The Anchorage Assembly voted unanimously to enact an ordinance that awards four weeks of paid parental leave benefits for municipal employees who are new parents.
The policy was first set in place by edict when Austin Quinn Davidson became acting mayor after the disgraceful early exit of former Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. Mayor Dave Bronson rescinded the executive order in August of 2021, and the Assembly has now put it back in place via ordinance.
The Assembly has not considered the fiscal impacts of the leave, which could put some departments, such as street maintenance or police, under pressure if several people at once take family leave. Nor did the Assembly consider the diminished services to the public that could result from the leave allowance. Just last month, the Assembly also granted two more holidays to city employees, to celebrate Juneteenth and to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day.
According to the National Partnership for Women and Families, which promotes parental leave, about 75% of Alaska workers do not have paid parental leave. The nonprofit says that In Alaska, a typical worker who takes four weeks of unpaid leave loses nearly $3,800 in income.
Quinn Davidson said that while the leave would be first granted after employees have worked for six months, eventually she would like to see workers eligible for the leave from the first day they are hired, so they could be hired and go on immediate one-month family leave. That would go into effect in January of 2024.
“I think if there is any temptation to worry that pregnant people will come work for us just for this benefit, I would just point out a couple things: One, and some public testifiers shared this, this leave package is not particularly competitive, it’s basically the bare minimum that we see with employers. The federal government does 12 weeks and we’re instituting four if we pass this tonight, so I don’t really think anyone is going to come here to work for that fairly mediocre parental leave policy,” Quinn Davidson said.
“The second piece is that these are people we want to come work for us. We have hired these people, we’ve selected them, probably among many other candidates to be people who we want to bring onto our team. And that means they’re gonna work for us and do good, and anyway, if people come here for the benefit, that’s actually what we want.”
At first it seemed like a one-off at an Anchorage Assembly meeting. Now, it’s clear that Anchorage Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel, who represents Midtown and works as the czar of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, doesn’t have laryngitis. She is just not feeling the love for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Zaletel, part of the leftist leadership on the Assembly, is the only member who does not put hand over heart and at least mouth the words to the flag salute.
She does not face reelection the year, but if Zaletel becomes the Assembly chairwoman after March-April election, upon the retirement of Assembly Chair Suzanne LaFrance, she may find herself in an awkward position being the lone refusenik, unless others follow her lead.
Another instance of Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel standing in protest of the Pledge of Allegiance during a special meeting of the Assembly.
It’s Zaletel’s right as an American to refuse to recite the Pledge. Freedom of speech includes the right to not speak. But she may be the first elected official in Alaska history to stand in protest of the Pledge.
However, Zaletel would not be the first public figure in America to refuse to honor the flag. Last year, the Fargo, N.D. school board voted 7-2 to stop reciting the Pledge of Allegiance because it does not align with the district’s “diversity code” due to the fact that the Pledge includes the phrase “under God.” In New York’s Legislature in 2009, several leftist members refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Zaletel at least stands during the Pledge, and faces the flag, keeping her hands together in front of her, standing in silent protest.
The pledge was originally written about 118 years after America’s founding. It was written in 1892 by a socialist minister named Francis Bellamy. It was published in The Youth’s Companion, a children’s magazine. Bellamy hoped the pledge would be used in other countries, as well. The original version read, “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In the 1920, “the Flag of the United States of America” were added. At this time it read: “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
In 1954, the country was in the middle of the Cold War and was worried about the spread of communism. President Dwight Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words “under God,” which Congress did over the objections of Bellamy’s daughter. Today, the Pledge remains as it has been unchanged for nearly 70 years:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” Some people object to the words “under God.”
Watch as Zaletel refuses to say the Pledge on March 7, 2023 at the beginning of a regular Assembly meeting:
A U.S. District judge in Missouri has ruled that a 2021 state law that bans police from enforcing new federal gun laws is unconstitutional and void.
The ruling by Judge Brian Wimes could have a far-reaching effect in Alaska, which also has a law that prohibits the enforcement of new federal gun laws, as well as other Republican-led states that have passed similar laws.
In 2013, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell signed House Bill 69 into law. The law declares guns and ammunition possessed by Alaskans are exempt from all new federal gun laws. It also subjects federal agents to felony charges if they try to enforce future bans on guns or ammunition, or if they try to force the federal registration of firearms on Alaskans. That law has not been tested in court.
Wimes, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” (SAPA), violates the U.S. Constitution’s supremacy clause.
