Providence Medical Center today told its employees in a newsletter today that it has stopped operating under “crisis standards of care.”
Providence instituted “crisis standards of care” on Sept. 15 after grandstanding their doctors and medical professionals at Anchorage Assembly meetings in support of a universal mask mandate ordinance, which the Assembly soon passed, against the wishes of many in the community.
“We no longer need to place patients in nonstandard locations, and our hospital census has returned to a more manageable level. The surge in patients that forced us to implement Crisis Standards of Care is behind us. This is good news. It means we are no longer faced with making difficult decisions about allocation of treatments and resources and patient transfers to higher levels of care,” the newsletter says.
The Anchorage Assembly’s emergency ordinance, which was vetoed by the mayor but then put in place by a veto override from the Assembly requires nearly everyone to wear masks expires on Dec. 31, or if hospitals in the area end their crisis standards of care and if the number of Covid-positive tests drop below a certain threshold.
Chugiak/Eagle River Assemblywoman Jamie Allard has filed with Alaska Public Offices Commission as a candidate for Alaska House District 22, a newly drawn political district covering much of Eagle River
Allard, who has served for 18 months on the Anchorage Assembly, said she plans to represent the values of Eagle River residents in the state capitol in Juneau, and as a Republican, she will work to make sure the Republicans, who are a numeric majority in the House, regain the actual majority, which has been eroded by members caucusing with the Democrats.
She said she would continue to serve on the Assembly until January 2023.
“More efficient government is a core value for Eagle River. We also see public safety and economic opportunity to be priorities, not in-fighting among legislators. We want our self-determination respected, not controlled by those who don’t share our family values. I’ll guard our constitutional rights, including our Second Amendment rights, with every ounce of my being,” she said.
Allard, who is an Army veteran and served in the Dunleavy Administration, was first elected to the Anchorage Assembly in 2020. She brings a host of leading Anchorage and Alaska endorsements, including:
Craig Campbell Dave and Deb Bronson Ramsey Bell Amy Demboski Kristen Bush Suzanne Downing Tom McKay Kathy Henslee Dawn Linton-Warren and Chris Warren Scott Myers Stephen Rominelli Clint and Sherry Lentfer Marc McKenna Dave Hulquist Charlie and Vonnie Pierce Dick Traini Joseph Wright
Kevin and Linn McCabe Mike Shower Ava Anderson George Rauscher Chris and Regina Wright Luke Clement Roberta and Dan Zipay Kolby Hickel Rick Morrison Frank and Jeanne McQueary Matt and Melissa Hickey Gordy and Michelle Banfield Trina Johnson John and Debbie Fullenweider Lisa Fletcher Deborah Brollini Larry Baker Alexis Johnson
Jesse Sumner Adam Trombley Dave Damato Susan Fischetti Eugene Harnett Dave and Jamie Donley Laddie Shaw Cathy Tilton Stephanie Williams Taylor Lena Amor Halverson Shelby Isbell Shawn and Alicia Maltby Mike Cronk Bill Mendenhall
Allard first ran for office in 2018, when she lost to Kelly Merrick for House District 14. Merrick, backed with significant Big Labor resources, soon jumped from the Republican caucus and joined a Democrat-dominated majority so she could take a seat as Finance Committee co-chair. Merrick has filed for Senate Seat L. Allard’s in November indicated she was filing for statewide office, but did not indicate which seat until Thursday.
Allard is known for taking firm and constitutionally grounded stands on the Anchorage Assembly and is often the lone voice for conservatives in the Anchorage area, many who count on her as their only representative, even if she lives in the Chugiak-Eagle River district and not theirs.
She sometimes pays a price for that on the Democrat-controlled Assembly, which has found ways to punish her. When Democrat Assemblyman Felix Rivera was chairman of the Assembly, he stripped her of her committee chairmanships.
Allard is facing a recall from her Assembly seat in a campaign organized by two Anchorage residents who don’t live in her district. The recall appears to be struggling to gain traction in the conservative community and looks like a long-shot.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz announced harsh measures are being taken against those citizens who are unvaccinated for Covid-19: They will be barred from public life, banned from nonessential places such as restaurants, bars, stores, and events, the BBC News reported.
The new measures agreed on by German leaders during a meeting this week, include:
Shops, restaurants, museums, movie theaters for vaccinated or recovered people only
Additional tests for the vaccinated
Nightclubs, music venues to close in areas where incidence rate hits 350
New measures will take effect once approved by lawmakers, likely in the coming days
A maximum of 15,000 spectators will be allowed in football stadiums
Indoor sports venues will have a maximum of 5,000 in attendance
Private gatherings for unvaccinated will be limited to one household
Mask requirements in schools
Parliament will vote on mandatory vaccines in early 2022
An exception is being made for those recently recovered from Covid.
