Anchorage lawmakers are advancing an ordinance that could significantly raise the costs of being a landlord in the city. The measure would require rental property owners to provide tenants financial relocation assistance equal to twice the tenant’s monthly rent, plus any deposits and prepaid rent, if a building is deemed unsafe and tenants are ordered to vacate.
Under the amendment to Anchorage Municipal Code 15.05.060, landlords would have just seven days after a notice to vacate to make these payments. If they fail to do so, the city could use a new Relocation Assistance Fund to cover the cost and then pursue repayment from the owner. Daily penalties would accrue for landlords who do not reimburse the municipality within 60 days.
The ordinance also amends Title 8 to make noncompliance with notices to vacate or enforcement orders a misdemeanor offense. Property owners who fall behind on repairs, or cannot afford relocation payments, could find themselves facing both steep financial penalties and criminal charges.
The proposal is similar to what is on the books in several Southern California cities, such as Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Long Beach.
The ordinance is presented as a response to Anchorage’s aging multifamily housing stock and a punishment for property owners who defer repairs on their properties. The measure adds another layer of cost and legal exposure for landlords who are already struggling with high maintenance bills, property taxes, and limited rental income.
By forcing landlords to foot the bill when tenants are displaced, the city is effectively raising the cost of owning and maintaining rental housing. Opponents warn that some property owners may simply sell or leave the rental market altogether, further tightening Anchorage’s already limited housing supply.
The Assembly will take up the measure during its Tuesday meeting. If passed, it would mark one of the strongest examples yet of local government using criminal penalties and financial mandates to shape the rental housing market at the expense of property owners.
The item is 10.G.2 on the Assembly agenda for the meeting that begins at 5 pm on the ground floor Assembly Chambers of the Loussac Library in Anchorage.
The Alaska Legislative Council will take up its stalled plan to move the Capitol’s mailroom out of the downtown Juneau building at its Aug. 27 meeting.
The project was approved by the council in December as a security measure, with the goal of having the offsite mailroom in place before the 2026 legislative session. But the relocation has been on hold since lawmakers failed to secure funding in this year’s budget.
In a memo to council members, Legislative Affairs Agency Director Jessica Geary noted that about $30,000 has already been spent preparing the new space, but the Senate Finance Committee cut the operating budget increments needed to fully staff and maintain the facility. The funding was not restored in the final budget.
The project would have added about $324,000 annually, including administrative services and rent. Without those increments, work was halted, leaving the partially prepared site unfinished.
The Legislative Council, which manages internal legislative operations between sessions, is now being asked to decide whether to continue pursuing the relocation or to keep mail operations inside the Capitol.
According to the memo, if the council wants to proceed, one option would be to redirect unspent legislative funds that lapse each year, rather than seek new appropriations. If the council decides the relocation is no longer a security priority, mail services will remain in the Capitol, while offsite spaces already secured will be used solely for storage.
A confidential December 2024 memo outlining the original security rationale for moving the mailroom will be reviewed during the council’s executive session on Wednesday.
On Aug. 24, 1912, President William Howard Taft gave Alaska a political birthday gift — signing the Organic Act that created the Territory of Alaska out of a loosely governed district on the birthday of its author, Delegate James Wickersham.
The act’s passage was an important milestone in Alaska’s path toward statehood, which would not come until 1959.
Taft was the 27th president (1909–1913) and the only president to then serve as chief justice of the US Supreme Court, a role he considered to be his highest honor. He served from 1921-1930. During his presidency he also supported the passage of the 16th Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, establishing the federal income tax and fundamentally changing how the government funded itself.
We are gathering signatures on a petition to repeal Ranked Choice Voting (RCV.) This is not the first time we have tried this. We completed a petition in time to vote on the question in the fall of 2024 and it failed by a handful of votes.
