East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray: Recent Episodes
Andrew Gray
The East Anchorage Book Club is an interview podcast where Alaskan leaders discuss politics and community issues.
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Lisa Weissler is the author of the 2025 book, Capitol Crude: the Impact of Oil on Alaska Politics. The book was the recipient of a 2025 Alaska Historical Society award for its promotion and understanding of Alaska history. Lisa began working in the Alaska State Capitol in 1981 where she staffed for Rep. Sam Cotten of Juneau. She later worked for Representatives Fred Zaroff of Kodiak, Ethan Berkowitz of Anchorage, and Beth Kertulla of Juneau, and Senator Hollis French of Anchorage. Interspersed between legislative staffing gigs she worked for the Department of Natural Resources, went to law school at the University of Oregon, clerked for Judge Bud Carpeneti, worked for Alaska's Coastal Program in Governor Knowles Administration, and worked for Department of Law in the Oil & Gas Division in Governor Palin's administration. Finally, in Governor Walker's Administration, she was tasked with writing a paper on the history of Alaska's oil and gas tax credit system. That paper eventually became the book we are talking about today.
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Willie Iġġiaġruk Hensley was born in 1941 in Kotzebue, Alaska, and was raised to live the traditional way that his Iñupiaq ancestors had lived for thousands of years. As a young adult away at college, his family home in Kotzebue was sold for a bottle of whiskey and then bulldozed. This lit a fire in him to fight for Alaska Native land claims, and Willie was instrumental in the creation and passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971. The story of ANCSA is front and center in Hensley’s 2008 book, Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People. The year the book came out it was a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Willie was a founder of NANA Regional Corporation, where he served as a director for 20 years and concluded his career there as president. He also was a founder of Maniilaq, the regional non-profit representing the Tribes in the Kotzebue region. He was essential in the formation of the Alaska Federation of Natives where he has served as executive director, president, and co-chair. He spent 10 years in the Alaska legislature, serving in both in the House and the Senate. He served as manager of federal government relations in DC for the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. Willie is currently the chair and a founding member of the First Alaskans Institute. He and his wife Abbe Hensley live in Anchorage.
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Reverend Matt Schultz is the pastor for First Presbyterian Church in downtown Anchorage. He was the Democratic candidate for Alaska's lone US House seat up until he suspended his campaign on July 17. With his departure, there are still 14 candidates in that US House race, but the incumbent Republican Nick Begich and challenger Independent Bill Hill are the only ones who have raised significant campaign funds. Hill has raised more than $1 million so far and Begich more than $5 million. Schultz had raised less than $900,000 at the time of his withdrawal.
- Read Matt's editorial in the Anchorage Daily News explaining his exit from the race: "The campaign is over but the mission is not."
This is Matt Schultz's third appearance on this podcast. Here are the links to his previous appearances on the podcast.
- Rabbi Abram Goodstein & Reverend Matthew Schultz: progressive clergy (April 12, 2022)
- Rev. Matt Schultz: Pastor of Anchorage's First Presbyterian Church on the dangers of Christian Nationalism (Sept. 20, 2024)
Listen to Bill Hill's podcast episode:
- Bill Hill: former superintendent of Bristol Bay Borough School District
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Spencer Perry, PhD, is an assistant professor of Economics and Public Policy at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Before earning his PhD in Economics at Arizona State University in Tempe, he worked for three years at the Federal Reserve. He moved to Anchorage a year ago when he began his job at ISER where he focuses on topics in health and public economics.
This episode was recorded on January 30, 2026.
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Former Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz moved to Alaska in 1990 after he finished law school in San Francisco. In 1996 he ran for an open state house seat in west Anchorage, and he served in the state legislature for 10 years, 8 as minority leader. In 2006 he ran for Lieutenant Governor with Tony Knowles at the top of the ticket, but they lost to Sarah Palin and her Lt Gov Sean Parnell. In 2008 he unsuccessfully challenged Don Young for the US House seat, and in 2010 he ran as the democratic candidate for Governor losing to Republican Sean Parnell. In 2015 he was elected Anchorage Mayor after defeating Republican Amy Demoboski by the largest margin in municipal history, and he was easily re-elected in 2018. In October 2020 he resigned from office after a consensual but inappropriate texting relationship came to light between him and an Anchorage Television News Anchor. Recently, Ethan has been a frequent co-host on Andrew Halcro's podcast, "With All Due Respect," and he has also been working on developing a fiber optic cable that would connect Asia to Europe via the Arctic.
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Julia Lurie is a senior reporter at Mother Jones, a nonprofit American magazine that focuses on news, commentary, and investigative journalism. In 2023, Julia wrote a story entitled, "Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals where foster kids are Gold Mine." The article was largely an exposé of the horrible history in Alaska of foster children being placed at our short-term psychiatric facility for far too long and sometimes when they did not need to be there at all. Her reporting lit a fire under me to file a bill to prevent this harm from happening in the future. And last week, my House Bill 36 became law. This bill requires foster kids placed in a short term psychiatric facility to have a court hearing within 7 days to ensure that they actually need to be there. But Julia's reporting hasn't just led to new laws in Alaska. Her PBS News Hour report on Utah's adoption system along with her Mother Jones piece, "Cradle and All: the devastating cost of Utah's thriving adoption industry," spurred the Utah legislature to implement a massive overhaul of their adoptions statutes this year. Finally, today is July 1, and my multi-year quest to raise the age of consent in Alaska was realized. Julia and I finish our talk today discussing her 2025 article, "The unflinching courage of Taylor Cadle," which tells the story of a 12-year-old girl in Polk County Florida who reported to police that she was sexually assaulted by her adoptive father. Police took the adoptive father's side, Taylor was charged with making a false accusation, and was forced to write a letter to her father apologizing to him. The next time he sexually assaulted her, Taylor recorded it with her phone. This time law enforcement believed her.
Warning to listeners: we will be discussing child abuse on today's episode.
Listen to these previous episodes featuring former Alaska foster youth:
2024
2025
2026
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Heather Doncaster leads three different lives. The first is the one she is most famous for and that is as master of ceremonies for Mad Myrna's weekly Diva Variety Show. She has held this job for over 10 years, but not as Heather. She hosts the drag show in drag as Hank Van Dickerson; we learn Hank's origin story. Her second life is as a public school teacher in Anchorage for over 20 years: first as a high school/middle school science teacher, and now as a middle school art teacher. Finally, for the past two decades, she has worked in some fashion for the Alaska Zoo. That work is born from her lifelong love of animals which also manifests itself by her taking in of older animals with disabilities.
This episode is in honor of Pride Month. Click here to learn more about Alaska Pride festivities.
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The Majority Leader in the Alaska State House is Representative Chuck Kopp of South Anchorage. After a childhood in Iliamna and Kenai, he began a 23-year career in law enforcement, the last six as Chief of the Kenai Police Department. In 2010 he moved to Anchorage and began work as a legislative staffer, first to Senator Fred Dyson of Eagle River and later to Senator Peter Micciche of Kenai. In 2016 he successfully ran for the state house where he served for four years before losing the 2020 election to Rep. Tom McKay. Kopp did not run in 2022, but in 2024 he returned to the House with the primary goal of re-establishing a defined benefit retirement system for Alaska's public sector employees.
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Ken Alper served as the director of the Tax Division for Governor Bill Walker. After earning a master's degree in Urban Planning at the University of Washington, Ken and his wife Jill relocated to Juneau in the early 90s where they bought the Silver Bow Inn which they still own. Once their business was thriving, Ken took a job with the department of Fish and Game at the tail end of Governor Tony Knowles' administration, a position he kept during the Gov. Frank Murkowski administration. In 2006 he went to work as a legislative staffer for former Representative (and current chair of the Alaska Democratic Party) Eric Croft. He has since worked for a total of 12 different legislators over 17 sessions. He is currently staff to Representative Andy Josephson, co-chair of the House Finance Committee.
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Bruce Botelho is the former Attorney General for the state of Alaska under Republican Governor Wally Hickel and under Democratic Governor Tony Knowles. Bruce also served as Mayor of Juneau from 1988-1991 and from 2003-2012. His paternal grandparents first moved to Juneau in 1897, and really since his birth here in 1948, Juneau has been Bruce Botelho's home.
Today we discuss his start in the Alaska government in Governor Jay Hammond's administration, how he saved Wally Hickel from impeachment and, thus, paved his way to become AG, and finally, how he decided as a former AG to testify in multiple hearings against Governor Mike Dunleavy's nominee to be the next Attorney General Stephen Cox. Stephen Cox was a guest on this podcast on April 30.
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Author Amy Wallace was the ghostwriter for Virginia Roberts Giuffre's, Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice. Virginia Giuffre was an American advocate and survivor of sex trafficking who became widely known for accusing financier Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, including Prince Andrew, of sexual abuse. She died by suicide in April 2025 at her home in Australia. At the time of her death, her book was complete and slated for publication. As you will hear us discuss, Amy needed to come forward at that time to provide a bridge to the manuscript in light of public details about Virginia that came to light just before her death, namely the abusive nature of her marriage which had not been detailed in the book.