“SAPA’s practical effects are counterintuitive to its stated purpose,” Wimes wrote. “While purporting to protect citizens, SAPA exposes citizens to greater harm by interfering with the Federal Government’s ability to enforce lawfully enacted firearms regulations designed by Congress for the purpose of protecting citizens within the limits of the Constitution.”
“At best, this statute causes confusion among state law enforcement officials who are deputized for federal task force operations, and at worst, is unconstitutional on its face,” Wimes wrote.
Missouri’s Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey in a statement said he will appeal the ruling.
“As Attorney General, I will protect the Constitution, which includes defending Missourians’ fundamental right to bear arms,” Bailey said. “We are prepared to defend this statute to the highest court, and we anticipate a better result at the Eighth Circuit.”
Times’ ruling is similar to one from an Oregon appeals court last month, an indication that the judicial branch is taking a hard line against the sovereignty laws of states.
Surrounded by children, parents, and educators, Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced a pair of bills that give teachers bonuses and reinforce the rights of parents to safeguard their children from gender ideology policies that may be inflicted on families by local school districts.
One bill ensures transparency in schools by codifying parental rights and by requiring school districts to adopt procedures addressing the physical safety and privacy of students in locker rooms and restrooms in public schools.
The other bill is a teacher recruitment and retention incentive that will provide full-time, certified classroom teachers a cash payment each July for a period of three years.
Parental Rights in Educationbill
The Parental Rights in Education bill amends Alaska’s education statutes to increase opportunities for parental involvement in their children’s education by creating meaningful notice and consent requirements.
“We believe it is absolutely crucial for parents to be engaged in the education of their kids,” Dunleavy said.
A bill passed in 2016 was an “opt out” approach for sexual education, he said. Now, with all that has happened in the past couple of years, it is evident there needs to be “informed consent,” Dunleavy said.
The bill clarifies existing statute requiring parental notification prior to discussing human reproduction or sexual matters to include gender identity and requires written permission for the child to participate in the activity, class or program.
“Any idea that this is a ‘don’t say gay’ bill or anti-anything is wrong, it’s pro-parent,” he said.
The bill requires written permission from a parent before the name or pronoun used by a public school to address to the parent’s child is changed.
It also requires school districts to inform parents in writing of the right to pursue legal action against a school district if the parent’s rights have been violated.
“I’ve supported increasing parental involvement in education as a school principal and school board president. Then as a State Senator in 2016 I sponsored the bill that codified some parental rights in education in Alaska. This bill builds upon that work to increase family involvement and secure parental rights in education,” Dunleavy said. “Research shows that involving families more in a child’s education leads to better relationships and improved educational outcomes for students, and this bill will do just that.”
The bill also ensures that a school district does not selectively withhold information regarding a child’s physical, medical, or mental health from a parent, foster parent, or guardian unless a reasonably prudent person would believe that disclosure of the information would result in child abuse or neglect.
Currently, some school districts, including Anchorage, are making side arrangements with children to not only refer to them by different names than the ones given to them by their parents, but to refer to them by their preferred gender pronoun, without the knowledge of their parents.
“Parents need to be able to say whether they want their children to be part of this or they don’t,” he said. He said schools have begun to “play a game of cat and mouse with parents,” denying them the right to know what is going on with their children at school.
“Part of this bill would also prohibit sex and gender education before the fourth grade. We think it crucial that we focus on reading. we think it’s crucial that we focus on math,” he said.
Sen. Forrest Dunbar, Sen. Loki Gale (she/her) have introduced a mandatory sex-education bill, SB 43, that would require sex education to begin in kindergarten with what the government believes is “science-based sex ed.”
The governor’s bill, also recognizes every child’s right to privacy by requiring school districts to include procedures addressing the physical safety and privacy of students in locker rooms and restrooms as part of the school’s disciplinary and safety program.
This includes the privacy and gender separation of students in locker rooms.
“Physical safety and privacy of students in locker rooms is to be addressed through the physical separation of students by biological sex, access to single occupant facilities, or other safety and privacy protocols consistent with A.S. 14.18.040.,” the statement from the governor said.
Already, liberal members of the Senate have privately stated they will kill this bill.
Teacher Retention and Recruitment Incentives
The Teacher Retention and Recruitment Incentive bill identifies cash payment tiers for each school district in the amount of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000. The highest tier payments are directed to Alaska’s remote and rural schools. The $10,000 tier is targeted toward rural schools that, despite their remoteness, are sufficiently linked to Alaska’s urban networks to allow for more regular access to goods and services. The $5,000 tier is focused on incentivizing teachers in Alaska’s most urbanized areas.
