Page 1419 – Must Read Alaska

Rep. Laddie Shaw chosen to serve Senate Seat M

Suzanne Downing

-

August 30, 2019

Rep. Laddie Shaw chosen to serve Senate Seat M

Rep. Laddie Shaw is Gov. Michael Dunleavy’s choice to serve the Senate Seat M vacancy.

Shaw currently fills the House District 26 seat the was left by Sen. Chris Birch as he moved to the Senate in January after winning the Senate Seat M position in November.

Shaw won the D-26 seat with 62 percent of the vote from his district.

Shaw is a retired Navy SEAL and Vietnam veteran (two tours) who spent eight years with the SEAL Reserve component; and seven years with the Alaska Army National Guard (Airborne). In 1999 he was appointed to the position of State Director of Veterans Affairs for the State of Alaska. He has also been an instructor at the State Trooper Academy in Sitka.

Dunleavy said he thought the Senate District M process was well done and all the applicants for the position were good. He said it was a tough decision because all three names forwarded to him by the district’s Republican grassroots leaders were people who had served the state and country in important capacities.

Dave Donley, a former state senator and member of the Alaska State Defense Force, and Al Fogle, a U.S. Army combat veteran, were the other finalists.

Donley is also on the Anchorage School board and has a position in the Dunleavy Administration as deputy commissioner for the Department of Administration. Fogle is an account executive at Moda.

Shaw will have to run for the seat in 2020, since Birch had passed before having served eight months in the Senate. The Senate Seat M Republicans will need to repeat the process, filling the District 26 House seat that Shaw will leave vacant.

“Our prayers and thoughts are still with Pam (Birch) and the family,” said Alaska Republican Party Chairman Glenn Clary. “I want to thank the district committee members who put a lot of time and effort into evaluating all the candidates, and thank the governor for picking one of the three forwarded. I’m hopeful that the Republican senators will confirm him.”

Senate President Cathy Giessel issued a statement: “Due to various scheduling conflicts, Senate Republicans will not meet to consider the governor’s appointment until after Labor Day weekend.” Seven of the Republican senators in the Senate must confirm Shaw’s nomination. If they turn it down, the governor has 10 days to name a replacement nominee.

Floyd Hall, stolen car retriever and folk hero, takes plea deal

The 907

-

August 30, 2019

9

Floyd Hall, stolen car retriever and folk hero, takes plea deal

Floyd Hall, who is legendary in Anchorage for tracking down and recovering stolen cars, has accepted a plea deal: He won’t chase stolen cars or touch or move any vehicles without the owner’s permission for a year.

In April, Hall had decided to not accept a plea deal that also prevented him from having contact with criminals.

In his mind, you can’t find stolen cars without having some kind of interactions now and then with car thieves. In fact, you can hardly walk out of your door in Anchorage without having contact with criminals.

[Read: Floyd Hall won’t take plea deal, will go to trial]

Hall has made a national name for himself by recovering hundreds of stolen vehicles, but was charged in 2017 for reckless driving. He had been trying to keep pace with a stolen truck, and ended up being shot at by its criminal occupants. They were never caught but the truck was recovered.

Hall runs a Facebook page that features Facebook Live videos of him scouting and finding stolen vehicles, sometimes illegally occupied by someone other than their owners.

Anchorage residents who follow his exploits pass him tips, and he has a couple of friends he calls “The A Team” who also help recovering vehicles.

The 54-year-old had earlier this year asked prosecutors to change the plea deal, because he didn’t think it possible to never engage with criminals in Anchorage.

As for not moving a car without the owner’s permission. With a mechanical loader with forks, he lifted a stolen car that had been abandoned in the middle of the road to on top of a snow bank, as seen in this video:

He was charged with vehicle tampering for that caper.

In the plea deal, Hall also received no jail time, and a $500 fine, with a year to pay.

Donations for Hall’s efforts are accepted at Wells Fargo Account No. 8217848491. (No cash is taken by Wells Fargo for the account and it is not tax deductible.)

“I’m still losing money on this. I don’t make money on it. My Toyota gets 16 miles to a gallon but a tank of gas goes quick,”

Hall continues his efforts, while also taking care of his elderly parents. In fact, he found and recovered three stolen trucks last week.

One was a Toyota Tundra truck, whose owner had posted about it being stolen on Facebook. Hall recovered it two years to the day and 200 yards from the exact place he had been shot at in August of 2017 while trying to keep up with a stolen vehicle — an event that led to his being charged with reckless endangerment.

He also recovered a white 2008 Chevy truck, and helped recover a 2003 Ford truck.

