Loading summary
Transcript72 lines
- [00:00]
Josie Shelley
Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from Siri, an Alaska Native corporation with operations and investments spanning five continents, 45 states and two US territories.
- [00:19]
Joe Nelson
And our hope is that our children and grandchildren will inherit a better system. So we feel like it is on all of us to improve the system right now.
- [00:27]
Casey Grove
The Alaska Federation of Natives urges lawmakers to fix the state's dual fish and wildlife management system. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Friday, February 20th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, catch a Can expands support services for people newly released from prison.
- [00:44]
Chantel North
They've made it possible to, like, you know, be clean and sober and also, you know, a safe place to go.
- [00:51]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [00:59]
Rhonda McBride
The PFD application is open. Just a small amount of your PFD will help share local news and stories about Alaskans with Alaskans across this great state. When you choose Alaska Public Media through
- [01:12]
Casey Grove
Pick click give State legislators former chief of staff faces charges of child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking Federal agents arrested 36 year old Craig Scott Valdez this morning in Juneau. Valdez was state Senator George Rauscher's chief of staff until his firing today, a few hours after the charges were made public. Rauscher is a Republican from Wasilla. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Valdez on charges of sex trafficking, a minor, sexual exploitation of a minor for both allegedly producing and receiving child sexual abuse material and coercion and enticement of a minor. Court documents detail a specific instance in which Valdez allegedly lured a 15 year old girl to his Anchorage home. But prosecutors also wrote that the FBI has identified at least 11 other potential victims and federal authorities are asking the public for help as their investigation continues. The court documents say Valdez met the girl on Snapchat and in October of last year picked her up at her home and drove her to his house for the purpose of sexually exploiting the child to celebrate his birthday. The girl's sibling alerted her mother, who tracked her daughter to Valdez's home in South Anchorage. The mother called police and waited outside, but when she heard her daughter say she wanted to leave, she entered the home, struck Valdez in the face and got her daughter. Federal prosecutors are asking that anyone with further information on Valdez deliver tips anonymously to tips.FBI.gov a request for comment today to Rauscher's office was referred to the state Senate Minority Caucus's press secretary, who said she did not have any information to release beyond what was publicly available in the court documents. The next hearing in the case is set for Monday. The Alaska Federation of Natives urged state lawmakers yesterday to fix Alaska's dual fish and wildlife management system. It's a legal impasse that goes back for decades, one that has long frustrated Native people who depend on hunting and fishing to put food on the table. But as KNVA's Rhonda McBride reports, there are no easy answers.
- [03:28]
Rhonda McBride
One of the challenges ahead for a legislative fix Only a handful of lawmakers are familiar with the battle over subsistence that heated up in 1980 when Congress passed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation act, or anilca. It established a rural priority for subsistence, but that clashed with the Alaska Constitution, which forbids granting access based on where you live. So what evolved Two different wildlife management systems, one for the state and one for federal land.
- [04:02]
Joe Nelson
There's not going to be a silver bullet. This is going to be a long journey.
- [04:06]
Rhonda McBride
Afn co chair Joe Nelson told the House Tribal Affairs Committee that Alaskans have become ensnared far too long in a web of litigation over state and federal laws.
- [04:17]
Joe Nelson
We're trying to pull together everybody because it's just heartbreaking that the people on the other side of the table on
- [04:23]
Rhonda McBride
these issues are Alaskans as well, nelson says. Dual management has meant dueling management for Alaskans, and no one ever wins.
- [04:31]
Joe Nelson
And our hope is that our children and grandchildren will inherit a better system. So we feel like it is on all of us to improve the system right now.
- [04:39]
Rhonda McBride
During the hearing, Representative Justin Ruffridge, a Republican from Soldotna, acknowledged the huge learning curve ahead. He admitted he had little working knowledge of foundational legislation like the Alaska Native Claims Settlement act and terms like traditional and customary use.
- [04:57]
Ben Milott
I feel like I'm a subsistence user of the resource in my community, but then growing up had a number of friends who were, I would say, traditional and customary users of the same resource, who were members of the Kaniatse tribe. The way that we used the resource was dramatically different.
- [05:14]
Rhonda McBride
Roughridge calls the current system of overlapping jurisdictions a mess.
- [05:19]
Ben Milott
This is not just a first Alaskans issue. This seems to be an all Alaskans issue of how we approach this thing.
