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Wednesday
June 22, 2016
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Sitka Black-tailed Buck
The photographer said this is the closest she has ever been to a Buck. He had his doe with him -- together they shared some quality time.
Front Page Feature Photo By DEBBIE KARLSON ©2016
Alaska: PILT Payments to Alaskan Communities Announced; Ketchikan's PILT Amount $1,115,667 - U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced today more than 1,900 local governments around the country are receiving a total of $451.6 million under the 2016 Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program.
“Rural communities contribute significantly to our nation's economy, food and energy supply, and help define the character of our diverse and beautiful country,” said Secretary Jewell. “These investments often serve as a lifeline for local communities as they juggle planning and paying for basic services like public safety, housing, social services and transportation.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) announced communities in Alaska will receive nearly $29 million of that amount to help offset losses in property taxes due to nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries. As Chairman of the Senate Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator Murkowski said in a news release she ensured the PILT program was "robustly" funded for Fiscal Year 2016 and is fully funded for Fiscal Year 2017.
“PILT is essential for many local governments and communities across our state to fund necessary projects to offset the loss in tax revenue,” said Senator Murkowski.
“With the federal government controlling over 60 percent of Alaska’s lands, this program ensures communities a source of funding to help pay for emergency services, roads and other essential services that would otherwise be supported through local property taxes,” said Murkowski.
The Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program provides monetary compensation to local governments that contain National Forests, Bureau of Land Management public lands, National Parks, and other lands dedicated to water resource development projects.
Congress appropriated $451.6 million for payments to counties/boroughs for the 2016 program. The President’s fiscal year 2017 budget proposes to return the PILT program to mandatory funding at $480 million annually, which would ensure funding stability for the program and local communities year after year.
“These investments are one of the ways the federal government can fulfill its role of being a good neighbor to local communities,” said Secretary Jewell. “President Obama has made job creation and opportunity in rural areas a top priority for his Administration and has fought for continuing the PILT program. We encourage Congress to take the required action to make sure this important program continues.”
The revenue helps local governments provide vital services to Alaskan communities, such as firefighting and police protection, construction of public schools and roads, and search-and-rescue operations. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Alaska: Medicaid Reform Bill Becomes Law - Governor Bill Walker signed Senate Bill 74 into law Tuesday, making way for financial savings to the state and expansion of health care services offered to Medicaid recipients in Alaska. Governor Walker signed the bill at the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium in Juneau.
The Senate bill to implement major Medicaid reform was signed into law SB 74, sponsored by Sen. Pete Kelly (R-Fairbanks), is estimated to bring in savings of up to $33 million in the first year of implementation, and up to $113 million by fiscal year 2022, according estimates by the Department of Health and Social Services.
“This bill implements simple yet effective reforms that many Alaskans would be surprised to learn aren’t in place already,” said Sen. Pete Kelly.
“I thank Senator Pete Kelly and his staff for working with my administration to identify improvements that could be made to the state’s Medicaid program,” Governor Walker said. “This legislation is an example of the great things we can accomplish when we pull together to do what’s right for Alaska.” - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016 |
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Alaska: Monopoly in Anchorage Fuel Market Nixed By Attorney General - In January of this year, Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) formally requested that Attorney General Craig Richards fully investigate the sale of the Flint Hills gas storage facilities in Anchorage to Tesoro Alaska for any anti-trust implications, and to prevent Alaska’s gas market from being dominated by one company.
At the conclusion of the six month investigation, the Alaska Department of Law determined that Tesoro’s acquisition of Flint Hills Resources’s tank farm would limit the ability of competitors to import fuel through the Port of Anchorage and impair competition in markets for some fuel products, including gasoline.
Tuesday, Attorney General Richards announced that the State of Alaska reached an agreement with Tesoro Alaska Company that requires Tesoro to sell a petroleum fuel terminal at the Port of Anchorage in order to preserve competition in Alaska fuel markets. To address this concern, Tesoro has agreed to sell its Terminal 1 to a qualified buyer.
