Page 1629 – Must Read Alaska

Police have Orlando Holder, suspected shooter

The 907

-

June 19, 2018

Police have Orlando Holder, suspected shooter

Anchorage Police took Orlando Holder into custody in the Mountain View neighborhood last night. He is now in the Anchorage Correctional Complex, and is charged with murder II, manslaughter, and misconduct involving a weapon III (felon in possession).

Detectives working the case of the shooting death of Jaymes I. Bradley, killed by gunshot in Spenard on June 14, developed information as to Holder’s whereabouts, and officers with the Investigative Support Unit took Holder into custody after questioning him.

[Read: Bang, bang: Death in Spenard]

Holder’s arraignment is set for 2:30 pm today (June 19).

Federal agency: Oil average to be $71 in 2018

Politics

Suzanne Downing

-

June 19, 2018

2

Federal agency: Oil average to be $71 in 2018

GOOD NEWS FOR ALASKA ECONOMY

Brent crude oil prices will average $71 per barrel this year, and $68 in 2019, according to the latest Energy Information Agency forecast.

The updated 2019 price is $2 per barrel higher than what was projected by the agency just a month ago.

Alaska North Slope crude oil prices track Brent prices fairly closely, which makes it an important bellwether for Alaska’s economy. Today’s price for ANS crude is $73.20. A year ago today it was $46.65.

The FY19 state budget balances at $71 per barrel, including the percent of market value (POMV) draw amount from the Permanent Fund Earnings Reserve to pay for state government and Permanent Fund dividends.

The average barrels per day coming from the North Slope this year is 540,763. The throughput in May was 529,382, trending down as the warm season brings lower volumes and scheduled maintenance that occurs during summer months.

This year, to date, the Trans Alaska Pipeline has shipped 81,655,186 barrels to market. Last year, a total of 192,472,797 barrels were shipped during the year, measurably higher than 2014, 2015, and 2016.

In the June update of its Short-Term Energy Outlook the agency said Brent crude oil spot prices averaged $77 per barrel in May, an increase of of $5 per barrel from April and the highest monthly average price since November 2014.

Prices for crude oil have risen as global inventories have declined over the past 18 month.

According to EIA, most of the global growth in oil production in the coming months will be from the United States with crude oil production averaging 10.8 million barrels per day in 2018, up nearly double from 2017.

In 2019, U.S. production is projected to be nearly 12 million a day, which will be the highest domestic production level on record.

Gov. Walker: LNG, seafood, beer, baby food to balance China trade

Politics

Suzanne Downing

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June 18, 2018

5

ALASKA HAS THE GOODS TO CLOSE THE GAP, HE SAYS

Could Gov. Bill Walker become the new China-U.S. trade negotiator for the Trump Administration?

President Donald Trump upped the ante in the tariff war with China today, ordering U.S. officials to add another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to the list of those that would be hit with an additional 10 percent tariff.

Last week, China said it would retaliate against the first round of $50 billion in announced U.S. tariffs. China issued a list of nearly 550 U.S. products that will be hit by a 25 percent tariff starting July 6. It included Alaska seafood.

“This latest action by China clearly indicates its determination to keep the United States at a permanent and unfair disadvantage, which is reflected in our massive $376 billion trade imbalance in goods,” Trump said today.

“This is unacceptable. Further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United States goods, and accept a more balanced trade relationship with the United States,” Trump said.

[Read: Alaska salmon, halibut hit by China tariffs]

Meanwhile, Gov. Bill Walker of Alaska also made a statement today about the trade war, but it was soothing, and indicated that Alaska can “dramatically” soften the trade imbalance with the state’s natural gas, baby food, beer, and seafood. His statement in full:

“Alaska has abundant resources, from natural gas and seafood to beer and baby food. These resources enable our state to dramatically reduce the trade deficit between the United States and China, if we can finalize agreements to increase exports of our products. Trade negotiations between leaders from both countries are ongoing. I am confident that we will, in the end, embrace the opportunity for mutual economic growth that we can achieve by working together. Next week, I will meet in Washington with leaders from both governments who have been at the table leading the efforts to avoid an unnecessary trade war. I will continue to work directly with both sides to make sure Alaska’s interests are protected.”

