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Support for Alaska Public Media On Demand comes from PeopleMover Help update the public transit service plan. Visit transitonthemove.com to take the latest public survey by April 26th.
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You have to ask yourself, do you want a school for the kids to
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go to or do you want to hand them large dividend checks? State lawmakers disagree on a proposed supersized permanent fund dividend From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide News on Alaska. This is Alaska News nightly for Wednesday, April 8th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, Juneau's cold weather emergency shelter is turning into a year round operation.
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We know we can't fix every situation, but offering a year round place for people to go is practical.
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Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Leaders of the state Senate are throwing cold water on hopes for a supersized permanent fund dividend. In the state House, the Finance Committee added a roughly $3,800 dividend to the latest draft of the budget a week ago before sending it onto the floor for a final debate. It would require drawing down nearly half of the state's $3 billion rainy day fund. But not so fast, says Sen. Bert Stedman, a Sitka Republican who co chairs the Senate Finance Committee on behalf of a bipartisan coalition. In the opening days of this year's legislative session, when oil prices were low, lawmakers said they'd aim for a $1,000 dividend. And Stedman says despite a March revenue forecast projecting an extra half billion dollars, he'd rather direct any unexpected money toward repairing dilapidated state facilities.
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We have schools that are falling apart, literally falling apart, and you have to ask yourself, do you want a school for the kids to go to or
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do you want to hand them large dividend checks? An investigation by ProPublica, KYUK and NPR last year found the state had badly underfunded maintenance at state owned schools and left many in disrepair. And it's unclear whether high oil prices driven by the war in Iran, will hold. Oil markets dropped sharply today on news of a two week ceasefire, though prices are still much higher than they were before the war. Senator Kathy Giesel, an Anchorage Republican and the number two leader in the Senate, says the state could afford higher dividends if lawmakers and Gov. Mike Dunleavy can find common ground on bills that would raise state revenue.
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There are answers to these issues. We just have to have the courage
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to go forward with them. Dunleavy has said he opposes new taxes without a corresponding plan to rein in state spending. Lawmakers roundly rejected a plan he proposed earlier this Year as unrealistic. This winter in Alaska was one full of notable superlatives, especially for the state's main population centers. Statewide, Alaska saw its coldest December through March in a half century. In famously cold Fairbanks, that same period was the coldest on record. Juneau had its coldest December ever recorded. And in a place known for being snowy, its snowiest winter. And while not as extreme, Anchorage saw its coldest ever month of March. In the shift to spring, the melt is on across the state, but a bigger shift is coming, as forecasts indicate an El Nino climate pattern is on its way. That's according to National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider. Back for another Ask a Climatologist segment. For now, Brettschneider says he wants to linger on the chill of the winter gone by.
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This is really the winter the old timers would talk about. So from the mid-1970s and earlier, this was a typical winter. This is what it used to be like. So we got that taste of the kind of the old school winter that the old timers and the elders would talk about.
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As somebody who was born and raised in Fairbanks, maybe we could start there in a place that is just really known for cold. What the heck happened? Like how, how did that happen?
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Well, it takes a confluence of events to keep us in the deep freeze for a long time. And that's really what happened. We were in a very persistent pattern. So it's not uncommon even in a warm winter for there to be kind of some transient cold spells. And the way you get that is kind of mid level high pressure over Eastern Siberia and low pressure over central Canada. And between those two, you get a good northerly flow and clear skies which enable cooling because there's almost no solar energy. That wasn't a week long event this winter. That was a multiple months long eventually. And so it was just relentless. It never ended.
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Juneau also, you know, known for being a pretty snowy place. Like you said, snowiest December on record and snowiest March. Let's get into that. How did that happen and what were some of the numbers there?
