Civil suit filed in controversial Anchorage assault case
Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
There have been more court filings this week against 34-year-old Anchorage resident Justin Schneider, who received a plea agreement earlier this fall for what many people thought amounted to a sexual assault.
Shrugging off lawsuit, Trump administration forges ahead with offshore Arctic drilling proposal
Elizabeth Harball and Nat Herz, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Anchorage
The Trump administration has taken another step towards restarting offshore oil development in the Beaufort Sea, a part of the Arctic Ocean that was mostly placed off-limits to drilling by former President Barack Obama.
Dunleavy seeks regulation freeze
Andrew Kitchenman, KTOO & Alaska Public Media – Juneau
Governor-elect Mike Dunleavy wants to freeze any new regulations the Walker administration may have imposed in Alaska going back to election day.
Coast Guard bill would end EPA permit mandate for fishing boats
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
For years, Alaska’s commercial fishing fleet has dreaded a rule that would require an EPA permit for even basic vessel discharges, like draining the fish hold, or rinsing the deck. Now, Congress is on the verge of ditching the requirement forever.
Juneau’s cold weather emergency shelter, located in an old state public safety building, will now open on nights when the temperature is below freezing.
With election of Dunleavy, is climate action team out in the cold?
Emily Kwong, KCAW – Sitka
With the election of new governor Mike Dunleavy comes many unknowns for Alaska — including his administration’s future plans for climate change action.
Anchorage teachers, school district reach contract agreement
Associated Press
Negotiators for Anchorage teachers and the city school district have reached a tentative agreement on an employment contract.
The only thing people in Crooked Creek agree on about the Donlin Mine is that it’s coming
Krysti Shallenberger, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Bethel
Some residents of Crooked Creek see the potential for much needed economic development while others see the possible disruption of their subsistence lifestyle.
It was quite a week for Marko Cheseto, who became a marathoner and an American in a 3-day span
Beth Bragg, Anchorage Daily News
The former University of Alaska Anchorage runner from Kenya lost both of his feet to frostbite in 2011. Racing on carbon-fiber running blades, Cheseto ran his first marathon last Sunday. Two days later, he became an American citizen.
The future of the Walker Administration’s Climate Action Leadership Team is in limbo with the election of Mike Dunleavy. DEC Commissioner Larry Hartig speaks to other members of the team on the University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, April 12, 2018. (Photo courtesy of David Lienemann / Office of Governor Bill Walker)
With the election of a new governor in Mike Dunleavy comes many unknowns for Alaska and among them is his administration’s future plans for climate change action. Several Sitkans were involved with a statewide Climate Action Leadership Team (CALT) this summer, organized by Governor Bill Walker. Their plan now hangs in limbo.
In September, a group of Alaskans handed Governor Bill Walker a 37-page playbook of policy ideas for climate change. Some ideas were focused on reducing the state’s carbon footprint, others sought to help villages with eroding coastlines. They even suggested researching a state carbon tax. And their document begins with a declaration that says, “the state has an obligation to take bold action.”
Compare that to the words of now Governor-Elect Mike Dunleavy during the debates. He was asked, “As a state whose economy relies on fossil fuels, how do you balance that with the need to reduce carbon missions?” Dunleavy responded by saying, “Alaska is not really a smoke stack state. Our contribution to climate change is probably minimal. We need to make sure Alaskans are going to work. We use technology where we can to reduce emissions. But our contribution to climate change to minimal.” Dunleavy concluded that Alaska need not act.
Those remarks have many on the leadership team fretting about the future of their climate change plan. Lisa Busch is the Director of the Sitka Sound Science Center and one of two Sitkans on the 21-person team appointed by Governor Bill Walker. He created the team through Administrative Order 289.
Busch sees their work as a call to action across every sector of the economy and every level of government. “It really is just a start of our state trying to be a leader in the nation for decreasing gas emissions,” Busch said.
Administrations past and present has been making subtle changes since 2007. That’s when then-Governor Sarah Palin created a climate change sub-cabinet that continues to meet. Busch was pretty delighted to discover that.
“The state agencies have been working on this stuff for a while. Since 2014, the state has a no-idling policy for state vehicles. They are thinking about resiliency and sustainability in every new road construction project. They are studying alternative fuels for the state vehicle fleet. They’re already doing quite a bit,” Busch said.
The Climate Cabinet that took all of the team’s climate change recommendations into consideration and issued an Early Actions Plan — cherry picking stuff the state can do right now. Their priorities included tasking ADF&G to create a cooperative analysis that identifies “potential impacts to Alaska fisheries from climate change and ocean acidification.”
But the election has changed all that. Walker is out. Will this climate action plan — and the team that wrote it — continue under Governor-Elect Dunleavy? His transition team isn’t sure. Spokesperson Sarah Erkmann Ward wrote in an e-mail to KCAW that the Governor-elect is busy building his administration and that it was “too early to know.” Prior to the election, he told KTOO, “I think we have a lot of issues that, in my opinion, are quite frankly and bluntly more important than the climate task force.”
