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Anchorage’s Identity Inc. is engaged in puberty blocker treatments, but a Senate bill may put group in legal peril

Suzanne Downing
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Anchorage’s Identity Inc. is engaged in puberty blocker treatments, but a Senate bill may put group in legal peril

In Anchorage, Identity Inc. is leading the charge to convince children to transition from one gender identity to another.

In material published on its own website, the gender identity group says that although hormone treatments are “off label” for gender transition purposes, they have been used safely for years, a claim that is disputed by some who have gone through the treatments and suffered long-term consequences.

Identity Inc. is an Alaska nonprofit community center and health clinic that provides resources, programs, and health care for the LGBTQIA2S+ and allied community, according to its website.

Identity Inc. recently posted consent forms for various chemical treatments for gender dysphoria.

But its hormone treatments for youth may put the group in legal jeopardy.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley has introduced a Senate bill that would allow people who were harmed by gender-transition procedures as minors to bring lawsuits against the participating individuals and entities.

The bill, “Protecting Our Kids from Child Abuse Act,” holds medical professionals and clinics liable for damages until 30 years after a patient turns 18.

“”What the American people are seeing take place at pediatric gender clinics in St. Louis and across the nation is appalling. Children who are harmed by these dangerous procedures, which are often irreversible and sterilizing, will now be able to fight back against those who perpetrated their abuse. And federal taxpayers will no longer be forced to foot the bill for abusive treatment,” Hawley said in a press release.

Identity Inc, has published consent form on its website to assist pre-teens in their gender identity change, starting with hormone treatments. The consent form presents itself as an authoritative document that has several places for youth and guardians to sign.

The consent form asks youthful patients to acknowledge that “using this medication to block puberty in transgender youth is an off-label use. This means it is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for this specific use. However it has been used for many years to block puberty in children who started puberty earlier than is healthy. I know that using a puberty blocker is based on the judgment and experience of our health care provider and is supported by the Society of Pediatric Endocrinology.”

The Identity Inc group also asks youthful patients to sign that they understand that, “I know that the side effects and the safety of these medicines are not completely understood. There may be long-term risks that are not yet known.”

View the consent forms at this Identity Inc. link.

The Senate bill, Protecting Our Kids from Child Abuse Act may put groups like Identity Inc. out of the gender-affirming business. The bill would allow a person to sue a gender-transition procedure performed on them when they were minors. The bill also would prohibit federal funding to any pediatric gender clinic, to any university or hospital that is affiliated with a pediatric gender clinic, and for any gender-transition procedure performed on minors.

Already, one well-known young person who went through a gender transition has “de-transitioned,” and is now suing the medical providers who did the procedure on her when she was younger.

Chloe Cole, 18, calls herself a “former trans kid” who de-transitioned after undergoing years of puberty blockers and a double mastectomy at age 15. She now travels the country on a mission to stop the transitioning of kids, a practice that Identity Inc. is now assisting in.

“I’m planning to keep doing this until it stops,” Cole told Catholic News Service.

Earlier this month, Sen. Hawley announced an investigation into whistleblower allegations of child abuse and potential malpractice at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children’s Hospital.

View the full bill text here.

Pentagon suicide panel recommends no gun sales to young military members, warnings on energy drinks sold on base

Suzanne Downing
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Pentagon suicide panel recommends no gun sales to young military members, warnings on energy drinks sold on base

A military panel studying how to slow down the rate of service members who kill themselves is recommending, among dozens of other offerings, that firearms not be sold by military exchanges to any service member under the age of 25. The committee also recommends waiting periods on both firearms and ammunitions sales at military stores, and some warnings about energy drinks.

The Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee released its report on Friday. It focuses on four main area, including restructuring suicide prevention training, providing more resources to help service members access existing support services, promoting lethal means safety, and emphasizing leader stewardship in addressing service member needs, according to the Pentagon’s summary.

The report acknowledges that a large percentage of suicides among service members are by those members who are under investigation for something.