“Culture and leisure nationwide will be open only to those who have been vaccinated or recovered,” Merkel said in her announcement, according to DW Politics online. 69 percent of eligible Germans are vaccinated for Covid, but the disease is spiking in the country and the government predicts 6,000 people may be in intensive care by Christmas.
Germany has a history of separating the “unclean,” said critics, but with compulsory vaccinations likely in the near future, the country will move into a whole other realm of forced medical procedures, something for which it is also known.
“Merkel said an ethics committee will be asked to draft legislation to make vaccination compulsory, with the Bundestag debating and voting on the issue early in the new year,” DW reported.
Scholz, who is expected to be announced as Germany’s new chancellor next week, said getting vaccinated is “how we get out of this crisis” and “if we had a higher vaccination rate, we wouldn’t be discussing this now,” according to the German news agency.
In a fund-raising talk with Homer left-leaning political activists, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Les Gara described how he sees ranked-choice voting impacting the election for governor in November of 2022: He and former Bill Walker will get the same voters, only some will rank him as #1 and some will rank Walker as #1.
Under the new system approved by Alaska voters in 2020, a nonpartisan primary, with all names on the same ballot, will be offered to voters on Aug. 16, 2022. The top four vote getters in each race will proceed to the general election ballot, where voters rank them in the order of their preference, 1-4.
Gara thinks that those who vote for him first will put former Gov. Bill Walker as their second choice. And those who vote for Walker first, will rank him as second. Gara said that two liberals in the race will have the effect of blocking conservatives in the final tally.
Many politicos speculate that Gara was asked to run by Walker operative Scott Kendall, who also is a principal figure in the Ballot Measure 2, the ranked choice voting system now to be experienced by Alaska voters.
“You need to occupy at least two of those spots with acceptable candidates. Even if I didn’t like campaigning, and [if] I or Bill Walker didn’t want to be in this race, we have to be in the race to make sure Dunleavy doesn’t benefit from too many second-place votes,” Gara said, as quoted by the Peninsula Clarion News. Was Gara hinting that his own race is as much about taking second as it is about winning outright, but blocking Dunleavy at all costs?
The Zoom presentation was sponsored by Homer’s Citizens AKtion Network, a group that is involved in climate change and social justice causes, and which is closely associated with the Democratic Party.
Gara served in the Alaska House of Representatives on behalf of downtown Anchorage, until retiring in 2019. That seat is now occupied by Rep. Zack Fields, a union field organizer by trade, and sometimes an amateur leg-wrestler by night.
The stealth partisan group that brought ranked-choice voting to Alaska is offering a training for candidates and campaigns on how to work the system.
Alaskans for Better Elections, which used dark money from outside the stateto put Ballot Measure 2 on the 2020 ballot and convince Alaskans to vote for it, will now explain to people how the system works and how to “leverage the strategic opportunities they create.”
In traditional elections, voters pick just one candidate. With ranked-choice voting, theyrate candidates in order of preference, 1-4. The ranked-choice results, sorted and reassigned by a computer algorithm, cannot be hand verified because of the complicated redistribution of votes. The system will require Alaskans to trust their vote tabulating equipment.
“Learn from the successes and failures of candidates who have run ranked choice voting elections,” the group says in its announcement.
Trainers will be Grace Ramsey and Maria Perez from Democracy Rising, the group that helped the Alaska Democratic Party run an internal ranked-choice voting presidential preference poll, rather than the former caucus system the party used to choose a presidential nominee in 2020. According to the notice, the two have trained candidates around the country.
The Alaskans for Better Elections group describes the training as nonpartisan, but the staff members for the group have deep ties to former Gov. Bill Walker and Democrat campaigns, with one of them being Walker’s former interim campaign manager.
The president of the board of the Alaskans for Better Elections Foundation is Cathy Giessel, a former state senator who was beat by Sen. Roger Holland and who is now a candidate to win back a seat in the Senate.
The foundation was created in January to funnel money remaining from the Ballot Measure 2 campaign and to bring in more dollars from Outside. The original group, which brought the initiative to the ballot and fought for its passage, was converted into an ongoing 501(c)4 tax-exempt nonprofit, which is essentially the same as the parallel foundation.
In addition to Giessel as president of the board, Alaskans for Better Elections Foundation’s board of directors are members linked to Bill Walker and anti-Republican political campaigns:
Scott Kendall, former chief of staff to Bill Walker and mastermind of failed Recall Dunleavy drive, is the registered agent for both the Alaskans for Better Elections Foundation and for the nonprofit Alaskans for Better Elections.
Bruce Botelho, a Juneau Democrat operative who was key to forming the Walker-Mallott ticket in 2014 and was part of his transition team, is vice president.
