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- [00:00]
Heather Ferguson
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]
Jason Rogers
Yes, I'm scared of retribution, but at this point, it's too important and I feel like I need to speak out.
- [00:24]
Casey Grove
Furloughed federal workers are trying to make ends meet during the federal government shutdown From Alaska Public Media. This is statewide news on Alaska News nightly for Wednesday, November 5th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, Anchorage officials are once again considering a sales tax.
- [00:40]
Suzanne LaFrance
It's very clear that if we don't have new revenue, we are going to be facing service and other kinds of cuts.
- [00:48]
Casey Grove
Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. The federal government shutdown is now the longest in history, leaving thousands of Alaskans working without pay as well as thousands who are not working and not being paid. Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin checked in with a few furloughed workers in Anchorage and has this story.
- [01:14]
Liz Ruskin
The first weeks of the shutdown, Liza Sandin caught up on end of summer chores. She pickled beets. She made jam.
- [01:22]
Stephanie Rice
These last two weeks, though, have definitely been the anxiety has been tripping up. You know, when are we going to go back to work? When am I going to get a paycheck again?
- [01:30]
Liz Ruskin
Alaska, more than most states, is highly dependent on the federal government for services. And economically, the state has some 15,000 federal workers, and the shutdown affects each differently. Many we contacted for this story said they didn't want to give their names. A few mentioned a silver lining on furlough. They don't have to feel as much stress from layoff threats and working in an administration that has low regard for civil service. One government employee in Anchorage says the shutdown has meant trading that stress for new financial stress as he runs up his credit cards. Sandon, an employee of the national oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, considers her family luckier than some. She's taken a furlough gig as a substitute teacher. Her husband collects a pension. They aren't in danger of losing their house. But without her paycheck, the family is economizing. Sandin says her kids are trimming their Christmas list.
- [02:31]
Stephanie Rice
When your teenagers ask for $20 Lego sets as opposed to Xboxes and new cell phones, I appreciate them, you know, trying to be reasonable.
- [02:42]
Liz Ruskin
She did not want to discuss the politics of the shutdown. Others didn't mind.
- [02:47]
Jason Rogers
Even before the shutdown, national parks were facing the biggest staff and budget cuts in history.
- [02:52]
Liz Ruskin
Jason Rogers is a National Park Service archaeologist. He blames the Trump administration and congressional Repub for the funding lapse and more.
- [03:02]
Jason Rogers
The administration has imposed new rules censoring what park employees can say about things like gender, like sexual orientation, like basic facts about American history. So yes, I'm scared of retribution, but at this point it's too important, and I feel like I need to speak out.
- [03:18]
Liz Ruskin
Rogers says the effects cascade beyond the federal workforce.
- [03:22]
Jason Rogers
My landlord, who doesn't necessarily pay much attention to politics at all, is suddenly concerned because, of course he's worried if I'm going to be able to pay my rent, and I'm worried if I'm.
- [03:33]
Liz Ruskin
Stephanie Rice, who works for the Bureau of Land Management, has a lot to say. But first her caveat.
- [03:39]
Stephanie Rice
I am giving this interview in my personal capacity, expressing my personal views on a matter of public concern.
- [03:47]
Liz Ruskin
In theory, Rice says, that shows she's exercising her right to free speech and won't face retribution. She's president of her local union. She doesn't think her job is safe. Still, she's calling for action against those in the administration who aren't supporting spending money as Congress directed.
- [04:06]
Stephanie Rice
They have to impeach these officials, you know, if these officials will not follow the law, that is the answer. That is the solution, and Congress has that power.
- [04:16]
Liz Ruskin
Rice and her colleagues are keeping their spirits up by sharing photos of themselves, making, as she put it, lemonade of this furlough.
- [04:24]
Stephanie Rice
They're really leaning into their volunteer activities. You know, they're getting House projects done. They're they're able to spend a little more time with their kids, but it's still very stressful.
- [04:34]
Liz Ruskin
An extra stress on Interior Department employees is that the administration has already said it intends to fire a lot of them. A judge has stopped the government from laying off workers during the shutdown, but once the money starts flowing again, Rice says her particular office within the BLM, which is part of Interior, is slated for a 50% reduction.
