“At this point it’s about exploration, it’s about discovery, it’s about building the asset,” CEO Ian Klassen said by phone from British Columbia “We’re very much just involved in the exploration phase of this company’s development.”
The Vancouver-based company’s filings infer as much as $400 million worth of gold in its claims contained in the Herbert Gold Project.
“We’ve got six very significant mesothermal veins that you can see from surface, and we’ve only drill-tested about 25 percent of those targets themselves,” he said.
Investors’ enthusiasm over the results from this summer’s drilling caused the company’s stock price to soar, though its value has since returned to near its historic average.
A similar rally occurred at the same time last year.
“I think we traded north of 20 million shares since Labor Day,” Klassen said.
Permission to drill has been granted by the U.S. Forest Service five times since 2010.
“It would be inappropriate and unnecessary to analyze the effects of a hypothetical, future mine,” wrote Matthew Reece, the agency’s minerals program manager.
SEACC staff scientist Guy Archibald said any future mine would have consequences.
“It’s going to certainly impact any recreation activities up there,” Archibald said in an interview. “I’m also concerned that pretty much any mining operation ends up contaminating water, whether it’s surface water or ground water.”
The claims are on federal land off of the road system. Any proposal would be still be reviewed by the City and Borough of Juneau under its local mining ordinance.
Even if a mine were eventually developed, Klassen said people would hardly know it was there.
“This is the type of thing that would be an underground operation,” Klassen said, “The community doesn’t have to fear us.”
Work has wrapped up for the season. Klassen said the company plans to resume exploration next summer.
The cow was spotted on a popular trail system in the Anchorage area. (Photo by Abbey Collins / Alaska Public Media)
In Anchorage, it’s not unusual to encounter a moose on a trail. And bears, while not always a welcome sight, are a part of living in Alaska, too. But wild Alaska cows? That’s not usually a thing.
Cyclists were perplexed when a bovine creature turned up on a popular Anchorage bike trail.
Eric Parsons bikes along trails near the Campbell Airstrip regularly. But on a recent ride, he saw something pretty unusual. Parsons saw a big animal out of the corner of his eye — and it startled him.
“As I’m riding by it, I notice that it’s not a moose and it’s not a bear. And I’m like, ‘are my eyes playing tricks on me?’ And definitely, in my mind, I could see that it was a big, black cow,” Parsons said.
Parson’s isn’t talking about a cow moose. Parson’s wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him.
“I was like, ‘Am I seeing things?’ Because I’ve never seen a loose cow, in the winter, night biking in Anchorage,” Parsons said.
But, then Parsons caught word of another sighting.
In a post on the Anchorage Fat Bike Facebook group, another biker wrote, “Almost got run over by a cow last night on moose meadow. As in, cattle, not a bear or a moose.”
It turns out there is, indeed, a missing cow in the Anchorage area.
In a public Facebook post on the fat tire group, an Anchorage resident says they’ve been looking for the cow for “a while.” They said it’s “a very sneaky cow, and doesn’t want to get caught.”
The view of the Chukchi Sea from the Utqiaġvik coastline, October 26th, 2018. Hunter Billy Adams says that when he was growing up, there was almost always ice attached to shore by late October. (Ravenna Koenig/ Alaska’s Energy Desk)
If you want to see some of the most dramatic changes in the part of the world that’s changing most dramatically, Utqiaġvik in the fall is a good contender. Over the course of the past 50 years, temperatures in Utqiaġvik have increased in October more than any other month and the sea ice pattern has changed drastically.
The sky is close and gray as Billy Adams stands on the shore in Utqiaġvik at the end of October, looking out at the Chukchi Sea. There’s semi-frozen rain falling from the sky, waves crashing on shore and open water as far as the eye can see.
Adams is a hunter who’s lived in Utqiaġvik all his life. He’s in his 50s. And he says that when he was growing up, there was almost always ice attached to the shore by now.
“We could have been walking out there and hunting ringed seals,” Adams said. “But we’re on land right now.”
According to Rick Thoman, Alaska climate specialist at the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, that lack of ice is both the effect of warming in the Arctic, broadly, and a primary driver of local October warming in Utqiaġvik.
“When you’ve got that water right off shore that’s staying at 28 [degrees Fahrenheit] or warmer, that greatly limits how cool the air can get,” Thoman said. “Even a thin layer of ice with a little bit of snow on it, the air right above that can cool much more.”