“In 2021, 23% of service members who died by suicide were experiencing or had experienced legal or administrative challenges during the preceding year. Over half of these service members were under investigation (DSPO, 2021). Being the focus of an ongoing investigation creates a combination of individual and occupational stressors that can increase risk for suicide compounded by poor handling by investigators or command,” the report noted.

The recommendation to stop selling private firearms at base exchanges to young warriors is given the highest urgency rating by the committee. The committee also is recommending severely curtailing the Second Amendment rights of troops, such as universal gun registration and a database of firearms purchased on Department of Defense property. Recommendations include:

“Repeal Public Law 112-239 Section 1057 and replace with procedural due process regarding the collection and recording of information relating to the lawful acquisition, possession, ownership, carrying, or other use of a privately owned firearm or weapon by military personnel and civilian employees of the DoD.”

That public law was created to prevent the unconstitutional infringement of service members’ rights to acquire, possess, and use firearms when not on Defense property.

“Implement a 7-day waiting period for any firearm purchased on DoD property.”

“Require DoD-approved firearm safety training, including refresher and sustainment training every five years.”

“Develop a national database for recording serial numbers of firearms purchased on DoD property.”

“Implement a 4-day waiting period for ammunition purchases on DoD property to follow purchases and receipt of firearms purchased on DoD property.”

“On DoD property, raise the minimum age for purchasing firearms and ammunition to 25 years.”

“Incentivize the acquisition and use of firearm locking devices by providing discounts for firearm locking devices purchased at a Military Exchange.”

“Establish command notification procedures when a service member or family member who lives on DoD property purchases a firearm on DoD property.”

“Require anyone living on DoD property in military housing to register all privately owned firearms with the installation’s arming authority and to securely store all privately owned firearms in a locked safe or with another locking device.”

“Establish DoD policy restricting the possession and storage of privately owned firearms in military barracks and dormitories.”

“Prohibit the possession of privately owned firearms that are not related to the performance of official duties on DoD property by anyone who does not live on DoD property.”

Explaining why firearms need to be curtailed, the committee said Defense data indicate approximately 66% of active-duty suicides, 72% of Reserve suicides, and 78% of National Guard suicides involve firearms.

“Several lines of evidence suggest that limiting or reducing firearm availability could dramatically reduce the military’s suicide rate. For example, a simple policy change requiring Israeli military personnel to store their military-issued weapons in armories over the weekend led to a 40% reduction in the Israeli military’s suicide rate,” the report said on Page 57.

The recommendations also take on other aspects of military quality of life, such as sleep cycles, pay scales, promotions, the management of millennials, ensuring that air conditioning is working inside of barracks, and even a limit on energy drinks and alcohol:

“Raise the minimum purchase price and ban price discounting of energy drinks sold on DoD property.”

“Ban the promotion of energy drinks on DoD property.”

“Display signs on vending machines and retail outlets where energy drinks are sold about responsible energy drink consumptions.”

“Ban the promotion of alcohol on DoD property.”

“Increase the purchase price of alcohol sold on DoD property”

“Limit when alcohol is sold on DoD property.”

The report tackles many other aspects of military life, and recommends that pay scales be reviewed to be more competitive with non-military jobs.

Read the report at this link.

Report: Suicides on Alaska military bases spiking in 2021

Alaska Republican Presidential Preference Poll: A year away

Suzanne Downing
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Alaska Republican Presidential Preference Poll: A year away

The Republican Party will gather in Milwaukee, Wisc. from July 15-18, 2024, a time when delegates from all 50 states, District of Columbia, and territories such as American Samoa, Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, will formally select the GOP nominee for president at the Republican National Convention.

At the national convention, delegates from Alaska Republican district committees, chosen by their party peers at district and state conventions, will cast their votes on the national convention floor.

The Republican presidential choices for Alaska are chosen in a Presidential Preference Poll, to be held by the Alaska Republican Party around March 5, 2024, weeks before the July convention. The party will have to avoid the Anchorage municipal election, which will be taking place next mid-March to early April.

