Are you planning to head to Calgary, Alberta next July for the Calgary Stampede?
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport will have a direct flight as it welcomes WestJet Airlines service to Alaska in summer 2025.
The new route will connect Anchorage to Calgary International Airport twice a week starting June 29, and travelers can then fly out of the Calgary hub to many Canadian, US and European destinations. The route appears to be oriented toward tourism, rather than industry, since it is hitting the high months of tourism in Alaska.
Already, Air Canada and Alaska Airlines (through Horizon) provide service from Alaska to Calgary, but with stopovers through Seattle.
“We are thrilled to welcome WestJet’s new service between Anchorage and Calgary. This route strengthens our connection to Canada, offering travelers more convenience and opportunities to explore everything both Anchorage and Calgary have to offer,” said Angie Spear, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport director.
The ANC-YYC route will operate twice weekly, from June 29 through Sept. 7, 2025, with schedules designed to align with peak summer travel demand and provide smooth connections through WestJet’s Calgary hub, the director’s office said.
While Anchorage has a population of about 286,075, Calgary has a metropolitan population of 1,680,000 making it the fifth-largest metro area and third-largest city in Canada.
An international union representing some Amazon workers called a strike that begins today, the busiest shopping day of the year, and goes through Monday.
The workers are calling attention to not only wages and working conditions, but the impact that Amazon has on the planet and environment, which they say is bad.
“We, workers, activists and citizens, will be rising up everywhere on the busiest shopping days of the year to fight Amazon’s exploitation of workers, our communities and the planet,” the union said. “While Amazon drained 2 billion US dollars from US communities to build new data centres, Jeff Bezos moved to Miami [from Seattle] to save 600 million US dollars in taxes,” the UNI Global Union and Progressive International said on its website.
“The Make Amazon Pay campaign brings together over 80 organisations working towards labour, tax, climate, data and racial justice, and over 400 parliamentarians and tens of thousands of supporters from across the world. Since 2020, we have organised four global days of action on Black Friday — each time growing our planetary movement to stop Amazon squeezing workers, communities and the planet. And in October 2023, we organised our first-ever Summit to Make Amazon Pay in Manchester, UK,” the union said.
Amazon said the union is intentionally misleading and promoting a false narrative.
“The fact is, at Amazon we provide great pay, great benefits, and great opportunities — all from day one,” an Amazon spokeswoman said. “We’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs around the world, and counting, and we provide a modern, safe, and engaging workplace whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings.”
In Seattle, the average hourly pay for Amazon warehouse jobs is $20 an hour and are as high as $25 an hour. Seattle’s minimum wage by law is $19.97/hour for large employers.
The world’s largest online seller, which started in the garage of Jeff Bezos as a seller of used books, opened its first delivery station in Alaska a year ago. The one in Anchorage gets its deliveries by air cargo, rather than by truck and it’s expected that two Amazon cargo flights a day will be moving goods through the Anchorage delivery station, and about 15,000 packages are delivered from there to the customers in Anchorage and MatSu.
About 100 workers work at the Anchorage delivery station, with another 50 temporary warehouse workers expected to be employed during the holiday season.
I have three fantastic children, which would not have been possible without a wife that I did not deserve.
These three, now in early middle age, are two lawyers and an erstwhile opera soprano, who now has a PhD in Sacred Music Conducting.
One of the lawyers has the president-elect as a client. Another has been chief of staff for a local mayor, and used to work for an Anchorage attorney who was regarded by conservatives as the best in the state. The soprano is teaching future priests how to sing.
If it sounds like I’m bragging, OK, but there is a larger view in this essay.
As they grew older, dinner conversations (which now include grandchildren) inevitably centered around the three things in life most worthy to discuss, analyze, argue and focus our lives around: religion, the arts and politics.
(We all agreed that sports are an artform).
Religion is the most important, of course. There are realities that we will all be facing, and your age might make you feel temporarily immune but as everyone knows, is no guarantee. The reality is this:
There is nothing more certain than death.
There is nothing more strict than Judgment.
There is nothing more terrible than hell.
There is nothing more peaceful than heaven
When you go into the deepest recesses of your heart, soul — maybe even in your stomach — and in the quiet of laying awake in bed in the middle of the night, when the cacophony of daytime is absent, and all philosophical and theological nuances aside, you know that those four things are true. And you need to do something about it.
I can guarantee that if you bring this up at dinnertime, you will get quite a discussion going.
Then there are the arts. God gave Man a gift. If you have no artistic gifts, maybe you haven’t discovered them … yet. Maybe you haven’t tried. But if they are not there, you can still be someone who treasures and appreciates them. People do not give standings ovations, collect paintings and sculptures or books or discuss classic movies for nothing. They all touch our souls, and force us to look at things from a different angle.
