The Facebook post showed gallon-sized bags of moose ribs for $25 each and appeared on the private page “Bethel Bargains.” Selling big game meat is illegal in Alaska, and the post’s creator, 36-year-old Arnold Lupie of Bethel, received a minor offense charge.

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Lupie’s arraignment was held Monday in Bethel, but Lupie did not appear in court or call into the hearing. The defendant has a criminal history, but this is his first offense of this kind. During the hearing, Trooper Walter Blajeski told the court that he had contacted Lupie when Troopers became aware of the ad, and Lupie had told the Trooper that he had posted the ad, but not sold any of the meat.

“He made admissions that he did it,” Blajeski explained to the court. “However, he made admissions that he wasn’t necessarily aware of the regulation when he did it.”

The maximum charge for the minor offense is $500, but Trooper Blajeski recommended a fine of $100, which the court accepted. After the hearing, Trooper Blajeski emphasized that troopers are not patrolling Facebook, but illegal activity, like selling or advertising big game meat, will be investigated.

“The Troopers that I know of and myself aren’t trolling Facebook looking for cases to develop,” Blajeski said. “But when one gets brought to our attention, we’re going to investigate it like any other violation or criminal offense.”

Lupie did not respond to KYUK’s message requesting comment.

Trooper Blajeski reports that he’s investigating one other Facebook post advertising big game meat in the area. He encourages people to call the Troopers if they’re unsure of any regulations.

On Tuesday, federal officials announced a number of charges in a high-profile violent crime that happened last year in Anchorage. The Justice Department says the case is an example of growing partnerships between federal, state and local law enforcement to combat violent crime.

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Speaking at a press conference in Anchorage flanked by prominent police and prosecutors, U.S. Attorney Brian Schroder said his office is charging five Anchorage residents with serious felonies like drug trafficking and kidnapping. Charging documents name Macauther Vaifunua, Faamanu Vaifanua, Jeffrey Ahvan, Rex Faumui and Tamole Lauina as defendants.

The alleged incident happened in August of 2017, when, according to Schroder, a victim suffered extreme physical injuries “as a result of being beaten with a baseball bat, a metal broomstick, and stomps to the head.”

“He was then put in a dog kennel,” Schroder continued. He said the defendants then allegedly ordered another man, at gun point, “to get rid of the victim.”

Instead, the driver brought the injured man to the hospital, and he has since recovered enough to cooperate with law enforcement.

During the press conference, speakers cited the case as one of several recent examples demonstrating that law enforcement agencies are working together more closely to investigate and prosecute violent crime in Alaska.

According to Schroder, convictions in federal cases can bring heftier sentences that are determined by the seriousness of the crime and a defendant’s criminal history. He also pointed to the recent state charges against Peter Wilson in a high profile Kotzebue case as stemming from local police partnering extensively with state troopers and FBI agents.

“Both these cases reflect, I think, one very important common factor,” Schroder said. “All these people involved leaving their egos at the door and doing what’s best for the state of Alaska.”

Federal sentencing guidelines for the kidnapping and drug charges in the 2017 Anchorage case range from a few years to life in prison.

Anchorage police say a shooting in the parking lot of a downtown Anchorage elementary school Wednesday morning sent one man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries – after he ran to the entrance to the school, where medics found him. Police say the suspected shooter is in custody.

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Police say no students or staff were injured, and the school – Denali Montessori – was not targeted.

Police spokesperson MJ Thim says the men got into a fight in the parking lot related to an ongoing domestic dispute.

“They’re acquainted in some way. They have some sort of relationship,” Thim said. “What that is, we’re still trying to sort through. We’re confident that this is a domestic dispute.”

Shortly after the shooting, Thim said it was unclear why the men were in the parking lot – whether they were dropping off kids for school – or what the dispute was about.

Thim says the suspect shot the victim once in the upper body with a handgun, and the victim ran toward the school. Responding officers found the him at the front doors and found the suspect in the area as they converged on the school. School district officials say the school’s doors were locked already this morning, as is protocol.

Officers stayed on scene throughout the day, and the school had extra staff and counselors on hand.

Independent Gov. Bill Walker and Democratic candidate for governor Mark Begich answered a question Tuesday about how they’re competing for the same voters. The exchange occurred at the Get Out the Native Vote forum for candidates for governor in Juneau.

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Juneau Rep. Sam Kito III read the question from a member of the audience. Republican candidate Mike Dunleavy wasn’t there.

“Please address the fact that there are two candidate vying for the same pool of votes,” Kito read. “Has a compromise been discussed to ensure that no-show Dunleavy does not win by default of vote splitting? And I’m just reading a question provided by the audience.”