After the PPP, there is a state Republican convention.

The “PPP,” as it is known, is a caucus-by-ballot method of choosing the favored presidential candidate. It allows the participation of more people and saves voters the hassle of having to go to a gymnasium and stand around in a traditional caucus system.

Republicans in Alaska did not hold a PPP in 2020, because Donald Trump was a sitting Republican president who had the nomination sewed up, and because of the Covid pandemic making it more difficult for people to gather. The last PPP in Alaska was held March 1, 2016. Ted Cruz won the most votes that year in Alaska, among those who participated.

In 2016, Alaska Republicans taking part in the PPP cast their votes for:

  • Ted Cruz: 36.4 percent
  • Donald Trump: 33.5 percent
  • Marco Rubio: 15.1 percent
  • Ben Carson: 10.9 percent
  • John Kasich: 4.1 percent

Only Republicans can take part in the GOP’s PPP, yet voters can register as a Republican 90 days prior to the PPP in order to cast a preference ballot, indicating which of the leading candidates (those who register in Alaska as presidential candidates) they prefer. The PPP is not a ranked choice voting system, but an advisory vote to the party delegates. Currently, there are 145,390 registered Republican voters in Alaska.

However, it’s not until after the July national convention when Alaskans and the rest of the country will know who the Republican nominee will be for the November ballot.

The Alaska Republican Party is starting the initial discussions about how to conduct the PPP in 2024, an event that will require volunteer training, grassroots involvement, and lots of new twists for a party that will not have conducted its privately held presidential preference vote for eight years.

None of the presidential candidates — from parties or independents — will be on the Alaska open primary ballot on Aug. 20, 2024.

However, all of the presidential candidates who register as candidates with the Alaska Division of Elections, and who are legally registered with the Federal Election Commission, will appear on the Nov. 5, 2024 General Election ballot, which is not a ranked choice ballot in Alaska. Federal law does not permit the presidential election to be conducted via ranked choice.

Presidential Preference Poll: Will AK GOP conduct one, or wave it off this cycle?

Where will Democrats meet to nominate Biden?

Milwaukee was also the choice for the Democrat Party’s nominating convention in 2020, but that convention was scuttled and held virtually, due to the Covid pandemic.

This year, the Democrats have not yet chosen a venue for their nominating convention. Three cities remain on the list: New York City, Atlanta, and Chicago. At this writing, New York City has been all but eliminated, and President Joe Biden is pulling for Atlanta, because Georgia was good to him during the 2020 election.

Unions are pushing for Chicago because it’s a more union-friendly city than Atlanta. Some Democrats are fearful of Atlanta as a venue because Georgia is a constitutional carry state for firearms, which makes some feel unsafe.

On the other hand, Chicago has very strict gun laws but is a homicide capital, with 695 homicides in 2022, a drop from the 800 murders it had the year before but still leaving 2022 the fourth highest year for murders in the Windy City since 1999.

Publisher concedes, will print Roald Dahl’s original work, alongside censored editions of children’s classics

Suzanne Downing
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Publisher concedes, will print Roald Dahl’s original work, alongside censored editions of children’s classics

After weeks of heated public condemnation over the censorship of a beloved children’s author, Penguin announced on Friday that it will release the original “Roald Dahl Classic Collection,” to keep the author’s classic texts in print in their original format, even while a subsidiary of the publisher is releasing “sanitized” versions of the popular children’s books in order to conform with the goals of “inclusivity, diversity, and equity.”

“These seventeen titles will be published under the Penguin logo, as individual titles in paperback, and will be available later this year. The books will include archive material relevant to each of the stories,” Penguin said in a press release.

Dahl’s books have sold more than 300 million copies and he is considered one of the greatest children’s authors of the 20th century. The British author’s books have been turned into at least 20 movies.