Amy Wallace splits her time between books and magazines. Her magazine work has appeared in GQ, Wired, The New Yorker, New York, Esquire, Vanity Fair, Details, The Nation, the New York Times Magazine, Elle, and other national publications. Two of her profiles – “Hollywood’s Information Man” (Los Angeles, 2001) and “Walking Time Bomb” (New York, 2019) – have been nominated for a National Magazine Award.
She has collaborated on two other books, 2021's Hot Seat: What I Learned Leading a Great American Company, by Jeff Immelt, the former CEO of General Electric and 2014's Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration with Ed Catmull, then the president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation.
Call 988, if you or someone you know is having thoughts of self-harm.
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Stephen J. Cox is the acting Attorney General of Alaska since August 29th, 2025. He was appointed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy after the previous Attorney General Treg Taylor resigned to begin his gubernatorial campaign. Stephen Cox previously served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, which is headquartered in Beaumont. He was appointed to that position by US Attorney General Bill Barr during the President Donald Trump's first administration. Cox graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 2006 with his Juris doctorate degree, summa cum laude. After law school, he was a law clerk to Judge James Larry Edmondson of the US Court of Appeals for the 11th circuit based in Atlanta, Georgia. Stephen Cox has also spent time in private practice dealing with white collar investigations, ethics and compliance, and regulatory matters. He and his wife moved with their children to Anchorage in 2021.
To listen to Stephen Cox's appearance on the Hillsdale College Podcast, entitled, "Starting a Classical School in Alaska," click here.
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The Executive Director of the Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (ANDVSA) is Brenda Stanfill. She moved to Fairbanks from Utah when she was 16 years old as a newlywed. Within a few years of arriving she had two children and realized that she had to escape her abusive marriage. It was that experience surviving her own domestic violence that led to a lifetime of advocacy, including 25 years as executive director of the Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living where she supported survivors across Interior Alaska. Although we discuss Brenda's own story, we also discuss Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, whose book Nobody's Girl was published after her death by suicide in 2025.
Visit ANDVSA.org for resources regarding sexual assault and domestic violence. If you are thinking of taking your own life, Call 988.
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Aubrey Wieber is the founder and executive director of the 907 Initiative. The 907 Initiative is an Alaska-based government watchdog organization working to increase public transparency for state and local government. Aubrey grew up mostly in Portland, Oregon, but his youth took a dramatic turn when he and his mother joined a cult, Ramtha's School of Enlightenment, while he was in middle school. That experience had profound repercussions, and he dropped out of high school at 15. But after getting his GED, he earned a degree in journalism and made his way to Anchorage in 2019 for a job at the Anchorage Daily News. He quickly grew disillusioned with the limits placed on him as a reporter and left journalism altogether. We discuss the origin of the 907 Initiative and its place in the Alaska political ecosystem, specifically its coverage of former Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson.
Article about the media and Eric Swalwell from The New Yorker, "What Brought Down Eric Swalwell," by Jon Allsop.
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Author Keri Ladner, PhD, is an expert on fundamentalist politics in America and the radicalization of the conservative movement. She specializes in the religious beliefs of the American right, and her work illuminates how those beliefs have become part of American power structures. Today she discusses her newest book: American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of a New Christendom. This is her second appearance on this podcast. Her first was two years ago after the publication of her book, End Time Politics: From the Moral Majority to QAnon.
Previous episodes regarding fundamentalist Christianity in Alaska and America:
Keri Ladner: author on Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority, and QAnonRon Hoffman: Lead Pastor of Mountain City Church (formerly the Anchorage Baptist Temple)Rev. Matt Schultz: Pastor of Anchorage's First Presbyterian Church on the dangers of Christian NationalismKL Marshall: the Religious Right, Oil, and Alaska
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Samu El Bayani Neek was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. At 12 his parents divorced, and he had to drop out of middle school to begin working as a barber. During this tumultuous period in his life, he discovered a church in Tehran and converted to Christianity. Under Iran's Islamic Regime, a Muslim who abandons Islam can be punished by death. At 20, Sam fled to Turkey where he lived for about 5 years waiting for his refugee application with the United Nations to be processed. In 2009 he was relocated to Anchorage as a refugee where he had to learn English, his sixth language, and where he has remained ever since.
This interview took place on Sunday, April 5, 2026, in Anchorage, and was recorded with a phone. The quality is therefore suboptimal.
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The Alaska State House Representative for East Fairbanks is Will Stapp. This is his second appearance on the podcast. To learn more about Will's early life and military service (including his Purple Heart), check out his first appearance. Today, Will and I talk about the chance for increased public education funding this year, Alaska's therapeutic court system, and the elections bill (Senate Bill 64) that just passed the Alaska State House and Senate.
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Wil Courtney is a Political Reporter and Multimedia Journalist for KTUU Channel 2 Alaska's News Source and host of the station's Political Pipeline podcast. This interview is part of the Alaska Media series. Wil never planned to work in Alaska but in less than a year's time our state has had a profound impact on him, particularly his reporting from Kipnuk and Kwigillingok shortly after Typhoon Halong.
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Nebraska State Senator John Fredrickson was first elected in 2022 by a margin of only 82 votes. He is the first openly gay man to be elected to the Nebraska state legislature. We discuss Nebraska's unicameral non-partisan legislature and its term limits. We also talk about John's youth, how he and his husband adopted their son, and his journey into politics.
This conversation was recorded in Chicago at the Council of State Governments Convention in December 2025.
This is part of a series on the first gay men elected to state legislators around the country. To listen to the episode with Glen Maxey, the first elected to the Texas state legislature, click here.
Upcoming episodes will include the first gay man elected to South Dakota's state legislature and to Iowa's state legislature.
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The Alaska State House Representative for Ketchikan is Jeremy Bynum. We discuss his childhood growing up in a devout Pentecostal household, his escape to the Air Force, and his struggles being accepted as a newcomer to Ketchikan. We also talk about the drama of the Juneau Capitol, specifically his fraught relationship with my chief of staff Kyle Johansen (a previous Representative of Ketchikan) and the heated rhetoric around recent attempts to draw from the legislative savings account. We address a podcast episode from last week with Rep. Zack Fields of downtown Anchorage where inappropriate language was used to describe the House Minority.
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Laura Booch and Dr. Ingrid Johnson both appeared at the Alaska State House Judiciary Committee's informational hearing on Civil Protective Orders that happened on Monday, March 9th. Civil protective orders are also called restraining orders and there are several types, but the most common type is the Domestic Violence Protective Order, and that's what today's episode is about. Right now a long term domestic violence protective order is good for one year, and then the petitioner needs to file for an extension. At each extension, the respondent can appear in court and make the case for why the protective order should not continue. For someone leaving an abusive relationship, this revisiting of that relationship every year can be traumatizing.
Laura Booch is a brave survivor of Domestic Violence who is sharing her story today. Dr. Ingrid Johnson is a criminal justice professor at The University of Alaska Fairbanks who specializes in gender-based violence. She will discuss the alarming statistic that 70% of adult women in Alaska report having experienced domestic violence at some point in their life.
To apply for a civil protective order, click here.
If you need help with an abusive relationship, call Alaska's 24 hour crisis & support line at 907-272-0100, someone is waiting for your call.
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Representative Zack Fields of downtown Anchorage explains the Alaska State House's failed vote to draw from our legislative savings account yesterday. In order to receive a 9 to 1 match from the federal government for our state transportation projects -- a potential investment of almost $700 million -- we needed to fully fund the match yesterday. The Alaska State Senate had earlier this week voted unanimously to draw from our savings account and receive that match, but yesterday the House failed; we needed a 3/4 vote (30/40) and we came up very short (22/40).
This podcast also addresses Rep. Fields behavior during a speech by Congressman Nick Begich earlier this week.
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Edgar Ruiz is the Director of the Council of State Governments West. The Council of State Governments (CSG), is a nonpartisan national organization that connects and informs all three branches of state government to help bring forth best practices. CSG is divided into four regions, and Alaska is part of the Western region. Edgar Ruiz has been the director of CSG west since 2011. He grew up in southern California on the border with Mexico and began with CSG in 2002 managing American-Mexican programs. CSG West runs a training program for new legislators called the Western Leadership Academy (WLA). This interview took place in Juneau while Edgar was visiting the state capitol as part of his duties as Director of CSG West.
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Eric Croft is the Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party. Erik was born to Chancey and Toni Croft in Anchorage, but he grew up with his two siblings traveling back and forth to Juneau where their father started in the House and later served in the Senate eventually serving as president. Chancey Croft was the Democratic candidate for governor in 1978. Eric would serve in the Alaska House representing west Anchorage from 1997 to 2006, at which point he too ran for governor, losing the Democratic nomination to former governor Tony Knowles. Eric served as Anchorage School Board President from 2013 to 2016 and served on the Anchorage Assembly from 2016 to 2019. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Anchorage in 2009 and 2021.
While Eric was in the Alaska House, his minority leader was Ethan Berkowitz. Ethan Berkowitz would go on to be Anchorage mayor while Eric was on the Assembly -- that's the "Ethan" that you hear referenced several times in this episode.
