Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer in the Dunleavy Administration, announced that she is resigning this year.
She was hired by Dunleavy in July 2019, and six months later the Covid pandemic hit the world, putting her front and center in managing through what was then an unknown, scary, and often deadly virus.
She said on X/Twitter: “Deeply honored to serve as Alaska’s CMO, grateful for the resilience and spirit of Alaskans. I am transitioning out of state service later this year, but my dedication to health, wellness, and #Alaskans remains unwavering—thank you for your trust.”
As I gaze out my window at the tranquil morning blue February sky, I’m struck by the contrast between my modern comforts and the challenges faced by my ancestors in this unforgiving climate. Thanks to advancements in energy production, my family and I enjoy a level of warmth and light that was once unimaginable.
Yet, in my retirement, I’ve grown increasingly concerned about the direction of our energy management. While cost-saving measures should be a priority, it seems that the emphasis is shifting towards sustainability at the expense of affordability and common sense. The Chugach Electric Association, for instance, champions sustainability as a cornerstone of its business ethos.
But what does “sustainability” truly mean for us, the rate payers? It appears that decision-makers, including incumbent board members, are fixated on certain renewable sources like solar and wind while disregarding others like hydro. This narrow focus overlooks the financial realities and practicalities of energy generation.
For us, the average rate payers, this raises critical questions about the reliability and cost-effectiveness of our energy supply. Relying solely on intermittent renewables without adequate storage solutions risks grid instability, particularly during calm or overcast periods.
In engineering decisions, ideology must not trump practicality. While renewable energy is vital for our environment, it must be implemented in a manner that ensures both affordability and reliability for consumers. Ultimately, effective energy management should take precedence over ideological preferences.
For me, understanding the nuances of energy resource quantification is key to controlling costs. Renewable resources can be classified as either intermittent or firm. Intermittent sources, like solar and wind, are weather-dependent and energy-limited, while firm sources can produce power 24/7.
Consider this: The CIRI wind farm on Fire Island costs 9.6 cents per kilowatt hour, while Bradley Lake Hydroelectric only costs 4.6 cents per kilowatt hour. The projections for the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, with its immense capacity, were similarly cost-effective.
While the Chugach Electric Association’s focus on sustainability is commendable, the reality is that intermittent renewables alone cannot sustain Alaska’s energy needs. Firm resources like hydro must play a central role if we are to secure a reliable and affordable energy future. Let’s ensure that practicality prevails over ideology as we chart our course forward.
Michael Tavoliero is a writer at Must Read Alaska.
Former President Donald Trump was the surprise on Friday, when he dialed into the Fairbanks Lincoln Day Dinner and spoke to the crowd via the cell phone of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who was in attendance at the Westmark Hotel gala.
The dinner, organized by the Republican Women of Fairbanks, is an annual event. This year’s keynote address was by Drew McKissick, the co-chair of the South Carolina Republican Party and co-chair of the Republican National Committee. McKissick is a nationally sought-after speaker, but nobody expected The Donald to make an appearance — except Dunleavy, who is a vocal supporter of Trump.
Republican Party candidate for chair Carmela Warfield, National Committeewoman Cynthia Henry, RNC Co-Chair Drew McKissick, and Republican Women of Fairbanks member Cheryl Markwood at the Lincoln Day dinner in Fairbanks.
It was a room filled with Republicans from across the state, including House Speaker Cathy Tilton, Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Anchorage Mayor Dave and First Lady Deb Bronson, Republican activist and candidate for party chair Carmela Warfield, congressional candidate Nick Begich III, Rep. Will Stapp, and Americans for Prosperity Alaska Director Bethany Marcum.
Also, state Sen. Rob Myers, Rep. Frank Tomaszewski, and Fairbanks Mayor Dave Pruhs were there, along with former Sen. John Coghill, former Rep. and current Assembly member Tammie Wilson, Assembly member Barbara Haney, mayoral candidate Aaron Lojewski, and ARP Finance Chairman Jason Warfield. Spotted was ARP vice chair and candidate for Chair Mike Robbins and wife Tatiana.
Senate candidate Leslie Hajdukovich was present and every time her name was mentioned, the room erupted with applause. She is running against Sen. Scott Kawasaki, who is a Democrat.
Sen. Dan Sullivan sent a video message, as he was overseas at the time of the event.