“The Roald Dahl Classic Collection will sit alongside the newly released Puffin Roald Dahl books for young readers, which are designed for children who may be navigating written content independently for the first time. Readers will be free to choose which version of Dahl’s stories they prefer,” the publisher said.

Over the past few months, Penguin has been rewriting hundreds of passages from Dahl’s books to make them more politically correct, removing words like “fat” from every Dahl book, and erasing perceived racial or cultural stereotypes.

The words “black” and “white” have been amputated from all of the new editions of Dahl books, regardless of the context.

Men are no longer “men.” Now they now “people.”

The words “crazy” and “mad” have been eliminated.

In “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” written in 1964, the character of Augustus Gloop, is now described as “enormous” rather than “enormously fat,” as Dahl’s had written in the original edition.

In “James and the Giant Peach,” a section reads: “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that.” That was edited by the inclusivity editors to read, “Aunt Sponge was a nasty old brute / And deserved to be squashed by the fruit.” 

Somehow it was decided by the editors that using “old” as a pejorative is fine, but describing someone as terrifically fat and flabby is not fine.

Then again, maybe “old” is not a good word in the newspeak of political correctness. In the Dahl book, “Witches,” an “old hag” has been revised to an “old crow.” A supernatural woman posing as normal woman is described by as being someone who is a “top scientist or running a business” rather than a “cashier in a supermarket or typing letters for a businessman,” as Dahl had originally written.

Also, the new inclusivity version puts a disclaimer on a passage that describes witches as secretly bald.

“There are plenty of other reasons why women might wear wigs and there is certainly nothing wrong with that,” the disclaimer says.

“At Puffin we have proudly published Roald Dahl’s stories for more than forty years in partnership with the Roald Dahl Story Company.  Their mischievous spirit and his unique storytelling genius have delighted the imaginations of readers across many generations.  We’ve listened to the debate over the past week which has reaffirmed the extraordinary power of Roald Dahl’s books and the very real questions around how stories from another era can be kept relevant for each new generation,” said Francesca Dow, of Penguin Random House Children’s Books.

Treg Taylor and 32 AGs urge Supreme Court to protect whistleblowers in pharmacy fraud lawsuits

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Treg Taylor and 32 AGs urge Supreme Court to protect whistleblowers in pharmacy fraud lawsuits

By CHRISTIAN WADE | THE CENTER SQUARE

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong is leading 33 states attorneys general, including Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a pair of lower court rulings that could have broad implications for whistleblowers, and the government’s ability to go after public fraud.

In a 15-page legal brief, Tong and the other AGs are calling on justices to uphold a pair of federal whistleblower lawsuits accusing pharmacy operators of over billing government health insurance programs for prescription drugs. 

At issue is whether private companies can shield themselves from fraud lawsuits by claiming an “objectively reasonable” interpretation of the federal False Claims Act, which allows citizens to file lawsuits on behalf of the government. 

Lawsuits filed by whistleblowers against Safeway Inc. and SuperValu Inc., accused the retail pharmacy chains of defrauding Medicare and Medicaid by billing them using “artificially high” pricing schemes, while charging most consumers lower prices for out-of-pocket costs through discount programs.

But in a 2-1 opinion, the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago sided with the companies, saying they were acting under a “reasonable” interpretation of the law when they billed the government higher prices than those charged to uninsured consumers. 

In its April ruling, the appeals court agreed the companies had overcharged the government, but ruled they can’t be held responsible for fraud because their billing practices were supported by an “objectively reasonable” interpretation of the whistleblower law.

The whistleblowers appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which agreed to combine the cases and review the lower court rulings. 

In their legal brief, Tong and other AGs argue the Seventh Circuit’s ruling “turns the law on its head” and puts states at risk of losing Medicaid and Medicare funds to fraud if they don’t issue adequate guidance to companies operating under their jurisdiction. 

