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- [00:00]
Representative Calvin Shragi
Support for Alaska Public Media on demand comes from Alaska Pipeline Service Co. Marking nearly 50 years of commitment to operating the Trans Alaska Pipeline system.
- [00:10]
Willard Jackson
More@alyeskapipeline.com.
- [00:19]
Representative Calvin Shragi
We want to make sure that we're directing those towards really addressing our huge backlog in deferred maintenance across the state.
- [00:26]
Casey Grove
How House lawmakers unveil a draft of the state's capital budget aimed at schools and university facilities from Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Wednesday, May 6th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, federal officials say the number of missing and murdered indigenous people in Alaska is still at a crisis level.
- [00:45]
Representative Calvin Shragi
It's great that we're focusing on these cases that haven't been solved, but you know, it would be even better if we didn't have to solve these cases in the first place.
- [00:52]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Lawmakers in the Alaska House unveiled their first draft of the state's Capitol budget on Monday. It adds about $100 million in spending to the roughly $250 million capital budget that passed the Senate last month. Most of the added items focus on shoring up schools and university facilities around the state. Representative Calvin Shragi, an Anchorage independent who co chairs the House Finance Committee, says the House's approach to an unexpected influx of war related oil revenue mirrors the Senate's.
- [01:28]
Representative Calvin Shragi
To the extent we have surplus revenues this year, we want to make sure that we're directing those towards really addressing our huge backlog in deferred maintenance across the state.
- [01:37]
Casey Grove
More than half of the House's additions would go towards K12 schools across the state, including repairs to Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka and the construction of a new school in the northwest Arctic community of Deering. The House's capital budget also includes $9 million in funding for nine renewable energy projects around the state, from southeast Alaska to the rail belt to the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta. And it would set aside 15 to 25 million dollars in funding for upgrades to the Port of Alaska in Anchorage, depending on oil prices. The new draft also removes the state's authorization to receive roughly $135 million in federal funding for two controversial transportation projects, that's the Cascade Point ferry Terminal in Juneau and the West Susitna Access Road in the Matanuska Susitna Borough. Both projects have been the subject of intense criticism, but removing the West Susitna project from the state's capital budget drew pushback from Republican lawmakers, including Fairbanks Republican Will Stapp.
- [02:35]
Representative Calvin Shragi
The West2Access project is one of the few things that we have in Alaska that is going toward positive steps for resource development. We're a resource development state.
- [02:46]
Casey Grove
The House Finance Committee is scheduled to consider amendments Thursday and Friday. Shragi says he expects the bill to head to the House floor next week. The US Bureau of Indian affairs says it is distributing $20 million in emergency funding to more than a dozen Alaska Native communities in response to shortages of essential supplies and urgent infrastructure needs. The lion's share of the funding, $16 million, is going to the Kuskokwim Delta coastal village of Chifornic to address the impacts of severe erosion, permafrost thaw and failing infrastructure, according to a press release. The funds are intended to restore damaged wetlands, address unsafe structures, relocate at risk homes and reconstruct the community's barge landing. Jafarnik and 15 other communities spread across a vast swath of the state will also receive a portion of an additional $4 million that the federal government is using to purchase thousands of gallons of heating fuel along with potable water supplies and firewood, the press release says. Delayed spring barge deliveries, restricted water systems and extreme winter conditions led to supply shortages in the communities receiving assistance. The announcement comes as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland is in Alaska to meet with tribal leaders. Kirkland appeared alongside US Senator Lisa Murkowski in Anchorage and Bethel this week as part of hearings of the Senate Committee on Indian affairs on federal disaster support and the question of climate driven village relocation. May is when the federal VIP season in Alaska really gets going, when high ranking federal officials tour the state to roll out new policies, hand out grants or just simply to listen to what people have to say. The Department of Interior sent some of its top people to Anchorage yesterday for a closed door meeting on missing and murdered indigenous people. As KNBA's Rhonda McBride reports, they acknowledged that the number of Alaska cases has reached a crisis point.
- [04:54]
Rhonda McBride
In the Cook Inlet Tribal Council's meeting room, more than two dozen Alaska Native and government leaders looked across tables at each other. Senator Dan Sullivan led the discussion.