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So it's interesting that in 2007 we were very cold in the mainland and Juneau had their snowiest March on record. Well, this March we had the exact same pattern. And Juneau had again their snowiest March on record. Just the way that the flow that was northerly over the state took an eastward turn over the central Gulf of Alaska and then moved straight inland. And that really enabled low pressures to spin up there and then to tap into moisture from the subtropics. And it was just one after another. They had a record number of days at One point with one inch of snow, I think 10 days in a row. Then they had another period where they, two weeks later where they had two inches of snow every day for, I believe, eight days in a row, which is a record for Juneau. It all works together. The same reason it was cold over the mainland is the reason it was snowy over southeast.
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So how did things shape up in Anchorage here? Obviously not as cold as Fairbanks, not as snowy as Juneau, but a ton of people live in this region. And how did things shape up here for the winter?
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Yeah, it was a cold winter for sure in Anchorage. And what's interesting is if you look at which month was the coldest, it was actually March. March was our coldest month of the winter. That hadn't happened since 1960-61. And usually that can only happen when December, January and February are pretty warm. But all three of those were still colder than normal. Was really remarkably consistent, really the entire winter.
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We're, you know, a little bit over a week into April now, and things have drastically changed. Right. I mean, the trails are turning to mush and that's an inevitable warmup. We see that every spring. We have spring breakup. The rivers are going to be going out in not too long, but looking a little bit more long term. It sounds like we are headed for a major warm up, climatologically speaking, with an El Nino. And I've heard this described as a super El Nino. What's the story there and what do you expect?
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So every month, the Climate Prediction center updates their outlook for La Nina or El Nino. And the next outlook is pretty aggressive. It's going to call for a 50% chance of having a strong or very strong El Nino by the end of the year. And it's bumped up the time frame. Previously we thought maybe by June, July, August, we would kind of creep into that category. But now we're thinking a month before that, May, June, July, and all the probabilities have risen for how strong it's going to get. Now, some of the stories online use terms like Godzilla and super, and you know, those are just kind of sensational headlines. And they're looking at the most extreme scenarios, which can always happen. That's not currently the forecast, but. But the current forecast shows that it's going to be likely a strong El Nino. And for most of Alaska, that means warm in. In the summer, it means about 1 to 3 degrees warmer than normal, and in the winter it means about 2 to 4 degrees warmer than normal and with the exception maybe of the west coast and the North Slope, which tend to be actually a little cooler in El Nino winters. The big thing is it means way less snowfall. So El Nino winters are not good winters if you like snow.
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That was National Weather Service climate researcher Brian Brettschneider, the climatologist in our Ask a Climatologist segments. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a new book compiles some of the earliest recordings of Tlingit Raven stories.
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Whether you do speak Tlingit or not, you're able to appreciate the depth and the artistry and the history
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Anchorage police shot at a man early Tuesday on the city's northeast side. In a pre recorded video, Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case said officers were called to a home on Bregaux street about 3am Tuesday for a report of a disturbance with a weapon.
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The victim reported being choked and advised that there was an infant child in the residence and that the suspect had access to guns. Upon officers arrival, they made contact with the victim and determined that potentially three assaults had occurred.
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Case says officers set up a perimeter around the home and around 6am the man fled on foot. An officer chased after him and Case says the suspect and the officer exchanged gunfire during the pursuit. Case says officers arrested the man after sending a K9 after him. The man was taken to a hospital to treat wounds he received from the K9. Case says the female victim and her child are safe and the suspect, officers and the K9 were not injured by gunfire. Police say the man's name and any criminal charges will be released once he's formally charged. The state Office of Special Prosecutions will review the shooting to determine if the officer who fired on the suspect was justified in their use of deadly force. Police say the officer has been placed on four days administrative leave and their name will be released after 72 hours. This is the second police shooting in Anchorage this year. A man shot by a Bethel police officer after allegedly approaching officers with a knife has been arrested and charged with felony assault. KYUK's Evan Erickson has more.