“Rather than encouraging providers to seek available clarification about the legality of their practices, the Seventh Circuit’s rule rewards providers that put on blinders, take the public’s money, and ask questions (or seek forgiveness) later,” the AGs wrote in the legal brief.

In a statement, Tong said the lower court’s rulings “gut the essence” of the False Claims Act and will “jeopardize the integrity of state Medicaid operations.” 

He said under the Connecticut False Claims Act — which was modeled on the federal law, the state has recovered over $181 million in misspent public healthcare dollars since 2009, when it went into effect. 

“Having a strong interpretation of the False Claims Act is vital for the protection of taxpayer dollars, which is why my fellow attorneys general and I are strongly urging the Supreme Court to right this wrong,” he said. 

Joining Tong are attorneys general from Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

Study shows vaccine mandates did not stop spread of Covid in nine cities that ordered the jab for workers

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Study shows vaccine mandates did not stop spread of Covid in nine cities that ordered the jab for workers

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

Researchers analyzed nine U.S. cities that implemented vaccine mandates during the pandemic and found that those mandates had no real effect on the spread of Covid-19.

Now, those cities’ leaders are not responding to questions about their mandates and the economic impact they had on residents.

Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. were part of the study conducted through George Mason University’s Mercatus Center.

Those cities announced some form of city-wide vaccine mandate in 2021, leading to economic hardship for local businesses and lost jobs for those who refused to comply.

“Our findings put into question the efficacy of city-level vaccine mandates,” the report said. “Indoor vaccine man-dates caused large disruptions for many individuals and businesses.

New York City, for example, fired 1,430 city workers for failing to comply with its vaccine mandate (Fitzsimmons, 2022). A survey found that over 90% of NYC restaurants reported having customer-related challenges, such as losing customers who objected to the mandate, and 75% having staff-related challenges (New York State Restaurant Association, 2021). Those are just a small fraction of the disruptions caused by the mandates.”

Despite the economic hardship they caused, the study found no noteworthy slow of Covid-19. Researchers said this was in part because residents could simply travel outside city limits to participate in any activities banned in the city.

“We find no evidence that the announcement or implementation of indoor vaccine mandates in the cities listed had any significant effect on vaccine uptake, Covid-19 cases, or Covid-19 deaths, and this is largely consistent for all US cities that implemented the mandate,” the report said.

The Center Square reached out to the mayor’s offices for all nine cities to present the findings and ask if their respective governments made a mistake but received no response.

“I think the more important thing is to find out what was in the minds of the people both at the federal level and at the state and local level who imposed these policies,” said Bob Moffit, an expert at the Heritage Foundation who served as a senior official of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Personnel Management during the Reagan administration.

“Because based on the data, these kind of comprehensive vaccine mandate policies, there is no other way to describe except as a stupid, ham-handed policy,” he added. “The economic consequences were awful.”

Vitor Melo, one of the researchers behind the report, told The Center Square his team was surprised by the results. They expected to find some benefit to the mandates.

“We were all surprised, and I think we were all surprised as we kept going with this how consistent the results were for all the cities,” Melo said.

The researchers hope this report impacts decision-making for these kinds of policies going forward.

“Public health restrictions and regulations were widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic, and so understanding their consequences is essential,” the report said. “The authors find that city-level mandates had smaller effect on vaccine uptake (and consequently on COVID-19 cases and deaths) than nationwide mandates – and thus failed to achieve their intended objectives.”

Casey Harper is a Senior Reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.

Alex Gimarc: A return to defined benefits

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Alex Gimarc: A return to defined benefits

By ALEX GIMARC

One of the remarkably ugly proposals happily making its way through the Alaska Legislature is a return to defined benefit pensions for state employees. The vehicle for doing this is difficulty in hiring and retaining police, fire, and first responders.  

Legislation to make this so is HB 22, spearheaded in the House by Rep. Andy Josephson, who has been pushing it hard. As of this writing, there is no fiscal note, though we are promised one — real soon now.  

