Saturday, July 5, 2025
Home Blog Page 1216

Representative apologizes for hurtful statements about rural Alaskans

Suzanne Downing
-
57
Representative apologizes for hurtful statements about rural Alaskans

Rep. Jennifer Johnston of Anchorage today apologized on Facebook for statements made to a reporter from the Alaska Journal of Commerce, which implied that people in rural Alaska are not responsible enough to get their Permanent Fund dividends early.

In an op-ed by reporter Andrew Jensen earlier this week, the author quoted Johnston asking Jensen, “Have you ever been to the villages at dividend time?”

Jensen wrote, “Johnston went on to state that part of the reasoning for not paying the dividend early was because it would be too much money in rural Alaska on top of the federal payment that was approved in the CARES Act. She further claimed the congressional delegation actually discouraged the Legislature from paying a spring dividend because they shared the same concerns.”

But when he asked the offices of Rep. Don Young, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan, all denied such a message was conveyed to the Legislature either by them or members of their staffs.

Today, Johnston was more circumspect in her comments as she provided an explanation on Facebook:

“The conclusion of a recent opinion piece does not accurately express my values and beliefs. I have a deep love and respect for our Alaska Native community, and I sincerely apologize for my comments. This is a learning process. In the future I will be educating myself and will do a better job communicating my respect for all Alaskans,” Johnston wrote.

Johnston is serving her second term as a Republican legislator. She also served on the Anchorage Assembly for several years, where she was known as a fiscal conservative. In the Legislature, she has caucused with the bipartisan majority that is dominated by Democrats, for whom she serves as co-chair of the House Finance Committee.

Finance co-chair doesn’t trust rural Alaskans with early P-Fund dividend

West Side Story: There’s a place for us

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
13
West Side Story: There’s a place for us

By ART CHANCE

One benefit of being incarcerated at home is you get to watch some of those obscure cable channels you pay for. While mindlessly browsing through channels I found “West Side Story” on Amazon Prime.

I think I know my readership pretty well, and I’m pretty confident that most of us know some of the words from every major song in “West Side Story.” “Somewhere” was the class song for a lot of high school graduations in the Sixties.

The story is set in New York in the Fifties. The Broadway play came out in the late Fifties, and the movie debuted in 1961. It is a view of urban America before Camelot. The story centers on conflict between the Sharks and the Jets. The Jets are the white kids, the Sharks the Puerto Rican immigrant kids.

One of the jarring things about the movie is the Fifties gangstas dress better than most white collar office workers today.

West Side Story is an Americanized and modernized version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Of course, nobody much under 40 knows what Romeo and Juliet is because it was written by a dead white guy.

Romeo and Juliet are from rival families, the Montagues and Capulets. Tony and Maria are from rival ethnicities, the native-born Americans and the Puerto Ricans. They aren’t allowed to fall in love, but they do.

Leonard Bernstein wrote the music, Steven Sondheim the lyrics; that’s about as legendary as you get, at least for the times; no for any time. The music and dance sequences were directed by Jerome Robbins.

A sub-theme is that several of the principals had been hailed before the House Un-American Activities Committee for their alleged communist ties; some co-operated, some didn’t. Some had been black listed. About the only actor you’d recognize is Natalie Wood who played Maria, though her singing was almost entirely lip-synched.

It was filmed in a New York neighborhood that was later leveled to make room for Lincoln Center. The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, won 10, and was the highest grossing movie of 1961.

To me, West Side Story is the apex of the American musical genre; the music is much more adventurous than Rogers and Hammerstein or the more modern Andrew Lloyd Weber.

Sixty year-old songs like “Tonight,” “Maria,” “I Feel Pretty,” and “Somewhere” survive as standards today. The choreography is breathtaking. Who can choreograph a gang fight? My dancing skill is limited to a box step and a halting waltz, maybe a two-step if I’ve had a few, but I know good stuff when I see it. The whole movie is choreographed; there is no random movement.

The times and the politics of the principals are very evident. Romeo and Juliet was about a conflict between two powerful rival families. West Side Story is straight class and ethnic warfare right out of Marx. The Sharks and the Jets are working class kids fighting over the bottom rungs of the social and economic ladder. The white cops roust them both, but are somewhat more tolerant of the white Jets. Tribalism isn’t new.