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The charges stem from the man's alleged aggression toward a community service officer and Bethel police officer in an altercation in the early morning hours of March 25. According to charging documents. The altercation ended when Bethel police officer Sierra Pruitt shot 53 year old Wassailee Larson twice in the arm after Larson allegedly lunged at her with a knife. Larson was medevacked to Anchorage. Pruitt was put on paid administrative leave pending an external investigation into the incident by the Alaska Bureau of Investigations. Pruitt allegedly first made contact with Larson in the hours leading up to the incident when he was found standing in the middle of a roadway near the center of town. Charging documents say. Larson was transported in an ambulance to the hospital out of concerns for his safety. After Larson allegedly refused treatment at the hospital, Pruitt made contact with Larson a second time with the intention of transporting him to the local jail for a sleep off. Pruitt was unable to detain Larson, who fled on foot, documents say. A Bethel community service officer located Larson in the roadway and attempted to speak with him, at which point Larson allegedly drew a knife and began waving it around, charging documents say. The community service officer reacted by aiming a Taser at Larson. When Pruitt later arrived at the scene and drew her firearm on Larson, she alleged in a recorded interview that Larson lunged at her with the knife and she shot him. Bethel Director of Public Safety Jeffrey Kirkham said Tuesday that Pruitt would not face disciplinary action based on the results of the state's investigation. He said the Bethel Police Department is still conducting its own internal investigation. Larson has been charged with two counts of felony third degree assault. A preliminary hearing in his case is set for April 14th in Bethel Court. In Bethel, I'm Evan Erickson.
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Juneau's cold weather emergency shelter, which was set to close for the season next week, is turning into a year round operation. The Juneau assembly unanimously approved an ordinance Monday night to make that change. As KTOO's Clarice Larson reports, the city plans to pair that change with implementing stricter enforcement to prevent homeless encampments throughout the city and borough.
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Moving forward, the aim is that opening the shelter year round would help address Juneau's current lack of shelter space in housing units and would reduce the number of unhoused people camping outside in the summer. Multiple people, including social service providers and business owners, testified in support of the ordinance.
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We know we can't fix every situation, but offering a year round place for people to go is practical, common sense step that reduces crisis and stabilizes our community.
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That's Molly Carr, the deputy director of St Vincent de Paul in Juneau. The nonprofit contracts with the city to operate the shelter. Located inside a city owned warehouse in Thane about a mile from downtown, the shelter is considered Juneau's lowest barrier option for people without housing to survive the winter. The shelter is open from 9pm to 6:45am daily. It accepts anyone to stay as long as they aren't disruptive to other people resting there. In prior years. The shelter typically closed in mid April, but that left many people who use it with few options for where to sleep during the summer months, so many people opted to camp outside. Last summer, though, Juneau saw a surge of encampments grow near the Glory hall shelter in the Menenhall Valley, leading to health and safety concerns. Part of that increase was due to the closure of the City Run campground near downtown three years ago, which previously allowed unhoused people to set up camp there throughout the summer. City Manager Katie Kester says expanding the shelter's operation is only one piece of the puzzle. She says the city plans to pair it with implementing stricter enforcement to prevent large scale encampments like what occurred last summer near the Glory Hall. She says the more complaints about encampments that the city gets, the more quickly and aggressively the city will likely respond with enforcement.
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We also would look at the public impact, not just who's complaining, but what that impact is to public health. And we would prioritize enforcement when those two things are high.
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Logan Hankins works at the Glory hall shelter. During testimony, he said the situation last summer was both chaotic and unsafe for campers and people who worked in the area.
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We all deserve a safe place to live and work. The warming shelter extension is not perfect, but it is the only doable thing we came up with. Not allowing dozens of tents on Teal street is not a violation of people's rights. It is bringing order and safety to people's lives. It is doing what a city is supposed to do.
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City officials say the year round operation would give an alternative to camping and theoretically reduce the number of encampments around town. But as Aaron Surma, the executive director of the national alliance on Mental Illness, or nami, pointed out in his testimony, not everyone will want to go there.
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People are still going to be camping.
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The warming shelter isn't for everyone.
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There's people who've been camping all winter
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during a fairly difficult winter. I don't know if anyone noticed that or not.
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And so I think there's still going
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to need to be some consideration of
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where those folks are going to go.