Young people who have studied the plan certainly hope it continues. Zofia Danielson of Sitka and Carly Dennis of Anchorage attended a climate action dialogue for young people this summer. In that room, consensus seemed possible.
Danielson felt the plan could be worded even more strongly. “We should turn those shoulds in the climate plan – the language that wasn’t quite as strong as it should be – to musts,” she said.
Dennis was pleased to see the state reaching out to young people for input. She noted, “The youth voice is really important in that obviously, because young people are going to be the ones most affected by climate change.”
Since following the debates, Dennis has been concerned with Dunleavy’s attitude towards climate change science and action. She wrote in an e-mail to KCAW, “His complete disregard for climate change as a legitimate threat to our state shows a real disconnect with Alaskans.”
Those on the Climate Action Leadership Team have not met since the election and are in the dark about whether their work will continue beyond this year.
The other Sitkan on the team is Linda Behnken of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association. Her world is one where ocean acidification and rising temperatures are harming fish — and fishermen. I asked her what the worse case scenario was for the next administration.
Behnken: Is that we ignore what’s happening and allow the situation to get worse and not acknowledge the significance of these impacts.
KCAW: What would you do if [Dunleavy] were to reverse the administrative order and dissolve the team [Climate Action Leadership Team]?
Behnken: Well, I think all of us here in Alaska have an individual responsibility to addressing climate strategy through whatever strategy is fit with us, whether it’s the local level, state level, or national level. I certainly will.
Best case scenario, Behnken said, is that after Dunleavy is takes the oath of office in December, the Climate Action Leadership Team stays in place and continues their work.
The Beaufort Sea, where the Trump administration would like to hold an oil lease sale next year. (Photo courtesy NOAA)
The Trump administration has taken another step towards restarting offshore oil development in a part of the Arctic Ocean that former President Barack Obama mostly placed off-limits.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced today that it is beginning the environmental review process needed to hold an offshore lease sale for the Beaufort Sea next year.
In one of his last efforts to cement his environmental legacy, President Obama closed off the vast majority of federal Arctic waters to drilling, saying oil development there is too risky. But shortly after taking the White House, President Donald Trump signed an order to reverse Obama’s action. The Interior Department then released a draft proposal to open up nearly all Alaska’s waters to offshore oil development.
That overarching proposal hasn’t been approved yet. But according to a spokesman with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, if the federal agency is going to hold an oil lease sale in the Beaufort Sea in 2019 as scheduled in the draft proposal, the environmental review process needs to start now.
Alaska Oil and Gas Association President Kara Moriarty said she’s not surprised by the announcement because the Trump administration has consistently followed through with its pledge to pave the way for more resource development.
“We see it as an encouraging sign, a recognition that they really do want to make America energy dominant, and the way to do that is through Alaska,” Moriarty said.
But there’s a possibility that the drive to allow drilling in the Arctic could hit a snag.
A coalition of environmental groups have sued the Trump administration, arguing that the president lacks the authority to undo the protections Obama placed on the area. That court case is still pending.
“The Trump administration is putting the cart before the horse because the vast majority of the area may not be legally available for leasing,” said Lois Epstein with the Wilderness Society, one of the groups that filed the lawsuit.
Epstein said Obama made the right decision in banning offshore oil development in most Arctic federal waters, adding that the Beaufort Sea is a “near-pristine ecosystem.”
Earlier this year, another group aired concerns about the Trump administration’s earlier offshore drilling announcement: Voice of the Arctic Inupiat, or VOICE. While not against oil development — the group advocated to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge — the advocacy group comprised of Inupiat leadership organizations said it was “disturbed” by the inclusion of whaling areas in Interior’s draft proposal.
In its most recent announcement, Interior did propose an alternative aimed at minimizing conflict between whaling and oil development.
Steve Wackowski, a top Interior Department official, said the Trump administration will work closely with Alaska Native groups to limit impacts to the North Slope’s subsistence whale harvest.
“We are going to go through this process hand-in-hand with the North Slope Borough and the whaling captains. We know that we’re drilling in their garden, essentially,” Wackowski said.
Public meetings on the offshore drilling proposal for the Beaufort Sea begin soon: the first will be held in Utqiaġvik on Dec. 3. Other meetings are scheduled on the following days in Nuiqsut, Kaktovik and Anchorage. The public comment period runs through Dec. 17.
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy announces his transition policy council at the Security Aviation hangar in Anchorage last week. Dunleavy plans a freeze on new regulations. (Photo by Andrew Kitchenman/KTOO and Alaska Public Media)
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy wants to freeze any new regulations the Walker administration may have imposed in Alaska, going back to Election Day.
Dunleavy said a pause on regulations will give his team an opportunity to assess “whether they’re needed or whether they’ll hurt the economy.”
Dunleavy’s pick to become commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, Corri Feige, said close examination of regulations that affect developing natural resources is important.
“We need a few days or a few weeks to get our heads around where we’re at now,” Feige said. “I very much appreciate the freeze with regulations, so we have the opportunity to take that pause, like I said, understand where we’re at. And then clearly, in the face of maximizing resource development, and getting the state’s economy back in motion, what needs to be done with those regulations and with the programs that are in place, to ensure that we are executing on that goal.”