“As a former educator in rural Alaska, I know how big of a difference it makes when a teacher stays in a community for a longer period of time,” Dunleavy said. “The labor market for teachers is tight across the country, but this bill will help Alaska school districts recruit and retain qualified teachers for years to come.”
Under the terms of the bill, certified full-time teachers assigned to a classroom teaching assignment will receive a lump sum payment on, or around, July 1, 2024, July 1, 2025, and July 1, 2026.
In order to be eligible for the lump sum payment, a teacher must occupy a teaching position for the entirety of the school term for the school year immediately preceding the date of payment. The purpose of the bill is to provide a post-school year payment to encourage teachers to remain in Alaska for the entirety of the school year, thereby promoting continuity for Alaska’s students and maximizing education outcomes.
This is a $58 million spend, the government said, and would be considered a three-year pilot program.
The Alaska Senate is trying to get a different bill passed that would increase the “base student allocation” for schools on a permanent basis. The Senate, run by liberals, is not likely to give the governor’s bill favorable treatment. The Senate is trying for a separate bill that would increase the base student allocation, which is the baseline funding for schools. Liberal senators are likely to try to tie the governor’s funding proposal to the BSA.
After 16 months of being blocked from confirmation, Gigi Sohn, the radical operative selected by President Joe Biden to join the Federal Communications Commission, has withdrawn her nomination.
Gigi Sohn has made a number of highly political and objectively offensive statements and personal attacks against conservatives on Twitter.
She gave an exclusive to The Washington Post, a sympathetic newspaper to her cause, calling the campaign against her “unrelenting, dishonest and cruel attacks,” and saying that cable and media industry lobbyists were out to get her.
“It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose their regulators,” Sohn said in a statement shared exclusively with The Washington Post. “And with the help of their friends in the Senate, the powerful cable and media companies have done just that.”
Police officers and associations especially opposed Sohn, who has repeatedly attacked police. She called police “armed goons,” and called Fox News “state-sponsored propaganda,” … “dangerous to democracy.” She also shared a post from Twitter that called former President Donald Trump a “raggedy white supremacist president.”
Now, however, she says attacks on her are unfair and hurtful. President Biden will need to find a new person to offer to the FCC role. Gigi has left the building.
Republicans Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas were two of the senators opposing her nomination, but equally vocal was Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who criticized her for having partisan alliances with far-left groups.
University of Alaska Anchorage professors are concerned that bad information about Covid-19 spreads quickly on social media. Professor Shawn Butler is part of a project to combat the problem with the use of artificial intelligence, such at Chat.openai.com, an increasingly popular new web application that is being used by university teams to respond to what is considered by artificial intelligence to be misinformation about Covid.
Butler, a computer scientist, is working in cooperation with other professors and the university’s Department of Journalism and Public Communication’s parallel efforts to combat false Covid claims on public-facing Facebook pages, by using what is considered by the project team to be scientifically accurate information from credited sources. The journalism department has an Alaska Public Health Information Response Team project, started two years ago to fight misinformation about Covid.
But misinformation is sometimes in the eye of the beholder.
“The damage done with misinformation, especially on social media, is something we’ve never seen before,” Butler was quoted as saying on the University’s website. “We almost eradicated polio until people started saying they’re not going to take the vaccine because of something they read online.”
In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website does not support Butler’s statement. It’s misinformation.
The CDC says no cases of polio from the wild have originated in the United States since the 1990s. There is a rare exception: A case of polio detected in in New York State in 2022 left a man paralyzed. But that case of polio came from the vaccine itself.
“During the fall of 2022, an unvaccinated man in Rockland County, New York, was paralyzed as a result of a polio infection. The NY man was infected with a type of poliovirus that came from the oral polio vaccine, called vaccine-derived paralytic polio,” according to an article published by theChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The case was concerning because we know that only about 1 of every 2,000 people infected with this vaccine-derived strain will be paralyzed, meaning that many others are likely also being exposed to this virus. High vaccination rates in most U.S. communities mean that often we remain unaware of the presence of the virus, but recent drops in routine immunizations following the pandemic have left some communities more vulnerable.”
Polio occurs occasionally in the world, but mainly where people are not using social media. In 2021, only three places in the world had wild (non-vaccine-originated) polio: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Malawi. Read more from PolioEradication.org.
