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Officials say border crisis has led to break-ins orchestrated by Columbians, Chileans

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Officials say border crisis has led to break-ins orchestrated by Columbians, Chileans

By BETH BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE

The border crisis has hit several milestones, with an estimated 10 million illegal entries since January 2021, increased reports of infectious disease spreading, and a crime wave being reported in states nationwide.

A county executive from Long Island, New York, told U.S. House Homeland Security Subcommittee members at a hearing held earlier this month that illegal foreign nationals released into the U.S. by the Biden administration are dealing drugs, stealing cars, burglarizing and committing violent crimes.  

Nassau County, New York, Executive Bruce Blakeman said in his county, “We have seen a surge in crime by migrants who have engaged in all types of criminal activity … Recently, a gang from Chile was arrested … only to be released without bail due to state laws that give more rights to criminals than to victims. These Chilean gang members were part of this migrant program … They disappeared. They may still be in the United States committing more crimes against the public. That is outrageous and it is dangerous.”

He said his constituents “do not want to take part in the misguided migrant program” and “want our border secure. They want to know who is coming into America … and to be properly vetted. This is not a humanitarian program. This is a foreign invasion.”

The Chilean gang he referenced has been identified by federal, state and local law enforcement officers in states across the country as directly linked to targeted break-ins as the South American Theft Groups (SATG). The transnational criminal enterprise is orchestrated primarily by Columbian and Chilean nationals who either illegally entered the U.S. or exploited a visa program, officials say.

In California, a multi-agency task force was created to target SATG-related crimes after investigators linked the group to burglaries committed in neighborhoods stretching from San Diego to Ventura County, according to multiple news reports.

In Delaware, law enforcement officials identified burglaries tied to SATG. The extent of the crimes was so bad that police departments encouraged residents to install comprehensive home security systems, and motion-sensor lights around the perimeter of their homes, establish a neighborhood watch program and install Automated License Plate Readers at the entrance/exit of their neighborhoods, WPVI-TV ABC News reported.

In Indiana, Chileans and Colombians were also apprehended for committing burglaries. “Generally, it’s high net worth individuals being targeted by these groups,” Paul Keenan, a former FBI Special Agent in Charge in Indianapolis, told Fox 59.

In Michigan, this month, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard created a multi-agency task force, SEM CAB, (Southeast Michigan Collaborate Arrest Prosecute), to respond to targeted break-ins in the Detroit area. Over 30 agencies are involved, including multiple police departments, the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, and U.S. Border Patrol.

The primarily Chileans are “coming with very clear intent. Get in. Get as much as they can, get out,” Bouchard told WXYZ Detroit News.

In North Carolina, detectives have traced a wave of break-ins in multiple counties to SATG. One recently arrested suspect was turned over to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement, who processed him for removal, Queen City News reported.

In Ohio SATG gangs are targeting multiple neighborhoods. Special Agent Vicki Anderson told New 5 Cleveland, “We think they are here on visas, they’re from out of the country and they’re engaging in thefts across the U.S.”

Tennesseans are also being impacted. Brentwood Assistant Police Chief Jim Colvin told WKRN News, “These suspects are believed to be part of a group that comes to this country specifically to commit crimes in areas where there are large homes. They’re very coordinated, they rotate people in and out of the country, and they change locations so they’re not here long.” 

As are Virginians. Goochland County Sheriff’s Office warned residents about SATG-related break-ins. “This group travels up and down the East Coast breaking into high-end residential homes and is comprised of hundreds of individuals, mostly foreign nationals here on … visas,” he told 6 News Richmond.

One SATG cell identified by Fairfax County police linked break-ins in Georgia to break-ins in Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina. Another cell based in New York and New Jersey was also operating in Fairfax and Montgomery counties in Virginia “around the same time and employing similar methods,” The Washington Post reported.


Dave Donley continues one-man battle on Anchorage School Board

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Dave Donley continues one-man battle on Anchorage School Board

By TIM BARTO

Dave Donley is in an unenviable position, and Tuesday’s Board meeting exemplified that. As the only conservative member on the seven-member Anchorage School Board, he is almost always alone in his efforts to bring common sense to an organization that can never seem to find enough money to spend or union leaders to placate.