Marna Sanford, Fairbanksian who lost to Republican Sen. Rob Myers in 2020, and signer of Recall Dunleavy petition, is a director.
Daniel Volland, an optometrist who has recently become politically active.
In addition, Alaskans for Better Elections shares the same physical address of the Ship Creek Group (721 Depot Drive, Anchorage). Ship Creek Group is a political operative company that primarily works on campaigns for Democrats; the founder is John Henry-Heckendorn, former Gov. Walker’s campaign manager.
Shea Siegert, one of the two principals at Alaskans for Better Elections, is a former Ship Creek Group employee. Ship Creek Group’s Paula DiLaiarro is the Alaskans for Better Elections treasurer. Jason Grenn is a former lawmaker and Walker acolyte, and former client of Ship Creek Group.
Alaskans for Better Elections was a client of Ship Creek Group in 2020; so was Bill Walker, Democrat mayoral candidate Forrest Dunbar, Democrat mayor Ethan Berkowitz, Al Gross for U.S. Senate, and a host of liberal candidates and causes.
Facts about ranked-choice voting and the new nonpartisan primary from the Division of Elections:
What is a Nonpartisan Top Four primary election? There will be only one ballot, with all candidates regardless of political party or political group affiliation. Voters may cast a vote for one candidate in each race, regardless of voter’s political affiliation. Only four candidates in each race who receive the most votes will advance to the general election. The primary election no longer determines the nominee of a political party or group.
What happens when there are less than four candidates in a race? All candidates for that race will move onto the general election.
When is the first/next election the Nonpartisan Top Four primary election system will be used? The August 16, 2022 primary election.
Will my registered political affiliation affect who I can vote for? No. All candidates will be on the same ballot and all voters may vote for anyone regardless of registration affiliation.
Who can run in the primary election? Any registered voter who meets the requirements of AS 15.25.030(a) and seeks to become a candidate in the primary election can file a declaration of candidacy. Primary candidates do not need to be a member of a political party or political group.
What happens if a potential candidate misses the filing deadline? They cannot participate in the primary election but can file paperwork to run as a write-in candidate on the general election ballot.
Can a candidate with no party affiliation still run in the general election by petition? No. Under the new law, the nominating petition process no longer allows for candidates to run in the general election using the nominating petition process. If a candidate did not appear on the primary election ballot or was not successful in advancing to the general election, they may run as an official write-in candidate as long as they file a letter of intent at least 5 days prior to the general election.
Is there a limit as to how many candidates can file for the primary election? No.
Will there still be a ballot measures only ballot in the primary? No. With a nonpartisan primary, there is no need for a ballot measures only ballot.
Nikiski Hardware Store, which is something of a community center in the small Kenai Peninsula town, has partnered with the Kenai School District to bring the joy of reading to children — inside the spacious hardware store.
The event is Saturday, Dec. 4 at 9 am at the hardware store, which has a coffee shop area within. Colby Way, a well-loved teacher at North Star Elementary School, will be reading books aloud.
The hardware store and the school district have had a partnership for about a year, and Mr. Way has appeared several times to read aloud to children.
Watch Colby Way read “Two Bad Ants” by Chris Van Allsburg in this prior event at Nikiski Hardware Store at this Facebook link.
Former Gov. Sarah Palin wrote at the Breitbart news website on Wednesday that America needs to return to drilling for oil and providing energy for the world.
“When I took on Joe Biden and Barack Obama in 2008, they used ‘Hope and Change.’ Now, Biden is the inspiration for ‘Let’s Go, Brandon,’ she wrote. “My slogan was ‘Drill, baby, drill.’ It was true and necessary in 2008, and it’s needed now more than ever.”
Palin argued that while President Biden shuts down oil and gas opportunity at home, he is encouraging the import of oil from abroad. “His response to high energy prices is to run and beg OPEC, the international cartel, for more oil,” she wrote.
Palin explained that the slogan “Drill, baby, drill” was never a call for more oil, but “is a call for more of America.”
“As the former governor of Alaska, I am well versed in energy production and how government regulations and overreach can stifle the industry. Biden’s decisions, such as killing the Keystone Pipeline and stopping responsible oil and gas development on federal land, were all deliberate and illegal actions made by an administration that does not understand whatsoever how we produce our energy. Consequences took a few months to kick in, but we’re feeling them now. Drilling has slowed. Exploration has slowed. Investment has been scared away. Devastating ramifications are around the corner,” Palin wrote.
“America now suffers because two million fewer barrels of oil are being produced every day compared to just one year ago. The diminished supply caused the huge spike in prices, which gets compounded across every other sector of the economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and job creation in general. Much of our current inflation (a record 6.2 percent in the last quarter!) is driven by these energy costs. The entire domino effect was started at the White House by a president who won’t learn his lesson,” she wrote.
