← Alaska News Nightly - Alaska Public Media
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- [00:00]
Casey Grove
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 U.S. territories.
- [00:19]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
When you're in a shutdown, you do not have equal branches of government. You just don't.
- [00:24]
Casey Grove
Senator Lisa Murkowski worries about checks on the president's actions during a government shutdown. From Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Tuesday, September 30th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, staff at multiple Alaska newspapers resign over forced changes to a story.
- [00:43]
Jake Dye
I feel like I should be able to trust, you know, Carpenter Media, and that's just not what happened in this case.
- [00:49]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [00:59]
Clarice Larson
Consider a gift of stock to Alaska Public Media. You may avoid paying capital gains tax and receive a deduction. Learn more@alaskapublic.org stock or contact your financial advisor.
- [01:12]
Casey Grove
A short term bill to continue funding the federal government failed in the US Senate today, all but ensuring a government shutdown at midnight. Both Alaska senators voted for the stopgap spending bill to continue funding while Congress works on a longer term bill. It got 55 votes but needed 60. President Donald Trump is threatening mass federal layoffs. And Senator Lisa Murkowski says by not passing a spending bill, Congress is giving Trump free rein.
- [01:39]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
When you're in a shutdown, you do not have equal branches of government. You just don't. The legislative branch is just kind of.
- [01:48]
Casey Grove
Seeded this Senate Democrats are holding out to get Republicans to agree to continue health care subsidies for millions of Americans. Some of the subsidies are due to expire at the end of December, which will double or triple the monthly costs for millions of Americans who buy marketplace plans. Murkowski would also like to continue insurance subsidies that some 25,000 Alaskans depend on, but she says negotiations went nowhere last week. So today she voted for the bill to keep the government operating. Murkowski warns that the partisan standoff could be a long one because each side believes voters will blame the other party.
- [02:23]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
No one has an incentive. If the Democrats feel that they've got the edge, where's their incentive for them to get out of it? If the Republicans feel like we're gaining with our base, what gives us any incentive to end it?
- [02:42]
Casey Grove
Key functions of government will continue through a shutdown, including mail service and Social Security payments. Some federal employees, like the military and law enforcement are deemed essential and have to work without pay until Congress agrees on a special spending bill. Hours before the shutdown was to begin, only some agencies had published their shutdown plans. Most of the staff running three Alaska newspapers in Homer, Kenai, Saldana and Juneau resigned in protest yesterday. As Alaska Public Media's Eric Stone reports, the decision came after the paper's corporate owner forced revisions to a story after pressure from a Republican state lawmaker.
- [03:27]
Eric Stone
The resignations include the regional editor in charge of three papers across the state, the Kenai Peninsula, Clarion, the Homer News and the Juneau Empire, along with the Clarion sports editor and two reporters based in Kenai and Homer. Clarion senior reporter Jake Dye says it's a long time coming. He says he's repeatedly complained about mismanagement since Alabama based Carpenter Media Group bought the paper out of insolvency last year. But Dye says capitulating to pressure from a state lawmaker going over the editors and reporters heads, that's a step too far.
- [03:56]
Jake Dye
Sarah Vance sent one letter, you know, on a Wednesday night. She probably didn't even put a ton of thought into it and got our story changed. And you know, what stops her from doing that the next time? What stops anybody?
- [04:08]
Eric Stone
Last week, Homer Republican Representative Sarah Vance posted a letter on state letterhead to her official Facebook page objecting to an item in the Homer News about an article for the slain activist Charlie Kirk. She highlighted a paragraph that identified Kirk as a, quote, far right leader with, quote, racist and controversial views. A day later, the story was removed, edited, stripped of a byline and reposted without, Dye says, any consultation with the reporter or the regional editor. On social media, Vance thanked Carpenter Media for responding to her concerns. After a discussion with the paper's publisher, Vance and Carpenter Media did not respond to interview requests. Dye says he also hasn't gotten answers on what Vance asked for and what Carpenter agreed to. He and the other staff say in their joint resignation letter that the incident undermines their ability to do their jobs.
- [04:53]
Jake Dye
I feel like I should be able to trust, you know, Carpenter Media, and that's just not what happened in this case.
- [04:58]
Eric Stone
Dye says the mass resignations leave the three papers with just two reporters, one for the Homer News and another with the Juneau empire. Veteran Alaska journalist and University of Alaska Fairbanks professor Paula Dobbin says she was shocked by the episode, not just by Vance's pressure campaign, but by Carpenter's decision to give in.