These first two topics are far more important than the third, but politics must be part of our temporal existence or else the other two may be suppressed, persecuted, or what is even worse — warped. Underground art and books still exist under suppression and persecution, and can provide hope, but when politics warps religion and the arts, it manifests something mad or ugly.
One need only look at the warped architecture of the Soviet Union, still in frightening evidence in the cities of Russia, to know this is true. Or communist and fascist propaganda posters. Tyrannical governments have tried to invent substitute religions, books, plays, murals, statues and the like, but they never satisfy the human thirst for Truth. Countless heroes have died and suffered for their faith, and their art. Whatever they had to say deserved consideration, for God gave man free will, and even errors must be allowed to have their say — so that Truth can triumph more fully.
We have just emerged from a decades-long Dark Age, where both political parties have had a hand, where truth-tellers were ridiculed or called liars. Every single institution of Man has lost the trust that centuries of patient suffering, trials and successes had taken root.
Count them. Which ones have not been compromised? Education, medicine, military, religion, art, democracy, journalism, business, amateur, and professional sports. The hold-outs who refused to drink the Kool-Aid now are standing taller in all these areas of human endeavor, and we must help them correct the social chaos we have emerged from.
Carl Sandburg, a midwestern poet of the early 20th century, compiled a work entitled, The People, Yes. In the end, the God-given gift of weeding out lies was done not by these institutions, but by the common sense He instills even in the hearts of the peasantry.
Evil never rests. Thrown down, it returns. We cannot change this Truth, for Man is fallen. But Man is also redeemed. Heavenly, or perfect peace cannot exist in this world, but real peace can. We must struggle to ensure that our free will is not suffocated. It has fallen to us to determine whether this is merely a temporary emergence from a Dark Age, or a more permanent one.
And remember, those who led us into the Dark Age are also redeemable, and often return to join in the struggle for the real peace, a struggle that will someday lead us to the Perfect one.
Bob Bird is former chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.
Alaskans who enjoy venturing out into the woods to find their own Christmas tree can do so on state land managed by the Division of Forestry.
No permit or fee is required to cut a tree. Trees must be no more than 15 feet tall and only one tree per household is allowed. Trees should also be cut as low to the ground as possible. Christmas trees cut on state land are for personal use only and may not be sold. The State of Alaska does not maintain any roads for this purpose.
Maps and information for Southcentral and Interior Alaska:
Other rules for Christmas tree cutters on Alaska state land:
Cut whole trees, do not top
Cut stumps as low as possible
Protect seedlings for future Christmas trees
Respect private property Cutting Christmas trees on unrestricted State of Alaska lands is allowed with some stipulations. Tree removal is prohibited in Alaska State Parks and Department of Transportation & Public Facilities rights-of-way. Harvesting may also be limited within local borough or municipality borders, Alaska Native lands and other private property. It is important to properly identify land ownership where you intend to cut your tree.
Got questions? Call the Division of Forestry & Fire Protection office in your area, or contact the DNR Public Information Centers in Anchorage (907-269-8400) and Fairbanks (907-451-2705).
Don’t feel like shopping on Black Friday? Join the crowd, or rather, don’t join the crowd. Parking fees at all Alaska State Parks facilities on Friday, Nov. 29 will be waived to give Alaskans another reason to get outside during the Thanksgiving weekend
“Each year, Alaska State Parks offers free parking on this day in hopes that it encourages more Alaskans to experience our state’s great outdoors with their families and friends,” said Ricky Gease, director of the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation. “On a day when many people tend to shop and spend money, getting outside costs us nothing yet pays dividends for our future in health benefits. This time of year also coincides with our launch of the annual Alaska State Parks parking pass.”
Yearly parking decals make recreating in the 157 Alaska State Parks facilities easier and more cost-effective all year long. Day-use parking passes are $60 per vehicle, while boat launch annual decals are $150.
Alaska State Parks 2025 Day-Use parking decal stickers are available online, and for in-person sales at locations throughout Alaska:
DNR Public Information Center – Anchorage
REI – Anchorage
The Hoarding Marmot – Anchorage
Alaska Mountaineering & Hiking – Anchorage
Alaska Public Lands Information Center – Fairbanks
REI – Fairbanks
Beaver Sports – Fairbanks
Homer Chamber of Commerce (after mid-December)
Seward Chamber of Commerce (after mid-December)
Additional locations will be posted online as the passes arrive The 2025 pass will be honored for the rest of 2024 as well. For information and online decal sales, visit https://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/asp/fees.htm. For 2023-2027 disabled veteran camping passes, contact the Anchorage Public Information Center at 907-269-8700.