- [05:05]
Representative Calvin Shragi
The two top guys in America on these issues are here in this room right now.
- [05:11]
Rhonda McBride
Those two guys were Billy Kirkland, the assistant secretary for Indian affairs, and Brian Mercier, the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. They came to announce the reintroduction of Operation lady justice, launched by Tara Sweeney, an Alaska Native who served in Kirkland's role during President Trump's first administration. The initiative created a task force that brought law enforcement, data collection and justice teams together, an effort that led to a missing and murdered unit within the bia.
- [05:45]
Representative Calvin Shragi
All of our law enforcement working collectively on an issue of this magnitude and this importance where we need to be cooperating and partnering, not being in silos.
- [05:56]
Rhonda McBride
Sullivan says silos have too often been the default mode, one that has effectively hidden the reality. Even though Alaska has the fourth highest rate of MMIP cases in the nation.
- [06:10]
Representative Calvin Shragi
Someday we want to make sure that, like the daughters and the granddaughters represented here, that you can tell them about it as a thing of the past, right? Not as something that they're dealing with and having to struggle with.
- [06:21]
Rhonda McBride
This renewed federal push comes through an executive order from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Assistant Secretary Kirkland says it expands efforts to solve both new and cold cases and emphasizes prevention.
- [06:35]
Representative Calvin Shragi
It's great that we're focusing on these cases that haven't been solved, but, you know, it'd be even better if we didn't have to solve these cases in the first place.
- [06:42]
Billy Kirkland
I would suggest to you that that that is a crisis.
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Rhonda McBride
A crisis Senator Lisa Murkowski says needs to be addressed with urgency. She cited a 2018 Seattle Urban Institute study which counted 500 MMIP cases in 71 cities.
- [07:00]
Billy Kirkland
The bodies may be found, but the trauma never, ever ends. So for them, it's always a crisis every day. It's always an epidemic every day. So we have to do more because everyone, everyone represents this broader community that has been hurt and brutally damaged by their loss.
- [07:25]
Rhonda McBride
Some of the Native leaders and MMIP advocates at the meeting, like Charlene Opak with Data for Indigenous justice, say hope now hinges on whether follows and if tribes are empowered to lead the work.
- [07:38]
Billy Kirkland
We're hoping that we see the return on investments and that it trickles down into real changes. But I also know that no matter what tribes in Alaska, Native people are going to keep working on this, and that gives me a lot of hope.
- [07:50]
Rhonda McBride
The gathering and the Interior secretary's executive order was timed to coincide with a national day of awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous people. In anchorage, I'm Rhonda McBride.
- [08:07]
Casey Grove
Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, the family of a master Tlingit carver. Remember his art and legacy.
- [08:12]
Sue Shotridge
I think that carving for him was peaceful. You're one on one with the wood and what you're creating.
- [08:20]
Casey Grove
That's ahead. Stay with us. As the Juneau assembly moves forward with ending the city's involvement in Eagle Crest ski area's controversial gondola project, they're now trying to figure out what to do with the parts at an assembly committee of the whole meeting Monday, the assembly asked city staff to pursue a plan to terminate the project and sell all its parts and equipment. The assembly voted in early April to divest from the gondola project and pay back a $10 million investment from Goldbelt Incorporated, but that decision isn't fully set in stone yet. The assembly is slated to take public testimony and a final vote on May 18. The project's price tag skyrocketed to more than $37 million due to additional parts, high construction costs and tariffs on imports. When the city purchased the gondola in 2022, the project was estimated to cost under $10 million. At the meeting, City Manager Katie Kester said selling the gondola's parts and equipment would recover some money, but not nearly all of the $11 million already poured into the project.
- [09:21]
Katie Kester
It anticipates a recovery of $1.6 million, but a timeline of two to three years to get selling the gondola parts will take time and we will have to hire someone to do that business.
