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Alaska: Walker Suspends Re-election Campaign, Endorses Democrat Mark Begich - In an open letter addressed to all Alaskans, Governor Bill Walker announced today that he is suspending his campaign for re-election for Governor.

With more time, he said he was confident that he and the newly appointed Lt. Governor Val Davidson could deliver a message and a campaign that could earn a victory. With only 18 days before the election, Walker said he did not believe he could win a three-way race.

In his announcement, Walker said Alaskans deserve a competitive race and Alaskans deserve a choice other than Mike Dunleavy. Walker said in his announcement that on balance, it is his belief that despite his many differences with Mark Begich, his stance on many important issues more closely align with his priorities for Alaska. - More...
Friday PM - October 19, 2018

Alaska: NOAA Winter Outlook favors warmer temperatures for much of Alaska & U.S. - A mild winter could be in store for much of the United States including Alaska this winter according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. In the U.S. Winter Outlook for December through February, above-average temperatures are most likely across the northern and western U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.

Additionally, El Nino has a 70 to 75 percent chance of developing. “We expect El Nino to be in place in late fall to early winter,” said Mike Halpert, deputy director of NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “Although a weak El Nino is expected, it may still influence the winter season by bringing wetter conditions across the southern United States, and warmer, drier conditions to parts of the North.”

El Nino is an ocean-atmosphere climate interaction that is linked to periodic warming in sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. During the winter, typical El Nino conditions in the U.S. can include wetter-than-average precipitation in the South and drier conditions in parts of the North.

Other climate patterns that can affect winter weather are challenging to predict on a seasonal time scale. The Arctic Oscillation influences the number of arctic air masses that penetrate into the South and could result in below-average temperatures in the eastern part of the U.S. The Madden-Julian Oscillation can contribute to heavy precipitation events along the West Coast - which could play a large role in shaping the upcoming winter, especially if El Nino is weak, as forecasters predict. - More...
Thursday PM - October 18, 2018

Alaska: ACLU of Alaska Wins Suit Over Kenai Borough's Discriminatory Invocation Policy - The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU) announced it has prevailed in their suit against the Kenai Peninsula Borough on behalf of Lance Hunt, Iris Fontana, and Elise Boyer, three Kenai residents who stood up to challenge the Borough Assembly’s unconstitutional restrictions on who may offer invocations at the beginning of the their public meetings.

Iris Fontana, a former resident of Ketchikan, and Lance Hunt each gave separate invocations in the summer of 2016, when the Borough Assembly allowed invocations on a first-come, first-serve basis. Lance, an atheist, invoked the Assembly members’ common humanity to solemnize its July 26 meeting: he encouraged the Assembly members to overlook differences and to have empathy for one’s neighbors. Iris, who read an invocation prepared by The Satanic Temple at the Assembly’s August 9 meeting, encouraged the Assembly members to use innate, human reason to guide their deliberations.

In direct response to Lance and Iris’s invocations—and to prevent them and other community members from giving similar invocations in the future—the Assembly adopted unconstitutional and discriminatory restrictions to limit the honor of publicly solemnizing Assembly meetings to members of religious associations that are established and regularly meet in the Kenai Peninsula Borough.

Elise Boyer is of Jewish faith and like all others of that faith were excluded from giving invocations because there is no established Jewish temple within the Kenai Peninsula Borough where they can worship.

In the Superior Court decision, Judge Andrew Peterson declared the invocation policy a violation of the Alaska Constitution’s Establishment Clause. He noted the Kenai Peninsula Borough invocation policy “stemmed from intolerance” because it was designed to “exclude minority faiths or beliefs.” - More...
Thursday PM - October 18, 2018

Alaska: Former Employee of Alaska Dept. of Juvenile Justice Charged with Possession of Child Pornography - U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Dennis Weston, 54, of Anchorage, charging him with one count of sexual exploitation of a child – possession of child pornography.  

The indictment alleges that in June 2018, Weston knowingly possessed, by means and facility of interstate and foreign commerce, visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, located on a computer or digital device.  Weston is a former employee of the State of Alaska Department of Juvenile Justice, who had previously worked at the McLaughlin Youth Center in Anchorage.

If the public has any further information or concerns about the activities of Weston, please contact the FBI at (907) 276-4441.

If convicted, Weston faces a maximum penalty of up to 20 years in prison, and a fine of up to $250,000.  Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed will be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant. - More...
Thursday PM - October 18, 2018

Three Millions Pounds of Frozen Moose By NED ROZELL
In winter, moose like this one require about 30 pounds of frozen twigs each day to survive.
Photo By NED ROZELL

I knelt and plugged my ears with my fingers. My friend raised his rifle and shot. Twenty minutes later, as daylight faded, we found the bull moose dead beneath a small spruce tree.

We pulled out our headlamps and began the work of processing an animal as large as a grand piano. We pushed up our sleeves with a sense of gratitude, anxiety at making the correct cuts, and the knowledge that we would not be slipping into our sleeping bags any time soon.

Hunter reports for 2018 are still trickling into the offices of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, but my friend is now in the group of successful moose hunters for the year. In 2017, 23 percent of general-season moose hunters reported success in Alaska.

The largest members of the deer family live anywhere there are trees and shrubs in Alaska, from the Alaska Peninsula to the Beaufort Sea. There is a healthy population of about 175,000 moose in the state, with peak numbers in Interior river valleys.

In defending her master’s thesis recently at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Tessa Hasbrouck noted that about 29,000 Alaskans and non-residents hunt for moose each fall in Alaska. They harvest more than 7,200 of the giant creatures — a mature bull can stand six feet at the shoulder and weigh 1,600 pounds (the same as a grand piano). An animal that size will result in 700 pounds of sliced and wrapped meat. Each year, about 3.5 million pounds of Alaska moose makes its way into freezers.

That’s a lot of Alaska-grown protein that was not transported up the Alaska Highway by truck. Hasbrouck reported that more than 90 percent of surveyed rural households in Alaska used moose.

She also noted that hunters fire a lot of dollars into the Alaska economy. Moose hunting equates to about $78 million each year for state businesses. A good deal of that is in the form of gasoline for trucks, boats and four-wheelers. - More...
Thursday PM - October 18, 2018

RICH MANIERI: A Civics Test to Graduate High School? Absolutely - It was an inspiring lecture. One of my finest. And then, I brought up D-Day.

Spend enough time in the classroom and you learn to read students' faces. They say so much.

"I'm bored." "I'm thinking about something else." "I just broke up with my girlfriend." I'm homesick." "I'm hungry." And, of course, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The latter - along with the unmistakable sound of crickets - was the reaction to my mention of the day Allied forces invaded Europe in 1944.

This particular encounter with students took place several years ago at another university but I haven't forgotten it. It went something like this.

"So, on D-Day...."

Nothing.

"Does everyone know what D-Day is?"

Still nothing. Not one hand in the air.

"The invasion of Europe by the Allies?"

Blank stares. "Anyone? Anyone?"

"How about World War II?"

"Oh, yeah!" one student exclaimed, as if we'd made some great breakthrough.

Those few moments in that classroom were indicative of a much broader and very disturbing issue - the appalling knowledge gap among young people about American history and America in general.

A study released earlier this month by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation showed that in a sample of 1,000 American adults, only 36 percent would pass a U.S. citizenship test. Those 65 and older who were surveyed scored the highest. But only 19 percent of those 45 and younger passed the test. Oh yeah, and 60 percent of those surveyed did not know which countries the U.S. fought against in World War II.  - More...
Thursday PM - October 18, 2018