Tesoro reached an Agreement with Flint Hills Resources (FHR) last year to purchase most of FHR’s Alaska fuel storage assets, including FHR’s storage facility at the Port of Anchorage. This facility contains about 580,000 barrels of useable storage capacity plus a rail loading facility. Tesoro also owns two storage facilities at the Port of Anchorage - Terminal 1 with 220,000 barrels of capacity and Terminal 2 with about 600,000 barrels of capacity.
“Allowing a new competitor into the Port of Anchorage will increase competition in this very constrained market,” said Chief Assistant Attorney General Ed Sniffen.
Sen. Wielechowski said, “I'm pleased by the diligent work of the Department of Law in coming to this decision. Gas price gouging has been an issue that Alaskans have been concerned with for many years now. Alaskans need to feel confident that the system isn’t rigged against them. While not a perfect solution, I'll be watching in the next few months, with cautious optimism, as Tesoro initiates the sale. I look forward to welcoming new competition into the Alaska fuel market.” - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Southeast Alaska - BC: Drilling starts with two core rigs at KSM Project - Seabridge Gold announced today that drilling has begun with two core rigs at its 100%-owned KSM Project in northwestern British Columbia. Seabridge Gold outlined its 2016 exploration plans on May 24, 2016. The program calls for 10,000 meters of core drilling designed to expand by as much as 800 meters on the block cave shapes that confine the current resource estimate.
The 2016 program also includes 3,000 meters of core drilling on Seabridge’s 100%-owned Iskut Project, also located in northwestern British Columbia about 20 kilometers from KSM. The Iskut Project was obtained with the closing of Seabridge’s acquisition of SnipGold Corp.
Commenting on the program, Seabridge Chairman and CEO Rudi Fronk said that "our geological team believes the mineralized zone on the west limb of the Deep Kerr deposit projects to the south. Extending the footprint of the proposed block cave shapes in this direction should enable us to increase the potential mining rate for Deep Kerr higher grade material." In addition, drilling will target the less-explored eastern limb of the Deep Kerr deposit to test its potential expansion at depth.
“At Iskut, we are planning to begin exploring for high grade gold which the property is historically known for. This year’s objective is to determine which of the many known targets has the best potential, in preparation for a much larger program next year,’ Fronk said. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
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Alaska Science: Bears bother lonely science instruments By NED ROZELL - Interior Alaska is a hungry place - lots of boreal forest and swampy wetlands with big, flat rivers winding through. Wildlife sightings, especially of big mammals, are rare.
Seismologist Carl Tape installed the camera to confirm that bears were digging up his equipment.
Courtesy of Carl Tape.
But a recent video posted by a seismologist makes the Tanana River flats look like the Serengeti. A motion-triggered game camera installed above buried instruments shows visits from coyotes, snowshoe hares, lynx, moose and black bears during the past winter.
Carl Tape of the Geophysical Institute installed the camera near a seismometer he and his colleagues buried between Nenana and Manley Hot Springs. The shake detector is part of a network the team spread over Minto Flats to learn more about earthquakes there.
Cameras are not standard equipment at earthquake-monitoring stations. Tape installed this one because something had twice dug up buried plastic boxes and an aluminum conduit line running to an antenna mounted on a spruce tree. On one occasion, a box with 240 pounds of batteries was yanked to a different spot.
After the game camera was in place, the animals came. Ghostly snowshoe hares and lynx padding through at night. Moose nosing their way around in daylight. Coyotes at all hours, cautious and alert. And, when spring arrived, bears, the only creatures that seemed interested in the equipment.
The camera caught a trio of black bears pawing at the tarp-covered buried equipment. Two small bears played tug of war with the tarp on a warm day in May. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
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Columns - Commentary
MICHAEL REAGAN: Hillary's Expensive Jacket - Hillary Clinton may have been better off wearing the Emperor's New Clothes during her victory speech after the New York primary, rather than what she chose to wear and her aides managed to overlook.
Clinton, who has decried income "inequality" throughout the nation during her campaign, stood before the assembled ---- and carefully screened ---- crowd wearing a $12,495 Giorgio Armani jacket.
What she paid for the coat ---- assuming it wasn't a party favor from her Goldman Sachs speech ---- is just a bit less than the amount the average first time home buyer is required to post as a down payment for his dream home, or as The Washington Free Beacon calculates, "roughly 40 percent of what the average American worker makes in a year."