- [04:58]
Stephanie Rice
And if all we do is hide under our desks, they're going to lay me off anyways, so I might as well go down swinging.
- [05:06]
Liz Ruskin
At the U.S. capitol this week, senators are discussing how to end the shutdown. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters key details are nearing completion. Senators, like their House counterparts, are slated to be off next week. Reporting from Washington, I'm Liz Ruskin.
- [05:25]
Casey Grove
The long planned Donlen Gold Mine in southwest Alaska is the latest Alaska project to gain the support of a federal agency seeking to streamline permitting. The Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council announced late last month that it had added the massive proposed open pit mine to a list of projects covered by an obscure Obama era law meant to speed development. It's part of a larger push by the Trump administration to expand resource development in Alaska and around the country. Donlin Gold's environmental and permitting manager and Rick Fernandez says it likely will not accelerate the mine's timeline. But he says the so called Fast 41 designation gives the company more confidence that it'll be able to move toward a final investment decision in 2027. What the program is going to provide is more certainty on the permitting schedule, you know, and also, you know, accountability for the agencies and transparency on the process, fernandez says. It doesn't allow the mine to skip any steps. The project has been in the works for years. Fernandez says the company submitted its first federal permit back in 2012. The head of the federal permitting council, Emily Dominesh, says the designation is in line with Trump the Trump administration's resource development and national security goals.
- [06:42]
Stephanie Rice
Up until this administration, the average time to complete a mine to get through the full federal permitting process was just shy of 30 years, which is just completely unacceptable and makes it impossible for us to really effectively compete with China and other adversaries looking to develop critical minerals around the world.
- [07:00]
Casey Grove
But the project is controversial. Mine tailings would be stored approximately 10 miles from the Kuskokwim river in western Alaska, upstream from communities that depend on the river salmon for their food supply. More than a dozen tribal governments and a regional tribal consortium have opposed the mine, along with environmental groups. Lindsey Bloom with the group Salmon State says the fast track designation is inappropriate for a gold mine.
- [07:23]
Stephanie Rice
Gold is not a critical mineral and it's plentiful. There's plenty of it already and it does not change. You know, whether or not we develop Donloon doesn't will have no effect on our national security, she says.
- [07:39]
Casey Grove
She sees it as an effort to make the project more attractive to investors. In Bethel, a statewide resource event expanded its reach to people displaced by Ex TYPHOON Ha Long. KYUK's Samantha Watson reports.
- [08:01]
Samantha Watson
Twice each year, Bethel's cultural center connects unhoused people in the community with resources from local organizations in an event formerly called Project Homeless Connect. But this year the event and its name expanded to include some of the community's newest members. It's now called Project Resource Connect and opened its services to people displaced by the remnant of Typhoon Ha Long. Here's local library director Teresa Quiner.
- [08:27]
Teresa Quiner
We've been thinking about changing the name for a while anyway, just to kind of destigmatize the name of the event. And also there's a lot of people in the community that would benefit from the services available. And so a volunteer came to me with the idea of like coordinating with Search and Rescue and some other agencies to open it up to people impacted by the typhoon.
- [08:47]
Samantha Watson
The event is part of a project intended to make the community's resources apparent to anyone who may need them, as well as provide day of resources in a one stop shop model. On Tuesday, community members filed in to get a haircut from volunteers from Windy Willow Salon, eat a warm bowl of moose chili and get flu and COVID vaccinations from a UConn Kuskokwim Health Corporation pop up. One station ironed on reflective tape to jackets and at another attendees could pick from a table of warm layers and outdoor gear. Quiner says event organizers saw the value in spotlighting the same set of resources to the newest members of Bethel's community.
- [09:27]
Teresa Quiner
We have more agencies at this event than we usually do with the idea that there's a lot of information for people who might be new to Bethel because of the typhoon that they would benefit from getting here today.
- [09:39]
Samantha Watson
Local dog rescue nonprofit Bethel Friends of Canines helped sign people up to get their dogs spayed and neutered for evacuees sheltering in Bethel homes. The organization could also connect them to free doghouses to help manage space as well as free dog food. The Red Cross was also a new agency featured at the event, as was a table from the city of Bethel. Kayla Sadler is an administrative assistant in the city office talking to evacuees. She was also a Yuktun interpreter.
