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Patriotic Protest: Rolling rally planned by businesses to open up Alaska again

Suzanne Downing
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11
Patriotic Protest: Rolling rally planned by businesses to open up Alaska again

Several hundred Alaskans are saying they’ll be taking part in a “rolling rally” on Wednesday from noon to 2 pm to protest the extended government closure of Alaska businesses.

Organizers are members of a Facebook group called Open Alaska, where within just a few days over 3,200 people have joined. Many express dissatisfaction with the draconian measures taken by Mayor Ethan Berkowitz that have led to such policies as:

  • Pot stores in Anchorage remain open but flower stores have been shuttered.
  • Liquor stores are considered essential businesses by the municipality but churches have been forbidden to have services.
  • Anchorage shoppers can buy outdoor gear at Fred Meyer, Walmart or Costco, but cannot buy the same goods at Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shop, or B&J Sporting Goods.
  • Anchorage residents have been ordered to stay home unless they are conducting essential errands such as grocery shopping.
  • Drug vagrants appear essentially exempt from all health mandates.

On Wednesday, the ad hoc group will gather at the Loussac Library at noon and drive from midtown to downtown. The route is still being determined but will go along Fifth Avenue to L Street, back on Sixth Avenue and then along Seventh Avenue. Some participants said they will roll through the downtown route for two hours. Organizers have made it clear that all participants should follow all traffic laws and signage.

The event will start with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Although the crowd size will prevent most from being able to hear the opening prayer and pledge, you can tune into the Must Read Alaska Facebook Livestream at the start of the protest at the Must Read Alaska Facebook page. Must Read Alaska will also livestream from downtown between noon and 2 pm.

At the federal level, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said the Justice Department may take legal action against states that continue to impose unjustifiable “house arrest” restrictions on citizens.

In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, A.G. Barr said the burdens on civil liberties appear too great in some cases, and that if someone sued a state over hunker-down orders, the Justice Department would side with the citizens.

“The idea that you have to stay in your house is disturbingly close to house arrest. I’m not saying it wasn’t justified. I’m not saying in some places it might still be justified. But it’s very onerous, as is shutting down your livelihood,” Barr said.

Mayor’s plan: 42 days locked down unless conditions met

Sen. Stedman says Legislature will meet to appropriate CARES funds

Suzanne Downing
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25
Sen. Stedman says Legislature will meet to appropriate CARES funds

KINY / NEWS OF THE NORTH

Citing the need to appropriate the more than $1.25 billion in federal CARES Act money that is coming into the state coffers, Senate Finance Co-chair Bert Stedman says the Legislature will be reconvening in coming weeks.

Stedman told News of the North that the Legislature needs to act quickly to get the money out into the state and in ways that help all Alaskans.

KINY / News of the North

“CARES Act money owed should hit the state treasury Friday or Monday,” Stedman said. “I would expect that the Legislature to take swift action on moving those monies through the process so they can get to the recipients, which is the people of Alaska, as soon as possible.”

Stedman said the funding would go to, among other projects, schools, Medicaid, community assistance and a litany of other programs. Funding from the federal government for infrastructure is also on the way, Stedman said.

“So I would expect the Legislature, when that money arrives in Juneau, will take swift action on that and also move those funds into construction projects in airports around the state,” Stedman said.

Stedman said the Legislature will reconvene within the next two weeks.

“The Legislature is the appropriating body and there’ll be significant sums in there that will have to be appropriated,” Stedman said. “I would expect the we are reconvened in the next couple weeks to take action on that.”

The House and Senate recessed on Saturday, March 28 after passing a state budget. Lawmakers, for the most part, have returned to their home districts amid concerns over COVID-19.

Native institute sues Neiman Marcus over this coat design

Suzanne Downing
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12
Native institute sues Neiman Marcus over this coat design

Neiman Marcus Group reported on Monday that it will file for bankruptcy protection as early as this week, making it the first major department store to collapse under the weight of the COVID-19 coronavirus economy.