During a Nov. 21 board meeting, Donley proposed two amendments that were not seconded and, therefore, not brought to a vote. When reviewing the minutes of that meeting, he noticed that his proposed amendments were not even entered into the official written record, so he inquired of the Board secretary as to the reason for the omissions. Her response was that proposed amendments that fail to get seconded are not reflected in the minutes.

With a desire to maintain the District’s core principle of transparency, and with a firm belief that all substantive amendments should be in the record, he requested that the minutes be tabled so the Board secretary could put them into the record.

That idea didn’t go over so well with President Margo Bellamy or the rest of the Board and, in a twist of great irony, his motion to table the minutes was not seconded; therefore, neither it nor the discussion of the topic would be entered into the minutes of this Dec. 19 meeting. Donley found humor in that fact and was able to joke about it to eternally-opposed colleagues, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t find the whole matter aggravating and just plain wrong.

Tuesday’s discussion contained an often disorientingamalgamation of the words “minutes, amendments, and motions,” and all members, regardless of their placement on the political spectrum, deserve credit for keeping it all straight and somewhat understandable. Dave kept his cool and his manners in check, and for that he is to be commended.

Truthfully, he is to be commended for much of what he does,particularly being willing to run for an office in which he knows he will be outnumbered and then standing up for what he believes in while being constantly being isolated (at best) or ignored and attacked (at worst). 

What concerns Dave is the fact that substantive matters of discussion will not be a matter of record, and with important and difficult budget decisions looming on the horizon, Board members can more easily hide their opinions and votes – or, more appropriately, their decisions not to vote – from the official record. If he proposes an amendment that would curtail spending, rankle the teachers’ union, or more likely both, then a simple collective act of not seconding his amendment will be hidden.

President Bellamy and member Carl Jacobs brought up the fact that all Board meetings are videorecorded and available via the District’s website. True enough, and if an interested citizen has the time to search through a couple hours of titillating school board discussions, then that hardy individual will be rewarded with video clip; but the discussion and decision not to second the motion will not be in an official written record.

Dave Donley wants the public to understand the process the Board undergoes, and he wants the members’ words and decisions to be on the record, and for them to be held accountable. He also needs to know he is not alone in his efforts to bring sanity and integrity to the Anchorage School Board. If you appreciate his work, let him know and help him out: attend meetings, speak up, and elect good people to the School Board. 

Tim Barto is vice president of Alaska Family Council and a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska.

Willow gets final approval from ConocoPhillips

Suzanne Downing
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Willow gets final approval from ConocoPhillips

 ConocoPhillips announced Friday that it will move forward with development of the Willow project in Alaska. This Final Investment Decision approves the project and funds construction needed to reach first oil.

The decision follows the Department of the Interior March 2023 Record of Decision and recent positive court orders, including this week’s Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denial of plaintiffs’ request for an injunction.

“We are excited to reach this significant milestone,” said Ryan Lance, chairman and chief executive officer. “With this project authorization, we’ve begun winter construction and Alaskans have started to receive the benefits from responsible energy development.” 

According to the Bureau of Land Management, the Willow project is projected to deliver $8 billion to $17 billion in new revenue for the federal government, the state of Alaska and Alaska Native communities. When completed, Willow is estimated to produce approximately 600 million barrels across the lifetime of the project, decreasing American dependence on foreign energy supplies. Designed to support and coexist with subsistence activities on Alaska’s North Slope, the Willow project underwent five years of rigorous regulatory and environmental review. Willow will be built using materials primarily made and sourced in the U.S. and has the potential to create over 2,500 construction jobs and approximately 300 long-term jobs.

“We are grateful for the many supporters who advocated for Willow. Alaska Native communities and groups, especially those closest to the project on the North Slope, continually provided input that helped shape this project. We also appreciate the unwavering support from Alaska’s bipartisan Congressional Delegation – Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Representative Mary Peltola – the state legislature and organized labor groups,” Lance added. “Our employees and the contractor community have dedicated years to designing a project that will provide reliable energy while adhering to the highest environmental standards.”

Pentagon falls short on recruitment goals

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Pentagon falls short on recruitment goals

By BRETT ROWLAND | THE CENTER SQUARE

The Defense Department’s senior officials testified last week about shortfalls in Army, Navy and Air Force recruiting in the fiscal year that ended in September at a hearing of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee.

