This week, over the strident protests of some trail users, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee wisely approved a temporary pitch-and-putt 9-hole disc golf course at the Treadwell Mine Historic Site in Douglas. This approval would add another much-needed outdoor recreation venue for local residents.
Disc golf is a sport in which players throw a disc (similar to a Frisbee) at a target, or basket, using rules similar to golf. Most disc golf courses are built in more natural and less manicured environments than a regular golf course and require minimal maintenance while incorporating safety in their design.
The project would be located near existing walking trails, so it initially generated some concern among trail users worried about hiker safety. However, the Juneau Disc Golf Club, the project sponsors, have been responsive in addressing concerns through re-design and re-locating holes.
Two of Juneau’s most enduring qualities are its access to outdoor recreational opportunities and its commitment to shared, mix use of its public resources. The City and Borough of Juneau Assembly, city staff, school district, and a whole host of non-profits and volunteers deserve credit for championing and developing diverse recreational activities. They all play a vital role in the health and well-being of our youth and families.
A recent City Journal article citing an Aspen Institute survey on youth sports revealed that 45 percent of American parents saw a reduction in local community programs and sports teams during the pandemic. Significantly, 28 percent indicated their kids had lost interest in organized sports.
This has resulted in rising obesity rates and levels of depression. During the pandemic, Juneau, in particular, saw an unprecedented number of young people experiencing high levels of stress, thoughts of self-harm and suicide attempts. It’s a simple fact that activities that get kids off their couches, screens and phones is good for physical and mental health.
Juneau officials have recognized this and have included “diverse recreational assets and opportunities” as a goal in Juneau’s economic plan.
Recently, the Assembly approved an expansion of the municipally-owned ski area summer operation that will open up a whole host of new activities for visitors and residents (while allowing the ski area to be financially self-sufficient). The selection of a site at 35-Mile for ATV enthusiasts is another illustration that widens the diversity of recreational options available to residents.
Disc golf shares the benefits of the above examples and it’s now one of the most rapidly growing sports in the country. Idaho, for instance, has 143 courses, and Alaska has close to 50 throughout the state. The sport has been fully embraced in Juneau through a variety of programs sponsored by disc golf club. According to club officials, professional coaches taught around 1,000 students how to play disc golf in the 2021-2022 school year, at local schools at the elementary, middle, and high school level. Similar classes were taught in Skagway and Haines.
Discs and baskets were left at the schools so teachers could use them during gym class. Reportedly, participation percentages were remarkably high, engaging many students that previously didn’t enjoy gym class.
JDGC has five different leagues and sponsors tournaments throughout the year. The club also has a development league every Sunday and holds clinics to improve skill levels.
Juneau’s one existing 18-hole disc golf course near Lena Point is used by more experienced players. There is a need for an easier more compact 9-hole course for beginners to practice and learn on. The temporary Treadwell course is intentionally designed to accommodate beginners by limiting play to putting and pitching discs that are thrown shorter distances and at slower speeds (picture an executive par 3 golf course).
Unfortunately, before all the facts were known, opponents of the project mounted an anti-course petition drive, citing a few rare injuries that occurred in other states involving large, poorly designed disc golf courses located in heavily trafficked public parks. Their testimony at the hearing when the proposal was being considered offered no compromise.
The Treadwell course layout will locate holes so discs will not fly adjacent to or across published trails. In addition, disc golf club is only applying for a temporary permit on a first-year trial basis which will allow for further public comment.
Expansion of recreational venues throughout the borough is a top priority of the Assembly and enhances the quality of life for all residents, but especially our youth.
This Juneau Disc Golf Club project deserves a chance to succeed. Thanks to Juneau’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee for giving them that opportunity.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
The state’s Human Rights Commission has filed a lawsuit against the Division of Elections, its Director Gail Fenumiai, and Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer, alleging that Alaska’s special mail-in election for the vacant congressional seat robs voters who are blind, because they have no good way to vote privately or independently, as they do in regular elections.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of a plaintiff referred to only as “B.L.,” asking the court to stop the certification of the results of the June 11 special primary election until blind voters have “a full and fair opportunity to participate.”
