The Alaska Republican Party currently has more voters registered with the GOP than just about at any time in its history. Over 150,000 Alaskans are currently registered Republicans.
Since last February’s monthly report from the Division of Elections, Republicans gained over 7,000 new voters. Democrats gained about 1,000. For every new voter who registered as a Democrat, another seven Alaskans registered as Republicans.
Of course, undeclared voters still represent the biggest group, as they do across the country. There are 273,371 registered undeclared voters in Alaska. Many of these voters are on the voter rolls due to being automatically registered as they apply for a Permanent Fund dividend, which puts applicants in the undeclared category if they are not registered voters already.
Nonpartisan registrants only gained about 150 voters in the same year-over-year timeframe.
It may be the Trump effect, with conservatives coming back to the party to join in what feels like a patriotic movement to save America from the leftists who have held control for years.
Carmela Warfield, chairwoman of the Alaska Republican Party, said it’s that, plus more:
“The Alaska Republican Party is now an active and engaged Party and people see it. We have been expanding our Party and people are standing with us in record numbers – giving of their valuable time and treasure to join with us,” she said.
“The path to unleashing American energy dominance runs right through the great state of Alaska, and we stand ready to help realize President Trump’s Day 1 Executive Order of ‘Unleashing Alaska’s Extraordinary Resource Potential.’ Our Party also looks forward to helping President Trump bring about his America First agenda, and to the positive impact of his leadership on our nation over the next four years,” Warfield said.
“We will be actively working to aggressively build on these great numbers of newly registered Republicans, to make our Party even stronger, and we will be ready for the 2026 and 2028 election cycles,” Warfield said.
It may follow a national trend, in which the Democratic Party is held in low esteem, according to recent polling.
As one Anchorage commentator put it, “The Left lost power for the first time, even though they lost elections many times.” People may feel encouraged.
The good news for Republicans is dampened only in that the total number of registered voters in Alaska is now at 616,587, which must set a record for a state that has a population of only 733,406.
To compare, Wyoming, the state with the smallest population in America, has 293,617 registered voters in a population of 584,057. That is about 50% of the population being registered to vote.
In Alaska, however, 84% of the entire population (of Alaskans age 0-110) is registered to vote.
Alaska has the unfortunate reputation of having the dirtiest voter rolls in the country. While every March, the Division of Election does a purge of the rolls and the total number of registered voters is trimmed, it still is starting with a remarkably high number this year.
Just before last year’s March purge of voter rolls, there were 602,973 voters registered. After the purge there were 590,778 remaining.
If last March’s baseline was 590,778, and this month the number of registered voters is 616,587, that means another 25,809 voters have registered in the past year. Election analysts will be watching to see what the numbers look like in early March, when the purge is completed.
On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to preserve the integrity of female athletics.
The directive mandates that educational institutions allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports will face a revocation of federal funding. The administration asserts that the order is a necessary step to uphold Title IX protections and ensure fair competition for female athletes.
“In recent years, many educational institutions and athletic associations have allowed men to compete in women’s sports. This is demeaning, unfair, and dangerous to women and girls, and denies them the equal opportunity to participate and excel in competitive sports,” his executive order states. Citing federal court rulings, including Tennessee v. Cardona and Kansas v. U.S. Dept. of Education, the order reaffirms that disregarding biological differences between the sexes undermines the fundamental rights of female athletes.
Under the order, the Department of Education is directed to take swift action, including:
Ensuring that the now-vacated 2024 rule on sex discrimination remains unenforceable.
Revising Title IX regulations to explicitly define women’s sports as exclusively for biological females.
Taking enforcement actions against schools and athletic associations that violate these provisions.
Additionally, the Department of Justice is being tasked with prioritizing resources to enforce the order, and federal agencies are instructed to review and rescind grants to programs failing to comply.
Beyond educational institutions, the order also calls for engagement with major athletic organizations to advocate for policies that safeguard female competition. It directs the Secretary of State to push for international sports bodies, including the International Olympic Committee, to adopt stricter eligibility criteria ensuring that women’s events are based on biological sex rather than gender identity.
Further, the Secretary of Homeland Security is instructed to assess visa and immigration policies to prevent the entry of male athletes seeking to compete in women’s sports in the United States.
Alaska Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River, a longtime advocate for women’s sports protections, commended President Trump’s action, calling it a “game-changing move.”