I wrote a My Turn on the subject last time that was focused on why Republicans are victims of RCV and that Democrats – who favored creation of RCV – are the beneficiaries of the system. This time, I want to focus on why the ordinary voter, whether an active party member or not, should hold RCV in low regard.
RCV is just not natural or comfortable for voters with experience in the conventional, tried-and-true system. You went to the polling station, voted for the person you liked the best (or disliked the least) and went home to learn the result of the election that evening. With RCV, you are encouraged to rank the top four candidates from who you like the most to the who you like the least. Then you wait for two or three weeks while the Division of Elections (currently staffed by entirely competent people stuck with a lousy process to count) run their computers over and over again to finally determine a winner.
RCV is based on gullibility and trickery. It is not natural to be asked to vote for someone you do not like and that you would not vote for at all in a normal election process. Republicans figured it out in time to mount a “Rank-the-Red” campaign for 2022 encouraging their members to only vote for Sarah Palin or Nick Begich and not to vote for any others but it did not work. The key is who you vote for first. Palin and Begich split those top line votes and the Democrat won.
The result in 2024 would have been the same but the second-place Republican, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dalstrom heroically withdrew. It should also be noted that in 2024, the RCV system enabled a Democrat candidate who was a convicted felon in a New York prison, to appear on the final four general election ballot. That could not have happened under the old system.
The final criticism of RCV is that the public, including political parties cannot participate in a recount. Before RCV, a recount included the re-processing of ballots by machine (not a computer, just a ballot-reading machine that is not connected to any network) and if that was unsatisfying, it could be done by hand. Either way, the public could be physically present to observe the process. With RCV, we must trust the Division of Elections’ RCV computer algorithms and operators and there is no third party to audit the polling.
You may be inclined to say “C’mon man, we voted in 2024 to keep it, what is different now?” Well, 320,985 Alaskans voted in that election and the repeal failed by just 737 votes. A lot of people were confused. The Vote No on the repeal campaign spent $13 million dollars of mostly dark, outside money. The Vote Yes campaign never got off the ground. They were outspent 100-1 and lawyered into oblivion by the Vote No campaign. This time, we have highly skilled leaders, more resources and very motivated campaign workers.
We can do this but we still need signatures. You can help by going to https://www.repealnowak.com/ website to contribute money. We are gathering signatures in public places so keep an eye out for our people carrying petition booklets. If you would like to know when and where we’ll be, send an email [email protected]and we’ll figure out how best to connect with you. Thanks for getting involved.
Walsh is a retired land use consultant living in Juneau.
The Chelsea Inn Motel’s windows are boarded up and the building is under federal control following a dramatic dawn raid Friday morning that involved FBI SWAT officers, Anchorage Police, and the US Marshal. The operation, which targeted a suspected narcotics distribution hub, led to the federal seizure of the property amid an ongoing criminal investigation.
At approximately 6 am on Aug. 22, law enforcement teams executed a high-risk search warrant at the notorious motel, located at 3836 Spenard Road. Flashbangs were used to breach the building, and officers conducted room-by-room searches while detaining occupants in a nearby parking lot. Arrests were made at the scene, although the FBI had not yet released names or details about those taken into custody.
Federal authorities formally posted legal documents on the building’s exterior announcing the seizure of the property. A prominent sign from the US Marshals Service now hangs in one of the lower boarded-up windows, warning: “United States Marshal No Trespassing.”
Also posted on the building is a federal civil lawsuit filed under Case No. 3:25-cv-00177-SLG, titled United States of America v. Chelsea Inn Hotel. The suit seeks court approval for the judicial forfeiture of the hotel, alleging it has been used to facilitate ongoing drug trafficking activity.
Beside it is a copy of the “Notice of Seizure for Judicial Forfeiture” that outlines the federal government’s claim that the hotel was used for the distribution of controlled substances, specifically fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine.
The legal action effectively transfers control of the property to the federal government, pending court approval, and prevents public access to the premises, which may pose a significant health hazard due to the accumulated drug residue.
