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Alaska judge tosses man’s case against Trump being on Alaska ballot

Suzanne Downing
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Alaska judge tosses man’s case against Trump being on Alaska ballot

A federal lawsuit filed in Alaska to keep former President Donald Trump’s name from being able to appear on the ballot this year as a presidential candidate was round-filed on Friday by federal judge Josh Kindred, who mainstream media reporters were quick to point out is a Trump judicial appointee.

Plaintiff John Castro, part of the Never Trump Movement, sued Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and Trump, saying Trump is “ineligible to pursue or hold any public office in the United States pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution …”

Judge Kindred pointed out in his ruling that the same lawsuit has been thrown out in other courts across America because Castro lacks standing to bring such a lawsuit. To have standing, a plaintiff must show “injury in fact” to his own legal interests.

Castro’s legal interests are many and varied: The New York Times describes his him as being involved in filing a “dizzying array of legal disputes.” Castro was indicted this month on 33 felony charges of tax fraud.

Castro has filed dozens of these unsuccessful lawsuits to bump Trump from the 2024 election. The man has served as his own legal counsel, having no support from constitutional attorneys and no formal legal training. Castro has been a perennial candidate for various seats, sometimes as a Democrat, other times as a Republican.

His case to stop Trump from being a candidate was dismissed by a federal judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, went through the 11th Court of Appeals, and landed at the U.S. Supreme Court; the Supreme Court appeal file can be found at this link.

Castro alleges that Trump is ineligible to “pursue and hold public office given his alleged provision of aid or comfort to the convicted criminals and insurrectionist that violently attacked our United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. To delay this case risks a constitutionally ineligible individual holding public office in direct conflict with the United States Constitution. As such, it is unquestionably a matter of imperative public importance to such a grave extent as to justify deviation from normal appellate practice and to require immediate determination in this Court.”

The U.S. Supreme Court last year denied Castro’s request to move the case forward on the calendar.

Some lawsuits meant to keep Trump from advancing have been more successful in state courts, but no such lawsuit has been filed with the State of Alaska court system.

However, the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled that Trump took part in an insurrection, and thus is disqualified due to the Constitution’s 14th Amendment. Maine’s Secretary of State disqualified Trump on her own. The Trump campaign is appealing these adverse rulings.

Murkowski hires new state director, adds staff

Suzanne Downing
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Murkowski hires new state director, adds staff

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski has announced the hire of Karina Waller as her new state director. She will replace Steve Wackowski at the end of next month as he transitions to the private sector. The senator also announced some other key additions and promotions in her office.

State directors for both Alaska senators leave for private sector

“Although I’m sad to lose Steve, I’m very pleased that Karina will be joining the team as my new State Director,” Murkowski said. “Steve has been a rock for my office and I wish him and his family the best. He will continue to serve Alaska in the Air Force Reserve as he moves to the private sector, while Karina will provide for a seamless transition. She brings a wealth of state and federal knowledge and connections and will be a valuable asset for my office and Alaskans from day one.”

Karina Michael Waller, a second-generation Alaskan, will leave her role as executive director of the Ted Stevens Foundation in Anchorage. She received her joint Juris Doctor/Master in International Affairs from the Washington College of Law at American University and began her career working as a Legislative Assistant for Sen. Stevens in Washington, D.C. in 2002.  She later went on to become his legislative director and deputy chief of staff. 

Additional Staff Hires:

Grace Kubitz joins the Washington DC office as a legislative assistant for Rural and Community Development. Born and raised in Anchorage, she holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Alaska, Anchorage and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Sustainability from the University of Michigan.

Prior to joining Murkowski’s office, Grace spent several years serving as a staff member legislators, most recently for Rep. Zack Fields, a far-left Anchorage Democrat member of the Alaska State Legislature. She worked in government, policy, and business development most recently with NANA Regional Corporation as their external affairs manager.

Jesse Oney joins Murkowski’s DC office as the assistant to chief of staff and deputy scheduler. He began his career six years ago in Murkowski’s DC Office as an Intern. He went back to Alaska to serve as a field director on Senator Dan Sullivan’s 2020 reelection campaign and returned to Capitol Hill to work as Sen. Sullivan’s Staff Assistant. In 2022, he moved back to Alaska to work as the director of grassroots on Sen. Murkowski’s reelection campaign.  He returned to DC in January, 2023, where he worked as a legislative correspondent on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs where Murkowski serves as vice chairman.