By today’s standards, the plot and the action are almost boring; think Footloose with a fight at the end. In Romeo and Juliet both die; in Westside Story only Tony dies, and Maria gets to sing at the end.

America had had over 10 years of unprecedented peace and prosperity; the Soviet menace was a distant and abstract thing. JFK had just been elected and America hung on the words of his Inaugural Address.

Back then we were still willing to believe a politician about paying any price and bearing any burden; we didn’t know that the duty only fell to us mere mortals. Blacks, Puerto Ricans, and working class whites of all ethnicities could believe that somewhere there’s a place for us.

Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon. 

Elective abortions are among optional procedures delayed during COVID-19 emergency

Suzanne Downing
-
11
Elective abortions are among optional procedures delayed during COVID-19 emergency

DEMOCRAT SENATORS WANT ABORTIONS TO BE A SPECIAL RIGHT

How does Alaska’s “COVID-19 Health Mandate 5.1,” cancelling or postponing non-urgent and elective surgical procedures, pertain to elective abortions?

On Tuesday, the Dunleavy Administration made it clear that surgical abortions that are elective, rather than to save the life of the mother, are among those to be postponed or canceled for now, as the state seeks to preserve personal protective equipment and medical supplies.

Elective abortions are part of a long list of procedures and surgeries that must wait while the state prepared to take care of an expected surge of COVID-19 patients.

Department of Health and Social Services Commissioner Adam Crum released the five-page list that clarifies all of the medical procedures covered by the mandate, which the State issued on March 19.

The entire list of elective surgeries being postponed is at this link.

For example, under breast cancer, postponed procedures include:

  • Excision of benign lesions-fibroadenomas, nodules, etc…
  • Duct excisions
  • Discordant biopsies likely to be benign
  • High risk lesions-atypia, papillomas, etc…
  • Prophylactic surgery for cancer and noncancer cases
  • Delayed SNB for cancer identified on excisional biopsy
  • cTisN0 lesions-ER positive and negative
  • Re-excision surgery
  • Tumors responding to neoadjuvant hormonal treatment
  • Clinical Stage T1N0 estrogen receptor positive/progesterone receptorpositive/Her2 negative tumors
  • Inflammatory and locally advanced breast cancers

In addition to cancer surgeries, conditions like fecal incontinence surgeries are being delayed. That means some Alaskans are having to wear diapers right now because of a surgery they cannot get. Infertility procedures, such as embryo transfers, are also on the list.

Likewise, surgical abortions must be delayed “unless the life or physical health of the mother is endangered…”

This policy is similar to other states that have enacted the same emergency orders, including Texas, Ohio, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.

Abortion providers and proponents are not pleased and have tried to stop this particular mandate in Texas.

But on Tuesday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Texas over its restriction of abortions during the pandemic. In a 2-1 ruling, the court lifted a lower court order that had halted the restrictions.

“Given … the escalating spread of COVID-19, and the state’s critical interest in protecting the public health, we find the requirements for issuing the writ satisfied,” the court majority said.

Referring to a 1905 Supreme Court decision that says constitutional rights can be restricted during public health emergencies, the court said states are allowed restrict “one’s right to peaceably assemble, to publicly worship, to travel, and even to leave one’s home,” the majority said. “The right to abortion is no exception.”

Jim Minnery, of the Alaska Family Council, agreed. “Abortion doesn’t get treated differently from any other medical procedure. If it’s not essential, and it consumes PPE (personal protective equipment), then the government is saying it must be cancelled or postponed, in order to free up valuable resources for the war on COVID-19.”

Sens. Tom Begich and Jesse Kiehl, however, sent a letter to Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink objecting to elective abortions being on the list, saying the Administration is playing politics and “It is inconsistent with good medical practice, and I believe you know that.”

“Tonight’s mandate violates my trust. It violates the trust of the Alaskans I represent,” Kiehl wrote, “You need to act immediately to restore Alaskans’ trust in you and the team you lead. The stakes for our state are too high for you to let this stand.”

Later on Facebook, Kiehl said Dunleavy’s move was an abuse of power that reminded him of Chicago politics.

Some respond that Senators Kiehl and Begich, who are Democrats, are trying to establish abortions as a super-constitutional right to be protected above all others.

