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- [00:00]
Nat Herz
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. For probably the most important race in the state. We have a level of competition maybe we've never seen.
- [00:27]
Casey Grove
The first round of fundraising reports in this year's race for governor is out. From Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Wednesday, February 18th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, Anchorage's Gus Schumacher wins Olympic silver in the cross country team sprint.
- [00:44]
Nat Herz
Yeah, I'm really proud of how I just sort of skied with abandon in a way. And yeah, because when I'm skiing free, I'm the best.
- [00:52]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly.
- [00:59]
Alex Solomon
The PFD application is open. Just a small amount of your PFD
- [01:03]
Casey Grove
will help share local news and stories
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Alex Solomon
about Alaskans with Alaskans across this great state. When you choose Alaska Public Media through
- [01:12]
Casey Grove
Pick click give us Senator Dan Sullivan bristled at the suggestion that he only defends the Trump administration. In his annual address to the Alaska Legislature today, he also slammed national Democrats as bent on ruining Alask. Now, I'm not being partisan here. These are just the facts and Alaskans should know who wants to help us and who wants to hurt us. As in past years, he blamed the Biden administration for trying to shut down Alaska. But he says under President Trump, Alaska is in the midst of a comeback with renewed emphasis on military expansion, resource development, Coast Guard icebreakers and a new rural healthcare fund. Our state will receive from this fund approximately $1.4 billion over the next five years to transform our health care system. Still, as he describes it, Democrats are targeting Alaska. Sullivan referred to the US Senate's top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, at least nine times. He spoke for about 50 minutes and took questions from half a dozen legislators and then from reporters at the Capitol. Sullivan does not often take challenging questions in public, so his yearly address to the legislature is closely watched, especially now that he's running for re election, aiming to serve his third six year term. Anchorage State Senator Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat, appeared to get under his skin. Dunbar contrasted Sullivan's negative take on Biden with his positive stance on Trump and asked how far his loyalty goes.
- [02:47]
Nat Herz
You've said yes to Trump many times. I'm wondering if you're willing to say no.
- [02:52]
Casey Grove
Sullivan said he is not afraid to go after officials when they deserve it, sometimes publicly. All right, you want to put out a tweet smashing them on certain issues or criticizing them sometimes that works. But sometimes, if you want results, that's not always the best way to get results. Senator Lisa Murkowski is scheduled to address the Legislature late next. The first round of fundraising reports in the 2026 governor's race is out, shedding some light on a crowded field. Candidates raised more than $4.3 million by the beginning of February, according to the first batch of campaign finance reports in the race. Anchorage podiatrist and Republican Matt Halala accounts for more than a quarter of that. Hey La la contributed nearly $1.3 million to his own campaign, accounting for more than 94% of his total. He says self funding his campaign means he can turn down contributions from donors or groups that don't jive with his values. I'm not in desperate need of big money from big, influential donors. There's a quid pro quo and that's a major problem. Not to say I'm not going to take money from some big donors as we keep going, but I'm going to.
- [04:11]
Nat Herz
I'm going to be able to be very, very selective.
- [04:14]
Casey Grove
Former Attorney General Treg Taylor is another Republican candidate relying on self funding to an extent. He's the number two fundraiser in the race so far, with nearly $900,000 in total contributions. About a third of that comes from Taylor himself. Former state revenue Commissioner Adam crum is in third with roughly $350,000 in contributions. Tom Begich was the top Democratic fundraiser in this round of reports. The former state senator has also taken in roughly $350,000 from a wide range of donors. He says fundraising really ramped up when Mary Peltola announced she'd be running for U.S. senate rather than for governor. And he says he's proud of the fact that funding for his campaign has come almost exclusively from Alaskans. Buying your way to the governorship is just not I just don't think that's good for Alaska. And what I want to see is people reaching out to regular donors and getting people who are regular Alaskans engaged and involved in their campaign. And that's certainly what I'm doing. Another Democrat in the race, former state representative Jonathan Christ Tompkins, didn't join the race until after the reporting period had ended, but he's raised $750,000 in his first two weeks in the race, according to his campaign. That's more than twice as much as Begich. Including Christ Tompkins, 10 candidates reported raising six figure totals. Attorney and occasional campaign operative Scott Kendall says the way he sees it, there are quite a few candidates with a real shot at winning for probably the
- [05:43]
Nat Herz
most important race in the state. We have a level of competition maybe we've never seen, you know. Yeah, there was 48 candidates in the special election for Don Young's seat, but really there was only like four, five,
- [05:56]
Casey Grove
six serious candidates here.