- [05:15]
Jake Dye
We pride ourselves as Americans on having freedom of the press. And for, you know, an ownership group to just go ahead and alter a news story based on a complaint by a politician without consulting the editor or the reporter, I just think was appalling. And I fully support the staff for not putting up with it.
- [05:37]
Eric Stone
She says it's especially alarming given the fragile state of journalism in Alaska. It's not clear what will happen to the paper with most of the editorial staff gone. And she says she's concerned that'll leave Kenai Peninsula communities less informed.
- [05:49]
Jake Dye
I certainly hope that the Kenai is not going to become another news desert because, you know, people have have the right be informed, and there's a lot that's happening down there and we certainly need coverage of it.
- [06:01]
Eric Stone
She says she hopes another news source will emerge to fill the void. She points to the nonprofit Juno Independent. That's an online outlet founded by the former editor of another Carpenter paper, the Juno Empire, who also resigned over disagreements with management. Dye, the reporter, says as much as he loves journalism, he's not planning to go independent.
- [06:18]
Jake Dye
We don't have any plans like that. I don't think the others are really interested in that. We certainly don't have the money for that. I mean, I unfortunately kind of think this is it.
- [06:27]
Eric Stone
He says he hopes Carpenter Media will invest in its Alaska papers, but he says he's not optimistic. For now, Dye says he's headed to the local job center to apply for a job as a 911 dispatcher. Reporting in Juneau, I'm Eric Stone.
- [06:41]
Casey Grove
The Alaska Climate Adaptation Science center, or casc, is so far spared from closures coming to a third of these climate science centers across the country. And as first reported by the Washington Post, elsewhere in the US Some centers are expected to run out of money soon because the federal government has stalled funding and essential agreements with universities that the U.S. geological Survey needs to manage the centers. But Alaska's center is safe for now. Kristin Timm is Alaska CASC's university co director at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She says the center's funding through next summer has already been dispersed.
- [07:16]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
But of course, we're worried about how long our funding will continue to last.
- [07:21]
Casey Grove
The center's budget is roughly $2.2 million per year, and CASC signed an agreement with the University of Alaska in 2023 that maintains their partnership through July of 2028, which should ensure the center's existence until then. Tim says about 25 university employees receive a significant portion of their salary through the Cascade. But she says two grants are on hold. One would have funded communications interns. The other would have funded a study on how climate change could affect a caribou herd that's important to subsistence hunters. She says the center does projects that Alaska communities and decision makers have asked for.
- [07:58]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
If we don't get funded, you know. One of the major projects that would really affect Alaskans is the work around the glacier outburst flood and Suicide Basin.
- [08:09]
Casey Grove
The center funded the interactive website juneauflood.com that helped inform Juneau's Mendenhall Valley residents about the threat to their homes. The center has also funded research around improving wildfire forecasts and how climate change is affecting salmon in the Yukon river basin. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, meet the Inupiaq artist behind a major art installation coming to the Anchorage Museum.
- [08:35]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Our cultures are so magical, they need to be represented.
- [08:40]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us. Hey, I'm Rick Steves. I've traveled all over the world and connected with so many fascinating people and I'm looking forward to my visit to Alaska to share the lessons from my experience. Come see me at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium on October 16th for travel as a political act. Tickets@alaskapublic.org events A Wasilla couple has been charged in connection with the death of a child that was in their care Last week. A Palmer grand jury indicted 47 year old Jackie Caswell on murder charges and Both her and 46 year old Sergei Krukov III on charges of child endangerment. Alaska State troopers arrested the pair on Saturday after earlier issuing a public notice seeking information to help locate them, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The case involves a four year old girl. Troopers said in a written statement posted online that they responded Aug. 11 to a report of a child requiring CPR at a Wasilla home. The child was brought to a local hospital where she died, according to the troopers statement. The death was ruled a homicide. Palmer District Attorney Trina Sears did not respond to a request for comment. According to a Daily News account of Caswell and Krukoff's first court appearance on Monday, Sears told the judge handling the case that Caswell had hit the child, resulting in brain damage. The newspaper reported that Sears also told the judge that the couple had withheld food from the child. Both Caswell and Krukoff pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday. The judge ordered Caswell held on $300,000 cash bail and Krukoff held on $35,000 cash bail. Both remain jailed as of today. The next court hearing in the case is set for October 14th. Juneau's Chief of police, Derek Boss, says the police department is taking action to reform its policies after an officer was filmed slamming a man to the ground during an arrest in July. Last night, Voss presented the findings of an internal review to the Juneau assembly at a committee meeting. Overall, he says he believes the officer's actions do not reflect his character or the department as a whole. I firmly believe he's a good officer.
- [10:47]
Jake Dye
Who made a very bad mistake on that day.
