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Were you scammed? State orders Anchorage-based Tycoon Trading LLC to cease and desist in case involving Alaska investors and millions of dollars

Suzanne Downing
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Were you scammed? State orders Anchorage-based Tycoon Trading LLC to cease and desist in case involving Alaska investors and millions of dollars

Alaska investors may have lost millions of dollars what is being characterized as a fraudulent securities operation being run by an Anchorage business that is now in hot water with the State Division of Banking and Securities.

The division says Tycoon Trading LLC and its sole owner Garrett A. Elder have violated provisions of the Alaska Securities Act and have been ordered to cease and desist.

The division warns there may be many victims to this alleged scam. The division has so far received information from 12 investors about securities that Elder sold to them between June 23, 2018 through Feb. 7, 2022, but the State says there may be many more investors with significantly more money invested through Elder and Tycoon Trading.

The cumulative amount known to have been invested was nearly $1.8 million made by or on behalf of Alaskans between the ages of 6 to 63. According to the State, Elder issued falsified statements to investors reflecting positive earnings on investments.

“All or substantially all of the investors’ assets have been dissipated. Despite repeated attempts, investors have been unable to access their funds,” the State agency wrote.

The Division says the securities included “participation in profit sharing agreements, investment contracts, and speculative trading in foreign currencies to Alaska residents through his business Respondent Tycoon Trading LLC. Investors would deposit money with Elder based on Elder’s assertions that Elder would use his expertise to further invest the funds for a profit. The investment contracts signed by or on behalf of investors required splitting the profits between the investor and Tycoon Trading LLC. Elder managed and traded assets held in a common pooled accounts by executing securities transactions without being registered as an investment adviser representative as required by state statute.”

In the state’s order, signed by Commissioner Julie Sand and Banking and Securities Director Robert Schmidt, Elder and Tycoon Trading is a legal directive to stop all activities relating to securities trading, to pay $1.777 million in restitution and $1.777 in civil penalties. Elder could request a hearing to be held on the. matter, but until such time, he’s prevented from doing business as an investment agent or financial adviser, and the State of Alaska says it is further investigating to see if there are other victims.

The company was first organized in Alaska and registered with the State Department of Commerce in 2012, with the purpose stated of doing “miscellaneous financial investment activities.”

The State document was posted today:

Order-No.-22-87-S-RedactedDownload

Texas GOP declares invasion at border, calls on governor to declare invasion, defend state

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Texas GOP declares invasion at border, calls on governor to declare invasion, defend state

By BETHANY BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE

The executive leadership of the Republican Party of Texas has formally declared an invasion at the Texas southern border. It’s also calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to do what no governor of Texas has ever done before: declare an invasion and protect Texas and Americans from what it says are transnational criminal organizations creating an imminent threat to their lives.

The Texas GOP’s State Republican Executive Committee formally declared an invasion in a resolution it passed during its latest quarterly meeting held Sept. 24.

The resolution states that during World War II, allied forces totaling about 156,000 landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, on D-Day, June 6, 1944. By comparison, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of foreign nationals who’ve illegally entered the U.S. in Texas is equivalent to the number of allied D-Day forces entering every month for the past 18 months.

With the Biden administration ending the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico Policy,” Texas could see an increase of an additional 18,000 people illegally entering daily, or the equivalent to the number of allied D-Day forces landing in Texas every 10 days.

“The health, safety, and welfare of Texans are under an imminent threat of disaster from the unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and drug smuggling coming across the U.S. border from Mexico,” the resolution states, “spearheaded by violent international drug cartels that have operational control over our unsecured U.S.-Mexico border.”

It also states that the Biden administration ordering U.S. Border Patrol agents to unlawfully “process into the United States an unlimited number of illegal non-citizens” violates the “Guarantee Clause, Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution, as it relates to the Federal Government protecting any state against invasion.”