- [09:33]
Casey Grove
Right now, the project's parts are scattered across thousands of miles. While some of it is in Juneau, there's still some equipment in Austria waiting to be shipped over, and the gondola cars are in Colorado being refurbished. Assembly members also discussed what to do with the ski area now that the gondola project is likely not happening. Since its purchase, the gondola has been touted as the saving grace for the ski area, which has long struggled to stay financially afloat without city subsidies. The assembly is currently in the midst of considering whether to subsidize Eagle Crest for the next fiscal year. If it doesn't, the ski area will likely not be able to operate. They're also considering having a third party entity take over the ski area. Those are separate decisions that the assembly will tackle in the coming weeks as it finalizes the city's budget. Owners of short term rentals in Anchorage have until the end of July to register with the city after the assembly passed a new law in December. The registration portal opened earlier this month. Assemblymember Zach Johnson sponsored the change and says the goal is to have better information about what the short term rental market looks like in Anchorage and how it's affecting the housing market.
- [10:48]
Representative Calvin Shragi
Otherwise, you're just sort of operating on assumptions and best guesses, which is never really a good way to go about doing business.
- [10:55]
Casey Grove
Language in the ordinance states that data from the registry will help inform potential future regulations of short term rentals, but Johnson says it's way too early to know what those might be the assembly voted down a short term rental specific tax in December. Johnson says he doesn't expect that to be revisited in the near future. The short term rental registration is free. The city of Girdwood is part of Johnson's district and he says that informs how he thinks about housing. Johnson says the town has a housing crisis, but short term rentals are also a big part of the economy, so balance is important.
- [11:29]
Representative Calvin Shragi
We depend on the visitor industry down here and that is this is an important piece of it. But at the same time we're worried about the fact that we don't have enough housing for people who live here.
- [11:37]
Casey Grove
The city has partnered with platforms like Airbnb, which will now require a registration number for all listings. Owners of short term rentals who don't register with the city could be fined. Well, the temporary flood wall along the Mendenhall river just barely protected hundreds of homes from Juneau's largest glacial outburst flood last year. This summer, city and federal contractors planned to build it much higher. But after the project cost ballooned, leaders decided to scale back that plan. KTOO's Alex Solomon reports.
- [12:09]
Billy Kirkland
Until Monday, both the Army Corps of Engineers and the City and borough of Juneau said they were building the Menenhall river floodwall to withstand a flood nearly double the size of last year at 90 cubic feet per second. But now they say they'll build the wall to withstand a flood about 30% larger than last year. That's after the Juneau assembly voted 7:2 to change the plan. City Manager Katie Kester said the wall will be lower because construction is far more expensive than anticipated.
- [12:37]
Katie Kester
To do the project as we originally envisioned, the project that I emailed every riverfront property owner and said we were building the 90,000 is just not feasible with available funding.
- [12:46]
Billy Kirkland
Building the city's portion of the wall phase one to that level is now expected to four times the initial estimate. Kester says the city couldn't have known that until crews started working on the Hesco barriers, which are steel cages lined with fabric and filled with sand. This spring, the ground remained frozen for much longer than last year, so work on the barriers was delayed about a month.
- [13:08]
Katie Kester
As staff got into this project and started really digging, they realized they had to do. They had to undo large chunks of the Hesco barrier. So instead of just going in and fortifying them or adding a couple barriers, it actually meant rebuilding entire sections of wal. It meant twice as many barriers as in Phase one.
- [13:28]
Billy Kirkland
Denise Koch is the city's engineering and public works director. At the meeting, she presented new figures it would cost another 8 million to build it against a flood twice the size of last year, versus 3 million to make it withstand a flood 30% bigger. This is a really, really difficult situation for the community, especially people who live in the inundation area. And we're similar to last year. We're always having to make decisions quickly with incomplete information. The assembly decided to spend the additional 3 million this year under the assumption that the flood wall will have to be built higher again next year and that it will be more expensive to do that then. The funding gap comes at a lean time for the city. The assembly has proposed cutting dozens of services and closing facilities after voters passed ballot measures that created a large annual budget hole. The city expects it will need to continue paying for temporary flood protection for another decade or more while the Army Corps figures out a long term solution. Suicide Basin is the source of Juneau's annual glacial outburst flood. It's a large lake tucked between jagged mountains and the Menenhall Glacier, which acts as an ice dam. Each summer when the dam breaks, it unleashes billions of gallons of water beneath the glacier that rushes through the suburban Mendenhall Valley. As the glacier melts due to climate change, the basin grows and so does the flood. For now. Mike Records is a hydraulic engineer at the Army Corps in Alaska. He estimates the basin will release damaging glacial outburst floods for roughly another 25 years before it stops being a problem. But he says that prediction could change
- [15:05]
Representative Calvin Shragi
as the glacier continues to retreat. There might be a second Mendenhall Lake, which would then cause significant calving and would accelerate the rate of retreat of the Mendenhall Glacier.