Begich, a former U.S. senator, said the candidates must earn every vote. He said the voters will have a choice about who can win and who has the best plan of action for the state.

“What’s so great about election is you – it’s in your hands,” Begich said. “It’s not in ours. It’s in yours. I think whoever gets to 38 or so percent wins this race.”

Walker said he built a cabinet that drew from the entire state because he didn’t discriminate based on partisan affiliation. He said the cabinet spent the first term addressing the state’s budget crisis.

“You know we have wrestled with the fiscal issue, but we wrestled it to the ground,” Walker said. “We stayed here; we didn’t quit. We showed up and we did the hard work.”

Walker said he’s angry that Dunleavy didn’t attend.

“That’s very disrespectful,” Walker said. “Neither he nor his lieutenant governor (candidate Kevin Meyer) had the courtesy of attending today. I’m embarrassed as an Alaskan that we have somebody running for this office who will not show up in this room.”

Asked for a reaction, Dunleavy emailed a statement:

“Bill Walker should be more embarrassed by his failed record of a weak economy, vetoed PFDs, and skyrocketing crime than by my campaign schedule.

I lived in rural Alaska for 19 years with Alaska Native people. It’s where I met my wife, Rose, of 31 years and where our three daughters were born.

From a horrific public safety record, to dismal educational outcomes, to low employment and the theft of PFDs, Bill Walker has failed rural Alaska.”

Dunleavy’s campaign said he had multiple meetings in Anchorage Tuesday.

Libertarian candidate Billy Toien slapped his campaign bumper sticker over Dunleavy’s nameplate. Toien, a hotel concierge, said he doesn’t have a problem with vote splitting.

“I think it’s all about voting your conscience,” Toein said. “It isn’t about who is or isn’t running. Win, lose or draw, if everybody decided to throw their vote away by voting for me, I would win.”

Dunleavy did attend a candidate forum at the Anchorage Aviation Museum on Monday.

Communities across the state elected new mayors and enacted new measures in local municipal elections yesterday.

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Sitka elected a new mayor, 79-year-old Gary Paxton. Paxton said that once he gets the mayor’s gavel in his hand, his first priority was to “bring a sense of peace and work together to solve our problems.”

“Have more open meetings perhaps, less executive sessions, so that we can stop some of the conspiracy theories which are always prominent,” Paxton said.

Sitka was quick to weigh-in on a a new a new statewide smoking ban that went into effect the day before the election, which prohibits smoking at bars and restaurants. State statute includes an opt-out provision and – while staff at Ernie’s Old Time Saloon rallied to get the necessary signatures to put this question on the ballot – Sitka voters turned it down.

Establishments that once allowed smoking must now remove ashtrays and put up no-smoking signs, and smokers now have to take it outside.

In the Juneau mayoral election, Beth Weldon pulled ahead of her opponents early and managed to earn almost half of the total vote in a four-way contest. The small business owner and former Juneau Assembly member said she appreciated the positive campaigns her opponents ran.

“We kept it to issues and it was a fun campaign and I’ll enjoy talking to them and getting their viewpoints on issues in the future,” Weldon said.

Weldon said she hopes to tackle crime problems and affordable child care first once in office.

In the Mat-Su Borough mayoral race, incumbent Vern Halter ended Tuesday with a sizable lead over challenger Bruce Walden. After the initial count, Halter is listed with just over sixty percent of the vote.

The Mat-Su election also had three ballot initiatives that ended the night with more votes in the “Yes” column than the “No” column.

Proposition B-1, an advisory vote on whether the borough should look into obtaining police powers, saw the most approval from voters. Proposition B-2 is a road bond package with around fifty-seven percent approval. Proposition B-3 would move the borough’s election day from October to November. Proposition three has the lowest margin of approval after Tuesday at around fifty-two percent.

This story contained reporting from Adelyn Baxter with KTOO – Juneau, Phillip Manning with KTNA – Talkeetna and Emily Kwong with KCAW – Sitka. 

Alaska is getting $5 million in federal funds to curb drug trafficking.

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The money will come in two installments this and next fiscal year as part of the state’s recent designation as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. The move brings with it resources to interrupt the flow of illegal drugs.

A spokesperson for the State’s Department of Public Safety, Jonathon Taylor, wrote in a release that the first spending priorities are adding funds to “task forces in Fairbanks, Southeast Alaska, and at the Anchorage International Airport” designed to spot drugs coming in. Other money will go towards “law enforcement time, equipment, and training.”

The HIDTA executive board in Alaska is made up of local, state and federal law enforcement officials.

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

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FEMA assesses issues after national emergency alert test

Aaron Bolton, KBBI – Homer

Wednesday was the very first national test of the Wireless Emergency Alert System, and there are reports that some phones in Alaska and across the country did not receive the test message. State and federal officials are now working to sort out the kinks.