It points to Article I, Section 10, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which grants authority to the states to protect themselves from an invasion when the federal government fails to do so. Under the authority of the U.S. Constitution, the Texas GOP SREC is calling on Abbott to declare that Texas is being invaded and “organize the appropriate assets of Texas to repel this growing lawless invasion.” This includes transporting “by any means available, an increasing number of undocumented illegal non-citizens across the same border they illegally crossed.”

The resolution also points to Abbott last month designating transnational cartels as terrorist organizations and calling on President Joe Biden to do the same.

It also points to multiple counties that “have so boldly declared an invasion because the health, safety, and welfare of their residents are under an imminent threat of disaster from the unprecedented levels of illegal immigration, human trafficking, and drug smuggling coming across the U.S. border from Mexico.”

So far, judges and commissioners representing 33 counties have declared an invasion. While they and the Texas GOP have all expressed support for Abbott’s border security efforts through Operation Lone Star and other actions he’s taken, they are calling on him to do even more to protect Texans and Americans.

In McMullen County, the fourth-least populated county in Texas, for example, its judge declared an invasion in the county and in Texas.

In one month alone, “McMullen County law enforcement documented over 4,000 illegal aliens who avoided apprehension by Border Patrol and whose whereabouts are currently unkown,” its county judge, James Teal, said in a disaster declaration he issued in July.

McMullen County, located roughly 104 miles north of Laredo, has a population of 600. In one month alone, foreign nationals evading law enforcement outnumber citizens 7 to 1.

“The ongoing crisis on the Texas border is not acceptable and has resulted in a security threat and humanitarian disaster with overwhelming consequences to the residents of McMullen County and Texans, alike,” Teal said.

Other county judges have also declared an invasion in their county as well as at the southern border.

The Texas GOP SREC maintains that only Abbott can “extinguish the worldwide incentive for millions of undocumented non-citizens to continue to gain illegal access to the United States via Texas” because of the lawlessness of the Biden administration.

Bethany Blankley is a senior contribute at The Center Square.

NEA pushes transgender-identity agenda in Alaska

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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NEA pushes transgender-identity agenda in Alaska

By DAVID BOYLE

A major movement afoot to completely change our culture is being systematically pushed across America through our schools. This includes the movement to sexualize our children in the K-12 classrooms

Alaska is not exempt from this radical change. It is seen in Alaska’s schools, including the Anchorage School District, the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, and even the MatSu School District. And, of course, Juneau.

How does such a radical change get embedded into our society? Who is behind it and why is this policy nearly identical nationwide?  

At its Aug. 31 board meeting, Anchorage School Board member Dave Donley asked, through a formal request for information, about this policy.

Donley asked, “Was this policy drafted based on any example or instruction and if so, what was the source document and where did it come from?”

The board had not voted on it because it is a guideline and not policy — a way to get around public scrutiny and board discussion. 

Now we know that the NEA (teachers union), the ACLU, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gender Spectrum, and the Human Rights Campaign have provided the information and template to put transgender policy into school districts across America. 

Here is a link to that document.

The Anchorage School District has modeled its “Transgender Guidelines” after that template.

The NEA and its collaborators have even included an appendix discussing the use of puberty blockers to delay the onset of puberty. This is to give the transgender-interested child a “pause button…to give the youth an opportunity to explore their gender identity without the distress of developing permanent, unwanted physical characteristics of their assigned sex at birth.” 

Parents are mostly left out of the decision process and professional educators are put in charge of assisting the child to gender transition.  Parents who do not agree with their child’s gender transition are locked out of the decision.

The Fairbanks NSB School District policy confirms this in its transgender policy: “School personnel should not disclose a student’s transgender status to others, including parents or guardians or other school personnel, unless there is a legitimate ‘need to know.’”

Since when did parents or guardians not have a “need to know”?

The Anchorage School District also leaves parents out of the decision-making process.