She's fortunate the price tag wasn't dangling from her outfit like that of Minnie Pearl.
This is beyond tone deaf. It's a combination of obliviousness and hypocrisy on a truly Clintonian scale. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
DICK POLMAN: Worried Trump Can Beat Hillary? Don't Be. - You know that nutjob you always see on the street, speed-rapping to himself about God knows what? His verbatim dialogue probably goes something like this:
"You know the Republicans ---- honestly folks, our leaders, our leaders have to get tougher. This is too tough to do it alone, but you know what, I think I'm going to be forced to. I think I'm going to be forced to. Our leaders have to get a lot tougher. And be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don't talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet to the leaders, because they have to get tougher, they have to get sharper, they have to get smarter. We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I'll do very well. I'm going to do very well. OK? I'm going to do very well. A lot of people thought I should do that anyway, but I'll just do it nicely by myself ..."
So said Donald Trump on the stump last Wednesday.
What he appeared to be saying last week ---- if I am decoding his incoherence properly; no easy task, because he makes Sarah Palin sound like Cicero ---- is that he wants congressional Republicans to shut up and let him run the whole show. Which is what you'd expect from a tinpot autocrat who has no clue about campaign teamwork, or any respect for checks, balances, and the separation of powers. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
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Editorial Cartoon: Trump and low funds
By Dave Granlund ©2016, Politicalcartoons.com
Distributed to subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
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 Gov Walker's 5th Special Session By Marvin Seibert - We are now in the grips of Governor Walker's calling for a 5th special session. Special sessions were not instituted till the governor of a state gets his way. Taxes being considered will have a devastating effect on the people who can afford it the least. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Public restrooms on docks closed too early By Phil L. Borngraeber - Just in the last two weeks I have been among the many local folks riding, walking, taking the kids or dogs out for relaxation and exercise. But wait, no matter how great the weather is, don't plan on using the restrooms at dock 4 or 2 after the ships have left. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Please abide by leash laws By Mishele Rhein - In light of summer and the added outdoor activities at the local beaches, I would like to encourage the locals and our numerous summer guests to abide by the leash laws. Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy watching my dogs run, play and dig with abandon on the sandy beaches as well, but doing so on a leash. Being a dog owner, I understand the need to get out and exercise man’s best friend, but to be honest, I am growing weary of being assaulted by “friendly” dogs when the owner is truly no where to be seen. I am not sure what’s worse, missing dog owners or oblivious dog owners. The latter being the friendly passers by greeting you a wonderful afternoon while their dog is running circles around you and your now distracted leashed dog. Everyone tends to think their dog is “amiable enough” and “its no problem.” Even though my exuberant animals feel the need to greet everyone, everyone does not feel the need to greet them. Just tonight I went for a walk and was greeted (whether I wanted to be or not) by no less than three dogs before I even got to the beach. One of which had a leash trailing but no person holding the other end and the fourth dog came to investigate upon exit and felt the need to walk us part way home. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
The 1967 Fairbanks' Flood By John Calhoun - I was living in the Northward building at the time of the 1967 Fairbanks' flood. We were able to get power from a building across the street by a long cord hooked up to an electrical panel to provide emergency lighting in the halls and stairwells. - More...
Wednesday PM - June 22, 2016
Good Sportsmanship! By Mimi Eddy - My grandson is 9 years old and I was at his baseball game this Saturday (11th). His team-the red one (Matt Caskey coach or helping coach) showed excellent sportsmanship. They were encouraging each other - some of the boys are in their first year of batting from a peer pitcher so are nervous. Their teammates are talking and encouraging them in their play. - More...
Thursday AM - June 16, 2016
Don't miss this entertainment! By Kerry Watson - Want a good laugh?! Don't miss this weekend's play "The Complete Unabridged Works of William Shakespeare." I know, I know. Shakespeare can be a bit daunting. Hah, fear not! - More...
Thursday AM - June 16, 2016
Focus on Men’s Health and Safety in June By Susan Johnson - In June, we celebrate Father’s Day, Men’s Health Month, and National Safety Month. These separate observances have a common theme — we can use them as an opportunity to focus on the health of the men in our lives. - More...