Five proposed new rules relate to regulating the sale of marijuana.
Erika McConnell, the director of the state’s Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office, said some of the rules are being sought by businesses. They want to know exactly what the law means.
“Some of the regulations that are proposed actually were proposed because the existing regulation was really too restrictive on the licensee community,” she said.
And she said a lot of work went into these regulations — work on some proposed rules started last year.
Dunleavy’s request for a freeze may not have any real effect on what the Walker administration has planned. Walker spokesman Austin Baird said in an email that there are no new regulations that would restrict resource development.
Baird wrote Walker will “continue to champion responsible development of Alaska’s vast natural resources, from oil and gas to minerals to timber.”
Baird said in its final weeks in office, Walker’s administration will continue working to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, to establish a management plan for the Tongass National Forest, and to continue work on development within the National Petroleum Reserve.
Lieutenant governors oversee the publication and adoption of regulations in Alaska. Fran Ulmer, who served as lieutenant governor from 1994 to 2002, said she’s not aware of any authority to freeze regulations. In an email, Ulmer noted that many regulations have nothing to do with economic growth.
But John Lindback, who served as Ulmer’s chief of staff, said freezes at the start of administrations are not unprecedented. He’s also worked with state governments in Oregon and other states. He said he’s seen governors seek a pause to new rules before.
“I sort of saw it all when I was in Alaska,” he said. “We had travel freezes and, you know, new hiring freezes and regulation freezes and you know it doesn’t take long before all those freezes start to melt as the new administration gets in there and gets more comfortable. You know, they’re new, and so they need a chance to catch up, and I don’t find new governors coming in and doing that kind of thing particularly alarming.”
It’s not yet clear exactly which regulations Dunleavy’s freeze will cover. There are four rules that are already published, but which won’t go into effect until after Dunleavy is sworn in on Dec. 3.
And there are eight rules that the state has opened for comment from the public, but which haven’t been adopted yet.
Alaska’s Energy Desk’s Elizabeth Harball contributed to this report.
An Alaska Native Veteran’s vest at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage, October 18, 2018 (Photo: Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media)
It’s common to hear public officials say that Alaska Natives join the Armed Forces at the highest rates in the country. It was something Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie mentioned in his speech last month at the Alaska Federation of Natives in Anchorage.
“You serve in the military of the United States at a higher rate than any group of Americans,” Wilkie said.
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie addressing AFN, October 20, 2018 (Photo: Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media, Anchorage)
During World War II and the following decades, American Indians and Alaska Natives did indeed volunteer for the Armed Forces at exceptionally high rates. But that has declined over time. A big part of that change has to do with transformations in the structure of the military at large — in particular the National Guard.
Growing up in the New Stuyahok, 24-year-old Lawrence Gust never planned on signing up for the Alaska Army National Guard.
“From my village, it’s not really been a thing for anyone to join the military, so it wasn’t anything for younger children to look up to,” Gust said.
One reason is that the ongoing wars overseas have left many parents in the region worried about the dangers of enlisting.
But during a school trip to Dillingham, the Bristol Bay region’s hub, Gust encountered recruiters from the National Guard, and it planted the idea of joining as a way to help pay for college, get training and travel.
Now, three years since enlisting, he is part of a small group of young people from New Stuyahok in the Guard.
“Recruiters are now traveling out to villages and giving presentations and things like that,” Gust said. “Sparking an interest in the younger kids at home. Really, National Guard just needed to be heard from in the villages.”
Gust is exactly who the state wants as it tries to rebuild the shrunken National Guard presence off the road system. A rural engagement program has been underway for the last few years, meant to draw on both veterans living in the Bush, as well as younger residents; more like how Alaska’s National Guard was in the past.
“It was very common to see fatigues and the bunny boots anywhere out (in) the Bush,” recalled Michelle Sparck. She grew up between Bethel and Chevak in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region, and has been part of policy discussions on the Guard in the state Legislature.
In the past, residents in rural regions joined the military in large numbers. Part of the draw for many residents was the organization’s roots in Alaska’s storied Territorial Guard, World War II.
The organization’s structure and mission kept folks in state, rather than activating them for far-away assignments; a factor that made service more convenient.
“It was pretty easy for people to sign up for the National Guard, because it kind of fit our subsistence way of life. You had schedules and training that were kind of intermittent, so you could still go back home and commit to subsistence and providing for your families,” Sparck said.
A number of things have since changed.
The size of Alaska’s Army National Guard has shrunk by more than half since the 1990s, and is now concentrated along the road system. During the Cold War there were more than a hundred small armories around the state. This summer, the state announced it wants to shed 60 armories, most in small rural communities. Budget cuts from legislators have taken a steep toll on rural outreach, according to the state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. And in 2006, Alaska guardsmen were activated for the first time since World War II, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, which was a jolt to rural families.
“I think that kinda changed the culture a little bit, about people committing, making that kind of commitment to the government,” Sparck said.