- [10:08]
Teresa Quiner
I just want all of them to.
- [10:12]
Stephanie Rice
Get what they need to get and understand everything that is going on at her table.
- [10:20]
Samantha Watson
Sadler helped connect evacuees sheltering in Bethel with information about individual assistance applications as well as resources available to them in town like laundry options, bus passes and shower and pool access at the fitness center. She also kept a list of names of people that came by the table who were still in need of more solid long term housing. Sadler says making sure people understand everything that's available to them is important. There's a lot to learn in adjusting to a place like Bethel.
- [10:50]
Stephanie Rice
It is bigger than the village and it takes a while to learn what's going on and what the resources are and having stuff like this a place of resource, it helps so much for.
- [11:08]
Samantha Watson
A lot of people, Sadler says. It's been heartwarming to experience the gratitude in the room. She says it's amazed her how people have come to her table beaming despite their circumstances in Bethel. I'M Samantha Watson.
- [11:25]
Casey Grove
Still to come on Alaska news nightly, Rasmussen's 2025 distinguished artist turned a car after the Exxon Valdez oil spill disrupted his fishing career.
- [11:34]
Jerry Lactonen
It was my life and then all of a sudden I had to find something else. It was kind of a tough change, right? Real fast like that.
- [11:43]
Casey Grove
Akiak has restored municipal electricity for its residents 43 days after a mechanical failure at the community's power plant cut off power and forced many to bear high costs of using personal generators through the outage. Mayor Olinka Jones says the restoration of power is a relief for the community, but that plenty of work remains.
- [12:03]
Stephanie Rice
There's a lot of emotions going on here right now. We're happy to have everything on and we're slowly going to get everything back to working water.
- [12:14]
Casey Grove
Hackiak will still need to have at least one additional generator to provide power through the coldest months and allow for scheduled maintenance. Jones says the mechanic who has assisted the community through the outage was still in Akyak as of Tuesday. Jones says the mechanic has also been inspecting potential damage to transformers and power lines caused by ex typhoon Ha Long.
- [12:35]
Stephanie Rice
We still have a lot to go, you know, to work out and fix.
- [12:39]
Casey Grove
During the outage, the community school, water plant and health clinic were able to get by on backup generators. For dozens of families that relied on personal generators, fuel costs ran as much as $70 a day. Some households were able to receive $500 fuel vouchers from the association of Village Council Presidents during the outage. For those that didn't, Jones says AVCP is working on a plan to provide power credits as compensation. The restoration of power puts the total length of the outage around 10 days short of that scene in the summer of 2024, when mechanical issues halted operations at the city's power plant for nearly two months. The Environmental Protection Agency said last week that Alaska's revised plan to improve air quality in Fairbanks and North Pole is good to go. The new state roadmap eliminates a Biden era regulation that would have required people in the area to get an energy rating before selling their homes. And Alaska is now in the process of repealing the requirement from the state's administrative code. It was set to take effect at the beginning of next year. As KUAC's Patrick Gilkirch reports, the EPA's decision might mark the end of a years long policy tug of war, but only if the remaining methods to clean up the air succeed.
- [13:57]
Heather Ferguson
Scientists and state officials have repeatedly said smoke from wood stoves contributes the most to the Fairbanks area's notoriously poor wintertime air quality. Energy audits collect information on homes, energy efficiency and heating systems like wood stoves, then compile that data and give residences a rating. Heather Ferguson is a local real estate agent and the legislative chair for the Greater Fairbanks Board of Realtors. She says she's glad federal and state officials no longer intend to require the audits.
- [14:30]
Stephanie Rice
The energy rating itself is not doing anything to improve the air quality like it was a data grab.
- [14:38]
Heather Ferguson
Ferguson says paying for the mandated energy ratings would have burdened home sellers, and she says the limited availability of energy raiders would have created a bottleneck in the local housing market. According to the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, there are currently four qualified energy raters in the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
- [14:57]
Stephanie Rice
It was gonna it was going to cripple our real estate market until, you know, we got more auditors.
