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Alaska State medical board won’t punish doctors using Ivermectin to treat Covid

Suzanne Downing
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19
Alaska State medical board won’t punish doctors using Ivermectin to treat Covid

After having received as many as 150 letters from medical professionals who wanted a small minority of Alaska doctors to be punished for using medications such as Ivermectin to treat Covid, the Alaska State Medical Board is taking a pass. In a statement, it noted that its decisions much be based on state law, not on board member preference or public opinion.

The issue raised by the doctors has caused mistrust with some members of the public, who also wrote to the medical board by the hundreds to defend the doctors. Dr. Ilona Farr is one of a tiny minority of Alaska doctors who is using a protocol involving Ivermectin, as well as nutraceuticals and vitamins, to keep people out of the hospital. She is one of the more well-known, having been a part of a conference on early treatment protocols for Covid that brought in internationally known doctors, such as Dr. Robert Malone, a virologist and immunologist whose work has focused on mRNA technology, pharmaceuticals, and drug repurposing research. 

Covid Early Treatment Summit draws over 1,200 in Anchorage to hear the call for courage, medical freedom

The board’s statement said, “The Alaska State Medical Board received many letters and verbal testimony concerning ‘misinformation’ in the treatment of COVID-19. There was a request that the board make a statement against the use of off-label therapeutics prescribed in the treatment of COVID-19. In addition, there was a call to sanction the licenses of those who do not support this practice, as well those who have spoken out against them. In response, the Alaska State Medical Board held a special meeting on December 9, 2021 and adopted the following statement:

“The Alaska State Medical Board recognizes that there are many issues surrounding the care and treatment of Covid-19 patients. However, as the body that must review and adjudicate matters as they present to us, we recognize and maintain as a foundational ideal to remain impartial in our evaluations to the bestof our ability. The process of investigation, adjudication, and discipline is not arbitrary; it is subject to facts and evidence presented through a thorough vetting process.

“The Board reiterates to the public that its role pertains to the scope of practice of medicine as set forth in AS 08.064 and related regulations. While we welcome and encourage input on regulatory matters, any decision to sanction the license of a medical professional is based on state law, not board member preference or public opinion.

“Disciplinary decisions of the Board are publicly available on our web site, and they may be appealed by the affected licensee through the process set forth in the Alaska Administrative Procedures Act,” the medical board wrote.

From A to Z: Doctors who signed letter demanding medical board sanctions on pioneering physicians revealed

ConocoPhillips’ Greater Mooses Tooth 2 produces first oil for TAPS

Suzanne Downing
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14
ConocoPhillips’ Greater Mooses Tooth 2 produces first oil for TAPS

ConocoPhillips announced that the Greater Mooses Tooth 2 drill site in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska has achieved first oil production, coming in under budget and on schedule on Dec. 12.

Greater Mooses Tooth 2 is the second project in the Greater Mooses Tooth Unit, in the northeast NPRA on Alaska’s North Slope. It is located about eight miles southwest of Greater Mooses Tooth 1. GMT2 is a satellite development of the Alpine field and is connected to the existing Alpine production center in the Colville River Unit.

It’s been six years in the making. Permit applications for drilling at GMT2 were submitted to the Bureau of Land Management in August 2015. The BLM completed a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement with a Record of Decision issued on Oct. 16, 2018. The BLM, ASRC and Kuukpik Corporation share land and mineral rights for the project.

GMT2 has a 14-acre drilling pad, an 8-mile gravel road, and pipeline facilities connected to the existing Colville River Unit infrastructure. The pad is planned to have 36 wells initially, with capacity for up to 48 wells.

Peak production is estimated at approximately 30,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and the project costs approximately $1.4 billion gross, including construction and drilling expenses.

At peak construction during the past three winter seasons, the project created about 700 jobs resulting in more than 600,000 direct construction manhours.

“The GMT2 team safely executed this project in an environmentally responsible manner marking another successful milestone for development in the NPR-A,” said Erec Isaacson, president of ConocoPhillips Alaska. “Projects like these continue to create hundreds of jobs in Alaska and contribute to a stable Alaska economy. We appreciate the collaboration with stakeholders from Kuukpik Corporation, the community of Nuiqsut, the North Slope Borough and ASRC that made it possible. Our continuous investment in projects on the North Slope benefits Alaska’s future.”