Identifying and responding to misinformation on the internet can be a daunting and time-consuming process, the University of Alaska Anchorage explained. And yet, this is a government agency, headed by a government-funded professor, perfecting criticism of the public and using artificial intelligence to tamp down alternative viewpoints.
“So Butler and her team developed a way to use machine learning to assist in automatically identifying Covid-19 misinformation through natural language processing analysis, where a model is fed a data set of text labeled as ‘misinformation’ or ‘not misinformation’ with point values assigned to certain keywords or phrases to train the model to identify misinformation that is not labeled,” the university said.
“Currently, Butler’s model boasts an 80% accuracy rate when identifying misinformation and a 50% accuracy rate when identifying what isn’t misinformation — a number she is confident will improve after providing the model with a much larger labeled data set,” UAA said.
The team is satisfied that they are changing people’s minds with their debunking and what Butler calls “pre-bunking” — getting good information out in front, before bad information can go viral.
“In controlled situations, research shows that pre-bunking is more effective than debunking,” Butler said. “If somebody knows what the scam is, it’s easier for them to see it rather than be convinced once they have already fallen for it.”
Once the computer algorithm identifies potential misinformation, it notifies theAlaska Public Health Information Response Team, which then reviews the post and provides scientifically accurate information to correct the misinformation.
The UAA project could be seen by some as an early form of artificial intelligence being used for government psychological operations, also knowns as psy-ops. This kind of operation could be expanded for other types of government-approved propaganda or material on a variety of topics.
The project may also be a government-funded program perilously close to suppressing the First Amendment rights of citizens.
Must Read Alaska asked Chat.openai.com to rewrite this story
Must Read Alaska asked artificial intelligence to “improve this story.” Here is the version of the story from Chat.openai.com, the artificial intelligence tool, which makes it clear that the algorithm disagrees with a premise in the story as it pertains to the CDC’s position on polio in the USA. From the perspective of artificial intelligence, claims made in the story above would be considered “misinformation”.
“The University of Alaska Anchorage is taking a proactive approach in combating the spread of misinformation about Covid-19 on social media. Professor Shawn Butler, a computer science professor, is collaborating with the Department of Journalism and Public Communication to use artificial intelligence, such as the Chat.openai.com web application, to respond to false claims and misinformation about Covid-19 on public-facing Facebook pages. The project aims to provide scientifically accurate information from reputable sources to combat the spread of misinformation.
“However, the article contains some inaccuracies and misunderstandings. For example, the article incorrectly cites the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as not supporting Butler’s statement about polio, but the CDC’s statement actually addresses the eradication of polio in the United States and not the impact of misinformation on vaccine uptake. The article also suggests that the project may be a form of government psy-ops, which is not supported by the evidence presented.
“Despite these inaccuracies, the project is a promising initiative in the fight against the spread of misinformation about Covid-19. By using machine learning and natural language processing to identify potential misinformation, the project team can provide scientifically accurate information to correct false claims and promote public health. However, care must be taken to ensure that the project does not infringe on the First Amendment rights of citizens or become a tool for government propaganda.”
Look out for rising rental prices in the Juneau housing market, as Juneau homeowners are experiencing sticker shock from the City and Borough of Juneau’s new property assessments. Some homeowners are saying their property value increased as much as 40%.
The average increase in assessments for single-family homes in Juneau is 16%, driven by high demand and a low supply of new homes, as well as rapidly rising building costs, the city said. However, the pain is not being felt evenly, with some modest residences seeing assessment increases of over $100,000.
A citizens’ initiative that was successful in Juneau last year, repealed the mandatory disclosure of real estate sales figures to the City Assessor. The Assessor’s Office is now being accused by some of seeking revenge on the voters by increasing real estate values, which are used to set property taxes. The values are part of the mill-rate formula.
The median home value in Juneau is $355,100, with homeowners paying an average of $3,492 in property taxes to the City and Borough of Juneau. The Assessor’s Office defended the increases in its report, citing the high demand for homes, low supply of new homes, and rapidly rising building costs as driving factors. The report notes that the national residential housing market has begun to soften following a peak in June 2022, but there is no clear evidence that this trend is occurring at a local level.
The increase in property values is a result of homes being sold for more than their asking price due to multiple offers and escalating contingencies from buyers trying not to be outbid, the report said. Some homes were even purchased with additional cash above and beyond what could be financed based on a market appraisal. The Assessor’s Office warns that inflationary pressures and low liquidity in the marketplace will continue to drive sale prices within the Juneau market to higher levels.