- [05:57]
Nat Herz
There's really 10 legit candidates. And it's pretty exciting.
- [06:02]
Casey Grove
The top four vote getters in the nonpartisan blanket primary in August will advance to the general election in November. Well, immigration enforcement agents swarmed a Soldotna home Tuesday morning and took a family of four, including a kindergartner, into custody. Sonia Arriaga moved to Alaska from Mexico in 2023. Alexander Sanchez Ramos is her husband. He's a US citizen who was born in Seward. He says agents arrived in about five vehicles and pulled her from her car when she returned from driving her middle child to school.
- [06:37]
Nat Herz
I'm not talking about nicely either.
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Casey Grove
I'm talking about aggressively grabbing her and pulling her out.
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Nat Herz
You know, she's still in her pajamas,
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Casey Grove
for crying out loud, he said masked agents placed him in handcuffs as he stood outside wearing gym shorts and sandals. Arriaga and her Three sons, ages 5, 16 and 18, were eventually taken to Anchorage. Sanchez Ramos said the oldest son was put in jail while the younger sons and their mom were detained in a hotel. The story of their arrest reached a group of church leaders in Anchorage. Michael Burke is senior pastor at St. Mary's Episcopal Church. At a news conference, he said the case raises grave moral concerns.
- [07:17]
Nat Herz
How could anyone possibly claim to support family values when they are willing to stand by and be silent when a five year old is taken into detention?
- [07:30]
Casey Grove
Sanchez Ramos says Arriaga was in the country legally and was seeking asylum based on threats of violence in her home state of Jalisco, Mexico. He says they met at a Mexican restaurant where they both worked and married earlier this month. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not yet responded to an emailed query about the case. Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, a Mat Sue Trapper reflects on lessons learned from the craft. And now I'm going to pack it out and I'm going to process it. I'm going to put it in my freezer and it's going to feed me and my family. That's very intimate. And that's ahead. Stay with us.
- [08:09]
Alex Solomon
Hi, I'm Avery Elfeldt, a reporter with the Alaska desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media, khns, where I work in Hanes and other public radio stations in Anchorage, Fairbanks and the Aleutians. It allows us to Connect you with the issues happening in communities all across the world state. You can hear our stories during the morning news on Alaska News Nightly or online@alaskapublic.org the Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you.
- [08:39]
Casey Grove
An Alaskan has struck silver in the Winter Olympic Games in Italy. Anchorage's own cross country skiing superstar Gus Schumacher was nearly perfect. Racing the anchor leg early this morning in the team sprint. Schumacher teamed up with Vermonter Ben Ogden, and the duo secured only the second men's cross country skiing medal for the US in 50 years. That was after Ogden's silver medal in the individual sprint earlier in the Games. Anchorage reporter Nat Herz is in Italy following the Olympics. He saw the race unfold and he joins us now. Hi, Nat.
- [09:11]
Nat Herz
Hello, Casey.
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Casey Grove
Buongiorno. Nat set the stage for us.