The Greater Mooses Tooth and Colville River Units are approximately 100 percent owned and operated by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc.

Throughput in the Trans Alaska Pipeline System was 497,019 barrels per day, so at peak production the project will boost the throughput by as much as 6 percent.

Listicle: How many people are registered to vote in Alaska?

Suzanne Downing
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36
Listicle: How many people are registered to vote in Alaska?

733,391 – U.S. Census official population for Alaska

593,820 – Number of registered voters in Alaska

Breakdown by party:

18,967 – Alaskan Independence Party members

78, 721 – Democrats in Alaska

144, 133 – Republicans in Alaska

688 – Constitutional Party members in Alaska

285 – Moderate Party members in Alaska

1 – Freedom Reform Party members in Alaska

1,494 – Green Party members in Alaska

61 – Owl Party members in Alaska

26 – Alliance Party members in Alaska

6, 902 – Libertarian Party members in Alaska

172 – Progressive Party members in Alaska

170 – Patriot Party members in Alaska

1,323 – Veterans Party members in Alaska

129 – UCES Clown Party members in Alaska

81,355 – Nonpartisan voters in Alaska

259,393 – Undeclared voters in Alaska

Governor calls out ADN for race-baiting

Suzanne Downing
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28
Governor calls out ADN for race-baiting

After throwing shade on Gov. Mike Dunleavy over rural public safety issues in a story that the Anchorage Daily News ran the first day of the Alaska Federation of Natives annual conference, ADN reporter Kyle Hopkins didn’t bother to show up for the governor’s press conference on Tuesday, in which Dunleavy announced a sweeping package of public safety measures, many of them aimed at rural Alaska.

Instead, ADN reporter Alex DeMarban phoned into the press conference and asked the questions for the newspaper, while Hopkins hid.

Hopkins’ story, which had been completed days earlier, had been held by editors to coincide with the opening of the AFN conference. It’s what the newspaper is doing to shape the narrative in the public arena, just as it did during the Parnell Administration, strategically timing stories to land at key moments.

As Dunleavy was winding things down with his comments during the Public Safety “People First” press conference, he took a moment to publicly criticize the ADN and its reporting, calling on the newspaper to start presenting the facts and to stop politicizing their reporting of public safety.

Kyle Hopkins hit job on Gov. Mike Dunleavy

The Hopkins story posited that people in rural Alaska are hiding from active shooters because there aren’t enough Troopers and that Gov. Mike Dunleavy has abandoned rural Alaska. Those who live in rural Alaska know that most every adult is armed, and hiding from active shooters is a rarity. They also know that every community cannot have its own Trooper.

Dunleavy said his wife was born in the Kobuk Valley, grew up living off the land, that his children were born in rural Alaska and he’s proud of his Inupiaq family. He lived in rural Alaska for many years and said he probably has more friends in rural Alaskan than reporter Hopkins.

“The idea that I somehow look at rural Alaska as somehow less than, or somehow not desirable of resources to help out my fellow Alaskans … to me that gets pretty darned close, I gotta be honest with you, to race-baiting,” Dunleavy said.

“And as a governor, you have to put up with a lot of shots, that’s just the way it is, you hop into the ring and you have to put up with it,” Dunleavy said. “But I’m going to ask the press, and especially our largest newspaper in our largest city, to try and give it a shot at being balanced, reporting the facts, the fact that the crime rates overall are down, that we’ve increased the number of Troopers in rural Alaska and will continue to do so.”

Watch the governor’s remarks about the Anchorage Daily News here.

The ADN has a long history of left-leaning bias, and it wins them Pulitzer Prizes. As a for-profit entity, its reporting is now underwritten by left-leaning nonprofit foundations, such as ProPublica and Report for America.

Mia Costello campaign kickoff

Suzanne Downing
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2
Mia Costello campaign kickoff

Mia Costello, District H Senate incumbent, will hold her first campaign fundraiser of the season on Thursday, Dec. 16 at Reilly’s Irish Pub, 317 Fireweed Lane. The fundraiser is from 5-7 pm.

Costello has been redistricted into the same Senate state as Sen. Natasha Von Imhof, who is rumored to be ready to file for governor against Gov. Mike Dunleavy. The Senate seat represents a solid conservative part of Anchorage.

