The Anchorage Health Department says that a youth hockey tournament is where a cluster of COVID-19 cases has been identified.
Contact investigations indicate that the 2020 Termination Dust Invitational, held Oct. 2-4 at the Ben Boeke and Dempsey Anderson arenas, was attended by more than 300 players, coaches and fans, the city wrote.
Teams from Anchorage, Eagle River/Chugiak, Wasilla/Palmer, Kenai/Soldotna and Juneau participated in the tournament. Contact investigations indicate significant close contact in indoor spaces, including locker rooms, with inconsistent use of face coverings.
To avoid further spread of COVID-19, the Anchorage Health Department has advised all attendees without symptoms to quarantine at home for 14 days except to get tested. Additionally, AHD urges all attendees with COVID-19 symptoms to isolate from others at home for 10 days, except to get tested.
Will Republicans regain control of the House? Will Don Young win reelection for his 25th term in office? Is Al Gross a threat to Alaska’s economic future? Will voters be fooled by the “independent” label? What does it mean if absentee ballots don’t need a witness signature?
Must Read Alaska Editor Suzanne Downing is the guest speaker at the October meeting of the Association of Mature American Citizens on Saturday at 11 am., and she will dive into these topics and take questions.
The AMAC meeting location is the Wasilla Senior Center, 1301 S Century Circle, Wasilla.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has reserved an earlier announcement and says the next presidential debate will be on Oct. 15, as originally planned, but will indeed be virtual, with candidates appearing from separate remote locations.
Earlier today, the Trump and Biden campaigns announced the debate was being moved to Oct. 22, and would be in person. That appears to have been a premature assessment.
Moderator Steve Scully of C-SPAN Networks, who is a former intern of Biden’s and was in 2016 an avowed “never Trumper” will be moderating from the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami.
It is unclear at this point if Trump will participate. Biden has made other arrangements for the 15th, so at this point, it does not appear there will be a debate at all.
If you’ve ever experienced a hot, muggy summer day outside in the deep south, you know the misery the oppressive heat brings. But then out of nowhere comes an ever so slight breeze gently brushing up against you. It feels so good.
Most listening to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s video briefing this week on COVID-19 experienced a similar sensation, albeit unconsciously. We’ve been bombarded by the doom and gloomers in the media and from fearmongering politicians like Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz.
The “virus-will-get-us-all unless we surrender our freedoms” narrative has been so predominate and all-consuming, many of us have bought into the altered reality.
Dunleavy offered up a different view this week.
“The virus is not as deadly as we once thought,” said Dunleavy by video. “Although case rates are rising, hospitalizations and death rates are falling.”
Dunleavy, unlike Berkowitz, is not obsessed with controlling people and therefore has no need or desire to frighten us into giving up our liberties.
Berkowitz has justified his economy-destroying and tyrannical ways by telling us: “If we aren’t safe, we are not free.” Berkowitz needs us to be scared.
Dunleavy did the frenzied, alarmist Berkowitz no favors by offering hope to those tormented by fear of catching COVID-19.
“The chances of you going to the hospital, if you get the virus, is slim,” said Dunleavy.
The governor’s video then tossed the mic to Jared Kosin, president and CEO of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association.
“Are we seeing an unusual number of ICU patients coming through the door? And the answer so far, is no,” Kosin said. “The takeaway at this time is hospital capacity is holding up.”
This week’s video briefing on COVID-19 was Dunleavy at his finest. He was Donald Trump-like in his willingness to take on the coronavirus anxiety peddlers in the media.
It was the Dunleavy of old. The guy we all fell in love with when first elected. Big Mike boldly took on powerful union bosses and courageously worked to right-size bloated state government. When he first proposed cutting $130 million from Alaska’s swollen University system, we thought this is the guy we’ve been waiting for.
But that Dunleavy abruptly disappeared and hid away in fear and paranoia once “Big Labor” fought back with a recall effort. The old Dunleavy was nowhere to be seen until he resurrected this week with his COVID-19 video challenging the gloomy media.
Dunleavy must know by now KTUU, Alaska Public Media, The ADN, and liberal bloggers will never give him a fair shake. He can do no right in their eyes. But something happened this week proves Dunleavy doesn’t quite get it and is still worried about how the media covers him.
Suzanne Downing, publisher of this website, is all over the state covering political fundraisers and other similar events. Her coverage is unprecedented in scope and thoroughness when it comes to Alaska politics.
Downing this week walked into a fundraiser held for the governor at a home on the Anchorage hillside. Downing often live streams fundraisers on Facebook. When she first opened the door, she was live streaming. Dunleavy noticed Downing with her camera phone and signaled, on camera for all to see, for her to stop streaming. Downing complied.