Julia Colver joins Murkowski’s DC office as a new staff assistant. From Palmer, she has a BA in International Studies and an MA in Russian and Eurasian Studies from Leiden University in the Netherlands. She studied Russian language at Turan University in Kazakhstan. Previously she worked as a fundraising intern for Papillon Academy, an international NGO based in Paris seeking to increase female access to civics education. Additionally, she briefly worked for Murkowski’s office as an intern, assisting with defense and foreign affairs policy.

Staff Promotions:

Matthew Jones was promoted to legislative correspondent after previously working as a staff assistant. He previously worked on Murkowski’s 2022 reelection campaign. He attended Marquette University and earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Jones was born and raised in Eagle River.

Noah Nosek was promoted to legislative correspondent after joining Murkowski’s DC office as a staff assistant in July. From Anchorage, he graduated from Colorado State University with a bachelor of science in Ecosystem Science and Sustainability. During his time at university, he worked for the Forest Service as a biological technician focusing on invasive species mitigation.

UPS, after caving to Teamster’s deluxe contract demands in 2023, starts laying off workers

Suzanne Downing
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UPS, after caving to Teamster’s deluxe contract demands in 2023, starts laying off workers

The Teamsters were jubilant in August, after their members ratified a five-year contract for more than 340,000 UPS Teamsters, raising wages across the board, and awarding drivers annual pay of over $170,000 a year for full time work, if they stay until the end of the contract.

By the end of the contract, all full-time UPS delivery drivers will make $49 per hour on average, or about $102,000 annually.

On Tuesday, UPS management announced it will let go of 12,000 people, approximately 14% of its 85,000 management jobs. As wages are driven upward, the company will no doubt turn to artificial intelligence and automation to maintain profits.

Part of the agreement the company signed with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters required the company to hire 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS, and to fill 22,500 open positions. Thus, the layoffs at UPS appear to be in the management tier.

On a call with shareholders, Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé was quoted by Bloomberg News saying job reductions were due to softer demand for packages and higher labor costs. Layoffs would save the company $1 billion in 2024, she said.

“We are going to fit our organization to our strategy and align our resources against what’s wildly important,” Tomé was quoted as saying. She added that there will be a “change in the way we work” and that she is ordering workers to return to the office five days a week. Many workers in America are still working from home or on split schedules, a work style that started during the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021, which has led to a number of detrimental results for companies.

UPS employs nearly 500,000 people, and the Teamsters, which represents 300,000 of the workers, threatened to strike if higher wages were not part of the final labor agreement.

 UPS announced that its fourth-quarter 2023 consolidated revenues of $24.9 billion were a nearly 8% decrease from the previous year’s fourth quarter.

“Consolidated operating profit was $2.5 billion, down 22.5% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, and down 27.1% on an adjusted basis. Diluted earnings per share were $1.87 for the quarter; adjusted diluted earnings per share of $2.47 were 31.8% below the same period in 2022,” the earnings report said.

Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola can take credit for the layoffs. She came down solidly on the side of the Teamsters last year in the middle of the contract negotiations. Peltola was one of 172 of the 213 Democrat House members who pledged in an open letter to not intervene if the negotiations broke down and the strike was called.

Along with Peltola, far-left Democrat members of The Squad members signed the letter of support of Teamsters, including Jamaal Bowman, Greg Casar, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, among others in the Democrat caucus.

“We are hopeful that both sides can negotiate in good faith and reach a consensus agreement that addresses basic human needs and allows workers to do their jobs safely and with dignity. However, in the event a fair and equitable collective bargaining agreement cannot be reached, we commit to respect our constituents’ statutory and constitutional rights to withhold their labor and initiate and participate in a strike,” the congressional representatives said in their letter.

The company made no concessions at the bargaining table last year, and the final contract provides these employment benefits, as detailed by the Northwest Progressive Institute:

Historic wage increases. Existing full- and part-time UPS Teamsters will get $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract. Existing part-timers will be raised up to no less than $21 per hour immediately, and part-time seniority workers earning more under a market rate adjustment would still receive all new general wage increases.