Although Sen. Lisa Murkowski was in state, she did not attend or send a message.
The Alaska Department of Transportation is searching for a new manager for the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
In 2022, former Lt. Gov. Craig Campbell agreed to be the interim manager of the airport after the position opened up upon the departure of the previous airport manager, Jim Szczesniak, in February 2022.
Campbell told a group of aviation professionals earlier this month that he would aim for stepping aside in May.
Campbell spent 35 years in the United States Air Force and Alaska Air National Guard. A certified air traffic controller, he served as chief air traffic controller for Vandenberg Air Force Base and Elmendorf Air Force Base. He retired as a three-star general.
He was the commissioner for the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, including the Alaska National Guard, under Gov. Frank Murkowski and Gov. Sarah Palin. He was appointed third in succession and became lieutenant governor when Palin resigned and Sean Parnell stepped into the Governor’s Office in July of 2009. Campbell also served for 10 years on the Anchorage Assembly.
Campbell was the Alaska Aerospace Corporation’s president and chief executive officer from 2012 to 2018. He has been an aviation consultant on numerous Alaska projects throughout his decades in Alaska.
The position was advertised last week at Workplace Alaska. The person selected will be in charge of the second busiest cargo airport in the United States and the fourth busiest in the world. TSAIA is responsible for one out of every 10 jobs in Anchorage, which is the crossroads for many Alaska travelers and cargo jets from across the world.
He has offered to remain part-time to assist in special projects and continue as the interim airport lead until a replacement is selected.
The sponsor of a bill to create a task force to regulate psychedelics in mental health told the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee on Friday the task force will cost nothing. Senate Bill 166’s goal, however, is the same: Prepare Alaska for use of psychedelics in treating some mental illnesses like post traumatic stress disorder.
Sen. Forrest Dunbar, who is pushing the use of some psychedelics for mental health treatment, is a member of the committee, and presented the bill to the only two other members who were present on Friday: Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and Sen. Click Bishop. Both Sens. Kelly Merrick and Elvi Gray-Jackson were no-shows.
“Working with the sponsor in the House and the Department, we have change some of the nature of the task force. Now the overriding purpose of the task force is still exactly the same — we are preparing Alaska, hopefully, for what we see as the very likely legalization in the medical context of certain of these substances,” Dunbar said.
The changes that the committee substitute bill now has include dropping the fiscal note (cost of the bill) because instead of being a task force staffed by the Department of Commerce, it would be a legislative task force staffed by those working in the sponsors’ offices. The language also clarifies that the task force is not there to advocate for legalization but to create a regulatory framework in anticipation of federal legalization of some substances.
Also, there is no longer a requirement that one of the members of the task for be an herbalist. Instead, a seat was added for a registered nurse. The task force will get no per diem or travel.
The Task Force will still consist of a “diverse group of experts and stakeholders” tasked with exploring the integration of psychedelic-assisted therapies into Alaska’s healthcare system, according to the bill. It will meet at least four times, submit a report of recommendations to the legislature and the governor by Dec. 31, and terminate at the convening of the 34th Legislature.
“Research shows the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapies in treating PTSD, depression, anxiety, and substance-use disorders, conditions highly prevalent among veterans. What barriers exist in implementing such therapies in Alaska? What regulations are needed for practitioners to ensure safe integration of psychedelic medicine? These are some of the questions the task force will explore,” Dunbar said in his sponsor statement for the bill.
He said the Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing the drug known as “ecstasy,” also known as MDMA or “Molly” for treatment of post traumatic stress disorder, “with approval expected by the end of this year.”
But, in fact, the FDA has been asked to review MDMA, or midomafetamine (the active ingredient in street drugs like ecstasy and Molly) for post traumatic stress disorder. The request was made by a pharmaceutical company, Lykos, which has been studying the use of the drug in therapy. The FDA is in a 60-day review period, in which it will decide if the drug will be fast-tracked through the approval process.
If approved, it would reschedule MDMA from Schedule I drug. Schedule I drugs have no accepted medical use and are known to have a high potential for abuse.
The FDA recently accepted a new drug application for midomafetamine (“Molly”) capsules to be used in combination with psychological interventions, including psychotherapy for PTSD. The FDA also granted priority review to the new drug application with a target action date of Aug. 11.
The bill moved from Labor and Commerce Committee to the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Matt Claman, one of Dunbar’s fellow Anchorage Democrats.
