It’s another flip-flop for Alaska’s famously flipping representative in Congress.
Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola this week voted against an appropriations bill that would block the Biden-Harris Administration’s lockup of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s areas — sections that were specifically set aside in law for oil leases. She voted to keep the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska’s oil and gas in the ground, too, starving Alaska’s economy and American security.
The bill passed the House, 210-205, without Peltola’s support; all Democrats voted against it except for Rep. Vincente Gonzalez of Texas.
The legislation that Peltola didn’t support will, if passed by the Senate, force Interior Sec. Deb Haaland to restart the Biden-canceled oil and gas lease sales in Alaska. President Joe Biden has kowtowed to the environmental lobby and only granted the Willow project its leases. Almost other oil and gas leases in Alaska have been killed or delayed under false reasoning that they need more study.
Peltola’s vote is yet another flip flop in a series of positions she has changed. In April, she said, “Closing off NPR-A is a huge step back for Alaska, failing to strike a balance between the need for gap oil and natural gas and legitimate environmental concerns, and steamrolling the voices of many Alaska Natives in the decision-making process.”
Among the items in the appropriations package that relate to Alaska and energy security for America, the bill requires the Secretary of the Interior to:
Resume quarterly onshore oil and gas lease sales.
Issue 5-year offshore oil and gas leasing programs on time.
Conduct lease sales in the Alaska region.
The bill prohibits funds being used to cancel oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.
It also:
Expands access to critical minerals by blocking certain Bureau of Land Management withdrawals.
Prohibits the EPA from imposing extra fee (taxes) on oil and gas producers created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Ensures ancillary mining activities, including exploration operations and construction of a mine access road, are permitted with or without the discovery of a valuable mineral deposit, codifying the Rosemont decision.
Prioritizes funding for public safety programs by providing $2.81 billion (+14.5%) for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, including $746 million for Public Safety and Justice programs, which is 34% above the FY24 enacted level.
Provides $1.47 billion for the Bureau of Indian Education (+7.5%), including $271 million for education construction, which is 15% above the FY24 enacted level.
Provides $8.56 billion for the Indian Health Service (+23%) along with $5.98 billion in advance appropriations for FY26.
Attorney General Treg Taylor said the Department of Law will take no action in prosecuting Anchorage Police officers involved in the use of deadly force that ended the life of a gun-wielding man who reached for his weapon after being commanded to stop.
Taylor, in the summary of the June 3 incident, wrote, “the three officers’ actions, given the totality of the circumstances, were not objectively unreasonable, which is the quantum of proof that would be required to proceed with criminal charges against the officers. Filing criminal charges against Sergeant Frey, Officer Kimball, and Officer Flechsing is, therefore, inappropriate.”
A summary of the first couple of pages of Office of Special Prosecution’s review of the June 3 deadly force incident in Anchorage follows:
On June 3, at 9:29 p.m., Anchorage Police received a 911 call from a civilian reporting that “an albino kinda but more black” man had just fired a gun and was walking north on Karluk Street near East 19th Ave. with a taller Samoan male.
The caller told 911 dispatch that earlier the man pulled a gun on children in the neighborhood and tried to take a scooter from the children. The caller reporter the man with the gun had pouffy curly brown hair, was wearing brown pants and a gray shirt, a black hat and black shoes and was walking with a taller Samoan male wearing a black hoodie. The two men were heading toward a senior center parking lot on East 19th Ave.
Another caller at 9:31 p.m. told 911 dispatch there was a man screaming and yelling as he walked down East 19th Ave. toward the senior center with a gun. The caller described the man as wearing brown pants and a blue shirt and said he was near Orca Place. The caller said the man kept screaming and yelling as he waved the gun around.
A third 911 caller, at 9:33 p.m., said she heard one gunshot from inside her residence at East 19th Ave. and Karluk Street. She heard a man with the gun yelling and observed he was wearing brown pants with a gray or black top. She said he was with a taller Samoan man. She said ran back inside her house.
Sergeant Jesse Frey reported to dispatch that he was on-scene at East 19th Avenue and Orca Place at 9:32:39 p.m. Officer Isaac Kimball and Officer Nicholas Flechsing both advised dispatch at 9:35:2l p.m. that they were on-scene at the senior center. Officer Timothy Dorsey arrived as well and brought his dog, K-9 Ray, with him to the north side of the senior center, where Sergeant Frey, Officer Kimball, and Officer Flechsing were located; each officer was wearing a standard APD uniform.