During our conversation we discuss the US military and President Trump's quelling of criticism of military operations. This interview was recorded before the United States invaded Iran.
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To learn more about becoming a foster parent, click here.
Landen Ryan is a senior at Service High School in Anchorage. Madison Brewer is a sophomore at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Both Landen and Madison have had extensive experience in Alaska's foster system. This interview happened while they were in Juneau with the non-profit organization Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA). Madison reference my House Bill 157 which would allow siblings to remain legal siblings even after adoption into different households.
Warning: this podcast episode contains references to violence and trauma.
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2024 Alaska Teacher of the Year Catherine Walker teaches high school engineering and marine biology at Dimond High School. 2018 Alaska Teacher of the Year Ben Walker teaches 7th grade science at Romig Middle School. Both are in their 20th years teaching with the Anchorage School District, but this year will be their last. Due to the perpetual budget cuts in ASD, Ben, Cat, & their two high school-aged children are permanently relocating to Washington state.
Last week Ben published an op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News entitled, "We were honored as Alaska Teachers of the Year. Now we can no longer stay."
Listen to Ben Walker's previous appearance on the podcast here.
Listen to the recent podcast episode with Anchorage School Board president Carl Jacobs, ASD superintendent Jharrett Bryantt, & Bettye Davis East High School Teacher Janice Strickland here.
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The Executive Director of the Alaska Pharmacy Association is Dr. Brandy Seignemartin. After a somewhat circuitous route, Brandy found herself in Doctor of Pharmacy program at Washington State University in her early thirties. Upon completion of that degree she did an executive fellowship in administration and in 2022 came to Alaska to take on the ED role at the Alaska Pharmacy Association and to become an assistant clinical professor at the University of Alaska Anchorage/Idaho State University Doctor of Pharmacy program. We discuss Alaska State House Bill 195, sponsored by Rep. Genevieve Mina,which would grant limited prescriptive authority to pharmacists.
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Clara Baldwin is the assistant special education director for the Anchorage School District and she oversees the Alaska State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She was born in northern California and moved to Anchorage 14 years ago. She has been a lifelong advocate for the rights of the deaf and hard of hearing community and has found her place leading that struggle here in Alaska. Clara is the 2026 Fur Rendezvous Queen -- the first deaf Fur Rondy Queen in state history.
Leah McElwee is the Executive Interpreter for the Idaho Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ICDHH) and is the American Sign Language interpreter for Andrew during this interview. Brenna Kelly is the President of the Alaska Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and the American Sign Language interpreter for Clara Baldwin during this interview. It is Brenna's voice that you hear in the recording.
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Pat Pitney is the President of the University of Alaska System. Growing up in Montana, she started shooting guns at an early age. At age 18 she won a gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles becoming the first Olympic champion in air rifle for women. She competed on the international riflery circuit until 1988 when she married an Alaskan, relocated to Fairbanks, and started a family. She began work at the University then, and, 34 years later, she will be retiring from the University system this May. In 2014, she became the director of the office of management and budget (OMB) for Governor Bill Walker. She oversaw state finances as at a particularly turbulent time in our history and we discuss that time today as well the efforts to reform Alaska's healthcare system.
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Long-time legislative staffer Buddy Whitt spent his childhood moving frequently thanks to his Air Force father. After high school he joined the Marines. Eight years later he left the military, went to college at Texas A&M, and then landed a job in the hotel industry which ultimately brought him to Anchorage over 20 years ago. He began working in the capitol in 2017 as Chief of Staff for Senator Shelley Hughes of Palmer. He later worked for Representatives Kevin McCabeof Big Lake and Laddie Shaw of South Anchorage. He is currently Chief of Staff for Representative Jubilee Underwood of Wasilla.
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Without additional funding, the Anchorage School District is facing a $90 million shortfall for the 2026-2027 school year. The pupil-to-teacher ratio is expected to increase by 4. Multiple positions will be cut all over the district, from vice-principals to teachers, from counselors to nurses, from clerks to custodians. Many sports will also be completely eliminated, including swimming, tennis, volleyball, and hockey. Some schools may close.
Here to discuss the funding crisis are ASD School Board President Carl Jacobs, Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School teacher Janice Strickland, and ASD Superintendent Dr. Jharrett Bryantt.
To listen to Dr. Bryantt's previous podcast episode, click here.
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Former US Senator Mark Begich was born in Anchorage in 1962 to, at the time, Alaska State Senator Nick Begich who would go on to become US House Representative in 1970 and whose plane would disappear in 1972. Mark opened the Mother Lode night club when he was 16, was appointed to the youth commission by Mayor George Sullivan in 1980 and served in Mayor Tony Knowles' administration, all that before being elected to the Anchorage Assembly at age 26 -- the youngest ever to serve on that body. He was sworn in as mayor of Anchorage on July 1, 2003, and elected to the US Senate in 2008 defeating Senator Ted Stevens. He served just one term before being defeated by Sen. Dan Sullivan in 2014.
Listen to Mark's brother Tom Begich's podcast episode here.
Listen to Mark's son Jacob Begich's appearance on the podcast here.
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Brian Fechter was the Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Revenue for the state of Alaska from 2021-2023. Brian grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Alaska in 2012. He worked various financial positions in the state government before becoming Deputy Commissioner of Revenue. In 2023 he became the budget advisor for then Washington Governor Jay Inslee. Last year he moved to Idaho where he currently serves as the executive director for budget and financial planning for the College of Western Idaho. Much of today's conversation revolves around Brian's recent article published in the Alaska Landmine entitled, "The Alaska Legislature could learn a lot from Washington and Idaho."
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Immigration attorney Nicolas Olano was born and raised in Colombia. He moved to Florida for high school, but went back to Colombia for law school. After a short practice there, he decided to return to America where, due to Colombia's different legal education system, he had to attend law school a second time in Florida. He has been practicing immigration law for 24 years. He and his wife Lara Nations own Nations Law Group based in Anchorage where they exclusively practice immigration law. Nicolas discusses how his practice has changed during President Donald Trump’s second term and how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been functioning in Anchorage.
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Bolts Magazine Journalist Alex Burness discusses his article from January 8, 2026, “Americans by Name, Punished for Believing it.” The story is an in-depth look at the case of Tupe Smith, an American Samoan woman living in Whittier who was persuaded to run for school board in 2023 and was elected only to learn afterwards that she was unqualified and had actually committed a crime. Then, ten other American Samoans in Whittier were charged with voter fraud.
American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.
The American Samoans in this story are charged with felonies and face up to ten years in prison even though very few Alaskans understand American Samoans' status.
Just a few days ago, on Thursday, January 15, 2026, the Alaska Court of Appeals heard arguments in the case against Tupe Smith. There’s a chance that the court might dismiss the charges against Ms Smith; however, the state could then bring different charges or could appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court.
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Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration in December 2025 revealed a Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) that omitted nearly $19 million that Anchorage officials expected to use for projects that would make our city's most dangerous roads safer.
The Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) allocated just $9 million for Anchorage projects out of the $77 million total for the state's program. On the show to comment is Alaska State House Representative Zack Fields whose district includes downtown Anchorage.
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Dr. Shauna Birdsall is a naturopathic doctor with over 25 years of experience in integrative oncology. She got her naturopathic medical degree in Oregon and then did her residency in oncology in Illinois. She later practiced in Arizona and then from there ventured to Alaska in 2019 where she practiced in several oncology practices along allopathic providers in the MatSu, Soldotna, and here in Anchorage.
Allopathic medicine is the medicine that most of us think of as traditional medicine; MDs, DOs, nurse practitioners and physician assistants like myself are part of the allopathic medical tradition while naturopaths are an alternative medical tradition. But as you will hear from our guest today the two are not mutually exclusive. During the course of today's conversation we will reference House Bill 147 sponsored by Representative Mike Prax of North Pole. This legislation would grant Alaska naturopaths the ability to write prescriptions for certain allopathic medications, among other things.
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Kirk Rose is the CEO of the Anchorage Community Land Trust (ACLT). ACLT started in Mountain View in 2003 and has supported new housing, public spaces, and businesses ever since. Kirk began as an intern at the organization 15 years ago and has never left. We discuss his journey to this work and the specific role that ACLT plays in supporting foreign-born entrepreneurs here in Anchorage.
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Debbie Corbett is an archeologist who has been working in Alaska for over 40 years. After 7 years in the 1980s scouting ancient burial grounds all across Alaska for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she got her master's degree at the University of Alaska Fairbanks where she specialized in Aleutian archeology. She had already spent time in the Aleutian islands and knew that this region and its people was her passion. Forty years later she and fellow archeologist Diane Hanson have written the definitive textbook on the Aleutian islands and its people, Culture and Archeology of the Ancestral Unangax/Aleut of the Aleutian Islands, Alaska, published by Springer in 2025.