“We had a strong National Guard. We had armories in most of our villages across the state,” explained Verdie Bowen, Director of the state’s Office of Veteran Affairs. “It was not uncommon to go into a village and have most of the people involved with the Alaska Army National Guard.”
Bowen grew up in rural southeast Alaska before joining the Air Force after high school. From his work he knows the state’s veteran population well, and he could not offer definitive verification that Alaska Natives still serve at the highest rate in the country, or even among different demographic groups within Alaska.
A steep decline in Alaska Native rates of service isn’t only due to changes in the state’s National Guard, but the military over all. The Armed Forces have become more selective. Recruiters are having a hard time finding enough young Americans of any ethnicity who are in good enough shape, meet the educational requirements, or can pass a drug test in order to join.
Benno Cleveland during the posting of colors by the honor guard during AFN, October 18, 2018 (Photo: Zachariah Hughes – Alaska Public Media, Anchorage)
For example, the Army has much higher enlistment standards than it did in 1969. That’s the year a judge in Fairbanks gave Benno Cleveland a choice between jail or the infantry.
“I was a little rambunctious when I was a younger man,” Cleveland recounted.
Cleveland did two tours in the Mekong Delta during the height of the Vietnam War, receiving two purple hearts. He believes the Army was good for him. It was a way to see different parts of the world, and he found that the training emphasized many of the same values he knew from his Inupiaq heritage.
“It’s the same thing as any culture. Our elders, they’ve taught us to be good, to be respectful, to work for what we want, to help other people,” he explained.
Cleveland credits the combination of his indigenous culture, the military community and his faith with helping him make it through years of struggle to process his combat experience. He wears regalia mixed with indigenous icons and military insignia. Even amid sweeping changes in the armed forces he thinks they offer young Alaska Natives a similar set of opportunities for advancement, and service to lands where indigenous people have long lived.
“This is our home. Our people have been here forever,” Cleveland said.
Whether military institutions can find new ways to fit that will to serve with the needs of Alaska Native communities remains to be seen.
The Alaska Court of Appeals affirmed a superior court ruling Friday and will not test DNA evidence in a 36-year-old double murder case in Juneau.
A jury convicted Newton Lambert of the murder of Anne Benolken in 1982 but acquitted him of killing her husband, James Benolken. Lambert, who was 19 at the time, was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
Lambert’s co-defendant, Emmanuel Telles, was later tried for both murders but acquitted. He died several years later.
In 2010, the Alaska Legislature passed a law allowing for post-conviction DNA testing. Shortly after, Lambert filed a request to test the two remaining pieces of physical evidence in the case — forensic samples of bodily fluids taken from James Benolken’s clothes.
A 2013 ruling by a Ketchikan Superior Court judge denied Lambert’s request, saying it failed to show how testing samples from James Benolken’s clothing would raise the probability that Lambert was innocent in Anne Benolken’s murder. Lambert appealed the ruling.
The appellate ruling affirms the superior court decision, saying that Lambert’s appeal “did not refute any of the other evidence against him.”
Jim Thomas (Khatsati, Shaayegun) in his Tlingit regalia at the Voices of Our Ancestors language summit in November 2018. (Photo by Zoe Grueskin/KTOO)
Thursday marks the end of a three-day language summit in Juneau that brought together nearly 80 speakers of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian languages: Lingít, X̱aad Kíl and Sm’algyax.
For some, the Voices of Our Ancestors summit was one of their first opportunities to talk with other fluent speakers. That was the case for Jim Thomas, whose Tlingit names are Khatsati and Shaayegun.
“I’m a Lingít speaker, but I’ve lived away from Yakutat for over 40 years,” Thomas said.
Thomas spoke during an open discussion about the suppression of Native languages. He was the first public relations director for the Alaska Federation of Natives, then moved to Washington state. Despite living far from home, he had help keeping up his Lingít over the years.
“This crazy minister from Juneau called me up. He said to me, ‘It’s time you started speaking Lingít.’”
That was his friend, the late Walter Soboleff.
Thomas said he’s a pretty good speaker.
“There are just words, phrases that I forget. They tumble around in your brain, and then they tumble around in your mouth, because Lingít is very complex.”
Thomas said he used to be ashamed to forget words, but now when he needs help he just asks a friend or relative and keeps talking. Often that help comes from his young in-law, Tlingit teacher and culture bearer Paul Marks II.
During the session on language suppression, Thomas sat beside Marks — and Marks’ baby.
Thomas used his turn on the mic to introduce the baby girl and told the crowd that holding onto language and cultural traditions can be especially important for young children.
“We put our hand, the palm of our hand, under the chin of a child and we say (in Lingít) they are the most precious child on the face of the earth. And then if we’re sitting across from them in the biggest hall, you hold your hand out,” he said as dozens in the room mirrored his gesture, “and that child knows that they are the most precious being on the face of the earth.”
The crowd repeated Thomas’ words as Marks bounced the baby. Thomas hopes she will grow up speaking Lingít.
Voices of Our Ancestors Language Summit was organized by Sealaska Heritage Institute in partnership with the Goldbelt Heritage Foundation. Around 300 people attended over three days.