- [15:04]
Heather Ferguson
The state's federally required plan to improve Fairbanks air quality has undergone multiple iterations and a fair amount of turbulence since 2009. That's when the feds first determined that harmful particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less, or PM2.5, was exceeding federal standards in Fairbanks and North Pole Air. It still does, though the amount of PM2.5 has decreased in 2023. As part of the problem's more recent history, the EPA decided some portions of the state's plan to clean up the air weren't good enough. That triggered a penalty called a conformity freeze, which has been limiting how local and state transportation officials can use federal funds for infrastructure projects in the nonattainment area. The state then spent more than a year seeking to address the EPA's concerns. And in early January, soon before Trump's inauguration, the Biden administration proposed approving a revised version of the plan. The next month, after the public comment period had ended, both the Fairbanks City Council and Fairbanks Northstar Borough assembly passed resolutions urging federal officials to reconsider the mandated energy audits, which had been introduced as a compromise with the EPA following the 2023 disapproval. The EPA under Trump then reopened public comment on the plan this March, citing local pushback to the home energy ratings. In last week's announcement, the federal agency said the state's air quality improvement measures still fulfill the Clean Air act even without the home energy audits. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said Alaskans shouldn't have to sacrifice their way of life to protect human health and the environment. And he said the state's plan proves that both goals are achievable. Patrice Lee, a spokesperson for the local group Citizens for Clean Air says Zeldin is wrong. Here she is reading from a prepared.
- [16:59]
Stephanie Rice
Statement to sacrifice human health and the environment is a recipe for destroying lifestyle. Nothing puts a damper on lifestyle more than not being able to breathe or heart problems.
- [17:10]
Heather Ferguson
In response to follow up questions, Lee also said the plan doesn't have enough teeth, and she says repealing the audits just weakens it further.
- [17:19]
Stephanie Rice
It's voluntary whether or not you change out your wood stove, it's voluntary now. Whether or not you tell a buyer what the status of their home heating system is that they're potentially going to purchase. It's everything is voluntary.
- [17:35]
Heather Ferguson
Though the EPA has approved the plan, Fairbanks air quality still must meet federal standards by the end of 2027. Lee says she doesn't think that'll happen. According to state data, the monitoring site at Hearst Road in North Pole continues to register the worst air quality in the area. PM2.5 levels there dropped significantly between 2012 and 2018, but the levels have stayed pretty stagnant since then and they still roughly double federal air quality standards. In the plan, the State said that 2027 reflects attainment as expeditiously as practicable. State Division of Air Quality Director Jason Olds said by email Monday that if the Fairbanks area still has too much PM2.5 in its air at that time, the EPA would make a finding of failure and the state would have to amend the plan again. In Fairbanks, I'm Patrick Gilchrist.
- [18:31]
Casey Grove
Anchorage residents could soon decide whether to adopt a 3% city sales tax aimed at investing in infrastructure, housing and childcare while easing property taxes. Mayor Suzanne LaFrance's administration is finalizing its proposal now, and the assembly would have to approve it before it's placed on the spring ballot. LaFrance says the proposal comes as the city faces a dire financial future. State and federal support has dwindled, forcing property taxpayers to cover most of the city's expenses.
- [18:59]
Suzanne LaFrance
It's very clear that if we don't have new revenue, we are going to be facing service and other kinds of cuts.
- [19:07]
Casey Grove
This isn't the first time a sales tax has been floated during LaFrance's tenure as mayor. The assembly rejected a 3% sales tax earlier this year before it reached voters. That proposal was sponsored by two assembly members and would have put two thirds of revenue generated toward property tax relief. LaFrance's proposal would put one third toward property tax relief. It would also put a third to housing and childcare and a third to infrastructure infrastructure and public safety improvements. LaFrance says her administration drew up the tax plan using feedback supporters of the failed proposal had gathered, as well as more community input.
- [19:41]
Suzanne LaFrance
We've taken all that insight and we've put together something based on this place we're at and what our community needs and what has been reflected in those discussions. And so we think this is the right time for this proposal.
- [19:58]
Casey Grove
City officials estimate the sales tax would generate between 150 and $180 million annually. Nolan Clauda is a policy director for the mayor. He says while sales taxes tend to be regressive, impacting lower income people more city treasury officials estimate a large chunk of the tax wouldn't be paid by residents.
- [20:17]
Heather Ferguson
It looks like greater than a third of the sales tax revenue would be paid for by non residents of Anchorage. That's our commuters, that's tourists, that's maybe seasonal workers who are here.
