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- [00:00]
Casey Grove
Support for Alaska Public Media on demand comes from Alaska Pipeline Service Co. Marking nearly 50 years of commitment to operating the Trans Alaska Pipeline system. More@alyeskapipeline.com.
- [00:19]
Liz Ruskin
Just the fact that half of the current sitting members of Congress are millionaires or billionaires is surprising to me.
- [00:29]
Casey Grove
Former Congresswoman Mary Peltola hones her messaging as the race for Alaska's U.S. senate seat heats up. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Friday, April 3rd. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, controversy over changes at the Alaska Native Language center gets attention from state lawmakers. Why am I not teaching people who are going to become teachers of the language? Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Three of Alaska's key shipping companies are set to hike rates as fuel prices skyrocket amid the war with Iran. The Alaska Desk's Avery Elfelt reports the change could affect communities across the state.
- [01:11]
Avery Elfelt
Alaska Marine Lines, Matson and Tote are all increasing their fuel related surcharges this spring. Alaska Marine Lines, or aml, ships freight to communities in Southeast including Haines, Juneau and Skagway. The company said late last month that its surcharge will increase from 11% to more than 18% starting in early April. In an emailed statement, the company said the move reflects continued escalation and volatility and fuel costs. Some small businesses that rely heavily on shipping are already bracing for the change. Mike Healy owns the Skagway Brewing Company, one of the community's most popular and only year round restaurants.
- [01:48]
Liz Ruskin
It will have a big impact, no doubt about it.
- [01:51]
Casey Grove
Our yeah, the shipping on all of our goods will increase and not just those from aml. You know this. My suppliers of every type all over the place are notifying us that there will be increases.
- [02:06]
Avery Elfelt
Healy added that his business has seen a number of significant cost increases in the last five or six years, including from tariffs more recently and during the pandemic. He says around that time the community invested in a high end printer so they could reprint menus when costs fluctuate. The restaurant will soon do so again for the summer season and will have to factor the fuel related surcharge in for the individual diner. The increase likely won't be huge, maybe 10 cents for a hamburger. But Healy adds, if we don't take
- [02:38]
Casey Grove
into account that 10 cents for the thousands of hamburgers that will be sold this summer, then we're missing out and we're losing out.
- [02:46]
Avery Elfelt
The increases will affect other businesses too. Glenda Gilbert owns Hanes Home Building Supply, a local hardware store.
- [02:53]
Liz Ruskin
Yes, it impacts us. Yes, the prices have gone up or
- [02:56]
Casey Grove
will have to go up more
- [02:59]
Liz Ruskin
and that's based on oil prices.
- [03:01]
Avery Elfelt
Jim Lampkins of Lutec Lumber in Haynes, meanwhile says he wasn't surprised about the increase. Those are typical when fuel prices fluctuate, but he wasn't overly concerned about what it would mean for the business's bottom line. Southeast isn't the only region that could see impacts. Matson, for instance, ships freight to Dutch harbor and Unalaska, Kodia and Anchorage. The company is boosting its fuel related surcharge from around 20% to about 26% for all Alaska customers. The change will take effect by mid April. Matson said in a statement that the move is the result of a, quote, sudden and significant increase in marine fuel prices. The company said it expects the increase will sustain as long as global oil supply constraints persist in the Middle East. Tote, meanwhile, implemented a smaller increase from 25 to 27% in late reporting in Haines, I'm Avery Elfelp if you follow
- [03:56]
Casey Grove
Mary Peltola on social media, maybe you've noticed that the former Alaska congresswoman is talking about more than fish, family and freedom as she runs for U.S. senate. Many of her posts are about crooked politicians feathering their own nests and an elite class that's rigging the system against regular people. Here to provide some context for this line of messaging is Alaska Public Media Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin. Liz, this was the topic of your Alaska at Large newsletter today. Peltola is far from the only candidate claiming the system is rigged and accusing D.C. politicians of self dealing. But why did you think her messaging was noteworthy?