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Bill Hill is the former superintendent of the Bristol Bay Borough School District. Raised in Kokhanok, his family moved to Naknek when he was a sophomore in high school. After earning his teaching credential, Bill returned to Naknek before moving with his wife and 4 kids to Juneau where he taught middle school. After his oldest two kids graduated from Juneau-Douglas High School, the family returned to Naknek where Bill became an administrator in the Lake and Peninsula School District (which had been founded by his uncle Frank Hill). In 2013, Bill became the superintendent of the Bristol Bay Borough School district, a post he held until his retirement in 2023.
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Harriet Drummond was first elected to the Anchorage School Board in 1994 where she served for nine years. She then represented West Anchorage on the Anchorage Assembly, leaving that post when she was elected to the Alaska State House in 2012 to represent Spenard, North Star, Forest Park, Huntington Park, north Midtown, Rogers Park and Geneva Woods for ten years. She chaired or co-chaired the House Education Committee for six years.
In 2022, she lost her seat due to redistricting which left her in a largely new district and challenging another incumbent, Representative Zack Fields. Now, three years out of office, Harriet offers her reflections on her career and insight into issues that matter most to her, primarily public education. Her husband of 22 years, rural economic development consultant Elstun Lauesen, was yesterday's podcast guest; they have been integral members of the Alaska Democratic Party for many decades.
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Elstun Lauesen grew up in Alaska and after dropping out of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1970, he managed former Alaska State Senator Joe Josephson's campaign for the US Senate to replace Bob Bartlett who had died in office; ultimately Joe lost the Democratic primary to Wendell Kay, and Republican Ted Stevens won that seat. After time at Harvard University (where he lived in Constitutional Law Professor Laurence Tribe's basement), Elstun returned to Alaska where he made a career in rural economic development. We discuss some of his projects on Saint Lawrence Island off the coast of western Alaska.
Elstun is known to many listeners as a progressive firebrand; he and his wife of 21 years, former Alaska State House Representative Harriet Drummond, have been at the heart of Alaska Democratic circles for decades. Elstun has a pulmonary disorder that requires him to use supplemental oxygen and makes extended conversation challenging.
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Steve Williams is the director of Diversions Programming at the Anchorage Police Department. The Diversion Program allows officers to offer offenders a path to drug treatment instead of charges at the point of arrest. Previously, Steve was the CEO at the Alaska Mental Health Trust. And. prior to that, he worked for the mental health court. We discuss all three of those roles in detail on today's episode.
To listen to APD Chief Sean Case's podcast episode, click here.
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Anna Taylor is the executive director of the Alaska Institute for Justice which is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the rights of everyone living in Alaska regardless of immigration status. Anna is the daughter of a Vermont State House Rep father and a veterinarian mother. Anna got interested in law while living in Ghana, West Africa, and initially wanted to work in international law, but an experience in law school convinced her that she could do more good by helping folks navigate the American immigration system. Her work at AIJ has largely revolved around helping survivors of abuse acquire legal status in the United States.
Read: "ICE shift in tactics leads to a soaring number of at-large arrests," by Mairanne Levine, Emmanuel Martinez, & Alvaro Valino, here.
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Dr. Michael Livingston is an Unangax̂ historian. The Unangax̂ are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, also known by the Russian-given name Aleut. For many years it was thought that Benny Benson designed the Alaska state flag when he was 13 and that, because he had been born in Chignik, that he was Alutiiq. But thanks to the research and persistence of our guest today, Benny Benson’s birth certificate was posthumously corrected; we now know he was 14 when he designed the Alaska state flag. We also know that Benny’s maternal ancestors are from Unalaska making Benny Unangax̂, not Alutiiq. We discuss Dr. Michael Livingston’s own story, Unangax̂ history, and Benny Benson.
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Today, New Year’s Eve 2025, I thought I’d take a look back at a few episodes from the last year. I am in my 5th year of the East Anchorage Book Club podcast and last year I released 78 episodes. This podcast is extremely meaningful to me as both as a legislator and as a person: I learn about issues that I am unfamiliar with, I create relationships with unexpected people, and it really is through editing the conversations that I internalize them and come out of them changed.
Alaska needs foster families. Click here to learn how to become one.
Today's episodes includes excerpts from the following interviews:
Hollis French: former AK Senate Minority Leader, gubernatorial candidate, and AOGCC CommissionerRep. Jubilee Underwood (R-Wasilla): Former President of the MatSu School BoardJosh Revak: Former Alaska State Senator & Iraq war veteranMara Kimmel: Director of the ACLU of Alaska discusses ICE detainees held at the Anchorage Correctional ComplexPRIDE 2025: JJ Harrier, Chair of the Anchorage Pride ParadeRep. Zack Fields (D-Anchorage) discusses the US Congressional Budget Reconciliation Act of 2025AK MEDIA: Dan O'Neill: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Columnist 1998-2002LEAVING AMERICA: Aaron Poe on relocating his family to Ireland in 2025Margaret Stock: Immigration attorney, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, & 2016 AK US Senate CandidateLes Gara & Amanda Metivier: Audit of the Office of Children's ServicesFoster Care in Alaska 2025: Deko Harbi, Shannon Smith, & Tali Stone
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Today's episode is part of a series called "Leaving America," about folks who have decided to move outside the country and how they did it.
Our guest is Joanna Keenan. Jo and I worked together in Santa Cruz, California. We were both physician assistants in the same emergency department at the local hospital there. Eight years ago Jo and her spouse Kelly retired to Mexico. Five years ago, Joanna came out as a trans woman. We discuss our shared experience working in American healthcare, and her and Kel's decision to retire to Mexico and the logistics of that move. We also talk about her experience coming out as a trans woman in Mexico, and her and Kel's move back to the United States this year in large part because they have turned 65 and now qualify for Medicare which gives them access to better health care than what they had in Mexico.
Other episodes in the "Leaving America" series:
Aaron Poe (Ireland)
Tashina Duttle (Spain)
Daniel Gundlach (Germany)
Kathy McCue (New Zealand)
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As a 13-year-old, former Alaska State House Representative Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins headed Vermont Governor Howard Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign in Alaska. He immersed himself in all things political as a high school student, but gave up politics when he got to college at Yale. During his junior year, he was contacted by several people encouraging him to return home to Sitka to run against the incumbent Republican serving in the state house seat, co-chair of the powerful House Finance committee Bill Thomas. Jonathan ran, won, and served for 10 years in the House where his proudest achievement was getting his HB 216 signed into law in 2014 which made 20 Native languages official Alaska state languages. Much of this interview draws from a 2018 Politico story that profiled three young Alaskans: Forrest Dunbar, John-Henry Heckendorn, and our guest Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins.
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This Christmas morning US Senator Lisa Murkowski discusses her book that came out last summer, Far From Home: An Alaskan Senator Faces the Extreme Climate of Washington, DC. And, although much of what we speak about is from the book, we also discuss her vote on HR 1 (referred to by President Donald Trump as the "One Big Beautiful Bill"), her concerns about the use of the National Guard, and the insurrection that happened on January 6, 2021.
The co-writer of Far from Home is Charles Wohlforth; listen to his podcast episode here.
Listen to Beth Kerttula's podcast episode here.
Listen to Andrew Halcro's podcast episode here.
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After a childhood in east Anchorage, Andrew Halcro worked his way up in his family's Avis Rental Car business eventually becoming CEO in 2002 after leaving the state house where he had served for four years representing the Sand Lake district of west Anchorage. After an unsuccessful gubernatorial run in 2006, he continued a popular political blog until he became the president of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce in 2012. In 2015 he unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Anchorage losing to his friend Democrat Ethan Berkowitz. Mayor Berkowitz appointed Halcro to be director of the Anchorage Community Development Authority. Through a collaboration with the Anchorage Daily News in 2021, he started a podcast called "With All Due Respect," which became extremely popular for its biting criticism of Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson. Andrew continues to host "With All Due Respect," which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Minnesota State House Representative Rick Hansen was first elected to represent South St. Paul in the Minnesota State House in 2004 along with his colleague Melissa Hortman who represented northern Minneapolis and went on to serve as Speaker of the Minnesota House for 6 years. On June 14, 2025, Melissa and her husband Mark were assassinated when they opened their front door to a man impersonating a police officer. The man had come from Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman's home where he had shot Senator Hoffman and his wife multiple times; their daughter called 911 and saved her parents. The assassin had a list of lawmakers to assassinate, and our guest was on that list. We discuss his experience and his thoughts about the future.
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John Heilman is a West Hollywood city council member and former mayor. West Hollywood was incorporated as a city in 1984, and John was elected to the first city council and has been serving almost continuously ever since. He is a lecturer at the University of Southern California's law school where he was voted adjunct professor of the year in 2008, 2010, and 2016. He is also a professor at Southwestern Law School where he has been elected a professor of the year for the past 5 years. I met John at the 2025 Victory Institute LGBTQ+ International Leadership Convention held in Washington, DC, where he was inducted in to the LGBTQ+ Hall of Fame. In 2026, he will become mayor of West Hollywood for the 9th time.