Downing was fresh off a trip covering political events on the Kenai Peninsula. On the Kenai, they’ve not been brainwashed into being terrorized by the maskless. Not wearing a mask on the peninsula is not a big deal.
Dunleavy’s obvious panicking on Downing’s live stream was not a good look for him. It gave the impression he was obsessed with media coverage.
KTUU was all over it running a story on its website headlined: “As Alaska’s COVID-19 cases rise, Dunleavy seen not wearing mask at political fundraiser.”
The ADN got in on the fun with a story headlined: “Alaska’s governor and Anchorage officials offer mixed messaging amid unprecedented COVID-19 case counts.”
The ADN chastised the governor for offering hope over COVID-19 during his video briefing reporting: “Within hours of the video’s 5 p.m. launch Tuesday, a political blogger captured a brief video of Dunleavy without a mask covering his face at a Republican Party fundraising event on the Hillside in Anchorage.”
Notice the ADN wouldn’t acknowledge Downing or Must Read Alaska, referring to her only as a political blogger. Yet Downing’s website is much more packed with news and fresh content than that offered by the ever-shrinking ADN. The paper is clearly down to a skeleton staff farming out much of its coverage to the left-leaning Washington Post and the Associated Press. The ADN resembles a blog much more than Downing’s news site. The paper refusing to acknowledge Downing shows they are obviously threatened by her. As they should be.
Dunleavy resurrected his old self this week by challenging the fearmongering media. He must have known saying: “None of us should be terrified today. None of us should be scared today,” would enrage the media.
If Dunleavy is to be a formidable governor bringing much-needed change to the state, he’ll have to forget about pleasing the Leftist agenda-driven media. And the next time Downing enters a fundraiser live streaming, the governor should walk right up to her, without fear or paranoia, and welcome her viewers.
Dan Fagan hosts the number one rated morning drive radio show on Newsradio 650 KENI. He splits his time between Anchorage and New Orleans.
Outside dark money super PACS tied to Sen. Chuck Schumer are flooding Alaska this week in the hope of flipping Alaska’s Senate seat blue and sending Al Gross, the Democrat party’s nominee, to Washington.
According to Politico, Schumer and Senate Democrat funders are washing money through a brand new group called North Star, which revealed itself earlier this week and started airing ads on Thursday. The ad currently running hits Sen. Dan Sullivan on health care isues.
The group’s website leaves more questions than answers as there is no contact information or description of what North Star is or who is behind it. The only way a curious person can determine what the group is about is by tracking the ad buys on radio and TV, and then tracing which agency placed the ads.
At this point, the new infusion of cash from Schumer’s group means Al Gross’ campaign is benefiting from at least $10 million in Outside dark money.
The group is using local legislative staffer Ryan Johnston, who works for Rep. Neal Foster, as its local treasurer and “keeper of records.” Jim Lottsfeldt, a Portland political operative who runs the Midnight Sun AK blog, ran a super PAC in 2014 for Mark Begich that had all of the same connections as the North Star group, and is believed to be connected to this new group as well, but it won’t be known until after the election.
According to North Star’s filing with the Federal Election Commission, the group has already booked $4 million in advertising for the last weeks of the campaign season. Many Alaskans say they are sick of seeing Al Gross ads, but it looks like there are more coming their way.
“The amount made it the largest spender on television in the race,” Politico wrote.
North Star is tied to national Democrats through its media buyer, Waterfront Strategies.
“Since its first election cycle on record in 2012, Waterfront Strategies has become the top vendor for Democratic PACs, labor unions, and left-of-center nonprofits, spending $206,003,697 in the 2018 election cycle. Senate Majority PAC, House Majority PAC, Women Vote!, League of Conservation Voters, NextGen Climate Action, and the government worker labor union AFSCME are among Waterfront Strategies’ top clients,” according to Influence Watch.
Waterfront Strategies utilizes late-cycle “pop-up PACs,” which are super PACS that form up late in the election season and spend money during the last few weeks, allowing them to avoid disclosing their donors until after the elections are over.
“In 2014, Waterfront Strategies received nearly all the campaign funds from Put Alaska First, a super PAC for ads supporting Sen. Mark Begich in his reelection bid against Republican opponent Dan Sullivan. Campaign finance filings revealed that the super PAC received most of its funding from the from the national Democratic group, Senate Majority PAC,” Influence Watch wrote.
The dark money group is using D.C.-based Amalgamated Bank, which is also used by various Democratic organizations.
“The filing also lists a website that has no contact information or specifics about the group, just a picture of mountains and one sentence: ‘Alaska needs a senator who knows Alaska and puts Alaskans first,'” according to Politico.