There are options for voters, including using custom computer technology to vote, and most visually impaired adults have access to such technologies. But perhaps B.L., who lives in Anchorage, does not have access to a computer, the Internet, and the adaptive software.
“A visually impaired voter may identify, and vote for, a candidate using this electronic option privately only by using screen reading technology which reads the text aloud. However, this option is only available to those visually impaired voters who have access to a private computer with internet access. Additionally, to ensure privacy, this option requires a visually impaired voter to access and fold their ballot in absence of any instructions regarding the same; any requirement of dependence on another individual to facilitate this process precludes the voter’s privacy,” the lawsuit states.
The Division has published June 25 as the target date for the certification of the election. As of now, the votes will be counted and announced starting Saturday night, unless a judge blocks the state from being able to proceed.
If the judge agrees and stops the election, the very results of the election may come into question, and be subject to lawsuits, as ballots sit uncounted for an unspecified period of time. The Law Department says the fact that the lawsuit was filed just three days before the end of the election poses serious challenges and that the Division of Elections is not doing anything differently than it has in the past.
The June 11 special primary election will determine which four names will go on the special general election ballot, which must be printed and mailed to overseas voters along with the regular primary ballots that are voted at the same time. Candidates will not know how they performed and won’t have the information to decide whether to continue as a candidate during the regular election cycle for the congressional seat. The deadline for withdrawing is June 26.
The Division of Elections must then print the general-and-primary combo ballot and has until July 1 to mail the ballot to overseas voters. Any delay in the process could upend the entire election, which is on a tight schedule due to the untimely death of Congressman Don Young on March 18.
The request was a few months too late. The Meet the Press Show on NBC reached out to Congressman Don Young’s press office to see if the congressman could be on the show on Friday, June 10.
“We would love to have him on the program if his schedule allows,” the request read. It may have been an intern who made the ask for the show that is the longest-running television show in history. If so, oops.
The communication director for Alaska congressional office for Alaska’s at-large seat took to Twitter to give his deadpanned answer:
“Unfortunately, @chucktodd, I don’t think Congressman Young’s schedule will allow him to be on Meet the Press with you tomorrow but I’ll circle back if that changes. Thanks for reaching out.”
Congressman Young’s 89th birthday would have been today, but he died on March 18.
Zack Brown, the communication director, also wrote on Twitter: “The best part to me is if DY saw this he would cackle about it for 5 minutes before asking me to print it and laminate it so he could show all his friends on the House Floor during votes.”
Corey Ahkivgak, who has attacked three people in Anchorage in the past six months, including a woman who he stabbed in the back at the Loussac Library, was let go by an Anchorage judge. By Monday, Ahkivgak will be walking the streets of Anchorage, free to attack again.
Angela Harris was stabbed while returning borrowed items at the Loussac Library on Sunday afternoon, Feb 13, 2022. Ahkivgak came up to her from behind in the lobby of the library as she approached the return chute. Her injuries were additionally severe because the man’s knife hit her spinal cord, causing paralysis. He had attacked two other women in months leading up to his attack on Harris, and had been released on those attacks, too.
“My family and I have lived in Alaska since 2005 and I am a mother to four children, all of whom I have regularly taken to the library since they were young. I am serving on active duty in the United States Coast Guard,” she said. “Corey Leif Ahkivgak drove a dirty Leatherman knife into my spine between L2 and L3, penetrating my spinal cord.”
But Judge Josie Garton of Anchorage Superior Court dismissed the charges, saying that Ahkivgak was never going to be competent enough to stand trial or understand the criminal Justice system.
Unless prosecutors can find a way to civilly commit him, the ruling means Ahkivgak can go wherever he wants, including any homeless shelter, park, grocery store, or back to the scene of his latest crime — the Loussac Library.
On Facebook, Harris wrote:
“When I arrived at St. Elias, “Momisol” (Ms. Marisol) said, ‘He broke your skin but he did not break your spirit’. Yesterday my heart broke. Today I am reminded of her words as I get myself up again refusing to allow the law to break my spirit. I will not deny that this ruling, the dismissal of his charges and ability to be released again, feels like a bigger blow than when Corey Ahkivgak drove a dirty leatherman knife through my spine.