The officers were standing behind a low wall near a dumpster and observed a tall Polynesian male walking on the other side. Officers identified themselves and commanded the Polynesian man, later identified as K.O. to show his hands.
K.O. raised his hands above his head and he was commanded to sit on the ground. While K.O. was following police commands to sit, another male wearing brown pants and a dark shirt, later identified as Tyler Jacob May, ran behind the low wall into the senior center’s north parking lot.
Officers observed a pistol in May’s right hand. Officers immediately commanded May to drop the gun and get on the ground. May put the pistol in his front waistband, raised his hands above his shoulders, and turned away from the officers.
May refused the officers’ commands to get on the ground and, instead, ran east through the parking lot. Officer Dorsey immediately released K-9 Ray to apprehend May. K-9 Ray caught up to May and bit May in the upper back, which knocked May to the ground. Sergeant Frey, Officer Kimball, and Officer Flechsing, all armed with rifles, moved towards May as Officer Dorsey remained behind them.
As the officers approached May, K-9 Ray continued to pull at May and May ended up with his back on the ground. At that point, the officers saw May with his right hand inside the front of his pants and saw as May removed the pistol from his waistband. May pulled the pistol out and pointed it in the direction of officers. At that time Sergeant Frey, Officer Kimball, and Officer Flechsing each fired their rifle, striking and killing May.
Sergeant Frey was equipped with an APD—issued body camera. The footage is 13 minutes and 16 seconds long, the audio begins at 60 seconds, and the timestamp is 9:29:37 p.m., the report said.
According to the report, Sergeant Frey activated his lights and sirens at 9:30:52 p.m. As Sergeant Frey drove to the scene, dispatch provided updates over the radio. At 9:33:32 p.m., as Sergeant Frey was driving slowly on East 19th Avenue, he rolled down his driver’s side window and a woman’s voice was heard telling him “he went into the senior center.”
Sergeant Frey relayed that information on his radio. At 9:34:14 p.m., Sergeant Frey arrived at the senior center, exited his patrol vehicle armed with his rifle, and confirmed with Officer Montgomery (who had just arrived) that they were at the senior center. He walked to the patrol vehicle’s rear passenger door and retrieved his ballistic helmet. Sergeant Frey was parked at the north entrance to the senior center, on East 19th Avenue.
At 9:35:12 Sergeant Frey started walking with Officer Montgomery towards the southeast from his patrol vehicle, in the direction of the northeast side of the senior center. The two officers reached the north side of the senior center at 9:35:48 pm. As they walked, they briefly discussed that the suspect may be on the east side of the building; that is, the side of the building they could not see. At 9:36:29 p.m., Officer Kimball approached and asked if the officers had eyes on the suspect. Sergeant Frey stated they did not but they could hear “mechanical clicking.”
Sergeant Frey’s camera was obscured by his arm at 9:36:36 p.m. and remained obscured, except for a brief moment, until 9:37:29 p.m. At this time, Sergeant Frey announced he was going to clear a corner and he walked east along the north side of the senior center approaching a low brick wall with a green dumpster next to it; he briefly looked around the corner and observed a closed door.
At 9:37:42 p.m., Sergeant Frey stepped on a wooden bench in an apparent move to look over the brick wall to the pathway behind it. Sergeant Frey stepped down from the bench and his camera was obscured from 9:37:49 p.m. until 9:38:19 p.m. Officer Dorsey announced “Hello, APD. Keep your hands where I can see them.”
Immediately after that announcement multiple officer voices were heard yelling “Stop! Drop the gun!”, “Get on the ground!”, and “You will get shot!” but no one was visible in this part of the body-camera video footage.
Sergeant Frey, who was to the right of Officer Kimball and Officer Flechsing, walked toward the low brick wall and at 9:38:36 p.m. Suspect K.O. was visible sitting on the ground underneath a tree behind the brick wall as Sergeant Frey told Officer Montgomery to cover K.O.
At 9:38:40 p.m., Sergeant Frey continued to move toward May who was on the ground with K-9 Ray biting him. An officer commanded May to “drop the gun!”
