In response to a new state law, Texas Children’s Hospital has announced the discontinuation of its “gender treatment” program for minors.
The decision comes after Senate Bill 14 was passed during the legislative session and is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. The hospital’s CEO, Mark Wallace, informed staff and patients of the forthcoming changes in an email.
The Houston Chronicle was the first to report the hospital’s decision, sharing a screenshot of the email sent by Wallace. The hospital then confirmed the authenticity of the email, which stated that the hospital will work closely with patients and their families to navigate them to other states for hormone and surgical treatment of gender dysphoria.
The hospital will continue to provide psychosocial support and any other available forms of care within the boundaries of the law, the email said.
SB 14 specifically prohibits hormone and surgery on children in the state of Texas for the purpose of trangendering the children. The law is scheduled to go into effect on Sept. 1, allowing a transition period for the profiteering medical establishment.
Wallace said, “The transition we will embark on is going to be immensely heart-wrenching, but we will lead through this adversity and navigate these next steps together with grace, love, and compassion like we always do.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has initiated an investigation into Texas Children’s Hospital, seeking to determine whether the institution has been “actively engaging in illegal behavior and performing gender transitioning procedures on children.”
The US. House of Representatives voted in favor of Virginia Congressman Bob Good’s Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn President Joe Biden’s controversial student loan transfer scheme. The resolution passed 218 to 203.
One notable dissenting vote came from Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, who threw her support behind Biden’s student loan transfer by voting “Nay” to the Congressional Review Act resolution. Peltola’s decision aligns with the Democrats’ notion of shifting billions of dollars in loan payments onto American taxpayers who did not originally incur those debts, debts that will be paid by generations not yet born.
Congressman Good’s resolution aims to reverse Biden’s permanent forgiveness of up to $10,000 in student loans for individuals making up to $125,000 annually.
The Supreme Court is currently hearing challenges to the transfer scheme.
There are two major legal questions before the high court: The first is whether federal law allows the program. The Biden Administration has used the HEROES Act of 2003 to justify the debt relief plan. The second is whether the parties challenging the scheme have standing with the court.
A decision is expected any day from the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, the resolution introduced by Congressman Good under the Congressional Review Act needs a similar resolution to pass the Senate. One has been introduced, but may not get heard in the Democrat-controlled body.
The Congressional Review Act has been used to back down Biden on other executive orders. For instance, Congress passed a resolution targeting the Labor Department’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing rule. President Biden vetoed it.
If this CRA manages to pass both chambers of Congress, the resolution would then be subject to President Biden’s veto pen.
Sometimes the solemnity of remembering our fallen soldiers can make it hard to accept the word “celebrate.”
As I plan my Memorial Day celebrations, I sometimes feel a pang of guilt. It’s hard to hold remembrance and fun in the same hands.
I find myself wondering, “is a barbecue irreverent?” But I have learned that grief comes in waves, and the ones we’ve lost would want us to remember and to celebrate. We can still honor our fallen by celebrating this weekend.
If you’ve ever lost a loved one, you know how grief ebbs and flows like the tide. You know the sudden crash of a wave of sadness, where the tears well up and spill over like the foam on the beach. You know the joy of stumbling upon the beautiful memories like shells and treasures in the glistening sand. Though we mourn what we have lost, we know they would want us to live. To really live. To celebrate life every chance we get.
Barbecuing with family and friends doesn’t mean that we have forgotten. I have planned all sorts of celebration and opportunities for joy over the three-day weekend. I’ll be attending a birthday party for a dear friend, cleaning headstones for our fallen heroes, hammocking with my daughters late at night, rejoicing with God at church on Sunday, and honoring those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice come Monday.
Just as Christ died for us and wants us to know joy in our lives, I know my brothers and sisters who gave that ultimate sacrifice would want us to be happy. They died that we might know the joy of freedom, for precious moments with our families in that security and prosperity they protected at any cost. We live our best life, to the fullest, because those who died for us gave us the ability to do so.
So, I can take comfort that a barbecue is not irreverent. That camping trip, the fishing, the kayaking, the gardening, the baseball tournaments, all of it can bring honor to our soldiers. Take a solemn pause, lift up a “thank you” to the heavens, and toast in remembrance of the men and women who made it possible.
To our heroes, those who have gone before us, gone too soon, and those who will follow in their footsteps, we salute you. “Thank you” will never be enough. But a life well lived, that is the best remembrance we can offer. You are never forgotten.
Rep. Jamie Allard of Eagle River is a veteran serving in the Alaska Legislature.
Rep. Mary Peltola likes her coffee hot and unionized. She also likes her Twitter feed to be all about unions — most of the activity there is to retweet and repeat union messages, Very little is about “fish, family, and freedom.”