“It was just another day at work on January 6th when Judge Garton followed the rules of the law releasing Mr. Ahkivgak from custody 28 days after publicly attacking two women on two separate occasions in December. He attacked me 38 days later. Yesterday was the second time that I listened to public competency hearings (for a mind blowing time, call the courts and get the information to listen to a block of those hearings).
“For almost two hours I listened to Municipal and State criminal charges being dismissed and cases dropped due to incompetence rulings. Multiple offenders. Violent offenders. Minor offenders. It was an assembly line of cases. There were victims, like myself, who pleaded with the court to help make sense of how someone could have murdered another human being and still be released with no record based on incompetence.
“Listening to Judge Garton as she justifiably carried out her lawful duties on another routine day in the office was one of the biggest hits I’ve ever taken. It was heavy for me because the people in positions of power have known this injustice has existed for a long time. They knew Alaska Laws were not yet written to protect the public. They knew people were being sent out to the streets daily with clean records. They’ve known there was a loophole, a gap putting Alaskans at risk, yet no one before now has looked into what can be done to fix it.
“Repeatedly, I am being told that, in addition to daily physical and occupational therapy, counseling, learning to walk, etc., it’s also now become up to me, as the victim, to fight for legislative changes. Knowing the courts have watched this injustice happen every day and no one has gotten in front of it because it hasn’t yet effected them or their family was one of the hardest hits. Rulings like this mean those released based on mental incompetency can still work in public schools, purchase firearms, anything they please because there is literally no record of their criminal activity nor their mental incompetence.
“Unless we continue to fight, Mr. Ahkivgak would be released to the public on Monday. My support team and I continue to show up in offices pushing for longer detainment. I am 100% confident that the DA prosecuting on behalf of the State is filing for a Civil Commitment (another soapbox for later, but I have no representation or say. This is a State matter and they do not work on behalf of the victim. The DA for this case has just been very kind at answering my calls and helping me make sense of it). I’ve also learned that if there is no bed space or if the Judge chooses, this request can be denied. API has 80 beds available to serve our state. 10 of those are designated to criminal rehabilitation.
“The Commissioner told the Governor during our meeting that these are adequate numbers and there isn’t a waitlist issue. It makes sense after listening to the court hearings because they release the criminals if they know they will not be able to get into a facility within the time the law allows for them to be detained (yes, I understand criminals are people and have rights too; I do not agree with it being acceptable to conclude 10 beds for rehabilitation is acceptable because we’ve already released a ton back to the streets because 10 beds are all we have).
“I have no legal background; my understanding is a Civil Commitment will detain him for 30 more days. We will continue to have to push for 60, 90 and then 180 days. My understanding is that is as long as he can be held accordingly to law. Judge Garton said he can be held for longer if he’s a danger, but I’ve not found supporting documentation to give me faith in this. After hearing other cases, I also understand that there is a strong lean on releasing criminals because they’ve been detained too long with no resolve. Evidently, keeping our community safe by keeping offenders detained is less favorable as so many pleaded with the judge for “immediate release” because their client has the right to be released since they are incompetent and has already been in jail for weeks or a couple of months. I am abundantly blessed to have Jesus as my stronghold and my family and friends as my support. Even with the love, support and encouragement of an army, there are moments that I crumble. I appreciate all of your love and support. Many of you wrote letters and have reached out to people in positions who can help; thank you for making enough noise to get their attention. Unfortunately, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Please do not stop pressing in until laws are written AND passed. It is going to take community involvement to keep the needle moving. I cannot imagine the emotional, spiritual, mental and financial ruins that other victims before me have faced. Hearing the volume of cases in two days makes me wonder how many victims are out there. Alaska is so big yet so small. Do I know someone who was victimized? Do you? Do they have support?
