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Furie files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Suzanne Downing
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Furie files Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Furie Operating Alaska has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, and plans to sell its oil and gas exploration and production operations.

That leaves Hilcorp as the only gas producer in Cook Inlet, putting it in an even stronger position to call the shots on price.

Furie, along with its parent company, Cornucopia Oil and & Gas Company, and its affiliate, Corsair Oil & Gas LLC, filed the bankruptcy papers, reporting up to 49 creditors, assets of $1 million to $50 million, and liabilities of $100 million to $500 million.

Furie has failed this year to meet its contracted agreement to supply gas to Enstar Natural Gas Company.

The Texas company operated the offshore Kitchen Lights natural gas field in Cook Inlet and has a contract to supply Homer Electric Association. But several things went wrong, from late arrival of rigs to technical problems.

Signs have pointed to financial distress as Furie stopped supplying gas to Enstar earlier this year and Homer Electric has been buying its gas on short term contracts.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the company was “struggling with uncertainties over a state tax-credit program.”

Gov to sign PFD bill Monday, adds back homework help for school year

Suzanne Downing
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Gov to sign PFD bill Monday, adds back homework help for school year

Gov. Michael Dunleavy originally hoped to have the spending package that contains the Permanent Fund dividend ready this week. But he and his staff are not ready to sign HB 2001, but will do so on Monday.

Dunleavy today announced two school-related items he will not veto:The Online library program known as OWL, and the live homework help program:

The amounts come to $809,100 for the two programs.

“Like funds restored earlier in the week for Head Start, Early Childhood Grants and other early learning programs, these decision were made after significant input from Alaskans,” Dunleavy said. “While we hoped to have these issues cleared up months ago, it’s important we announce these items now before the start of the school year.”

Online with Libraries (OWL) – Restored $670,900

  • OWL Online with Libraries provides State funds that together with federal E-rate funds and local funds builds the capacity of public libraries around the state to support broadband internet services and supply videoconferencing capability for Alaskans.
  • This program helps support students who need access to computers after school hours by enhancing access at public libraries.

Live Homework Help  (LHH) – Restored $138,200

  • Live Homework Help provides online tutoring services to help Alaskan students better perform in courses, participate in statewide initiatives such as the Alaska Performance Scholarship Awards, meet goals, and prepare for post-secondary success.

MRAK Almanac: Fairs and festivals this weekend

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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MRAK Almanac: Fairs and festivals this weekend

The MRAK Almanac is your place for political, cultural, and civic events, events where you’ll meet political leaders or, if you are interested in getting to know your state, these are great places to meet conservative- and moderate-leaning Alaskans.

Alaska Fact Book

Question: How many hours of darkness have we gained since summer solstice just a few short months ago?

Answer: Summer solstice in Alaska took place on June 21 of this year.

Since then, Fairbanks has gained 5 hours 15 minutes of darkness.

Anchorage has gained 3 hours 31 minutes of darkness.

Juneau has gained 2 hours 52 minutes of darkness.

Of course, we could have framed these facts as daylight “lost”, but why not look at our state’s spectacular seasonal changes as something gained in every way?

8/16: Last of this year’s summer block parties in Juneau outside the Juneau Arts & Humanities Center starting at 5:30 pm. This week’s performers will be the Juneau Marimbas group, and National Endowment for the Arts chairman Mary Anne Carter will also be in attendance.

8/16: Canned Food Drive at the Mitchell Raceway in Fairbanks. Five cans gets you entry for $5. Read more here.

8/16: Ride & Dine fundraiser for the Alaska Red Cross. Participants will ride to Denali National Park with Premier Alaska Tours and enjoy a delicious meal before returning to Fairbanks late in the evening. Read more about the event here.

8/16-8/18: 25th annual Alaska Greek Festival in Anchorage. Attendance is free, and visitors should expect delicious Greek food, traditional dancers, and even live Greek music. Read more at the Facebook link here.