“Today is not just a celebration of athletics—it’s a declaration of principle and common sense,” said Rep. Allard. “On National Girls and Women in Sports Day, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to ensuring a level playing field for female athletes. President Trump’s executive order is a game-changing move, and I stand with every young woman who deserves a fair chance to compete, free of transgender lunacy.”
Allard has been at the forefront of this issue in Alaska, having successfully passed House Bill 183 in the previous legislative session, which sought to protect female athletes from competing against biological males. That bill did not pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. She has since introduced House Bill 40, continuing her efforts to reinforce fair competition at the state level.
“Enough is enough. For too long, the fairness and safety of female athletics has been compromised by the morally wrong premise that a man can pretend to be a woman,” Allard stated. “With the passage of HB 183 and the reintroduction of HB 40, I hope Alaska can follow national leaders in defending the rights of our young women. Today, as we celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day, let it be known that I will continue to fight fiercely for policies that secure the integrity and safety of female athletes, and the future of women’s sports.”
Supporters of the order view it as a necessary correction to Biden Administration policies that they argue have disadvantaged female athletes. It is likely that the ACLU and other groups such as GLAAD will challenge the order in court.
By executive order, President Donald Trump is pulling back US involvement with three major United Nations sub-organizations that have been shown to have questionable activities: the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC); UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
UNRWA has reportedly been infiltrated by members of groups long designated as foreign terrorist organizations, he said. UNRWA employees were found to be involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel. The organization vehemently denied the allegations, but in August it fired nine staffers for having been involved in the attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 Israelis.
UNHRC has protected human rights abusers by allowing them to use the organization to shield themselves from scrutiny. Among the members of the council are some of the worst human rights abusers in modern history.
UNESCO has demonstrated failure to reform itself, he said, and has continually demonstrated anti-Israel sentiment over the past decade. Trump ordered a review of the US membership in UNESCO.
“This review shall be led by the Secretary, in coordination with the United States Representative to the United Nations (UN Ambassador), and must be completed within 90 days of the date of this order. The review will include an evaluation of how and if UNESCO supports United States interests. In particular, the review will include an analysis of any anti-Semitism or anti-Israel sentiment within the organization,” the executive order said.
In addition, no executive departments or agencies are allowed to use any funds for grants or payments to UNRWA.
Trump also ordered a complete review by the UN Ambassador of all other international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and provides any type of funding or other support, and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party, to determine which organizations, conventions, and treaties are contrary to the interests of the United States and whether such organizations, conventions, or treaties can be reformed.
“Upon the conclusion of that review, the Secretary shall report the findings to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and provide recommendations as to whether the United States should withdraw from any such organizations, conventions, or treaties,” his order said.
“The Secretary shall inform the UN Secretary General and the leadership of UNRWA and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that the United States will not fund UNRWA or the UNHRC and that the United States will not satisfy any claims to pay 2025 assessments or prior arrears by these organizations.
The United States helped found the United Nations (UN) after World War II to prevent future global conflicts and promote international peace and security.
But some of the UN’s agencies and bodies have drifted from this mission, Trump said, and instead act contrary to the interests of the United States while attacking our allies and propagating anti-Semitism.
As in 2018, when the United States withdrew from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) during the Trump 1 Administration, “the United States will reevaluate our commitment to these institutions,” he said.
This week the administration also said it’s shutting down USAID offices and putting staff on leave. The US Agency for International Development closure will affect all direct-hire workers with the exception of those who are doing “mission-critical functions, core leadership and specifically designated programs.”
The Trump administration says USAID is a waste of taxpayer dollars. The agency staffers and Democrats in Congress have protested the cuts.
Additionally, the executive branch will stop spending money on Politico subscriptions after paying millions of dollars to the news Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that the administration will stop paying for subscriptions to Politico Pro, after it was discovered that more than $8 million has been given to news organization by certain agencies, including USAID, for subscriptions on the taxpayer’s dime. It is being speculated by various news organizations that the Politico payment was about $25,000, but that has not been confirmed by Must Read Alaska.
“The DOGE team is working on canceling those payments now,” Leavitt on Wednesday.
As we get started with the year 2025, we have a new federal administration, which has a different perspective on climate and energy than we’ve had for the past four years. We have a new Alaska State Legislature, which may or may not be in harmony with the federal entities.