But that wasn’t all the bad news for the fashion house.

On Monday,  Sealaska Heritage Institute filed a federal lawsuit against Neiman Marcus, alleging the retailer falsely affiliated garments sold by them with Native artisans through its use of the term “Ravenstail.”

The lawsuit says that the term “Ravenstail” refers to “one of the great weaving traditions of the northern Northwest Coast Native tribes,” and that the clothing retailer “unlawfully infringed the copyright of a famous Northwest Coast artist.”

That artist is the late weaver Clarissa Rizal, formerly known as Clarissa Hudson ne Lampe. Rizal’s mother was Tlingit and her father was a Filipino immigrant. She graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School and found her avocation as a traditional Tlingit weaver, perhaps the most celebrated of her generation. She died in 2016 in Colorado.

The rights to the robe, “Discovering the Angles of an Electrified Heart,” were passed to Rizal’s heirs upon Rizal’s death in 2016. Her heirs registered the work with the U.S. Copyright Office in 2019 and exclusively licensed it to Sealaska Heritage Institute, the lawsuit says.

[See a collection of Rizal’s weavings at this link]

The institute is asking for an injunction against Neiman Marcus and its parent companies, prohibiting them from selling the coat, which is referred to in their description as a “Ravenstail Knitted Coat.” The garmet retails for more than $2,550. The nonprofit also seeks statutory, compensatory, punitive and other damages.

Sealaska Heritage Institute states that it is telling the world that “the sale of ancient art practices through people other than Native artists will not be tolerated.”

“In our opinion, this retail garment looks like a Ravenstail robe, and it features a replica of a design that is protected by copyright. It’s one of the most blatant examples of cultural appropriation and copyright infringement that I’ve ever seen,” said Institute President Rosita Worl.

“The unlawful taking of Indigenous intellectual property has to stop,” she said.

Any funds derived from the lawsuit will be shared with the family that owns the copyright to the Ravenstail robe from which the design was taken and invested in an arts and culture endowment, the institute stated.

The Dallas-based fashion retailer company has had to temporarily close all of its 43 stores and is now attempting to renegotiate millions of dollars in debt. Most of the company’s employees have been furloughed during the pandemic.

Mayor’s plan: 42 days locked down unless conditions met

Suzanne Downing
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65
Mayor’s plan: 42 days locked down unless conditions met

Mayor Ethan Berkowitz of Anchorage has a plan: Anchorage will stay hunkered down until his conditions are met:

Before anything more can open up in the commercial world, there would need to be 14 days of a decline in the coronavirus case count in Anchorage. Berkowitz’ plan demands that “widespread” testing is available in Anchorage, although he is not specific about what the criteria is for “widespread.” He says the hospitals must have enough intensive care unit beds to meet the capacity if there’s a surge in cases of COVID-19.

Further, Berkowitz will keep the city locked down until he is sure that positive COVID-19 cases are identified and all of those person’s contacts are being monitored. Anyone with symptoms would need to be tested within 24 hours.

If those conditions cannot be met, Anchorage citizens will remain ordered to stay their homes, as they currently are, and only to leave for occasions such as fresh-air walks and groceries. Only “essential workers” should be out and about in town. The current status of Anchorage is laid out in the mayor’s chart:

To get to the first phase of reopening Anchorage, Phase One, things have to be clearly on the mend. If so, in 14 days Berkowitz would allow “low-risk” businesses, with strict physical distancing regulations in place, to open. A few restaurants may open if the staff wears masks and cleans well. Some personal service care would start up again, and some “non-public-facing” businesses could open, with the requirement that all employees wear face coverings and limit the size of gatherings.

Also, in this phase, some non-emergency or non-urgent medical procedures could proceed in Anchorage, although the governor has already released that health mandate and the mayor’s mandate is in conflict with the governor on this topic.