The Marine Corps and Space Force made their recruiting goals.

The military services together missed goals by about 41,000 recruits in fiscal year 2023, said Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Ashish Vazirani.

“That number understates the challenge before us as the services lowered [their] end-strength goals in recent years, in part because of the difficult recruiting environment,” he said. “The all-volunteer force faces one of its greatest challenges since inception.”

The all-volunteer force was created after the draft ended in 1973.

Vazirani cited multiple reasons for the recruitment shortfall, which he called “complex and multifaceted.”

Among the reasons: A strong economy that means more options for young people, a smaller eligible population, Generation Z’s generally low trust in institutions and fewer young people with family members who have served in the military.

In 1995, 40% of young people had a parent who served in the military, Vazirani said. By 2022, 12% had a parent who had served.

“This has led to a disconnect between the military and a large share of society,” he said.

Vazirani said that “while the picture of the current recruiting environment is acutely difficult, the Defense Department and the military services are working together to resolve issues, improve processes, and expand awareness of the many opportunities military service offers.”

In September, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report on military housing. It detailedsewage backups and inoperable fire systems are among the safety hazards that U.S. service members living in barracks face. The report found such conditions undermine quality of life and military readiness.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office report found that the Pentagon’s assessments of conditions at barracks “are unreliable” and “observed barracks that pose potentially serious health and safety risks – such as broken windows and inoperable fire systems – and that do not meet minimum [U.S. Department of Defense] standards for privacy and configuration.”

Conditions were so bad in some places that service members sometimes took “drastic action, such as getting married, just to leave the barracks,” according to the report. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops live in barracks, which are for the most junior-ranking unmarried service members without children or other dependents.

Washington group turns in signatures to repeal anti-police law preventing cops from pursuing suspects

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Washington group turns in signatures to repeal anti-police law preventing cops from pursuing suspects

By TJ MARTINELL | THE CENTER SQUARE

Voter advocacy group Let’s Go Washington announced it has collected enough signatures to put Initiative 2113 on the ballot, which would restore the state’s policy regarding police pursuits.

The organization submitted the signatures to the Secretary of State’s office in Tumwater this month at an event in Shoreline marking the occasion hosted by the mother of Immaculee Goldade, who was killed earlier this year, and Mike Dunn, owner of Dunn Lumber.

Twelve-year-old Immaculee Goldade was killed in January 2022 after being hit in Parkland by a driver inside a stolen truck. A friend of hers was also struck while they were walking together near Midland Elementary School but survived after being hospitalized.

The driver was later found guilty of numerous felonies, including fleeing the scene, and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

I-2113 would effectively restore state policy regarding a police officer’s ability to pursue criminal suspects. Prior to 2021, officers needed “reasonable suspicion” to pursue. That year, the state Legislature enacted HH 1054, which required “probable cause,” effectively stipulating that unless the officer directly witnessed a crime occur, they could not pursue. That same bill also prohibited most vehicular pursuits, a fact some criminal suspects have told 9-11 dispatchers while being pursued by police.

Let’s Go Washington founder Brian Heywood of Redmond told Glen Morgan of We the Governed in a video interview that “what they [state Legislature] did with the original law was they flipped everything on its head.”

While testifying earlier this year in front of the House Community Safety, Justice and Reentry Committee, Amber Goldade said her daughter was a victim of the state’s pursuit law.

“This man committed many other serious crimes and fled in stolen vehicles knowing he would get away with it because the police can’t pursue him,” she said.

Noting that the man had fled police weeks prior in another stolen vehicle, she said if police had been allowed to pursue, he might have been caught and her daughter still alive. “This man is just one of many criminals who have figured out how to get away with crime by using the no-pursuit law to their advantage.”

Although the Legislature has since made modifications to allow some pursuits, Heywood argued that “what they did in this last legislative session was really nothing. One of the most shocking parts of the conversation was the current legislation that limits police pursuit says you can chase if it’s a violent crime, but when they were looking at what that actually means, most crimes don’t fit the violent crime definition. If they saw somebody selling a child and the buyer drove off, that wouldn’t qualify as something that would rise to (violent crime).”