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City Manager Katie Kastor said the city will not seek to remove every camper. She says the city will generally allow people to camp as long as their presence does not lead to a high number of complaints or impact public safety. The ordinance Approved allocates about $208,000 to extend the shelter through June 30, which is the end of the fiscal year. The annual cost for the year round shelter is expected to be $1.1 million. That money will be pulled from the city's general fund and included in next fiscal year's budget starting in July. In Juneau, I'm Clarice Larsen.
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One of Hain's only year round restaurants shut down over the weekend after years of financial struggles and a failed lease negotiation. The closure leaves the small town in southeast Alaska with even fewer dining options. The Alaska Desk's Avery Elfeld reports.
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It's a Saturday afternoon in Haines and like normal, people are ordering food at Alpenglow, the town's only pizza joint. Got two more pizzas for ya. What's not normal is it's the restaurant's last day in business. The owner announced the restaurant was shutting its doors with five days notice. On Facebook, local support and condolences poured in. It's a busy final day. The pizza sells out well before closing time. Julie Jones says she is quote, crushed by the news.
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It's hard to find something so well crafted in Hanes.
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The restaurant situation is a little grim
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here in case you haven't noticed and this was definitely a high point whenever I came to town.
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She recently returned to Haines for the summer. Al Badgley is local year round.
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You know, I feel that Haines has challenges in the wintertime keeping restaurants open and I hope we can figure out how to get that taken care of because it's nice to have a place to eat in our community.
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He's right that evening dining options in the winter here are incredibly limited this year. Aside from Alpenglow, just one restaurant in town has consistently served dinner throughout the week. Owner Nolan Woodard cites one main reason for the closure in his Facebook video.
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We were entering into some lease agreement discussions this week and sadly we were unable to come to a mutually beneficial lease agreement that I felt comfortable as a business owner signing.
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And so in an interview, Woodard reiterated that the lease was a factor in the decision. But he also emphasized that he was already struggling to stay afloat and has been behind on rent since January.
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I haven't made money a single year
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that I've owned this business, woodard says the restaurant has managed to slightly increase revenue year over year, but expenses, including food costs, have skyrocketed at the same time eating into any potential growth. He figured selling beer and wine could help close that gap, but it's been a years long process to get a license. He says he was in the final stages and wanted to give the restaurant more time to see if it would work.
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I also would have very much gone into that one year with the understanding of if I don't see some large scale shift in revenue for my business and some large scale economic shift for the way that the Hanes community operates, it's probably going to be our last year.
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The situation got even more complicated last month when Alban Glow's lease was up for renewal. The new version came back with a few clauses that Woodard said he couldn't get on board with. For instance, he and his landlord disagreed about if the landlord needed to give him advance notice before a visit. They also disagreed on a clause that said the landlord could seize Woodard's equipment if he was late on rent. They negotiated. Woodard said the landlord made some concessions, but ultimately they couldn't come to an agreement.
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You know what I was going to have to find about move a bunch of different parts and rob Peter to pay Paul this week just to keep, you know, eking it out and limping along. And this was just sort of kind of the final thing that brought to the attention of like, you know what, it's, it's just not worth it.
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The landlord, Chris Thorgeson, declined an interview request when reached by phone on Tuesday. Thorgeson did, however, weigh in on commentary by the local Chamber of Commerce president in a substack thread online. There are odds and emotions ran high, but they each highlighted some of the inherent risks landlords and small business tenants take on to operate. That's particularly the case in a place like Haines, where many restaurants have struggled to stay open. With reporting help from Tryggvi Bakke, I'm Avery Elfelt in Hanes, A non profit
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tribal organization has published a new book that presents Tlingit Raven stories for the first time in the original language with English translations. The 860 page volume brings together 50 stories by seven Tlingit storytellers born in the late 1800s and early 1900s across Southeast Alaska. The stories were transcribed from recordings of oral performances and include some of the oldest known recordings of these stories told in Lingit KCAW's Hope McKinney reports 75
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year old Eshka Daphne Wright grew up listening to her aunt Catherine Mills tell her stories of Raven, a cultural hero, world maker and trickster figure among the Thlinget of southeast Alaska.