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has been and is a supporter of President Donald Trump’s energy and environmental policies, and President Trump is a supporter of Gov. Dunleavy’s policies.
It is my hope that our state and our federal partners will find a way to work together for our common good. With state Sen. Cathy Giessel’s attack on President Trump’s executive orders aimed at opening up Alaska, it is not a good indication of this cooperation from the Alaska State Senate.
While I see some common support for Cook Inlet gas, I see a lot of growing pessimism. Even though there is a good assurance of abundance for many years to come for Cook Inlet gas, the fact that there are no binding agreements for supply of gas to any of the utilities, the confidence remains eroded.
It looks like there is some agreement between various factions that reducing the State royalties on Cook Inlet gas to provide less expensive fuel for heat and electricity is a good way to go, but no action has yet been taken to make this royalty reduction possible, even though it has been in the works for more than a year.
This lack of action is very disturbing to me. It is as if everyone is waiting for a non-Cook Inlet gas solution, such as the Dixon Diversion Project, the Alaska LNG project, geothermal or various renewable energy sources. From my studies and investigation the least expensive and fastest solution to increase available energy to the Railbelt is to enable Furie to move forward with drilling and production.
The Dixon Diversion project will take until 2030 and is estimated at $350 million and is estimated to produce an additional 60 Megawatt of power. I assume the water flowrate drops of in the winter so this is not a year-round value.
Each simple well that Furie drills will produce 5 million cubic feet per day of natural gas at a cost of $10 to 15 million. My calculations show that the Megawatt equivalent for 5 MMcf/day is over 60 megawatts (using 1020 Btu/cu ft.) Furie completed a new gas well at the end of last year that flowed 5MMcf/day. Furie intends to drill two more wells this year which should add another 10 MMcf/day.
By 2030 Furie could be producing 10 new wells which would add 50 MMcf/day or an equivalent 600 Mw of power production capability. Furie is planning for six additional wells from the Julius R Platform, two this year and four more after that. Six additional wells would provide equivalent to 360 megawatt much quicker than five years.
One LNG time line forecast I looked at shows first gas is expected in 2029 for the AKLNG project. The project estimated cost is $44 billion, for gas line and LNG production. This natural gas shipped in will compete with Cook Inlet gas, but the big benefits would be a natural gas supply to Fairbanks and LNG to export to produce new revenue for the state. With a natural gas supply in Fairbanks, natural gas as a heating fuel would reduce pollution currently experience in that area, and natural gas fuel supply for electrical generation at the northern end of the Railbelt would reduce the demand on the Cook Inlet gas.
It may be a good thing to break this into three projects: 1) North Slope to Fairbanks compressed gas pipeline; 2) Fairbanks to Nikiski compressed gas pipeline; 3) LNG Plant.
The full gas pipeline is estimated to be $11 billion. So the gas line from the North Slope to Fairbanks could be $5 to $6 billion, would be easier to quickly finance and provide a more immediate benefit. This gas line could provide energy to projects between the North Slope and Fairbanks to provide some definite benefit.
If all it takes to enable Furie to move forward rapidly is to grant the gas royalty reduction or waiver as the assurance of a gas supply, that is a greater benefit to the citizens of Alaska than the royalty payments would be. I understand from various articles printed recently that Alaska DNR has the authority and ability to grant the royalty reductions. I think that only natural gas need be granted the royalty exemption or reduction and all crude oil produced in Cook Inlet would continue to be subject to the royalty payment. If all it takes is someone to say “make it happen,” they need to do that now.
The other action needed is some form of loan guarantee help for Furie and other Cook Inlet producers (i.e. BlueCrest Energy) to obtain financing for well drilling, which, as stated earlier, is $10 to $15 million per well. Now that the federal government seems to be a good partner with Alaska and wants to help Alaska expand energy and resource development, there should be a means to help an oil and gas producer to continue to pull a gas field from bankruptcy and improve our local economy, and ensure local energy.
Hopefully the Environmental-Social-Governance (ESG) push against oil and gas financing from banks, investment houses, and lending institutions will come to an end.
I understand from a recent article that loans through AIDEA have been applied for. I say “make it happen.” Cook Inlet gas is still the cheapest way to move forward to have assured gas for the Railbelt.