- [15:14]
Billy Kirkland
Because glaciers retreat faster on water than on land, he says that could dramatically reduce how long the annual flood remains a problem. Scientists are currently working to refine the flood lifespan estimate by measuring the depth of the glacier and how quickly it's thinning and retreating. Records says the Army Corps considers engineering solutions according to the probability that a flood will exceed a given size within a certain number of years. And he says the risk accumulates over time. It's like flipping a coin repeatedly.
- [15:44]
Representative Calvin Shragi
You flip a coin, there's a 50% chance of getting heads. But you know if you keep flipping that coin, you will get a tail eventually.
- [15:51]
Billy Kirkland
The Army Corps analysis shows a very low chance of a flood twice the size of last year happening this year. But a flood that large has a 40% chance of hitting the valley at least once in the next 25 years. And Hesco barriers are not made to last that long. John Rajek is the chief of geotechnical and engineering services at the Army Corps in Alaska. He says the agency aims to start on a medium term solution next year and is weighing a few ideas. The first idea is to simply build the HESCO barriers higher. The second idea is to rework the river channel to move floodwater out of the valley faster.
- [16:27]
Representative Calvin Shragi
The third concept that we're looking at is a sheet pile wall system that would basically act as a flood wall.
- [16:35]
Billy Kirkland
Sheet pile walls are commonly used to create seawalls. They're thin, lightweight and driven down into the soil. They'd replace the HESCO barriers. The next flood is expected this summer. It has struck in August the past three years. In Juneau. I'm Alex Salman.
- [16:51]
Casey Grove
Whaling is an essential part of subsistence hunting in Siberian Yupik culture. High school student Tracy Tungian in the village of gamble on St. Lawrence island wanted to understand more about it. So he interviewed a whaling captain from the community, William Parks, nicknamed Wii U. He spoke to Parks in the library of the Gamble School and asked him whether whaling is easy or difficult.
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William Parks
There's a degree of difficulty in it. You gotta think of how enormous the whale is. You're in basically a washtub compared to the size of that whale. Depending on how the whale is moving, it could be pretty straightforward. Catch up to it, strike. And there's some days where the tails are really thrashing. You can't get close to them. We use these harpoons that have a barrel on there. We call them booscon. I don't know what they're called in English. I've always known them as buscon. It has a harpoon buoy, line buoy, and it fires either a black powder bomb or a pantherite bomb into the whale.
- [18:01]
Casey Grove
What does hunting mean to you?
- [18:03]
William Parks
That's a good question. To me, hunting is mostly about survival. It's about tradition and it's about feeding family, relatives, the community, which is the most important part of life, in my opinion. You need food to survive. I think mostly it's like second nature to me. I just. I don't even think of how important it is to me anymore. More so that it's the way I was brought up to live. It's a part of me. It's been a part of me since I was 2, 3 years old. Was it easier hunting back then or. Back then it was. Seasons were more predictable, weather was more predictable. In a way, it was easier. Nowadays with lack of ice, bigger storms, shorter opportunities to head out. Yeah, I think it's more difficult now compared to back then, the windows of good weather are getting shorter. I know that everybody that goes out hunting isn't doing it for fun or sport. They're doing it in means of trying to harvest. Food is a part of who we are as people, as the community. Hunting is part of our nature. It's been for thousands of years. Why is catching a whale so important? For Campbell? I think it's important mostly because the size of the catch. There's enough to feed everybody, just the sheer size of the whale. It's an opportunity to feed the community, have community gather. Whaling has been part of our culture since the first quail swam and man
- [19:52]
Representative Calvin Shragi
saw
- [19:54]
William Parks
was a means of survival.