Before we get into the pointing and yelling portion of this piece, I want to remind everyone why Alaska doesn’t do defined benefits. The reason? We can’t afford it anymore, a problem that became obvious nearly 40 years ago. That is why Tier I PERS / TERS was replaced by Tier II (a partial move to defined contributions) in 1986. Tier III was passed 1996, and Tier IV in 2006. 

HB 22 is an attempt to return to Tier I for police / fire / first responders. Think of it as a start.

Problem Definition

The stated problem is poor retention of law enforcement and firefighters following training. The solution proffered in HB 22 is to pump up their retirement benefits, potentially blowing up the currently (and perennially) stressed PERS/TERS retirement system. This solution would seem to be both high risk and premature.  

There are several things missing in this discussion, most importantly the cost benefit analysis of the problem. First is to actually scope the problem. How many people are we talking about? How much is it costing us? Are there any other possible approaches other than simply throwing money at it?  

Once we have that discussion (which hasn’t happened yet in public that I know of), we can then start talking about solutions. What do we propose spending to fix it? What happens if the solution proposed in HB 22 doesn’t work? Is the benefit of going to defined benefit for pensions greater than the risk of blowing up the entire PERS / TERS system as it exists today? How do we quantify a positive result?  

The fact that the fiscal note does not yet exist is telling. The fact that nobody at any level has proposed running a test for a few years tells us even more. Testing is a really smart thing to do, and we ought to do a lot more of it. It would have quickly identified problems that surfaced following passage of SB 91 in 2015, problems that took the legislature multiple pieces of legislation to fix. Testing this proposal for a few years will tell us if it works before we bet the farm with the entire PERS/TERS system, the PFD and the corpus of the Permanent Fund.  

Training Costs

If retention of trained police and fire is a problem, we then need to look at training costs (time and money).

The State of Alaska pays a $20,000 hiring bonus to new troopers. Half of it is paid upon hire. The other half after probation and certification (one year). No other bonus is paid. No additional obligation for service is agreed upon receipt of the bonus. And for some reason, the newly trained officers don’t hang around.  

Contrast this with how the Department of Defense responds to pilot shortages. Pilots are expensive to manufacture both in time and cost.  In response to pilot shortages, DoD came up with substantial bonuses to retain trained people. These range from $15,000 – $35,000 / year. When receiving the bonus, the pilot signs a fixed term of future service, generally five years following their initial obligation with an option to extend. Note that it takes about 52 months to manufacture a new USAF pilot. USAF pilots generally cost $0.84 – 1.60 million to train in basic military flight training. There are additional training costs associated with whatever they end up flying after basic training.

Alaska State Troopers attend a live-in 18-week course in Sitka. Their training costs are $225,000 / new trooper (first year). APD puts its new officers through a 25-week course with 1,063 hours in the syllabus. Their training costs are not available.  

From here, it would appear that the legislature and the Governor aren’t even considering increasing signing bonuses or tying receipt to a fixed term of future service. Why would they rather blow up the budget with a return to defined benefit pensions?

Why indeed?

Politics

This is where we get into the pointing and yelling (politics) part of this. Public employee unions have long despised defined contribution, which we can afford, and demanded a return to defined benefit, which we can’t. From here, it appears they have finally elected enough legislators to make it happen. There is no small amount of concern that Gov. Mike Dunleavy will sign the legislation when it passes.  

Legislators backing this even think they’ve got the outyear budget increases covered, paid for by the size of the future PFD which will rapidly be driven to zero. Look at public comments by Sen. Matt Claman or Cathy Giessel about right sizing the PFD, and “responsibly” paying for spending (disbursement of a statutory PFD is somehow irresponsible). 

Look at every single legislator who voted against the PFD passed last session as a someone who will pay for this with your PFD. Even Gov. Dunleavy has political cover, as he can point to the PFD passed last year as an example of him delivering what he promised to do. For just one year.