“The resources that Alaska has is sometimes difficult to find. Even when found, Alaska’s Victims’ Compensation Board has a $40k cap. I would have blown through that a few hours after my attack. I haven’t found that Alaska has a support group for victims in my situation. Homicide, yes, but why does it have to come to that? What exactly are our rights, resources and options as victims? Another huge blessing, I am active duty and Tricare has helped but even then I’ve had to spend double digit hours of emotional stress fighting for outpatient services (again, thanks to Gaylin Swibold and Karen Hewes leaning in with our HS, I now have an incredible patient advocate and no longer have to fight this battle). What about victims who were already struggling to keep their head afloat? If you know a victim, I implore you to reach out to them. For me, I was in our public library on a Sunday afternoon. Through counseling, I’m learning that this has had a profoundly deeper traumatic effect because I was in a seemingly safe place full of fantastic memories. I’ve taken our kiddos to the library since they were young and have had a ton of fun experiences there. For others, who knows their experience? Are they fortunate enough to even have the time, funding and transportation for a counselor to help them process their experience? Where are they and how can they get the assistance that they need?
“I cannot imagine my life without my parents, Walter Burns and Robin Burns being retired and able to come here to take care of the two “littles” (spoiler, they are no longer little) in our home (we are blessed that Miss Kitty likes Mike Trepagnier and April Trepagnier so they can care for her while mom and dad are here). I cannot imagine how I would have been released from inpatient care without Dr. Todd Curzie opening his home to Aaron D and I. I cannot imagine how I would have made it through meetings with government officials without Captain Leanne Lusk picking up dialogue when my shaking voice fades. I cannot imagine how I would untangle my thoughts without the ability to word dump to Christine Moaga and have her help sort it all out.
“I am abundantly blessed. I still struggle daily. We keep fighting because there are victims out there with little to nothing. Criminals are not kept detained and are released creating more victims. We MUST protect and support our community. I honestly do not know how I could fill the gap but I would love to know other victims and hear their stories. I would love to know if there are things that we as a community could do to support them. Victims For Justice is a great resource and my advocate, Golda, is the kindest woman. It seems as if that system could use a little tweaking too (another soapbox for later), but for those victims who still have a gap in their needs, I wonder how our community could offer assistance. Jesus didn’t make a mistake. I am here because there is work to be done. My life is forever changed. We must close the loophole. We must bridge the gap. We must make our public places safer. We have a mental health crisis in our community with inadequate facilities and resources.
“We have a robust Mental Health Trust; how is Alaska utilizing it if not within API? Before anyone barks back, I understand this is happening globally. I understand there are more issues. I am trying to heal and fight with what I have been dealt. My tragedy will not be in vain. It’s already a victory because I still have my life and ability to love on my family and watch my kiddos continue to grow into extraordinary adults. This experience gives us a chance to save someone else from facing a similar attack or a family loosing a beloved. Prayerfully, that positive footprint would encourage someone else to leave a positive footprint. More than a decade ago Mr. Gillam, Diane and JL showed me and my family love and kindness in a way that I can never repay. The only thing any of them would ever say was, “whenever you see an opportunity, pay it forward”. I know Jesus has been with me every step of the way. I’m doing the best I can to press forward, still seek out the best in people and help whoever I can along the way without completely depleting myself. Even after reading this, if the only thing you do is show one other person kindness today, it’s a win.”
Original police report:
Initial indications are that 32-year-old Corey L. Ahkivgak was sitting at a table in the lobby of the library when he abruptly stood up and ran towards a male and female who were near some bookshelves by the windows. Ahkivgak stabbed the adult female in the upper body and then fled from the building on foot. The adult female was transported to the hospital by medics for treatment of her injuries. She is expected to survive.
A description of Ahkivgak was aired over the radio; multiple officers arrived and formed a perimeter. A K9 track was conducted but was ultimately unsuccessful. Just before 5PM a swing shift officer saw a male, matching the suspect’s description, walking near E 36th Avenue and Cottonwood Street. The officer gave the man commands and took him into custody at 4:58PM once backup units arrived. Ahkivgak was positively identified as the suspect.