Minnery said, “why are we making an exception for Planned Parenthood when people are having to wait for their cancer surgeries?”

An average of more than three abortions were performed daily in Alaska during 2019, for a total of 1,270. All but 308 of them were surgical abortions, with the others being induced pharmaceutically.

Most credible reports peg the percentage of all abortions that are deemed to be elective is 90 percent or higher.

That means if abortion providers abide by the State emergency order, more than 20 abortions a week will be put on hold. Alaska law does not allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of the baby’s life in the uterus. Some of those in-utero babies will make it past that 20-week gate.

Pro-life advocates expect that abortion industry leader Planned Parenthood will ask the court for an injunction to stop the Dunleavy Administration from enacting this single line of the health mandates. But as of the close of business on Wednesday, April 8, the mandate stands.

Will abortion providers abide by the ruling or violate the order and continue to provide abortions during the COVID-19 pandemic? What powers does the State actually have to stop them? Is the State ready to pull their licenses to practice in Alaska if they knowingly violate the health mandate?

These are uncomfortable questions that the Department of Law probably hopes it doesn’t have to deal with, since anything having to do with abortion is going to end up in court.

COVID update: 13 new cases

Suzanne Downing
-
8
COVID update: 13 new cases

Alaska reported 13 more cases of COVID-19 coronavirus in the past 24 hours for a total of 226. One more person has been hospitalized. One more person has died for a total of seven deaths in Alaska. Thirty-two cases have recovered.

The new cases were in Anchorage and Fairbanks, with one additional case in the Mat-Su region.

COVID-19 hits home: ConocoPhillips demobilizes rig fleet work on Slope

Suzanne Downing
-
14
COVID-19 hits home: ConocoPhillips demobilizes rig fleet work on Slope

DOYON DRILLING WORKERS TO BE SEVERELY IMPACTED

ConocoPhillips announced Tuesday that due to the heightened COVID-19 risk to its North Slope workforce, the company will significantly reduce the number of personnel on the Slope in a managed fashion.

“To do this, we are making the difficult decision to demobilize our rig fleet.  Given the high degree of uncertainty on how the situation plays out, we can’t say how long these measures will be in place,” said the official statement from ConocoPhillips.

Impacted will be the rig fleet, including exploration and development drilling rigs, and most likely will not impact production in 2020.

The announcement will impact many of oil field contractors, and a memo was issued by Doyon Drilling Inc., describing major impacts to the company.

“Today we were informed that CPA has made a decision to demobilize their rig fleet. This decision was made to protect the health and wellbeing of the workforce and their families to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This impact will be severely felt by DDI Employees and Alaskans,” said a memo from Ron Wilson, president and general manager of Doyon Drilling.

“We understand that this volatile environment and our Operator’s directive is very concerning to our employees. We are unable to predict how long it will take for the COVID-19 virus or the low prices to pass. In the meantime, we will demobilize our rigs in a safe and effective manner to ensure we are in position to resume drilling operations upon CPAI directive,” he wrote.

ConocoPhillips is one of the big three oil producers in Alaska, along with BP and ExxonMobil.

Anchorage early results: Allard wins for Eagle River

Suzanne Downing
-
25
Anchorage early results: Allard wins for Eagle River

PRELIMINARY: ASSEMBLY STAYS IN LIBERAL HANDS

With half of the votes counted in the Anchorage Municipal election, it appears that while some races are close, Eagle River has voted for Jamie Allard for the Anchorage Assembly. She will replace Fred Dyson, who chose not to run for reelection.

Here are the very-preliminary results from the 45,183 ballots counted so far, of the over 90,000 ballots cast:

Assembly 1B, Downtown: Incumbent and hard Democrat Christopher Constant was unchallenged, and won 2,009 votes so far.

Assembly 2C, Eagle River: Republican Jamie Allard won in a three-way race where Republican Roger Branson was the would-be spoiler for the conservative seat, and Stephany Jeffers stuck to an undeclared affiliation. The vote so far is Allard- 3,943, Jeffers-2,179, and Branson-495. More ballots were cast today and will trickle in this week, but this race is certain to be a win for Allard.

