Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced two key bills on Monday aimed at advancing Alaska’s economic development and improving public safety services.
The proposals focus on addressing essential infrastructure needs and enhancing the efficiency of state services while promoting fiscal responsibility.
The bills — the Alaska Railroad Corporation Bonding Authority Increase (HB 67) and the Pretrial Supervision Services Agreements Bill (HB 66) — are meant to reduce the financial strain on the state and add to economic growth.
This legislation seeks to increase the Alaska Railroad Corporation’s bonding authority from $60 million to $135 million to fund the construction of a new dock and terminal in Seward. The existing infrastructure, a crucial link in Alaska’s economy, is approaching the end of its lifespan and requires replacement to maintain operations and expand capabilities.
The project, which will be funded through bonds guaranteed by the Corporation’s revenues rather than state funds, aims to support tourism, boost economic development, and create opportunities for local businesses.
“The Seward dock is a critical connection for hundreds of thousands of cruise passengers and visitors each summer,” Dunleavy said. “This project is an investment in Alaska’s future, supporting tourism, economic development, and local businesses throughout the state.”
HB 66: Pretrial Supervision Services Agreements Bill
The second bill enables the Department of Corrections to partner with municipalities to provide pretrial supervision services for defendants charged with municipal or borough offenses. Currently, the State covers the full cost of these services, even for defendants charged solely with local violations.
Under HB 66, municipalities can enter agreements with the Department of Corrections to share responsibilities and costs. The bill also allows the Department to charge reasonable fees to recover expenses.
“This bill provides a prudent solution to balance the costs of pretrial services,” Dunleavy said. “By sharing responsibilities with municipalities, we can ensure these critical services remain available while reducing the financial burden on the State.”
Dunleavy urged swift action from the Legislature. But he faces a Legislature that is dominated by Democrats and turncoat Republicans, with majorities in both the House and Senate that will want something in return, such as their proposed 35% increase to the education funding formula, or the multi-billion-dollar defined benefits system for government employees.
“These proposals reflect a commitment to addressing Alaska’s pressing infrastructure and public safety needs,” Dunleavy said. “They are necessary steps to foster growth, improve services, and ensure fiscal responsibility for the benefit of all Alaskans.”
They say health is wealth, and no phrase rings truer for a nation striving to reclaim its greatness.
America cannot be great again if we do not act now to change the trajectory of our children’s future and our nation’s health. The moment demands leadership, courage, and accountability. And it demands Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s decisive vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
I grew up in Alaska, where resilience, courage, and independence define who we are. My father, an Air Force veteran, moved us to Elmendorf Air Force Base in 1986 when I was just 4. I have always been proud to say, “I’m from Alaska,” a statement that evokes vast lands, boundless opportunities, and a free-thinking, independent people.
But today, that pride feels shadowed by the heavy hand of politics, and the cost has been my health, my future, and my trust.
As a husband, father, and business owner, I, like so many Alaskans, followed the guidance of our leaders during the Covid pandemic. I believed in doing my part to “get back to normal.” On March 4, 2021, I took the first dose of Pfizer’s vaccine. Just 11 days later, my life was forever changed. What should have been a step toward normalcy left me fighting for my life on the operating table at the Alaska Heart Institute.
My initial diagnosis was dismissed, my concerns ignored, and I was urged to take the second dose despite my life-threatening experience. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, and I will bring an army.
For three long years, I endured physically and mentally grueling treatments at some of the best medical institutions in the country—Johns Hopkins, the University of Washington Heart Failure Center, and the Mayo Clinic.
The final diagnosis was clear: Vaccine-Induced Myocardial Scarring and Sustained Arrhythmia.
I am not alone. Alaskans like me, people who embody the spirit of the Last Frontier, have suffered in silence for too long. But this week, we are silent no more. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has given us hope, a voice, and a movement. For the first time since that horrific day in 2021, I feel a renewed sense of passion and purpose. His tireless advocacy for accountability in the medical industry and his commitment to restoring public trust in our health institutions are precisely what this nation needs.
In October, I flew across the country to Washington, D.C., to stand among thousands of Americans, united by a vision of hope and health. We heard from RFK Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Jordan Peterson about what it truly means to make America great again. For the first time in years, I believed. But belief alone won’t heal this nation—action will.