At 9:38:41 p.m. gunshots began and ended at 9:38:43 p.m. At 9:38:44 p.m. Sergeant Frey and Officer Kimball moved backwards as Officer Dorsey relayed on his radio “K4. Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect down.”
Sergeant Frey turned around at 9:38:51 p.m. and K.O. remained seated on the ground with both of his arms held above his shoulders. Commands to K.O. were given and he was seen complying and ultimately was handcuffed. Sergeant Frey then confirmed with the officers that Officer Kimball and Officer Flechsing fired, and Officer Montgomery and Officer Dorsey did not.
Officer Kimball’s APD-issued body camera footage was 10 minutes and 54 seconds long, the audio began at 60 seconds, and the timestamp is 9:29:47 p.m.
The complete summary of Kimball’s camera and other details are in the 20-page report below:
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly will take up a resolution on Thursday that would direct the borough clerk to explore and report back on a plan to move the borough to mail-in elections, as they are conducted in Anchorage and in Juneau for local elections.
In Anchorage and Juneau, mail-in elections have resulted in local elections being swung to the far left. Both Anchorage and Juneau assemblies are now effectively ruled by Marxists or soft-Marxist majorities.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough clerk would be directed to set up a task force in alignment with Get Out the Native Vote and League of Women Voters, the resolution says.
The resolution is being offered by the presiding officer of the borough, Assemblywoman Savannah Fletcher, who is also the leftist running for State Senate after abandoning her run for borough mayor. She is an attorney with the radical Northern Justice Project.
The assembly meetings begin at 6 p.m. in the Mona Lisa Drexler Assembly Chambers, located in the Juanita Helms Administration Center at 907 Terminal Street, Fairbanks. Those wishing to testify can submit comments in writing to [email protected] or can wait to testify in person at the meeting. To testify, sign up by calling the clerk at 907-459-1401.
Fletcher is also leading the charge to suppress the free speech rights of conservative Assemblywoman Barbara Haney. The ethics complaint against Haney for having authored an opinion column will be heard at the July 25 meeting, per the decision made by Fletcher.
Although a widely circulated news photograph shows the astounding moment a bullet whizzed by Donald Trump’s head on July 13, while he spoke at a rally in Butler, Penn., the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation cast a doubt on whether that bullet actually struck the edge of Trump’s ear. It could have been something else, said Christopher Wray to the House Judiciary Committee.
“With respect to former President Trump, there’s some question about whether or not it’s a bullet or shrapnel that hit his ear,” Wray said. “I don’t know right now whether that bullet, in addition to causing the grazing, could have landed somewhere else.”
He did not say what kind of shrapnel could have hit Trump’s ear, while some Trump opponents have speculated that it could have been glass from the teleprompter. That theory has been dismissed by the liberal fact-checking site Snopes.
A photo, taken by Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Doug Mills from his vantage point beneath the stage, shows a bullet passing by Trump’s ear.
A screenshot of the photo taken by Doug Mills, who was covering the July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Penn. for the New York Times.
Wray confirmed that the F.B.I. has recovered eight casings of bullets. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris said that the assassin, now dead, had fired eight shots.
Wray said that the gunman may have had a firearm with a collapsible stock, which would make it easier for him to carry the weapon unnoticed. But Wray gave no reason for why he was not stating this definitively, since the weapon was found with the gunman, Thomas Crooks, on the roof.
On July 5, Crooks, 20, had visited the site of the upcoming July 13 rally in Butler, according to Wray, and that he had researched online information about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, including searching for the phrase “how far away was Oswald from Kennedy.” Lee Harvey Oswald is the man who is blamed for killing President Kennedy in 1963.
After researching those terms, Crooks then registered for the rally. On the morning of the rally, Crooks went to the site in Butler, and then left in the afternoon to buy 50 rounds of ammunition, Wray testified.
Wray, whose agency is in charge of the investigation, also said that Crooks had purchased a ladder, according to a blood-soaked receipt that was found on his dead body after snipers took him out. But Wray said no ladder was found at the scene and he doesn’t know how Crooks got up on the roof of the building that gave him a clear shot at Trump.
Crooks was documented back at the rally site just before 4 p.m. on July 13, when he flew a drone within 200 yards of the stage where Trump would be speaking at about 6 pm. The F.B.I. found the drone in Crooks’ car, along with a drone controller and two explosive devices that could have been remotely detonated. Crooks had a transmitter as well for the devices, Wray said.