Bryce Ward wins 4-way race for Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor

Tim Ellis, KUAC – Fairbanks

Bryce Ward will be the next mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough. The former North Pole mayor cruised to victory over three opponents, winning more than half of the vote.

Sitka and Juneau elect new mayors in municipal elections

Alaska Public Radio Network staff

Communities across the state elected new mayors and enacted new measures in local municipal elections yesterday.

Bethel local option fails in unofficial election results

Anna Rose MacArthur, KYUK – Bethel

A ballot measure to impose a complete ban on alcohol sales in Bethel under the state’s local option law has failed in a close vote, according to unofficial election results.

Man shot in front of Anchorage elementary school; suspect in custody

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Anchorage police say a shooting in the parking lot of a downtown Anchorage elementary school Wednesday morning sent one man to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

$5M in federal money coming to combat Alaska drug trafficking

Zachariah Hughes, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

The money is attached to Alaska’s recent designation as a High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Arctic sea ice minimum continues downward trend, with implications beyond the Arctic

Ravenna Koenig, Alaska’s Energy Desk – Fairbanks

“The Arctic’s like an air conditioner or refrigerator for the global climate…And as the Arctic warms, partly because the sea ice is going away, it’s like you’re opening that refrigerator door.”

Kodiak district approves closure plan for rural school 

Associated Press

Officials say a rural public school on Kodiak Island will close in November unless it can enroll at least three more students.

Ketchikan union, school district agree to mediation meetings

Associated Press

Mediation meetings between the Ketchikan Education Association and the school district have been scheduled after months of contentious contract negotiations.

To institutional gatekeepers, indigenous artists say, ‘share your power’

Scott Burton, KTOO – Juneau

Tlingit and Dena’ina playwright Vera Starbard says she let non-indigenous audiences compromise her art.

Alaska nurses help with hurricane relief in North Carolina

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Alaskans working to help in the wake of Hurricane Florence on the East Coast include a small group of public health nurses stationed in North Carolina.

Arctic sea ice has reached its minimum extent for 2018, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

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At 1.77 million square miles, it ties with 2008 and 2010 for the sixth lowest minimum in the nearly 40-year satellite record.

“It’s a fair amount above our record low, which was a really extreme year in 2012, but it’s much lower than what used to be normal conditions in the ’80s and ’90s,” said Walt Meier, who analyzes sea ice for the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.

The Arctic used to be cold enough that huge portions of the ice on the Arctic Ocean would remain throughout summer, creating what’s called “multi-year ice.”

“We’re taking an area that was basically the size of the Lower 48 United States that was continuously ice-covered even through the summer,” Meier said. “Now we’ve lost basically about half of that ice cover… half that’s open ocean at the end of summer.”

That’s a striking image: an ice country on the scale of the Lower 48 that’s been cut nearly in half as the Arctic has warmed. The borders of that country are essentially what the “ice minimum” is a measure of.

Meier says the Arctic has been losing upwards of 13 percent of that area each decade.

Ice reflects most of the energy that reaches it from the sun, while water traps and holds it. So the more ice is replaced by open water, the more heat is added to the Arctic. And what happens in the Arctic, doesn’t stay in the Arctic says Meier.

“The Arctic’s like an air conditioner or refrigerator for the global climate,” Meier said. “And as the Arctic warms, partly because the sea ice is going away, it’s like you’re opening that refrigerator door… we’re losing that cooling ability.”

Meier says that some scientists also see indications that a warming Arctic is affecting the polar jet stream, a current of wind above the earth that can affect seasonal weather patterns. He says it could be part of what explains increasing frequency and severity of certain weather events like droughts, heat waves and heavy rains.

When NSIDC does its final analysis in a few months, the sea ice minimum could change slightly. Meier says that they generally see the number in the final analysis change by less than 0.05 million square kilometers, but since the 2018 number was so close to 2008 and 2010, it’s possible it could change the ranking.

Wednesday was the very first national test of the Wireless Emergency Alert System, and there are reports that some phones in Alaska and across the country did not receive the test message. State and federal officials are now working to sort out the kinks.

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Millions of Americans’ phones made a strange noise Wednesday as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, tested the Wireless Emergency Alert System. But some phones did not go off.

The alert message originated at FEMA’s Washington D.C. headquarters and was sent through its internet-based Integrated Public Alert and Warning System, or IPAWS.

IPAWS is designed to alert Americans about national threats such as a terrorist attack, but the system also works with the Emergency Alert System broadcasters use to alert the public about regional emergencies such as floods.