The Chelsea Inn has long been a source of concern for Spenard neighbors and neighboring businesses. The property has been linked to violent incidents, including a fatal stabbing in June and a shooting in 2023.
Signs posted on the Chelsea Inn Motel in Spenard.
Dunn & Bradstreet lists James Su as the president of the Anchorage Chelsea Inn Corp.
Scott Miller once saved lives in rural Washington with breathing treatments and early Covid care. Today, the physician’s assistant is fighting for the right to practice medicine in Alaska, after Washington State branded him a “grave danger to public health” and stripped his license, simply for using Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.
Miller’s Washington State license was revoked because he dared to fight the medical associations and mainstream media mafia — he used Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid during the pandemic.
Miller worked in a rural Washington community. He had initial success in treating Covid patients with breathing treatments and learned that patients he sent to the hospital died. Consequently, his focus was to stop patients from being hospitalized and getting them out of the hospital when he could.
Things were going well, with more people seeking him out for help. Then he spoke at a medical freedom rally at the state capital; that resulted in 150 complaints filed against him with the Washington Medical Commission.
Other than one patient who complained PA Miller didn’t wear a mask, no real patient complaints were levied. And no patients were harmed.
On Oct 25, 2023, the WMC permanently revoked his license because he “represents a grave danger to public health and safety. The Commission concludes that (Miller) cannot be rehabilitated, and that permanent revocation is a necessary and appropriate resolution to this case.”
Wow! Saving people’s lives by using repurposed drugs gets your license permanently revoked in Washington.
In my many years of nursing, I have seen doctors who were once addicted to cocaine, and nurses who stole narcotics from patients in pain, and doctors who did really bad malpractice yet they kept their license. Yes, the drug addicted personnel had to go through rehab. But Miller’s “crime” led to people getting well and keeping patients out of the hospital. Somehow that was more serious in the eyes of the WMC.
Fast forward to Miller applying for a medical license in Alaska. Miller was originally turned down by the Alaska State Medical Board (ASMB) due to the decision from WMC.
Miller appealed the ASMB decision and on August 20, 2025, Chief Administrative Law Judge Joan Wilson presided over an appeal hearing on whether the ASMB should reconsider its decision. A short synopsis from Broken Truth.TV at this link. Connect to the link for a more thorough review.
The appeal hearing lasted eight hours. Miller defended his actions as clinically justified and supported by patient outcomes. He highlighted Alaska’s 2021 ASMB decision supporting physician discretion when a group of local doctors tried to remove the medical licenses from several of our courageous doctors.
The state, represented by attorney Mr. Higgins, relied solely on the decision from the WMC.
Several doctors, including one from Alaska, testified on Miller’s behalf. Dr. Tom Grissom, who specializes in Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, noted Alaska’s freer medical environment—free from mandates that afflicted Washington. Grissom treated over 1,000 patients with Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine without hospitalizations and placed high-risk patients on prophylaxis. Grissom presented testimony that painted Miller as a “victim of politicized medicine”.
Several pastors also testified on how Miller saved members of their family and the church family with his treatment protocols.
This hearing is really at the center of the medical tyranny during the Covid years. It depicts the tension that exists among state medical boards, federal guidelines, and individual healthcare practitioner autonomy.
Supporters see Miller as a hero who saved lives. Other critics cite ethical breaches.
The Alaska Medical Board’s final decision is expected in 30-60 days. I am prayerful it will remember how the board allowed our doctors medical autonomy and weren’t sidelined by the crazed Covidians who saw only one way to approach the disease–the government way. I hope the board cuts through the noise and does the right thing.
Several of the doctors speaking at our Alaskans4personalfreedom event have also been harmed by regulatory agencies. Dr. Pierre Kory, our keynote speaker, lost three certifications for preaching early treatment modalities.
Dr. Ryan Cole had his license restricted in Washington for five years for treating patients with Ivermectin. The WMC said he could still do pathology consults as the state needed that expertise.
