More than 27,544 Anchorage residents have cast their ballots in the election that ends in seven days on April 7.
That compares favorably to the approximately 20,000 who had voted by this time last year in the mail-in municipal election in Anchorage. Two years ago, 25,000 had voted by the time the last week of mail-in voting had begun.
Conservatives usually don’t turn out for municipal elections as strongly as public-union Democrats, and the unions are well-oiled vote in the Anchorage bowl. But this year, with the coronavirus pandemic changing everyone’s schedules, many people are staying home and are perhaps finding more time to take care of their civic duty.
Alaska Family Council has given its endorsement to the following candidates:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only one of the six Anchorage Accessible Vote Centers will open as scheduled on Monday, March 30th for the April 7, 2020 Regular Municipal Election.
The City Hall Accessible Vote Center is now open:
M-F, March 30 – April 6, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Tuesday, April 7, 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.
If voters have questions about voting or the election, voters should call the Voter Holtine at 243-VOTE(8683).
Alaska’s largest newspaper is again downsizing, but it is understandable if you missed this news.
The email to ADN.com viewers from editor David Hulen required fluency in Orwellian doublespeak.
One could easily have taken at face value his pitch that “ADN has mobilized to cover the coronavirus crisis” and missed the contradiction that followed:
“We’ve had to temporarily cut back hours and pay for all employees, along with some painful layoffs.”
Doublespeak – from George Orwell’s dark vision of the future in the novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four – is the description for language turned on its head. Demobilizing the staff means mobilizing the coverage. Retreating means attacking. Doing less means giving you more.
And mainstream journalism wonders why it has a credibility problem.
The sad thing is Anchorage Daily News staffers appear to have been working hard through the COVID-19 crisis. And you can expect those left to continue to work hard despite what is said to be a significant cut in pay driven by a drop in advertising revenue due to the pandemic.
With bars and restaurants closed, events canceled, the upcoming tourist season headed for the rocks, supermarkets trying to discourage hoarding rather than attract customers, and health care professionals avoiding elective surgeries while helping the sick, key parts of the advertising base are gone.
And all the commerce that has moved online doesn’t really need the newspaper or ADN.com. Once the shop of your choice gets your email, it can cut out the middleman and go straight to you.
This might be the darkest hour for journalism as older Americans have known it. I fear an old journalism friend who thought early on that COVID-19 might save the business was badly wrong.
“People need reliable sources in the midst of this,” he said.
He was right about that. The problem is there are likely a lot of people who are doing what I am doing on a personal level, and that is turning to professional sources instead of journalists.
Read about how Craig Medred is getting his coronavirus information at his website: CraigMedred.news
U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder on Monday announced a task force charged with investigating and punishing those who hoard and price gouge certain items associated with COVID-19.
The task force comes as the Department of Justice responds to a March 23, 2020 Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump.
“The Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska, will not tolerate those who try to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to defraud the people of our state,” said Schroder in a statement. “The pandemic continues to cause anxiety and uncertainty across the country. At a time when our country needs to join together, it is repugnant that fraudsters will try to take advantage of our communities. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, along with our law enforcement partners in Alaska and beyond, will root out these schemes and bring the criminals to justice.”
The president’s order gave the Department means to fight misconduct under the authority of Section 102 of the Defense Production Act, which prohibits hoarding of designated items. The order authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to protect scarce healthcare resources and medical items by designating particular items as protected under the statute. Once an item is designated, it becomes a crime under the statute 50 U.S.C. §§ 4512, 4513 for any person to accumulate that item either (1) in excess of his or her reasonable needs or (2) for the purpose of selling it in excess of prevailing market prices.
In response, HHS announced a list of designated health and medical resources necessary to respond to the spread of COVID-19 that are scarce and would be subject to these hoarding prevention measures:
N-95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators;
Other Filtering Facepiece Respirators (e.g., those designated as N99, N100, R95, R99, R100, or P95, P99, P100);
Elastomeric, air-purifying respirators and appropriate particulate filters/cartridges;
Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR);
Portable Ventilators;
Chloroquine phosphate or hydroxychloroquine HCl;
Sterilization services for certain medical devices and certain sterilizers;
Disinfecting devices and other sanitizing and disinfecting products suitable for use in a clinical setting;
Medical gowns or apparel, e.g., surgical gowns or isolation gowns;
Personal protective equipment (PPE) coveralls, e.g., Tyvek Suits;
PPE face masks, PPE surgical masks, PPE face shields, PPE gloves or surgical gloves;
Ventilators, anesthesia gas machines modified for use as ventilators, and positive pressure breathing devices modified for use as ventilators, ventilator tubing connectors, and ventilator accessories.