Savannah Brehmer is the Region 10 spokesperson for FEMA, which includes Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. She said responses to Wednesday’s test of the Wireless Emergency Alert system have varied.

“Some people didn’t receive it at all. Some people received it multiple times. Some people had their phone on silent and only heard a vibration. Other people didn’t hear anything at all,” Brehmer explained. “Really the thing for listeners to know is the purpose of this test is to find those problems and errors so we can fix them for when we need to use an alert like this.”

There were issues here in Alaska as well. Alaska-based wireless carrier GCI recently integrated with the Wireless Emergency Alert system. Customers previously needed an app to receive emergency alerts on their phones.

Spokesperson Heather Handyside said 90 percent of GCI’s towers received Wednesday’s alert, but she said the wireless carrier is still trying to determine if there were any internal issues.

“We are also getting reports that some of our customers did not get the alert,” Handyside said. “So, right now we are trying to assess the situation to figure out exactly how widespread the message was and if there are any patterns in the customers who did not receive the alert.”

GCI was not the only carrier to experience problems.

Several AT&T phones, including mine, did not receive the message while others on the network did. An AT&T spokesperson said that the company’s internal system worked just fine during the test. However, a software issue unrelated to the test did cause some AT&T customers to lose data services.

Verizon also reported a successful test, but a spokesperson did say that some phones might have not received the message due to loss of signal, out-of-date software and other technical issues, something FEMA also noted in its response.

Brehmer said FEMA is also working to sort out possible issues.

“What we’re looking to do is compile the feedback and in about a month’s time be able to report out on how the test went,” Brehmer added.

Feedback can be sent to FEMA at test@fema.dhs.gov. FEMA is asking for details on whether phones were on or off and the location of phones during the test among other technical details.

The Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management is also soliciting feedback through a survey.

A ballot measure to impose a complete ban on alcohol sales in Bethel under the state’s local option law has failed in a close vote, according to unofficial election results.

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Turnout was big this year, with voters showing up at the polls right up until the last minute.

“Oh, it’s absolutely more than last year,” Bethel City Clerk Lori Strickler said, adding that it’s likely been a record-breaking year for voter turnout.

According to unofficial election results, 1,056 ballots were cast. Those results show local option failing and Bethel City Council’s Vice Mayor Fred Watson getting the most votes, securing him another two-year seat. A close second for city council was Perry Barr, followed by Carole Jung Jordan and Fritz T. Charles.

While the unofficial count shows it not passing, it was still a close call for local option with roughly 53 percent of those who voted voting against it. It may have come down to the type of local option that made it to the ballot.

“Under the code there is five different versions of local option, and I do not like the nothing version that we’ve been presented. I do not think that beer and wine sales are the problem; I think it’s hard alcohol sales,” Bethel voter Jon Cochrane said.

Cochrane says that the real trouble for Bethel is with liquor sales, and that an “all or nothing” approach with local option doesn’t work.

“Personally, I prefer an option where there is more limitations on hard alcohol sales, but where restaurants still have the ability to sell beer and wine,” Cochrane said.

Another local option opponent was Jonathan Liberty, who had concerns that it would drive people back to bootleggers.

“It’s just gonna get worse around here,” Liberty said. “A lot of people are glad to be able to go and pick up a case of beer or bottle of wine and when they can’t, you know half of them are gonna be able to just go make an order anyway, and the other half are gonna turn to bootleggers.”

Unofficial results for the Lower Kuskokwim School District Board election show incumbent Deanna Latham holding on to Seat F, and retired LKSD teacher Michael Husa winning Seat G. Kusko Cab reports that more than 100 voters took advantage of the vouchers for free rides to Bethel’s two polling places.

There are still questioned ballots to be counted; local election results are due to be certified on Thursday, October 4.

Climate change and rising sea levels are threatening remote Alaska villages. They’re also hitting other low-lying places around the world, from Bangladesh to the Pacific Islands.

Local leaders from all these places have gathered at an Indigenous peoples conference in Girdwood this week. They’re going to tell stories, network and agree on shared principles to guide their advocacy work.

Pelenise Alofa is one of the participants. She’s from Kiribati in the Pacific Islands. Nat Herz with Alaska’s Energy Desk interviewed her and started by asking how she got to Alaska.

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Alaska’s economy has been in recession for three years now. According to economists, exactly when the recession will end and what that turnaround will look like is still coming into focus. But 2019 may be a turning point.

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The Department of Labor and Workforce Development puts out a forecast each January on what the next year will bring. State economist Neal Fried says, right now, he doesn’t know what that report will look like.

“Will we predict that we’re coming out of recession in 2019? I don’t know that yet,” Fried said.

There are some good things happening in Alaska’s economy. Job losses are slowing. Certain industries are doing well. And oil?