Parnell joins Holland & Hart

The 907

Suzanne Downing

-

June 18, 2018

0

Sean Parnell, former governor of Alaska, has joined the law firm of Holland & Hart, in the firm’s Anchorage office.

Parnell was governor from 2009-2014, and served as lieutenant governor, state senator, and representative. He is a lifelong Alaskan with decades of experience in commercial contracts, natural resources and government.

Parnell will serve clients in energy and infrastructure development, and will continue to serve his existing Alaska business clients developed in his private practice in Palmer, where he and his wife Sandy live. He will work both in Palmer and in Anchorage.

“The extensive connections and relationships Sean has fostered at state, federal, and Western regional levels make Sean a valuable resource for clients undertaking infrastructure or natural resource exploration and development. Sean provides the firm’s energy and natural resources clients with a unique combination of experience as a former government leader, legislator, administrator, and legal advisor,” said Kyle Parker, administrative partner.

Holland & Hart opened up its Anchorage office in 2017, taking over the practice of Crowell & Moring. Its 500-lawyer firm has the largest environmental law practice in the country, according to Law360. It has 16 offices across the Mountain West and in Washington, D.C.

Shhh! Governor hires ‘Innovation Stakeholder Change Manager’ in secret

Anchorage Daily Planet

Suzanne Downing

-

June 18, 2018

7

Meet Jason Schneider, the State of Alaska’s newest member of the Walker Administration. His job title is “Innovation Stakeholder Change Manager.”

You’ve not heard of this? It’s kind of a secret.

Schneider, a surfer originally from California, was over the winter hired away from his job as the executive director of the Marquette, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, where he worked for the past three years. Marquette is a small town on the shore of Lake Superior, population 21,000.

In addition to starting the Chamber of Commerce there, he has also been a wedding and event photographer for 17 years. He has run a coffee shop and he likes rock climbing. Schneider has a B.S. in economics from Northern Michigan University.

Schneider announced he was leaving his Michigan job in February, and the local Marquette media reported it at the time, but he would not reveal to them where he was moving to or what the new job was. It was a secret.

In an interview in March with a Marquette blog, he said his duties were still being worked out, but he still wasn’t ready to say where he was going. It was still confidential — he couldn’t talk about it.

Last week, word was out in Marquette: He had been hired by the State of Alaska as the chief “innovation stakeholder change manager officer,” with his start-date in May.

Must Read Alaska has submitted a public records request for his duties, chain of command, and pay. He’s stationed in Juneau in the Department of Administration and he’s clearly enjoying his life in Juneau so far, according to social media. But it’s only been a couple of weeks in the belly of the beast that is state bureaucracy.

Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz also hired a change agent in his administration. Brendan Babb is the municipality’s “Chief Innovation Officer.”

The role of Chief Innovation Officer is a new thing in bureaucracies, but it’s clearly trending. Usually the role is associated with technological advancements and how to modernize data systems.

[Read: Chief Innovation Officers in State and Local Government in the GovTech blog]

Breaking: Sturgeon case gets round two at Supreme Court

Suzanne Downing

-

June 18, 2018

3

Breaking: Sturgeon case gets round two at Supreme Court

About 8,000 cases were denied by the U.S. Supreme Court this session, but Alaska’s John Sturgeon vs. Frost (U.S. Park Service case #17-949) was accepted — for the second time. The announcement came this morning.

JOHN STURGEON DECISION

The high court’s first ruling in 2016 was narrow, but in Sturgeon’s favor. It sent key questions back to the Ninth Circuit, which doubled down in October, 2017 on its ruling against state sovereignty and aspects of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The 9th Circuit judges ruled the federal government has authority over rivers within the national parks under a broad scope of water reservation provisions in federal law.

The Supreme Court accepts fewer than 1 percent of the cases brought to it. But after the court took his case the first time in 2016, Sturgeon felt somewhat more confident it would accept his case again, if only because the 9th Circuit simply ignored the Supreme Court’s directions for review.

“Going to the Supreme Court is a miracle,” said Sturgeon. “And of the 8,000 petitions this term, they took 20. It means that hopefully the federal government will understand the state sovereignty issues: The State of Alaska owns the rivers and navigable waters, and it gets to manage them, under the provisions of ANILCA. Above all, this is about state sovereignty.”