Also, in Phase One, low-risk outdoor recreation activities are allowed. Golf, perhaps, but not basketball. People might be able to play tennis, but not rugby.

Limited travel would be allowed, but no gatherings of more than 20 people, and Anchorage would not be able to move out of Phase One lockdown for nearly another month. Cases would have to be trending downward for a full 28 days. Here’s what Berkowitz envisions for Phase One:

With the first 14 days and the next 28 days, Anchorage will remain in a partial paralysis for 42 days under the Berkowitz Plan.

If everyone behaves, the city can graduate to Phase Two. This is when sports and recreation can be allowed if physical distancing is followed. Health services would resume normal operations, although once again, the governor has already allowed doctors to see patients, and it’s doubtful Berkowitz can interfere with the medical community.

At some point, Berkowitz would allow the city to move into Phase Three and Phase Four, some semblance of normalcy, when schools may reopen and there is no restriction on domestic travel. Phase Three is when widespread community transmission is no longer present in Anchorage:

Between Sunday and Monday there was one case of coronavirus in Anchorage, and the Berkowitz lockdown appears to remain in place. Economists predict that 75 percent of family-owned businesses will not reopen their doors at the end of the pandemic lockdown, and that bankruptcies will spike.

ADF&G has plans in place to manage this year’s fisheries

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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ADF&G has plans in place to manage this year’s fisheries

By DOUG VINCENT-LANG

Alaska’s fisheries are world-renowned. They feed Alaskans through subsistence, sport, and personal use fishing. Our commercial fisheries feed the world and our charter and guide industries provide much needed fishing access to both Alaskans and our guests and all contribute greatly to our state and local economies.

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has touched us all and impacted our daily lives in many ways. From hunkering down in our homes, to school closures, to lost jobs and income, to not being able to join friends at the local watering hole, these are trying times.

Trying to find the right balance to protect public health while ensuring we do not destroy the economic foundation of our state is challenging. Our knowledge of the virus is rapidly growing and as we learn more, our strategies for addressing the pandemic are evolving. This flux is understandably causing uncertainty and uneasiness as we gradually move back to normalcy and a reopening of our economy.

In this light, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is preparing to prosecute fisheries this summer as close to normally as possible. We have plans in place to deploy the necessary research and management infrastructure to allow us to manage the state’s fisheries and we are developing implementation plans to protect the health of our employees, the health of fishery participants, and the health of the communities where fishing takes place.

For example:

  • We are requiring workers returning to Alaska to self-quarantine for 14 days.
  • We are not allowing staff who are displaying COVID symptoms from traveling to field camps.
  • We are enacting rules that limit staff interaction with communities to where they are deployed.
  • We are encouraging staff to wear face coverings when interacting with the public.
  • We are developing plans to medivac staff that display critical COVID symptoms so they are not reliant on local medical facilities.

It is important to note that we already have many fisheries currently open and underway. Bering Sea crab, Kodiak roe herring, Prince William Sound Tanner crab, Gulf of Alaska rockfish and Pacific cod jig, halibut and sablefish IFQ, Bering Sea/Aleutian Island groundfish (pollock and cod), and Gulf of Alaska groundfish are all underway.

We are also poised to begin the fisheries for Southeast Alaska herring, Prince William Sound shrimp, sablefish, Kodiak Dungeness crab, and Togiak herring fisheries.

We are learning from these fisheries how best to conduct them in the COVID environment in which we live . As we learn from these experiences, we are adjusting our implementation strategies both at the management level and the fishery level.

Fishermen and the fishing infrastructure are also developing mitigation plans that are evolving as we learn from our experience and from our health experts regarding the virus. These plans are focused on protecting the health of their workers, the health of fishermen and the health of the communities in which they work. These plans are being shared with the public.

We are also working with the guided sport and charter industry to develop strategies to prosecute these fisheries. These fisheries face special challenges given the number of non-residents participating in them and the difficulty in practicing social distancing in confined spaces. We are confident that industry lead efforts to develop implementation plans will allow these fisheries to operate and protect the health of fishermen, their clients, and the communities in which they operate.