Battles over the storage of natural gas need to be settled now, to halt any further degradation of the residents’ confidence in the energy supply. The electrical utilities seem to be avoiding any direct involvement with the natural gas controversies and are looking for other energy sources.
Again, Cook Inlet gas is still the cheapest and fastest route to energy security for the immediate future.
Geothermal energy still seems a long way off as we have not had any lease offerings lately. I believe tidal energy will be realizable for smaller coastal communities in the near future, but utility scale for use on the Railbelt electrical system, may take a while.
Wind and solar sources can continue to be added as roof top installation, or where the utilities and IPP’s deem them affordable and realizable, with an attractive price per kWh. I continue to advocate against a Renewable Portfolio Standard, where mandates for a faster rate of incorporation of wind and solar are enforced.
There are two major problems with a high penetration of renewables on the Railbelt system.
One is that the communications and controls for the inverter base renewables will be very complex and the utilities must to have equipment and systems in place and properly configured to accept a lot of inverters on the system, or the Railbelt will be subject to frequent outages. I want to see evidence that the utilites have what is needed in place, with proper criteria and instructions for the utility-scale IBR to be connected and operated with the existing system.
The second is that proper long duration energy storage needs to be available for storage time much longer than a lithium ion battery energy storage system can accommodate.
I have been stating that storage from July to January is necessary to storage summer solar energy for use during our winter cold. No one seems very excited about pumped hydro so other storage means need to be investigated. Storage systems with a month or two of storage can be beneficial to release energy when we have cloudy periods which can extend for weeks.
I have also mentioned in earlier pieces that DC motor driven electric generators would be a good way to connect the renewable energy into the existing grid as the rotating machines would help keep a high inertia in the system, and would be easier to interface with than would the inverter base renewables.
So the solution for Cook Inlet gas is easy. Just get Furie and BlueCrest so they can start drilling wells. Furie already has infrastructure in place to flow 60 MMcf/day from the Julius R platform to their facility ashore in Nikiski.
Then next get a gas pipeline from the North Slope to Fairbanks. Then we can get back to finding ways to generator revenue for the state by increasing our crude oil flow through the TransAlaska pipeline.
In order to pursue these activities we need to work hard to show all the environmentally concerned that hydrocarbon fuels are not the cause of climate change.
Robert Seitz is a professional electrical engineer and lifelong Alaskan.
Based on the deluge of comments on social media, recent proposals by the City and Borough of Juneau to dramatically escalate debt and utility rates, and increase the property tax millage rate have struck a nerve with Juneau taxpayers. Until now, the unchecked spending by the city assembly for several discretionary projects and initiatives, some having been rejected by voters, has largely been tolerated.
Millions of dollars have been sequestered or spent for mail-in voting, proposed city offices and a palatial new arts and culture “civic” center, all allowed to proceed with scant attention paid to public process.
With the city facing flood mitigation expenses, declining school funding, and a looming backlog of deferred maintenance, the public is realizing that Juneau city government is spending beyond its means.
If raising taxes, piling on more debt, and increasing rates for city services are the only solution the Assembly is willing to consider, community affordability will continue to suffer and seniors on fixed incomes and working-class families will leave for less expensive places to live.
Residents left behind will be saddled with an ever-increasing share of taxes and fees spread across a dwindling population.
Pumping more government money into the economy isn’t the answer. It rarely creates durable jobs and is subject to the whims of government bureaucrats and elected officials.
Growing the economy by creating permanent jobs and expanding Juneau’s tax base are the province of the private sector. Government’s role in fostering economic growth is to keep taxes low, cut bureaucracy, and generally make it easier to design and develop revenue-producing projects.
While mail-in-voting, city offices and a civic center have been excused from scrutiny and transparency, Aak’w Landing, a proposed new cruise ship terminal and uplands development in the downtown subport area, has undergone the most rigorous and demanding public process in recent Juneau history.
The $150-200-million project has languished for years, facing a never-ending array of bureaucratic challenges and delays to reach a point where the Assembly can make a final decision on a necessary tidelands permit.
The private project includes a welcome center, retail and dining options, a public park, underground parking, and an Indigenous Knowledge, Science, and Cultural Center.
A comprehensive and collaborative public process stretching over five years has incorporated input from the Planning Commission, Visitor Industry Task Force, city planners, and annual surveys of Juneau residents. Most recently, public open houses attended by hundreds of residents were held by city officials to explain the project and answer questions.