“Oil was the cause for this recession and things are looking good in the oil patch,” Fried said.

But are these improvements enough for the states economy to recover?

Fried says it’s not that simple. The state has lost so much ground — between 12,000 and 13,000 jobs. It’s going to take a while to get back to where Alaska was in 2015. And, even though job losses are letting up, they’re still happening.

Parts of the economy, like the retail sector, are struggling.

Mouhcine Guettabi, an economist with the University of Alaska’s Institute of Social and Economic Research, agrees with Fried that the state is still in recession.

“I think that there are signs that point that we are toward the tail end of the recession, but we haven’t come out of it,” Guettabi said.

He expects the state will stop losing jobs in the next six to eight months. And that would be a signal that the recession is ending.

“The end of the recession is we’re no longer bleeding jobs, we’re no longer losing jobs,” Guettabi said. “And we’re turning the corner, we’re at least finding the new normal. In my mind, a full recovery would be when we actually get back the jobs that we’ve lost.”

Both Fried and Guettabi say there’s an big distinction between when a recession ends, and when the economy actually recovers.

When the state stops losing jobs, and economists are confident that it will stay that way, that marks the end of recession. Fried says that would probably be determined after two quarters of straight growth, but there’s no strict definition of a recession’s end.

Recovery, on the other hand, comes when job numbers are back to where they were at the start of the recession. The thousands of jobs the state has lost is a lot to make up.

“I think that the recovery of jobs lost will be elusive,” Guettabi said.

These economists say the economy on the other side of the recession probably won’t be radically different. But they do point to one important change that’s happened already. A percentage of revenue paying for state government is now coming from permanent fund earnings.

“Which is a very different place than oil revenues, straight oil revenues,” Fried said.

Guettabi says that should help the state’s economy out in the future. He says oil will still be a player.

“What we’ve done with the budgetary decisions is we’ve disentangled a portion of revenues from oil. And I think that should make Alaska more resilient to future oil-driven recessions,” Guettabi said.

As for this recession, what it will take for the economy to get back to where it was in 2015, and when that will happen, is still unclear.

With the departure of the Westerdam and the Norwegian Pearl yesterday, Juneau’s 2018 cruise season has come to an end.

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The industry projected about 80,000 more passengers this year compared to the year before. This summer also saw the arrival of the Alaska’s first mega-ship, the Norwegian Bliss.

Kirby Day, the port manager for Princess Cruises and the Holland America Group in Juneau, said final industry numbers and projections for next year will likely come in the next week or two.

“We coped quite well with the situation and the growth this year,” Day said. “That’s not to say it was perfect, but I think that looking forward toward next year and probably another 12 to 13 percent increase, we have to pay close attention to those impacts.”

Cam Byrnes, who works as a tour guide in the summer, testified at a Juneau Assembly meeting in September that the local tourism industry is already strained under the increased number of visitors. He said bus fleets and road capacity are maxed out. Short stays are another complaint — not enough time for passengers to do tour excursions.

“Between the crowds and the shorter stays, the complaints about Juneau are increasing,” Byrnes said. “I hear them every day. The last thing we want for our city, is our guests going home and complaining about the less-than-stellar experience they got here,” Byrnes said.

Byrnes also said the Bliss routinely left late due to the large number of passengers it had to load and unload each week.

Day said things got easier as the season went on.

“Everyone was concerned about 4,500 to 4,700 passengers moving on and off a ship and it was only here from I think 6 to 1:30,” Day said. “But most of the time, they were within 15 to 20 minutes of their departure and it didn’t throw their schedule off.”

Next year, several more ships like the Bliss will arrive in Southeast Alaska.

Its sister ship, the Norwegian Joy, arrives next summer with a similar carrying capacity.

The Royal Princess, a Princess Cruises ship, will carry around 3,500 passengers and Royal Caribbean’s Ovation of the Seas will have around 4,000.

The company that owns Ravn Air Group was the top bidder for Peninsula Airway’s assets at an auction Wednesday. The regional air carrier that primarily serves the Bristol Bay and the Aleutian-Pribilof region has been undergoing bankruptcy proceedings since August 2017. A federal judge ordered PenAir to sell off its assets as a part of its bankruptcy proceedings.

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“We had two bidders,” said Michael Markham, the attorney for the trustee overseeing the sale. “The prevailing bidder was J.F. Lehman & Company, who’s the owner of Ravn Air Group. Their bid was $12.3 million in cash as well as some other considerations, some contract assumptions, including covering liabilities under the company health plan.”

The buyer would also pick up the primary aircraft leases from PenAir.