Sen. Murkowski, you hold the power to ensure the promise of a healthier, stronger America is fulfilled. Alaskans like me are watching and waiting. This is your moment to do your part, just as you asked us to do ours. My 14-hour journey to D.C., standing 10 hours in solidarity, and returning home on little rest will pale in comparison to the fight I will bring if you fail to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
America deserves leaders who will prioritize the health and well-being of its people over politics and bureaucracy. Our children deserve to grow up free from the shadow of a health system that has failed us. Alaskans demand the same integrity and independence we’ve always prided ourselves on. The stakes are high, but the choice is simple.
Senator Murkowski, I, Rob Forbes, along with the Army of vaccine-injured Alaskans, demand that you confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead our nation’s health institutions into a new era of transparency, accountability, and true health. The future of our children—and of America—depends on it.
Rob Forbes is a business owner, entrepreneur, father and husband, and resident of downtown Anchorage.
Kimberly Waller, the chief equity officer for the Municipality of Anchorage, says that President Donald Trump’s order to end “diversity, equity, inclusion” (discriminatory hiring) practices don’t have the force of law and don’t apply to her.
She’s wrong about the first claim but right about the second one, as long as her salary is not being paid by federal tax dollars.
Executive orders do, indeed, have the force of law for the executive branch of government. Trump’s executive order addressed the preference hiring enacted by President Joe Biden’s administration, which had also been done by executive order. Across all of the federal government, preferences have been giving in hiring people of color and various sexual identities.
Trump put an end to it immediately at the federal level, saying the government must consider only merit, not quotas.
DEI hiring practices under President Biden led to these hires.
Trump wrote: “The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military. This was a concerted effort stemming from President Biden’s first day in office, when he issued Executive Order 13985, ‘Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government.'”
Waller, however, disputes Trump’s order and wrote a long diatribe on her personal Facebook page explaining that she’s not going anywhere and she’s talking to city attorneys about protecting her job.
Here’s her message to President Trump follows:
“I am writing this in response to the below Executive Order coming out of Washington this week and in response to the influx of calls to my office and personal phone. Thank you to the many people, organizations and Anchorage residents who have reached out this week as we digest the flurry of EO’s pushed out by the new administration. These orders have dealt a blow to so many communities and people whom I care deeply about, and that hurts. To put it plainly, we are in troubled times but we will hold each other up.
“I hope to give some clarity here. For starters, an Executive Order is not a law. The new administration sent home everyone working on any initiatives around equity and asked for 60-day plans for their termination. The White House has effectively ended affirmative action and at a federal level, incentivized anyone who knows of that work happening at a federal level to report that work, pending some serious repercussions.
“While these orders haven’t yet been put into effect at the state or local level, I was informed by Municipal Attorneys that we need to be prepared. And we are.
“What’s disheartening to me is that this EO states that we are doing things we’re simply not doing. In my office, and at the Municipality of Anchorage, no one is being hired, promoted or given any rewards based upon the color of their skin. Hard work is hard work, no matter what race or gender. We do not discriminate based on race, sex or class. We do not play into identity politics nor do we engage in any form of race baiting or hate. It is painful to have to type this but I can assure, I would never spend my time or talents engaging in that sort of bafoonery. It is not who I am, it is not how I was raised and it certainly does not reflect my values.
“What we are doing is connecting with communities and organizations who feel they have no voice in local government. We are assuring that those within our diverse Municipality have language access and are able access the services we offer in their respective languages. We are thoughtfully considering the privilege we hold, as the distributor of enormous resources, when making decisions that affect children, families and marginalized communities.
“We are and will continue to show up and care for those who are experiencing hate, discrimination, bullying and violence based upon their identities. We are continuing our efforts to educate municipal workers on tribes and tribal relationships, which are extremely vital. We are working with APD to not only make sure they receive what they need to do the tough work, but to make sure our immigrant and refugee communities feel safe. And we are doing, so much more.
“My concern is that those who follow the president believe what he says – because he says so, they will believe that these efforts are illegal, divisive and hateful. That people like myself and offices like mine are pushing people out and being discriminatory. We know that perception is reality. Affirmative Action and the laws that came to be were put in place because real (not imagined – real) discrimination and persecution has happened over time and corrective measures had to be put into place as a means of protection. That is our history and that cannot be erased. We can only work to correct so that all can have a shred of a shot at the American Dream.
“My office will continue to work within the parameters of what has been set before us and we will do so, fearlessly. This is the work that brought forth civil rights, voting rights, rights for women, veterans, the elderly, Title IX, rights for the LGBTQ community, for indigenous people, Americans with disabilities and so much more. For me, there is no greater work.