Regarding subsistence, sport and personal use fisheries, the department understands the importance of these fisheries to Alaskans and supports Alaskans having the opportunity to get out and fish to feed their families and fill their freezers. We have provided guidance on our web site regarding best practices for participating in these fisheries. We strongly encourage you to follow this guidance to protect your health and the health of our communities.

In closing, it is our goal to have viable fisheries this summer while taking the necessary steps to protect the health of Fish and Game employees, fishery participants and the communities they operate in. Protecting the public remains a primary concern of state government, and we will do this while balancing the needs of our economy.

I encourage all to be responsible as you venture out this season. Follow the dictates of your approved plans, abide by department guidance, and be ready to adapt to an evolving situation. But most importantly, enjoy the publicly owned resources that we are so blessed to be managing on your behalf.

Doug Vincent-Lang is the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Dunleavy: Alaskans have done the best in country at turning the tide on COVID-19

Suzanne Downing
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9
Dunleavy: Alaskans have done the best in country at turning the tide on COVID-19

HE SAYS THE ECONOMY WILL OPEN QUICKLY … SOON

The hair cutters will be busy soon in Alaska. And they’ll have a lot of hair to cut, since they’ve been out of work since April 1, due to a government mandate related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy said that Alaska is going to slowly and methodically open up the economy as early as next week, to include retail, barbers and hair dressers, nail salons, and even restaurants.

Dunleavy didn’t give specifics during his press conference, and said details would come later this week. Today’s announcement was more of a hint about what will come starting next week.

Dunleavy said Alaskans should expect to see workers in face coverings in public places like stores and restaurants, and that face masks are key to keeping the infection from spiking. And that they should continue to observe the hand washing, sanitizing surfaces, and wearing those face coverings when they go into stores or in other public places.

Dunleavy said Alaskans have done a great job in adopting the protocols of social distancing, not shaking hands, and sanitizing their hands and surfaces, and because of their efforts, the Alaska cases are diminishing. He noted that as of right now, only eight Alaskans are in the hospital with the infection.

Dunleavy did not, however, announce a rollback of the 14-day travel quarantine that all travelers to Alaska must observe, regardless of residency, or the ban on intrastate travel, but he said he would be discussing with mayors in Alaska tomorrow the steps to opening up commerce sooner rather than later.

Some smaller communities in rural Alaska may choose to take a much slower approach to opening their communities, since the health care available in rural Alaska is scarce, he said.

Crash: Oil reaches negative territory, lowest in history

Suzanne Downing
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15
Crash: Oil reaches negative territory, lowest in history

WHAT WILL THE ‘OUR FAIR SHARE’ OIL TAXERS DO NOW?

At one point during futures trading today, U.S. crude prices dropped more than 100 percent — into negative numbers.

The drop for West Texas Intermediate crude for contracts with May delivery ended at a minus $37.63. This means the traders had to pay someone to take the oil from them.

Tuesday is the last day for traders to buy May contracts. Prices are predicted to bounce back modestly by Wednesday. The June futures’ contracts are a bit above above $20, so the dire drop today isn’t expected to stick around.

But prices won’t rebound to profitability for many companies, oil analysts say. Not for some time, at least.

Alaska North Slope crude prices are announced on a four-day delay, so they look artificially higher than they actually are. Analysts expect them to drop in a day or two, and then bounce back into the $20s.

Still, for the major oil companies, profits aren’t taken until expenses are covered, and the cost of producing and shipping a barrel of oil in Alaska is about $40. They are not making money in Alaska and haven’t for some time.

The immediate risk for Alaska is whether enough tankers can be found to even take delivery of oil at the Valdez terminal. ConocoPhillips and BP have their own tanker fleet, but Hilcorp does not, and in any case, there’s no place to take the oil on the West Coast.