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

The NEA/ACLU further believe that “transgender youth need support of the adults (i.e., caregivers and educators) in their lives in order to develop a strong sense of self and thrive.” Parents need not apply if they aren’t in full agreement.  

Professional educators have become the surrogate parents — not for student academic failure mind you, but just for a major life-altering decision that has enormous consequences. 

The NEA/ACLU document even states that “it is irrelevant” if a parent objects to a child’s gender transition based on “sincerely held religious beliefs” or that the child is too immature to make this life-changing decision.  

The NEA has taken this agenda even further by publishing “Legal Guidance on Transgender Students’ Rights” in 2016. It says if a female is uncomfortable with a transgender male in the female bathroom/locker room, that female must find a different bathroom/locker room to use.

Vermont high school bans girls from their own locker room because they don’t want to change clothes in front of boy

Just as the National Association of School Boards last year asked the Department of Justice to label parents who criticized Critical Race Theory as domestic terrorists, three national medical groups are asking the DOJ to “take swift action to investigate and prosecute” those who allegedly threaten or target hospitals and physicians who provide transgender surgery to minors.

Our K-12 schools should be focusing on teaching academics, not gender transition issues.

By pushing these cultural changes to our children, school districts will continue to lose students. Consequently, school districts will lose state funding and staff at a time when districts cannot afford to lose students, classroom teachers, nor funding.

The illustration at the top of this story is from a tool that some school districts across the nation are using to influence very young children in gender identity by employing cartoon Barney-like tools to confuse our children about what sex they are.

Very young children are extremely impressionable and look up to their teachers with respect. Their minds are easily molded at the K-3 ages.  And they are not molded by your belief system, but by the people in power of their curriculum.  

Parents, are your children being taught to read?  What is the content of the reading material?

Visit your kid’s classrooms and ask to see the curriculum the teacher is using. Don’t settle for less because your kids are your most important legacy. Our future depends on it.

David Boyle is an education writer for Must Read Alaska.

What does it mean to ‘pop a cherry?’ Anchorage School District is teaching that to high school students

What does it mean to ‘pop a cherry?’ Anchorage School District is teaching that to high school students

What does it mean to ‘pop a cherry?’ Anchorage School District is teaching that to high school students

Schools vs. parents: Anchorage public schools secretly affirmed a student’s transgender leanings

Anchorage School Board dug deep $68 million fiscal hole using the Covid one-time funds

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin orders bases named after Confederate officers be renamed

Suzanne Downing
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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin orders bases named after Confederate officers be renamed

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the renaming of military bases that currently bear the names of Confederate officers. His order includes the official discontinuance of a long list of military words that refer to the southern states’ secession, which led to the U.S. Civil War.

The renaming was mandated in a 2020 Defense Authorization budget package passed by Congress. President Donald Trump vetoed the package because of the renaming aspect, but his veto was overridden by Congress. The cost to taxpayers of renaming the bases is estimated to be $20 million.

The Naming Commission spent a year inventorying the military’s references to the Confederacy. In all, the commission found nine Army bases that commission members said need new names:

  • Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is to be renamed Fort Liberty.
  • Fort Hood, Texas, will be renamed Fort Cavazos, after an Army hero in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
  • Fort Benning, Georgia will be known as Fort Moore, for Hal Moore, a cavalry officer represented in the movie, “We Were Soldiers,” and his wife, Julia Moore, whose efforts led the Army to set up survivor support networks and casualty notification teams that consisted of uniformed officers calling on survivors to bring the news.
  • Fort Polk, Louisiana will be named after Sgt. William Johnson, a Medal of Honor recipient for valor during World War I. 
  • Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia, will be named for Dr. Mary Walker, the only woman Medal of Honor recipient for treating the injured soldiers during the Civil War. 
  • Fort Gordon, Georgia will be named Fort Eisenhower. Gordon was a Confederate major general and a governor of Georgia. Dwight Eisenhower was a general, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, and a president.
  • Fort Lee, Virginia will be known as Fort Gregg-Adams, honoring the heroism of two black officers, Lt. General Arthur J. Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams. Gregg is still alive, but is retired.
  • Fort Pickett, Virginia will be called Fort Barfoot, after Sgt. Van T. Barfoot, who received the Medal of Honor during World War II. As a footnote, before his death in 2012, Barfoot gained national attention when he successfully fought his homeowners association so that he could keep the American flag flying on a flagpole in his front yard.
  • Fort Rucker, Alabama will become Fort Novosel, after Michael Novosel of Alabama, a military aviator, and Medal of Honor recipient who served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, with a combined 40 years of service.