- [05:25]
Rhonda McBride
Although several state legislatures have tried repeatedly to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to resolve the conflict, AFN has asked lawmakers to try again. AFN also plans to pursue some federal fixes, such as reopening the Alaska Native Claims Settlement act, which gave native corporations legal title to 44 million acres of land. AFN says it wants to repeal the section that extinguishes aboriginal hunting and fishing rights and replace it with a framework that will allow Alaska Natives to control hunting and fishing on native lands now under state wildlife management. AFN also wants to amend ANILCA to improve the federal government's subsistence management program and include protections specifically for Alaska Natives, proposals which would not eliminate the state's dual management system but might also create more complexity. AFN President Ben Milott says he knows these changes will be a hard sell.
- [06:32]
Ben Milott
It's not something you can do overnight,
- [06:34]
Josie Shelley
but it really means all of us
- [06:35]
Casey Grove
have to be on the same page, working together to build a system that works for rural Alaska and works for our communities.
- [06:42]
Rhonda McBride
AFN's co chair Joe Nelson says with the upcoming governor's election, it's important to get the conversation started now, and whoever's
- [06:51]
Joe Nelson
next governor needs to be an expert in this type of thing. And if they're not, we need to find the governor who can be somebody who really gets this stuff.
- [06:59]
Rhonda McBride
Afn says it's offering new ideas to make old legislation and the systems they created work better for everyone. But whether longtime advocates for states rights and primacy over fish and game management will see it the same way remains to be seen. In anchorage, I'm Rhonda McBride.
- [07:20]
Casey Grove
An Alaska doctor has documented the first case of a rare and potentially risky infection from contact with a brown bear. The infection is known as seal finger, and people typically get it handling seals, especially during seal hunting and processing. But in 2024, Dr. Benjamin Westley diagnosed it in a man who had cut his hand skinning a brown bear hunted on the Alaska Peninsula. He'd had three days of redness and painful swelling that did not resolve with standard antibiotics. Westley says early tests did not find anything definitive, so eventually he sent a tissue sample to a lab for a more comprehensive analysis.
- [07:56]
Ben Milott
What was particularly shocking about this patient was he had a finger infection after skinning a brown bear that was not responding properly to antibiotics. So I sent special PCR tests, but I did not expect this bacteria.
- [08:13]
Casey Grove
Seal finger is not uncommon in Alaska and circumpolar regions, but Wesley says this is only the second time the potentially more serious strain of the infection has been identified in the state. He diagnosed the first case, too, in a patient whose finger infection had spread to his hip.
- [08:28]
Ben Milott
So when the report came back, I was shocked because the first case was my own patient 10 years prior, and now it was the exact same bacteria for the second time in Alaska, but from a brown bear exposure, not from a seal exposure.
- [08:43]
Casey Grove
The infection is only a risk through direct or indirect animal contact. Other cases outside the state have been tied to a polar bear and a domestic cat. Scientists don't know if those animals caused seal finger because they'd had contact with a seal or through other means. In this case, the patient was treated at first with the wrong type of antibiotics used for bacterial infections. That allowed the infection to worsen and ultimately caused dead tissue, a damaged tendon and bone infection. He recovered but still has lingering finger stiffness. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, Josie Shelley is this year's Yukon Quest champion.
- [09:23]
Josie Shelley
I feel like it's, you know, celebrating the dogs and mushing and you know how tough these dogs are.
- [09:31]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us.
- [09:33]
Shelby Herbert
I'm Shelby Herbert, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media and kuac, where I work in Fairbanks and other public radio stations in Anchorage, Haines and the illusions it allows us to connect to the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during The Morning News Alaska news nightly or online at AlaskaPublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [10:04]
Casey Grove
A Sitka man was arrested this week in connection with a deadly boating accident that killed two Sitka teenagers in 2024. 45 year old James Stirm was taken into custody Thursday after a grand jury indicted him on two counts each of manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and assault. The charges stem from an incident two years ago when Stirm and four others were returning from a hunting trip on Chichagof Island. The boat capsized in rough waters near cos Bay, about 40 miles north of Sitka. Three of the passengers, including Sturm, were rescued, but the bodies of 18 year old Darren Borbridge and 18 year old Sayer Tuzon were never recovered. In a statement today, Alaska Wildlife troopers said they investigated the capsizing and found that Stirm, who was operating the vessel, was intoxicated at the time Stirm made his initial court appearance on the charges in Sitka this morning. A multi vehicle pile up on the Richardson highway early Wednesday morning left three people injured and damaged several military and civilian vehicles. The wreck happened just east of the Badger Road interchange between Fairbanks and North Pole. Alaska State troopers say they responded a little before 5am to a report of the wreck involving part of an army convoy. A trooper dispatch says the pileup began when a truck ran into a trailer one of the army vehicles was towing. An investigation showed the military vehicle was traveling below the posted speed limit of 60 mph without proper tail lights. National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Moore says the accident occurred when visibility was poor.