- [10:49]
Casey Grove
The presentation comes nearly two months after officer Brandon LeBlanc's arrest of the man circulated widely online and prompted a public outcry. LeBlanc has since resigned. Chief Boss said following the incident, the department has updated its policies for requesting medical assistance when someone loses consciousness. Additionally, he says, officers learn tactics at the state's basic training academy that do not align with the Juno Police Department's expectations and policies. He says the department is now developing plans to address that disparity. Boss went on to defend the department's hiring standards. That's despite assembly members concerns about LeBlanc's background. A man previously sued LeBlanc for excessive force and battery while he served as an officer in Louisiana. A jury found LeBlanc not guilty. Our standards are very high and we and me specifically are not going to accept a warm body just to accept a warm body, boss said. The department is committed to working with the community and other entities to be transparent and build trust following the incident. Once the external investigation of LeBlanc's use of force is completed, the state's Office of Special Prosecutions will review the case to determine if his response was justified. The University of Alaska Fairbanks canceled morning classes today as police investigated an alleged bomb threat. A subsequent UAF press release said that no explosive devices were found after a search of campus. The university received an email this morning about a potential explosive device near the Elvey Building on the west side of campus, according to a news release from uaf, Colleges and universities across the country reported getting similar threats this morning, including in Delaware, Michigan, Texas and Alabama. UAF police had blocked off the West Ridge area this morning and urged the public to avoid that part of campus. Regular university operations and classes resumed after the all clear this afternoon. University representatives did not respond to a request for comment. An Alaska Native corporation says it has big plans for its proposed $500 million cruise ship port on Juneau's Douglas Island. KTO's Clarice Larson has more.
- [13:11]
Clarice Larson
Gold Belt Incorporated is finally sharing more about its proposed cruise ship port on the backside of Douglas island. Its President and CEO, McCu Pierre, presented the plan to the Juneau assemb for the first time at a committee meeting on Monday night.
- [13:23]
Jake Dye
We have some really big, bold ideas.
- [13:26]
Clarice Larson
Last fall, the local Alaska Native Corporation announced plans to develop the port in partnership with Royal Caribbean group. At the time of the announcement, city officials said they felt blindsided by the news. But on Monday, Pierre and Goldbelt's board chair presented to the Juneau assembly in front of a packed audience to explain exactly what's in store for the development, called Goldbelt. Ani Pierre says the goal of the semi private cruise destination is to uplift Tlingit culture and support Juneau's economy moving into the future.
- [13:56]
Jake Dye
We believe it's our mission to invest in the community, grow opportunities, build certainty and provide that foundation for families to grow and have confidence to remain in Juneau.
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Clarice Larson
Goldbelt owns roughly 1800 acres of land along the northwest coastline of Douglas island between False Outer Point and Point Hilda. The port would be located on about 250 acres just beyond where the road ends on North Douglas. The plan is to develop the port in phases, starting out with basic dock and welcome center infrastructure before moving into broader ambitions like developing a childcare center, employee housing and a replica Tlingit village. Once developed, the land would be subject to property taxes. Pierre estimates the project will cost $500 million. Goldbelt says it would catapult the corporation to become the city's number one property taxpayer.
- [14:46]
Jake Dye
We're excited to contribute to the community, to have a strong community and to put our money where our mouth is.
- [14:52]
Clarice Larson
Assembly members had a lot of questions. Wade Bryson questioned the Douglas highway's ability to handle the traffic the port would bring.
- [14:59]
Jake Dye
That's the thought that is on many of our minds. How do we deal with North Douglas.
- [15:04]
Casey Grove
Highway and trying to accommodate this development?
- [15:07]
Clarice Larson
Several members also asked the corporation how it intends to curb concerns that the new port would overwhelm the community with cruise tourism. Pierre says Goldbelt believes the new port will actually help alleviate visitor traffic and congestion by containing visitors at the port. Pierre didn't commit to a firm timeline for when the port would open. That's because of all the hurdles the corporation still needs to jump over to get permitting approvals with the city and other governmental agencies. The project's website states 2028 as its grand opening. The project is adjacent to a lot of city land. City leaders say they want to thoroughly plan for the North Douglas area before Goldbelt starts developing. Pierre pushed back at that Goldbelt would.
- [15:46]
Jake Dye
Be happy to work with the city concurrently. But Goldbelt would not be happy to be sidelined and stopped altogether from development because the city wants to do something on its land or plan something around.
- [15:58]
Clarice Larson
Its land, the project will need approvals from both the City Planning Commission and the Juneau assembly to move forward Goldbelt has yet to apply for any city permits. Pierre says the corporation intends to provide updates to the community as the project moves forward. Juneau I'm Clarice Larson.