Dr. Meryl Nass lost her board certification. Unbelievably, she was required to undergo neuropsychiatric evaluation and alcohol/drug evaluation. Yet she still had her license to practice medicine suspended for the same crime—using Ivermectin to treat Covid patients.
All three speakers will be at our Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom conference on 11 October 2025 at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium. Dr. Kory will discuss the “War on Ivermectin”; Dr. Cole will present on “Be Your Own Best Doctor” and things you can do for yourself; and Dr. Nass will present on “The Attack on Farming, food, and our Health”.
Other presenters will give you information about healthcare legal and legislation successes; parental choice in education and the new Federal Tax Credit Scholarship program in the Big Beautiful Bill; Artificial Intelligence and its effect on your children’s critical thinking; and the stakeholder economy and its threat to the American economy. Our very own Dr. Farr will discuss medical topics relevant to medicine in Alaska.
Interested? We have phenomenal nationally recognized speakers. Tickets are only $55 for an all-day event including lunch. Go to https://ak4pf.org/2025-conference/to purchase tickets. And students are free with student ID—just no lunch. Hope to see you there!
And if you would like to help PA Miller with his legal fees, please consider purchasing his book, The Most Dangerous Man in Washington and donating to his GiveSendGo.
Linda Boyle, RN, MSN, DM, was formerly the chief nurse for the 3rd Medical Group, JBER, and was the interim director of the Alaska VA. Most recently, she served as Director for Central Alabama VA Healthcare System. She is the director of the Alaska Covid Alliance.
The 2026 “open primary” is shaping up to be a very crowded field for Republicans. This will undoubtedly please the Left, who will run only one candidate. In the general election, which is when ranked-choice voting comes into play, a de facto canceling of RCV could happen — if the GOP survivors swallow their pride and Dahlstromize the general election.
This is a compliment to one of the actual candidates, Nancy Dahlstrom, who inspires about as much authentic enthusiasm as Mitt Romney eating boiled mutton, but she deserves credit for putting Nick Begich into Congress.
The Dahlstromization of the likely remaining three conservative candidates, whittled down to one, would guarantee that whatever pro-abortion, pro-NEA, pro-child mutilation, pro-communist Democrat is in the general election would be flattened like ribbon pasta in November.
The candidates will all be talking about resource extraction, the Green Lobby, DC bureaucrats, how fish management should not be politicized, opening ANWR and the Naval Petro Reserve. They will tout Donald Trump as a good guy.
Like the rest of us, every single conservative candidate has their flaws, but that’s OK. Yet every single one of them will miss the obvious and most important bull’s-eye, like a Thanksgiving turkey sitting atop a fence-post with a sign around its neck, saying “Shoot me!” Unless, of course, the conservative media and the voters keep up the full-court press.
The “people” are used as an abstract every election cycle. It is not much different than Marxist talk about “the masses”. Of course, it is impossible to believe that we all are on the same side. In the War for Independence 250 years ago, about a third of “the people” favored secession from the British, a third were loyalists and a third conveniently changed sides, depending on whose army was in their neighborhood.
After winning an election, the awarding of one faction’s preferred status is the usual outcome. Thus, someone is going to come out a loser: does the Left celebrate the drag-queen, Green, abortion lobby’s victory, or does the Right celebrate prolife resource extraction with school vouchers? And how about commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen? Trawlers, set-netters, drifters or dip-netters?
There is one solution to this, and it is just possible that we can force them to stop sweeping this filth under the rug, which is no longer hidden, but presents a bulge in the rug the size of elephant dung, with the accompanying stench.
What issue is it, then, that can actually unite “the people”?
It is not to promise any of the things listed above except our liberties. Freedom enhances all economic classes, and costs the beleaguered state budget absolutely nothing.
Tell me, what person does not want honest elections? What person does not give lip-service to the state or federal constitutions? What person does not want to empower the people and their instrument, the Grand Jury?