Thursday AM - June 16, 2016
Path to a fiscally sustainable budget By Rep. Dan Ortiz - In the current budget that was approved by the majority of Alaskan Legislators, 430 million dollars is allocated for direct cash payouts to oil companies in the form of credits. The state’s obligation for this year’s credits is 750 million dollars. Thus, even if the State of Alaska pays out the allocated 430 million dollars, it will continue to be responsible for 320 million dollars additionally in future obligations. That 750 million dollars is the third biggest spending item in our state’s budget. Under SB 21, the state is obligated to pay 750 million dollars in oil tax credits in one year alone, while we are spending 221 million for our Department of Transportation, which runs and maintains our ferries, roads, and airports; the infrastructure that facilitates our economy. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
GOVERNOR, CAN WE HAVE THAT CUP OF COFFEE? By Richard J. Peterson - Are campaign promises empty promises that no one expects candidates to keep? Have we become that cynical? Running as the ‘Unity Team’ in 2014, Bill Walker and Byron Mallott promised to improve the State of Alaska’s tribal relations. Mr. Walker said he would rather work on communication and steer away from litigation on tribal issues. In fact, when Mr. Walker made his campaign pitch to a Western Alaska tribal group and when he spoke to members of his new Governor’s Tribal Advisory Council more recently, he said the State and Alaska tribes should stop suing each other and offered a better solution, “Let’s sit down and have a cup of coffee and talk things over.” - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Part 11: OIL COMPANY” WALKER, “OIL CAN” ORTIZ, AND OIL COMPANY SOCIALISM By David G Hanger - Roundabout 227 years ago this group of guys we call the “Founding Fathers” got together and argued out a Constitution to establish something completely different than anything before. In the first instance a “nation,” the first in fact in the history of the world. Well may it be said that the Dutch can be credited as the first to truly advance the concepts of capitalism and free enterprise; that the Brits improved upon them; and only then did we establish mastery, but the beginning of “nation-“hood as opposed to empires and kingdoms and such, that belongs to us. All that came before is pretense compared to what this group of guys did. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Democrats misuse racism against Trump By Rob Holston - Trump referred to an American judge of Mexican heritage as a “Mexican” and sited the judge’s rulings against Trump as being biased because he’s “Mexican.” Trump has used harsh and prudent language against illegal Mexican immigration and proposes a wall at the US - Mexican border. Now even some Republicans are jumping on the bandwagon of Democratic hate language calling his remarks racist. This is a prime example of a liberal press and stewards of political correctness over-reacting so as to nail Trump to the RACIST cross and hopefully cause an agonizing death to his bid for the White House. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Don’t Let the Need for Health Insurance Stop You from Leaving By Susan Johnson - Domestic violence is found across all socioeconomic groups - in fact, more than 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have been victims of some form of physical violence by an intimate partner within their lifetime. However, women are often economically dependent on their abusers and are less able to leave and more likely to return to abusive partners. Many women are dependent on their spouses for insurance coverage. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Socialist Sanders Abandoning Israel By Donald Moskowitz - Socialist Sanders appointed two anti-Israel people to his platform drafting committee. Cornel West espouses anti-Israel views, and James Zogby, President of the Arab American Institute, has denounced Israel. Sanders also appointed Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, an anti-Israel Muslim, to his platform committee. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Little Wee One By Robert B. Holston Jr. - The second a person is born they have FULL rights of citizenship and protection under the law. What about the time before that PERSON was born. I have written a poem that describes this reality in America today. Please consider it. - More..
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Drive careful By Bill Hollywood - I have had to come to a stop twice so far this year for deer on the road and have seen four other groups of deer by the roads. Mostly two deer but up to five. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
Congratulations Graduates By Dan Ortiz - Congratulations to our 2016 high school and university graduates. You truly deserve to be proud of your achievement.
Alaska is an exciting location for ambitious graduates in the beginning chapters of their lives. It is the frontier of our country’s future. Jobs never before dreamed are being created right here. There are opportunities for new industry in Alaska, from the Arctic passage to rainforest ecotourism. Our tried and true fishing industry and its elements are oft-debated, but it is lively and reliable due to our excellent public management. - More...
Thursday PM - June 09, 2016
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