“Alaska has now seen a surprising amount of outside investment as polling indicates the race remains highly competitive,” Politico noted. “314 Action, a group that backs Democratic candidates with science backgrounds, has spent $1.5 million so far backing Gross, an orthopedic surgeon with a masters in public health.”
In Anchorage, political operatives from outside the state are now pouring in and will be going door-to-door for the Gross campaign. These operatives are working out of hotels in Anchorage, Must Read Alaska has learned, as they swarm the state to get out the Democratic vote.
in partnership with Must Read Alaska
To support Sullivan, the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC run by allies of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has spent less than $1 million in the race.
Gross has spent $2.5 million, according to Advertising Analytics, compared to $1.6 million for Sullivan, the political blog wrote. More spending is likely coming: Gross’ campaign announced Wednesday he raised $9 million in the third quarter of this year, according to Politico.
Every public conflict reaches a climatic point where decisive action leads the way to closure.
In 2020 the coronavirus pandemic has created a conflict between freedom-loving Americans and socialists who have used government control to force compliance with government dictums, in the name of public safety and health.
The strain of excessive and illegal government over-reach these past nine months in restricting our liberties has reached its limits. We are starting to take back control from the autocratic fanatics currently running our local government.
We can no longer endure government mandates that force businesses out of business. We’ll remember the CampoBello Bistro, Perfect Cup, Red Chair Café, and others Anchorage businesses that are permanently closed due to our government’s response to COVID.
But times, they are a changing. We are starting to resist the draconian government mandates controlling every aspect of our lives.
SAVE ANCHORAGEis a grassroots movement to rally citizens to reject the closures of government meetings to the public and to support businesses trying to operate against Mayor Ethan Berkowitz unconstitutional closure mandates. It’s a great initiative to take back Anchorage.
ALASKANS FOR OPEN MEETINGShas been created to legally challenge the Anchorage Assembly’s violation of the Alaska Open Meetings Act. Finally, a legal challenge to the illegal actions of our local government this past summer.
LITTLE DIPPER DINERis taking their case against the Anchorage closure orders through the courts to invalidate Mayor Berkowtiz Emergency Order.
Enraged citizens are protesting outside the Assembly chambers, something I have never seen before. We are fired up. Tired of this tyrannical government denying us our rights.
I know, COVID-19 is a serious infectious disease, but it never should require us giving up our freedoms to protect society.
Imagine, if they are successful in restricting our freedom of movement and assembly based on a virus, could they also not restrict private ownership and use of guns by declaring a public safety emergency due to a rising crime rate caused by their own lack of supporting law enforcement. They are already trying to control our police, visa vie cabal member Meg Zaletel’s resolution 2020-339 which gives the Assembly power to review APD’s policies and procedures.
The coronavirus has tested our society. It has shown us what life is like under an authoritarian system which dictates societal practices that take away personal freedoms. A government forcing people to wear masks in the name of public health is just the first step towards forcing people to wear a certain type of clothing in the name of safety; or forcing people to buy only certain products under the guise of public health; or forcing people to buy government controlled health care.
See where we’re headed? When will this madness end? I say, right here, right now!
The resistance is working. Black Lives Matter was permitted to put up a sign on the publically owned Alaska Center for the Performing Arts (APAC) building. There were no riots, no public demonstrations, but there was public recognition that if a politically charged sign can be displayed supporting a radical Marxists organization on the APAC façade, then they have created a public forum and others can also display their political messages on the building.
Recognizing they created a hornet’s nest, the APAC denied Save Anchorage permission to put up their sign and stated they are changing APAC policy to prohibit all political signs. What idiots. Anybody with half a brain could have foreseen this outcome.
We’re winning. The Assembly has reopened, albeit on a limited and controlled basis. Restaurants and business are again open, with restrictions. Resistance has been peaceful in Anchorage, no riots. Patriotism is rising, more American flags being flown. You can feel the change in the air. But we have not achieved victory, yet.
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz has been politically damaged by his excessive “hunker down” and business restrictions. The Assembly cabal has been seen for what they are, an elitist, despotic autocracy. Recalls are in the making against cabal members who arrogantly flaunt their superior authority over us peons.
Don’t misunderstand my concern about COVID. I have been tested twice to make sure I am not asymptomatic and potentially infecting others. I wear a mask at retail outlets that have corporate policies mandating masks. A business requiring masks is far different from a government dictating universal mask usage.
Face it, we can no longer trust our local government. While the Anchorage infection rate has been rising and currently is at 5.1% of those tested, the World Health Organization sets a positive test rate of less than 10% as manageable. We’re half that. In fact, 94.9% of people tested came back negative for COVID.