Commercial properties saw an increase of about 6%, the Assessor’s Office said.
On October 16, 1972, Alaska was rocked with the news that Rep. Nick Begich, along with House Majority Leader Hale Boggs, Begich’s aide Russell Brown, and pilot Don Jonz, had disappeared in a plane crash while traveling from Anchorage to Juneau. Despite extensive searches, the plane was never found, and the search was called off three weeks after the Nov. 7 election.
The state was left with a vacant seat in Congress, and in a special election held on March 6, 1973, voters chose Don Young, a Republican, to fill out the remainder of Begich’s term. Young defeated Democratic nominee Emil Notti with 51.41% of the vote.
Young went on to win a full term in 1974, defeating Democratic State Sen. Willie Hensley with 53.84% of the vote.
The tragic loss of Begich and his companions had a profound impact on Alaska politics and the state’s representation in Congress. Young served in Congress for the remainder of his life, a total of 49 years.
After Young’s death on March 18, 2022, a special election was held to fill the vacant seat. This time, a rural Native Alaskan, Mary Peltola, won the seat back for the Democrats, breaking a long-held Republican stronghold on the seat.
In the 2022 general election, Peltola managed to hang onto the seat with 51.5% of the vote, thanks to the new ranked-choice voting method of tabulating the winner. Peltola beat former Gov. Sarah Palin, as well as Rep. Nick Begich’s Republican grandson Nick Begich III, and Libertarian candidate Chris Bye.
Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd (ZPMC), a China government-owned company that makes 80% of the cranes used by American ports, is the latest concern for officials worried that China’s spying tools could easily be deployed by the high-tech, sky-scraping, next-generation cranes.
A report from the Wall Street Journalsays that the Pentagon has been pondering the sophisticated sensors that can be deployed at the tops of the cranes, that officials compare to a Trojan horse — one that can register, track, and transmit data about what is being shipped in and out of ports such as the Port of Seattle and the Port of Tacoma, which have several of the ZPMC cranes.
The cranes could also provide remote access for a government looking to disrupt the flow of goods, said Bill Evanina, a former top U.S. counterintelligence official, as reported by the newspaper.
Although the Port of Alaska doesn’t currently use ZPMC cranes, such cranes could watch the comings and goings at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, as well as material coming and going from the port that supplies most of Alaska with goods. Like a drone recording images from the sky, this is the kind of security risk that keeps the Pentagon up at night.
ZPMC doesn’t need to turn a profit, unlike its international competitors, according to experts. That means the price for a ZPMC crane could be well below the $12 million or more that is typically charged.
The cranes reach over 160 feet in the air and are typically used in areas with unobstructed views from the top, which has electronics, including cameras. With the booms up, the cranes stand 434 feet high – as tall as a 30-floor building.
Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington State celebrated the new cranes coming from China into Seattle two years ago.
“Farmers, manufacturers, and other exporters from Washington state to the Midwest depend on the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma to quickly move their products to buyers in Asia and beyond,” said Cantwell, referring to the latest shipment of the China-built cranes at the Port of Seattle. “Expanding capacity at Seattle’s Terminal 5 to handle the largest, newest cargo ships is critical to keeping our ports competitive in the global economy.”
Former Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan also welcomed the China-made cranes: “The maritime industry is part of Seattle’s DNA and home to great workers like ILWU Local 19. The new cranes at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 5 are key to our economic recovery and will bring a boost to our local economy, speed up shipping for businesses that are reopening, and provide additional family wage jobs to folks who are returning to work.
“We believe The Northwest Seaport Alliance and Terminal 5, have a very strong future ahead. The purchase of these new cranes underscores our commitment to the market and our customers. We know larger ships carrying increased volumes are coming. We want to be out in front of that curve and are preparing our terminal to service our customers’ needs,” stated Ed DeNike, President of SSA Terminals, in 2021.
“Our investment in Terminal 5 ensures that our gateway remains competitive for the next 30 years and beyond,” said Port of Tacoma Commission President and NWSA Co-Chair Dick Marzano. “By adding additional deep-water terminal space, we can serve the largest vessels in the industry and increase cargo volumes that benefit our local, state, and regional economy.”
But all of the celebrating of the made-in-China cranes occurred before the communist government was found to be floating high-tech spy balloons over America.