The same legal group that represents Alaska Airlines fight attendants who maintained they were discriminated against due to their Christian beliefs has successfully fought a case for six Muslim families in Minneapolis, who didn’t want their children taught LGBTQ and other sexual materials in school.
The St. Louis Park Public School District in suburban Minneapolis will allow the families to opt their children out of sexually based materials being taught in English classes.
First Liberty has represented the families since last year, along with Renee Carlson, a volunteer attorney at True North Legal.
“Our clients are devout Muslim families who immigrated from war-torn Somalia. Religious freedom and educational opportunities are among the most significant reasons why they came to the United States,” said First Liberty.
“Just like you, and countless families across the country, these parents believe they have an obligation to raise their children consistent with their faith. All they asked for was prior notice and the ability to opt out from books that discuss sexual orientation or gender identity. But the district denied their requests,” the attorneys wrote. They opened the case in December with two letters to school district officials.
“We explained that their denials violated state law and the First Amendment,” the group said.
“Diversity and inclusion must extend to religious families, too,” said First Liberty attorney Kayla Toney. “This is why the First Amendment specifically protects religious exercise.”
Due to the legal challenge, the school district put in place a process by which any family can request opt-outs and alternative learning.
“And it’s not just for elementary school students. The middle school and high school are granting opt-out requests as well,” the group said.
In January, First Liberty Institute filed a motion for summary judgmenton behalf of two flight attendants who sued Alaska Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants union in 2022 after the airline terminated them because they asked questions in a company forum about the company’s support for the “Equality Act.” The union wouldn’t defend them.
Alaska Airlines VP of Inflight testified that an employee’s use of the term “opposite sex” violates the Airlines’ discrimination policy because that implies that there are only two sexes.
“Alaska Airlines has made it clear that employees who hold traditional Christian beliefs must stay silent if they want to keep their jobs,” said Stephanie Taub, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “Now, we clearly see that Alaska Airlines’ obsessive focus on DEI created a hostile work environment for anyone who dares disagree with the company about moral issues.”
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan released a statement in response to the reported death of imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison in Siberia.
Navalny was a Russian opposition leader, and activist who organized demonstrations and ran for office to unset Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government
“Alexei Navalny was a very courageous Russian leader, respected by millions of Russians. His murder—and, let’s be clear: he was murdered—underscores the danger of the world in which we’re living and the brutality of the Putin regime,” Sullivan said.
“But it also underscores a huge vulnerability for the dictators of the world—Putin, the ayatollahs in Iran, and Xi Jinping: They fear their own people. Navalny had millions of Russians who looked up to him and wanted him to be an elected leader. As Putin was heading into his elections in the next several weeks, he decided to kill Navalny. The fact that dictators around the world fear their own people is a vulnerability that we have to work harder to exploit in our fight against authoritarian aggression,” Sullivan said.
President Joe Biden said that while he doesn’t know the details of Navalny’s death, “there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something Putin and his thugs did.” It appears the president is using the death of Navalny to gin up support in the House for the funding for the Ukraine defense against Russia and Israel’s defense against Iran and other terrorist-fueling countries.
Alexei Navalny had already survived being poisoned and he had spent months in isolation, when he died in an Arctic Circle maximum-security prison. The 47-year-old Russian was seen on video on Thursday a court appearance in the Russian penal colony. He was smiling and making lighthearted comments.
Sullivan made his remarks from Munich, where he is leading a delegation to the Munich Security Conference.
“One of our greatest strengths relative to our adversaries—China, Russia, Iran, North Korea—is our vast network of allies, which administrations and U.S. Senators have built up over decades,” said Sullivan. “Given the increasingly dangerous world we live in, we need to deepen those alliances and strengthen U.S. credibility. The Munich Security Conference is a good opportunity to do that. The conference is also an opportunity to deliver a message from the American people: We expect our NATO allies to meet their defense spending obligations.”
I always appreciate it when the Left tells us what they think is important. This month’s example comes out of the Democrat, dark money-funded, independent campaign group that calls itself the 907 Initiative.
Earlier this month, we received a gorgeous 4-page, color brochure printed on heavy paper entitled the Annual Performance Report Bronson Administration Year 3 of 3. It’s an attack on Mayor Dave.