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Laura Norton-Cruz is a licensed master social worker, former teacher & victim advocate, artist, and mother of two elementary-aged children. Over the past two years, she has co-produced three documentaries with filmmaker Joshua Albeza Branstetter. The first, “At Home/In Home: Rural Alaska Childcare crisis,” was based in Kotzebue and highlighted the dire lack of childcare in that community. The second, released in April 2025, was called, “ILP,” and focused on the infant learning program in the Mat-Su Valley. Her most recent, “Growing the Kenai: childcare licensing,” illuminates the obstacles to licensed childcare in Alaska. Last week she published an op-ed in the Mississippi Free Press entitled, “Raising teens in the era of the Epstein Files,” and that will frame our discussion for the second half of today’s interview. Laura supports my House Bill 101 which would raise the age of consent in Alaska from 16 to 18 helping prevent the sexual victimization of young people by predators who take advantage of our low age of consent.
For a timeline of all sexual misconduct allegations against President Donald Trump, click here.
This is the Politico article I referenced about Katie Johnson, "Woman suing Trump over alleged teen rape drops suit, again."
To watch Megyn Kelly’s full comments about Jeffrey Epstein, click here.
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Dr. Kathy McCue is an emergency medicine physician who first visited Alaska as a medical student in 1999. For 2 decades she staffed Anchorage ERs, mainly at the Alaska Native Medical Center but also at Providence, where she famously took care of Dan Bigley, author of Beyond the Bear, after a mauling left him blind and unlikely to survive. Dr. McCue moved her family in 2021 to New Zealand for an 18 month adventure. Then, in August of 2025, she and her family moved back to New Zealand permanently. They live in a small town on the northeast coast of the North Island where they are renovating an old farm house and growing their own vegetables. We discuss why they moved, the challenges involved, and their thoughts on their decision.
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The representative for the northernmost state house district in the United States is Rep. Robyn Frier (D-Utqiagvik). Robyn was born and raised in Utqiagvik. She served on the North Slope Borough School Board for four years, the last two as President. In 2024, she ran to represent House District 40, and won, defeating the incumbent Thomas Baker, as well as the former mayor of Kotzebue Saima Chase who had won the primary. Today we talk about her childhood, her journey into politics, and her experiences during her first year in the legislature.
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Rabbi Abram Goodstein was raised in Anchorage where he graduated from Service High School. After graduating from Rabbinical School, he moved back to Anchorage where he has served as rabbi at Beth Shalom, home to the largest Jewish community in Alaska, for over 7 tears. Today, we are discussing the Washington Post article republished in the Anchorage Daily News from Thursday, November 20, 2025: “US Coast Guard will no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols,” by Tara Coop and Michelle Boorstein.
After recording and editing the podcast, there was an update posted by one of the authors of the Washington Post story, Tara Copp. I will read her tweet from about 8:00 PM on Thursday night: "Late this evening, the Coast Guard published a new policy dated November 20th that reestablishes, swastikas and nooses as hate symbols, not as just, "potentially divisive," and states that they are expressly prohibited. Importantly, it says the new guidance published tonight would supersede any other policies out there."
Click here to read The Hill's article, "Coast Guard denies report it won’t classify swastikas, nooses as hate symbols."
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Today, Alaska state house Representative Zack Fields published an op-ed in the Alaska Current called: “Look at the Criminals who Donald Trump is pardoning.” The article explores pardons related to cryptocurrency. In Anchorage we have at least 3 crypto ATMs where folks can deposit cash and purchase crypto or sell crypto and withdraw cash.
Cryptocurrencies are essentially digital money. From the very start, crypto has been an attractive investment for drug dealers. This is for several reasons:
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Its pseudo-anonymity – cryptocurrency wallets are identified by a string of numbers and letters, not names.
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Their decentralization – crypto transactions don’t rely on banks and those transactions can be performed without receipts – this reduces oversight from traditional financial institutions and law enforcement.
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Large scale International transfers are much faster than through traditional banks. This enables criminal enterprises, like drug cartels, to move huge sums of money anywhere in the world almost immediately.
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Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are the primary mode of payment for dark web market places where folks can purchase hacked personal information, drugs, and other illegal goods.
Alaska Congressman Nick Begich is a big fan of Bitcoin. And according to reporting by Liz Ruskin at Alaska Public media he’s made a lot of money from it, turning a small investment into an asset now worth around $760,000. he’s the sponsor of a bill in congress that would make the United States a crypto owner. Begich’s Bitcoin bill is similar to an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March, creating a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.” Begich has described it as a place to store wealth that would be similar to the U.S. gold reserves.
The Trump family created a crypto business in 2024 called World Liberty Financial. In April of this year, President Trump ordered the disbanding of a Department of Justice crypto crime investigations team. In May, Binance, the largest cryptoexchange in the world, invested $2 billion in the Trump crypto enterprise. And just 3 weeks ago, Trump pardoned Changeng Zhao the founder of Binance who was serving a sentence after pleading guilty to money laundering charges – his company has laundered huge sums of money for Hamas and Al-Quaeda.
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The Executive director of the Alaska Municipal League is Nils Andreassen. The Alaska Municipal League (AML) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, statewide membership organization of 165 cities, boroughs, and unified municipalities, representing over 97 percent of Alaska’s residents. Originally organized in 1950, the League of Alaskan Cities became the Alaska Municipal League in 1962 when boroughs joined the League. Nils grew up in Washington State, earned a degree in Peace and Development studies from the University of Bradford in Great Britain, and served as the executive director of the Institute of the North prior to moving to AML in 2018.
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Physician Associate Christi Froiland spent a decade as an athletic trainer in the lower 48 before she went to PA school. She then returned to her hometown of Anchorage where she has practiced at both a dermatology clinic and an urgent care for over 18 years. She has also served for the last decade as the PA representative to the Alaska State Medical Association (ASMA).
Outside of the legislature I, too, am a PA, and I know Christi through our professional organization the Alaska Academy of Physician Assistants. Our American professional organization (AAPA) has officially changed the name of our profession to Physician Associates. Alaska PAs have voted to officially change our name to physician associates as well, but the name change has not happened at the regulatory or statutory level yet. The PA profession in Alaska needs modernizing beyond a name change, and although we do not speak about it directly, we will reference Senate Bill 89 sponsored by Sen. Löki Tobin, which would modernize Alaska laws governing PAs.
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Libby Roderick is a singer, songwriter, and recording artist, who was born in Anchorage just before statehood. Her father Jack Roderick was the last mayor of the borough of Anchorage prior to the unification of the municipality in 1975. Libby recorded her first album in 1990 which included the song, “How could Anyone,” which has been featured on CNN, CBS, and the Associated Press. Her music has been featured at the U.N. Conference on Women, with Coretta Scott King and Walter Cronkite in Washington D.C., and played on Mars by NASA.
Libby has also been the director of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Difficult Dialogues Initiative since 2006; through that initiative she has helped reinforce and protect civil discourse at centers of higher learning and beyond. According to former UAA Chancellor and governor of Alaska Sean Parnell: “Libby’s work is a critical keystone in the university’s service to students and to Alaska. The democracy-threatening polarization of the American public, social media’s influence on our inability to find common ground, and the difficult but necessary discussions related to human dignity and educational access have combined to maker her leadership paramount to meeting the mission to the university.”
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Attorney John McKay has practiced media law in Anchorage for almost 50 years. He has represented Alaskan and national news organizations, photographers, artists, and others on libel, privacy and copyright issues, access to government proceedings and records, subpoenas to journalists, secret settlements by public agencies, cameras in courts, and many other matters.
He taught Media Law at the University of Alaska Anchorage for more than 30 years. In 2007, John was the first recipient of the Alaska Press Club’s First Amendment Award, and in 2011 on the 40th Anniversary of the ACLU of Alaska, he was recognized as one of the “40 Heroes of Constitutional Rights and Civil Liberties.” He is the author of a legal guidebook for Alaska news reporters, and of publications on privacy law and open government law.
John has two sons both in their mid-30s, whose mother, the late Suzan Nightingale McKay, was a beloved columnist and opinions editor at the Anchorage Daily News.
To read John's "Open Government Guide" for the state of Alaska, click here.
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Chloe Pleznac is a former reporter for the Homer News. After six years working in public radio, Chloe got her first newspaper job at the Homer News in January of this year. After the right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10, the Representative for Homer Sarah Vance co-organized a vigil for Kirk in Homer which was held on Sept. 17. Chloe decided to cover the vigil for the paper and posted her story online along with video of the event to the Homer News website on Tuesday Sept. 23. Rep. Vance objected to the article and wrote a letter to Carpenter Media which owns not only the Homer News but also the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai and the Juneau Empire. By Thursday Sept 25, Chloe’s story had been taken down, rewritten, and then re-published online without Chloe’s byline and without a note stating that the story had been changed. Neither Chloe nor her editor Erin Thompson were informed that the story had been taken down, edited, and republished. Ultimately, both Chloe and her editor resigned from the paper because of the incident. Joining them in their resignation were the entire staff of the Peninsula Clarion in Homer Jeff Helminiak and Jake Dye, who appeared on this podcast the day after the resignations. You will hear Chloe and I reference Jake and also Michael Armstrong who was the former editor of the Homer News who was a guest on this podcast around the same time as the resignations.