While Ahkivgak was being transported to the Anchorage Police Department for questioning, he slipped his handcuffs from the back of his body to the front. The officer pulled over, removed Ahkivgak from his patrol vehicle, re-cuffed Ahkivgak’s hands behind him, and then placed hobbles onto Ahkivgak’s legs to keep him from slipping the cuffs again. While Ahkivgak was sitting in the interview room at APD HQ, he flipped over the table causing it to break. At the conclusion of the interview, Ahkivgak was remanded at the Anchorage Jail on the charges of Assault III, Violate Conditions of Release, Criminal Mischief IV (for the damage to the interview room), and Assault I.
There is no indication that Ahkivgak and the victim knew one another. The motive for the attack is still under investigation.
An analysis of the ballots being returned by voters in the congressional race shows that by mid-May, most of the expected ballots had already been received by the Division of Elections. The current push for “get out the vote” is for a smaller and smaller universe of expected ballots.
The number of ballots the Division of Election has in hand now stands at 119,279, with another data release expected late Thursday by the division.
About 3,000-4,000 mail-in ballots are expected by election analysts to be received per day Thursday through Saturday, with a total vote count looking to be about 135,000.
Saturday is the final day when ballots can be postmarked for the election that will decide which four candidates will compete to fill the temporary congressional seat for Alaska.
The Division of Elections has received more than 60,000 undeliverable ballot envelopes from the post office and voters. That is more than 13% of the entire voter roll, and the returned mail will assist the Division of Elections in future purges of the voter roll.
The large population boroughs mailed in 1.7% (Anchorage) to 3.0% (Kenai) more ballots during the past three days.
The Kenai (22.9%) and Mat-Su (19.4%) Boroughs continue lead in total ballot turnouts.
Smaller hubs had ballot surges approaching 4%: Copper River, Petersburg and Denali.
Western Alaskan ballot flow is weakening: North Slope Borough (0.4%) and Bethel (0.3%).
The most recent ballots trended from conservative areas, and the net Republican advantage is rose from 8.4% to 13.8% for the period.
With two days left in the special congressional primary of 2022, today is the late Congressman Don Young’s birthday. He would be 89.
At a birthday celebration for Congressman Don Young in 1994, (courtesy of Curtis Thayer).
Media notes: The Washington Post published its long-form story on the congressional race in Alaska, and it’s mostly accurate and expansively reported. And Bloomberg has a story out as well about the Alaska race. National Journal is prowling around the campaigns looking for quotes for a story as well.
Newsweek, which has become very left-leaning, has as story up now as well. That story is here.
The Washington Examiner story features mainly Santa Claus and Palin, at this link.
Meanwhile, the local Alaska media decided to gin up a story that any candidate who lends money to his own campaign is committing something akin to “legalized bribery.” In other words, it is legal to loan money to your own campaign and it is done all the time.
You cannot make this stuff up:
Native News Online has an interview with Tara Sweeney, linked here.
Spotted at baseball night: Nick Begich was spotted at the Chinooks and Mat-Su Miners opening game on Wednesday.
Ad buys: Mary Peltola bought new broadcast flight for $6,000 in Anchorage. Sarah Palin’s new radio ad flight cost her $11,000 for Southcentral Alaska stations. Al Gross bought last-minute broadcast for $24,000 in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Juneau.
Endorsements: The Teamsters Union Local 959 has endorsedTara Sweeney.
Alaska House Republican Caucus Leader Cathy Tilton has endorsed Nick Begich.
Rep. Andy Josephson endorsed Adam Wool in a letter to the editor, which states, in part, “At the same time, Adam has been unafraid to take tough votes in defense of climate reduction and mitigation measures, gun safety, and a responsible Permanent Fund dividend, to name a few. He has also been principled, while simultaneously working well with both sides of the aisle. Rep. Wool has been collaborative, not divisive. Adam is also an exceptional listener.”
(Key phrase: The Democrats call it “gun safety.”)
Colony Days Saturday: Which candidates will show up for Colony Day parade in Palmer on Saturday? The weather is expected to be cloudy and in the mid-60s. Must Read Alaska will be there for the festivities.
Mary Peltola and daughter at Celebration in Juneau.