Assembly 3E, West Anchorage: Incumbent nonpartisan Austin Quinn-Davidson found herself in a three-way with Republican Nick Danger and nonpartisan MoHagani Magnetek. Quinn-Davidson walked away with 4,756 votes, Danger received 2,270, and Magnetek got 472. With over 62 percent of the votes so far, Quinn-Davidson is safe.

Assembly 4G, South Anchorage: Republican Christine Hill, challenging Democrat incumbent Felix Rivera, may be able to pull ahead when all the remaining votes come in. She is just 91 votes behind, with 3,346 to Rivera’s 3,437. This race is a dead heat. Will her ballot-chase efforts succeed or will the labor unions’ ballot-harvesting keep Rivera in office?

Assembly 5I, East Anchorage: Incumbent Democrat Pete Petersen looks safe from the challenge by Republican Monty Dyson, 3,765-2,435. Petersen has 55 percent of the vote, so far.

Assembly 6K, South Hillside: Incumbent Democrat Suzanne LaFrance is leading strongly, with 5,329 votes, to Republican challenger Rick Castillo, who pulled in 4,949 votes. It looks doubtful that Castillo can make up the difference with the outstanding ballots, but he gave LaFrance a scare, taking over 48 percent of the vote, so far.

School Board Seat C: Incumbent Republican Dave Donley was the far-and-away winner with 21,800 votes to Democrat James Smallwood, who received 16,992 votes.

School Board Seat D: Incumbent Andy Holleman won with 20,497 votes in a three-way race, where Phil Isley received 8,076 votes, and JC Cates got 8,685. Holleman has no party affiliation.

Proposition 1, Areawide life/safety access roads improvement bonds.
This proposition is too close to call, the difference between yes and no votes is less than 1 percent.

  • Yes – 50.07%
  • No- 49.93%

Proposition 2, Capital improvements for the Anchorage School District bonds

  • Yes – 57.89%
  • No – 42.11%

Proposition 3, Roads and drainage service area bonds

  • Yes – 58.04%
  • No – 41.96%

Proposition 4, Fire service area protection bonds

  • Yes – 66.41%
  • No – 33.59%

Proposition 5: Parks and Rec improvement bonds

  • Yes – 53.34%
  • No – 46.66%

Proposition 6, Police facilities bonds

  • Yes – 55.33%
  • No – 44.67%

Proposition 7, Capital improvement project bonds

  • Yes – 55.22%
  • No – 44.78%

Proposition 8, Public safety and transit bonds

  • Yes – 59.03%
  • No – 40.97%

Proposition 9, Emergency medical supplies and reduction of voter indebtedness bonds

  • Yes – 65.39%
  • No – 34.61%

Proposition 10, Girdwood faciliites bonds

  • Yes – 46.42%
  • No – 53.58%

Proposition 11, Onsite consumption of marijuana

  • Yes – 35.72%
  • No – 64.28%

Proposition 12, adding another seat to the Assembly

  • Yes – 59.14%
  • No – 40.86%

Proposition 13, 5 percent tax on alcoholic beverages

  • Yes – 51.76%
  • No – 48.24%


Department of Law says North Slope Borough seizure of RavnAir assets is not legal

Suzanne Downing
-
22
Department of Law says North Slope Borough seizure of RavnAir assets is not legal

A Department of Law opinion issued today states that the North Slope Borough doesn’t have the authority to seize the property of RavnAir, which had shut down operations and stated it would be filing for protection under Chapter 11 bankruptcy rules.

According to a statement from Maria Bahr, spokesperson for the Department of Law, “the North Slope Borough does not have the authority to commandeer property.  All Ravn’s property is part of its bankruptcy estate.  This means the North Slope Borough order is void under federal and state law.  Any party seeking to operate air services also needs approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. 

“The State appreciates the concerns of establishing substitute air service for all communities impacted by Ravn’s bankruptcy, including communities in the North Slope Borough.  However, the North Slope Borough’s actions in this case were counterproductive.  As long as local governments might be attempting to seize Ravn’s property it will be more difficult to establish replacement air service.

“In addition, more than 1,200 Ravn employees who were laid off on Sunday are unpaid and actions by local governments that impede the bankruptcy jeopardize those employees being paid.