To read more about the incident, check out this article by Eric Stone from Alaska Public Media, "Homer newspaper revises Charlie Kirk memorial coverage after pressure from Republican lawmaker."
To listen to Jake Dye's episode, click here.
To listen to Michael Armstrong's episode, click here.
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Today's guest is the executive director of Project Alaska, Tetyana Robbins. Project Alaska is an organization that helps Ukrainian refugees find meaningful employment in Alaska. From helping improve their English language skills, to navigating the American immigration system, to helping with certifications and even transportation, Project Alaska does everything it can to make sure Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country can quickly achieve self-sufficiency here in Alaska. Tetyana immigrated to Anchorage herself from Kharkiv, Ukraine, over 20 years ago when she married her husband Mike Robbins. With her Masters degree in accounting and auditing, she was a natural fit for her husband’s business ventures where she tracked the finances and kept the books. When war broke out in her home country in 2022, she and her husband founded the Ukraine Relief Program which helped Ukrainians escape to Alaska, contributing to one of the biggest waves of foreign resettlement our state has ever seen. Now, as the legal status of those recent refugees is called into question, she is advocating the federal government to find a path to citizenship for the over 2,000 Ukrainians who are vital to our state's workforce.
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Several friends and neighbors have moved out of the United States over the past year, and many more Alaskans are talking about it. Today's guest is an opera historian who has been living in Berlin, Germany, for the past 13 years. Daniel Gundlach is a former professional classical singer and accompanist who today hosts a podcast called Countermelody. The Countermelody Podcast is focused primarily on opera singers of the past century that may not have received the attention they deserved. Daniel is a countertenor which is a type of classical male singing voice equivalent to that of a female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice type. Today we talk about his life and career, but we will also discuss the trials and tribulations of being an American emigrant in Germany.
Musical Excerpts:
Leontyne Price, "O patria mia," from Verdi's Aida
Joan Sutherland, "Eccola," from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor
Anna Moffo, "Sempre Libera," from Verdi's La Traviata
Gilda Cruz-Romo, "O mio babbino caro," from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi
Daniel Gundlach, "O Lord, whose mercies numberless," from Handel's Saul
Daniel Gundlach, "O fatal day," from Handel's Saul
Daniel Gundlach, "On a dit sur Venise tant et tant de choses," from Gualtiero Dazzi's Le Luthier de Venise
Daniel Gundlach, "Danny Boy," Irish Folk Song
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Margaret D. Stock is an immigration attorney, and retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Reserve. She is a recognized expert on immigration law as it applies to U.S. military personnel and veterans. In 2013, she was a recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, often referred to as a "genius grant." She has taught law at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.
She ran for the United States Senate as an Independent candidate in the 2016 Senate election in Alaska losing to the incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Today we discuss her life, but also her concerns about the politicization of the US military, the change in the way our country treats its immigrants, and the illegal extra-judicial killings of Venezuelans by the US military in the Caribbean Sea.
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Tashina Maasac Duttle is the chief operating officer and co-owner of DeerStone Consulting. DeerStone is a company focused on improving the infrastructure of Alaska's rural and Tribal communities by managing projects that upgrade energy systems, improve water and sanitation facilities, and expand broadband access. Tashina earned her bachelors degree in Sustainable Resources Management from UAF and her masters in project management from UAA. During covid, she started her own company which eventually merged with two of her friends’ companies to become DeerStone. In May of this year, she moved her family, including her husband and three kids, to northern Spain.
This episode is part of a series on why some people are leaving America permanently, and how they did it.
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Rachael Miller is the chief advocacy officer of the Food Bank of Alaska. The Food Bank of Alaska was founded in 1979 by a group of Anchorage churches and community volunteers; it operates under the belief that no one should go hungry. They partner with over 150 organizations and provide food to nearly 20,000 Alaskans a week. From Oct. 20-26 is Anchorage Restaurant week. Learn more here.
Rachael grew up in Ohio, and food & food policy have always been front and center in her life. She first visited Alaska 16 years ago to commercial fish. She has worked on food policy in Benin, West Africa, taught at Alaska Pacific University for 9 years, and has been the Chief Advocacy Officer at the Food Bank since January 2024.
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The Executive Director of Running Free Alaska is Lisa Keller. Running Free Alaska is a structured running program for incarcerated women at Highland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River. Today we discuss how that program came about, what it entails, and the types of support that the organization is trying to provide to women after their release from prison. I got to know Lisa when she took a job as legislative staff, first to Representative Andy Josephson two years ago, and then Representative Alyse Galvin last year. We discuss Lisa’s childhood in Anchorage, the value sports have played in her life, her battle with breast cancer, and her time as host of the Alaska Public Media Radio Show Outdoor Explorer.
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The Chief of the Anchorage Police Department is Sean Case. As a 7th grader at Hanshew Middle School in Anchorage, he decided he wanted to be a police officer. He got his bachelor’s degree in Justice at UAA. At age 20, Alaska wouldn’t hire him because he was too young, so he got his first job in law enforcement with the Los Angeles Police Department. After just a couple years there, he came back to Anchorage and has been with APD ever since. Sean Case was appointed Chief of Police in 2024 by Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance.
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This is wildlife biologist Aaron Poe's second appearance on this podcast. His first appearance was 18 months and was part of a series on Transgender youth in Alaska. Aaron is the father of a trans daughter and when Donald Trump was elected to his second term, Aaron after 27 years in Anchorage decided with his family that they needed to moveto Ireland so that his trans daughter could finish high school safely. This episode is the first in a series about folks who have left the United States permanently. We will be talking about their reasons for leaving as well as the practical matters of how one can move themselves or their families to another country.
To contact the Irish Diaspora Center, click here.
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Doug Schrage is the Chief of the Anchorage Fire Department. After a childhood in Anchorage, Doug went to the University of Alaska Fairbanks where he thought he'd begin his studies to become a dentist. After a friend persuaded him to become a student firefighter, though, he quickly realized that being a firefighter was his calling. 2025 marks 40 years since his first with the Anchorage Fire Department. He was initially appointed Chief in 2021 by Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson. He was reappointed last year by Mayor Suzanne LaFrance.
Learn more about becoming an Anchorage Firefighter by clicking here.
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Rep. Julie Coulombe represents Anchorage's hillside in the Alaska State House. First elected in 2022, this interview was recorded on March 16, 2023, at the Capitol in Juneau, shortly into her first session as a legislator. She discusses her childhood in Illinois & Georgia, meeting her husband, moving to Alaska, and raising their four kids. She also discusses her business background, her involvement with the political group Save Anchorage, and her collaborative approach to legislating.
The "revisited" series features interviews previously recorded for the East Anchorage Matters podcast.
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Today is a brief bonus episode explaining Governor Dunleavy’s recent veto of Senate Bill 113 which would have required internet companies to pay corporate income taxes based on the location of their sales rather than the location of their offices. This bill would have put Alaska in alignment with 36 other states and would have leveled the playing field our local mom-&-pop businesses which are forced to pay taxes while companies such as Amazon, Hulu, or Netflix are not. Senate Bill 113 would have modernized our corporate tax structure and the additional revenue was to be directed to public education. Alaska State House Representative for downtown Anchorage Representative Zack Fields explains the veto and its implications. Read more here.
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Jake Dye had been the lone news reporter at the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai for three years until his resignation last night, September 29. He is the great-grandson of the former mayor of Kenai James Dye and has deep roots in the city on both sides of his family. He graduated from UAA's journalism program in 2022 and shortly thereafter began work at the Clarion. We discuss the difficulties of being a new reporter isolated in such a small newsroom, what happened at the Homer News this past week, and his decision to resign.
Context for today's episode:
On September 10, conservative political organizer Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. On September 17, hundreds of mourners gathered on the beach in Homer to remember the slain activist at a memorial service partially organized by Alaska State House Representative Sarah Vance. Homer News journalist Chloe Pleznak attended that outdoor memorial service, live streamed parts of it, and wrote a story about it that appeared in the September 25th edition of the paper. Rep. Vance took offense to the coverage provided by Pleznak. In a September 25th letter to the Executive Vice President of Sound Publishing John Carr and the CEO of Carpenter Media Tim Prince, the corporate owners of Homer News, she expressed her outrage, calling out the use of terms such as "far right" and "Christian nationalist" as prejudicial labels. She went on to highlight what she considers to be the “historic bias” of the Homer News and stated that: “this article represents the peak of a long-standing pattern of left-wing slant.” She concluded by warning that if the paper continues its partisan spin, “the consequence will be financial as well as reputational.”
The result was that Carpenter Media removed Pleznak’s article from the Homer News website and later replaced it with an edited version that removed Pleznak’s byline.
The social media commentary in both conservative and progressive circles was fierce, with folks on the right arguing that the Homer News should be ashamed of its biased coverage, and with those on the left arguing that the unauthorized editing of Pleznak’s article without input from either her or her editor Erin Thompson was un-American censorship. On Monday, September 29, Chloe Pleznak, Erin Thompson, and our guest Jake Dye resigned from their papers.