General wage increases for part-time workers are double the amount obtained in the previous UPS Teamsters contract — and existing part-time workers received a 48 percent average total wage increase over the next five years. Wage increases for full-timers will keep UPS Teamsters the highest paid delivery drivers in the nation, improving their average top rate to $49 per hour.

Current UPS Teamsters working part-time received longevity wage increases of up to $1.50 per hour on top of new hourly raises, compounding their earnings. 

New part-time hires at UPS now start at $21 per hour and advance to $23 per hour. All UPS Teamster drivers classified as 22.4s are reclassified immediately to Regular Package Car Drivers and placed into seniority, ending the two-tier wage system at UPS.

Safety and health protections, including vehicle air conditioning and cargo ventilation. UPS will equip in-cab A/C in all larger delivery vehicles, sprinter vans, and package cars purchased after Jan. 1, 2024. All cars get two fans and air induction vents in the cargo compartments.

All UPS Teamsters now get Martin Luther King Day as a full holiday.

No forced overtime on Teamster drivers’ days off. Drivers would keep one of two workweek schedules and can’t be forced into overtime on scheduled off-days.

UPS Teamster part-timers have priority to perform all seasonal support work using their own vehicles with a locked-in eight-hour guarantee. 

Seasonal work is contained to five weeks only from November-December.

The creation of 7,500 new full-time Teamster jobs at UPS and the fulfillment of 22,500 open positions, establishing more opportunities through the life of the agreement for part-timers to transition to full-time work.

More than 60 total changes and improvements to the National Master Agreement — more than any other time in Teamsters history — and no concessions from the union.

UPS, like Amazon, has been experimenting with drone delivery. UPS Flight Forward is testing drones that can deliver small packages beyond the visual line of sight, without having to use human spotters on the ground monitoring the route or skies for other aircraft.

Veterans Administration sued by transgender veterans for cutting them out of mutilation surgery they demand

Suzanne Downing
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Veterans Administration sued by transgender veterans for cutting them out of mutilation surgery they demand

Natalie Kastner, an Army veteran who served at Fort Drum, N.Y.. for two years, got into his bathtub and took scissors to his own right testicle in 2022. Without any medical training or anesthesia, he tried to perform his own transgender surgery, since the Veterans Administration doctors wouldn’t do it for him, due to current regulations. He ended up in the hospital after severing an artery and nearly bleeding to death.

Kastner is one of the plaintiffs in a new lawsuit demanding that the VA start performing transgender surgeries on those who want them, and without further delay.

The Transgender American Veterans Association filed the federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs last week to force the VA to provide genital castration surgery and the lifelong medical care associated with the procedures and hormone dousing that goes along with transgenderism.

The group says there are about 163,000 living transgender veterans. Some are getting limited transgender care, such as hormone therapy, at VA facilities.

The VA says that 10,000 transgender Veterans are receiving transition-related care in the VA healthcare system. This figure is an underestimate given that not all transgender Veterans meet criteria for a formal diagnosis of gender dysphoria and also many choose not to disclose their gender identity to providers, the VA says.

The group said it has been two years since Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough promised to make this transgender surgery available, but the VA has failed to follow through.

“The VA’s delay endangers the health and well-being of many of the nation’s 163,000 transgender veterans. It also violates the VA’s legal obligations,” the organization wrote.

As soon as President Joe Biden took over in 2021, he repealed the military’s ban on transgender surgery at the VA.

“Transgender veterans have waited far too long for the VA to provide the gender-affirming surgery so many of us need to survive. We hope that this lawsuit will force Secretary McDonough to follow through on what he has been promising us since 2021. We’re tired of empty promises; we need care,” said Rebekka Eshler, president of TAVA.

TAVA warned in November that if the VA didn’t make a decision on an earlier petition by the group, TAVA would file a lawsuit.

“The VA responded with a letter that recycled the same language it has been using since 2021, affirming its plan to provide gender-confirmation surgery someday — but declining to decide the petition,” the organization said.

“VA’s failure to provide gender-confirmation surgery has been more dangerous for me than my time in the service,” said Kastner, a TAVA member who has not received the surgery through the VA.

“Without VA coverage for this surgery, I was financially out of options. I tried to perform my own gender-affirming surgery at home, without any medical training. Were it not for emergency room care, I would have lost my life. I was told that the VA would take care of me because I was willing to risk my life for this country. Instead, I was safer in the service than I am now,”  Kastner said.