- [19:56]
Casey Grove
That was William Wiu Parks speaking with high school student Tracy Tungian about his work as a whaling captain. They both live in the village of Gamble on St. Lawrence Island. Tungian produced that story with former KN reporter Wally Rana and Alaska Public Media's Rachel Cassandra as part of a grant funded collaborative media project. You can find out more@alaskapublic.org. If you've spent time in Ketchikan, you've likely seen the work of Israel Shotridge. He has totem poles on display near Creek street and outside a tribal medical facility, to name a few. The Tlingit master carver passed away in Washington state in April at the age of 75. Israel is being remembered for his artistry, gentleness and love of family. KRBD's Hunter Morrison spoke with two of Israel's loved ones about his life and legacy and has this story.
- [20:57]
Willard Jackson
This song is Kinsada, or the Bear that is Standing Up. That's also Israel's Tlingit name, given to him as a child. He was a member of the Tongass tribe's Bear clan and son of Milton Jackson and Esther Shea. She wrote the song and is singing it here in this recording. Born Howard Jackson In 1951, Israel was raised in Ketchikan and later changed his name. Growing up, he excelled in school and sports. He was on the wrestling team at khi, which won a state championship during his tenure. But Israel's passion was for the arts.
- [21:38]
Sue Shotridge
I think that carving for him was peaceful. You know, one on one with the wood and what you're creating.
- [21:45]
Willard Jackson
That's Willard Jackson, Israel's oldest brother, he says. At a young age, Israel liked to draw.
- [21:51]
Sue Shotridge
Creativity for him came easy, but he was good at it.
- [21:56]
Willard Jackson
After going to college in Seattle, Israel returned to Ketchikan and eventually began carving. His first major project was in the late 1980s when he was commissioned to Carve a replica of the 55 foot Chief Johnson totem pole. It was the first pole in over 50 years to be carved and raised in Ketchikan and still stands downtown today. Israel also met his wife, sue, around that time. She ran a native art gallery in town and had a few of his pieces on view. Sue says she wasn't just drawn to Israel's art. She was intrigued by the man behind the art.
- [22:35]
I
He was friendly to everybody and I just fell in love with him. He was fun to be around. We laughed. We both had the same interests in the culture. It was a fun journey.
- [22:50]
Willard Jackson
The two married a few years later in a small traditional ceremony at the Klan House. Saxman. In addition to his totem work, Israel carved bentwood boxes, masks, panels and other ceremonial pieces. And like the wives of other carvers, sue says she helped Israel paint his creations.
- [23:10]
I
I loved being around when he was carving. I loved to watch him carve. The smell of him coming home smelling like cedar was great.
- [23:19]
Willard Jackson
In the 1990s, Israel and Sue moved to Washington State, where they opened their shop, the Shotridge Collection. Together they sold native art prints, Formline journals, abalone jewelry and more. Sue says they've sold pieces all around the globe. But art wasn't Israel's only interest. He had a love for music and a particular affinity for Jimi Hendrix. He even had a radio show back in the day where he went by the moniker Cosmo. Israel was also a family man who loves spending time with his children and grandchildren. Sue says this, his art and cultural preservation will be Israel's lasting legacy.
- [24:00]
I
He was the humblest and most modest artist that I ever knew. He just had a great love for his culture and for creating. And I truly believe that in the spirit world, he now can carve again.
- [24:19]
Willard Jackson
She says she felt Israel's spirit during this phone interview. She was eyeing a carving that he made of a bear standing up just like his Tlingit name. Willard believes his brother's spirit will span beyond the Pacific Northwest. He says Israel's carvings and legacy can be found all around the globe.
- [24:39]
Sue Shotridge
His effect across the world. You'll always see it in his artwork. It'll always be there, everywhere. You can't go through town or anywhere else without seeing his artwork. It's there, and every time I see it, I know it's his.
- [24:55]
Willard Jackson
There will be an open memorial service for Israel on June 20 at the Ted Ferry Civic center in Ketchikan. Sue also plans to return Israel's ashes to southeast Alaska next year for a canoe journey from WRANGEL to Ketchikan. She says Israel wanted to do that, but never had the chance when he was alive. Reporting from the traditional first land of the Tongass Tlingit people in Ketchikan, I'm Hunter Morrison.
- [25:24]
Casey Grove
And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone, Clarice Larson and Alex Solomon in Juneau, Evan Erickson in Bethel, Rhonda McBride and Hannah Fluor in Anchorage, Tracy Tungeillen in Gamble, and Hunter Morrison in Catch a Can. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kristen Dobrath is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.