U.S. Attorney Schroder urged Alaskans to be vigilant in reporting any COVID-19 related hoarding or fraud activities, noting that criminals will likely continue to use new methods to exploit COVID-19 worldwide.
If you think you are a victim of a scam or attempted fraud involving COVID-19, you can report it without leaving your home though a number of platforms:
The Wuhan coronavirus is taking its toll on newspapers across the Pacific Northwest, from the largest to the smallest, and from Seattle to Girdwood.
Alaska’s largest newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News, just wrote that since ” a sudden plunge in advertising and event revenue over the past month, we’ve had to temporarily cut back hours and pay for all employees, along with some painful layoffs. This cost-cutting is aimed at the continuing viability and sustainability of the organization.”
The parent company of the Juneau Empire has closed newspapers and announced layoffs across the Pacific Northwest, where the company has numerous small-town newspapers. According to a report in The Seattle Times, six part-time reporters are responsible for producing Sound Publishing’s 11 Seattle-area papers, including the Renton Reporter and Federal Way Mirror. And the company stopped printing nine of its 13 free weeklies. Those left on staff are working reduced hours, the paper reported.
In Girdwood, Alaska, the tiny but deeply community-focused Glacier City Gazette went to an all-digital edition earlier this year. But when COVID-19 shut down the upcoming tourism season, Publisher and Editor Marc Donadieu said that without advertising, he can’t continue. He put the newspaper to sleep on March 19, saying he didn’t know if it would be something he could revive later on.
“After fours years of publishing GCG, I took a short hiatus to recharge. I was taking steps to resume publishing GCG online, but now it is on indefinite hiatus. The Corvid-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the advertising climate in a town dependent on tourism. Ads are the first thing to go, and without enough of them, I cannot pay my staff or myself,” Donadieu wrote.
“Who knows how long the pandemic will last and what its effects will be? Who knows how long and deep the inevitable recession will be? I don’t have any answers about GCG at this point or what I’ll be doing in the future. We’ll see what happens.”
At a time when nearly all businesses in Alaska are reeling from the economic body slam of the pandemic, the Glacier City Gazette, which supported a half-dozen writers and photographers, is the poster child for how the Wuhan virus has impacted many small mom-and-pop businesses far from the epicenter of uncertainty caused by COVID-19.new
Alaska gained 5 new known cases of COVID-19 since Sunday. That brings the total to 119 positive cases in Alaska, and no new deaths since the three that have already been announced.
Two of the new cases were in Anchorage, two in Fairbanks, and one in Palmer. The total number of people who have been tested in Alaska is 3,713. Seven of those afflicted by the virus have been hospitalized.
The number of new cases has dropped when compared to recent days. Two days ago, 19 new cases were announced, while 12 new cases were announced on Sunday.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Zink said that over weekend the State received an additional 60 ventilators. Alternative care sites are being set up in Anchorage at the Alaska Airlines sports center on the University of Alaska campus, with 150 cots in place now for those who need medical monitoring, and she is working to create those centers in as many as 18 other communities.
The total case count for Monday, March 30:
Anchorage: 61, up from 59 on Sunday
Fairbanks/North Pole/Interior: 30, up from 28 on Sunday
Mat/Su: 3, up from 2, which had been stable for three days
Nikiski Hardware and Supply knows that Alaskans are cooped up at home, and their kids are too.
They’ve got a solution for that — building a birdhouse is a family project that takes few tools and will result in something useful and memorable at the same time.
And here you can watch a guy in a kilt and his kid put it together in 15 seconds in a bright-idea Facebook promotion, showing how some Alaska businesses are thinking outside the box during this time of COVID-19.
We found out from John Quick, one of the partners in the store, that it’s all shot with an iPhone and that you can even call ahead and pick up the birdhouse kit curbside, all sawed to perfection by Jon Douglas, one of his partners and the kilted star of this promo. You can also order it online, as many dozens of Alaskans already have.
The best part comes with the last 10 seconds of the very homey video. We won’t spoil it for you:
The Department of Health and Social Services posted 12 more cases of COVID-19 in Alaska since yesterday, bringing the total to 114 in the state. The new cases were: Anchorage – 5, Fairbanks – 5, Ketchikan – 1, and Juneau – 1
DHSS also reported the third death of an Alaskan from COVID-19. The individual was a 73-year-old Anchorage resident. The patient had been tested on March 23 and admitted to an Anchorage hospital; passing away Saturday evening, March 28.
Five of the new cases are older adults (60+); two are adults aged 30-59; four are younger adults aged 19-29 and one is under 18. Six are female and six are male. Six of the cases are close contacts of previously diagnosed cases; one is travel-related and five are still under investigation.