This week, she stepped into the Starbucks union wars and retweeted a rainbow-adorned message from a national union working to organize Starbucks coffee shop employees, one store at a time.
It’s going to cost Starbucks shoppers. Drink prices at Starbucksalready run about $4.98 for 16 ounces of macchiato, which is about 30 cents an ounce — or 15 cents a sip.
If you paid that much to gas up your Subaru, it would amount to about $40 a gallon. But if you just make a latte at home, it costs you about 30 cents, not counting the paper cup.
While Peltola’s campaign staff was not unionized, the short-lived campaign for Senate by Al Gross in 2020 made history in Alaska when he announced his staff would unionize. Alaskans can expect that this time around, Peltola’s campaign will indeed unionize, since her campaign manager and chief of staff is a union organizer.
Prices for coffee at Starbucks continue creep up year after year, and unionization always drives costs up — costs that are passed along to consumers.
According to a 2014 study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, non-unionized private companies paid workers $29.83 per hour in wages and benefits, while union worker averaged $46.50 per hour. This represents a 55% increase in wages for union workers.
In 2023, Starbucks pays a minimum wage of $15 per hour, while baristas make about $23 an hour at stores in Seattle. Anchorage Starbucks pays between $16-18 for baristas, so they’re going to need roommates to help with the rent in Anchorage.
Indeed.com says Starbucks pays about $27,000 a year for a barista in Ketchikan, where a two-bedroom apartment can run you $1,900 a month.
While it does not include the average of $1 per hour in tips, clearly, being a barista not a career job, although with unionization, it might become one.
Union dues vary by region, according to the Starbucks Workers United group that is leading unionization.
“As an example, in the Buffalo region of New York the union dues for full time workers are $10.84 per week,” the group says. For an average worker, that means about one half hour of every week will go to paying the union. It’s $43.50 a month and over $530 a year.
“Dues are used for helping other workers organize, legal support, staff support, education training sessions for stewards, communications, lost time pay for stewards and negotiating committee members, etc.,” the union reports.
Unionization leads to automation
As wages rise, companies turn to machines to do the work, and it’s likely that barista jobs will not grow, as companies look for alternatives to troublesome and costly organized labor.
“Most in the coffee industry agree that increased automation at all stages of the supply chain is undeniable. Indeed, according to a recent UCC Coffee report, the global automation market is forecast to grow by as much as 30% by 2025,” writes Jess Palmer writes at New Ground Magazine.
“Humans are often the weakest part of making coffee,” explained the 2018 World Barista champion, Agnieszka Rojewska to the publication. “There is a lot of staff rotation in cafés and baristas are not always properly trained. I think fully automatic machines will grow in popularity because while they can replace the hand of the barista in some cases,” she said. The barista would spend more time interacting with customers, while the machines do the work.
But, as with McDonalds, automation could come fast at entry-level workers. In 2022, the fast-food chain, which serves a decent cup of black coffee for half of a Starbucks equivalent, unveiled its first nearly fully automated franchise in Texas, where machines take orders, deliver the order, and even prepare much of the order.
“When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you’ll notice it’s considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald’s restaurant in the U.S.,” McDonald’s said in December. “Why? The features—inside and outside—are geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go.”
McDonalds has slashed its workforce by 50% from 2013 to 2018, and this year is cutting many administrative jobs. As unionization has taken hold, the move toward artificial intelligence and machine service is filling in rapidly at all levels, including payroll, ordering, and finance.
“It should be noted that McDonald’s’s reduction in staff began in 2014, the same year the Affordable Care Act went into effect. This was no coincidence. Nor was the installation of digital kiosks, which reportedly were installed as part of a $2.4 billion expansion effort. That’s a lot of money. But those costs have two important benefits: they are one-and-done, and they are predictable. Unlike the cost of labor, McDonald’s doesn’t have to worry about these prices doubling on the whim of politicians,” writes the Foundation for Economic Freedom.
The man who founded the Trevor Project group and who advised Anchorage Assembly members on creating an ordinance to prevent therapists from counseling gender-confused children was also a member of a notorious drag queen group, “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.”
That group is made up of religious bigots who dress up as grotesque Catholic nuns and prance and dance salaciously, desecrating Christian religious symbols, such as crucifixes. They celebrate Easter by desecrating the cross and poking fun at Jesus.
Sam Brinton was, as regular Must Read Alaska readers know, also a highly placed member of the Biden Administration, which put him in charge of spent nuclear waste at the Department of Energy. He had top security clearances. But he was also openly a drag queen who also gives lectures on kinky sex involving men in bondage.