The commission also found about 1,100 Confederate references that will be scrubbed, including the Navy’s missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville, named for a major Confederate victory, known as “Robert E.Lee’s perfect battle,” in a battle against the North.

“The names of these installations and facilities should inspire all those who call them home, fully reflect the history and the values of the United States, and commemorate the best of the republic that we are all sworn to protect,” Austin said in a statement.

In 2015, the name of the Western Alaska U.S. Census district of Wade Hampton was changed to scrub a Confederate reference. Wade Hampton was a Civil War general who owned slaves. The new name is Kusilvak Census District.

Ornithologists consider changing ‘confederate’ name of bird

Tim Barto: Former Anchorage Glacier Pilot Aaron Judge is new single-season home-run champ

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Tim Barto: Former Anchorage Glacier Pilot Aaron Judge is new single-season home-run champ

By TIM BARTO

In 2011, Aaron Judge, coming off his freshman year at Fresno State University, played a summer of baseball for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. He hit zero home runs that season.

On Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, Judge, now right fielder for the New York Yankees, hit his 62nd home run of the season, setting the all-time American League record for a 162 game season. 

Judge is a big guy — six feet seven inches tall and weighing in at 282 pounds. He is also, by all accounts, a nice guy, an unabashed Christian who mingles with fans, poses for pictures, and is consistent and cordial with his teammates. Perhaps because of these characteristics, many fans now consider Judge to be the Major League single season home run leader, despite the fact that three individual players have hit 63 or more home runs during a season on six different occasions. 

The six occasions were accomplished by following players: Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, who hit 70 in 1998 and 65 in 1999; Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs who belted 66 in 1998, 63 in 1999, and 64 in 2001; and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants who went yard 73 times in 2001.

So why, then, is Judge considered by some to be not only the American League single season home run champ, but also the Major League single season home run champ, even with such statistical evidence to the contrary? Because Messrs. McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds hit all those home runs during the peak of what has become known as “The Steroid Era,” a period in which performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) were commonly used in the Major Leagues.

Let’s take a look at how off kilter those steroid years were.

Throughout Major League history, the mark of 50 home runs in a season has been met or exceeded 46 times by 27 different players. Babe Ruth was the first to do it when he hit 54 in 1920 (which, by the way, was more than every other American League team’s total that year). Ruth hit 50 or more home runs in a season a total of four times between 1920 and 1928, including 60 in 1927, a record that would stand until Roger Maris broke it in 1961.  

(Here’s a weird side note to interrupt the barrage of statistics: Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, and Aaron Judge all played the same position (right field) for the same team (the New York Yankees) during their record setting seasons. So, kids, if you want to enhance your chances of setting a new American League home run record, play right field for the Yankees. Or take steroids.)

The second player to reach the 50 home run mark was Hack Wilson, who hit 56 in 1930. 

In the 61 seasons from 1930 to 1990, 18 players managed to hit 50 or more home runs.  

In the eight years between 1995 and 2003, the 50 home run mark was surpassed 18 times. 

It has been exceeded ten times since 2003, including Judge’s 2022 statistics. 

Those 1995-to-2003 seasons stand out like a steroid-enhanced thumb. 