The Seybert family has owned PenAir since 1955. For many years, it has been a primary, and often only, service between Anchorage and Bristol Bay. Currently, it is the only connection between Anchorage and Unalaska as well as most Aleutian and Pribilof Island communities.

The cash from the sale will be put toward paying the companies debts. However, it is unlikely that all creditors will be paid.

“The first debts that will get paid are the secured debts,” Markham explained. “Those will get paid first off the top. Then after that the post-bankruptcy debts have a higher priority than the pre-bankruptcy debts. So the balance of the money will likely be exhausted paying post-bankruptcy debts, but we don’t have a definite accounting of all those, so I don’t want to completely foreclose any chance of money making it to the pre-bankruptcy creditors. But it’s likely that we’ll get close to paying the post-bankruptcy creditors in full.”

Markham estimated that PenAir owes a little more that $5 million in secured debts, between $6 and $10 million in post-bankruptcy debt and “several million” of pre-bankruptcy debt.

“There’s definitely not enough money with the $12.3 million to go around,” Markham added.

Friday afternoon the purchase will go before a bankruptcy judge in Anchorage. If the judge approves the sale, the bidder could close the deal within four to six weeks.

This sale is not a merger. Markham stressed that PenAir will continue to operate under that name and separately from current Ravn operations. In the immediate future, he said, he does not anticipate changes to service for Bristol Bay or the other communities PenAir serves.

Eligible Alaskans received their Permanent Fund Dividend deposits today.

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Alaska residents have shared in the state’s oil wealth for decades, eagerly anticipating the reveal of the annual check’s amount, making plans on how to spend it. More recently, the excitement has been muted as Gov. Bill Walker and state legislators have capped the payout in response to Alaska’s budget deficit.

The Legislature set this year’s check at $1,600. The payout, by some estimates, would have been closer to $3,000 if not capped.

Walker defends his decision to halve the amount available for checks in 2016, when oil prices were low and lawmakers were gridlocked on addressing the deficit.

“That adjustment that was necessary to save it was one that we could not have saved it without it,” Walker said.

Walker says the Legislature eventually agreed on capping subsequent dividends – although there was certainly disagreement. He says it has saved the program.

“You know, to sit back and allow that to drain out in such a way that we had a couple high years and then it’s down in the couple hundred dollar range, that’s the one that was unsustainable,” Walker said.

While some Alaskans have defended those decisions as politically courageous, others have cast Walker as a thief.

The issue has been a factor in the race for governor. Both Republican Mike Dunleavy and Democrat Mark Begich have criticized the governor for vetoing half of the PFD in 2016. They say he should have followed the formula used until then. But neither has said exactly how they would pay for full dividends.

Sarra Khlifi of Anchorage said she, along with every sexual assault survivor she knows, has churned with emotion since Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of attempted rape and he angrily denied it.

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“We had this unspoken understanding of, like, ‘this week has been terrible,'” Khlifi said. “So when the opportunity came up to do something about it and come talk to Sen. Murkowski, I didn’t hesitate.”

Khlifi heard the American Civil Liberties Union was paying to fly more than 100 Alaska women to D.C. Barely a day after getting the OK, she boarded a red-eye and was in Washington by morning.

It was hot and humid. Khlifi and other Alaskans from her flight sweltered on a street near their hotel. They obviously weren’t in Anchorage anymore.

“They’re wearing suits,” one of the women said.

“Yeah, they’re not wearing yoga pants only? What’s happening?” Khlifi joked.

She’s sharing a hotel room with three acquaintances: Anchorage attorney Nora Barlow, whom Khlifi knows from her gym, as well as Lori Pickett and Krista Scully, both program administrators at separate Alaska nonprofits.  The four women made their way to an outdoor cafe. A stranger at their communal table wished them well.

“So you guys just, overnight, purchased your tickets and jumped on the plane?” He asked. “Well, that’s commitment … I’m impressed.”

Some of the ACLU-sponsored Alaskans met with Murkowski in the afternoon. While they made their case, they could hear a massive protest in the lobby of the Hart Senate Office Building. (More than 300 people were arrested, including actress Amy Schumer.)

A lot of Alaskans wanted to see her, so Murkowski met with 18 at a time.

“It was an intense meeting,” said Moira Smith, an Anchorage attorney and survivor of sexual harassment and assault. She says her group told Murkowski that elevating Kavanaugh would send a terrible message.

“It would confirm that men’s behavior like this, which has damaged so many people, can go unnoticed and unblemished, and that people can get away without a real mark,” Smith said. “And it also would cast a terrible cloud over the Supreme Court as an institution.”

Smith said Murkowski told them she remains undecided.

A poll suggested a greater number of Alaskans want Murkowski to confirm the nominee, but the pro-Kavanaugh side is quieter and far less visible at the senator’s office in Washington this week.