- [16:16]
Casey Grove
The City and Borough of Juneau has pushed back the eviction deadline for renters living in the historic Telephone Hill neighborhood in downtown Juneau. Residents now have until November 1st to move out, the city's attorney told the Juneau assembly during an executive session last night. Mayor Beth Weldon announced the change to the public during an assembly committee meeting that followed. It comes just two days before residents were supposed to vacate the neighborhood, according to the city's attorney. The city received two notices in the past week from attorneys indicating that it did not properly and legally serve residents with eviction notices. Upon review, the city discovered the property management company in charge of alerting residents on the Hill that their rental agreement was ending did so, but did not properly document it. The City and Borough of Juneau sent out an Oct. 1 eviction notice in late May. The city plans to demolish the houses on the Hill this December in hopes of making way for newer, denser housing in response to the city's housing crunch. The city does not yet have a developer signed on to the project. Last week, dozens of residents attended the Juneau assembly meeting to protest the plan to evict residents. The city plans to put out new notices to vacate tomorrow. The state of Alaska imagines a future when the already growing shellfish farming industry takes off. Researchers studied an oyster farm in Juneau to understand the environmental conditions there and what it might say about the challenges and opportunities for growing shellfish in Alaska. KTOO's Alex Solomon has more.
- [17:57]
Alex Solomon
Maida Mazdag owns Salty Lady Seafood Co. The only Pacific oyster farm in Juneau. In Bridget Cove, she grows thousands of oysters arranged in rows of floating mesh bags. Some years, naturally occurring toxic algal blooms have shut down her farm for weeks at a time. That motivated her to ask, can she predict when it will happen?
- [18:18]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
It's such a mystery.
- [18:19]
Alex Solomon
On Mondays, Mesdick samples her oysters for algae called alexandrium catanella and sends them to the state lab in Anchorage. The algae produce a neurotoxin that builds up in shellfish when they eat it. Just one milligram can kill a person. Testing is federally regulated. If the test comes back clean, she harvests. But if the oysters test positive for the toxin above the FDA limit, the farm shuts down.
- [18:43]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
And when you're not making any money but you're spending money on labor that can be really expensive and hard.
- [18:48]
Alex Solomon
In 2023, Mesdick says, that caused her to shut down for half of her 20 week harvest season. Since the farm couldn't sell oysters, she says, she lost clients and had to lay people off to reopen, the farm has to pass a series of tests.
- [19:03]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
We just have to wait, and we don't know how long it takes.
- [19:06]
Alex Solomon
That loss of sales isn't great for business. The federal government is invested in boosting mariculture in Alaska's waters, and there are still questions about how the environment here affects the health and quality of oysters. The state is invested in those questions, too. About a decade ago, it set a goal to grow Alaska's mariculture into a $100 million industry by 2040. The study had a humble start. Mesdag's question landed on Courtney Hart's desk when she was studying paralytic shellfish poisoning as a graduate student at the University of Alaska Southeast. Now she's a crustacean shellfish program manager with the Port Gambell s' Klallam tribe in Washington.
- [19:43]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
The first year, I was just trying to figure out if there was an easy way to monitor for alexandrium, or harmful algal blooms on her farm so I could help, like warn her essentially when a bloom was coming.
- [19:56]
Alex Solomon
But Hart says she hit a dead end.
- [19:58]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
We didn't really solve that problem.
- [20:00]
Alex Solomon
Sometimes the researchers would detect the toxic algae in the water and not see it in the oysters. Other times, they'd see it in the oysters but not the water. And she says the problem is not unique to Alaska. Harmful algal blooms are notoriously unpredictable.
- [20:15]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Whether that bloom becomes toxic for shellfish really depends on so many factors that scientists have been studying for a long time and haven't quite pinned down.
- [20:24]
Alex Solomon
But, she says the study morphed when NOAA researchers joined. They wanted to answer a bigger what environmental conditions impact the health and quality of oysters in southeast Alaska? Besides toxic algae, other environmental factors pose challenges to the growing industry, Hart says. The spring phytoplankton bloom provides oysters a feast for only a short period, and they practically starve over the winter.
- [20:47]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
And often it may mean that it takes three years for your oysters to reach the right size versus just two years, which is more typical down here in Washington.
- [20:56]
Alex Solomon
But there are benefits, too, Hart says. The consistently cold water prevents the oysters from spawning, so they retain high levels of lipids, healthy fats that make for a high quality oyster.
- [21:07]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Like as far as health of an.