[Read: Don’t punish Floyd Hall; work with him.]

#MeToo movement backlash hits women in workforce

The Social

Suzanne Downing

-

August 30, 2019

17

#MeToo movement backlash hits women in workforce

Fallout from the #MeToo movement has hit working women in unexpected ways, according to a survey explained by the Harvard Business Review.

Since the #MeToo movement began in the entertainment industry in 2017, leading to the downfall of Producer Harvey Weinstein and other men, attractive women are finding they are not being hired throughout other industries as often they once were.

Sixteen percent of men and 11 percent of women women surveyed said they they are less willing now to hire attractive women than they were before the high-profile anti-harassment movement.

Also, 22 percent of men and 44 percent of women predicted that men are more apt to exclude women from social interactions, such as after-work drinks; and nearly one-third of men are reluctant to have a one-on-one meeting with a woman, according to the study.

Fifty-six percent of women said they expect that men would continue to harass but be more careful to not get caught, and 58 percent of men predict that men in general have greater fears of being unfairly accused.

One of the most high-profile cases of harassment was the accusation made against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who during his confirmation hearings faced accusations made by Christine Blasey Ford, who said he forced himself on her in high school at a drinking party. The accusation nearly derailed Kavanugh from being appointed to the Supreme Court after women, mainly leftists, from all over the country rallied to block his nomination, even though proof was missing from the decades-old accusation.

The story is linked here at Harvard Business Review.

Fashion review: Patagonia wants to own camo as ‘bear witness’ color

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

-

August 29, 2019

10

By CRAIG MEDRED
CRAIGMEDRED.NEWS

Patagonia – the California-based clothing company that last winter announced its new corporate mission is to “Save the Planet” – might be planning a stealth offensive.

For the first time ever, the environmentally active business that helped bring Alaska “amateur bear expert” Timothy Treadwell is marketing camouflage outerwear.

Patagonia bills its “Bear Witness Camo” in wind shells, down sweaters, bike jerseys and more as a “new color.”

Camouflage clothing has traditionally been marketed to hunters and the military – groups Patagonia has in the generally tried to avoid. Thus the new color caught the attention of Rod Arno, director of the Alaska Outdoor Council.

“Crack me up,” the leader of the state’s largest hunting and fishing organization. “The anti-hunting outdoor clothing manufacture has to sell camo now to stay in business?

“For years, I took a picture of myself and Patagonia gear with a dead animal, and they sent it back every year saying they did not support hunting.”

Patagonia has not revealed its motives for going camo, but the “color” is trending in fashion markets. The company founded by climber Yvon Chouinard has long had a strong fashion sense and good timing which, along with some higher prices, has sometimes led to Patagonia being mocked in Alaska as Pata-Gucchi.

“Camouflage Is Back (Yes, Again) and Here’s How to Wear It,” GQ magazine headlined late last summer.

“The motif is masculine, muted, and not complicated to reproduce on the cheap, which makes it too tempting for designers and brands both high and low to pass up,” wrote the magazine’s Megan Gustashaw.

Yes, you can’t get much more masculine than combat attire.

[Read the rest of this fashion review at CraigMedred.news]

Alaska Life Hack: Smoke gets in your eye with Kenai fire

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

August 29, 2019

8

Alaska Life Hack: Smoke gets in your eye with Kenai fire

WORST AIR IN WESTERN HEMISPHERE; TRAVEL TO KENAI BY ROAD IS DIFFICULT

Southcentral Alaska residents don’t need to be told: The air quality is — pardoned the technical word here — horrible.

At 7:15 am this morning, heavy smoke drifted across the entire region on one of the worst air quality days, as shown in the photo above taken of Anchorage from an Alaska Airlines jet heading north.

According to purpleair.com, which tracks real-time air quality around the world, Southcentral ranks the worst in the Western Hemisphere at this time, and among the top five worst air in the world this morning, even exceeding Chinese industrial cities.

Here is the latest update on the Swan Lake Fire from the Kenai Borough Office of Emergency Management:

SWAN LAKE FIRE

New comprehensive area closure orders have been issued for public lands surrounding and including the burned area. A community meeting will be held at the Sterling Community Center on Friday, Aug. 30 at at 6 pm.