- [04:34]
Liz Ruskin
You're right that this is right in line with what several Democratic challengers are saying in other Senate races. But it seemed like it was new for Peltola. I don't remember her focusing on it in her previous three Congressional campaigns. So I asked her where this was coming from for her. She said she saw things during her two plus years in the U.S. house and now that she's had a year to reflect. She says lawmakers are too focused on their stock portfolios. Here's part of what she said. I thought that there were protections that prevented self dealing and self enriching. I was quite surprised to find out that it was even a discussion whether it should be done and that there was a move afoot to prohibit that legislation from going forward to ban stock trading.
- [05:26]
Casey Grove
Okay, so she's talking about banning Congress members from trading in stocks. What else?
- [05:31]
Liz Ruskin
She's endorsing a slate of Reforms to battle dark money in politics. Those things and her language about corrupt elites and billionaires rigging the system against regular people, those sound very progressive, populist, kind of Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. But other parts, like her call for term limits, that is more associated with right wing populism like former Speaker Newt Gingrich and the Tea Party.
- [06:02]
Casey Grove
Yeah. So you're saying that this approach running against the System and against D.C. incumbents, that appeals to a broad swath of voters.
- [06:10]
Liz Ruskin
Yes. Peltola is espousing things that cut across party lines. She's not alienating Trump supporters by attacking, say the SAVE act, which is voting reform President Trump really wants and it's also broadly popular with his supporters. She's not. I haven't seen anyway any posts about the SAVE Act.
- [06:32]
Casey Grove
Gotcha. Well, Liz, when she's talking about self dealing DC politicians, is that Peltola taking aim at the incumbent in the race? That's Senator Dan Sullivan.
- [06:43]
Liz Ruskin
Not directly. And I should say I haven't seen any evidence that Sullivan is taking action in office to enrich himself. But here's what she said when I asked her if she was aiming this at Sullivan. I think it's a systemic problem. Just the fact that half of the current sitting members of Congress are millionaires or billionaires is surprising to me. And certainly the incumbent is no different. He is right there with that pack of folks who has benefited substantially. His personal wealth has quadrupled in his two terms in office. Casey, that last part that can't be precisely fact checked because the financial disclosure requirements aren't very precise. But quadrupling in value over 12 years, that would not surprise me. It sounds like a lot, but if you invested in a broad based mutual fund when Sullivan was sworn in, you'd have roughly quadrupled your money too. But that does take capital to start with. And Sullivan had some. He went to Harvard. He's from a wealth. So if you're making an anti elite argument, there you go. And Peltola is coupling it with the Democratic affordability argument and saying Sullivan supports Trump policies that have raised the cost of healthcare.
- [08:12]
Casey Grove
And then Liz, did I see a poll recently that showed Mary Peltola ahead in the U.S. senate race?
- [08:18]
Liz Ruskin
Right. Alaska survey research is one of the few that makes polls in the race public. It has her 5 percentage points ahead. Turnout, of course, is especially in a midterm. And since Senator Sullivan is staying close to President Trump, I think the big factor is going to be how voters feel about Trump come election day.
- [08:40]
Casey Grove
Right. And that's still a few months away. Okay, Liz, thanks for explaining that. And if people want to get your Alaska at Large newsletter, they can subscribe@alaskapublic.org newsletters. That was Alaska Public Media Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin. Liz, thanks for joining us.
- [08:56]
Liz Ruskin
Thank you, Casey.
- [09:02]
Casey Grove
Still to come at Alaska News nightly, a library event in Sitka celebrates stories from fishermen. Who better to share with than people who are professional story sharers? You know that's ahead. Stay with us. US District Court Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed a federal class action lawsuit on Tuesday filed against the Alaska Office of Children's Services by a national nonprofit working for foster care reforms. Attorneys for the organization alleged Alaska foster children are at risk of harm because of systemic problems that violated federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act. They pointed to high caseloads for caseworkers and an inadequate hiring and training process. But Gleason wrote that the attorneys did not prove that any of the foster youth represented were actually harmed. Gleason also questioned the reliability of the evidence presented. Marsha Lowry is an attorney and executive director of A Better Childhood, which brought the suit. She calls the dismissal disappointing. We did do a trial that involved a lot of evidence that I think was largely undisputed about how high the caseloads are in Alaska, about the lack of placement resources for children, about the failure to basically make attempts to remedy that situation. She says a lot of children in Alaska are not getting benefits they're entitled to under federal law. Lowry says A Better Childhood is not sure yet of its next steps, but is considering an appeal. We have seen a dysfunctional child welfare systems really, really change and provide good services to kids, but we have seen that only as a result of litigation. The Office of Children's Services declined an interview for this story. In a written statement, they said they're pleased with the court's decision, and the verdict is an opportunity for the office to continue advancing its work. Recent controversy over the primary research institute for Alaska Native languages caught the ear of state lawmakers this week. Linguists across the state say the Alaska Native Language center is being starved of funding and that its mission is at risk. But administrators at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, which houses the institute, say that's not true and that it's actually growing. Shelby Herbert reports for the Alaska Desk that that dispute was the focus of a hearing at the state Capitol on Wednesday.