Mark McGwire never tested positive for PEDs but eventually admitted he took them. Sammy Sosa never admitted to taking PEDs, but a leaked drug testing report revealed Sosa tested positive in 2003 (something Sosa continues to deny) along with 103 other players. Barry Bonds has never admitted to intentionally using PEDs despite a mountain of evidence . . . and evidence from a federal trial that found him guilty of obstruction of justice (a decision that was eventually struck down by a higher court). 

The only thing Barry Bonds has admitted to was being a “dumbass” (his own words). In addition to his single season home run record of 73, he also holds the career home record with 762, and set another record by winning seven Most Valuable Player awards. He should have been a unanimous choice for the Hall of Fame, but in addition to the PED cloud hovering above his allegedly overgrown head, he was a surly character disliked everywhere but his hometown of San Francisco; and it is likely that this distasteful personality keeps Hall of Fame voters from providing him the grace they afforded the very likeable David Ortiz, whom they allowed into the hallowed chamber despite a positive PED test.

(Another weird side note: In his 22 seasons in the big leagues, Barry Bonds exceeded 46 home runs only one time – that record breaking year of 2001.)  

Last week when Judge was chasing Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 home runs in a season, Roger’s son, not strangely named Roger Maris Jr., made it clear that should Judge hit 62 he should be considered the true record holder. On Tuesday evening after Judge did, in fact, hit number 62, Roger Jr. announced that “. . . we can now celebrate a new clean home run king!!”

I, for one, am hoping the former Anchorage Glacier Pilot is as clean as his image suggests. Baseball needs wholesome, honorable men to save the league and enhance the image of the game. 

Tim Barto is Vice President of Alaska Policy Forum and was the President of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks Baseball Booster Club until stepping down in September. He continues to love the game despite MLB’s seeming desire to destroy it.

Photo credit: Creative Commons – Aaron Judge | Keith Allison from Hanover, MD, USA

Colorado baker defends another legal attack by LGBT

Guest Writer
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Colorado baker defends another legal attack by LGBT

Jack Phillips doesn’t belong in a courtroom, according to his legal defense team at Alliance for Defending Freedom. He should be baking and decorating cakes at his Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, Colo.

For more than eight years, Phillips has been pulled away from his confectionary artistry in order to fight for his civil rights and ability to live according to his Christian faith. He was sued for not baking a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage, because it conflicts with his sincerely held beliefs. The LGBT activist community has since used him as a target and bullied him through the courts.

Through it all, Phillips endured the spotlight of the national media, lost significant business, and had to let several employees go. He’s received hateful phone calls, letters, and even death threats.

“After two wins — including one at the U.S. Supreme Court — you would think it would all be over,” ADL wrote.

But now, Phillips is embroiled in a third lawsuit. A Colorado trial court has entered an order punishing Phillips for living out his faith after he refused to bake a cake celebrating gender transition surgery. The court fined him the maximum amount — $500. The case is now on appeal.

Who is Jack Phillips? He’s a Colorado cake artist who was at the center of one of 2018’s most-talked-about U.S. Supreme Court decisions. Although he won an important victory at the Supreme Court, the State of Colorado didn’t get the message. It targeted him again.

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission set its sights on Phillips because of his Christian faith. That was clear when it allowed other Colorado cake artists—but not Phillips—to decline to create custom cakes that expressed messages that the artists considered objectionable.

It was even clearer when some members of the civil rights commission made hostile statements against Phillips. One called his religious-liberty defense “a despicable piece of rhetoric” and compared him to perpetrators of the Holocaust. Phillips was being compared to a Nazi because he would not decorate a cake to celebrate a gay wedding.

The United States Supreme Court rebuked the commission in a 7-2 decision in which it condemned Colorado’s “clear and impermissible hostility toward [Phillip’s] sincere religious beliefs.”

Less than a month after the Supreme Court decision in 2018, Colorado’s government targeted Phillips again.

After Phillips filed a lawsuit against the state to stop that prosecution, in March 2019, the state of Colorado threw in the towel.