Project opposition has largely come from a handful of cruise industry activists who have promoted anti-cruise ballot initiatives, filed lawsuits, and attempted to delay approval of this project by whatever means necessary.
None of Juneau’s other four docks (two that are city-owned) received a fraction of the attention when constructed. This, despite the fact cruise ship numbers increased as a result and, due to their concentrated location, these docks have unavoidably contributed to general congestion.
The Aak’w Landing project, in contrast, will be located away from the center of the current dock area and will help disperse cruise passengers more evenly. Importantly, the addition of this dock will not increase the number of ships visiting Juneau. The city and the cruise industry have negotiated a limit on cruise passengers along with a 5-ship daily limit which caps additional cruise traffic within the borough, regardless of the number of docks.
The project’s economic benefits are substantial: 80+ construction jobs, 90+ summer jobs, 20+ year-round jobs, and increased property and sales tax revenue generated by hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate improvements and retail transactions.
The anti-cruise crowd has dismissed the project’s economic benefits and ignored the environmental benefits: eliminating thousands of buses from congested downtown streets, adding over 100 covered parking spaces downtown, reducing emissions from lightering vessels and cruise ships at anchor, and increasing cruise ship use of shore power, which in turn reduces residents’ utility bills.
Project approval will signal to other industries Juneau’s willingness to consider economic growth as a vital component of community affordability. The project will actually mitigate cruise industry impacts and reduce the city’s reliance on property tax millage rate increases.
That’s how to start making Juneau affordable again.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
Of the billions of tax dollars spent by the U.S. Agency for International Development Office that are being questioned by the Trump administration, millions went to fund terrorism.
A multi-year investigation brought by the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia reveals the scope of how funds were used in one recent terrorism-related case.
“The case represents one of the most significant diversions of USAID-funded humanitarian aid that USAID-OIG has investigated,” USAID’s Office of Inspector General said.
It involved a Syrian national, Mahmoud Al Hafyan, who was charged with illegally diverting more than $9 million of taxpayer money through USAID to armed combatant groups, including the Al-Nusrah Front (ANF), a designated foreign terrorist organization affiliated with al-Qaida in Iraq.
According to the indictment, Al Hafyan led a non-governmental organization (NGO) in Syria, managing 160 employees.
Since Syria’s civil war began in 2011, and through 2020, U.S. taxpayers funded more than $12 billion of USAID money to Syria intended for food and medical supplies that was supposed to be administered by United Nations agencies and NGOs.
The NGO that Al Hafyan led received $122 million over a three year period, diverting food kits meant for refugees to ANF commanders, according to the complaint. ANF, fighting to overthrow the Syrian government, was known for committing human rights atrocities, including conducting mass executions of civilians, suicide bombings and kidnappings.
Al Hafyan allegedly sold the food kits on the black market to the ANF commanders, falsifying documents to make it seem like refugees were receiving the food.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, USAID OIG, and the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division were involved in the case.
“This defendant not only defrauded the U.S. government, but he also gave the humanitarian aid he stole to a foreign terrorist organization,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said in November. “While this foreign terrorist organization fought with the cruel al-Assad regime, the people who were supposed to receive the aid suffered.”
Some other examples of misuse of USAID funds prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia relate to a range of fraud schemes.
In one case, a former executive of a digital consulting firm in Delaware agreed to pay a $100,000 settlement to resolve allegations that he knowingly caused company employees to submit false claims to USAID in order to receive government contracts, overbill and charge for work that was never performed, according to a 2022 complaint.
In another case, a global health nonprofit organization based in San Diego agreed to pay nearly $550,000 to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false claims to USAID to receive grants to purportedly provide agricultural and other aid to developing countries.
In another case, the International Rescue Committee agreed to pay $6.9 million to settle allegations under the False Claims Act related to USAID-funded programming related to the civil war in Syria. The money IRC received was intended for humanitarian assistance but IRC staff participated in a kickback scheme with a Turkish supply ring involving contract bid rigging instead, according to the complaint.
In another case, a former NGO official was sentenced to 40 months in prison for paying bribes to NGO officers in exchange for sensitive procurement information related to NGO contracts partially funded by USAID. In this case, for five years, a Turkmenistan citizen coordinated a bid-rigging scheme, instructed employees to lie to law enforcement agents and destroyed emails related to the investigation, according to the complaint.