- [11:45]
Ben Milott
It was very snowy around Fort Wayne Wright. In the surrounding area, visibility was 3/4 of a mile or less with snow and fog. At the time, conditions were pretty treacherous, especially on the roadways.
- [11:58]
Casey Grove
While military personnel were attempting to remove the wrecked vehicle from the roadway, four more collisions occurred, according to the trooper dispatch. An 11th Airborne Division spokesperson said three soldiers with minor injuries were transported to Bassett Army Community Hospital on Fort Wainwright. The spokesperson said in an email that all three were evaluated and released. Troopers say they issued multiple citations to the civilian and military drivers involved. The 11th Airborne spokesperson said an investigation into the incident is underway and that they're cooperating with troopers. Alaska has one of the highest rates of recidivism in the country, and one big cause of that is a lack of resources. The Ketchikan Wellness Coalition has been working to bridge that gap for years and is in the process of expanding its services to help more people stay out of jail. KRBD's Sydney Dauphine has this story.
- [12:50]
Sydney Dauphine
Carly Kistler got out of jail in December. While incarcerated, she worked with members of the Ketchikan Wellness Coalition's re entry team to develop a plan for when she got out. She would move into the reentry house and stay involved in the programming so she could get her feet under her and into good habits.
- [13:07]
Chantel North
For me, they picked me up from jail. They were there that morning to pick me up and brought me to the house and got me settled in and now it's been a month and things are going really good.
- [13:19]
Sydney Dauphine
Kisler is a recovering addict. She was in jail for three months this last time. She's been in multiple times but says this time was different.
- [13:28]
Chantel North
I spent three months in jail before this and right before that I did like a two week stint and they let me out and I hadn't had time to contact anybody or figure out my resources or anything or make a plan and I immediately went right back
- [13:42]
Sydney Dauphine
to using Kistler's working on getting into addiction treatment while she works with the reentry team on staying sober and rebuilding her independence. The Ketchikan Wellness Coalition's re entry programming has several different components, all designed to support people after incarceration. It includes case management, job placement and housing assistance. The most common reason people go back to jail after release is because when they're out, they return to the same conditions they were in when they were arrested in the first place. Reentry program coordinator Drew Herbe works with some of her clients in the Kitchkin Correctional center where they do a 12 week re entry class. It focuses on managing expectations and recognizing antisocial behaviors upon release.
- [14:28]
Drew Herbie
They chase me down. They really do. We make a big impact inside the jail. I think. Well, not. I think I know it's evidence that they come straight from jail, straight to my office before they see their probation officer, which they only have 24 hours to see their probation officer, they come see me.
- [14:49]
Sydney Dauphine
The program recently expanded outside of the jail, too. Now people can continue the class when they're released and get their certificate of completion. It's open to the public and classes are held right next to the Alaska Job center. Isolation, Herbie says, is a big threat to the reintegration process. Being able to have open, vulnerable conversations with people who have shared experiences is a big part of the reentry classes. And without support, it's easy to feel overwhelmed by things like getting an id, securing housing, finding a job, or getting sober. She knows this from personal experience.
- [15:25]
Drew Herbie
There's a lot of missing components in our community when it comes to the justice system. I was a misdemeanor over 47 times before I became a felon, and there just wasn't help for me anywhere besides jail itself.
- [15:41]
Sydney Dauphine
Herbie says she wanted the community to stop creating felons and start helping those with misdemeanors. She wants people to know that if they need help, she's there for them whenever they're ready. And she doesn't judge. She knows people can change. Because she did, Herbie will let clients return to the reentry house after getting kicked out previously, like for relapsing when living in the house and putting other people's sobriety at risk. That's what happened with Chantel North. A couple years later, north is back in the reentry house along with Kichler and a few others going through reentry programming. The first time, she says she just wasn't ready.