- [11:32]
Shelby Herbert
Rene Lance Twitchell is a linguistics professor at the University of Alaska Southeast. He stood before members of the Senate Education Committee to speak about the state's responsibility to correct its past erasure of Alaska Native languages.
- [11:46]
Casey Grove
We have story story of elders who
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were beaten and abused and neglected, had
- [11:52]
chemicals put in their mouths. We had teachers who wrote books about
- [11:55]
doing stuff just like this to keep them from talking.
- [11:58]
Shelby Herbert
A few of those languages survived. Some were scattered and remain incomplete. But Twitchell told state lawmakers that there's a new threat the deprioritization of research and faculty retention at the Alaska Native language center, or ANLC. The state created the center over 50 years ago to preserve and study Alaska Native language languages at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, but it's gone through a period of change, leaving some faculty and university administrators at odds. The center partially operates on state funding, and Alaska lawmakers requested the hearing after recent public controversy surrounding the institution. In recent years, the center was rehoused in UAF's College of Indigenous Studies. Among the many changes since then, the center's publishing capabilities moved to a consortium based in Colorado. Gary Holton is a University of Hawaii linguistics professor with ties to the center. He'd been working with an Alaska Native community to publish a dictionary of their language when he learned the center's press had left the state, where we would
- [13:06]
Casey Grove
have no dedicated editorial support and the ANLC editor position was being terminated so that we would have nobody to work with on the editing. So this particular incident really drove home the fact that we are really losing something.
- [13:22]
Shelby Herbert
Holton wrote an op ed in the Anchorage Daily News in protest of what he views as the quiet closure of the center, and it blew up along with coverage from UAF's student run paper, the Sun Star, statewide, national and even international. Letters of support for ANLC poured in. Tisha Simmons is The dean of UAF's College of Indigenous Studies. She told lawmakers at the Senate Education Committee hearing that the they're not eliminating research courses or publications. In fact, she said, they're trying to expand the program in a more accessible, community oriented direction.
- [13:59]
Liz Ruskin
There are so many people that really want to have access to language learning opportunities, and so we're looking at offering more workshops at no cost. We've been hearing the most requested one is I want to be able to introduce myself in my language.
- [14:13]
Shelby Herbert
Many senior faculty say they can't remember a time when the center wasn't community oriented, but they say they're seeing gradual structural change that removes their autonomy and research capacity. The center hasn't had a director in years. That's because of a couple of failed hiring searches, according to administrators. Then there's staffing. Senior faculty members told state lawmakers that some have received letters of non retention. In interviews, others said they're being assigned classes that take away from their research capacity and they're being asked to write grants to fund their own positions. The university also began hiring other faculty members without advanced degrees in the interest of inclusivity, according to testimony from university administrators. Alaska Native Language Archive director Anna Berge takes issue with that.
- [15:05]
Liz Ruskin
It devalues the work of the faculty here, and it's not fair to the students. If I want to send my daughter to a university and I find out that all her teachers are going to be barely more knowledgeable than she is, I'm not paying $17,000 a year or whatever it is.
- [15:20]
Shelby Herbert
But UAF administrators testified that because of the College of Indigenous Studies stewardship, the center's student enrollment is up and its budget has doubled, even during times of financial strain throughout the University of Alaska system. But the language center's outgoing department chair, Samuel Alexander, told committee members that the university's priorities are shortsighted and that its focus on training up new students and rather than investing in research, could doom endangered languages.
- [15:51]
Liz Ruskin
Why am I not teaching people who are going to become teachers of the language? We need that new linguistic research. We need to document things like this.