Editor’s Note: 360 North is under contract with Sealaska Heritage Institute to produce video coverage of the language summit.
Southcentral Alaska is dealing with a spruce beetle outbreak. The voracious insect damaged nearly 600,000 acres of forest in 2018 and the damage continues to grow. Anchorage has seen a sharp uptick in spruce beetle damage, going from zero acres damaged in 2016 to over 1,000 in 2018.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski at the U.S. Capitol earlier this year. (Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski supports a bill that would protect the Mueller investigation, but she said Friday she won’t join Sen. Jeff Flake in his pledge to hold up judicial confirmations to force a vote on the bill.
Murkowski has said for months that special counsel Robert Mueller must be free to continue his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
“My sincere hope here is that the president recognizes that the special counsel should be allowed to proceed,” she said in an interview Friday. “And, again, the investigation be concluded when the investigation is concluded.”
President Trump calls the investigation a “witch hunt.” After the midterm election this month, he secured the resignation Jeff Sessions as attorney general and replaced him with a critic of the probe. Murkowski said that made it more clear to her that a bill to protect Mueller is a good idea.
“It may be that it is not needed. The president has not interfered with the investigation by the special counsel,” she said. “But I look at it and say ‘what is the harm in passing this?'”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to bring the bill up for a vote. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., announced on Wednesday how he’ll try to force the issue.
“I have informed the majority leader that I will not vote to advance any of the 21 judicial nominees pending in the Judiciary Committee, or vote to confirm the 32 judges awaiting a confirmation vote on the floor, until S. 2644 is brought to the full Senate for a vote,” he said.
Senate Bill 2644 would prevent Mueller’s firing, unless it’s ordered by a Senate-confirmed Justice official with good cause, and Mueller would be able to challenge his dismissal in court.
Sen. Dan Sullivan said earlier this year he didn’t think such a bill was necessary.
If all Democrats vote against confirmation, Flake would need one other Republican to join him to make good on his threat to block judicial appointments. Murkowski is not on board.
“We’ve got our business to do,” she said. “And so I’m not one that throws a roadblock up and says, ‘Unless I get my way around here, nobody gets anything.'”
She said she hopes there are other ways to bring the special counsel bill to the floor for a vote when the Senate returns from its Thanksgiving break.
Municipal officials and nonprofit administrators from around Alaska gathered in Anchorage Thursday to discuss the state’s struggles with homelessness and housing.
While homelessness manifests itself in different ways in different parts of the state, the common denominator is a chronic lack of affordable housing, the panelists said.
Bryan Butcher, CEO of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and chairman of the Alaska Council on Homelessness, said his organization is working with the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and other partners to hire a rural homelessness coordinator to direct resources and better address the issue.
“There needs to be a lot more of specific focus on how we define homelessness in rural Alaska to make sure that we’re not missing an issue that falls through the cracks,” he said. “Because it’s not the traditional homelessness that, say, the US government would define as homelessness.”
The Nov. 15 panel discussion, hosted by the Alaska Municipal League, included representatives from Fairbanks, Juneau, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities.
Colleen Dushkin, an administrator with the Association of Alaska Housing Authorities, said the pervasive lack of housing in many rural communities forces multigenerational households and severe overcrowding.
“When you have that many people in a small proximity, it is not ideal,” she said. “Where if there were affordable housing for some of the community members, and some of the family members, then they wouldn’t be in the situation of being overcrowded, or homeless.”
Dushkin said regional housing authorities play a key role in developing more affordable housing. All of the panelists stressed the statewide nature of the problem: homelessness impacts Alaskans of all ages, in urban and rural areas alike, they said. Between July and September 2018, homeless service providers reached more than 4,500 people around the state, according to the Alaska Homeless Management Information System. Some 15 percent of those Alaskans were 17 or younger.
“That really seems to resonates with policymakers, when understand that when you’re dealing with issues of homelessness, it’s not just about the person on the street corner,” Butcher said. “It’s about children. It’s about people that have no choice; that are just having to live in the environment they’re in.”
Butcher said his organization hopes to develop and fill the new rural homelessness coordinator position within the next few months.
Former state senator and gubernatorial candidate Mike Dunleavy talks to the audience during a Juneau Chamber of Commerce forum on Thursday, September 6, 2018, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Rashah McChesney/Alaska’s Energy Desk)
As Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy prepares to take office on Dec. 3, there are still a lot of unknowns about how he’ll approach his campaign priorities — a big one being education. What a Dunleavy administration might do on the issue of public education is a big question looming over rural schools across the state.
On Tuesday, the governor-elect’s transition team responded to a request for comment on rural school funding with a “no comment” for the time being. Dunleavy and his transition staff are “busy at the moment,” slowly unveiling the incoming administration’s priorities and Cabinet appointees. A member of the Dunleavy transition team, Sarah Erkmann Ward, said in an email to KYUK that, “Education is one of the governor-elect’s passions, and all Alaskans will hear more about his ideas for improving outcomes soon.” For now, KYUK’s questions don’t have answers.