What used to happen usually in October is that the pack ice that was able to remain frozen on the Arctic Ocean throughout the summer would start getting blown to shore. It would cool the land, and the water around it, which helped to form even more ice along the coastline.
But the edge of that pack ice has been steadily retreating further north. Where even two decades ago it was rare for the ice to be more than 50 miles from the coast in October, now it’s often hundreds of miles offshore. Which means that these days in October, it’s beyond the range where normal wind patterns can blow it in.
“So we’ve moved into a situation now where we have to ‘make our own ice’ so to speak,” Thoman said, meaning that the ice has to form in place along the coast, without the help of pack ice. And that takes more time.
Back on the shore of Utqiaġvik, Billy Adams tells me that the ice now tends to form in late November or December, instead of October like it used to.
Besides shortening the hunting season on the ice, the new ice pattern has also contributed to increased coastal erosion along the unprotected shore, with potentially serious consequences for Utqiaġvik’s infrastructure.
For Adams himself however, the biggest consequence of no October ice is simply that he misses it. For him, it’s hallowed ground.
“You find your own place out there, and pray and ask for comfort. A lot of the time I go out there and heal out there from all the things that go on in the world,” Adams said. “I just like to be alone with the creator and enjoying his world.”
I ask Adams if he’s concerned that future generations won’t get that.
“You know I’m not going to worry about it right now,” Adams said. “That’s not in my thoughts right now. I’m not going to worry. They’re going to do fine. We have to be positive.”
Ice on the Chukchi Sea is only now forming, and freeze up is still weeks away.
Beginning next year, a new law will require all health care providers in Alaska to be more transparent about their prices. Some hope it will give consumers the tools to shop around, boosting competition and subsequently lowering prices. While it may help prevent sticker shock, experts said the move most likely won’t result in cheaper medical procedures.
Davon Smith is the clinical business operations director for SVT Health and Wellness in the Homer area. He said if health care prices catch patients off guard and they are unable to pay, it can impede their treatment.
“It actually compiles onto those social determinants that hinder them from actually getting better,” Smith said.
That’s partly why the clinic discusses prices and payment options with clients.
“We want to make sure you can afford that kind of treatment plan, that kind of health care costs, and it makes it easier for the patient to be informed and be a part of that decision-making,” Smith said.
A new law will soon require SVT to go one step further. It will require all health care providers to post prices for the top healthcare services they provide, among other requirements. Patients will still pay different prices depending on their insurance and other factors.
Andrea Ducas is a senior program officer with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and much like Smith, she said the primary reason to provide patients with more price transparency is to prevent sticker shock and help patients factor in the cost of procedures while creating a treatment plan. However, she also said it gives them more tools to shop around.
“When we are able to compare prices or able to see prices, we save money,” Ducas said.
But Ducas said comparing prices only goes so far.
“So if you had the choice between going to get an x-ray that cost $300 or getting an x-ray that costs $250, if the price of that x-ray really appropriately should only be $20, giving you the option and helping you shop, that’s not going to help bring the costs down to $20,” Ducas said.
Historically, there haven’t been many incentives for patients to shop around as insurance coverage has typically picked up the bulk of healthcare costs. Patients have also relied heavily on their doctors to refer them to other providers.
“Patients have not really gravitated toward this type of information in any kind of meaningful way,” said Dennis Scanlon, a professor of health policy and administration and the director of the Center for Health Care and Policy Research at Penn State.
Scanlon explains that laws requiring transparent healthcare prices in other states and cities, including Anchorage, have not exactly spurred competition.
“If your goal is to create healthcare transparency to either get people to go to the low cost providers or to have the high cost providers lower their prices, there are some selective examples of that happening, but it’s not widespread yet,” Scanlon said.
But Scanlon said markets with high healthcare costs such as Alaska and changes in the healthcare market in general have the potential to change that.
“As there has been more of a push for insurance plan designs with higher deductibles which require more first-dollar-out-of-pocket expenses by patients,” Scanlon said. “So I think that’s, for lack of a better term, woken some patients up to understand that ‘boy, this is costly’ and it might be worth shopping around a little bit.”
Proponents of the new law will have to wait and see if Alaskans are more prone to shop around when the healthcare transparency law goes into effect on Jan. 1.
However, shopping around only works if you have a choice in healthcare in the first place, and for many rural and roadless Alaskan communities, that’s just not a reality.