Celebration in Juneau: Celebration, a big Tlingit-Haida-Tsimshian event in Juneau, brought in candidate Mary Peltola for the festivities and parade. Celebration is one of the largest gatherings of Southeast Alaska Native peoples, drawing thousands of people, including more than 2,000 dancers, according to sponsoring organization, Sealaska Heritage Foundation.
Fundraisers: Nick Begich is holding a fundraiser at the Keith Manternach hangar on June 9 at 5:30 pm. The campaign said the first 15 people get a free NBIII t-shirt, and yes — full disclosure — MRAK publisher Suzanne Downing is a co-host and will attend.
I go to see a movie at the theater every couple of years; they’re overpriced, the service sucks, and the audience is usually a bunch of punks who can’t get off their phones. But nostalgia demanded that I go see “Top Gun – Maverick.” I saw the original when it came out at the 20th Century Theatre in downtown Juneau; surround sound was a new and neat thing in 1986.
That movie is responsible for the fact that you could trace the evolution of surround sound in the dead cables in my Juneau crawl space; if that chain slicing across the deck as the F14 catapults doesn’t addict you to surround sound, you’re immune – or something. In my experience, the original “Top Gun” was the first movie with truly good sound.
The new movie is just a modernized version of the old movie, but 1986 was an eon ago and it is time for a new audience that will think it is new. While the movie is a resounding box office success, I have to wonder if it is reaching that new audience. Admittedly, anecdote isn’t data, but my observation is that the audience was made up of people who saw it the first one. The only young people were the kids they brought with them. I don’t think this movie has much attraction to the man-bun and pink pussy-hat set. You can’t say it has “woke” conformity, but they’re careful to skirt any subjects or situations that might set the woke crowd off. To their credit, the producers kept the Nationalist Chinese flag on Maverick’s jacket despite the opposition of the Communist Chinese, who provided financing for the movie. Chinese financing of US movies is something we should address.
The protagonist, Pete Mitchell, call-sign “Maverick,” played by Tom Cruise, is a character many of us who have worked in government and corporations are very familiar with; he is very, very good at what he does and almost everyone above him or around him in the organization hates him. I think I know that guy. Maverick is the kind of guy who gets the assignments that can get you killed or your reputation ruined, and the people who gave you that assignment can claim they don’t know you. I’ve been there, done that.
In the original Maverick was a hair on fire “naval aviator” and the only things he chased more aggressively than enemy aircraft were pretty women. Orders and procedures were suggestions, often laughable suggestions from inferior men. Maverick becomes something of a hero by acting against orders and thwarts those who would like to destroy him. He receives a plum assignment and that is where we leave it in 1986.
In 2022, Maverick is still a captain and promotion has been impossible. One of his antagonists from almost 40 years before, “Iceman,” has become an ally, has also become an admiral, and is something of a protector. The Admiral, “Iceman,” steps in to rescue the still “dangerous” Maverick from yet another contretemps with the pencil-necked weenies and gets him assigned back at “Top Gun” to instruct a group of pilots for a very demanding and secret mission, an only thinly disguised covert raid on an Iranian nuclear site. Needless to say, many of the pencil-necked weenies in command don’t like the new addition to their mission.
The new one is essentially the same plot line as the original and the same characterizations, but with a couple of ironic twists. There are plenty of nostalgic cues to bring back memories for those of us familiar with the original. Maverick may have been a hero in the first one, but he wasn’t and isn’t a hero to the Navy bureaucrats above him so he remains a captain after all these years and everyone outranks him in every way except in reputation.
The original movie was unkind to the Navy brass. The new one is even less kind and is very much reflective of these times. The three-star in charge of the mission that is the focus of the story steps into the training that Maverick is conducting. The mission profile is very demanding and the team is having difficulty accomplishing the mission in simulation. The three-star changes the mission profile to make it less demanding so that the team can meet the metrics in the training for the mission. That means that the team is prepared for the mission but also all but guarantees that some or all of them will not survive it and the mission might not succeed.