After attack by ADN and bloggers over fluoridation, Mayor Bronson issues statement

Suzanne Downing
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69
After attack by ADN and bloggers over fluoridation, Mayor Bronson issues statement

Today, Mayor Dave Bronson’s office released the following statement regarding the fluoridation of Anchorage’s water supply, explaining that the fluoride was briefly reduced from the water supply because staff complained that their eyes and throats were burning from the fumes.

The statement is in response to an attack by various left-wing bloggers and the Anchorage Daily News’ own podcaster, who accused, without evidence, the mayor of sabotaging the water supply.

On October 1st Mayor Bronson and members of his Administration visited the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility (AWWU) Eklutna Water Treatment Plant for a site visit. During the visit, a discussion ensued about health problems occurring among water treatment plant staff charged with fluoridation of Anchorage’s water supply. AWWU staff informed the Mayor’s team that fluoride burned the eyes and throats of staff who handled it and was a health hazard for employees. Fluoride is considered a hazardous substance that must be handled by trained professionals. 

Information was presented to the Mayor’s team that pausing the fluoridation of Anchorage’s water would not violate federal or state law and didn’t violate Municipal Charter. To protect the health and safety of AWWU staff, it was decided by the Mayor to halt the fluoridation of Anchorage’s water supply and to further investigate these concerns with the Assembly.

Later that afternoon, the Mayor’s Office determined Municipal Code requires the fluoridation of Anchorage’s water supply. The Mayor’s Office immediately informed AWWU leadership to resume fluoridation of the Muni’s water. Fluoride was not added to the water supply for approximately five hours. 

AWWU General Manager Mark Corsentino confirmed “the data shows there was no disruption or material change to the fluoride in our water during October 1.” Fluoride levels did not violate Municipal code or Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation regulations. AWWU routinely shuts down the fluoride system for maintenance for much longer intervals than what occurred on October 1. In November, AWWU shutdown the fluoride system for several days to conduct maintenance on the system. Anchorage’s water supply remains safe for public consumption.

The mayor’s office attached documents to support his statement. Must Read Alaska has learned through research that it’s quite common for fluoride to not be added to the city’s water supply when maintenance is being performed or, as in recent times, when a part is not available.

Nov-2021-Maintenance-OutageDownload

Dunleavy unveils ‘People First,’ omnibus program to address justice, law and order

Suzanne Downing
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19
Dunleavy unveils ‘People First,’ omnibus program to address justice, law and order

Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a “People First” initiative, which will be also be part of his 2023 budget that will be rolled out on Wednesday.

People First involves major investments in Alaska State Troopers, village public safety officers, ending human trafficking, support for foster care, and more.

The various initiatives inside the program will involve statutory changes, budget expenditures, staffing additions, and administrative actions, with an initial cost of $750,000 and annual operating cost of $250,000. It rolls together existing programs such as Choose Respect with new efforts to reduce crimes against women.

“Safety and prevention are my administration’s top priorities, ever since I took office,” Dunleavy said. “My administration has been focused on reversing these troubling trends and statistics – we are proud to say that progress has been made.”

Alaska’s crime rate has declined for two years in a row since Dunleavy signed the repeal of Senate Bill 91 through House Bill 49.

“By adding major crime investigators in Bethel, Dillingham, Kotzebue, and Nome, clearing the backlog of sexual assault examination kits, collecting owed DNA, and increasing funding for the Tribal Compact with OCS, we are going to see a change happen in Alaska. But there’s still more work to be done,” he said.

Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault

The Dunleavy Administration will offer several statutory changes in an omnibus crime bill in January, when the Legislature meets:

  • addressing repeated violations of protective orders
  • expanding the definition of serious physical injury and elevating the level of offense
  • expanding the crimes considered to be domestic violence
  • providing bail notice to victims

The administration will seek $500,000 for the Alaska Family Justice Center feasibility study and implementation of a pilot program. The “Through One Door” comprehensive concept will assist victims with forensic and medical services, legal assistance, child/adult therapy, case management, legal aid, emergency housing/shelter assistance, and family assistance and resources.

The pilot program will have all victim services provided in one location in coordination with health and safety partners and agencies.

“The People First Initiative equips the Department of Law with the resources and support needed to help victims, bring perpetrators to justice and protect all Alaskans,” said Attorney General Treg Taylor. “This comprehensive effort will strengthen the work we’re already doing to make this state a better, safer place.”