In another case, a former USAID deputy director and resident of Maryland pled guilty to charges related to a contract-steering scheme, conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements to law enforcement, according to the complaint.
The State of Alaska has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging recent federal decisions that redefine jurisdiction over what are known as Native allotments in the state.
At the heart of the dispute is a decision by federal officials to grant the Native Village of Eklutna, based in Anchorage, jurisdiction over an individually owned Native allotment, known as the Ondola Allotment, which paved the way for gaming operations on the land.
The legal battle comes just as the Native Village of Eklutna has hurriedly opened a gambling operation near Peters Creek in Anchorage. The tribe contractors, operating under the supervision of a Las Vegas gambling developer, worked through the night to set up the Chin’an Gaming Hall, which consists of two trailers pushed together in a muddy construction site. The tribe moved swiftly to establish operations, fearing potential delays from the Trump Administration. However, the casino is already facing lawsuits from neighboring residents who object to its impact on the community.
Aaron Leggett, president of the Eklutna Native Village, called the casino opening a “historic milestone” for tribal self-determination. “Chin’an means ‘thank you’ in Dena’ina/Athabascan,” Leggett said. He assured that “safety and respect for our neighbors and customers are our top priorities,” despite opposition from local residents in what was once a quiet neighborhood.
While the casino is currently operating with strict capacity limits, it is expected to expand in the coming weeks. Leggett has emphasized that revenue from the gaming hall will help support housing, healthcare, employment, job training, scholarships, and cultural programs for the tribe. He also projects the casino will generate $67 million in economic activity for the municipality.
Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor emphasized that the State’s lawsuit is not about gaming but rather about jurisdictional authority.
“We are asking the court to reaffirm what it has already said—the State maintains primary jurisdiction over Alaska Native Allotments,” Taylor stated.
The State argues the decision contradicts longstanding legal interpretations and a recent federal court ruling that upheld the State of Alaska’s primary jurisdiction over such lands.
The lawsuit, which names officials from the U.S. Department of the Interior and the National Indian Gaming Commission as defendants, contests a shift in legal interpretation that could significantly alter regulatory and public safety frameworks in Alaska.
The lawsuit cites the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, which resolved aboriginal land claims by establishing a system where Alaska tribes, except for Metlakatla, would not have territorial jurisdiction over land. According to the State, ANCSA intended for Alaska Native lands, whether owned by individuals or Native Corporations, to remain under State jurisdiction.
For decades, the Department of the Interior maintained that federally recognized tribes in Alaska did not have territorial jurisdiction over Native Allotments.
However, in February 2024, the DOI’s Solicitor issued a new legal opinion reversing this stance. This opinion served as the basis for the NIGC and Bureau of Indian Affairs to rule that the Ondola Allotment, a six-acre parcel in Chugiak leased to the Native Village of Eklutna, fell under tribal jurisdiction and was eligible for gaming.
The reversal by the Biden Administration agencies has raised numerous legal and regulatory concerns. The State’s complaint highlights uncertainties regarding law enforcement authority, hunting and fishing regulations, and state control over alcohol, marijuana, and environmental laws on these lands. The shift in jurisdictional authority could also impact property taxation and other State regulatory powers.
Meanwhile, the casino’s rapid haphazard opening exacerbated tensions between the tribe, the State, and local residents. While the Municipality of Anchorage has an interim agreement with the tribe to offset public safety costs, the casino is not subject to state or local taxes, raising further concerns about its economic impact.
The dispute follows a 2021 ruling by the District Court in the District of Columbia, which concluded that the Native Village of Eklutna did not have territorial jurisdiction over the Ondola Allotment. By contradicting this ruling, the State argues, federal agencies have overstepped their authority and disrupted long-established legal interpretations.
In its lawsuit, the State of Alaska contends that the DOI, NIGC, and BIA acted outside their authority and improperly altered the jurisdictional landscape without congressional approval. The lawsuit seeks to vacate the federal decisions and restore the legal status quo, reaffirming the State’s jurisdiction over Native allotments.
The Senate has confirmed former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as the new U.S. Attorney General and head of the Department of Justice. The vote was along party lines, with only Democrat Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman crossing the invisible party boundary to vote in favor of Bondi.