- [16:18]
Chantel North
I think that had I not been kicked out, you know, it could have. I could have just kept getting away with it and I wouldn't be where I'm at right now. I was lucky enough to get another chance and without hesitation, they, you know, they took me back in and it's been a blessing, like, you know, to get out of treatment and not have to worry about where you're gonna go, who you're gonna be around.
- [16:37]
Sydney Dauphine
North stays busy. She goes to meetings every day and is active in her recovery. She says everyone in the house has their own schedule, but sometimes they hang out together in the evenings and watch TV or cook together.
- [16:49]
Chantel North
We'll eventually find employment, but they've made it possible to like, you know, be clean and sober and also, you know, a safe place to go where I do have the freedom to come and go. I would prefer to stay there just because it is a safe place place.
- [17:05]
Sydney Dauphine
She's working on getting her ged, which she says will open up more job opportunities. The RE entry house, which has six bedrooms and sits right on the water, is almost always at full occupancy. Residents typically stay there for nine months. The house is under construction to add two more bedrooms and a bigger shared space so more people can go through the programming. Reporting in Ketchikan, I'm Sydney Dauphine.
- [17:32]
Casey Grove
Dozens of snow machines packed into the EEC school parking lot for the Mid Coast League Basketball tournament last weekend. It was a chance for teams to qualify for the regional 1A tournament, including from how long impacted communities that formed out of Bethel and Anchorage where residents have evacuated to get to the tournament. Boys and girls teams from Kukiganok, Tuntatuliak, Quinahauk, Quigilingoc and Kipnock faced a very rural Alaska set of challenges. This included a last minute change of venue to EEC due to waterline issues in Cogigynok. In AEC a blizzard delayed the start of the tournament. The Quinnehawk Seahawks caravanned halfway to EEC by snow machine before turning around due to whiteout conditions. Kristen Peter has a son on the Quinhawk team.
- [18:14]
Drew Herbie
We couldn't even see the snow machine in front of us, just the light and it was 00 whiteout. My goggles fogged up and froze.
- [18:28]
Casey Grove
Eventually all the teams made it safely to the Cougar Den where non stop enthusiasm from fans was on full display throughout the weekend. Eke hometown pride was especially loud as was love for the Tunta Tuliak Blue Jays. A wave of families and fans from the nearby community arrived via a second snowmachine caravan during the tournament's championship games. Peter says the tournament was filled with emotions. Teams from Kuigalingok and Kipnuk were on the roster. Both communities were almost completely evacuated after ex typhoon Ha long evacuated students and coaches came together to form teams based out of Bethel and Anchorage. The weekend's tournament brought them back to their home corner of the YK Delta.
- [19:09]
Drew Herbie
It was very emotional when they first came out. A lot of people were in tears and I was in tears when they came out. I know these people because I lived in Kipnock for three years and it was very emotional to see those kids like they think differently now and like they're so strong. They have smiles on their faces and it's good to see them here.
- [19:45]
Casey Grove
After a tournament full of close games, fast breaks and high intensity fandom, both the Tunta Tuliak Blue Jays boys and girls teams emerged as victors of the Mid coast league tournament. Chalissa McDalton is a senior on the team. We know where we are, we read
- [20:01]
Sydney Dauphine
each other when we're on the court.
- [20:03]
Chantel North
It's like we're family down there.
- [20:05]
Casey Grove
The Tuntutuliac teams will be headed to compete in the 1A Coastal Conference in Bethel early next month. Along with the Quigilingock Lady Eagles who came in second, the Quinnehawk Lady Seahawks took third place. For the boys teams, Eke came in second and Quigillingock took third. Josie, Shelly and 10 sled dogs cruised into Pike's Landing Monday night to claim the crown in the first ever Yukon Quest Alaska 750. Even after taking extra rest in the final checkpoint of Nina, the new Quest champion put on a dominant performance, completing the race in 9 days, 9 hours and 11 minutes. As KUAC's Patrick Gilchrist reports, the Fairbanks Mushers victory is not only a milestone in her personal career, it's also the longest Yukon Quest a woman has won in more than a quarter century.