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Nat Herz
Yeah, this was definitely sort of a metal hopeful event for Schumacher and Ogden. But, you know, Schumacher had had some ups and downs early in the Olympics. And so, you know, also this was a pretty tight field. So sun came up this morning. It was an absolutely bluebird, sunny, gorgeous day. But unlike the past week and a half, it was cooler overnight and cooler during the day. So it actually stayed really firm and fast for just kind of perfect ski racing. And yeah, really, like all the heavy hitters were there, especially on the Norwegian team, Johannes Clabo, this guy who had before today won four gold medals in a row here, plus six last year at the last championships and then some, some strong Italian teams and a strong French team and Switzerland as well.
- [10:11]
Casey Grove
Yeah. So Gus Schumacher looking to bounce back. We talked about that. People can find that story. There's a couple pieces of audio from Gus himself talking about that. But then for this race, it was Ogden at the starting line first. Right?
- [10:26]
Nat Herz
Yeah, so, so they're, they're actually like alternating. Right. And so it, it's Ben and then Gus. Ben, Gus, Ben, Gus. And those first four laps, really what they're trying to do is stay out of trouble. And both of them did a pretty good job of staying out of trouble. Although it was a little chaotic during this tag off at the end of each lap because you've got all these skiers with like skis and poles coming in and actually like, you know, the potential, real potential for crashing France's team, which was like a serious contender. They had a skier who broke two poles today, but they managed to kind of stay clean. And then you had Ben Ogden on his last lap, the second to last of the six laps go out and actually really pushing the pace and gets around and tags off to Gus in a metal position. And then it's Gus's turn.
- [11:19]
Casey Grove
Yeah. And I heard Gus's anchor leg here described as near perfect. What did he have to do to be near perfect?
- [11:27]
Nat Herz
What Gus had to do was be Gus. And Gus is a guy that I think at his best is just what he described today was kind of skiing uninhibited and skiing free. And so Clabo has a little bit of a lead going up this hill and sort of starts to make his move. And Gus actually goes with him. And sort of for the first time at these Olympics, maybe with the exception of the individual sprint where Ben Ogden actually sort of pushed Claybow a little bit, Gus Schumacher actually appears to be kind of keeping up with Claybo and pushing him a little bit. And there's a little bit of a gap, but Schumacher is, like, holding its thing steady. And they get to the top of this last big hill, pulled away a little bit from the rest of the pack, and it. It kind of becomes pretty clear at that point that, like, Gus is in the metals. And here was sort of how he described the last few hundred meters of the race. I think I did a good job of not thinking too, like, results wise until, you know, I could see Ben
- [12:27]
Casey Grove
on the other side there and knew I had had space.
- [12:31]
Nat Herz
But, yeah, I'm really proud of how I just sort of skied with abandon in a way. And, yeah, because when I'm skiing free, I'm the best.
- [12:40]
Casey Grove
Nat, describe the moment that Gus Schumacher crossed the finish line. What was that like?
- [12:46]
Nat Herz
Yeah, I mean, it was like. It was an electric moment. You had the whole US Ski team there screaming at these guys. Gus gets to the finish line and just lets out this, like, primal scream and just ends up in a pile with his teammate, Ben Ogden, who's not just a teammate, but like a close friend, someone he's known basically since he was at least a teenager, if not childhood. Their roommates here have been through a lot together. Total bedlam, like, huge celebration by the US Team. And, you know, I think what's really cool about this is Gus is 25, grew up in Alaska, and he and everyone else here have really talked a lot about how it's like a whole community and the place that helped make Gus what he was today, which was one of the very best skiers in the world. Amazing to cross that line and celebrate with Ben. And then just like everyone who's helped us along the way, like, my parents
- [13:42]
Casey Grove
are here, and the Whole wax staff
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Nat Herz
and the staff in general and coaches and everything. Yeah, it means a lot to all of us.
- [13:50]
Casey Grove
That's really cool. So folks will remember seeing homegrown Olympian Keegan Randall bring home a gold medal in this same event, actually, I think eight years ago. Are we going to see Gus Schumacher's shiny silver medal here in the Last Frontier? And I think maybe more importantly, what does that mean to people in Alaska, especially kids growing up skiing here?