A former rural educator, Dunleavy hasn’t been specific about what steps he’d take or the changes he’d like to see for state-funded schools. As reported by KTOO and Alaska Public Media reporter Andrew Kitchenman, during Dunleavy’s time in the state Senate he supported cutting state funding to prekindergarten education, supported a proposed constitutional amendment allowing state money to go to private education, and has campaigned on wanting rural areas to have access to regional schools in hub communities while somehow not taking away from village schools.
“Public school choice first is important, meaning we have a situation in Alaska right now that we have public monies going to private education as part of the vendor process for public home schools. We have private individuals that get paid through the allotment process to help educate kids in our public schools. We already have this process going on,” said Dunleavy, in response to whether he’d support school vouchers from the Oct. 25 debate with Democrat Mark Begich. He’s on record supporting what he calls “public and private partnerships.”
According to unofficial election results, rural Alaska and most of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta voted Democratic on Election Day, with 67 percent of the vote in Bethel going to Begich.
The Lower Kuskokwim School District is the largest school district in the Y-K Delta and its budget, like all Regional Educational Attendance Area, or REAA, schools, relies wholly on state funding. The Legislature forward-funded education for the next two years, with a boost of $20 million for fiscal year 2019, and $30 million for fiscal year 2020, which LKSD says has helped keep up with staffing and fuel costs. But come 2021, it will be a big concern for the district if the Legislature does not take action to avoid another flat funding year. When funding has remained static in the past, the district has had to cut funds for staff positions and increase the student-to-teacher ratio.
Last month, when outgoing state Education Commissioner Dr. Michael Johnson visited the LKSD board, he made it clear that he likes the direction their district is currently taking.
“I also very much like your mission statement and how you tie culture to the work that’s happening in your schools, and that’s something I think every school board in the state wants to happen,” said Johnson.
Johnson pointed to the use of Yup’ik language in the classroom and a strategic thinking model that the district is using. The state Board of Education prioritizes every student being proficient in reading by the end of third grade. For the Walker administration, that has meant proficiency not just in the English language.
“Because we know that students who are proficient at the end of third grade in reading, whatever language that is, outperform students that only learn English by the end of sixth grade on the standardized tests,” Johnson said. “So it’s a wonderful thing you’re doing. It’s a wonderful thing you’re offering to our state.”
Johnson hoped that the LKSD model will spread to other districts. As for the next administration, their stance on the issue has yet to be determined. Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy will take office on Dec. 3.
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)
The incoming governor is asking an unusually high number of state workers to resign and reapply for their jobs.
In a press release Friday afternoon, transition team spokeswoman Sarah Erkmann Ward wrote that Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy wants to “broaden the scope of which employees” will be asked to offer leaving their jobs. She said the request applies to all employees who are legally classified as “exempt or partially exempt,” a category that applies to roughly 1,200 current workers, according to state workforce data.
It is customary for incoming administrations to ask high-level officials to offer their resignations. Dunleavy’s incoming chief of staff, Tuckerman Babcock, said in Friday’s announcement that given the vision Dunleavy laid out during the campaign, it is fair to ask employees whether or not they want to continue working for the administration.
In the letter to state workers, Babcock wrote that not everyone who offers to resign will be let go.
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy speaks to the Alaska Miners Association 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’s transition team announced Friday the schedule of inaugural celebrations.
Other than the swearing-in ceremony on Dec. 3 in Noorvik, the transition team said Alaskans can expect a combination of formal events and less formal, family-centered events. The events will be across the state.
There will be pre-inaugural events in Kotzebue on Dec. 2.
There will be a celebration on Dec. 4, from 6 to 8:30 p.m.,at the Menard Sports Center in Wasilla.
On Dec. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m., there will be a celebration at the Soldotna Sports Center.
On Dec. 8, from 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a celebration at the Anchorage Christian School.
On Dec. 11, from 3 to 6 p.m., there will be an open house and inaugural celebration at the Governor’s Mansion in Juneau.
On Dec. 16, from 4 to 6 p.m., there will be a celebration at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks.
Another event will be in Anchorage in February.
Inaugural celebration co-chair Cynthia Henry says Dunleavy is “more Carhartt than tuxedo.”
An ice pick easily pokes through the thin ice on the Kuskokwim River in front of Bethel on November 15, 2018. (Photo by Mark Leary / Bethel Search and Rescue)
Ice has formed irregularly on the Kuskokwim River in front of Bethel, and Bethel Search and Rescue warns that the ice is not safe for motorized vehicles at this time. The group advises anybody walking on the ice to manaq, ice fish, or set-net to stay away from snow drifts and keep an ice pick in front of your feet.
Bethel Search and Rescue member Mark Leary says that a small BSAR team has checked the river ice from the Bethel hospital landing to the lower end of the Bethel island. As of Thursday, bare ice without snow cover measured five to six inches. Wherever a snowdrift appeared however, even a small one, little or no ice had formed underneath. Ice picks fell through the snow into open water hidden beneath. BSAR reports that countless snowdrifts lie scattered across the river, and the organization is asking that people take proper precautions.