Must Read Alaska is taking a break today to spend precious time with loved ones. You’ll find us with family, and not writing many stories — if any — as we’re hoping for a light workload, no website crashes, and no political shenanigans. We hope you are with loved ones, too and that the snowflakes are on the outsides of your dining room windows, not at the table.
On this day, we’re especially grateful for the many who are not able to take a break, because they are on duty: Our men and women who are serving in the Armed Forces, those standing guard for us on police and trooper shifts, and those who are staying ready in our fire departments who will save someone from disaster. We’ll remember your service and sacrifice when we approve comments at MRAK, watch the games, and baste the hen.
We’re thankful for the nurses and doctors who have been taking care of our family members through their worst days, and we realize that they, too, have families who wish they could be home today. From air traffic controllers to hotel staff, there are so many who work on this day, and we appreciate you all for what is a personal sacrifice.
Thank you to everyone who reads and supports Must Read Alaska, and especially those who have chipped in financially to help this conservative news project stay standing. I appreciate you so much.
Thanks to the quiet crew at MRAK who keep the website from crashing and who help by sending content, columns, and corrections. And especially the columnists here at MRAK who bring a diverse perspective and exchange of ideas — and keep things interesting and lively every day.
Happy Thanksgiving to all, no matter our circumstance or fortune.
This is still a great country, and as our journey in self-government perseveres through these tough times, we have a mighty God who watches over us all and grants us free will. We are so thankful.
As of Wednesday, schools in Ohio are required to have single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms after Gov. Mike DeWine signed the state’s bathroom bill into law.
The bill, folded into a law that revamped the state’s College Credit Plus Program by Republicans, requires multi-occupancy restrooms, locker rooms, changing rooms and overnight accommodations used by multiple students to be designated only for either male or female students.
DeWine announced the signing without comment Wednesday, but House Republican sponsors said school leaders and parents across Ohio wanted the change in law.
“We are thankful that individuals will not have to worry about members of the opposite sex coming into restrooms, locker rooms, and changing rooms in Ohio,” said Rep. Adam Bird, R-New Richmond. “Thank you, Governor DeWine, for signing this important legislation and keeping students safe.”
The bill cleared the Senate earlier this month.
Originally House Bill 183, the bathroom ban bill became part of Senate Bill 104 on the House floor, which was passed before lawmakers recessed earlier this summer. SB104 originally made changes to the Ohio College Credit Plus program.
Sen. Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said the bill is destined for litigation.
“There is a whole lot of other stuff we could be working on right now, but this is the one. Is this really what we need to be spending our time doing?” Antonio said on the Senate floor. “It’s not really about the bathrooms. It’s about demonizing people. We are telling our children there are people who are less than. They are not the same. They are not allowed to behave like the rest of us. That is a terrible bill.”
Science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction, which normally deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts, such as advanced science and technology. Science fiction was the most popular in several periods of the 20th century:
The 1930s-1940s: the Golden Age of Science Fiction
This period is generally considered to have been from the late 1930s to the mid-1940s. It was a time when many fundamental works of science fiction literature were published.
The 1950s
The end of World War II and technological developments in space exploration and nuclear energy helped make science fiction popular. Japanese science fiction films, like Godzilla (1954), were also contributed to the popularity of science fiction in literature.
The 1960s–1970s
Science fiction became exceedingly popular in film and on television during this decade. Some notable films from this period included: Fahrenheit 451 (1966), A Space Odyssey (1968), and Charly (1968). The new “wave” style of science fiction was also popular during this time, emphasizing the social and psychological sciences over the physical sciences.
The most prominent, and my favorite, science fiction writers who represent last two periods of the 1950s and the 1960s-1970s are:
—Ivan Yefremov (1908-1972) was a Soviet paleontologist, archaeologist and science-fiction author. He founded taphonomy—the study of how organisms’ decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. His most controversial and popular science fiction book is The Hour of the Bull (1968).
—Stanislaw Lem (1921-2006) was a Polish writer and widely translated into Russian language. He was the author of many novels, short stories, and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical and humorous character.
—Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the “Big Three” science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke.
Nevertheless, it was Karel Čapek (1890-1938) of the Golden Age of Science Fiction period of the 1930s-1940s, who had pioneered and set a tone for this creative literary genre. Karel Čapek was a Czech writer and playwright; he was one of the most influential and prolific Czech writers of the 20th century. In addition to his first popular fiction R.U.R. (1920), he also wrote The Outlaw (1920), Pictures from the Insects’ Life (1921), The Makropulos Affair (1922), Adam the Creator (1927), War with the Newts (1936) and The White Disease (1937).