Police / fire / first responders are the opening gambit, the camel’s nose under the tent, as a vote against HB 22 will be construed as a vote against first responders. The Alaska Education Association will be next in line, closely followed by Local 71 and the rest of the public employee unions. 

All of them marching happily into the land of zero-dollar PFDs, because we must pay our obligations as a state to our employees, mustn’t we? Statutory obligations to our citizens? Not so much.  

And the unions will funnel contributions from their members to democrat political campaigns to elect more democrats to put more obligations on the Permanent Fund. When there isn’t enough money in the PFD to pay for this expansion, the supporters will quickly be into the corpus of the Permanent Fund itself to cover their costs.  

And the first responders are simply the opening bid, a sympathetic one at that.

We can stop this with simple bonuses coupled with fixed obligations that do not impact PERS / TERS outyear costs. And somewhere along the line, we ought to run a multi-year test to see if it actually works. The fact that these are not even being mentioned — much less debated — speaks volumes. 

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

Dunleavy bill seeks to ensure PFD workers pass background checks

Suzanne Downing
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Dunleavy bill seeks to ensure PFD workers pass background checks

Gov. Mike Dunleavy introduced SB 85, updating eligibility requirements for the Permanent Fund Dividend and modernizing the way the Department of Revenue can issue a notice of levy and conduct background checks on Department employees.

The bill allows merchant mariners attending a qualified vocational program to qualify for an allowable absence from the state for purposes of PFD eligibility.

Under Alaska’s current system, Alaskans serving as a merchant mariner are eligible for an allowed absence when serving aboard a vessel, but Alaskans training to be a merchant mariner are not provided the same allowed absence. This bill remedies that disparity so that Alaskans training to be merchant mariners are treated the same as other students.

The bill also clarifies the meaning of “education on a full-time basis.” Due to variability in educational schedules, certain students lose dividend eligibility due to breaks in the academic year. SB 85 provides for a specific definition for “education on a full-time basis” that includes academic year breaks, excluding summer break, so that students are not penalized based on vagaries in academic schedules.

SB 85 also allows the Permanent Fund Division to use electronic notice of levy for individuals who are subject to a court order or writ for the collection of a debt. Currently, if another individual attempts to place a levy on a dividend payment, Department of Revenue is required to contact the levied individual via the postal system. Allowing consent to receive electronic notice of levy will assist Alaskans in receiving vital information in the manner of their choosing.

The legislation also provides statutory authority for the Department of Revenue to collect fingerprints for the purpose of conducting background checks on Department employees. This will strengthen the security of Alaskan’s personal information by authorizing the Department to perform national criminal history checks on employees that have access to the banking and vital records of nearly every citizen in Alaska. By allowing the Department to obtain full background checks, Alaska will have taken every measure to provide the most secure system possible, the Governor’s Office said.

Book review: Parents, grandparents defend Anchorage children at the Anchorage School Board

Suzanne Downing
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Book review: Parents, grandparents defend Anchorage children at the Anchorage School Board

By DAVID BOYLE

Like bears coming out from hibernation, mama and papa bears showed up at the Anchorage School Board on Feb. 22 to defend their children and grandchildren from pornographic books that are being found more frequently in school libraries.

A veteran who has two children in Anchorage schools, testified about the board shutting down fellow parent Jay McDonald reading from “Let’s Talk About It.” The board had stopped McDonald earlier this month from reading from “Let’s Talk About It,” giving no reason for suppressing his right of free speech.

Anchorage School Board shuts down parent reading a passage from a sexting-porn manual in schools’ libraries

“This board’s 5-2 vote to censor speech is a slap in the face of one of the most important constitutional rights afforded to all citizens,” the veteran said.

He then questioned if the board could not handle the testimony, then members have no right being part of the conversation. He also said worried what would happen to students if they are not allowed to speak up in class when they disagree with the teacher or a book. He asked if a student would be able to have a different opinion than the “institutionally approved lesson plan or textbook?” Would students merely censor themselves because they feel marginalized?