All sides brag endlessly about how free we are, even though it is increasingly obvious that it is not true. They talk about how our constitutions and Founding Fathers were so wise, but they have not read either the Federalist Papers, or the notes of Alaska’s constitutional convention.
Now, we are going to argue over the meaning of the two constitutions, and here is where the teaching moment happens. It happens when ANWR, RCV, BLM, DEI, LGBTQ, NPR-4, etc, take a backseat to what really matters: constitutional talk.
We cannot expect the citizenry to have read those documents, but those sworn to uphold them should, and they ought to understand them properly. Conservatives don’t even understand them, but most should have the integrity to begin doing so.
We do not have “three co-equal branches of government.” The legislature, as a body, is superior to the executive and judicial branches.
The constitution is not whatever the judiciary says it means. They can give advice. It may or may not be enforced. Take care of that, and the tyranny of the absurd judicial council will be emasculated, with or without a change in how we appoint judges.
It would immediately end RCV, abortion funding. And it would release home-schooling from the Judge Zeman tyranny.
Alaska’s statehood vote was flawed, and we — along with Hawaii — ought to unilaterally claim the four options that Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands and the Philippines still exercise. You do not ask permission for exercising what is rightfully yours.
Federal control of 65% of Alaska’s land is obviously unconstitutional. We ought to begin by exercising what Utah and Wyoming are initiating: claiming the Bureau of Land Management lands for the state. It would only be a start, but a good one.
Election integrity is vital to re-establish confidence in government. This will involve not only cleaning up voter rolls, but also discarding the vastly distrusted voting machines and mail-in ballots.
The mysterious and unworkable system of boroughs ought to be discarded, and turned into what the Census Bureau already calls them: counties. And with it, all the anglo-saxon common law rights that pertain to sheriffs, who will be more likely to protect us from rogue FBI and IRS raids, no matter what administration is in power in DC.
And all candidates for governor ought to advertise that they will unhesitatingly wield the unique power the state constitution grants them, found in Article 3, Section 16, to end statutory and constitutional abuses by either the judiciary or the bureaucracy.
This would not turn a hypothetical constitutional governor into a tyrant, but would rather return the power of the purse, the power to define privacy, the power to limit the jurisdiction of the court, the power of the line-item veto and the power (shared with the people) of amending the constitution where it belongs — to the legislature.
Citizens, regain the power the state constitution gives us, by demanding that all conservative candidates for governor not wait for some fictional, future ideal time to fix this broken state. Make them promise:
To Dahlstromize the general election, by dropping out to the candidate that won the most votes in the jungle primary.
To wield Article 3, Section 16 in regards to the many myriad ways the judiciary has overthrown the constitution.
To restore election integrity with a lieutenant governor who will do so.
Yes, the mainstream media will squeal like pigs. Outside money will demonize all of you with insufferable ads and lies. It will be a good sign, because they know their stranglehold on our state would be threatened.
What’s wrong with that?
Bob Bird is former chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.
The National Indian Gaming Commission has approved the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s amended gaming ordinance, paving the way for the tribe to pursue a casino project on Douglas Island in Juneau.
In a letter to tribal President Richard Peterson, Acting NIGC Chairwoman Sharon M. Avery confirmed that the tribe’s ordinance complies with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and federal regulations. The approval is site-specific to the Jimmie George Allotment, a 20-acre parcel of restricted Native land on Douglas Island leased by the tribe for up to 50 years.
The allotment is part of a 220-acre land exchange finalized in 2003 and remains under federal restriction against alienation and taxation. According to the NIGC’s review, the land qualifies as “Indian country” under federal law, and the tribe has demonstrated both jurisdiction and governmental authority over the parcel.