If tankers can’t be booked and storage tanks are full — and this is worst case scenario — it could mean the Trans Alaska Pipeline System could shut down. That could mean the shuttering of wells in Prudhoe Bay, Kuparuk, Endicott, and older legacy fields.

Those legacy fields are the same ones the “Our Fair Share” oil tax initiative is aiming to extract $1 billion in taxes from. And Robin Brena, a law partner of former Gov. Bill Walker, has paid to have that ballot initiative go to a statewide ballot some time this year.

Brena can’t just put the toothpaste back in the tube on his oil tax ballot initiative. He’s got his 39,174 petition signatures, and he’s submitted them for certification. The certification is done. Now, it’s in the hands of the State Division of Elections to schedule for a ballot.

Brena will likely say its even more important for Alaska to have a minimum tax, because the State needs money. His initiative would double the minimum tax paid by the legacy field producers, the very ones that are losing money on every barrel they pump from the North Slope.

What will Brena and his fellow oil taxers do in this Year of the Oil Glut?

The Our Fair Share organization has been strangely quiet, and so have the Democrats like Sen. Bill Wielechowski, who have supported the extreme tax proposal.

The current best option for Brena is to hope that the courts rule his initiative illegal, since the signatures on the petition were gathered illegally and since the Resource Development Council has filed a lawsuit.

If it goes to the ballot this year, it’s going to lose, because most Alaskans understand how bad it would be to tax companies that are losing money in Alaska.

COVID update: Two cases

Suzanne Downing
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7
COVID update: Two cases

Just two more cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Alaska in the the 24-hour period that ended at midnight on Sunday.

161 Alaskans have recovered from the infection that started in China. Nine have died. The total number who have been infected is 321.

The two new cases are in Anchorage (1) and Mat-Su (1).

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday saw a total of 12 cases.

Total case count by community to date:

  • Anchorage: 155
  • Kenai Peninsula: 19
  • Fairbanks/North Star Borough: 79
  • Southeast Fairbanks Census Area: 1
  • Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: 1
  • Kodiak: 1
  • Mat-Su Borough: 18
  • Nome Area 1
  • Juneau: 24
  • Ketchikan: 15
  • Petersburg: 3
  • Craig: 2
  • Bethel: 1
Shop the Freedom Collection at: https://must-read-alaska.myshopify.com/collections/freedom

COVID-19 update: Five cases Saturday, five more Sunday

Suzanne Downing
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8
COVID-19 update: Five cases Saturday, five more Sunday

Between Friday and Sunday, 10 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Alaska.

The total number of cases has risen to 319, with 153 of those recovered, and 166 known to be actively fighting off the virus.

There were no new deaths reported. Nine Alaskans have lost their lives to complications resulting from the Wuhan coronavirus, although just seven of those who died passed away in Alaska. The death rate is 2.82 per 100 cases, including the two out-of-state deaths.

Today’s cases include what was reported from 12 a.m. until 11:59 p.m. on April 18, and show cases that developed in three Alaska communities – Anchorage (3), Palmer (1), and Petersburg (1).

The five from Saturday’s report had cases in four Alaska communities – Anchorage (1), Soldotna (2), Palmer (1) and Wasilla. (1). 

Total cases of COVID-19 that have been diagnosed in Alaska, (including recovered and deaths):

  • Anchorage: 154
  • Kenai Peninsula: 19
  • Fairbanks/North Star Borough: 79
  • Southeast Fairbanks Census Area: 1
  • Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area: 1
  • Kodiak: 1
  • Mat-Su Borough: 17
  • Nome Area 1
  • Juneau: 24
  • Ketchikan: 15
  • Petersburg: 3
  • Craig: 2
  • Bethel: 1

By Saturday noon, 9,895 COVID-19 swab tests had been conducted in Alaska. Approximately 3.22 percent of those who have been tested have yielded a positive lab result.

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