8/16-8/18: Stop by the Kenai Peninsula Fair in Ninilchik. There will be dozens of local food vendors to enjoy as well as hundreds of entries into the fair’s many contests. Read more at the fair website here.

8/17: Ever wanted to make friends with a Great Horned Owl? You’ll get your chance at 2 pm at the Eagle River Nature Center. Further details here.

8/17: North Pole Friends of the NRA Banquet & Dinner at 5 pm. Read more here.

8/17: SS Nenana Day at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. Come celebrate the largest wooden sternwheeler remaining in the world today. Read more here.

8/17: Alaska Zoo 50th Anniversary event, with half-priced admission all day long. More details here.

8/17-8/18: Anchorage Market & Festival in downtown Anchorage from 10 am – 6 pm. Alaska’s largest outdoor market, with over 300 vendors present.

8/17-8/18: 12th annual Blueberry Festival at the Alyeska Resort. This free, family-friendly event will feature live music, berry picking, a pie-eating contest, and so much more. Read the full lineup of events at this link.

8/18: 14th annual Renewable Energy Fair at Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks. Fun for the whole family, and complete with a free lunch, geothermal tours, and several educational workshops. Read more here.

8/18: Last day of the Seward Silver Salmon Derby. Read more about the annual contest for the heaviest Coho here.

Alaska History Archive

August 17, 1896—123 years ago: George Washington Carmack and two of his associates discovered a large deposit of gold near the Yukon Territory’s Bonanza Creek. Carmack’s find is often considered the beginning of the short-lived Klondike Gold Rush, and is celebrated as “Klondike Discovery Day” in Canada to this day.

August 18, 1919—100 years ago: Gov. Wally Hickel, the 2nd and 8th governor of the State of Alaska, was born in Ellinwood, Kansas. A lifelong Republican and brief member of the Alaska Independence Party, Gov. Hickel was known for his relentless promotion of Alaskan natural resource development and for being an early proponent of statehood. Gov. Hickel passed away in 2010 at the age of 90. As he requested before his passing, Gov. Hickel was buried standing up, facing Washington, D.C. Happy 100th birthday to Governor Wally Hickel.

Becky Hultberg named CEO of Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems

Suzanne Downing
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Becky Hultberg named CEO of Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems

The CEO of the Alaska State Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association is leaving the state to become the new CEO of Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.

Becky Hultberg has championed Medicaid expansion but also reform in Alaska, as well as testified about the problems caused by the burdens of regulation. She is the former commissioner of the Department of Administration under Gov. Sean Parnell and is considered one of the most influential opinion leaders in the area of health policy in Alaska.

Hultberg also served as director of communications and marketing for Providence Health & Services Alaska and was the press secretary for Gov. Frank Murkowski. Hultberg, born in Anchorage, graduated from Abilene Christian University.

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems is located in Lake Oswego, Ore. Her new title is effective in December.

[Read what State of Reform has to say about Hultberg’s new role at OAHHS]

Vetoes’ eve announcement? Recall signatures top off at 29,577

Suzanne Downing
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Vetoes’ eve announcement? Recall signatures top off at 29,577

GROUP STAGES PRESS RELEASE AHEAD OF SPENDING BILL SIGNING

On what many think may be the eve of the signing of the the spending package known as HB 2001, the group that has started to try to recall the governor issued an advisory: They have exceeded the first threshold for a recall by acquiring 29,577 signatures.

The timing of the announcement is not accidental. It is intended to pressure Gov. Michael Dunleavy into not vetoing some programs from the current spending package that some call a supplemental Operating Budget.

Dunleavy has announced that the budget decisions have largely been made and will reflect most of his vetoes of the first operating budget, with a few tweaks.

In the past week, Dunleavy announced he will restore funding for Senior Benefits Program, Earning Learning (Head Start and similar), Alaska Legal Services Corporation, and a major compact with the University of Alaska System to step down state support over three years. The Recall Dunleavy group has taken credit for these add-backs to the budget, but insiders say the decisions were made weeks ago. The governor did not receive the budget from the Legislature until Aug. 7.