Brinton was fired from the Biden Administration after stealing women’s luggage from two airports, and he is now under arrest in connection with a possible third luggage heist.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is the group that the LA Dodgers decided to honor for Pride Month. The decision has embroiled the team in controversy and, like the controversy over Bud Light, may cost the franchise.
“Brinton wasn’t just a member, but held a leadership position with the DC chapter of Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a drag group that dons religious garb and poses salaciously with crosses in order to get their message of inclusion (or something) across,” writes the Post Millennial, which reported the story, based on tax filings that made the connection.
Brinton’s drag name with the group was “Sister Ray Dee O’Active,” a nod to his interest in nuclear power.
When Brinton was involved with Anchorage, he was writing back and forth with some of the gay members of the Assembly to counsel them on creating an anti-free-speech ordinance that prohibits counselors from talking to children about the cons of being gay or developing into a transgender person. The counselors, under the ordinance that passed, may only affirm a child’s wishes to identify as something other than boy or girl they were born as. Any other type of counseling may be seen as “conversion therapy” and would be fined at $500 per instance.
Counselors in Anchorage will not likely take the risk of accepting youthful clients who are gender confused, when they are faced with such draconian, albeit unconstitutional penalties.
Lisa Sauder, who has been the CEO of Bean’s Cafe for 10 years, is no longer at the helm of Anchorage’s most well-known meal supply program for the poorest among us.
The change was known among insiders earlier this week, but the nonprofit’s website finally made it clear that Scott Lingle, chief operating officer, has been appointed interim chief executive officer, and Sauder is gone.
Bean’s Cafe has been under scrutiny with the Municipality of Anchorage since Dave Bronson took over as mayor and allegations arose over improper — possibly fraudulent — billing that Bean’s was issuing to the municipality for the management of the homeless shelter at the Sullivan Arena during the Covid pandemic. Beans was awarded about $15 million through municipal contracts to operate the Sullivan during Covid and provide meals to the homeless sheltered there. The contracts started under previous administrations of Ethan Berkowitz and Austin Quinn-Davidson, and the leftist majority on the Assembly.
Bronson’s team decided to put the contract out for a bid, and another group won the contract, forcing Beans to leave the premises. The change to the new group was widely criticized by the mainstream media, which said the new management had created chaos. Assemblyman Felix Rivera called for the continuation of the Bean’s contract in a press release in February.
But in the meantime, the Department of Law has been looking into potential double billing issues with Bean’s Cafe, Must Read Alaska has learned. Some in the municipality think that many of the services paid for were never actually provided.
In addition to providing meals for the down-and-out and chronically inebriated, Bean’s Cafe manages Children’s Lunchbox, a food service that provides between 200 and 250 meals five days a week, distributed at 13 sites across Anchorage.
“Since March 2020, thanks to generous donors we have been able to serve more than 1.6-million meals between Bean’s Cafe and The Children’s Lunchbox,” the organization says on its website.
April Mathers, the former finance manager, is also gone and no replacement has been announced.
For weeks, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared June 1 as the likely default date for the federal government if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
However, a lack of agreement between President Joe Biden, advocating for increased borrowing, and Republicans, who emphasize spending cuts, has prompted Yellen to adjust her stance.
On Friday, she revised the deadline, extending it to June 5, raising questions about potential political calculations influencing the decision-making process.
The impending X-date, which is the point at which the government cannot fulfill all its financial obligations, coincides with the necessity for the federal government to make $130 billion in payments that due within the first two days of June.
These due payments include contracts, payroll, and encompass entitlements, Social Security, and Medicare. Once these obligations are met, Yellen wrote in a letter to Congress that the Treasury would be left with “an extremely low level of resources.”
“During the week of June 5, Treasury is scheduled to make an estimated $92 billion of payments and transfers, including a regularly scheduled quarterly adjustment that would result in an investment in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds of roughly $36 billion. Therefore, our projected resources would be inadequate to satisfy all of these obligations,” she wrote.
President Biden and House Republicans have been engaged in negotiations aimed at finding common ground to enable the government to surpass its current borrowing capacity of $31.4 trillion.
House Republicans want $130 billion in cuts to the upcoming budget, as well as a cap on the growth of federal spending at 1% for the next 10 years. They seek requirements that those getting welfare start working at least 20 hours a week. Biden has rejected those demands. He wants only a two-year cap on spending and work requirements only for those who receive actual cash payments of welfare; he would not require food stamp recipients to engage in work.
The U.S. Department of Interior has again postponed the release of a final decision regarding the highly debated Ambler Road, an industrial access to mining in Northwest Alaska.
The proposed road, which would link to extensive reserves of copper, zinc, lead, silver, and gold, has faced numerous challenges due to its location crossing federal land.