Mayor Berkowitz said Friday that there’s an “increased reluctance” for people to share information about their social interactions with contact tracers. He assured us that all contact tracing data is confidential. Really? We have been told our personal information with the IRS and Social Security are confidential, only to later be told they had been hacked and our personal data released to unknown sources.
We are learning to live with COVID without having to destroy our economy and take away our freedom to assemble. The balance between managing a very contagious virus and wrecking our economy and taking away our freedoms is a no brainer. We must protect our freedoms and retain a viable economic city, while reasonably managing the transmission of an infectious disease.
We must never allow autocratic bureaucrats to create a society of subservient vassals, bowing to excessive and unnecessary government control, in order to “protect us from ourselves.”
In a free society, businesses can determine when to operate and how many customers they can accommodate. In a free society, citizens can determine whether they want to go into a place of business, eat at a restaurant, or go to the movies. In a free society government provides services, but is not the puppet-master of our everyday lifestyles.
Ronald Reagan once said “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same.”
No more shut-downs. No more closing down government public meetings to the public. No more mandating business practices to the private sector.
This is the time, this is the place to stop the insanity of government over-reach and the unconstitutional deprivation of our liberties. Like a cancer, if we don’t stop it now, it will only metastasize and eventually kill democracy.
Craig E. Campbell served on the Anchorage Assembly between 1986 and 1995 and later as Alaska’s Tenth Lieutenant Governor. He was the previous Chief Executive Officer and President for Alaska Aerospace Corporation. He retired from the Alaska National Guard as Lieutenant General (AKNG) and holds the concurrent retired Federal rank of Major General (USAF).
During a press conference Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted that she may try to remove President Donald Trump through the use of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
The amendment provides for a process to replace the president should he become incapacitated and unable to perform his duties.
“Tomorrow, by the way, tomorrow, come here tomorrow. We’re going to be talking about the 25th Amendment,” Pelosi said to reporters.
The first use of the 25th Amendment was in 1973 when President Richard Nixon nominated Rep. Gerald Ford of Michigan to fill a vacancy after the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew. A few months later, it was used again, as Nixon resigned and Ford became president. Ford nominated Nelson Rockefeller as his Vice President.
Pelosi has endorsed Alyse Galvin for Congress in her quest to unseat Congressman Don Young. Media has not yet asked Galvin her opinion on using the 25th Amendment to remove the president.
For the fourth time, the pre-indictment hearing date for Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux has been moved forward in time. The case was to start today, Thursday, at 2 pm at the Nesbett Courthouse, but has been changed to Dec. 3.
The court calendar labeled the delay a COVID-19 event. Jury trials have been suspended in Alaska since March 16 due to the pandemic.
The initial charging document had been filed March 13 in the case that involves voter fraud.
LeDoux, who lost in this August’s primary election, faces 18 counts of first- and second-degree voter misconduct and unlawful interference of voting involving trying to get people registered in the district who were not qualified to vote in it in 2018.
According to charging documents, Representative LeDoux, Lisa Simpson, and Caden Vaught were principles and accomplices who knowingly provided false information on voter registration forms to show a residence address in House District 15, when there is evidence that Simpson and Vaught were not living, and had no intent to live, at the addresses provided at the time of the election.
The charging documents also allege that Representative LeDoux solicited a similar action by other individuals in 2014 in order to ensure they could vote in the House District 15 election.
Simpson and Vaught’s court dates have also been moved to Dec. 3.
Must Read Alaska is partnering with a new social media group called CaucusRoom, which is much like a NextDoor application for conservatives. The organization is based out of Colorado and expanding nationwide, to provide a conservative platform for citizens to organize around campaigns, causes, and to connect with other conservatives who might want to work on shared interests.
The Caucus Room is new to Alaska but starting out strong with an online town hall meeting on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 6 pm with Sen. Mia Costello and Ardy Robertson. The meeting is in the Caucus Room called Confirm Amy for Alaska, and it relates to the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and what Alaska conservatives can do to help.
Must Read Alaska will be the leading conservative newsroom for Alaska at the Caucus Room, and users may join the Must Read Alaska room on the site.
Sign up for the Caucus Room at this graphic link (it takes them about a minute to vet you as a conservative through their database):
What else?
The Caucus Room leads with its conservative values with a list to help people know if this is the right place for them to organize:
CaucusRoom Community Values
In God we trust
Truth is timeless
Life is the most precious gift
All people are created equal
Freedom, liberty (including responsibility)
Private ownership of property (I grew it, I made it, I wrote it…)
The pursuit of happiness
Self-sufficiency
Government is a necessary evil
Prime duty of government is to secure our rights
Rule of law
Minimal regulation
Local control (subsidiarity) is generally preferred