I became the chair of Eaglexit on Nov. 2. With this new responsibility, I am eager to begin focusing our efforts on an answer to the question as to our collective resolve when it comes to our own local government and the education of our children in Assembly District 2.
After witnessing the “Gender Queer” book debacle, the ever growing dissatifaction with the Anchorage School District, and the ever growing cost of public schools in Anchorage, it is time to move the focus for Eaglexit from the mechanics of separation to one of civics.
This is a community discussion about the rights and duties of citizenship, the need for citizens to stand against dysfunctional local government, and demand our own local government and school district.
As a long-time educator in this community, I have found the best way to engage students is to ask questions. So I would like to ask you, the citizens of Assembly District 2, the following:
Are you content with the way your taxes are spent on education?
Do you feel like you have an authentic voice in the political process of your school district?
Are you confident in our schools and the leadership in Anchorage School District making the decisions?
Does the school district represent your values?
Eaglexit is for everyone wanting a change in the destiny of our community. I know we can all agree that the future of our communities will be determined by how engaged and informed people become.
Eaglexit has suggested a blueprint to achieve separation and has determined that we do have the legal right to separate our interests from Anchorage and self-govern. If you believe as I do that we would prosper under self-governance, then we must pursue the creation of our own local governing body and school district to preserve and prosper our way of life and secure the future of our children.
Eagle River has over 1.8 million square feet of school space, 384 acres of property, 594 classrooms, and in Eagle River a student capacity of 11,601. Our current enrollment during covid is estimated at under 8,200 students.
Northern Economics did a revenue analysis in 2020 that showed school revenue for Assembly District 2 at over $103 million. These numbers all reflect great possibilities for our new school district.
The State of Alaska funds retirements for public employees so those accounts will follow the contributors. Title 14 gives local government’s guidance in the establishment of a system of public schools. When Eaglexit is approved to detach and we become a municipality, educational staff requirements can remain the same for those who choose to participate as our school district is established.
This will give parents and educators the opportunity to work with a district that is smaller, more efficient, and independent of Anchorage’s control. The Anchorage School District has grown too large and disconnected with the communities it serves. The communities within District 2 are now mature and ready to manage our own municipal and education entities. Eaglexit wants to give the control of education of our children back to parents and educators.
A community under local control will reflect the view of it’s constituents who give the government its power. Eaglexit wants our community to be in the preferred position to create an independent school system and a local government that will produces better outcomes at a lower costs.
Will you stand with me in this important civics discussion?
We meet every Tuesday in Eagle River at 7 pm at 16805 Farm Ave. I invite you to join us.
I firmly believe we cannot soar to our potential as a community if we are anchored to the Anchorage Assembly and the Anchorage School District.
I hope to visit with you in the near future.
Sean Murphy and his wife Robin came to Alaska with the Army. He moved to Eagle River from Anchorage in 1999 with his family. He is a retired Anchorage School District educator and administrator. He is active with his community council. He is the new chair of Eaglexit.
The Anchorage Daily News has made Recall Dunleavy and Ballot Measure 2 (ranked choice voting) attorney Scott Kendall one of its regular features in its opinion pages. In fact, it appears that no matter what Kendall writes, or when he writes it, he gets published at the head of the class.
Kendall, who is the former chief of staff to Bill Walker and the mastermind behind the current Walker for Governor campaign, is an Alaska political operative who the ADN describes as an “attorney in private practice.”
This week, he wrote “Dunleavy’s corrupt misuse of public funds is rampant.”
On Oct. 25, he wrote another op-ed: “Dunleavy thrives on dividing Alaskans.”
On Oct. 14, he wrote, “Thank you, Assembly members,” appreciating the universal mask ordinance that the majority passed in an emergency ordinance.
On Sept. 2, he wrote: “Politics is holding back our health care experts, and Alaska, on COVID-19.” Blaming Dunleavy.
In July, Kendall wrote:” Dunleavy’s deficit of honesty: The 50-50 plan is half-baked.”
In May, he wrote, “Dunbar is the best choice for mayor – even if he wasn’t your first choice.”
Two years ago, Kendall wrote: “In Alaska, nothing is impossible. Support the recall of Gov. Dunleavy.”
Two years ago, he also wrote: “It’s time to end the myth of support for Dunleavy’s agenda and turn toward a better future for Alaska.”
Kendall writing for the ADN is so ubiquitous that he even has his own page at MuckRack, a resource for public relations professionals to discover who to pitch stories to.
It appears that for conservatives, the Anchorage Daily News is still using one set of rules, but for Kendall, who is a political operative that the ADN gives a wink and a nod to, there are different rules.