Other testimony from the Pennsylvania State Police has shown that the Secret Service was alerted to Crooks’ presence on the ground with a rangefinder at 5:51 p.m.
At 5:52 p.m., the Secret Service shared the information about the suspicious person with the rangefinder.
At 6:03 p.m., Trump took the stage at Butler.
At 6:09 p.m., people in the area started shouting about the man on the roof with the gun. One officer tried to get up on the roof, but retreated when Crooks turned his gun on him.
One video, shot at 6:11:28 p.m. show people shouting and fleeing after they spot the gunman.
???#BREAKING: NEW footage shows the crowd spotting the shooter BEFORE secret service take action.
Wray was more forthcoming in his testimony than was Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who testified on Monday and then resigned her office after her testimony was widely criticized as disingenuous and evasive.
In newspaper jargon, the expression is “if it bleeds, it leads.”
Apparently, the reporters, editor, and editorial page staff at the Anchorage Daily News decided to take it literally and go after Gov. Mike Dunleavy for a veto.
The Blood Bank of Alaska was the supposed victim in this attempted tabloid crime thriller, and the governor was seen as the hatchet man, wielding a weapon that … gave the blood bank money but less government money than desired by some?
To be clear, blood banks are a critical part of living in a modern world. Millions of us, whether we realize it or not, rely on a system to keep us safe if we, or a loved one, ever needs a planned or urgent medical procedure. Clean blood is critical to that, and the United States has come miles from the trauma of the 1980’s and the tainted donations of the past that caused infections and grave harm.
But noble efforts can also lighten scrutiny. The Blood Bank of Alaska, which has received (checks notes) millions of dollars from Alaska’s state treasury over the past decade or so, should be careful that it doth not protest too much, and marshals the press to defend it when it simply gets less state money than expected. That kind of offense-defense could come with scrutiny. And it should.
The Blood Bank of Alaska resides in a very large facility, one that the ADN reported in 2016 cost over $45 million Some of that funding came from financing (i.e., debt), some came from donations, and a chunk came from lawmakers and governors who believed in the corporate mission.
What happened next was extraordinary, especially for reporters in 2024 to have missed: An expose in 2016 detailed how the blood bank was making mass appeals for blood donations, while at the same time being paid to ship nearly one out of every six batches of blood to California. When pressed about details on the contract, the blood bank declined to provide them, citing “contractually driven” reasons.
Fast forward to 2022, and the blood bank was before the Legislature, asking for funding. This time, its CEO said to the House Finance Committee (May 4, 2022) it was for $3 million to “create instate testing and laboratory services.” The Legislature obliged with $2 million and Gov. Dunleavy did not veto a penny.
By simple arithmetic, that meant two-thirds of the funding for the laboratory was secured in 2022.
Come two years later, to 2024. The capital budget was brought up in the Alaska Legislature’s Senate Finance Committee. A draft version included $1.5 million to the Blood Bank of Alaska.
A board member with the blood bank had requested additional funding. When questioned by senators about the total cost, the blood bank board member said the same number, $3 million was the total cost. However, the request this year from the blood bank was for $2 million, purportedly for equipment.
The Legislature obliged, partway, and funded $1.5 million.
Which brings us to Dunleavy’s veto. The governor was almost certainly reviewing every transaction, which is supposedly and sincerely believed to be essential. But politics is about making decisions with finite resources for infinite needs.
What can be summarized from this? The Blood Bank of Alaska had, on multiple occasions over the years, said it needed $3 million to build an instate testing facility. Even after the veto, the Legislature and governor had, over two years, funded the blood bank with $3 million. All the governor did was reduce dollars that were not even requested on the record by the very organization receiving the money.
The timeline may seem dry and procedural, but reporters and the editorial board of Alaska’s largest newspaper, instead of doing some basic Google search-like work that would take less than an hour, whipped up outrage fanned by certain lawmakers who are virulent opponents of the governor on a topic their own paper could have provided essential context.
What this story represents is the laziness of the contemporary press, and the persistence of editorial prejudices. A person can politically, and even personally, hate a politician but still look clear-eyed at his decision. A person can love the mission of an organization, while still holding it to account. But it is in the stories and editorials such as the blood bank veto coverage that the seeds of future attacks are grown.