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

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Alaskans take flight in last-minute push to persuade Murkowski to vote no on Kavanaugh

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

With Sen. Lisa Murkowski one of the undecided Republicans who could sink Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, Alaskans who oppose him are boarding flights to make their case to the senator in person.

As Alaskans receive PFD checks, lower amount still politically contentious

Casey Grove, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Alaska residents have shared in the state’s oil wealth for decades, eagerly anticipating the reveal of the annual check’s amount, making plans on how to spend it. More recently, the excitement has been muted as Gov. Bill Walker and state legislators have capped the payout in response to Alaska’s budget deficit.

Assessing the state of Alaska’s recession

Abbey Collins, Alaska Public Media – Anchorage

Alaska’s economy has been in recession for three years now. But 2019 may be a turning point.

Troopers identify 3 men killed in Alaska highway crash

Associated Press

Alaska State Troopers have released the names of three men killed in a collision on the Parks Highway.

Coast Guard investigates Kodiak members in illicit drug case

Associated Press

The U.S. Coast Guard says it has taken a number of members in Kodiak off duty status as it investigates allegations of illicit drug activity.

Fairbanks Four bring civil case before court

Dan Bross, KUAC – Fairbanks

It’s up to US District Court Judge H. Russel Holland to decide if a federal civil rights suit filed against the city of Fairbanks will proceed.

Ravn owner bids highest for PenAir

Avery Lill, KDLG – Dillingham

The company that owns Ravn Air Group was the top bidder for Peninsula Airway’s assets at an auction Wednesday.

Bethel local option failed. So, what’s next?

Christine Trudeau, KYUK – Bethel

Bethel voters have decided that their community should remain wet, for the time being, after the strictest form of local option alcohol control available failed in Tuesday’s election.

Toxic PCBs threaten orcas around the world

John Ryan, NNN – Seattle

Killer whales can be found around the world, and more than half of those populations are threatened by toxic chemicals called PCBs, according to a new study in the journal Science.

Cruise season ends as industry looks to see even more visitors next year

Adelyn Baxter, KTOO – Juneau

With the departure of the Westerdam and the Norwegian Pearl, Juneau’s 2018 cruise season has come to an end. Some in the local tour industry are already concerned about the growing number of visitors each year.

Sitka research partnership wins $2.1 million for landslide prediction

Robert Woolsey, KCAW – Sitka

A research partnership has been awarded $2.1 million to study landslide prediction in Sitka.

It’s up to U.S. District Court Judge H. Russel Holland to decide if a federal civil rights suit filed against the city of Fairbanks will proceed. Holland heard attorneys argue Wednesday in Fairbanks on a city motion to dismiss the suit filed by the Fairbanks Four.

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George Frese, Marvin Roberts, Kevin Pease and Eugene Vent allege racial bias drove police misconduct — including coercion of false confessions and fabrication of evidence — that led to them being wrongfully convicted of murder.

New evidence pointing to other suspects in the 1997 beating death of John Hartman resulted in a fall 2015 hearing, and an agreement with the state, under which the Fairbanks Four convictions were vacated. City attorney Matt Singer said the agreement does not meet the standard required to sue for damages.

“There’s a United States Supreme Court case that requires that before somebody comes to federal court in this kind of lawsuit, a malicious prosecution lawsuit, they first have to show what’s called a favorable termination in the criminal case,” Singer said. “And to do that, you have to show that you were — essentially, that you were found innocent.”

That’s an issue in the Fairbanks Four case because although the agreement vacated the men’s convictions, it did not make any determination about actual guilt or innocence. New York-based civil rights attorney Anna Benvenutti Hoffman argued on behalf of the Fairbanks Four. She contends the agreement with the state agreement constitutes a positive determination, and leverage for a civil suit.

“Once someone’s been exonerated, once they’ve been — their conviction’s been vacated, you know, they don’t have any further incidences, they can vote, then that’s when they can bring suit in federal court,” Hoffman said.

Judge Holland will decide which interpretation is right, according to precedent. Another Fairbanks Four attorney, Mike Kramer, calls the matter tricky.

“There’s, you know, many, many similar but not identical cases out there that both discuss these types of, you know, release dismissal agreements,” Kramer said. “As well as what was discussed as the favorable termination rule. Very few cases have ever involved this type of situation.”

Kramer said he expects Judge Holland to issue a ruling on the city’s motion to dismiss the case within a short time frame. Marvin Roberts, one of three of the Fairbanks Four who was in attendance at the oral arguments, expressed optimism following the proceeding.

“We just hope for a positive outcome and we just like to thank all of our supporters that got us here,” Roberts said.