EXCERPTS FROM REP. VANCE LETTER (read full letter here):
'Dear Mr. Carr,
'I am writing to express my outrage over the article, "Homer holds vigil for Charlie Kirk," published in the Homer News on Tuesday, September 3, 2025.
'The piece is not journalism, but rather it is hate-baiting at its worst . . .
'From the opening paragraphs, reporter Chloe Pleznac branded Charlie Kirk with prejudicial labels such as "far-right" and "Christian-Nationalist icon," while smearing his views as "racist," "controversial," and "conspiracy theories." These are not facts; they are editorial judgements and political talking points. . . .
'And let me be clear, this is not an isolated lapse. The historic bias of the Homer News is widely recognized in the community, and this article represents the peak of a long-standing pattern of left-wing slant. . . .
'If the paper continues to treat community events as opportunities for partisan spin, the consequence will be financial as well as reputational. . . .
'I urge you to take immediate corrective action.'
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Former editor of the Homer News Michael Armstrong moved to Alaska from Florida in 1979. After over a decade in Anchorage working as a freelance reporter at the ADN and as an adjunct English professor at UAA, he and his wife Jenny Stroyek moved to Homer when Jenny became co-owner of the Homer Bookstore. In 1999, Michael began work at the Homer News, where he remained until 2022 retiring as editor of that paper. Michael has published many short stories in publications like “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” as well as numerous anthologies. His novels include After the Zap, Agvik, Bridge over Hell, The Hidden War, and Truck Stop Earth.
Context for today's episode:
On September 10, conservative political organizer Charlie Kirk was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University. On September 17, hundreds of mourners gathered on the beach in Homer to remember the slain activist at a memorial service partially organized by Alaska State House Representative Sarah Vance. Homer News journalist Chloe Pleznak attended that outdoor memorial service, live streamed parts of it, and wrote a story about it that appeared in the September 25th edition of the paper. Rep. Vance took offense to the coverage provided by Pleznak. In a September 25th letter to the Executive Vice President of Sound Publishing John Carr and the CEO of Carpenter Media Tim Prince, the corporate owners of Homer News, she expressed her outrage, calling out the use of terms such as "far right" and "Christian nationalist" as prejudicial labels. She went on to highlight what she considers to be the “historic bias” of the Homer News and stated that: “this article represents the peak of a long-standing pattern of left-wing slant.” She concluded by warning that if the paper continues its partisan spin, “the consequence will be financial as well as reputational.”
The result was that Carpenter Media removed Pleznak’s article from the Homer News website and later replaced it with an edited version that removed Pleznak’s byline.
The social media commentary in both conservative and progressive circles was fierce, with folks on the right arguing that the Homer News should be ashamed of its biased coverage, and with those on the left arguing that the unauthorized editing of Pleznak’s article without input from either her or her editor Erin Thompson was un-American censorship.
EXCERPTS FROM REP. VANCE LETTER (read full letter here):
'Dear Mr. Carr,
'I am writing to express my outrage over the article, "Homer holds vigil for Charlie Kirk," published in the Homer News on Tuesday, September 3, 2025.
'The piece is not journalism, but rather it is hate-baiting at its worst . . .
'From the opening paragraphs, reporter Chloe Pleznac branded Charlie Kirk with prejudicial labels such as "far-right" and "Christian-Nationalist icon," while smearing his views as "racist," "controversial," and "conspiracy theories." These are not facts; they are editorial judgements and political talking points. . . .
'And let me be clear, this is not an isolated lapse. The historic bias of the Homer News is widely recognized in the community, and this article represents the peak of a long-standing pattern of left-wing slant. . . .
'If the paper continues to treat community events as opportunities for partisan spin, the consequence will be financial as well as reputational. . . .
'I urge you to take immediate corrective action.'
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ABC/Fox Your Alaska Link’s evening news anchor Trill Gates began her education as a broadcast journalist as a junior at Bartlett High in the late 1980s. While in high school, she did an internship at the Fox news station on Tudor Road where she still is today. Trill became famous in the early '90s as "Kiddie Fox" on the "Fox 4 Kids Club" TV show. We talk about that experience and how unlikely it would be for that type of broadcast to thrive today. When her four kids were young, Trill left TV news and went to work as an elementary school teacher and later as a school librarian in the Anchorage School District. In 2022, she returned to ABC/Fox to anchor the evening news. We talk about how TV news has evolved and where it’s headed. We also discuss her recent trip to DC to interview Alaska’s federal delegation in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
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This month a data breach at Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center allegedly exposed 60,000 patient records to hackers (ANHC has approximately 15,000 patients). Today on the show we talk about that case specifically, but also Alaska’s cybersecurity more generally. Our guest is Leon Jaimes, an Anchorage-based network security professional who has done security consulting in the healthcare, financial services, state and local government, telecommunications, and retail sectors. We discuss his early life as well his path to IT and Alaska, but we also offer specific actions that Alaskans can take to make themselves more cybersecure.
Leon Jaimes is the chair of the House District 20 Democrats and is the treasurer of the Anchorage Democrats.
Check to see if your email address has been part of a data breach here at "Have I been Pwned?"
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Lisa Alexia is a psychiatric physician assistant in Anchorage specializing in eating disorders. Today we talk about her entrance to the health care field as a community health aide in Nikolai, Alaska, her decision to go back to school to become a physician assistant, and her work with eating disorders. But the last half of our conversation is the reason why she is on the show. Back in May, she authored an editorial in the ADN calling for an end to daylight saving time in Alaska. PA Alexia has become a subject matter expert on circadian rhythms, time zones, and the health risks of the sleep disruptions associated with time zone displacement, something that happened in 1983 when Alaska consolidated four time zones into one. She will explain today that what would be best for Alaska's health would be for our clocks to fall back and never spring forward again.
For questions about eating disorders, visit AKEDA.
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Tomorrow, September 16th, 2025, Anchorage will celebrate 50 years as a unified municipality. In honor of that anniversary I am re-releasing an episode from last year with Charter Commissioner, Jane Angvik. This episode is almost exclusively about the charter commission. I have another episode with Jane about her life; here's that link. I have also interviewed the other two living members of the Anchorage Charter Commission: Joe Josephson and Lisa Parker – you can find links to their episodes here:
- Joe Josephson
- Lisa Parker.
Happy 50th birthday to the municipality of Anchorage!
Anchorage Charter Commission member Jane Angvik ran for the Anchorage Charter Commission not too long after she had moved to Anchorage in 1973. What she had learned during her time working for the Greater Anchorage Borough Planning Department was that the City of Anchorage and the Borough of Anchorage hated each other – they couldn’t stop suing each other, and the State of Alaska had grown weary of the drama. The ridiculous conflict even resulted in the loss of life. This is Jane Angvik’s recollections of her time serving on the Charter Commission.
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Rep. Ted Eischeid is the Alaska state house representative for North Muldoon in Anchorage, and his wife Hedy Eischeid is President of the Anchorage Democrats. Both Ted and Hedy were public school teachers in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where they met. We will hear their stories and how they ended up in Alaska. Much of their episode revolves around union work; Hedy is the current state-wide organizer for NEA-Alaska, which is the Alaska affiliate of the National Education Association.
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Dermot Cole is a longtime Fairbanks newspaper reporter, columnist and author who began his career at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in the late 70s while he was still a student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He stayed with that paper until 2013 when he became a columnist at the Alaska Dispatch, an online news blog funded by Alice Rogoff, the former CFO of US News & World Report. In 2014 Rogoff purchased the Anchorage Daily News and merged it with the Alaska Dispatch. Dermot stayed on as a columnist until 2017 when the ADN declared bankruptcy and was sold to the Binkley family. Dermot was let go and shortly afterwards started his own blog which continues to this day: "Reporting from Alaska." He is the author of 6 books including, North to the Future: the Alaska Story 1959 – 2009.
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James Devens is the director of KCHU public radio which serves the communities around Prince William Sound and Wrangell-St Elias National Park. At the time he became director five years ago, he was the youngest director of a public radio station in America. Jimmy was elected to Valdez city council in 2020 and re-elected in 2023. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 2024, but he remains an active member on the council and is a founding member of their housing committee. Although Jimmy and I discuss the absolute destruction that cuts in federal funding will have on KCHU, much of the first part of today’s episode will be about Jimmy’s late grandfathers: John Devens Sr. who gained national fame in 1989 as mayor of Valdez during the Exxon Valdez oil spill and Jim Robison who was the president of the Alaska AFL/CIO and served as the Alaska Labor Commissioner from 1982 to 1987. We conclude our conversation with a discussion of housing policy.
This interview was recorded while I was in Valdez on a walk with Jimmy, so you will hear occasional background noise including a very angry raven.
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Sen. Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage) discusses the resolutions up for a vote today, August 22, 2025, by the Alaska State Medical Board. The first, listed on the agenda as "Board Statement/New Regulation Project: Late Term Abortion," is a statement drafted by board member and Republican candidate for governor Dr. Matt Heilala that would seek to limit access to abortions later in pregnancy. The second makes up the bulk of Sen. Tobin’s and my discussion today. It is also a statement drafted by board member Heilala declaring practitioners who prescribe gender affirming care in minors as “grossly negligent and therefore subject to disciplinary sanctions.”