Read the October, 2017 story on this Alaska case at Must Read Alaska.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

Sturgeon thinks the case will be heard this summer, and that the justices will answer the question of whether Section 103c of ANILCA says the federal government cannot control navigable waters and has no control over inholdings on national parks and preserves under ANILCA.

Walker campaign ad rips off now-famous eye-roll ad

The Social

Suzanne Downing

-

June 17, 2018

3

Walker campaign ad rips off now-famous eye-roll ad

WHO ‘BORED IT’ BETTER?

Gov. Bill Walker unveiled his campaign video on Sunday, and it is eerily similar to the video that went viral in 2016 for Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, featuring Daugherty blabbing endlessly about solving problems for the very populous county in Texas, where the county seat is the state capital, Austin. If we didn’t know any better, we’d think that the Walker videos is the sincerest form of flattery: Imitation.

Walker’s campaign manager John-Henry Heckendorn may have thought no one would notice, but the Daugherty ad is a modern day campaign classic, seen by nearly four million YouTube viewers.

Here is the original Travis County Commissioner ad, with Daugherty’s wife begging voters to re-elect her husband, lest she languish away listening to him discuss infrastructure solutions:

In the Fathers Day Walker ad, the same wifely eye-roll comes courtesy of First Lady Donna Walker and Second Lady Toni Mallott, who display the patience of Job as they listen to Bill Walker and Byron Mallott destroy a perfectly good game night by explaining the intricacies of a Alaska natural gas pipeline and Mat-Su carrot carbohydrates. The wives seem passive and long-suffering. His daughter, Lindsay Walker-Hobson, who doubles as his campaign spokesperson, even falls asleep for a moment.

Watch the Walker ad here:

Dunleavy Fathers Day video will get you in the ‘feels’

The Social

Suzanne Downing

-

June 17, 2018

1

HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Hallmark Cards couldn’t have done it better.

In a 90-second video for Fathers Day, candidate Mike Dunleavy drives a tractor while his daughters talk about being homeschooled and competing in sports, and his wife, Rose, brings out a family photo album to reminisce.

The candidate for governor hardly says a word in the ad, but the viewer gets to see his family talking about him in the way that kids talk about their dads. There’s also a cameo appearance by the family dog, but not the kind you might expect.

Getting all three Dunleavy daughters in the video was harder than it looks. They all work at Red Dog Mine this summer, and are on two-week shifts, rarely at the same time.

It’s the first time Dunleavy has had his family so prominently included in a campaign message — although the political content is nil, and the “feels” quotient is high.

That sinking feeling: Job leakage continues in Alaska

Politics

Suzanne Downing

-

June 17, 2018

2

That sinking feeling: Job leakage continues in Alaska

The State of Alaska says that May employment was down by 2,000, or 0.6 percent, from May 2017.

The biggest losses in the 49th state were in retail (-800) and state government (-500). The oil and gas, financial, professional and business services sectors lost 400 jobs over the year, according to the Department of Labor.

The health care sector continues to add jobs, with 1,000 added since May, 2017, much of it meeting the growing demand through Medicaid expansion, and manufacturing and other sectors added 600 jobs.

While employment was down, Alaska’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped slightly in May, to 7.2 percent. It’s been 7.3 since the beginning of the year. The two figures — with both employment and unemployment down — suggest that job losses have led to more people leaving the state for opportunity elsewhere. The national unemployment rate is 3.8 percent.

The lowest unemployment rate in Alaska was 4.1 percent in Sitka. Kusilvak Census Area (formerly Wade Hampton Census Area) continued to have the highest rate at 21.2 percent. That area in 2000 had an unemployment rate of 14.7 percent. The Kusilvak area is 19,673 square miles and has an overall population of 8,000.

The Alaska labor force was 362,496 in May. Of that workforce, 26,251 Alaskans were considered unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In May of 2017, the workforce was 362,979, and 25,875 were considered unemployed.

Police have Orlando Holder, suspected shooter

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Federal agency: Oil average to be $71 in 2018

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Gov. Walker: LNG, seafood, beer, baby food to balance China trade

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Parnell joins Holland & Hart

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Shhh! Governor hires ‘Innovation Stakeholder Change Manager’ in secret

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Breaking: Sturgeon case gets round two at Supreme Court

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That sinking feeling: Job leakage continues in Alaska

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