In June 2021 the secretary of the VA announced a rule-change process was being initiated to expand current health care benefits to include such surgical procedures.

“The rule change process will take time and includes a period of public comment. Until the final rule is published, VHA will continue to provide all other transition-related care including but not limited to hormones, gender affirming counseling, prosthetics, vocal coaching, and infertility treatment,” the VA says on its website.

The current guidance, as amended in 2023, gives the Veterans Health Administration new direction on treating transgender, intersex, pansexual, and other varieties of alternative gender identity. It notes the VA does not provide transgender surgery due to current VA regulations and does not provide plastic surgery for cosmetic purposes only.

VA-Directive-on-transgenderDownload
Veterans Affairs has new mission statement that removes Abe Lincoln’s words, makes it more LGBTQ friendly
Peltola’s first bill in Congress: Get more veterans on food stamps

State of the State in Alaska: Weather delay

Suzanne Downing
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State of the State in Alaska: Weather delay

The governor and the Alaska Legislature’s presiding officers agreed to move the State of the State address to Tuesday at 7 pm, after several commissioners and even the First Lady were not able to make it due to weather and airline crews who ran out of shift time.

“Due to weather related flight delays in Juneau, State of the State guests and commissioners will not be able to arrive in time for the address that was scheduled for this evening. Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the presiding officers agreed to move the address to Tuesday, January 30 at 7:00 p.m,” the governor’s office reports.

One flight to Juneau wasn’t able to land due to condition; that was the first of other events, as crews had to clock out, and replacement crews also ran out of time.

Estimates are that as many as 10 commissioners and three legislators were not able to get to Juneau in time for tonight’s awaited address, in addition to First Lady Rose Dunleavy.

Wayne Heimer: Eagle Pass, Texas, and how it relates to Alaska lands issues and federal overreach

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Wayne Heimer: Eagle Pass, Texas, and how it relates to Alaska lands issues and federal overreach

By WAYNE HEIMER

The federal government owns lots of Alaska land. It is in Federal Conservation System Units, also known as FCU lands. Management of these FCU lands is vested in U. S. Department of the Interior agencies, specifically the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

The Department of Interior is so crazy-zealous about protecting these lands, it has argued that navigable water, which is owned and managed by the State of Alaska but flowing between FCU lands, is actually federal public land. 

The United States Supreme Court has twice ruled – unanimously — that Alaska’s owned navigable water is not federal public land. Still, the feds claim expansive administrative rights that are not provided for in law.

In Texas, the City of Eagle Pass owns a city park called Shelby Park. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Shelby Park is located along the Rio Grande River and is a common crossing point for undocumented wading/swimming immigrants.

The State of Texas and the City of Eagle Pass argue that non-credentialed immigrants (those without passports or entry visas) and those federal employees “processing them” should not use Eagle Pass’s Shelby Park as a staging area for undocumented immigrants before turning them to go anywhere in the USA.

The Dity of Eagle Pass, with support from the State of Texas, asserted its ownership/management rights to Shelby Park by moving to stop (via physical barriers) what it considers inappropriate use of the park by undocumented immigrants. It also moved to disincentivize undocumented immigrant use of its park by banning those Executive Branch officials “processing” undocumented immigrants from its park.

In response, the U. S. government took Texas directly to the U.S. Supreme Court over Texas’s (Eagle Pass’s) allegation of a “sovereign ownership right” to manage use of Shelby Park. The results of the feds “direct action” are confusing for everyone because sovereignty issues (a gray area between states and the feds) frame the basis of the case. So far, the Supreme Court has granted the feds a temporary restraining order “restraining” Texas (the City of Eagle Pass) from “restraining” immigrant use, and also “restraining” federal agent “immigrant processing” use of Shelby Park.

State v. federal sovereignty issues are legally very sexy and complex because the Constitution is not crystal clear about boundary protection, jurisdiction, and responsibility. Lawyers love this sort of thing.  

However, the more precipitating action or “root cause” with Shelby Park (and here in Alaska) is that the executive branch is using executive orders to go beyond the enumerated powers of Congress. Abuse of executive power should be the larger issue.