- [15:59]
Casey Grove
How do we talk about death? How do we talk about birth?
- [16:03]
Liz Ruskin
How do we admonish somebody?
- [16:04]
Casey Grove
How do we praise somebody? Where is that language research?
- [16:08]
Shelby Herbert
We have the capacity to do it,
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Liz Ruskin
but we need support.
- [16:12]
Shelby Herbert
State lawmakers on the Senate's Education Committee reaffirm their commitment to the center's mission to restore and preserve Alaska Alaska Native languages, and even offered to seek out avenues of additional support. Here's Senator Lukey Tobin, who chairs the committee. It is my intent to continue working
- [16:29]
Liz Ruskin
with all stakeholder groups to reimagine the authorizing legislation and to ensure that the resources are stable, predictable and provide the
- [16:42]
Shelby Herbert
support that you desperately need. In Fairbanks, a few dozen protesters packed into the University Student Union the same day as the hearing, singing and chanting in Minto, Huichin, Inupiaq, Danaka and Lower Tanana. The signs in their hands read save ANLC and Language is Life. They say that's where they'll be every Wednesday afternoon, squeezing in between classes until they see meaningful support for the center. Reporting in Fairbanks, I'm Shelby Herbert.
- [17:18]
Casey Grove
Alaska school districts consistently build budgets based on many uncertainties. A bill that aims to stabilize the budgeting process moved out of the House Education committee on Wednesday. KTOO's Jamie Deep reports there's still a long road ahead before the bill becomes law.
- [17:33]
House Bill 261 would change how students in certain schools are counted under the state's education funding formula. This would allow school districts to budget with more certainty and to smooth out the effects of declining enrollment. The bill would allow school districts to use known numbers instead of projections to build their budgets. That means school districts can take the student count from the prior year or a three year average of prior years. Since the bill's introduction, Representative Andy Story, a Juno Democrat and the bill's sponsor, added another option districts could use if the current year student count is at least 5% greater than the other two options that can be used instead. Storey explains why during a March committee
- [18:10]
Liz Ruskin
meeting, if they get a 5% bump in a smaller district, it's significant revenue to them and it helps them very much plan a curriculum because in smaller schools that is significant.
- [18:24]
Casey Grove
The revised version also changes another major piece of the bill that addresses how the state counts students who receive intensive services. Those students are counted 13 times in the state's funding formula. It removed an option that Story says could inflate the actual number of students who require those services. In the most recent fiscal note for the bill, the Department of Education and early development, or DEED, estimated the bill would cost the state more than $100 million. Most districts would end up receiving more funding as a result of the bill passing. Some districts would also lose funding, including the Bristol Bay Borough School District. The department estimates it would lose more than 40% of its state funding. But the bill passed out of the House Education Committee with two more amendments that would change how much money districts receive. A new fiscal note hasn't come out yet, but the representative with D told KTOL that it would increase the cost to the One amendment from Anchorage Democrat Representative Ted Eishcheid would prevent DEED from taking money away from a district if a student with intensive needs leaves the
- [19:23]
idea there is a lot of times staff have been hired already and under contract to deal with that student, and so it's meant to kind of hold harmless the district that takes in an indents if needs student initially.
- [19:38]
Another amendment from Representative Rebecca Hinschute, a Sitka independent, brings back language that would allow alternative schools to be counted in a way that brings the district more funding. Representative Story had initially taken that language out to reduce the cost of the bill, but Hymshute says that funding is important for students.
- [19:55]
Liz Ruskin
We're all aware that those students generally require at least as much support as students in all the other schools, so this is saying that we're going to support them at the same level the
- [20:09]
Casey Grove
bill passed out of the Education Committee and will be taken up by the House Finance Committee next. If it's passed by the House, it will head to the Senate for further consideration. The legislative session is scheduled to end on May 20th in Juneau. I'm Jamie Deep.
- [20:23]
Librarians from across the state gathered in Sitka over the weekend to exchange knowledge and resources for the annual Alaska Library association conference. KCAW's Ryan Cotter attended a kickoff event highlighting local storytellers and in a strong fishing town like Sitka, what better people to highlight the unique stories of the region than Fishermen? We were 50 miles from the nearest roadhouse with no tools of any kind.