Čapek has become best known for his science fiction genre, including his most notable play R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots) written in 1920. In R.U.R. Čapek introduced the word “robot” to the English vocabulary; originallythe word itself derived from the Russian word “rabota,” or work (noun). He also wrote many politically charged works dealing with the social turmoil of his time, strongly opposing the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe.
The R.U.R. is set in a factory that produces artificial workers — “robots”— from synthetic organic matter. The robots physically resemble humans but lack original thoughts, emotions, and consciousness. They are created by humans to perform physical labor and eliminate hardship for humanity. Eventually, robots organized themselves, rebelled against humans and managed to kill most of them on Earth. Subsequently, the robots were unable to reproduce, because humans possessed a secret formula for their skin production; so, robots end and ultimate existence became inevitable.
The play is a social commentary on the dangers of humans thinking too naively and ignoring the consequences of their unwise actions. It also explores the idea that robots are viewed as unliving things, rather than people.
The play was an enormous success in Europe and North America and, eventually, it was translated into over 30 major languages by 1923. It inspired many other creative works, including Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”—a set of guidelines for how robots should ideally behave in human society.
In his play, Čapek attempted to convey to readers that human consciousness is the state of being aware of oneself and the world around them, including thoughts, memories, feelings, emotions, sensations, and environments. It is a subjective experience that is unique to each person and unique only to humans.
Historically, only humans among all other living creatures and species on the Planet Earth created complex social institutions, sophisticated technology, political parties, mythology, creative literature and art, major world religions, theological teachings, and the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments, to name a few.
Consciousness also has many biological and social purposes, such as: processing information, choosing actions, setting priorities, adapting to new information, and making rational decisions. Some examples of consciousness include: the tune of music stuck in people’s head, the sweetness of chocolate cake, the throbbing pain of a toothache, the strong emotions for the loved one, and judgement between good and evil, and right vs. wrong.
Today’s development and attempts to apply Artificial Intelligence (AI) to our daily life and, subsequently, to replace human labor is somewhat a blueprint of the Čapek’s 1920s play R.U.R.
Artificial Intelligence is a field of computer science that focuses on creating machines that can perform tasks that normally require human intelligence and labor. Artificial Intelligence systems use algorithms, quantitative data, and computational power to emulate human intelligence. In short, AI is the technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, and rational decision making.
In fact, the introduction of digital technology and cellular network and means of communication have already significantly changed many traditional aspects of our contemporary daily life, education system and cultural values. It remains a mystery of how the introduction of AI can and will change the fabric of human society—i.e., shared moral values, norms of behavior, laws, social institutions, cultural practices, distribution of wealth, and lifestyle of biological humans.
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, and Clipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
President Joe Biden pardoned a turkey last week. Former Gov. Sarah Palin pardoned a turkey, in a video that went worldwide, as another turkey was being slaughtered behind her.
But on Tuesday, the day before Thanksgiving, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced he has granted clemency to five Alaskans who, through efforts consistent with changing their life, have warranted consideration for clemency.
Each case was carefully reviewed and reflects the principles of redemption, accountability, and fairness embedded in Alaska’s clemency laws and processes, the governor said.
“Clemency is a tool that recognizes when people have paid their debt to society, have taken responsibility and rebuilt their lives,” said Dunleavy. “These five individuals, through their actions, have warranted a second chance that clemency can provide and it’s inspiring to acknowledge their efforts.”
Clemency was granted to William V. May for Driving While Intoxicated in 1999; Richard A. Vicknair for the sale of a depressant, hallucinogenic, or stimulant drug in 1970; Daniel J. Smith for misconduct involving a controlled substance in 2010; Daniel W. Woods for persons under 21 on alcohol premises in 2002; and Kit A. Stavrum for the sale of a depressant, hallucinogenic or stimulant drug in 1982.
In Alaska, clemency is a constitutionally granted power of the governor, used to forgive or reduce penalties for crimes when individuals have shown remorse and made significant changes in their lives. Each request undergoes a rigorous review to ensure it serves justice, public safety, and fairness, he said.
“Every person has the capacity for change, and these individuals have shown that they are more than their past mistakes,” said Dunleavy.“Through their hard work and commitment to bettering themselves, they’ve earned this recognition and the opportunity to move forward without the weight of old convictions.”
Gov. Bill Egan granted clemency 99 times during his term as Alaska’s first governor after statehood, over half of those granted in all of state history. Most other governors since Gov. Frank Murkowski have taken a pass. Dunleavy has granted just one, while denying more than 200 requests during his six years in office.
It’s unclear what type of clemency each man received. Clemency can mean a pardon, commutation, or reprieve. A pardon would remove the guilt and the punishment of the offender, making them innocent again in the eyes of the law. Other clemency could reduce a sentence.