There is no executive order that will make us stop caring about our neighbors and fellow Americans. There is no law that will stop us from uplifting the voices of the voiceless, to assure that everyone has fairness and dignity in their lifetime. There is no level of threat that will make us so fearful that we will walk away. I’ve assured Municipal lawyers I will not resign. If you know me you know I do not say things I don’t mean.
“Please feel free to reach out to my office should you have any further questions. We will be going through some changes. We have the support of a Mayor, an Assembly (majority) and local government employees who care deeply about the health, personal safety and well being of not only those within the Municipality of Anchorage, but across our nation.”
Waller is mistaken in thinking that DEI has not been improperly used by bureaucrats like herself. In Los Angeles, the deputy fire chief stated that when there is an emergency, people want someone to help them who looks like them.
Waller also blurs the legal lines by using her personal Facebook page as a professional page for her city business, but also mixing in partisan messaging on that same page, such as her picture showing her support for Kamala Harris for president.
Kimberly Waller posted this image in support of Kamala Harris for president on the same page she uses to conduct city business for Anchorage.
At other times, Waller posts personal messages during work hours, sprinkled in with professional messages about official city business.
Kim Waller posts about shopping at Party City during work hours.Waller uses her same Facebook page for city business.
Waller is a Democrat and there may be special rules for Democrats in the Suzanne LaFrance Administration. If a Republican did such a thing as use work hours for promoting a specific private business, there would likely be a lawsuit over it.
Waller was hired by Mayor LaFrance and started working for the city in September after serving in a similar role at the nonprofit Foraker Group. She was born in Fairbanks, raised in North Pole and Anchorage, graduated from New York University, and worked in broadcasting in Anchorage and New York City.
She has taken a leave-of-absence from the board of directors for Alaska Public Media, where she has been a board member since 2022 and which gives her an in-road to the largest media outlet in the state.
The Alaska Republican Party District 29 committee has passed three resolutions, sanctioning Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Republican elected leaders for defying the will of the members and the platform of the party.
The first resolution calls for the party as a whole to sanction U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. She has worked against the Republican Party by encouraging voters to vote no on the repeal of ranked-choice voting, and she has worked against President Donald Trump and the Alaska Republican Party platform for years. The resolution says she has a long history of working against the Alaska Republican Party and thus deserves a permanent sanction and censure, making her forever ineligible for support or endorsement by the party or its affiliates.
The U.S. senator has already been sanctioned twice in the past by the state Republican Party, but those sanctions had expiration dates that coincided with elections.
Regardless of whether Murkowski remains a Republican, the district, which covers portions of Wasilla and the Eastern Matanuska-Susitna Valley, asks the Alaska Republican Party recruit a challenger for Murkowski in 2028 and bar her from participating in any formal Republican events.
The Valley Republican Women of Alaska, a subdivision of the Alaska Republican Party, last week issued a similar resolution.
A second resolution passed by the district members calls for sanctioning and censuring Sens. Gary Stevens, Bert Stedman, Cathy Giessel, Kelly Merrick, and Jesse Bjorkman, because they have joined with Democrats to form a majority in the Senate in violation of Alaska Republican Party rules passed in 2024, which says Republicans will not join a majority where more than one-third of the members are not Republicans. (Article VII, Section 1(e)).
“Senators Stevens, Stedman, Giessel, and Merrick have a consistent record of flipping Alaska’s legislative bodies from Republican to Democrat majorities,” the resolution says.
The district is calling upon the party to permanently sanction these elected legislators and find qualified candidates to challenge them, “declaring these elected officials permanently ineligible for endorsement or support by the ARP or its affiliates, and permanently prohibiting participation in ARP events, and any other appropriate sanction not disallowed by ARP or RNC Rules.”
A third resolution calls for the party as a whole to sanction turncoat members of the Alaska House of Representatives.
“Representatives Chuck Kopp and Louise Stutes have joined a Majority Caucus where more than 1/3 of its members are non-Republicans, in violation of ARP 2024 Republican Party Rules, Article VII, Section 1(e),” the resolution says.
As with the resolution on the senators,”District 29 calls for permanent Sanctioning of both Representatives Chuck Kopp and Louise Stutes, to include permanent censure, declaring both elected officials permanently ineligible for endorsement or support by the ARP or its affiliates, recruiting a challenger, and permanently prohibiting participation in ARP events, and any other appropriate sanction not disallowed by ARP or RNC Rules.”
Not everything is spelled out specifically in the U.S. Constitution. When it was written, there were certain understandings in common law already in place. It takes good historians and lawyers to know exactly what those understandings were.