Fire suppression activities and dense smoke make travel on the Sterling Highway between Sterling, Alaska and Cooper Landing hazardous, and there are travel delays. Authorities are discouraging use of this section of the highway, if possible. Motorists who choose to travel through the fire area should be prepared for potentially lengthy delays by assuring their vehicle has ample fuel and carrying food and water for occupants. Do not stop along the highway within the fire area. The eastern end of travel restrictions has moved to milepost 40 north of the junction with the Seward Highway. The Kenai Peninsula Borough Office of Emergency Management has the latest information at kpboem.com, on Facebook at KPB Alerts and at their call center at 907-262-INFO (4636).

Cooper Landing: An additional strike team of four engines and one hotshot crew is working from 10:00 am to midnight around Cooper Landing to bolster resources through the more active afternoon and evening hours. They join the other firefighters to continue reducing hazardous fuels around structures, install water sprinklers, and to protect the power line corridor.

Heavy smoke caused poor visibility that significantly limited yesterday’s air operations. The most active portion of the fire was on the eastern flank in the Juneau Creek drainage. It moved slowly, down-slope to the south as well up-valley to the north on the Resurrection Trail. While this growth does not yet present an immediate concern for Cooper Landing, fire managers are evaluating strategies for limiting further spread. Rugged terrain and difficult access present challenges in those areas. Today, three crews are hiking up the drainage to begin constructing new containment lines to arrest further spread.

Wednesday night’s public meeting in Cooper Landing attracted about 200 people to the school and another estimated 360 on Facebook Live. Fire managers and local officials shared information about suppression progress and plans as well as Sterling Highway travel restrictions and contingency plans should evacuations be needed.

Cooper Landing remains in a SET status due to fire activity. All residents should be SET (fully prepared) to evacuate if the situation warrants. If you feel uncomfortable or need additional time, consider leaving before an evacuation notice. The Cooper Landing School is also closed until at least Sept. 3.

Sterling: The southwestern corner of the fire experienced some increased activity near, but inside, containment lines. Work will continue to cool this area as well as securing the perimeter northward to the Sterling Highway by extinguishing any remaining burning or smoldering fuels adjacent to the containment lines. Structure protection on the western flank is effectively in place.

The Sterling neighborhoods east of Feuding Lane and east of Adkins Road remain in a READY status. A READY notification means residents should be preparing for a potential evacuation should the threat level increase.

Weather: High pressure will persist over the fire for the next 48 hours providing very similar conditions to yesterday—light winds, warm temperatures and moderately low relative humidity. A low-pressure storm system is expected to move inland on Saturday and will likely bring cooler temperatures with precipitation. Gusty winds are predicted for Sunday afternoon.

Closures: The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge and the Chugach National Forest have issued coordinated, comprehensive area closures for public lands surrounding and including the Swan Lake Fire. These orders will incorporate the previous individual closures as well as new restrictions on public entry and use. The orders and accompanying maps are available at local U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Chugach National Forest offices and online at kpboem.com.

Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFR): A TFR is in place for air space over the Swan Lake Fire (9/7677 NOTAM). The TFR includes unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or drones, as well. Flying drones near wildfires could cause injury or death to firefighters as a result of a mid-air collision with tactical firefighting aircraft.

Balash and Udall trade barbs over BLM decentralization

Politics

Suzanne Downing

-

August 29, 2019

7

Balash and Udall trade barbs over BLM decentralization

Photo: Joe Balash, left, Sen. Tom Udall

A U.S. senator from the impoverished state of New Mexico (second poorest in the nation) strenuously objects to having the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management move to the West from the nation’s capital. Those 32 federal jobs his state would get? Not important.

But his objections came too late, and now he’s unhappy.

In a letter to outgoing Assistant Secretary of the Interior Joe Balash on Aug. 22, Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico and Congresswoman Betty McCollum of Minnesota lobbed criticism at the plans to bring BLM management West, a move announced in July by Balash.

[Read: BLM moving HQ west to Grand Junction, Colorado]

“Based on the incomplete and superﬁcial information that you provided, it appears that the proposal to relocate Bureau headquarters is not based on rigorous financial and organizational analysis, nor is it intended to increase the Bureau’s accountability and improve the management of our nation’s public lands. Instead, we are concerned that the proposal is designed to reduce the Bureau’s effectiveness and relevance. As a result, we object to the Department moving forward with the reorganization of the Bureau and the relocation of its staff,” the lawmakers wrote.

Udall letter-blm-reorg-aug22

The two are unhappy to see the Bureau of Land Management is decentralizing much of its decision making staff to the Western states, where federal workers in charge will be closer to the land they manage. They prefer those decisions be made in Washington, D.C. They say the effort is meant to dismantle the BLM.