Pay close attention and wait for the forthcoming article next year about a trend in the heartlessness of the governor, and pointing to this instance as one of several case studies, as the newspaper uses its own specious stories as proof.
Jefferson said an educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people. Let’s hope the readers of Alaska’s largest (fast-fading) newspaper exercise more education and thought than its what the ADN is serving up.
Suzanne Downing founded Must Read Alaska in 2015 with a goal of keeping the mainstream media in Alaska more accountable.
As pro-Hamas riots outside the U.S. Capitol faded into the night Wednesday, Alaska’s U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola joined all other House Democrats in voting against moving forward with a resolution “strongly condemning the Biden Administration and its Border Czar, Kamala Harris’s, failure to secure the United States border.”
The resolution passed 210 to 202, along party lines, with Republicans prevailing. The final vote would move forward.
Although illegal aliens are trafficking large amounts of deadly drugs into Alaska Native villages, Peltola did not wish to be on the record condemning the Biden-Harris policies of the past four years, which have led to a large spike in drug-related overdoses and deaths, as well as societal breakdown in Native villages. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Alaska experienced the largest percent increase in drug overdose deaths of any state between 2022 and 2023. Fentanyl-related overdose deaths among Alaskans increased by nearly 75 percent in one year.
Having slept on it, Peltola voted yes on Wednesday morning, agreeing to condemn Biden, who she once endorsed for president, and Harris, who she has recently refused to endorse for president. It was a 180-degree vote flip in 12 hours.
Five other Democrats voted in favor of condemning the administration’s border policy, including Peltola’s two co-chairs of the Antifa-Rural Blue Dog Democrat Caucus— Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Glusenkamp-Perez of Washington. Peltola and Perez are in tough positions for reelection this year.
Since Biden-Harris took office in 2021, illegal border crossings have soared and overwhelmed the capabilities of tribal, local, and state governments. In December of 2023, illegal crossings from Mexico reached an all-time high.
In the first six months of the federal fiscal year of 2024, more than 1.7 million illegals have entered the United States, more than twice the population of Alaska.
According to the American Immigration Council, Alaska’s estimated 5,000 undocumented immigrants comprised 13 percent of the overall Alaska immigrant population, and were one out of every 100 Alaskans in 2016.
By 2023, that number reached as high as 11,260 illegal immigrants living in Alaska, according to the Alaska Department of Law. These illegal immigrants cost the state more than $72 million a year.
That led to a lawsuitby Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor and 19 other attorneys general against the Department of Homeland Security for failing to secure the border.
“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS or Department), under the false pretense of preventing aliens from unlawfully crossing the border between the ports of entry, has effectively created a new visa program— without the formalities of legislation from Congress—by announcing that it will permit up to 360,000 aliens annually from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to be ‘paroled’ into the United States for two years or longer and with eligibility for employment authorization,” the lawsuit reads.
The Department’s parole power is exceptionally limited, having been curtailed by Congress multiple times, and can be used “only on a case-by- case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.” But the Biden-Harris Administration’s new “parole” program allows aliens in their home countries to obtain the benefit of being able to obtain advance authorization to enter the United States—despite no other basis in law for them doing so.
The parole program established by the Biden Administration fails each of the federal law’s limiting factors: It is not case-by-case, is not for urgent humanitarian reasons, and advances no significant public benefit. Instead, it amounts to the creation of a new visa program that allows hundreds of thousands of aliens to enter the United States who otherwise have no basis for doing so. This flouts, rather than follows, the clear limits imposed by Congress.
Biden and Harris did not engage in notice-and-comment rule-making under the Administrative Procedure Act, substituting instead its unilateral judgment to bring into the United States hundreds of thousands of aliens who otherwise have no other authority to enter.
President Joe Biden gave what seemed to be a farewell address from the Oval Office on Wednesday night, but he did not resign. Instead, he said he will use the next six months to work on beating up the pharmaceutical industry, packing the Supreme Court, lowering prices for American consumers, fighting climate change, and taking away guns owned by U.S. citizens.
While he spoke, spray paint vandalism on the nation’s monuments in Washington, D.C. was still fresh and the burning remains of American flags drifted around the nation’s capital, where violent protesters had spent much of the day taking over the streets, battling police and raising Palestinian flags in place of the American flags they tore down and burned.