That is unfortunately typical of today’s public management. The manager’s metric is to plan and train up a mission, so if he meets his metrics he is a success. If the team fails to carry out the mission successfully, the failure is on them. In less business school-like terms, he’s willing to sacrifice their lives to move any responsibility for failure away from himself.
Since you know the genre, I won’t be a spoiler if I tell you that Maverick and his team accomplish the mission, make an heroic, if unlikely though nostalgic, getaway, and Maverick rides off into the sunset with the pretty woman, and does so in a vintage WW II P-51, which may in fact be his. Tom Cruise does own and fly one.
It’s a good movie worth seeing and one that might do some good for our indoctrinated youth to see, so if you can tear your kids away from Tik-Tok take them to it. Without regard to the story, the graphics are stunning. No CGI or animation was used and all the flying was done by real Navy pilots flying real Navy aircraft although the websites are abuzz about whether the SU-57s depicted were real or whether they were US F-22s made to cosmetically resemble the SU-57. Of course, that is the sort of controversy that makes we who argue about stuff like that sometimes unpleasant to go to movies with.
Art Chance is a retired Director of Labor Relations for the State of Alaska, formerly of Juneau and now living in Anchorage. He is the author of the book, “Red on Blue, Establishing a Republican Governance,” available at Amazon.
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy today expressed his gratitude and appreciation to Commissioner Dr. Michael Johnson, who is departing from his role as commissioner of the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. Commissioner Johnson publicly announced his departure during the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Development quarterly meeting this afternoon. His official last day is June 30, 2022.
Sources say he has taken a job at a college out of state. Dunleavy and Johnson have for many years been friends and fellow educators in rural communities and the move is not seen as a rift, but an opportunity for Johnson to get back to the roots of education. Helping to pass the Alaska Reads Act has been one of his achievements in the Dunleavy Administration.
“From the moment he stepped into a classroom, Commissioner Johnson has been a true asset to Alaska’s public education system. His accomplished background in a rural Alaska school district gave him a unique perspective to be a successful and thoughtful leader,” said Dunleavy. “Michael has been a friend to many and I have valued his insight and commitment to our future generations. I wish him well in his future endeavors and thank him for his many years of dedication to Alaska’s students, educators, and administrators. It is only fitting that we cap off Michael’s years of service to the state with the historic passage of the Alaska Reads Act which earned bipartisan support and will greatly improve the trajectory for Alaska’s students – a feat that could not have been achieved without him.”
Commissioner Johnson began his service as Commissioner on July 1, 2016. He previously served in the Copper River School District as superintendent, school principal, district curriculum and staff development director, elementary teacher, and special education program assistant. During his tenure as its principal, Glennallen Elementary School was named a Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. Commissioner Johnson also is a recipient of the prestigious Milken Educator Award.
“It has been an honor to work with Governor Dunleavy and the State Board to improve student outcomes in Alaska. He has always made time to support the work necessary to support Alaska’s students,” said Commissioner Johnson. “There are far too many friends, colleagues, and fellow Alaskans to thank individually. I’ll look back on my time as Commissioner with enormous gratitude. I will continue to support Governor Dunleavy and an effective public education system in Alaska.”
Commissioner Johnson holds certification in Alaska as a teacher and administrator. He holds a BA and a MA in teaching degree in elementary education from Columbia International University, and a doctorate of philosophy in education and intercultural studies from the University of Alaska Fairbanks
After over a decade of serving a south-central portion of Anchorage in the Legislature, Rep. Chris Tuck is leaving office.
Redistricting put him into the same district as Rep. Andy Josephson. Both are Democrats, but Tuck was the House Majority leader during the past two years and is seen as a moderate Democrat, while Josephson is considered hardline left.
That leaves Josephson to run against Republican Kathy Henslee and Alaskan Independence Party candidate Timothy Huit.
Tuck, who has served in the Legislature since winning a House seat in 2008, is said to have a lot of work in the private sector right now. He is a business representative with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1547 and works as an electrician.
Henslee, a realtor, ran for Assembly and lost to Meg Zaletel earlier this year but is now a well-known name in the district. Josephson is also a well-known name, as he is pro-tax, pro-abortion, and considered a foe of a full Permanent Fund dividend.