His final budget, counting undesignated general funds, is expected to have the largest budget cuts in Alaska history. No one knows when he will sign the spending package, but it could be as early as Friday.

The Recall Dunleavy group says it intends to continue to gather signatures at the Alaska State Fair through Sept. 2 before submitting them to the Division of Elections, mainly in order to send a message to the governor.

It took the group just two weeks to gather the signatures; they needed 28,577 in order to apply for an official recall petition from the Division.

If they get one — and that’s a decision the lieutenant governor must make — they’ll need to collect 71,252 signatures to get a recall election scheduled. The entire matter would likely end at the Alaska Supreme Court.

Gov. Michael Dunleavy has been in office for just nine months and is now at the beginning of his first fiscal year. The group seeking to unseat him via recall says he has violated Alaska law and acted incompetently.

But it may be that they pulled the trigger too soon on the recall, because a judge will no doubt look at the actions of the “person” of Michael Dunleavy, and also the sequence of events, including the highly dysfunctional legislature. A judge would also likely look at the actions of the recall group, which started the recall movement back in February, just after Dunleavy offered his budget to the Legislature and before his final budget was signed.

Here are the grounds given by the recall group, which must prove neglect of duties, incompetence, and/or lack of fitness:

  • Governor Dunleavy violated Alaska law by refusing to appoint a judge to the Palmer Superior Court within 45 days of receiving nominations.
  • Governor Dunleavy violated Alaska Law and the Constitution, and misused state funds by unlawfully and without proper disclosure, authorizing and allowing the use of state funds for partisan purposes to purchase electronic advertisements and direct mailers making partisan statements about political opponents and supporters.
  • Governor Dunleavy violated separation-of-powers by improperly using the line-item veto to: (a) attack the judiciary and the rule of law; and (b) preclude the legislature from upholding its constitutional Health, Education and Welfare responsibilities.
  • Governor Dunleavy acted incompetently when he mistakenly vetoed approximately $18 million more than he told the legislature in official communications he intended to strike. Uncorrected, the error would cause the state to lose over $40 million in additional federal Medicaid funds.

A half PFD opens the door to further concessions

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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A half PFD opens the door to further concessions

By LARRY WOOD
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

Gov. Michael Dunleavy is facing a critical point in his administration with his forthcoming decisions on the budget.

It is not the next “five minutes” that bothers me nor the amount of the Permanent Fund dividend.  It is how the leadership of the Legislature and their supporters perceive the governor’s compromises.

If the $1,600 is it, the door is now open to the Legislature forcing a diminishing PFD.

It is clear, that the Legislature’s priority is preservation of government growth, not a sustainable fiscal solution.

The next three years of the Dunleavy Administration will either be a repeat of this year or a gradual acquiescence by the governor and acceptance of a much reduced agenda towards fiscal stability.  Further, I seriously doubt that if the governor concedes this issue to the Legislature without a fight, there will be any chance of reelection.

Governor Mike Dunleavy made significant concessions with his acquiescence in removing the special session from Wasilla to Juneau to end the impasse and prevent the loss of federal matching funds from the capital budget.  In making those concessions, he showed leadership and his concern for doing the Peoples’ Business, something the Legislature has seemingly ignored.  He has made further concessions in an effort to jump start a dialogue that would result in a plan to achieve the Holy Grail of Alaska politics, fiscal stability.

Given what the Legislature then did in restoring the veto amounts and ignoring any discussion regarding meeting the PFD statutory formula, compromise is absent the Legislature’s collective mind.

If the governor accepts the $1,600 and agrees with the restoration of the funds vetoed, the stage is set for little or no progress towards fiscal stability.  Even worse, the Legislature makes no excuse for ignoring the law.  The Legislature ignored AS 24.05.100 and, now, the statute governing the PFD formula.