McDonald, who previously read from the book, “Let’s Talk About It”, and read to the board a passage from “This Book Is Gay” in October, said the district’s response to him was, “We never let kids see that book, it’s just for the staff.”

Why are the State of Alaska and the Municipality of Anchorage taxpayer funding pornographic books for school staff that they believe are not appropriate for the children? Does the staff read these books in their break rooms? Or are these books selected by staff for children to read?  

“The policy that ASD has under their diversity, equity, and inclusion push, that they’ve been transitioning kids in school and hiding it from parents — first they were telling me that it was not happening, and the materials I was asking for don’t exist,” McDonald said to the board Tuesday.

Another parent testified, “This material is actually illegal according to Alaska Statute AS 61.11.128.” He wondered how the district was going to control access to the pornographic books. “That’s like keeping cocaine in your house and telling kids, “Do not touch.”

One parent asked the board, “Why would staff need access to a sexually explicit material when it is obviously not appropriate for our children in the school”?

Robert from Utqiagvik has two students in the district schools. He asked why there were different pronouns on the district’s “Plan to Address Title IX Gender Issues.”  He also objected that parents were not consulted on that student’s gender identity form.

Anchorage School District lays claim on key decisions on gender identity, and plans to keep parents in dark

John Cunningham, who also testified, believes that culture belongs to the family. He stressed that the family needed to be notified about questionable or possibly pornographic books. The family has the responsibility and right to control the child’s education.

Referring to a pornographic book, Cunningham further stated, “I figure anyone who would hurt a kid in that way shouldn’t be working in this kind of field. And these kids didn’t sign up to be pawns in this culture war.”

He continued: “I’m not here to address a specific piece of material, I’m just trying to tell you, you can be on the side that’s trying to get this in kids’ hands, and whether or not you’re doing it on purpose, I don’t know, but to do so without the family’s input, without the parents tracking it, doesn’t seem right.”

A mother with two young boys spoke in defense of all children. She asked, “My biggest concern is how can I protect them. You guys cannot have my children and they will not be subject to this,” as she showed two of the pornographic books.

A teacher testified that she found the books “positively defiling.”  She wondered why the staff needed these books in a public school setting.

Another former teacher and military instructor said it was a great mystery to him why we are teaching elementary age children about sex at all. He noted that this is where perversion starts that winds people up in prison.

That former teacher said, “You put the wrong material out there and you just bred a molester, you just bred a rapist.  That’s where it starts.  Our children are better than this.”

After the concerned parents voiced their serious concerns, Celeste Hodge Growden, the CEO of Alaska Black Caucus, addressed honesty and integrity. She said Jay McDonald had actually checked out the book from the Loussac Library, not the ASD school libraries.

She implied that the book was not even in the ASD school libraries.

Growden said, “I learned this book was never accessible to students.”  But it was available to students. Until it wasn’t, suddenly.

McDonald said he cannot check books out from the school libraries, which is why he got it from the Loussac. He said she is arguing irrelevant details to avoid the real issues.

She then attacked Jay McDonald’s testimony as “baseless allegations.”  She further wanted him to apologize to the board or walk back his “misinformation.”

A page from a book, “Let’s Talk About It,” that Alaska Black Caucus CEO Celeste Hodge Growden defended.

Growden then that several articles have “misinformation” and implied that these articles have led to personal attacks and threats against teachers, librarians, the school board, administrative staff, and even bomb threats.

It is unclear how Growden knew about alleged attacks on various board and ASD staff. There is no substantiation about the source of the alleged bomb threats.

Parents stood up for children, unlike the National Education Association, which believes, “Teachers and school library media specialists must have the right to select and use materials and techniques without censorship or legislative interference.” (NEA Today magazine).

The culture wars have begun. Only active parents, grandparents and other citizens can determine the outcome.

David Boyle is the education writer for Must Read Alaska.

Read aloud: Anchorage School Board gets treated to gay ‘how to’ sex manual that is in elementary school library
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