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I can just remember we'd been sitting in the kitchen around the kitchen table. It was maybe in the evening when everyone just kind of sitting around and just kind of a warm feeling and just listening to my aunt's voice.
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Growing up, Wright spent school years in Juneau and summers with her family in Excursion Inlet, a cannery near Hoonah. Her mom and aunt spoke Tlingit with her grandmother, but she says she and her sisters and cousins never learned. Wright says reading this book, which features stories from her aunt, who was born in 1915 and died in 1954, 93, is like hearing her aunt's voice again.
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I miss her so much, you know, and I miss my mother. They were fluent speakers. They were the generation that went to school and didn't know English. And so they suffered. They suffered greatly. And so that's that was the whole thing. That's what happened. That was the reason why their kids grew up not speaking like it. And we never thought about it. We never said, teach us Tlingit. We didn't. We were just kids. We just ran around. And so it just means so much that there's something here, an actual physical book, you know, that has her stories in it.
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This volume has been more than four decades in the making. It's the fifth in a series of books from Sealaska Heritage Institute called the Classics of Tlingit Oral Literature and is the first in the series to be exclusively focused on Raven. Will Geiger is a research specialist with the Southeast nonprofit and has been working on transcribing, translating and editing the stories for this volume since 2017.
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The intention of this series is to present standout examples of the Tlingit oral tradition in a written form that gives them a pretty high level and serious treatment so that whether you do speak Tlingit or not, you're able to appreciate the depth and the artistry and the history and the richness of ideas that have been carried through the Tlingit oral tradition.
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This book features a transcribed version of the original recording on the left hand page that tries to reflect exactly what was said and the rhythm in which it was said said featured on the facing right hand page there's an English translation. Giger says Raven is probably the most highly developed character in the Tlingit oral tradition, with stories ranging from sacred to silly. In one story, Raven steals the sun, moon and stars to bring light to the world. In another, Raven constantly bothers an octopus digging for clams. She finally grabs him with her tentacles and holds him underwater where he almost drops, dies and learns his lesson about disrespect.
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Mostly, he appears in the form of a person, and he can change forms. He's like a little rock, a person. He puts on the skin of this kind of snipe like bird with a long bill and flies around like that. He turns into a woman, a little hemlock needle. Oh, and a raven. He turns into a raven, too, geiger says.
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While there's a long paper trail of writings about raven, up until this book they've all been in English, with the exception of a paperback from the 1970s that was published only in Tlingit, to be used by those who already spoke and understood the language.
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That is the one text I believe in all of history until this one, to actually reflect a Tlingit raven story as told in Tlingit by a Tlingit person.
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For Ski Heather Powell Mills, a Tlingit language teacher in Huna, hearing or reading these stories in the original language, language leads to deeper understanding. And now, she says, people will get to experience these stories from the mouths of their elders long gone, with the same cadence and the same emotion.
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Hearing our language is, it's like medicine to us. And hearing the stories of creation help us to better understand and explain to our children how important it is to coexist with the animals, to have a strong connection to the land, to understand where you come from in order to know where you're going.
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Mills great grandmother Susie James and her husband's grandmother, Catherine Mills, are both included in the book. She says throughout her life she's seen many drafts, and she's grateful people spend the time to sit down and record their elders stories so that they can be shared for generations to come.
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We don't have the time we used to have to spend the winters together, sitting and transferring that knowledge. I think this is a great way for us to learn and to be able to not only learn with these wonderful ancient ways of being, but learn through our language. It was their dream for us.
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Reporting in sitka, I'm Hope McKenney,
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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 Eric Stone and Clarice Larson in Juneau, Wesley early in Anchorage, Evan Erickson in Bethel, Avery Elphelt and Haynes and Hope McKinney in Sitka. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us@newsalaskapublic.org Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kirsten Kristin Dobrath is our producer and I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.