Bucking the governor and the law is of no consequence to the leadership of the Legislature.

The governor will either let these affronts to the supremacy of the law stand, or challenge the Legislature by holding the line on the vetoes and vetoing the PFD amount, and calling for another special session.

What’s at risk is the next three years.

Further, there will be no reelection if the legislative leadership has its way and co-opts the governor’s agenda, replacing it with its own self-serving play to the unbridled government growth supporting plebes and the unions. Once they get into the Permanent Fund, it’s just a matter of time before they spend us into fiscal insolvency.

Dunleavy’s challenge to the University of Alaska produced results demonstrated in the UA’s decision to reorganize and eliminate redundancy in its bureaucracy.  Further, the SU system admitted that a 38 percent cost savings would result from consolidating the various engineering disciplines under one dean and staff.  Obviously, the savings system wide would be significant were this done to each school eliminating redundancies in staff and management.  This would not have happened had Dunleavy not challenged the University with the cuts.

The question is, is this governor going to be satisfied with just that validation of his agenda this first year?  Will he now find himself working to achieve over the next three years a mere vestige of what he sold us?

Too many people need the full PFD.

The PFD does accomplish something increasing the size of government does not:  It is an infusion directly into the private sector economy and it benefits all Alaskans, something increasing the size of government does not.  The money is largely spent here, benefitting the private sector.

Government produces nothing, and simply absorbs capital. It is a necessary evil and inefficient. Yet, the Legislature has put government growth over the welfare of Alaskans and has used our dividends to do so.  It’s a tax that penalizes every Alaskan.

I believe that if Dunleavy allows the Legislature to dictate the PFD amount and roll back the vetoes, his administration will be effectively compromised for the rest of his tenure as governor.

I further believe that he will not achieve reelection as a result. Therefore, he has nothing to lose in maintaining his vetoes and challenging the Legislature to meet the statutory PFD formula.

He needs to tighten the straps on his body armor, drink another Gatorade and charge the Legislature’s windmill.  Or, quietly concede the loss of this battle, and, ultimately, the “war”, and be just another governor and “get along.”

We elected him to do the former, not the latter.

Larry Wood is a 65 year Alaskan and lives on Lazy Mt. near Palmer.

Rogoff loses bid to recover own attorney costs from bankrupt Dispatch

Suzanne Downing
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Rogoff loses bid to recover own attorney costs from bankrupt Dispatch

Almost exactly two years to the day since the Alaska Dispatch News first declared bankruptcy, the estate is largely settled.

One last detail was a claim by one of the creditors — Alice Rogoff, the owner of the bankrupt estate, herself.

A motion by Rogoff, the former owner of the now-bankrupt Alaska Dispatch News, was heard this week: Rogoff wanted to have some of her legal fees paid. That claim has been holding up disbursement of whatever funds remain in the estate to a long list of creditors.

In May of 2014, Rogoff bought the Anchorage Daily News from the McClatchy Company for $34 million. She had borrowed about $13 million from Northrim Bank to close the deal, sold the building the newspaper occupied in East Anchorage to GCI (and rented back some of the space for the printing operation), and she merged the operations of the online Alaska Dispatch News with the Anchorage Daily News, calling the entire operation the Alaska Dispatch News.

She ended up selling the Alaska Dispatch News in 2017 to the Binkley Companies as a crush of bills were drawing lawsuits. She — rather, the Alaska Dispatch News — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 12, 2017.

Two years later, she is still trying to get at the front of the line as a creditor. The bankruptcy judge on Wednesday said no.

That’s the simple history.

The full history is convoluted by shell corporations. The Alaska Dispatch News was owned by AK Publishing LLC, which was owned the Moon and the Stars LLC, which was owned by Rogoff.

Through these entities she controlled the ADN, and she named herself chief executive officer, with Tony Hopfinger a part owner and executive editor. There were a host of personal guarantees thrown around as she contracted with companies to begin moving the press operations out of the GCI building.