- [21:04]
Josie Shelley
Shelly's team of bootied canine champions motors up from the China river and across the Fairbanks finish line. They come to a stop as a chorus of whoops and glove muffled claps erupts from the awaiting crowd. Whatever exhaustion Shelley may have built up seems to briefly melt away as she crosses under the banner that designates the end of the trail. She alights from her sled pets her frost bearded team and hugs friends, loved ones and fellow mushing enthusiasts one after another.
- [21:44]
We trained really hard. We knew this was going to be a tough race and the training and all the miles paid off.
- [21:54]
Even with her name on the lips of fans, Shelly immediately directs the accolades toward her team.
- [22:01]
I feel like it's celebrating the dogs and mushing and how tough these dogs are.
- [22:09]
Shelly, formerly Josie Teer, operates a kennel in Fairbanks called There and Back Again Sled Dogs with her husband, J.J. shelley. She was named the 2024 Iditarod Rookie of the Year and came second in last year's Quest 550. She's won 200 and 300 mile races in the lower 48, but this is her first top place finish in Alaska That's a career highlight, she says.
- [22:38]
You know, with the trail conditions and things will definitely be something that is a highlight for sure. You know, as a musher like, you like the challenge, even if it's type 2 fun, where it's still, you know, an accomplishment.
- [22:55]
Shele fronted the historically small field of six mushers most of the race with little pressure from other teams during the last few hundred miles. Fairbanks musher Keaton Lowbrick jumped out in the lead this year, but he dropped early on due to repeated struggles on Eagle Summit, Shele's closest challenger. After that, reigning champ Jeff Dieter scratched at the Yukon river bridge checkpoint about 450 miles into the race. By the time Shele finished, the three other remaining mushers were running roughly one to two days behind her pace. Her victory marks the longest Yukon Quest won by a woman since Ali Zirkel finished first in the bygone 1000 mile international race in the year 2000. And Shelly says she hopes that can inspire anyone interested in the sport to put in the hard work it takes to succeed.
- [23:52]
But you know, the nice thing about mushing, it's one of those sports where it doesn't, you know, gender doesn't matter. It's really just how do you manage your dog? You know, obviously having that kind of fortitude and grit to get through.
- [24:07]
Winning this year's race meant conquering grueling conditions that slowed frightened friends, frustrated and foiled other experienced Fairbanks mushers. Jason Mackey described the snow sparse descent of Rosebud's summit as the worst conditions he'd ever seen on the mountain. Jonah Bacon walked his team into the Rampart checkpoint, trudging through deep snow for miles on a frostbitten tow he'd sustained days before when temperatures dipped to 60 below zero and scarce trail markers across hundreds of Yukon river miles at times delayed. Shele and others even contributing to the defending champion's decision to scratch. But Shelley says in the end her team had energy to spare.
- [24:54]
In fact, my problem on this race was they would pull my snow hook out when I had to stop. And I can't tell you how many times that happened and it was kind of annoying. But that's a good problem to have because they just want to go.
- [25:08]
The path that Shele traveled to victory was another unpredicted variable. Treacherous weather and river conditions forced race officials into a last minute reroute that bypassed the Tanana checkpoint, slicing off dozens of miles by directly connecting Rampart to Manly. Shelly says she wanted to go to Tanana and that deep snow on the Overland Detour made that section of trail a slogan. But it wasn't all bad.
- [25:36]
It's fun to run, you know, those narrow trails like that. It's just like what's around the bend, you know, and you're in and out of the tree. So it was fun, but very slow.
- [25:47]
With the challenges of this race in the rearview and a win to boot, Shelly says her focus now shifts to the Iditarod next month. But she says for this team, the training is done and it's now time for a nice, long rest before they give that storied race their all. In Fairbanks, I'm Patrick Gilchrist,
- [26:21]
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 you get your podcasts. We had reports Tonight from Rhonda McBride and Rachel Cassandra in Anchorage, Catherine Rose in Sitka, Tim Ellis in Delta Junction, Sydney Dauphine in Catchikan, Samantha Watson in Bethel and Patrick Gilchrist in Fairbanks. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us@newsalaskapublic.org Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde, Kirsten Dobroth is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Have a great weekend.
- [26:55]
Ben Milott
Foreign.
- [27:00]
Casey Grove
This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.