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons

Dunleavy will create an Administrative Order that will form the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Council. In the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, we will seek funding for two Tribal Liaison positions within the Department of Public Safety and one position for the Missing Persons Clearinghouse.

“The Alaska Department of Public Safety and the Alaska State Troopers are committed to meeting our mission of ensuring public safety and enforcing fishing and hunting laws across Alaska,” said Alaska Department of Public Safety Commissioner James Cockrell. “Public safety is job number one for the Dunleavy Administration, and this new initiative is evidence of that. These additional resources to address the high rates of domestic violence, sexual assault, human sex trafficking, MMIP, and other important issues impacting Alaskans are welcomed in our efforts to make Alaska a safer place to live, work, and raise a family.”

Human/Sex Trafficking

Statutory changes regarding human trafficking will be in an omnibus crime bill that will clearly define human and sex trafficking. The bill will require that sex trafficking is a registerable sex offense. It will allow victims of sex trafficking to have their record expunged. Dunleavy will be issuing an Administrative Order reestablishing a task force focused on human and sex trafficking. In addition, law enforcing will be increasing officer training to recognize signs of trafficking and interceptions.

Foster Care and Office of Children’s Services

Dunleavy is taking steps to review the entire foster care system and focus on prevention to reduce the number of kids in foster care programs in the state, including a new Parent and Foster Parent Collaborative Council. As of this month, 3,027 Alaskan children are in the Office of Children’s Services’ care through foster parents. The administration will address transitioning programs for older foster youth, providing vocational opportunities and extended subsidies up to the age of 21. Demonstration projects with tribal partners will help establish evidence-based best practices that qualify for future federal funding opportunities and recognize Native cultural practices. The administration will focus on workforce stabilization aspects, such as pay and retention, adding a workforce wellness unit, a long-term, non-permanent supervisor unit, and increasing social service associates.

Homelessness

In coordination with the statewide database, the administration will establish a Statewide Homelessness Coordinator in the Office of the Governor and add a data manager position at Health and Social Services. Dunleavy will issue a new Administrative Order focused on reshaping the Alaska Council on the Homeless.

“Alaska has long struggled to address these issues, and this is long overdue,” Dunleavy said. “Through collaboration between public, private, nonprofit and tribal partners, we can achieve these goals to put people first and make Alaska a better place for everyone.”

The overall budget rollout on Wednesday will see reductions overall, Dunleavy said. But the initiative will cost millions of dollars that will come from savings over in the past couple of years.

He said “the State can’t control everything but the state should be involved in the safety of its people, the safety of its kids, and the safety of its most vulnerable.”

Anchorage Assembly building on track record of trashing transparency

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Anchorage Assembly building on track record of trashing transparency

By SCOTT LEVESQUE

While left-leaning Anchorage Assembly members call for more transparency from the Bronson Administration, critics are left wondering when they’ll practice what they preach. 

For a year and a half, the Anchorage Assembly has evaded transparency, accountability, and responsibility, with actions taken to circumvent the public’s knowledge and involvement. 

In the summer of 2020, disgraced former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz and most of the Assembly violated the Open Meeting Act. The public was banned from the Assembly Chambers while members on the dais refined two of the Municipality’s most controversial ordinances: AO 2020-65 and AO 2020-66. 

AO 2020-65, now law, prohibits licensed counselors, therapists, and other health care providers from helping youth work through their gender confusion and homosexual issues.

Posed by the Assembly as a “conversion therapy ban,” members of the public believed it was an infringement on their freedom of speech and parental rights. The ordinance passed 9-2 with no in-person testimony allowed, despite demands from the public.

Waiting in the wings was AO 2020-66, which used federal CARES Act funds to authorize the purchase of unsuitable buildings in Anchorage for a homeless industrial complex, converting them into a network of services for the city’s vagrant population. Once again, the Assembly refused to allow in-person testimony, and despite broad public outcry, the spending measure passed 9-2. 

The passing of AO 2020-65 and AO 2020-66 set off a chain reaction leading to lawsuits, public distrust, and question marks surrounding the Assembly’s lack of transparency.

The Assembly marched on unencumbered, wearing the fallout from those decisions as a badge of honor, even while losing the mayor’s election to a conservative.

In October of this year, the Assembly introduced AO 2021-91, an indoor mask mandate for the entire Municipality. The ordinance was introduced to help mitigate a spike in Covid-19 cases but was met with fierce resistance, including six days of public testimony upon its introduction. As the public lined the Loussac Library night after night, it became apparent the Assembly would be hard-pressed to move forward and vote on the ordinance. 