[Read: Rogoff loses to former business partner Tony Hopfinger]

Then the bills came in and her entities moved money around to pay them, as she poured her personal wealth into the companies, before simply stopping to pay creditors at all. Creditors began to sue.

Through her lawyers, Rogoff this week was insisting that nearly $70,000 of her initially paid attorney fees go to the head of the line for collection from the company she had owned and operated. It’s likely a fraction of her actual legal fees.

Alaska Bankruptcy Court Judge Gary Spraker said this amount that Rogoff paid out in early attorney fees will be paid to her at the same ratio all other creditors get. She’s just another creditor of her failed company.

There’s likely very little to disperse from the Dispatch, possibly as little as 10 percent of what the company, now under the control of a trustee, owes dozens of creditors. Rogoff has likely spent tens of thousands of dollars to get her attorney fee claim paid first, only to fail once again. In fact, she may get less in the end than what she paid her attorneys to fight this remaining detail.

Rogoff has already settled separately with GCI, Arctic Partners, M&M Wiring Services, and Tony Hopfinger, her former business partner with whom there was a separate lawsuit before Rogoff’s company was decreed a lost cause by the courts and put into Chapter 7 liquidation.

Where in the world is Alice Rogoff? Court deposition nears

Jeffrey Epstein’s Alaska connection

Suzanne Downing
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Jeffrey Epstein’s Alaska connection

By CRAIG MEDRED
CRAIGMEDRED.NEWS

And so, with financier and child molester Jeffrey Epstein dead in an apparent suicide, an investigation into his sordid sex life is reported to be shifting toward Alice Rogoff’s old, Iditarod trail mate: Ghislaine Maxwell.

Yes, one of the biggest stories in the country at the moment has an Alaska connection.

“Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell dishes on icy travels” is how the New York Post’s Page Six gossip column reported the Brit’s Iditarod exploits in 2014.

“After interior decorator Geoffrey Bradfield told of a scary car crash in Pakistan, and art collector Stephanie Zuellig discussed the happy cows on her farm in Switzerland,” wrote Richard Johnson, “Maxwell — the daughter of British press baron Robert Maxwell — said she had just returned from Alaska’s Iditarod dog sled race.

“Maxwell traveled across hundreds of miles of icy wilderness to the finish line in Nome, where thousands of fans of ‘the last great race’ cheered on the mushers and their dogs.”

Unmentioned was Maxwell’s host, a one time Washington, D.C. socialite turned majority owner of AlaskaDispatch.com, an online news site.

Rogoff was at the time of the 2014 Iditarod also in negotiations to buy the Anchorage Daily News from the McClatchy Company, a California-based newspaper chain with big financial troubles that continue to this day.

Rogoff bought the newspaper not long after the Iditarod ended that year and ran it into bankruptcy by the summer of 2017. She has now largely disappeared from the Alaska scene and could not be reached for comment. But her former business partner, Tony Hopfinger, well remembers meeting Maxwell.

The AlaskaDispatch.com co-founder was Rogoff’s business partner, editor of Alaska Dispatch and for a time the editor of Rogoff’s version of ADN.com, which Rogoff renamed Alaska Dispatch News.

In a message in response to questions today, Hopfinger said he encountered Maxwell in the isolated, Bering Sea coastal village of Unalakleet, population 700, when she climbed aboard one of Rogoff’s two, $1 million Cessna 206 aircraft.  Rogoff was at the time aboard plane #2 with the pilot and a Dispatch News reporting crew covering the race.

“Maxwell, Kylea (Hopfinger’s fiance), and I flew with (pilot) Paul Anderson to White Mountain,” Hopfinger said. “During the flight, Maxwell bragged about her life, everything from her nonprofit to the places she’d visited to the fact that she knew how to fly a helicopter. Kylea and I sat in the back while she talked to Paul, at times flirting with him. We listened to her and Paul on the plane’s headphones. At one point, she told Paul she learned how to fly helicopters from an ex-boyfriend who had served in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) and Mossad,” the Israeli intelligence agency.