Now, Phillips faces his third legal battle. A trans woman, Autumn Scardina, ordered a cake to celebrate her transition from living as a male to living as a female. Scardina is a lawyer and was part of the LGBTQ bullying campaign.

Denver District Judge A. Bruce Jones has rejected Phillips’ argument that making the cake is an act of free speech. The judge said it’s simply a product and that it cannot be sold to some people, but not others. The judge said Phillips’ refusal of service was due to his refusal to recognize Scardina as a woman.

That 2021 ruling that Phillips violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act was on appeal on Wednesday with the Colorado Appeals Court, where Phillips hopes to overturn the ruling.

Scardina says the case is about the dignity of LGBTQ Americans and Coloradans and the rule of law. Phillips say he fights for the rights of all Americans to live according to their consciences “without fear of punishment” by government.

Read more about Jack Phillips at Alliance for Defending Freedom.

Culture wars continue as Colorado cake artist being sued in court for not celebrating gender transition with a special cake

Biden pardons thousands for simple marijuana possession

Suzanne Downing
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Biden pardons thousands for simple marijuana possession

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he has pardoned about 6,500 who had been convicted of federal marijuana possession charges. With one month to go until the midterm elections, and with Democrats slipping in the polls, the move is considered by some to be a play for votes. He framed it as a move toward racial equity.

Biden also said he will review whether marijuana should be considered a Schedule 1 drug, similar to heroin.

“As I often said during my campaign for President, no one should be in jail just for using or possessing marijuana. Sending people to prison for possessing marijuana has upended too many lives and incarcerated people for conduct that many states no longer prohibit. Criminal records for marijuana possession have also imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities. And while white and Black and brown people use marijuana at similar rates, Black and brown people have been arrested, prosecuted, and convicted at disproportionate rates,” says the transcript of Biden’s remarks.

“I have directed the Attorney General to develop an administrative process for the issuance of certificates of pardon to eligible individuals.  There are thousands of people who have prior Federal convictions for marijuana possession, who may be denied employment, housing, or educational opportunities as a result.  My action will help relieve the collateral consequences arising from these convictions,” he said.

Biden also encouraged governors to do the same. In Alaska, marijuana has been decriminalized and commercial sales of the substance has been in law since voters passed Ballot Measure 2 in 2014.
 
Although he is moving to decriminalize the drug, the president said that laws governing trafficking, marketing, and under-age sales should stay in place.

Major business groups beg Biden to ‘remove impediments to greater domestic energy production’

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Major business groups beg Biden to ‘remove impediments to greater domestic energy production’

By VICTOR SKINNER | THE CENTER SQUARE

 Business leaders across the country have joined together to call on the Biden administration to boost domestic energy production and to abandon a proposal to ban new offshore lease sales.

More than 200 local chambers of commerce in 47 states and 14 national associations penned a letter to President Joe Biden this week to urge him “to strengthen our energy security by removing impediments to greater domestic energy production.”

Included on that list is the Alaska Chamber of Commerce, the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Haines Chamber of Commerce.

The letter calls for:

  • Ending the ban on new oil and natural gas exploration on federal lands and waters. Federal lands and waters were responsible for 22 percent of all U.S. oil production and 12 percent of natural gas. Taking these resources off the table has a significant impact on U.S. and global energy supply, today and decades into the future. 
  • Restoring cancelled lease sales. Cancelling oil and gas lease sales sends the wrong message to producers and investors.
  • Adopting a 5-Year Plan for Oil and Gas Development that Allows the U.S. to Maximize Offshore Potential: For the first time in history, the 5-Year Plan was allowed to expire. On July 1, the Department of Interior proposed a new plan that included an option to completely shut down offshore exploration by allowing no new leases, creating even more uncertainty. It is not reasonable to ask that companies make major, long-term investments without knowing whether exploration will even be permitted. We urge the adoption of a new 5-year plan by the end of the year that includes the maximum possible number of lease sales.