That’s when the Assembly broke faith with the people again. 

After skipping a scheduled meeting on Oct. 8, due to two members of the Bronson Administration contracting Covid, Chairwoman Suzanne LaFrance reassured the public that in-person testimony would continue the following Wednesday, and if needed, Thursday night.

Unfortunately, the residents of Anchorage were being duped. In the waning minutes of their Tuesday, Oct. 12 meeting at 10:45 pm, an emergency mask ordinance was introduced, voted on, and passed without public participation.

The Assembly majority had tricked its way out of transparency again.

Now, with perhaps their most blatant attempt to circumvent any form of transparency, the Assembly will begin deliberations on a proposed rewrite of Title 28 of the Municipal Code.

The suggested changes that are coming from Barbara Jones, Anchorage Municipal Clerk, would fundamentally undercut any campaign, as well as the public, to hold the Clerk’s Office accountable for the ballot sorting and counting during elections.

The rewrites would place all power, including the election department’s accountability and transparency efforts, in the hands of the Municipal Clerk. The Municipal Clerk would be able to rewrite the election observer handbook at any point and enforce her new rules to act punitively against a campaign or candidate.

It’s a living example of the saying, “Those who vote decide nothing. Those who count the vote decide everything.”

Residents are questioning the reason for a proposed overhaul of Title 28, and some believe it’s because of Mayor Dave Bronson’s stunning win over liberal Assembly member Forrest Dunbar, and the fact that the Bronson campaign was attentive in its monitoring of the ballot-counting process, much to the ire of the Municipal Clerk, who had never had experienced oversight from a campaign.

The Assembly will take up the rewrite of Title 28 at Tuesday night’s meeting, which starts at 5 pm on the ground floor of the Loussac Library, at 36th and Denali Street.

ADN’s history of bullying Amy Demboski continues with newspaper calling for her to be fired as city manager

Suzanne Downing
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73
ADN’s history of bullying Amy Demboski continues with newspaper calling for her to be fired as city manager

The Anchorage Daily News has never liked Anchorage Municipal Manager Amy Demboski. The newspaper has a pattern of partisan bullying of her as a candidate, as an assemblywoman, and now as Anchorage’s city manager.

During her race for mayor in 2015, the newspaper wrote a story questioning the paternity of her child.

“What media source goes back 20 years and questions the paternity of a child born to a teenage mom?” Demboski said. The ADN did, and said her teenage divorce “suggest” that she was not truthful.

On that news day, ADN sent out reporters who staked out the front entrance and back entrance of the Demboski campaign office all day long, waiting for her to come out and declare the paternity of her child. It was savage journalism.

When Demboski busted a guy who was destroying her campaign signs, and confronted him for cutting her picture out of a sign, the ADN made a big deal about her holstered pistol, saying she was “laying in wait,” which is a legal term for ambushing.

The man was a mental case and was using a box cutter to cut Demboski’s picture off her signs, so of course she was going to have protection on her.

Then there was the Greg Jones incident. Jones, a Democrat candidate running for office, was asked by Demboski on her radio show about a national article detailing his relationship with Socialist Bernie Sanders and Muslims of America. She was characterized by the newspaper and leftists on the Assembly as an Islamophobe, someone with a prejudice against Muslims.

After then-mayoral candidate Ethan Berkowitz said on the radio during the show that he and Bernadette Wilson hosted that he had no problem with a father marrying his son, Demboski was asked by another radio host what she thought. She told the radio host that she didn’t know what Berkowitz meant by that.

The ADN wrote it up as if Demboski had pushed the “fathers marrying sons” narrative. Later, radio host Wilson produced the audio clip that showed that Berkowitz had, indeed, said that he didn’t care if fathers married their sons. All Demboski had done was acknowledge she heard it on the radio, saying, “maybe you should ask him.”

Now, the ADN is going after Demboski for her management style as the city manager.

Must Read Alaska asked Demboski for her response to the ADN editorial demanding her firing that she is used to the newspaper attacking her.

“The truth is when they are scared, when you’re effective or when you are winning- they will always attack. This is what draining the swamp looks like. I will not be deterred, distracted, or bullied. Bring it on,” Demboski told Must Read Alaska.

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