Read the rest of this story at CraigMedred.News:

The Alaska connection

Don Young fundraiser crushes it; biggest in history

Suzanne Downing
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Don Young fundraiser crushes it; biggest in history

Over 200 people crowded into the Turnagain home of former Gov. Bill Sheffield to welcome Congressman Don Young back to Anchorage.

Alaska’s only congressman had just stepped off a plane from South Africa — a 10+ hour time zone shift — where he and his wife Ann Young had been on safari.

But he was far from tired. Rather, he was in classic Don Young mode — greeting people by name, shaking hands, chatting with old and young, and happy to be with a lot of longtime friends.

Longtime supporters of the congressman said it was one the biggest turnouts for the Young “Taste of Alaska” campaign event — or for any of his fundraisers in Anchorage history, for that matter.

Young, who is the 45th Dean of the House of Representatives, has passed more legislation than any other congressman, noted Julie Fate Sullivan, spouse of Sen. Dan Sullivan, who introduced him.

As the longest serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives, he has filed for his 25th term. He’ll be competing against the person he beat last time, Alyse Galvin, who is running in the Democrats’ primary.

Attendees who were Republicans, Democrats and those in the middle spilled out onto the patio in the warm August evening overlooking Knik Arm and the Coastal Trail. Young stayed until the last guest was gone, which was well after the appointed ending time of 7 pm.

In addition to Gov. Michael Dunleavy, Sen. Lisa Murkowski attended, as did her Chief of Staff Mike Pawlowski, Sen. Sullivan’s Chief of Staff Larry Burton and his wife and son Will, and Sullivan policy adviser Amanda Coyne.

Also spotted were former Lt. Gov. Steve McAlpine, Grace Jang, former communications director for Gov. Bill Walker, Chad Padgett, Dianne Kaplan, Ed Rasmussen, Jim Udelhoven, Ashley Reed, Larry and Ann Baker, Brandon Spoerhase, Lindsey Whitt, Les Parker, Miles Baker, Ben and Elizabeth Stevens, Carl Marrs, Joe Marushack, Mike Szymanski …

… Linda Leary, Rebecca Mahaney, Carole Ashlock, Curtis Thayer, Tom Barrett, Greg Hambright, Jamie and Dave Donley, Al Fogel, Win Faulkner, Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, Liz Vazquez …

Alaska Republican Party Chairman Glenn Clary, Jerry Prevo, Frank Bickford, Sarah Erkmann Ward, Art Hackney, Justin Matheson, Joseph and Marrie Ann Lurtsema, Jeremy Price, Ken and Pat Thompson…

… Mead Treadwell, Wendy Lindskoog, Pamela Day, Tom Boutin, Stacy Stone Semmler, Mayor Dan Sullivan, C.J. Zane, Daniel George, James Armstrong, Adam Schwemley, Seth Church, Dana Pruhs, Christine Hill, Wayne Anthony and Virginia Ross …

… Rick Fox, Lisa Herrington, Ron and Mary Ann Norris, Rep. Sharon Jackson, Yolanda Clary, Kara Moriarty, Bill O Leary, Rita Sholton, Alyce Hanley, Bill Odem, and Clai Porter,  Deb Brollini, and Randy Ruedrich were among the crowd….

…Also, Sen. Sullivan’s communications Director Mike Anderson, Gov. Dunleavy’s Press Secretary Matt Shuckerow, and Don Young’s current Press Secretary Zack Brown. All three have worked in communications for Congressman Young. We spotted Kevin Sweeney, Mayor George Wuerch, Jennifer Atwood, John Carman, Judy Brady …

… David Gottstein, Rep. Delena Johnson, Keith Comstock, Paulo and Josiane Ballin …

Organizers were were not yet able to release a total, but said over $70,000 was raised, and they were still counting.

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