- [20:48]
Liz Ruskin
Donald managed to cram a wad of
- [20:50]
Casey Grove
chewing gum on the hull and that slowed things down a bit.
- [20:55]
Ryan Cotter
Dave Chercot is a commercial fisherman who has been trolling in southeast Alaska since the 1960s. Yet it was only two years ago that Turcot began transcribing his experiences from the sea onto paper, earning him the title of a fisher poet. Standing behind a podium at the Sitka Public Library with the ocean at his back, Turcot reads to a room of over 30 attentive library variants an anecdote chronicling one of his earliest memories in Southeast, which involves him and his fellow fishermen improvising a solution to fixing a hole in their gas tank while on the road to catch a ferry in
- [21:31]
Casey Grove
Haines, somebody freshened the chewing gum.
- [21:34]
Liz Ruskin
We added a little gas and eased
- [21:37]
Casey Grove
on to the next roadhouse. Someone was always chewing a fresh plug in case the old one fell off.
- [21:45]
Ryan Cotter
And Turcotte is not the only fisher poet sharing his work. Maria Warren has worked as a fisherman across a wide variety of vessels for 20 years, half of them as a captain. One of the short readings she shared with the audience was a poem titled Please don't die at Sea.
- [22:02]
Liz Ruskin
Please don't die at sea, my dears. Tell the story someday instead over burgers and beers about the time the storm called your name and you chickened out. The kids are listening. Those are the times that they need to hear about. Remember your heroes, those storm gray bright eyed women and Poseidon bearded men. I know we all do. Please survive so someday you can be a grouchy, salt encrusted, wise and inspiring old timer too. Please don't die.
- [22:37]
Ryan Cotter
Sitting in chair chairs propped up beside the podium, Turcot leans back into his chair with tear filled eyes and pursed lips. Next to him, Paul Rieux says for a long time he struggled to understand how his routine life at sea would interest readers. He shares an essay where he realizes the life of a fisherman offers a unique literary connection between self reliance and fate.
- [23:02]
Casey Grove
Rare days of pure winning are made sweeter by all the days of struggling, fighting weather, enduring poor fishing and or depressing prices. All of this occurs in an awe inspiring setting seen by an infinitesimally small percentage of the population, thereby a very exclusive club. You cannot fake your way in. You have to get salty to be salty.
- [23:28]
Ryan Cotter
One of the visiting librarians in the audience is Sandy Lukes, the outreach librarian for the Anchorage Public Library. It's Luke's first ever Alaska Library association conference and she says listening to the storytellers gave her a greater appreciation for how crucial fishing is for communities like Sitka.
- [23:46]
Casey Grove
Me being from Seattle, I know there's
- [23:49]
Avery Elfelt
a lot of fishing that goes around
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Casey Grove
there, but I wasn't as close to or familiar with it. So it's really interesting seeing how much that is part of the livelihood here and what that looks like for people.
- [23:59]
Ryan Cotter
Tella Adsen is the fourth and final fisher poet and moderator for the event. She shares a humorous and heartwarming story of a fisherman who inspired her to embrace her queerness in their line of work. She hopes the librarians are inspired to highlight the unexpected storytellers in their own communities, fishermen or otherwise.
- [24:19]
Casey Grove
Sharing with librarians is awesome. Who better to share with than people who are professional story sharers? You know and appreciate that thought that goes into it. I think the takeaway is who are the people in your community who maybe people don't know they're writing or have
- [24:43]
Avery Elfelt
their own stories to bring forward because
- [24:46]
Casey Grove
we all have those folks everywhere.
- [24:49]
Ryan Cotter
As the event draws to a close, the fisher poets and librarians mingles with some snacking on the fish treats caught and prepared by the fishermen themselves. With shelves chock full of books on one end and the large glass window framing Sitka Sound on the other, the patrons are surrounded by stories in Sitka. I'm Ryan Cotter
- [25:13]
Casey Grove
and that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online@alaskapublic.org and wherever review get your podcasts we had reports tonight from Avery Elfelt in Haynes, Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. rachel Cassandra in Anchorage, Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks, Jamie Deep in Juno, and Ryan Cotter in Sitka. Our audio engineer is Tobin Shelby, Kirsten Dobroth is our producer and I'm Casey Grove. Have a great weekend.