- [14:10]
Nat Herz
Yes, absolutely. I mean, there's nowhere else this medal is going to come home to other than Alaska for Schumacher. And I think, you know, it was a really fun moment today. You had all these team members there, including J.C. schoonmaker, another Anchorage resident. He was eighth in the individual sprint here. At the end of the race, I run into him. He just sort of has this huge grin like he, he said, like really emphatically, like he's so excited to see this medal get back to Alaska and just knowing how many, like young junior skiers, younger than junior skiers, people maybe who aren't even skiers, who are going to, you know, see what Gus Schumacher has accomplished today and be able to sort of celebrate and feel a little bit of ownership of and just the amount of excitement, enthusiasm for cross country skiing that this medal is, is likely going to bring home to Alaska. It's like this is how future medalists are made. Is, is getting to witness accomplishments like this and then get to sort of see and feel and literally touch a little piece of it.
- [15:15]
Casey Grove
All right, that was Anchorage reporter Nat Herz. He is in Italy covering the Winter Olympics. Nat, thanks for being here.
- [15:21]
Nat Herz
Arrivederchik. Talk to you later. Casey, thanks for having me.
- [15:34]
Casey Grove
Mariculture experts and tribal members gathered in Juneau last week to talk about the pressing obstacles and opportunities shaping the mariculture industry in southeast Alaska. As KTOO's Alex Solomon reports, oysters were a main focus.
- [15:48]
Alex Solomon
At the end of a dock in Auk Bay, an unassuming floating platform holds thousands of young oysters called spat in bins that are revealed when a farmer lifts a creaky hatch door. This is called a floating upweller system or flupsy. And it's one way oyster farmers can keep more stock. This is just a cheaper way to buy spat in a smaller size, much bigger quantity. That's Miranda Hamm, owner of Chinooku Shellfish Company, a small family run Pacific oyster farm in Kluaak. Hamm is in Juneau for the day long mariculture workshop organized by Alaska Sea Grant and Tlingit and Haida she says. Nutrient rich water flushes through the flupsy so the tiny oysters can grow quickly, big enough to fit into mesh bags
- [16:34]
Nat Herz
out on a farm.
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Alex Solomon
This flupsy belongs to Salty Lady Seafood Co. The only oyster farm in Juneau. Baham says she's planning to stock her own flupsy in Klauoc. It's one way oyster farmers can scale up even when there are bottlenecks in the supply chain. Currently there's only so many flupsies in the state, and as a farmer, we've already not had seed needs met. Most oyster farmers in Alaska, including Haam, have to ship in specific BAT from out of state hatcheries, usually in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon or California. Sometimes there are shortages at those hatcheries. And there's another way to address the supply chain problem, starting in state hatcheries. As part of the workshop, participants are touring the University of Alaska Fairbanks Mariculture Research Hatchery at Lena Point. Managed by Spencer Lunda, the facility pumps in seawater that gets heated and flows into troughs filled with oysters. Rolanda and his team are studying ways to produce SPAT locally for farms across Alaska.
- [17:33]
Nat Herz
It would be nice to have SPAT
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Casey Grove
production in the state and as well
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Nat Herz
as to have just maybe be able to produce oysters that perform better in the conditions of Alaska because the water is very cold here compared to where oysters are typically grown, he says.
- [17:46]
Alex Solomon
The ultimate goal is to breed oysters that grow relatively quickly in cold water and form a deep cup with a lot of meat traits desirable for farmers trying to turn a profit and consumers slurping them from the half shell. Back on the dock. Hamm says the lease process to enter the industry is another issue that could be improved. I'm here sharing, sharing about being a farmer and the struggles and challenges that we face firsthand so other indigenous farmers can get into the industry, she says. It took her two years to get an aquatic farm, and she says the state's process doesn't consult with tribes to see whether proposed farm sites would overlap with subsistence seafood harvest sites. I think it's crucial that the state of Alaska incorporates tribal consultation rather than just city government, city municipal government consultation. But developing mariculture operations could become a boon for Native communities, too. Frank Nix is the cultural foods manager for the organized village of Khe Sanh. He says he's at the workshop to see how mariculture could bolster economic development and food security in his small village.