It appears that every historical monument in DC is being vandalized with no intervention from the police. pic.twitter.com/dQxKcW0NlS
Biden, who had on heavy makeup, giving him an uncharacteristic healthy tan, said he had come to the realization over the past few weeks that passing the torch to a new generation was best for America, and that he was proud of his 50 years of service to the country.
“I’ve decided that the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation,” he said.
“I’ve made it clear that America is at an inflection point, one of those rare moments in history where the decisions we make now will determine our fate of our nation and the world for decades to come America is going to have to choose between moving forward or backward. Between hope and hate, between unity and division,” he said.
Biden used his bully pulpit to ask people to vote for Kamala Harris, his vice president, who he praised for her intelligence and experience.
He referred to Jan. 6, 2021 obliquely, but said it was the worst attack on democracy since the Civil War.
Outside, police had been battling violent protesters for much of the day.
“Today, the violent crime rate is at a 15-year low. We’re also securing our border. Border crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office,” Biden said.
He said he was proud to have put together an administration that looks like America, admitting that he had hired for diversity, equity, and inclusion, rather than for ability or skill.
DHHS Assistant Sec. Rachel Levine with Sam Brinton, a nonbinary member of the Biden Energy Department who was later arrested for stealing luggage at airports.
In the few minutes that Biden struggled to read the teleprompter, he never said exactly why he had sent out the letter withdrawing from the 2024 presidential race, with just over 100 days until the general election.
“Nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy, and that includes personal ambition. And I’ve decided that the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. That’s the best way to unite our nation. You know, there is a time and a place for long years of experience in public life, there’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, and yes, younger voices, and that time and a place is now.”
Biden repeatedly lied throughout his speech, saying things like inflation is down and border crossings are below what they were under the Trump Administration.
Meanwhile, at a rally in North Carolina, Donald Trump said that “If Kamala will lie to you so brazenly about Joe Biden’s mental incapacity, then she will lie to you about anything. She can never, ever be trusted.”
In the week and a half since surviving an assassin’s bullet, Trump drew over 10,000 people to his Wednesday rally, and the line of people who could not get in stretched for a mile outside the venue.
So, if I’ve got this right, far-left protesters can riot in Washington D.C., sometimes for days, burn the American flag, torch leaders in effigy, take over buildings, disrupt official proceedings, and force a former president into a bunker, but the only time it’s an… pic.twitter.com/Spjwy3DKhZ
NORAD detected, tracked, and intercepted two Russian TU-95 and two People’s Republic of China H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on July 24.
NORAD fighter jets from the United States and Canada conducted the intercept.
The Russian and Chinese aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace. This Russian and Chinese activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen as a threat. NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence, the agency said.
An ADIZ begins where sovereign airspace ends and is a defined stretch of international airspace that requires the ready identification of all aircraft in the interest of national security.
NORAD is a unique bi-national command between the United States and Canada. NORAD employs a layered defense network of satellites, ground-based and airborne radars and fighter aircraft in seamless interoperability to detect and track aircraft and inform appropriate actions. NORAD remains ready to employ a number of response options in defense of North America.
President Joe Biden was set to address the nation at 8 p.m. on Wednesday from the Oval Office to explain his decision to discontinue his campaign for reelection.
Board of Trustee Gabrielle Rubenstein has resigned from the Alaska Permanent Fund Board of Trustees.
Rubenstein is at the center of a scandal in which she was accused of putting undue pressure on professional staff members of the $80 billion fund to steer influence toward her own investment interests or those of her billionaire father, David Rubenstien, founder of the equity firm the Carlyle Group. The scandal unfolded after the Alaska Landmine news site obtained leaked emails that showed the staff was concerned about her involvement in the actual operations of the fund, and emails that showed she may have pressured the governor to not reappoint Ethan Schutt to the board.
Rubenstein said she had not been attending meetings in person because of health concerns.
Her resignation came during the same meeting that she stepped back from her role as vice chair, and during the same meeting that the board elected a new chair and vice chair — Jason Brune and Adam Crum. The board has been in Fairbanks on Wednesday for its quarterly meeting.
Rubenstein was appointed in 2022 by Gov. Mike Dunleavy to serve a four-year term as one of the four public members of the Board of Trustees. She runs her own private equity investment company, Manna Tree.