- [21:09]
Laura Davis Collins
Oyster for humans is good, while environmental.
- [21:12]
Alex Solomon
Conditions play an important role in how the industry develops. Bobby Hudson says reaching the market is key. She's the executive director of the Pacific Shellfish Institute. She splits her time between Washington state and Gustavus and is working with Southeast Conference on an upcoming report about investments in the mariculture industry.
- [21:30]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Alaska can have tremendous goals, but at the end of the day, if there's not a market for those products or a really strong market for those products.
- [21:41]
Alex Solomon
They'Re not going to be able to reach those goals, she says. Things like scaling up production, setting up cold distribution networks, and making toxin testing more efficient could help Alaska's shellfish farms grow In Juneau, I'm Alex Solomon Nome.
- [21:55]
Casey Grove
Resident and Inupiaq graphic artist Katie o' Connor was recently invited to design a new three panel large format display celebrating Dena' na culture and language at the Anchorage Museum. Oconnors dynamic line work welcomes visitors into the Smithsonian Arctic Study Center, a gallery that houses over 600 Alaska Native cultural heritage pieces on loan from the Smithsonian Institution. KOM's Laura Davis Collins has more.
- [22:21]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
That's exactly what I want to do with my art is level up to the next biggest thing, you know, and me being from Nome, not on the road system, that said a lot that they reached out to me.
- [22:33]
Laura Davis Collins
Katie o' Connor was born and raised in Nome. She's a mother, a wife, a photographer, a small business owner and a graphic designer. Her art is rooted in the culture and subsistence lifestyle of her home. She recently collaborated on a Yupik coloring book funded by the Rasmussen Foundation.
- [22:51]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
So in the Yuppik ABC coloring book that she did with Nikki Corbett, we really loved her line work and her attention to detail and thought that that would be a perfect design style to portray these scenes.
- [23:06]
Laura Davis Collins
That's Alex Tait, an assistant curator at the Anchorage Museum. The staff worked closely with O' Connor through the design process to create the three massive panels, two of which were over 70ft long. But O' Connor says the process wasn't without hiccups.
- [23:22]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
It wasn't until a week after creating designing the first wall that we established I needed to completely switch directions with my software. The software that I was using originally and knew like the back of my hand was based on pixels and oconnors.
- [23:43]
Laura Davis Collins
Pixel based software couldn't create a large enough file for the murals. So o' Connor taught herself how to use a new vector based program to create expandable designs. But technology wasn't the only thing o' Connor had to learn as an Inupiaq artist from northwest Alaska. She needed to understand more about the Dena' na culture as well.
- [24:04]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
They're not my culture. They're not what I'm used to. They're not Western Alaskan coastal cultures. So working from a distance, the Anchorage Museum staff, they were really prepared, and they gave me all the files that I needed with all of the resources I needed for each individual wall. So for a huge project, the biggest one I've ever taken on myself, working virtually went as smooth as it possibly could.
- [24:33]
Laura Davis Collins
Tate agrees. Working from a distance created challenges, but she says technology created opportunities for connection and collaboration and no problem was insurmountable.
- [24:44]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
Distance doesn't always help with that because we couldn't just meet up with her, but she was very excited to work through these things and learn how to overcome some of the technology issues. And we ended up with three beautiful.
- [25:00]
Laura Davis Collins
Scenes in black and white line work. O' Connor crafted three subsistence scenes depicting life prior to the arrival of the Alaska Railroad to south central Alaska. Each scene captures a distinct area in the Dena region, the Susitna Flats, Ship Creek and Eklutnah Lake. The exhibit also involves audio for visitors to hear the Denina names, for wildlife places and subsistence activities depicted in the murals. O' Connor encourages everyone with an interest from kindergarten to adulthood to keep creating. She says even rural residents have opportunities for their talent and culture to be put on a statewide stage.
- [25:41]
Senator Lisa Murkowski
I remember being in kindergarten and starting my art adventure and never giving up. I just want to encourage kids to stick with it. You can go places and do things with your artwork in the future. And like I said, there's so many resources and funding out there. Our cultures are so magical. They need to be represented.
- [25:59]
Laura Davis Collins
O' Connor plans to keep working, to keep getting jobs. She aspires to design an Alaska Airlines plane to represent the Inupiaq culture of northwest Alaska. They just haven't asked her yet. In Nome, I'm Laura Davis Collins.
- [26:25]
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 Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C. eric Stone, Alex Solomon and Clarice Larson in Juneau, Wesley early in Anchorage, Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks, and Laura Davis Collins in Noam. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde. Madeline Rose is our producer, and I'm Casey Grove. Good night.