“High energy prices remain a major concern for businesses throughout the United States and are a leading cause of inflation,” the letter read. “Businesses of all sizes are facing burdens from increased costs for goods, services, and transportation, which combined with tight labor markets, presents major headwinds for the U.S. economy.”

The letter argued that addressing climate change and energy security “are not mutually exclusive” and increasing domestic oil and natural gas production can “accelerate the energy transition” while simultaneously curbing cash to Russia and improving the lives of Americans.

“Also, Russian oil is among the dirtiest in the world, so displacing it with cleaner, less carbon intensive U.S. production would bring obvious environmental benefits,” the letter read.

Business leaders pointed to the Biden administration’s “mixed signals” on domestic energy production and outlined three major issues that should be addressed: Ending the ban on new oil and natural gas exploration on federal lands and waters, restoring canceled oil and gas lease sales and adopting a five-year plan for oil and gas development that allows the U.S. to maximize offshore potential.

“Federal lands and waters were responsible for 22 percent of all U.S. oil production and 12 percent of natural gas. Taking these resources off the table has a significant impact on U.S. and global energy supply, today and decades into the future,” the letter read.

“On July 1, the Department of Interior proposed a new plan that included an option to completely shut down offshore exploration by allowing no new leases, creating even more uncertainty,” it continued. “It is not reasonable to ask that companies make major, long-term investments without knowing whether exploration will even be permitted.

“We urge the adoption of a new 5-year plan by the end of the year that includes the maximum possible number of lease sales,” business leaders wrote.

The letter came around the same time OPEC – the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries – announced plans to cut back on oil production, a move that’s expected to contribute to a spike in energy prices in the U.S.

Price of gas going up again: OPEC, including Russia, agree to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day

Two Russians ask for asylum after landing at Gambell: Sullivan, Murkowski issue statement on Arctic security

Suzanne Downing
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20
Two Russians ask for asylum after landing at Gambell: Sullivan, Murkowski issue statement on Arctic security

Two Russians have requested asylum after they landed their small boat on a beach Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island on Tuesday near the small community of Gambell, about 36 miles from mainland Eastern Russia. The details are still sketchy, but the two are now in the hands of the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. They are apparently dodging the draft to the Russian military, which would send them to the front in the war on Ukraine.

Breaking: Russian nationals land a boat on Alaska island

U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan today released the following statements after two Russian nationals landed at a beach near Gambell, located on the northwest tip of St. Lawrence Island in Alaska, and requested asylum in the United States.

“We are actively engaged with federal officials and residents in Gambell to determine who these individuals are, but right now, we already know that the federal response was lacking. Only local officials and state law enforcement had the capability to immediately respond to the asylum seekers, while Customs and Border Protection had to dispatch a Coast Guard aircraft from over 750 miles away to get on scene,” Murkowski said. “This situation underscores the need for a stronger security posture in America’s Arctic, which I have championed throughout my time in the Senate.”

“Given current heightened tensions with Russia, I called the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and spoke to him as well as another senior DHS official when I was first contacted about this situation on Tuesday morning by a senior community leader from the Bering Strait region. Since those calls, Customs and Border Protection is responding and going through the process to determine the admissibility of these individuals to enter the United States. I continue to be in regular communication with DHS Secretary Mayorkas and officials at Customs and Border Protection and have encouraged them to have a plan ready with the Coast Guard in the event that more Russians flee to Bering Strait communities in Alaska,” said Sullivan. 

“This incident makes two things clear: First, the Russian people don’t want to fight Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Second, given Alaska’s proximity to Russia, our state has a vital role to play in securing America’s national security. This is why Senator Murkowski and I have been pressing officials in Washington D.C. so hard on the need to prioritize capabilities in the Arctic — including infrastructure, Coast Guard assets, ports and strategic defense assets.”

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