- [20:28]
Casey Grove
Temporari the mayor's administration plans on rolling out its final proposal next week. In order to get the tax on next April's ballot, assembly members would need to approve the measure by mid January, with at least eight members in support. The Rasmussen foundation has named Kodiak born carver Jerry Lactonen as its 2025 Distinguished Artist. The foundation is Alaska's largest philanthropic organization, and the Distinguished Artist Award is its highest honor for an artist, complete with a $50,000 grant. Lactonin, originally from Larsen Bay, is self taught and didn't even start carving seriously until the age of 45. That was after many years as a commercial fisherman, a career and livelihood disrupted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill. So, Lactonen says making a living from carving while also expressing himself and his aleutic culture has been important.
- [21:27]
Jerry Lactonen
Well, when I started out, I started making these small paddles because I was trying to make something that would sell, because you have to make something that'll sell even if it is something you do artistically. And I was making these little paddles that would, I just, I figured they would be pretty attractive, but also they would fit in people's luggage if they're hauling, you know, things out of Kodiak or something like that. Also smaller masks mainly, but I was just mainly doing the paddles. This was right after the oil spill. And I think a lot of people were kind of struggling back then, trying to figure out how to make a living because the price of salmon and the other fish products kind of went down. And so there was not a lot of money to be made and you had to really work hard to be able to get ahead.
- [22:18]
Casey Grove
How did you learn how to make that stuff.
- [22:22]
Jerry Lactonen
Well, I didn't have anybody to teach me. In fact, I never have had any kind of instruction of any kind. But I just went from pictures of old paddles or masks, from catalogs from collections all over the world, whether they were in England or France or Russia or different places.
- [22:42]
Casey Grove
I mean, for you, and trying to learn how to do this art, was there a gap there for you, like, growing up that. That you had to kind of learn it on your own?
- [22:55]
Jerry Lactonen
Yes, absolutely. I've seen pictures of the beach in Carluk, and I believe it was like 1911 even, and the beaches were just, like, covered with kayaks on the beach at high tide. And my dad was born in 1920 or something like that, and by then he said he never saw any kayaks, so they just disappeared right away. Probably because of the modern fishing boats, I guess.
- [23:26]
Casey Grove
You alluded to the. The impact on fishing from the Exxon Valdez oil spill. And you. You had been a fisherman in the past, right?
- [23:36]
Jerry Lactonen
Yeah, well, yeah, I've been a fisherman ever since I was born or even before I was born, because my mom was out fishing when she was, you know, pregnant with all of us. Really, my whole life was fishing up until. Well, actually until I started doing artwork and when I was 45, which is pretty long time, and I don't know, it was my life. And then all of a sudden, I had to find something else. And it was kind of a tough change real fast like that, but it was pretty. Also very interesting and fun, too.
- [24:17]
Casey Grove
The 2025 Rasmussen Distinguished Artist Award. What does that mean to you? I mean, what do you hope that that conveys to other people, that, you know, their attention now is on your work?
- [24:32]
Jerry Lactonen
Well, maybe it'll inspire other people to start doing what I did. I don't know. And it's. It's out there, and I don't think a lot of people have started to do it. I mean, not. Not bigger time artwork, you know, like fine arts. I'm so lucky that I've had a lot of good positive reinforcement as far as people liking my work. But also a lot of times my family are really supportive that way, and I can't hardly believe it. I think that they're just saying it just to be nice or something.
- [25:09]
Casey Grove
Well, it helps either way, right?
- [25:10]
Jerry Lactonen
Yeah. Yeah, it does. It does. But then after a while, you start realizing it is pretty good. As. As a matter of fact, when I go through my photo in my cell phone, I have like, thousands and thousands of pictures of stuff that are so beautiful. I can't believe I did it.
- [25:31]
Casey Grove
That was aleutic carver Jerry Lactonen, the 2025 Rasmussen Foundation Distinguished Artist. You can find out more about his work and the award@rasmussen.org 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 in Juneau, Samantha Watson and Evan Erickson in Bethel, Patrick Gilchrist in Fairbanks, and Wesley early in Anchorage. Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Madeline Rose is our producer. And I'm Casey Grove. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.