- [18:56]
Nat Herz
Most of us are already working three or four jobs and all of our facilities are running three or four programs. So when it comes to looking at opportunities like, well, maybe we don't have the manpower to run a farm, but, you know, it seemed like one or two people could manage a space of the size that we were just in
- [19:16]
Alex Solomon
like a small hatchery.
- [19:18]
Casey Grove
I think one of the most
- [19:21]
Nat Herz
valuable things that I've seen so far is that this seems perfectly doable.
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Alex Solomon
Nix says he's grateful to attend the workshop on a travel scholarship, and the recent availability of funding and training in Alaska mariculture makes the industry attractive. In Juneau, I'm Alex Solomon.
- [19:40]
Casey Grove
Travelers can now schedule ferry rides with the Alaska Marine highway for May through September. That's after the summer schedule opened for booking last week. The schedule looks a lot like recent years. With six of the state's nine vessels sailing, there is not enough funding or staffing to run them all, says Shannon McCarthy. She's a spokesperson for the state Department of Transportation.
- [20:01]
Alex Solomon
Our crew is relatively stable right now, but you know, it's not expanding rapidly.
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Nat Herz
But our budget is also a concern
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Alex Solomon
this year, so we will only be running one of the mainliners at any given time.
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Casey Grove
Only one mainliner, the Columbia, is scheduled to travel weekly through southeast to Bellingham, Washington. That means a round trip every two weeks for most residents. McCarthy says the Kennecott will be on standby in case the Columbia needs repairs.
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Alex Solomon
The nice thing is it is much better to have two, you know, vessels,
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Nat Herz
mainliners that are, you know, able to
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Alex Solomon
be sailed at any point.
- [20:35]
Casey Grove
The Tustamina will sail the southwest region between Homer and the Aleutians. That's roughly two round trips per week from Homer to Kodiak and one full Aleutian chain run per month. The day boat Leconte will sail Prince William Sound and Lynd Canal will be similar to last year, with the Hubbard doing nearly daily runs between Juneau, Haines and Skagway. US Senator Lisa Murkowski helped secure hundreds of millions in federal ferry funds over the last five years, but the state is now waiting on a key federal grant for this year. DOT Commissioner Ryan Anderson is scheduled to be in D.C. this week to talk to the Alaska delegation about it.
- [21:13]
Alex Solomon
Because this money is still available, it was written into the law, so we're just trying to figure that out to see if there is some relief there.
- [21:20]
Casey Grove
With ongoing funding issues, the state is considering selling The Matanuska, a 63 year old mainliner that's been tied up in Ketchikan and used for housing new ferry workers. McCarthy says they'll still be able to offer housing in the mainliner that's not currently sailing. All across Alaska. Trappers are preparing for Anchorage's big annual fur auction. For some in the state, trapping is a tradition and a way of life. For others, it's cruel and unnecessary. But one trapper in the mat Su says there's a beauty in having a hand in feeding and clothing your family. Alaska Public Media's Hannah Flor joined him on his trapline and has this story.
- [22:05]
Corey Rauch
Corey Rauch dumps a garbage bag of pig guts onto the snow, then bristly skin and a head.
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Casey Grove
What this does is it attracts the birds, then the birds attract the coyotes and the fox.
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Corey Rauch
Coyotes and foxes that he hopes to catch in the three looped wire snares nearby in the trees.
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Casey Grove
Snare there and a snare there. There's nothing there. Can you see it?