The tribe’s lease agreement allows for development that includes a lodge, restaurant, gift shop, bingo, entertainment venues, and business enterprises, alongside tribal government facilities. The NIGC determined that these plans meet the requirements of IGRA because the tribe exercises substantial governmental power, including lawmaking, public safety, disaster response, and cooperative agreements with the City and Borough of Juneau.
The decision follows a shift in federal legal interpretation regarding tribal jurisdiction over Alaska Native allotments. A 2024 opinion from the US Department of the Interior’s Solicitor clarified that Alaska Native allotments are subject to the same principles as allotments in the Lower 48.
The approval marks the second recent decision by the NIGC allowing gaming ventures in Alaska. The Commission authorized the Eklutna Tribe, with roughly 70 members, to operate a casino near Birchwood in Anchorage. That decision is being litigated by the state and others, as many neighbors of the area object to a casino in their quiet residential area.
With more than 37,000 enrolled citizens, Tlingit and Haida would be one of the largest federally recognized tribes in Alaska. It’s membership claim is believed by many, however, to be greatly inflated.
The Alaska State Medical Board has released a draft regulation that, for the first time, formally defines boys as male and girls as female based on their biological sex at birth, and prohibits doctors from providing medical interventions that attempt to alter that reality in patients under 18
The Board has released a draft regulation that would bar physicians from performing transgender medical interventions on anyone under the age of 18, formally classifying such procedures as “unprofessional conduct” that would be subject to disciplinary action.
The board also approved a short statement that says abortions performed just prior to delivery are typically unethical. Alaska law currently allows abortion up to the moment of birth.
“Alaska state law allows for elective late term abortions, up until the time of delivery,” the board’s statement reads. “The Alaska State Medical Board believes this is not ethical medical practice and does not embody the values of Alaskans. Many Alaskans and even physicians are unaware of this. We encourage Alaskans to engage with their representatives and to advocate for new legislation to bring state law into alignment with community values on this issue.”
The proposed rule relating to the chemical and surgical mutilation of children falls under the regulation 12 AAC 40.967 – Unprofessional Conduct, the section of state regulation that sets the standards for medical licensure in Alaska. The draft adds a new subsection, number 36, that specifically addresses medical treatments related to gender identity in minors.
The regulation states that “providing medical or surgical intervention to treat gender dysphoria or facilitate gender transition by altering sex characteristics inconsistent with the biological sex at birth” would constitute a violation. It lists as examples puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, mastectomy, phalloplasty, and genital modification procedures.
Two exceptions are included in the draft. Physicians would not be subject to discipline if providing treatment for congenital sex development disorders, sometimes referred to as intersex conditions, or if performing non-elective procedures required as a result of physical injury.
The board also introduces new definitions to clarify its intent. “Biological sex” is defined as “the male or female designation based on chromosomes, gonads, hormones, and genitals at birth, irrespective of psychological identity.” “Gender transition” is defined as “any process to align sex characteristics with a gender identity different from biological sex.”
By inserting the prohibition into the “unprofessional conduct” section, the medical board would gain authority to discipline licensees who engage in such practices, up to and including suspension or revocation of a medical license.
The draft rules are subject to the state’s regulatory process, which includes a public comment period before any final adoption. Once comments are received and reviewed, the board may make revisions before sending the regulation for final approval and implementation.
If adopted, the policy would put limits on what has become a profit center for some doctors — the gender mutilation of children and forcing them into a life of chemical dependency.
Earlier this year the medical board unanimously adopted a statement urging the Alaska Legislature to outlaw chemical castration and surgical gender transition treatments for minors, but the Alaska Legislature is controlled by Democrats and a few enabling Republicans who refused to act.
In June, the US Supreme Court sided with Tennessee’s law that bans medical treatments for minors whose parents are seeking gender transitions. The court said that such laws do not automatically violate the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The change to the regulation in Alaska would likely be challenged by the ACLU in state court, with pro-mutilation advocates claiming that such a prohibition violates the Alaska State Constitution’s privacy clause.