“We’ve handcuffed our police officer so much they cannot do the job,” he added. “We don’t have enough and the ones who are here are not allowed to pursue or arrest. It’s leading, has led to, and will lead to bad outcomes.”

Let’s Go Washington has recently submitted enough signatures to qualify several other initiatives, including I-2117, repealing the state’s cap-and-trade program and I-2081, establishing certain parental rights regarding review and notification of a child’s education programs and materials.

Renewed trust in public health agencies lies in a return to science, not special interests

Guest Writer
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Renewed trust in public health agencies lies in a return to science, not special interests

By MICHAEL CHAMBERLAIN | PROTECT THE PUBLIC’S TRUST

Among the direst casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic is Americans’ trust in public health authorities. According to a Pew Research poll, prior to the pandemic more than three-quarters of adults rated “public health officials – such as those at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention” as doing an excellent or good job. Now just a little over half rate them so highly. Among some groups, it’s far lower. As new CDC Director Mandy Cohen has acknowledged, “Trust is easily broken and, as folks know, trust takes time to rebuild.” 

For citizens to trust the public health establishment, they must have confidence that these institutions are guided by science, free of political or social agendas. Yet on countless issues – even the most critical to public health – federal health agencies appear to be failing this challenge.

Take the significant public health issue of youth tobacco use. CDC’s annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) is a key input for informing federal regulators’ tobacco-related policy agenda. The voluntary survey is administered to middle and high school students through their schools “to provide national data on long-term, intermediate, and short-term indicators key to the design, implementation, and evaluation of comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs.” Why then, did the 2023 survey ask kids if they are transgender? How does it further tobacco regulation to know kids’ sexual orientation, or if they’ve felt discriminated against because of their race?

Furthermore, the CDC may be offering inappropriate financial incentives to underage NYTS participants, potentially influencing the integrity and accuracy of responses. Because “[t]obacco research studies with adolescents report that recruiting smokers to participate is substantially more difficult than recruiting nonsmokers,” the CDC said, “we propose to offer a $50 incentive to boost participation in the cognitive interviews among youth.”

Given that eventual Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco products is driven by NYTS results, the ethical and methodological implications of paying kids to say they smoke are far reaching.

Like the CDC’s questionable approach on the NYTS, the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) has used its mandate to reduce youth tobacco use in ways even the courts have found incompatible with sound science. For instance, in July a federal judge struck down the FDA’s attempted regulation of premium cigars because of the agency’s misrepresentation of data on the prevalence of youth cigar smoking.

Now the FDA is preparing to finalize a ban on menthol products even as evidence mounts that such bans can increase cigarette sales and use, building much of its case on reducing youth tobacco addiction.

A Yale School of Public Health study partly funded by the FDA found that banning menthol e-cigarettes increased the sale of regular cigarettes and that 71 percent of the increased cigarette sales were non-menthol, “suggesting that restrictions on menthol cigarettes would not substantially reduce sales.”

Concerned the ban “would simply create a black market for these products,” Congressionalinvestigators cited real world state experiments: After California’s 2022 ban, “a study found that roughly one in five cigarettes smoked were menthols even six months later, of which 27.6 percent were imported.” Clearly, illicit smugglers (read: China and Mexican drug cartels) will fill the void created by a ban.

Ironically, the scientific integrity issues plaguing the administration’s proposed ban may be overshadowed by social justice concerns. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network has come out against the proposed rule, saying the ban targets “black adult smokers” and could lead to incidents like Eric Garner’s death while police were arresting him for selling “loose, untaxed cigarettes.”

Is the FDA staffed by anti-tobacco zealots who ignore studies they themselves funded? Or are special interests helping drive the agency’s crusade? CTP is 100 percent funded by user fees. Yet user fees are a black box of accountability. Protect the Public’s Trust has been forced to sue the agency for information about how the CTP – as well as its sister agencies at the FDA focused on other important health issues like women’s health –spends these fees.

If the public can’t rely on public health authorities to make decisions based on sound science for the most serious and high-profile issues, what confidence can it have in the countless other decisions and advice it renders every day? Americans need to be able to trust the actions and pronouncements of public health authorities. For that to happen, sound science can’t be substituted for the sake of advancing a special interest agenda.