Not unexpectedly, it was a hatchet job on him, his administration, aimed at battlespace preparation for the mayoral election next month, essentially their local version of Orange Man Bad. It was sent out to whomever the 907 Initiative has on their mail list.
The piece concluded with an easily predictable overall performance grade of F, based on their grades on 8 areas, 2 F’s, two D’s, 3 C’s, and an incomplete. An unweighted combination of those grades in the public schools would be a D+ rather than an F, as C’s outnumber F’s.
But this is a campaign document intended to do just as much damage as possible to Bronson, so their math simply doesn’t matter. Only the conclusion does.
The piece lists 12 sources for information used to construct this thing. 6 of them were Alaska Public Media, 3 of them Alaska Daily News, with Alaska News Source, Alaska Current, and MOA Budget making up the balance of sources. How unbiased those sources are once again depends on your position on the political divide.
If you take a look at the different sections, those areas with a grade of F are the places they think they can win this election on. These are Housing and Homelessness and Ethics & Transparency. Their D grades are slightly less important to the campaign, including Hiring & Management and Roads & Transportation. Note that their incessant carping about slow response to early season record snowfall the last two years is no longer considered to be a prime campaign issue.
It is no surprise that the political left is outraged at Bronson’s refusal to kowtow to the ridiculous demands of the Assembly majority and the Homeless Industrial Complex they’ve managed to construct over the years. Completely ignored is any analysis of bad faith negotiation by that majority, when they toss aside agreements with the mayor like they do with so many homeless Alaskans.
Likewise, it is also no surprise that they are angry that their grifters and rent seekers are being left out of the competitive award of contracts. Perhaps leftist and union entitlement is not a positive in a supposedly competitive environment. As always, ethics is entirely in the eye of the beholder, and when ethics complaints are wielded early and often as political weapons aimed only at those of us on the political right, pardon me if we simply don’t care.
Those of us with memories slightly longer than a week and a half do remember ethics and Gov. Sarah Palin. One of the things Palin ran on was a promise to clean up Alaska politics. Once elected, she was buried under a dump truck full of ethics complaints via anti-Palin leftist lawfare. Perhaps Bronson ought to be congratulated for not giving the Left the rope they most desperately want to use to politically hang him with.
There is some weirdness in their grading. For instance, they give Bronson a C on Schools and Education, something the Mayor has no control over. While both the Assembly and Mayor can veto the ASD budget, neither in my memory has stepped up to the plate to do so. Imagine the heart-rending screams of pain, anguish and highly selective outrage should someone, especially someone on the political right, reject a bloated ASD budget.
In their conclusions, the grifters at the 907 Initiative ding Bronson for failing to implement a response plan to homelessness, their version of simply giving Meg Zaletel and her Homeless Industrial Complex a blank check and rubber stamp on everything they demand.
They then go on to carp about high vacancy rates across the Muni. Some would see this as a good thing, for if you are getting the same job done with fewer people, why is that a problem?
They end with a crack about unethical behavior and problematic advisors. Remind me again about the Assembly’s secret advisor for their anti-detransitioning ordinance a few years ago, notorious luggage thief Sam Brinton.
This is shaping up to be an ugly campaign. Pay attention to what the Left is telling you it is about, as I expect that this has been fully focus grouped and polled so as to maximize union turnout next month.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
The U.S. House passed legislation on Thursday that would limit President Joe Biden’s ability to stop liquefied natural gas export permits. The bill, H.R. 7176, passed 224-200.
Nine Democrats, including Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, joined all Republicans in approving “Unlocking our Domestic LNG Potential Act, whose key sponsor is Texas Republican Rep. August Pfluger. The bill would give the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the exclusive authority to approve LNG projects.
The bill is likely to die in the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats, and where Vice President Kamala Harris can break a tie vote.
Since his first day in office, “President Biden has targeted our domestic energy producers and actively undermined America’s efforts to be energy independent,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement on Thursday.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out solidly in support of the bill: “In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and ongoing weaponization of natural gas for geopolitical influence, U.S. LNG is playing a critical role in providing energy security for allies in both Europe and Asia. With Europe still relying on Russia for nearly 15 percent of its natural gas consumption, and global demand expected to increase for several decades, continued expansion of U.S. export capacity is essential to American interests. H.R. 7176 would enable this expansion while still allowing for appropriate federal reviews of potential new export facilities through the longstanding Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) process.”