Balash, who is with the agency through the end of the month, tapped back a polite letter stating that if Udall and McCollum didn’t want jobs in their states, the agency would happily reconsider whether to put those jobs there.

That infuriated Udall, who took the exchange to the media, leaking the letters a reporter and hit the news at The Hill newspaper, which then published a blustery headline, “Interior official threatens to withhold jobs in lawmakers’ districts after opposition to BLM move.”

‘Threatens’ being the key word.

It was all a bit of August theater, since Udall and McCollum had missed the 30-day window to object to the move. Udall is a Democrat, and McCollum is a member of the Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party, which is unique to Minnesota. They are both members of their respective Appropriation Subcommittees on lnterior, Environment, and Related Agencies, and they were well aware of the comment window, or should have been.

What Balash’s letter actually said was, in an agreeable tone, “Given your apparent strong feelings about the Department’s actions and intentions, we pledge to review and reconsider the relocation of additional departmental resources to your state. We are also open to working with other delegations that object to additional departmental resources being allocated to their states.”

Udall’s home state of New Mexico was set to receive 32 federal workers, while Minnesota is not included in the plan that would leave 60 employees in Washington, D.C. and move about 300 to western states, with a western headquarters in Grand Junction, Colo., where 27 top BLM managers would be located.

Udall and McCollum appear to be upset that they missed the window to make their objections, and are further upset that Balash called their bluff. It was a slow news day in August in the nation’s capital, particularly since Udall announced in March he will not seek reelection in 2020. As for Balash, he’s only at Interior through the end of the month. Then he’s going fishing.

BP, and its money, will be missed

Anchorage Daily Planet

Suzanne Downing

-

August 29, 2019

7

By ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET

It is amazing to watch as the news that BP is planning to leave the state rattles through the nonprofit universe in Alaska.

Over the years, you seldom heard anything positive about BP or the oil industry. Plenty of bad. Not much good. You rarely heard they annually gave millions of dollars to nonprofits – BP alone gave something like $4 million just last year – or loaned executives to them, or encouraged employees to pitch in and help in their communities.

BP generously supported more than 200 organizations across the state, gave earthquake aid, built a conference center and supported everything from the Alaska State Fair to the Fur Rendezvous to the Alaska Zoo. It funded scholarships and camps and the Anchorage symphony. The list is seemingly endless. In its 50 years in Alaska, it has been a generous corporate neighbor.

Now that it plans to pull up stakes for greener pastures, folks are starting to remember all that. The worries are that Houston-based Hilcorp, the proposed buyer, may not be so generous. It gave $315,000 to Alaska charities last year, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

But “$13.5 million has been donated by (its) employees to organizations across the United States, according to data on Hilcorp’s website. About 43 percent of that money, or $5.8 million, went to religious causes — by far the biggest donation category,” the newspaper reported.

If regulators agree, the company Alaska loves to hate, the company that for decades fed much of the state and paid for its government, is leaving. It will be missed.

And not only on the North Slope.

Former Rep. Lynn Gattis battens down the hatches in Bahamas

The Social

Suzanne Downing

-

August 28, 2019

1

Former Rep. Lynn Gattis battens down the hatches in Bahamas

Former House Rep. Lynn Gattis and her husband Rick are building a vacation home in the Bahamas on Abaco Island at Marsh Harbour. Tonight they were securing their building materials with ratchet straps as Hurricane Dorian muscles its way toward the eastern shore of Florida.

The northern islands in the Bahamas, where Abaco is located, are in the path of Dorian, which has sustained winds that increased to 85 mph as of Wednesday night. The National Hurricane Center says it is moving at 13 mph toward open waters of the southern Atlantic, where it is expected to become a Category 3 hurricane as it approaches the island where the Gattises are hunkered down.

Gattis said the island is no more than 9 feet above sea level and storm surge is expected to be as much as 11 feet, so she expects things to get sloppy. She reported that boats and ships are pulling into harbor and being cabled into position in advance of the storm. As for her and Rick, they already made their grocery run and have their provisions to ride out the storm.

Accuweather says “interests north and east of the Bahamas should prepare for hurricane conditions. Some of the far northern islands of the Bahamas will be significantly impacted while the majority of the others will get barely a breeze and a little rain.”

Gattis, who has served on the school board in the Mat-Su Valley and as a Wasilla legislator, said she plans to post photos and video on her Facebook page to the extent possible. Follow her at: https://www.facebook.com/lynn.gattis .

The hay farmer from Wasilla ran in 2016 for the Senate Seat D vacated by Charlie Huggins, but she lost the primary to now-Sen. David Wilson. The vacancy she left in House District 7 is now filled by Rep. Colleen Sullivan-Leonard.