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Corey Rauch
We're on a snow machine running one of Roush's trap lines near his home in the Matsu. All season long, he's been slowly adding to his collection of furs. Beaver and fox, muskrat and coyote. He'll auction them off in late February during Anchorage's Ferrandi celebration. Rauch has only lived in Alaska for six years, but he says the state's legacy of trapping and hunting was part of what drew him north, a history of people living close to the things that feed and clothe them. But now it's easy to just buy meat and warm clothes, so why keep trapping? For Rauch, it's about being connected to life's necessities, about facing the violence of eating meat and wearing fur in a state where that's often the warmest option. Rauch says it's a violence you don't have to think about. When you're shopping at a store, you
- [23:19]
Casey Grove
don't know your food. There's not an intimate relationship with it as, like, oh, I just called this bull moose in, put a clean shot on it, and now I'm going to pack it out and I'm going to process it and I'm going to put it in my freezer, and it's going to feed me and my family. That's very intimate.
- [23:34]
Corey Rauch
Rauch got out of the army about a decade ago, in his early 20s. He was already thinking about Alaska, about a life of trapping and hunting. But when he told people, they all had the same response, like, that's stupid.
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Casey Grove
That's not going to do my. My platoon sergeant. What are you going to do? Well, I think I'm going to go to Alaska. Like, everyone's like, no. Like, that's not a plan.
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Corey Rauch
He went home to Ohio, but the places he used to trap and hunt were being built up, turned into stores and subdivisions. He was fishing toxic rivers and hating it. He was falling back into old habits. He felt directionless. Alaska lodged in his mind.
- [24:09]
Casey Grove
One day I was just like, I'm done, I'm done. And I literally packed everything up and I just left.
- [24:18]
Corey Rauch
He and his young family eventually landed in the Matsu, a town named Houston, where a sign entering the city reads welcome to the real Alaska. Now he takes his elementary age sons out on the trapline with him. They hunt and camp. The boys both have fur hats from animals they trap together. Their favorite meal is bear burger tacos. The snow is falling fast as we head down narrow trails, willows snapping in our faces. Rauch points out the pink tape he uses to mark each wire snare or steel foot trap, explains the strategic placement and how the foot traps are designed so they allow blood flow so they don't maim. He explains how he sets up the wire snares to kill quickly points out the signs everywhere that warn people with dogs to stay away. Roush says he loves being outdoors, watching the animals, learning their behavior, strategizing. But he says he doesn't necessarily like killing them.
- [25:14]
Casey Grove
Believe it or not, you know, I feel bad sometimes. I hate killing. I really do. It's, you know, I watch you watch the life leave that animal.
- [25:25]
Corey Rauch
But facing the violence is important to him. He says that's something that doesn't really happen with store bought clothes, store bought meat.
- [25:33]
Casey Grove
Just because you see it in a store, you know, doesn't mean that animal didn't die.
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Corey Rauch
It's just hidden, he says. Easy, convenient. You can pretend you're not part of it. But Rauch wants to be part of it. There's a respect there, he says. It creates connection. His life isn't perfect, he says. Sometimes it's so complicated, but it has meaning in a way it never did back in Ohio. Roush starts up the snow machine and we do a slow turn and head down another trail. We pass empty traps, empty snares, and then got something.
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Nat Herz
Looks like a bunny.
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Corey Rauch
It's a snowshoe hare, nearly hidden among the young birch trees. It probably won't make it to the fur auction, he says. The skin is papery, delicate, but it'll make a nice dinner.
- [26:22]
Casey Grove
I'll probably just fry it in butter, honestly.
- [26:25]
Corey Rauch
He'll serve it, he says, with his son's favorite sides, mashed potatoes and salad. In Anchorage, I'm Hannah Fluor, foreign.
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Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin and Hannah Florin, Anchorage, Eric Stone and Alex Solomon in Juneau, Nat Herz in Italy and Angela Denning in Petersburg. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kirsten Dobroth is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.