“Ravn, the State, North Slope Borough, and other stakeholders are working diligently to establish substitute air service as quickly as possible and get Ravn’s former employees paid, all within the bankruptcy context.  Any disruption by local governments makes those goals more difficult to achieve,” Bahr wrote.

Over the weekend, RavnAir Group announced it was grounding all flights due to financial hardships brought on by COVID-19 travel restrictions around the state.

Almost immediately, the mayor of the North Slope Borough issued a statement saying he was commandeering the assets of the company under his authority granted through his emergency orders during the COVID-19 crisis.

Emergency order: North Slope Mayor Brower seizes Ravn hangar, assets


Finance co-chair doesn’t trust rural Alaskans with early P-Fund dividend

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
54
Finance co-chair doesn’t trust rural Alaskans with early P-Fund dividend

By ANDREW JENSEN

“Have you ever been to the villages at dividend time?”

That was the question posed to me during a phone call from House Finance Co-Chair Jennifer Johnston of Anchorage on April 1, and it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke.

That morning I published an opinion column chiding the Legislature for failing to utilize the Permanent Fund to help Alaskans during the worst economic crisis in the state’s history by first canceling the Senate-approved supplemental dividend and then refusing to move up the distribution of the traditional annual payment to provide immediate relief.

Johnston asked me how long I’ve lived in Alaska (I learned 10 years is “not very long”), what I know about state finances and whether I was familiar with the federal CARES Act (I covered it in the column she was calling about).

She then asked the question at the top of this piece.

Without ever asking to be off the record, Johnston went on to state that part of the reasoning for not paying the dividend early was because it would be too much money in rural Alaska on top of the federal payment that was approved in the CARES Act. She further claimed the congressional delegation actually discouraged the Legislature from paying a spring dividend because they shared the same concerns.

Representatives for Rep. Don Young, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan all denied such a message was conveyed to the Legislature either by them or members of their staffs.

“We unequivocally deny that anyone in our office — including Senator Sullivan — made such a comment to anyone,” wrote his communications director Mike Anderson. “Furthermore, no one in our office, including Senator Sullivan, holds such offensive views.”

(I relayed the denials from the delegation to Johnston in a text message. She never responded.)

In Johnston’s view, “social services would be overwhelmed” in the villages and elsewhere if Alaskans were to receive their 2020 dividend now instead of in October.

You read that right.

Read the rest of this column at the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

Elijah Verhagen files for House District 6

Suzanne Downing
-
25
Elijah Verhagen files for House District 6

REP. DAVE TALERICO DECIDES TO PASS ON RUNNING

Elijah Verhagen, a legislative aide from Nenana, has file a letter of intent to run for House District 6. The seat is currently served by Rep. Dave Talerico of Healy.

District 6 is considered a safe seat for Republicans, and Verhagen was a Republican up until today, when he changed to Undeclared. He is a conservative.

Verhagen earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has worked as a legislative staff member for seven sessions and has staffed Rep. Talerico, whom he considers a lifelong friend, mentor, employer, “and a fantastic representative.” This is Talerico’s third term. Verhagen was an aide to Rep. Sharon Jackson, but has gone on layoff status so he can run for office. His brother is the current mayor of Nenana.

“Others and I have tried to get him [Talerico] to run again this next session, but to no avail,” Verhagen said. “I’ve carried several of his bills through the process while working for him. If elected, I will continue to carry some of his great bills that ran out of time to pass this session due to COVID-19.”

Although he will run as an undeclared candidate, he said he will caucus with the Republicans. Today, Republicans have a bipartisan caucus in the House, and a more conservative smaller wing of Republicans make up the House minority.

1...1,2151,2161,217...1,673Page 1,216 of 1,673

About us

Must Read Alaska is news of people, politics, policy, culture, and happenings in Alaska.

Contact
4021 West Hill Road,
Homer, AK 99603
[email protected]

The latest

Sullivan says no state fared better than Alaska with the One Big Beautiful Bill

Politics 0
US. Senator Dan Sullivan explained his vote in favor...

Bob Griffin: One Big Beautiful School Choice

Columns 0
By BOB GRIFFIN  One of the impacts of the Great...

Trump signs bill defunding Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood. What does it mean for Alaska?

The 907 3
In a White House ceremony on July 4, President...

© Must Read Alaska