Losing BP: A wake-up call for tax-and-spenders?

Suzanne Downing

-

August 28, 2019

37

Losing BP: A wake-up call for tax-and-spenders?

The news about BP exiting Alaska came as no surprise to industry participants in the state; it had been rumored for months, with increasing buzz in recent weeks after Petroleum News advanced the news. But there was still a lot of folks on pins and needles, waiting for the big reveal.

[Read: BP sale rumors surface again, with credibility]

Having one of the world’s largest oil companies decide to leave Alaska is breathtaking. The company has openly said it was going to divest some $10 billion in business; Alaska was first to go.

That’s right, Alaska was the first to go.

If, as Sen. Bill Wielechowski and his oil tax hike initiative effort would have us believe, companies are making money hand over fist in Alaska, why would BP abandon the state?

It’s the business model, in part, according to Must Read Alaska’s knowledge experts. BP is a behemoth company that doesn’t do aging oil fields. Hilcorp does.

But Alaska has other issues: A high cost of doing business and an ever-changing tax structure from a government that just can’t decide when enough is enough in taxes. The large companies like BP need to plan 10 years out, and Alaska’s oil tax structure is so unstable they are not able to make those plans with any degree of confidence.

Lawmakers like Wielechowski insist taxes have nothing to do with it, but that Alaska just isn’t a good fit for BP anymore. He’s half right.

As a side note, the cost to the State treasury could be in the tens of millions, because unlike BP, which is a C Corporation, Hilcorp Alaska is a limited liability corporation, which does not pay a corporate income tax. Increased production could make up for the loss in corporate income tax, unless tax conditions change again, as Wielechowski would have them.

HILCORP ALASKA

Hilcorp is the kind of company that likes to drain every drop out of an aging oil field. Recently, BP conducted 3D seismic imagery of Prudhoe, getting fidelity that’s never been seen before. Hilcorp is the kind of company that will drill those pools and sidetracks and create a lot of economic activity on the Slope. Many oil industry people say this transaction is a very good thing for the Alaska economy.

Since arriving in Alaska in 2012, Hilcorp has pretty much taken over Cook Inlet gas, to the worry of some who wonder it the company will gouge the Kenai and Southcentral for the gas that runs homes and businesses.

Then Hilcorp acquired some of BP’s fields on the North Slope in 2014, shed a couple of hundred jobs, and, with five years of experience is now the dog that caught the truck. How it will adapt to the increase pressure of being one of Alaska’s “majors” is going to be part of its unfolding story.

Hilcorp Alaska paying $5.6 billion for BP’s assets in Alaska makes it one of the big players now.

NONPROFITS AND PRIVATE SECTOR WORRIES

Already, the nonprofit cartel has sent up the alarm that without BP’s philanthropic largesse, a gaping hole exists for nonprofits and Hilcorp isn’t like BP in the giving arena. BP has given to the nonprofits by the millions — $4 million last year alone.

That, too, was forecast by the leaders in the nonprofit world many years ago. In 2015, the former executive director of the Foraker Group warned that the nonprofit sector was still too reliant on the Rasmuson Foundation and major corporations.

“Appreciate the money that you’re getting from any industry, but understand that industry giving is market driven,” Dennis McMillian cautioned at the time. In Alaska, corporate philanthropy is three times the national average, while foundation funding is twice the national average.

The number of nonprofit organizations operating in Alaska has grown from 6,000 in 2007 to 7,904 in June of 2019. It’s an expanding industry that has grown 31 percent in 12 years in Alaska.

Between 2013-2018, BP has given $26 million to those nonprofits, while in 2017, it spent $855 million on Alaska vendors.

But while nonprofits have gained much from BP’s investment in them, few of them were there for the oil companies during the battle over Senate Bill 21, when tax advocates tried to jack up the taxes on production. In general, the nonprofits have been grateful recipients of the corporate funds, but not exactly besties with the oil sector.

Rep. Laddie Shaw chosen to serve Senate Seat M

Floyd Hall, stolen car retriever and folk hero, takes plea deal

Alaska Life Hack: Smoke gets in your eye with Kenai fire

Balash and Udall trade barbs over BLM decentralization

BP, and its money, will be missed

Losing BP: A wake-up call for tax-and-spenders?

About us

The latest

BREAKING NEWS: Assassination Attempt at White House Correspondents’ Dinner

New Parking to Improve Access to Hooligan Fishing Spots

815 Mail-In Ballots Rejected in Anchorage General Election