Perhaps the most important one was “natural-born” citizen, especially as it applied to qualifications for the presidency. As such, natural-born citizen in 1787 meant that both your parents were already citizens. However, some have argued that only the father needed to be, but there is no question it required at least your Dear Old Dad.
It was World Net Daily that actually brought this up regarding Barack Obama being properly natural born in order to qualify for the presidency. If you are old enough to recall, the whole squeal was whether or not he was born in Kenya or Hawaii.
WND called it a “wrong premise,” but it was a bridge-too-far for most conservatives in Congress and in conservative media. The point was buried soon afterwards.
You also might recall that there was a typical red herring brought out at the same time about John McCain, since he was born to a military family that was stationed in the Canal Zone.
How absurd this question becomes can be seen right away: It is all right for the media to question the natural-born citizenship of the son and grandson of naval admirals while on duty serving their country, but is not politically correct to question the natural-born status of Obama, Harris, or so-called “anchor babies”?
But it served its purpose in deflecting attention from the true problem of Obama. Since he escaped authentic scrutiny, the new precedent changed, all to the benefit of Kamala Harris, neither of whose parents were citizens when she was born.
If Obama’s true father was Barack Obama, Sr., then he would not have been eligible, according to the 1787 common law. However, I believe his real father was ultra-Marxist pornographer and leftist Frank Marshall Davis, an American citizen. Look up his image, as well as Obama, Sr., and place them alongside Barry Soetoro (another alias for our former president) and come to your own conclusions.
But that would have been more damaging to Obama, Jr., for it would have opened up the allegation of a fraudulent biography, and no accusations of “racism” would have helped his cause.
So, what is birthright citizenship? One must first study the operative element of the post-Civil War 14th Amendment. I have previously written articles on its fraudulent approval, which violated Article V of the Constitution, but since few people want to go there, this article will take it on its face value. Here is the appropriate clause:
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
This was meant to apply to the freed slaves. Period.
Thus, if we accept “original intent,” the 14th Amendment does not apply to criminals who sneak across our borders, deliver a baby, and use them to be “anchored” as U.S. citizens.
But, of course, “original intent” is one side of a contentious coin, the other being “current interpretation”, which means that the Constitution is a “living document”, and can mean whatever the majority of justices on the Supreme Court say it means.
Thus, like so many propaganda slogans, such as “People’s Democratic Republic” or “Women’s Clinic for Reproductive Health,” they mean the exact opposite of what the superficial title indicates. Ergo, a “living constitution,” if it can mean anything you want, is not living at all, but dead. Quite dead.
There are statutes that intend to take care of the nuances of constitutional directives. Constitutions are not meant to be legislation, but merely guidelines. However, of all our amendments, the 14th is so tiresomely long that it amounts to virtual legislation, an indication that its application was troublesome to many at the time of its adoption … which it certainly was throughout the North (the South was being illegally prevented any representation during the 14th Amendment’s tour through Congress.)
Here are some hypotheticals which I once posed before an INS bureaucrat who agreed to talk via speaker phone to one of my constitutional law classes, sometime in the 1990s. It is no guarantee that he was speaking accurately, or that his answers are still relevant (due to court cases or legislation), and neither is my own memory a guarantee.
Question: A woman sneaks across the U.S. border, delivers a baby, is caught and deported with her son. Does this child possess U.S. citizenship?
Answer: Yes, but he would need to have documents proving his citizenship, and he would not be accepted into the U.S. until his 21st birthday, or unless his mother was subsequently legally admitted sometime before his 21st birthday.
Question: Would this person be eligible to someday run for president?
Answer: Yes. (As might be expected, the agent did not understand “original intent”.)
Question: If a tourist is vacationing in the U.S. and delivers a baby, is that baby entitled to U.S. citizenship?
Answer: No.
Confirmed here: The State Department’s 2020 rule change made it more difficult for birth tourism companies to continue operations. The amended rule confirmed “that travel to the United States with the primary purpose of obtaining U.S. citizenship for a child by giving birth in the United States is an impermissible basis for the issuance of a B nonimmigrant visa.”
Question: A diplomat and his family enter the U.S. and a baby is born, outside of the embassy grounds of the diplomat. Is this child entitled to U.S. citizenship?
Question: So, apparently there are exceptions to the claim that merely being born in the U.S. is sufficiently adequate for “birthright citizenship.” How, then, are these exceptions determined: by statute, bureaucracy or court cases? And why would a person who entered the country legally, as in a tourist or a diplomat, be denied, while a criminal would not?
Answer: I’m afraid I cannot answer that question until I research it myself (and this was in the days before the internet.)