During freeze-up, travelers are often advised to wear life jackets or float coats when crossing the river and sloughs in case they break through the ice. Rain is forecasted to fall over the coming weekend, which could degrade the already thin cover of ice that has begun to form.
Sen. Cathy Giessel, R-Anchorage, at a Senate Majority press availability in 2017. Giessel will be the Senate president in the 31st Legislature. (Photo by Skip Gray/360 North)
The Alaska Senate announced a new, all-Republican majority Sunday.
Anchorage Sen. Cathy Giessel will be the Senate president when the 31st Legislature is sworn in on Jan. 15.
Anchorage Sen. Mia Costello will be the Senate majority leader and Fairbanks Sen. John Coghill will chair the Rules Committee. Kodiak Sen. Gary Stevens will be chair the Legislative Council.
The co-chairs of the Senate Finance Committee will be Sen. Bert Stedman of Sitka and Sen. Natasha von Imhof of Anchorage. Stedman will oversee the operating budget, while von Imhof will handle the capital budget.
Giessel said in a press release, “The Senate is committed to listening to Alaskans who have made their priorities clear: the state budget, public safety and protecting the Permanent Fund and the dividend.”
The caucus said it includes all 13 Republican senators. This excludes Fairbanks Sen. Pete Kelly, who is trailing Democrat Scott Kawasaki in an unresolved election.
It would be the first majority with no Democrats since 2006. Bethel Democrat Lyman Hoffman has been in the majority the past two years.
Tamika Ledbetter is Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy’s appointee to be commissioner of the Department of Labor and Workforce Development. She’s currently a regional manager for the department. (Photo courtesy Mike Dunleavy transition team)
A regional manager for the Department of Labor and Workforce Development is Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy’s pick to be the department’s commissioner.
Tamika Ledbetter currently manages the Anchorage/Mat-Su Economic Region for the department. She’s worked for the state for 11 years, after working for Maximus/Alaska Works in Wasilla. She is a U.S. Air Force veteran.
Dunleavy said he’s confident Ledbetter’s experience will serve the people of Alaska well.
The 2019 Southeast Alaska pink salmon harvest is predicted to be weak once again, according to a forecast released Thursday by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
The forecast estimates a harvest of 18 million pink salmon, which is roughly half of the recent 10-year average. If the forecast is accurate, 2019 would be the lowest odd-year pink harvest since 1987.
The Gulf of Alaska experienced a warm water anomaly known as “the blob” from 2013 to 2016. Pink salmon that went to sea during those years returned in low numbers.
According to the forecast released by fish and game, although water temperature in the Gulf of Alaska returned to normal in 2017, effects of the blob on pink salmon have persisted. The report goes on to say that the return of warm water temperatures to the North Pacific in 2018 may have a negative impact on the future survival of pink salmon.
Andrew Kitchenman, Alaska Public Media & KTOO – Juneau
Democrat Scott Kawasaki grew his lead over Republican Pete Kelly for Kelly’s state Senate seat, while Republican Bart LeBon regained a lead over Democrat Kathryn Dodge to fill the vacancy left by Kawasaki in the Alaska House, in the latest election results announced Friday.
Dunleavy inaugural celebration schedule announced
Andrew Kitchenman, Alaska Public Media & KTOO – Juneau
Gov.-elect Mike Dunleavy’s transition team announced Friday the schedule of inaugural celebrations.
Murkowski won’t block judges to get Mueller protection bill
Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media – Washington
Sen. Lisa Murkowski supports a bill that would protect the Mueller investigation, but she said Friday she won’t join Sen. Jeff Flake in his pledge to hold up judicial confirmations to force a vote on the bill.
Heroin disguised as Christmas package seized in Anchorage
Associated Press
A 53-year-old Anchorage man suspected of importing a bowling-ball size package of heroin faces federal drug charges.
Chukchi Sea polar bears thriving, study shows
Associated Press
A population study of polar bears in the Chukchi Sea between Alaska and Russia finds that the population is thriving for now despite a loss of sea ice because of climate change.
Municipalities share state funding concerns
Kirsten Swann, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
Officials from communities around the state gathered in Anchorage this week for the annual conference of the Alaska Municipal League, where they shared concerns about potential state budget cuts.
Outgoing Lt. Gov. Davidson considers political future in Alaska
Christine Trudeau, KYUK – Bethel
Alaska’s newly appointed Lieutenant Governor Valarie Davidson took her first trip back to the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta earlier this week.
ADF&G forecasts a ‘return to normal’ for Bristol Bay sockeye in 2019
Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham
If the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s forecast is correct, the total run would be 10 percent below the most recent 10-year average of 44.4 million reds, but it would still come in well above the long-term average of 34 million fish.
State taps Portugal. The Man, other local bands for new hold music
Abbey Collins, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage
The State of Alaska is changing its phone system hold music after a three-year collaborative effort.