The Fairbanks Four are seeking damages from the city for 18 years they spent in prison. Under the 2015 agreement they signed with the state, the men agreed not to sue, but they signed the deal under duress.

Bethel voters have decided that their community should remain wet, for the time being, after the strictest form of local option alcohol control available failed in Tuesday’s election. Sponsors of the petition drive that put the proposition on the ballot are disappointed, and are now seeking different options for moving forward. One thing is for certain: legal alcohol sales are still a go in Bethel, though for now there’s only a beer and wine store and a restaurant selling alcoholic beverages.

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While there is no one currently selling liquor legally anywhere in town, that could change quickly. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board had tabled a discussion, and a vote, on the transfer of Bethel Native Corporation’s liquor license to Sea Lion Corporation, which owns Swanson’s. The ABC board will meet on October 15, and that transfer is likely to appear on the agenda. Should the transfer go through, there would be nothing preventing Sea Lion from going beyond BNC’s decision to voluntarily limit sales to beer and wine. BNC decided to limit themselves voluntarily in the months following the denial of Alaska Commercial’s liquor store license renewal and its subsequent closure.

Cezary Maczynski is the other liquor license holder in Bethel and currently has a one-year extension from the Bethel City Planning Commission for his plans to comply with parking lot requirements set in place for his proposed liquor store. The license was granted back in April but has been on hold, in part to await the outcome of this local option vote.

How best to move forward is a question that is on everyone’s minds, and the next steps are not yet clear. Changes can come either through another type of local option election, or through city ordinance. But an ordinance to limit alcohol sales to beer and wine, like the one proposed this past June by council member Leif Albertson, might make the city legally vulnerable, Bethel City Attorney Patty Burley says.

“The ABC Board and Alaska Statute has licenses that limit beer and wine. When you’re wet you open all of them, not just the beer and wine licenses,” Burley said. “So, we would be open to challenge by a regular liquor store saying, ‘Wait a minute. You’re infringing on my right to sell what I’m legally allowed to sell.’”

That means the best path forward could come from another, less restrictive type of local option, such as Type 2, allowing import and possession and restaurant sales, or Local Option Type 3, which would allow the city to run its own package store, such as the one Kotzebue currently operates.

Some of Alaska’s seafood industry has escaped the Trump administration’s trade war with China for now. The industry is happy the administration dropped some mainstay seafood products from a list of tariffs it imposed last week.

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The Trump administration levied billions of dollars worth of tariffs on the world’s second largest economy on Sept. 24. The tariffs start at 10 percent and will ratchet up to 25 percent by 2019. The Trump administration’s original list of levies included seafood products that Alaska processors export to China for reprocessing.

“A portion of that actually comes back to the U.S.,” Garrett Everidge, a fisheries economist at the McDowell Group, said. “These would be products such as salmon products, Pacific cod products and other seafood products that the state produces.”

But Pacific cod and salmon have been dropped from the list.

“As of right now, those categories have been excluded from the import tariffs. Pollock products have also been excluded,” Everidge explained.

That’s good news. Even when those tariffs were just a proposal, they were slowing down Alaska processors’ sales in China, the main buyer of Alaska seafood.

That’s because Chinese fish buyers were taking a wait-and-see approach as the Trump administration worked to finalize its list of tariffs. 

“Compared to a few months ago when there was a bit more uncertainty and just less information, we now have a better understanding of those products that are actually going to be on the list,” Everidge added. “That represents an improvement for both the buyers and sellers.”

Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute Executive Director Alexa Tonkovich agrees the final list is an improvement.

However, she said other countries that send their salmon, cod and pollock harvests to China will be able to better compete with those same products originating in Alaska. That’s because they’re co-mingled upon export.

“Some of that product that will now not be tariffed is product of our competitors. So, it’s not a straight win,” Tonkovich explained. “Generally, we’re pleased with the modification and the removal of certain product codes of Alaska seafood off the list. Certainly, salmon is a big win, having that off the list.”

U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan also praised the move in a press release Thursday.

Overall, the removal of salmon and other products gives the Alaska seafood industry some breathing room in a trade dispute that only shows signs of heating up.

Tonkovich said that’s something the industry is concerned about.

“China, every time we put a tariff on their product, they counter us. So, we’re continuing to monitor to see what additional tariffs may come down the line,” Tonkovich said. “We would like to see a more definitive resolution to this conflict soon.”

China has kept its relationship with the Alaska seafood industry in mind during the dispute. It exempted seafood entering the country for reprocessing when it implemented a 25-percent tariff on U.S seafood earlier this year.

The state harvests 60 percent of all seafood in the U.S., which accounts for a significant portion of seafood products that are exported to China for reprocessing.