If the enumerated powers of Congress are restrictive (as I assume they are), there’s only so much Congress can do. Telling the City of Eagle Pass how to manage access to and use of Shelby Park isn’t one of the “enumerated powers” of Congress. 

So, I wonder, “How can the executive branch do stuff by executive order that Congress can’t do (and hasn’t done) by passing federal law?”

Alaska’s long-standing disagreement with the executive branch over wildlife management is strikingly similar. The executive branch (where the Interior Department lives) has moved beyond what Congress did (or even could do) in taking over management of subsistence use/allocation of wildlife on FCU (public) lands in Alaska. Interior has accomplished this by selecting some vaguely idealistic Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) intent language reflexively passed 45 years ago.

In Eagle Pass, the feds claim they can tell the city what it must do with its city park. In Alaska, the executive branch tells us what we must not do in management/allocation of Alaska’s, owned wildlife resources.  

Granted, there are some “incentives” in ANILCA to get Alaska to discriminate between Alaskans in use of Alaskan resources.  They do not, however, include federal takeover. Alaska tried to satisfy the feds insistence on discrimination with our Alaskan subsistence law. Remember, ANILCA contains no language about federal management takeover. That was just an administrative threat, and should be recognized as the bluff it was because it remains outside of Congress’s “enumerated powers.” 

In summary, the Eagle Pass situation is homologous to Alaska’s differences with the feds. The only difference is, the executive branch is telling Eagle Pass/Texas what it must do while telling Alaska what it must not do. Both are overreaches beyond federal law by executive branch minions.

It will be a shame if an “unsupervised” executive branch (because Congress pays little attention to monitoring the executive Bbranch) gains more power-through-precedent in Texas. The issue cries for definition/restriction of executive power on a larger stage. That’s in Alaska.

Wayne E. Heimer has been involved in state/federal relations ever since ANILCA got misinterpreted by the feds before it was even passed. It still makes his head hurt.

Wayne Heimer: Compliance or common sense? The feds and their harassment of local miners
Wayne Heimer: Populism, pluralism, democracy

Congressional candidate Nick Begich picks up big endorsement: Congressman Byron Donalds

Suzanne Downing
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Congressional candidate Nick Begich picks up big endorsement: Congressman Byron Donalds

Congressman Byron Donalds, a Republican conservative from Florida’s 19th congressional district, has endorsed Nick Begich for Congress in the 2024 election.

Begich, a Republican, filed last July for his second run at Congress to represent Alaska. During his first run for Congress, Alaska voters ended up going with Mary Peltola, a Democrat, in the first-ever ranked-choice voting exercise in Alaska history.

Donalds, who is close with former President Donald Trump, was elected to Congress in 2020, after he defeated Democrat Cindy Banyai. He has campaigned for Trump in New Hampshire and is a regular at Trump rallies across the country.

Congressman Byron Donalds, R-Florida.

During the January 2023 Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives election, Donalds was nominated and received enough Republican votes through the 11th round of voting to keep Congress in the hands of conservatives.

“Nick Begich is the conservative fighter who can win Alaska in November and flip this seat to put America First. I’m proud to endorse Nick’s campaign and look forward to doing everything I can to help him win,” Donalds said.

Begich responded, “I’m thrilled to have America First Byron Donalds’ endorsement. He is champion for everyday Americans and wants more than anything to ensure this nation is prosperous, free, and prioritizes the people of our nation. These are values we share and I look forward to working with him on Alaska’s priorities.”

Poll: Most Americans want Texas to stand its ground

Suzanne Downing
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Poll: Most Americans want Texas to stand its ground

The dispute over the concertina-style razor-wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, which went to the U.S. Supreme Court, has most surveyed voters siding with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and not President Joe Biden’s administration, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports. The Supreme Court upheld the federal government’s right to take down the wire, as ordered by Biden.

Supreme Court, in split decision, sides with Biden: Feds can cut down Texas’ razor wire on the border

The Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey found that 69% of likely U.S. voters support Texas erecting barriers at the border to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing, including 53% who strongly support the action.

Just 27% oppose Texas taking action on its own to prevent illegal immigration, including 15% who strongly oppose the state’s action, Rasmussen reports.

That means as many as 5% of registered Democrats agree with Texas and not with Biden; in 2022, 32% of American voters identified as Democrat, according to Pew Research Center.