Initially, the permits for the road were issued by the Trump Administration, which recognized the long-established need for access to the mining area, particularly for minerals that are key to national security.
Last year, the Biden Administration revoked these permits, citing concerns over inadequate consultation with Alaska tribes and insufficient evaluation of the road’s potential impact on fish and caribou habitats.
The decision was made despite a joint authorization issued in 2020 by the Bureau of Land Management, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the National Park Service.
The project, estimated to cost $799.6 million, holds the potential to yield significant quantities of valuable minerals over its projected 12-year lifespan, including approximately 159 million pounds of copper, 199 million pounds of zinc, 33 million pounds of lead, 3.3 million ounces of silver, and 30,600 ounces of gold.
The next “final” record of decision on the Ambler Road project has now been delayed until the second quarter of 2024, a decision that comes as a surprise, given the Department of Interior’s previous assurance that a decision would be reached by the end of 2023.
The Ambler Mining District access was promised to Alaska under the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980. The federal government has repeatedly reneged on the promise. In 2022, the Bureau of Land Management’s approval delays led to a shorter field season, resulting in job losses.
The 2023 field season was expected to build upon the past, since delayed approvals and continue with crucial field studies, permitting, and data collection. To progress the pre-development work, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority Board has approved $44.8 million of the $70 million budget.
The Ambler project is of strategic importance, as it supports America’s national defense efforts and reduces reliance on mineral imports from China, according to AIDEA Executive Director Andy Ruaro. By developing domestic critical minerals production, the United States can lessen dependence on China, which has few pollution requirements and seeks to control and dominate critical mineral supplies similarly to how OPEC controlled oil in the 1970s.
The President and CEO of Bering Straits Native Corp. Gail Schubert, is out. Dan Graham, executive Vice President, has been named interim CEO.
Bering Straits Native Corporation is an Alaska Native regional corporation serving 17 villages in the Bering Strait region.
Schubert is a big player in Alaska politics and Native business. An Iñupiaq from Unalakleet, she serves on the boards of the Alaska Federation of Natives, Alaska Native Justice Center, ANCSA Regional Association, Commonwealth North, the Iditarod Trail Committee, State of Alaska Renewable Energy Fund Advisory Committee, the Native American Contractors Association and the University of Alaska Foundation. She has served on the BSNC Board of Directors since 1992, and was a co-chair of the Bill Walker campaign for governor in 2022.
Schubert, who practiced law in Anchorage and also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and of two Wall Street law firms, is an ATHENA Society awardee, recipient of the Northwest Indian Bar Association’s Unsung Hero Award, and YWCA Alaska/BP Woman of Achievement Awardee
She graduated from Stanford University, earned a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management with an emphasis in accounting and finance, and was awarded her Juris Doctorate from the Cornell University School of Law.
Graham has served on the senior executive team at BSNC for nearly a decade. He has had more than 24 years in progressive leadership roles for Alaska Native corporations, providing executive oversight and management for a large portfolio of contracts in all 50 states and international programs, according to the BSNC website.
Graham holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Villanova University, is a registered Professional Civil Engineer in Alaska and is a certified Project Management Professional.
No explanation for the change has been announced, but the board sent a letter to shareholders:
“We write to you today to inform you of an important transition in leadership at Bering Straits Native Corporation (BSNC). The BSNC Board of Directors approved the separation of the President & CEO. Gail R. Schubert, who has been CEO since 2009 and President since 2010, will no longer serve in her current role. We would like to express our sincere appreciation for Gail’s remarkable contributions and dedicated service to BSNC throughout her tenure.
“While Gail has transitioned out of her role as President and CEO, we are pleased to inform you that she will continue to serve as a valuable member of the BSNC Board. Gail’s extensive 31 years of board service, insightful guidance and unwavering commitment to the corporation will continue to benefit our organization and its shareholders.
“During Gail’s tenure, BSNC has achieved tremendous success. Under her leadership and guidance, the corporation’s annual revenue has grown from $14 million in 2003 to $661 million in fiscal year 2023.
“Executive Vice President Dan Graham will serve as Interim President and CEO. Graham’s leadership will assure continuity and will build on the accomplishments that Gail has led over her decades of service to BSNC. Dan has served on the senior executive team at BSNC for 9 years and has worked in leadership roles at Alaska Native corporations for a more than 20 years. He has been an integral part of BSNC’s positive trajectory.
“I cannot say enough about what Gail has accomplished,” said Graham. “In my time in this new role, I will wake up every day thinking how best to serve BSNC shareholders and the region. I do not take the responsibility of this position and the people it serves lightly.”
” We send our sincere thanks to Gail, “BSNC Board Chair Cindy Towarak Massie and Board of Directors”