Michael Chamberlain is Director of Protect the Public’s Trust.

Alien psych: New study calls for humans to prepare for extraterrestrial encounters

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Alien psych: New study calls for humans to prepare for extraterrestrial encounters

A new study out of Germany is calling for humanity to get ready for an encounter with extraterrestrial life.

The study comes at a time when Congress last week passed legislation directing the government to tell the public some of the data it has about about UFOs and unidentified aerial phenomena and extraterrestrial activity. But the government may sit on the information for 25 years, according to the legislation. That may be superseded by events, according to many scientists.

The research paper comes out of the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health in Freiburg, Germany. Its authors say that the way humanity responds to “first contact” will depend on what happens when it takes place.

Some of the scenarios offered, as summarized in Space.com by author Leonard David, include:

  • The signal scenario is the basis of SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) programs, in which radio astronomers search for signs of alien civilizations. It assumes that radio telescopes can pick up artificial signals from the far reaches of space.
  • The technosignature scenario envisions that future powerful telescopes will find evidence of past or present extraterrestrial technology.
  • The artifact scenario assumes that one day, somewhere in our solar system (or even on Earth itself), we will come across the material remains — such as a space probe — of an extraterrestrial civilization.
  • The encounter scenario involves the appearance of an alien spacecraft in near-Earth space that can be assumed, based on its flight maneuvers or other actions, to be controlled by intelligence, either biological or artificial.

There is a strong possibility, the authors say, that the first encounter will not even be recognized as such by humans.

Report: Another UFO over the Arctic last February?

The U.S. government has all but acknowledges that extraterrestrial life exists and contact is likely, and discussions about unidentified aerial phenomena, also known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, are now happening continuously in classified settings.

In a National Security Administration document declassified in 2004, an NSA cryptologist wrote, “We are not alone in the universe. A few years ago, this notion seemed farfetched; today, the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence is taken for granted by most scientists. Even the staid National Academy of Sciences has gone on record that contact with other civilizations ‘is no longer something beyond our dreams but a natural event in the history of mankind that will perhaps occur in the lifetime of many of us.’

Read the declassified paper by Lambros D. Callimahos at the NSA at: Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Iowa vs. Minnesota: The future of state fiscal policy

Guest Writer
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Iowa vs. Minnesota: The future of state fiscal policy

By JOHN HENDRICKSON | REAL CLEAR WIRE

“A tax-cutting wave is sweeping over America’s states,” The Economist claims in a recent feature, and Iowa, it argues, has “emerged as America’s tax-cutting champion, a paragon of fiscal responsibility.” 

Until recently, the Hawkeye State had some of the highest individual and corporate income tax rates in the nation, but, since 2018, Governor Reynolds has made tax reform a priority. 

Iowa led the “tax-cutting wave” in 2022, with the most comprehensive and aggressive tax reform in the United States. This will gradually replace the nine-bracket, progressive income tax with a flat tax, bringing the top rate, which was close to 9 percent, down to a flat 3.9 percent by 2026. Not only will Iowa have eliminated the progressive income tax, it will also have but reduced the top tax rate by almost 60 percent.

Iowa’s corporate tax rate, once the highest in the nation at 12 percent, is also being cut: Starting in January 2024, the corporate tax rate will be 7.1 percent and the rate will continue to be lowered until it reaches a flat 5.5 percent. 

Critics of Iowa’s fiscal reforms warn against alleged “economic recklessness.” Mike Owen, Deputy Director of Common Good Iowa, a progressive think tank, told The Economist that “a crash is coming” and that programs such as education and health care will suffer as a result. 

This doesn’t add up. Thanks to fiscal prudence, Iowa’s budget is in strong shape. For the last few years Iowa’s budget has been in surplus, ending fiscal year 2023 with a $1.83 billion surplus, which was $86.3 million higher than originally estimated. The fiscal year 2024 surplus is projected to be $2.12 billion, rising to $2.99 billion in the fiscal year 2025.

Iowa’s reserve accounts (Cash Reserve Fund and Economic Emergency Fund) are filled at their statutory maximums and are projected to continue at this level in fiscal years 2024 ($961.9 million) and 2025 ($957.6 million). The surpluses have also fueled an enormous growth in the Taxpayer Relief Fund (TRF). 