Bondi is Trump’s 11th cabinet nominee to win confirmation from the Senate. Both Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan voted for Bondi, who will be sworn in on Wednesday.
Bondi worked as a state prosecutor in Florida for two decades before being elected as Florida’s first female attorney general in 2010.
In 2016, she endorsed Trump for president and she also was part of his legal team defending him in his first impeachment trial in the U.S. House and Senate.
She replaces Merrick Garland, who last year was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over interview tapes from a probe into former President Joe Biden’s handing of classified documents. He also charged and his department prosecuted more than 1,200 J-6ers — people who were present in Washington, D.C. during the turmoil of the Jan. 6, 2021 election of Joe Biden. All of the J-6ers have now been pardoned by President Donald Trump.
The Anchorage FBI says it is cooperating with other federal agencies to round up illegal aliens in Alaska and deport them.
At 4:12 p.m. on Monday, the Anchorage FBI posted on Facebook “The #FBI Anchorage Field Office, along with our Department of Justice (DOJ) partners, is supporting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with their immigration enforcement efforts in #Alaska.” This is in direct response to President Donald Trump’s order to secure the borders and clean up the cartels and violent crime across America.
Then at 4:37 p.m., the Anchorage School superintendent released an announcement saying the Anchorage schools will not only not cooperate with federal authorities, they won’t even allow them on campus. In essence, Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt was saying Anchorage schools are sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.
Superintendent Bryantt said the federal agents would have to have a warrant, and even if they did, he would have the warrant reviewed by district attorneys before deciding if they were valid and whether federal immigration agents could come onto any school grounds.
In his explanation, Bryantt cited a federal law, to which he gave a novel interpretation.
The law, called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) “protects your child’s privacy by prohibiting ASD from sharing student-specific information with anyone other than the student’s parents or legal guardians, except in specific situations such as when required by a judicial warrant or court order,” Bryantt wrote.
But FERPA wasn’t intended to protect illegal aliens and criminals.
According to the Department of Education, it’s to protect a student’s education records from being shared without parents’ permission (or the student’s permission once he or she turns 18). The law says nothing about the students’ immigration status.
“The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children’s education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records,” the federal government explains.
In the Frequently Asked Questions section of the FERPA explanation, the Department of Education gives examples that specifically say that “law enforcement records” are not education records.
Here are examples of what the law covers and does not cover taken directly from the U.S. Department of Education:
No. Under FERPA, a student may not use his or her right to opt out of directory information disclosures to prevent school officials from identifying the student by name or disclosing the student’s electronic identifier or institutional e-mail address in class.
No, a school is required to honor the eligible student’s request to opt out of the disclosure of directory information made while the student was in attendance, unless the student rescinds the opt out request.
“Law enforcement unit records” (i.e., records created by the law enforcement unit, created for a law enforcement purpose, and maintained by the law enforcement unit) are not “education records” subject to the privacy protections of FERPA. As such, the law enforcement unit may refuse to provide a parent or eligible student with an opportunity to inspect and review law enforcement unit records, and it may disclose law enforcement unit records to third parties without the parent or eligible student’s prior written consent. However, education records, or personally identifiable information from education records, which the school shares with the law enforcement unit, do not lose their protected status as education records just because they are shared with the law enforcement unit.
The Frequently Asked Questions section also makes it clear that FERPA applies to records maintained by the school, not personal observations of school officials:
FERPA applies to the disclosure of personally identifiable information (PII) from education records that are maintained by the school. Therefore, FERPA does not prohibit a school official from releasing information about a student that was obtained through the school official’s personal knowledge or observation unless that knowledge is obtained through his or her official role in making a determination maintained in an education records about the student. For example, under FERPA a principal or other school official who took official action to suspend a student may not disclose that information, absent consent or an exception under § 99.31 that permits the disclosure.
The notice from the FBI and the notice from the school superintendent, coming just 15 minutes apart, raise questions about whether Bryantt was in fact engaged in a rapid push back exercise against the federal government. Bryantt may have brought unnecessary attention to himself now that he has declared Anchorage schools to be off limits for federal law enforcement, effectively creating sanctuary campuses, where federal immigration laws do not apply.
Anchorage School District is one of the most diverse in the nation, where more than 90 languages are supposedly spoken.