The poll was taken Jan. 23-25 and captured the views of 940 likely voters. It has a +-3%

“Texas has transported over 102,000 migrants to sanctuary cities. Overwhelmed Texas border towns should not bear the brunt of Biden’s open border policies. Our transportation mission will continue until Biden secures the border,” Gov. Abbott wrote on Monday.

A border deal by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma is a nonstarter for many conservatives. It would allow 1,400 illegal entrants a day to claim asylum during an “emergency border shutdown.”

“This terrible border deal normalizes 5,000 illegal aliens crossing the border per day. That’s 5,000 too many. Democrats are LYING when they say that the border is Congress’s fault. Biden opened the border. I won’t vote for any bill that allows him to continue flouting the law,” said Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Lankford acknowledged Monday that an agreement is probably days away. A Republican, he has worked with Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat and Sen. Krysten Sinema, an Arizona independent, as well as the administration to get to an agreement. But the draft has been excoriated by many on social media.

“The Schumer/Sinema border deal allows 5,000 illegal immigrants into our country per DAY,” wrote Arizona’s Kari Lake, candidate for U.S. Senate, in response to a leaked version of the agreement. “That’s 5,000 illegal immigrants, too many for me. Secure the border & turn them back. Then send the 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country back to their homelands.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem wrote, “The border deal would have done NOTHING to secure the border. In fact, it would have codified the open border! This is why the American people don’t trust the Washington establishment. Joe Biden doesn’t need a deal to secure the border TODAY.”

Late last week, Ohio Sen. JD Vance introduced a bill to prohibit the federal government from removing state-installed fencing at the U.S.-Mexico border. The State Border Security Act would stop federal agents from removing the razor wire or other fencing built by state governments within 25 miles of the southern border with Mexico.

Where do you stand on it: Should Texas stand its ground or follow the orders of the Biden Administration to remove the razor wire? Use the comment section below.

Halibut Cove woman sentenced for boat-buzzing moving floatplane in 2022

Suzanne Downing
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Halibut Cove woman sentenced for boat-buzzing moving floatplane in 2022

A Halibut Cove restaurant owner has pleaded guilty to charges of reckless boating and attempting to interfere with the navigation of a floatplane.

Beck was sentenced to three years of probation, including three months of home confinement, along with a $9,500 fine. In addition, Marian Beck, 70, is required to surrender her mariner’s license following the reckless actions that endangered the safety of a seaplane full of passengers.

The incident took place on Aug. 23, 2022, when Beck, who owns The Saltry restaurant, operated a boat in a reckless manner. She engaged in several close passing maneuvers in front of a floatplane as it was taxiing out of a waterway. The floatplane was carrying passengers who were participating in a bear and sightseeing tour via the plane.

Beck, who is a licensed mariner and operates commercially in Halibut Cove and its surrounding areas, will have to relinquish her Master-Captain’s license to the U.S. Coast Guard as part of her sentencing.

The court’s sentencing was based on the determination that Beck’s actions had created a reckless and dangerous situation. The court emphasized that the sentence is intended to reflect the seriousness of the offense and to send a clear message to industry professionals, aiming to deter any future criminal actions of a similar nature.

U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker for the District of Alaska stated, “Ms. Beck’s conscious disregard for the safety of the pilot and his passengers will not be tolerated. Seaplanes are an integral piece of Alaska, and the pilots and passengers of these planes should be free to operate and travel freely within the state and elsewhere without harassment in their day-to-day operations.”

Paul M. Shultz, Special Agent in Charge of the Coast Guard Investigative Service Northwest Field Office, said, “The Coast Guard Investigative Service values the safety of all mariners and will not tolerate dangerous and deliberate acts that endanger the lives of others. We thank the local community for their tips and their patience as this case was investigated and brought to resolution.”

Rear Admiral Megan Dean, Commander of the Coast Guard’s 17th District, expressed support for the court’s decision: “The Coast Guard fully supports the just result in this case. We want every mariner to operate their vessel safely and in compliance with the law.”

The Coast Guard Investigative Service Northwest Field Office, with assistance from the Alaska State Troopers, conducted the investigation that led to Beck’s guilty plea and sentencing.

Flying community abuzz over indictment of restaurateur who endangered floatplane passengers in Halibut Cove
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