So far the communities in Alaska that have had laboratory-confirmed cases include Anchorage (including JBER), Eagle River/Chugiak, Girdwood, Fairbanks, North Pole, Homer, Juneau, Ketchikan, Palmer, Seward, Soldotna and Sterling.
The total case count for Saturday, March 28:
Anchorage: 59, up from 54 on Saturday
Fairbanks/North Pole/Interior: 28, up from 23 on Saturday
Mat/Su: 2, unchanged
Ketchikan: 13, one more since Saturday
Juneau: 5, up from 4 on Saturday
Kenai Peninsula communities: 7, unchanged
Some 3,334 Alaskans have been tested for COVID-19. Three have died of the new virus, for which there has not been a discovered cure.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a written response to the passage of the 2021 Operating and Capital Budget, as well as the 2020 supplemental budget and emergency disaster relief.
Dunleavy said he thinks the Legislature missed an opportunity to help Alaskans by not including a cash infusion that many leading economists believe should be implemented as quickly as possible.
“Thousands of Alaskans are out of work through no fault of their own, due to the government pausing most economic activity to slow the spread of the disease,” Dunleavy said. “It would appear lawmakers missed the opportunity to create a cash infusion from the earnings reserve account into the hands of Alaskans, like hairdressers and restaurant workers, that could have happened in as little as two weeks. I am quite frankly puzzled why they would not do that.”
“The vast majority of economists worldwide, as well as the President of the United States, and almost every member of congress understand how a quick injection of cash into the hands of workers will do more to stabilize the economy than any other approach at this time. My administration will continue to work closely with Alaska’s congressional delegation and the White House on how to maximize the benefit of the federal emergency relief package here in Alaska,” he said.
The State of Alaska’s operating and capital budgets were accomplished at lightning speed this year, as these things go legislatively.
On Day 69 of the 121-day constitutionally limited session, the House and Senate passed the two main budgets for the State of Alaska that tapped much of the remaining Constitutional Budget Reserve, and ensures that Alaskans will get one-third of their statutorily defined Permanent Fund dividend.
The House and Senate recessed after 1:30 am on Sunday. If necessary, they can reconvene before they must gavel out of regular session, and most legislators were scheduled to leave Juneau on flights today.
The COVID-19 virus response requested by Gov. Mike Dunleavy passed, but was held hostage by budgetary maneuvers that forced lawmakers to choose between appropriating a $1,000 Permanent Fund dividend in the fall, or a $500 dividend. Those who have defended a full statutory PFD said they felt bullied and extorted by the move.
The budget will be deeply disappointing to some, who had had their hopes raised by legislative leaders that an immediate aid check of $1,000 would be issued in April. That was stripped out by the House Democrat-led Majority and not restored in the conference committee negotiations.
The operating budget:
Ensured that no State worker will lose current wages or benefits or face furloughs. All step and merit pay increases will continue.
Added money to the Alaska Pioneers Home and another $21 million for low income seniors in the Senior Benefits program.
Added $1.055 billion to the corpus of the Permanent Fund.
Increased funding for State Troopers and Village Public Safety Officers by $165 million, a request from the governor.
Included Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s disaster response funding of $75 million for the Department of Health and Social Services, $5 million for the Disaster Relief Fund, $5 million for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and $2.7 million for the public health services at the Municipality of Anchorage.
Made a $30 million grant to the Department of Education.
Ensured public radio and television are fully funded.
Ensured 100 percent school bond debt reimbursement for localities and increased community assistance grants.
“Today was a victory for Alaska’s first responders and frontline healthcare workers who now have additional tools to keep our people safe and healthy,” said House Finance Co-Chair Neal Foster, a Nome Democrat.
“We’ve done magnificent work,” said Rep. Andy Josephson, an Anchorage Democrat.
Democrat Andi Story of Juneau lauded the budget, because it restored money to public broadcasting and ferries.
“I’m proud of the thorough, hard work that was done to craft a budget amid a rapidly evolving public health and economic crisis,” said House Finance Co-Chair Jennifer Johnston, an Anchorage Republican. “Because of today’s vote, the workers who keep our state running – doctors and nurses, firefighters and troopers – will be able to keep doing their jobs without the risk of interruption due to a lack of funding.”
Rep. Cathy Tilton of Chugiak-Mat-Su said it was unfair for the Senate to have issued a press release telling Alaskans they were going to get a $1,000 economic relief check this spring, only to have that taken away.
“I believe in expectation management, and shame on us because we got their expectations up,” she said. “We have heard from economists that the best thing we can do right now is get money into the hands of the people.”
Tilton, who had served as a conservative minority member of the conference committee, also said that linking the fall dividend amount to the COVID-19 response package was playing with people’s lives.
“Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel famously said, ‘Never let a good crisis go to waste.’ All I can say is ‘Bravo,'” Tilton said.