Lt. Governor Valerie Davidson speaking at an assembly at Gladys Jung Elementary in Bethel on Thursday, November 15, 2018. Credit Berett Wilber / Lt. Governor Valerie Davidson’s Office
Alaska’s recently appointed Lt. Gov. Valerie Narr’araaluk Davidson took her first trip back to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta earlier this week, and KYUK’s Christine Trudeau sat down in the studio with her to find out what’s next for the state’s first female Alaska Native lieutenant governor.
Wednesday was a trip home for the lieutenant governor and former Commissioner of Health and Human Services. She visited Yup’ik immersion school Ayaprun Elitnaurviat, Gladys Jung Elementary and technical training school Yuut Elitnaurviat. The lieutenant governor is in charge of elections, and she stopped by the city office to thank election workers.
“One of the things we’re still in the middle of right now is we have not yet certified the elections, and so there are a couple of close ones still,” said Davidson.
Davidson applauded Division of Elections Director Josie Bahnke on her work, especially for broadening the number of Indigenous language dialects that were available to voters on ballots and pamphlets this midterm election.
And as for Davidson’s plans come December 4?
“People have asked me, you know, what are you gonna do next, and my immediate plan is I am gonna sleep. I’m probably gonna enjoy my first full night of sleep that I’ve had in about four years; at least that’s my hope,” Davidson said.
Davidson says that she’s ruled nothing out as far as continuing her life in politics. She had spent 18 years in health care when Bill Walker tapped her to become the commissioner. Now her time in higher office has persuaded her to not shut doors.
“If I’m interested in running for governor, if that’s gonna be a four year time frame, whether that’s eight years or 12 years, I have time,” said Davidson. “I’m 51, so I’m gonna kinda see what that is.”
Davidson says that back in high school, one of her career goals was to one day be governor.
“They say life is what happens when you’re making plans, and you know, I started work and started a family, and you know I wasn’t sure that that was really my big priority at the time,” Davidson said.
But she says that seeing Gov. Walker’s leadership over the past four years has made her think again about her earlier ambitions.
“It is possible to be governor in Alaska and still govern with integrity, and be a good person, and not lose who you are as a person to be able to make those tough decisions,” said Davidson.
Davidson expects her next couple of weeks to be consumed by certifying election results and what she hopes will be a smooth transition to the new administration. She says that the incoming Dunleavy administration is going to need to hear from rural Alaskans.
“I can tell you that I know when I first started as commissioner, there were a lot of things that I did not know. I knew some things really well, but like any other person starting a new job, there is such a sharp learning curve; a steep learning curve,” Davidson said. “And the more people who reach out and really help you see what’s important to them, the better off we are.”
As for her thoughts on what’s been characterized as the “pink wave” of women winning seats across the country, and the election of the first two Native American women to the U.S. House of Representatives: Sharice Davids (D – Kansas) a citizen of the Ho-Chunck Nation of Wisconsin, and Deb Haaland (D – New Mexico) a citizen of the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico, Davidson says that she’s gratified to be able to finally see elected leaders who reflect those they represent.
“For too long women, and women of color, and Alaska Native women have not been represented, and so I would say it’s about time. And that if we want to have true representation in our state and in our country, our leadership needs to look like the people that we serve,” said Davidson.
For now, it’s back to Juneau and the transition for Lt. Gov. Davidson.
The State of Alaska is changing its hold music after a three-year collaborative effort.
If the state worker on the other end of the line can’t take your call quite yet, pretty soon, you might hear “Feel it Still,” the hit song from Portugal. The Man, a band originally from Wasilla.
Or, you might listen to the Native Jazz Quartet, which contributed a track in Tlingit.
Five songs by Alaska artists will now cycle through the state’s hold music, thanks to a new effort called the Alaska Music On Hold Project. Whiskey Class will be featured, as well as the bands Harm and Feeding Frenzy.
“I really just wanted to showcase the real diverse up-and-coming talent that we have here in Alaska,” said Annie Bartholomew, who was the curator for the hold music project.
She works for Juneau network station KTOO, which contributed creative and technical support.
“There were so many great artists that I wanted to feature as part of this,” Bartholomew said. “We were limited by the amount of time, by the amount of funding we could give the artists, and then as the licensing worked out, we could only work with certain artists and how they had registered their work.”
The idea for the project came three years ago, when state Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins got sick of listening to the same song again and again when he was on hold with the state. He decided it was time for change, describing the old music as the audio equivalent of plastic.
It was important to look to Alaskans when choosing new music, Kreiss-Tomkins said.
“I mean I feel like one’s government should reflect the people and the culture of the place,” he said. “In big ways and small ways, it always makes sense to try to make that happen.”
Three years later, with help from the Department of Administration, GCI, the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, it’s becoming a reality.
Ideas like this have come up before. The Juneau Arts Council launched a similar effort around 10 years ago, but it didn’t take off.
Kreiss-Tomkins said GCI pitched in $1,000 for the project, and the rest was funded through the regular resources of the different partners involved.
Bartholomew said this is just the first iteration of the project. There are hopes it will continue, and include music from more Alaska artists in the future.
As for the old music, according to the state’s Office of Information Technology, it’s default, unlicensed music that came with the phone system.