It should be obvious, then, that the usual dogpile on President Donald Trump’s policy regarding birthright citizenship is merely another example of Trump Derangement Syndrome by the Democratic Party’s mouthpiece, the legacy media.
Whatever the judiciary might rule, the fact is that, for too long, the U.S. has been a total chump regarding the 14th Amendment’s application. President Trump deserves to be supported in this effort of cleansing our government from leftist policies whose ultimate goal is to destroy our sovereignty.
Bob Bird is former chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.
Urgent weather reports from large aircraft pilots in the Anchorage airspace said there was a possible funnel cloud and thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon, but the weather was too cloudy to see either the base or the top of the phenomenon. The exact place unknown but was southwest of Anchorage.
High winds in Anchorage have made for tough flying and power outages across the area.
A Pilot Report or PIREP is a report of the real-time weather encountered by an aircraft in flight. This is the report:
Urgent PIREP report of funnel cloud in Anchorage.The B39M refers to a Boeing 737 aircraft.
Several of the “heavies,” the cargo jets that come through Anchorage, were forced to do “go arounds” because of the wind and on approach many jets could be seen fighting the wind on Sunday afternoon on the web cam mounted on top of the Alaska Aviation Museum.
Hours after President Donald Trump enacted tariffs on goods from Colombia in response to the president of Colombia refusing to repatriate his own citizens, the government of Colombia agreed to all of Trump’s terms. Those terms include the use of U.S. military aircraft to fly illegal immigrants from the United States back to Colombia.
The statement from the White House reads:
“The Government of Colombia has agreed to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay. Based on this agreement, the fully drafted IEEPA tariffs and sanctions will be held in reserve, and not signed, unless Colombia fails to honor this agreement. The visa sanctions issued by the State Department, and enhanced inspections from Customs and Border Protection, will remain in effect until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned. Today’s events make clear to the world that America is respected again. President Trump will continue to fiercely protect our nation’s sovereignty, and he expects all other nations of the world to fully cooperate in accepting the deportation of their citizens illegally present in the United States.”
Earlier in the day, after Colombian President Gustavo Petro turned away the U.S. flights that had about 160 illegal Colombian immigrants on them, Trump set forth a punishing series of sanctions, including huge tariffs.
Petro quickly backed down and at first said he would fly his own jet up to get the immigrants. Later, it appears he conceded fully.
The president of the Yakutat Tlingit Tribe has sent a letter to members warning of possible arrest and deportation due to President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders.
Cynthia Petersen said that tribal members should carry tribal identification cards issued by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, or their “certificate of degree of Indian Blood card (CDIB). They should keep this ID on them at all times.
She said “there are discussions that include the potential deportation of Native Americans,” under the “troubling assumption that no one can tell the difference.”
The executive order she is referring to pertains to the immediate deportation of illegal immigrants, who flooded into the country by the millions during the term of President Joe Biden. She presumes tribal members do not have any other form of legal identification.
Navajo Nation Deputy Attorney General Kris Beecher preached the same fear message last week, saying that tribal membersshould carry their state and tribal IDs at all times, since the Trump Administration is acting quickly to deport illegals and mistakes could be made.
Democrat Rep. Maxine Dibert has offered a bill that is being fast-tracked through the House Rules Committee, asking President Donald Trump to change his mind on the restoration of the name of Alaska’s tallest mountain.
In his first week in office, Trump reversed the name change that had been one of Democrat President Barack Obama’s executive actions in 2015.
According to Dibert, it should be up to Alaskans and not the federal government or the president what the name of the geographic features are in the state, even if those features are on federal land.
“Denali is the traditional Koyukon Athabaskan name for the tallest mountain in North America; and … the name Denali is deeply ingrained in the state’s culture and identity,” she says in her resolution.
In addition, “President McKinley, after whom the mountain was previously named, never visited the mountain and has no significant historical connection to the mountain or to the state,” her resolution says.
President Trump’s order is already signed and even the Associated Press, a liberal news organization, has acknowledged the name change is now law. Thus, the effort by the Democrat from Fairbanks is largely symbolic and intended to force legislators to take a vote on something that has little to do with the state’s economy, budget, infrastructure, or educational outcomes.
The Alaska House and Senate, although they have more Republicans than Democrats, are ruled by Democrats with the help of turncoat Republicans who abandoned their party to join with the Democrats and form a majority. The resolution requires no action from the governor and would be sent to the Trump Administration and the Alaska congressional delegation, if it passes.