The legislature created the TRF to provide income tax relief. It has a current balance of $2.73 billion and this is projected to increase to $3.66 billion in fiscal year 2024 and $3.855 billion in fiscal year 2025. This represents not only an overcollection of taxpayer dollars, but it is a massive amount of dollars. In comparison Iowa’s fiscal year General Fund budget is $8.5 billion. 

Iowa’s fiscal foundation would not be so strong if it were not for conservative budgeting. Iowa code limits the legislature to only spending 99 percent of estimated revenue, but in passing the fiscal year 2024 General Fund budget the legislature only spent 88.25 percent of projected tax collections. Critics point to lower revenue projections, but this is only because the tax cuts are being phased in. Revenues continue to remain strong in Iowa. “Every single time since we’ve cut taxes, revenues have still come in higher than estimates,” stated Iowa Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver to The Economist. 

Governor Reynolds is not just advocating tax cuts; she has also brought reform to state government: Limited government is not just a slogan for the Governor. In fact, she resembles the spirit of President Calvin Coolidge in her commitment to limited government. In addition to tax cuts and conservative budgeting, Governor Reynolds has reformed state government by reforming and reducing the state bureaucracy. Iowa once had 37 executive branch cabinet agencies which has now been reduced to 16 and further reforms will be considered during the next legislative session. Governor Reynolds has also launched an executive-led review of regulations in order to eliminate excessive and out-of-date regulations. 

Whether it is pro-growth tax reform, conservative budgeting, or limiting the administrative state, Iowa is the national leader in state fiscal policy. Neither is Governor Reynolds going to be complacent. She understands the importance, not only of making Iowa the most competitive state, but of allowing taxpayers to keep more of their income. The Governor’s goal is to not only have the lowest state flat tax in the nation, but also eliminate the income tax.

The opposite is occurring in progressive states such as neighboring Minnesota. There, the DFL state government went into the last legislative session with a forecast budget surplus of $18 billion. Not only did they spend every cent of that, but they hiked taxes and fees by $10 billion on top of that. Indeed, Minnesota’s state government spending will be 33% higher in 2027 than it was in 2022.

While observers are quick to cry “Kansas” at tax cutting states, they do not do so to tax hiking ones like Minnesota. This is despite that fact that the new, ongoing spending in the Gopher State’s budget is funded by new taxes, such GILTI and on investment income, which are pro-cyclical: If the economy tanks, Minnesota’s budget is back in deficit. 

Many progressive states that are following a policy agenda of high taxes and spending are not only confronted with fiscal crisis but are also experiencing a mass exodus as people and businesses flee their high tax rates. Census Bureau data show that, in 2022, Minnesota lost residents, on net to each of its neighbors, including Iowa. When people vote with their feet, they prefer what Governor Reynolds is offering in Iowa.   

John Hendrickson serves as policy director for Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation and John Phelan is an Economist with Minnesota’s Center of the American Experiment. This article was originally published by RealClearPolicy and made available via RealClearWire.

Assemblyman resigns, but the seat won’t be on the ballot in April. Here’s why.

Suzanne Downing
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Assemblyman resigns, but the seat won’t be on the ballot in April. Here’s why.

Eagle River/Chugiak Assemblyman Kevin Cross announced his resignation from the Anchorage Assembly on Tuesday night. But not until later, evidently. Sometime in April.

Unless he actually vacates the seat, it will not be open for anyone else to run for in the April 2 municipal election.

That means, when the municipal election comes around in March, Eagle River, and Chugiak voters won’t have the opportunity to replace Cross. There will have to be a special election, which cannot be even set until he vacates the seat, according to code. Meanwhile, Cross is giving the radical Anchorage Assembly the opportunity to appoint someone to fill out a major portion of his term, which ends in April of 2025.

The code governing vacancies can be found here: https://library.municode.com/ak/anchorage/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT2LEBR_CH2.70VAELOF

Muni election code uses the phrase “when a vacancy occurs” or “if a vacancy occurs.” There appears no provision for an anticipated vacancy at a future uncertain date.

Assemblyman for Eagle River announces resignation

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