Gender-affirming care for adolescents, when indicated and provided in partnership with families, is evidence-based medicine. It is recognized by every major medical association—including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Endocrine Society—as the standard of care. There are currently less than 100 youth in Alaska prescribed hormonal treatment as part of gender affirming care. There are no gender affirming surgical procedures being performed on minors in Alaska.
Here are links to the Transgender series on the podcast from 2024:
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Wildlife biologist Aaron Poe discusses being a father to a trans daughter in Anchorage
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Retired Army 1st Sergeant Jessica Kalarchik on being trans
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A 15-year-old trans boy and his mom
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David Leslie, an Inupiaq Sipiniq (Two-Spirit)
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Becca Bernard, a lawyer, minister, and mom to a trans girl
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Dr. Joshua Safer, author of the Endocrine Society Guidelines for the medical care of transgender patients
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Dr. Marci Bowers, president of the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH)
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Rose O'Hara-Jolley, AK state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates
To learn more about Sen. Löki Tobin, listen to her first appearance on the podcast.
To learn more about today's resolutions, read Iris Samuel's ADN article.
Alaska Provider Sign-On Letter: Defending Evidence-Based Care
Open Letter from Alaska Health Professionals to the Alaska State Medical Board Re: Proposed resolution labeling gender-affirming care for minors as “unprofessional conduct”
To the Alaska State Medical Board,
We, the undersigned Alaska health professionals, write to strongly oppose the Board’s proposal to classify gender-affirming care for minors as “unprofessional conduct.” Earlier this year, the legislature declined to act on similar recommendations from the Board—rejecting interference in standards of care as inappropriate. By now advancing a resolution, the Board is disregarding that decision and overstepping its proper role. Even more concerning, in the same discussion the Board raised abortion as another area for punitive action, signaling an alarming trend of politicizing medicine across multiple domains. Gender-affirming care for adoles
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Jeff Landfield is the founder and editor of The Alaska Landmine Blog and podcast. Since the Landmine’s founding in 2017, Jeff, with no formal training in journalism, has written and published investigative new stories often providing close coverage of municipal and state government. He was a state Senate Candidate in 2012 and 2016, and was appointed to the commission on judicial conduct by Governor Bill Walker, but that appointment was withdrawn due to a scandal involving photos of Jeff in a speedo. As you heard at the start, he is considering a gubernatorial run in 2026. This is Jeff’s second appearance on the podcast – on his previous appearance in 2022 we discussed his early life and journey to Alaska. You can find a link here.
Note: this episode contains profanity.
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Alaska Public Media Reporter Wesley Early moved to Anchorage in 2008 and began his freshman year at Bartlett High School. He stayed in Anchorage for college earning a degree in journalism and public communications at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He started working in public radio his senior year of college and has never left. In 2019 he became the news director at KOTZ, the public radio in Kotzebue, and spent two years covering arctic climate change, subsistence, Iñupiaq culture, and the region's response to Covid 19. Since returning to Anchorage in 2021, he has covered city government. Today we discuss the devastating impacts to public radio, particularly to rural stations, of the elimination of federal funding.
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Today in Anchorage the world’s eyes are on us as President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin meet to discuss the fate of Ukraine. Although President Trump has lowered expectations by referring to the summit as a mere “listening exercise,” there is anxiety that illegitimate concessions might be made to Russia that may affect our state, such as access to our rare earth minerals or to oil in the Bering Sea. On March 5, 2025, I gave a speech on the House Floor about the leader of Russia and attempts to normalize him. I, Rep. Andrew Gray, stand by my words. Here is that speech.
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Author Dan O'Neill has lived in Fairbanks for 50 years. During that time he has published editorials and op-eds in all of Alaska's major newspapers. From 1998 to 2002, he had a weekly column in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. He compiled his best work from his almost half century of newspaper work into his most recent book, The Impertinent Question: the Words & Adventures of a Liberal Columnist at a Conservative Newspaper in the Red State of Alaska. Today we are talking about that book. He is also the author of The Firecracker Boys, A Land Gone Lonesome, The Last Giant of Beringia, and Stubborn Girl.
Previous podcast appearances:
on Land Gone Lonesome (Oct. 11, 2022)
on Last Giant of Beringia (Oct. 27, 2022)
on The Firecracker Boys (Dec. 26, 2022)
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The third part of a legislative audit of the Alaska Office of Children's Services (OCS) was made public on June 30, 2025. In 2018 an omnibus bill was signed into law that completely overhauled the way foster care in Alaska should work. That bill -- House Bill 151 -- passed the Alaska State House and the Alaska State Senate unanimously. The completed audit shows that OCS failed to implement most of the required reforms.
Les Gara was the 2022 democratic candidate for governor of Alaska. He is a former legislator who served in the Alaska state house from 2003 to 2019. Throughout his time in the legislature he advocated for foster care reform and in 2018 achieved it with House Bill 151.
Amanda Metivier is the director of the Alaska Child Welfare Academy at UAA and is the executive director and co-founder of Facing Foster Care in Alaska. She and her husband are foster parents who have provided homes for many youth over the past 15 years.
Alaska faces a severe shortage of licensed foster care parents.To learn more about how to be a foster parent, click here.
To volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Alaska, click here.
Link to Part 3 of the audit of OCS.
HB 151 SUMMARY
Link to previous podcast episode featuring Les Gara & Amanda Metivier
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James Brooks is a reporter for the Alaska Beacon. James is a longtime Alaska journalist, having previously worked at the Anchorage Daily News, Juneau Empire, Kodiak Mirror and the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner -- although as we will learn today initially more as an editor than as a journalist. He has laid down roots in Juneau where he and his wife and young daughter live, and he was content in his role as the ADN's chief Capitol reporter when three years ago he embarked on what he describes as "an experiment" at the Alaska Beacon. The Beacon is outcropping of the States Newsroom which is a non-profit news organization with a goal of combating disinformation in our country's growing news deserts. James and I talk about that organization and what it would it would take for it to persevere.
Link to donors to States Newsroom.
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Larry Persily is the Anchorage-based owner and publisher of the weekly newspaperthe Wrangell Sentinel. Larry and his wife Leslie Murray first purchased that newspaper in 1976 when they moved to Wrangell from Chicago. After almost 50 years as an on-again off-again journalist at various publications such as the Anchorage Times, the Associated Press, the Juneau Empire, & the Anchorage Daily News, Larry re-purchased the Wrangell Sentinel in 2021.
In 2019 he purchased the newspaper in Skagway, Alaska, and then offered to give away the Skagway News instead of running it remotely from Anchorage. He ultimately sold that paper for $20.
He has also worked at the federal, state, and municipal levels on oil and gas and fiscal policy including as staff in the Alaska legislature for Rep. Mike Hawker, an Anchorage Republican, and Rep. John Lincoln, a Kotzebue Independent. Although our focus today is on the Alaska media, we do discuss his time as the Federal Coordinator for Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Projects -- a position he was appointed to by President Barack Obama -- and the prospects for an Alaska natural gas pipeline today.
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President and publisher of the Anchorage Daily News Ryan Binkley is the oldest son of former state Senator John Binkley (R-Bethel). When John ran for governor in 2006, Ryan, at 27, took over the Binkley family tourism business based in Fairbanks. That business includes the Riverboat Discovery, a gold mining tour, a partnership with a flight seeing company in Girdwood & Juneau, and a cruise port in Ketchikan. In 2017, Ryan and his three younger siblings purchased the Anchorage Daily News, the state’s largest newspaper. Ryan talks about the media landscape in Alaska, the ADN's place in it, and their future.
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Open Enrollment is an education priority of Gov. Dunleavy that would allow any Alaska student to enroll in any Alaska school. To better understand the consequences of this proposal, Sen. Bill Wielechowski, the rules chair in the Alaska State Senate, and Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, the co-chair of the House Education committee appear in this brief bonus episode.
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Nathaniel Herz is a freelance reporter who’s spent over a decade working in Alaska, including stints at the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media. A few years ago he started his own newsletter "Northern Journal," where he is supported by individual subscribers and grant funding to do his own projects in collaboration with various media organizations like ProPublica, the ADN, and Alaska Public Media. He also has a podcast called "Northern Journal."
Nat is on the show today because he wanted to provide a counter perspective to the doom and gloom attitude present in some of my recent episodes discussing the future of media in Alaska.
Articles featured in today's show:
"This oil platform stopped pumping 30 years ago. Alaska still won’t make the owner tear it down."
"The last skipper in Ouzinkie: How Gulf of Alaska villages lost their Native fishing fleets."
"How a risky state investment in seafood cost Alaskans millions and left a fishing town in crisis."
Podcast episodes mentioned:
"Lisa Murkowski: 'The problem with standing on principle is when your constituents get hurt'"
"What happens when the trans-Alaska pipeline shuts down? And who pays to remove it?"
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Sen. Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) is chair of the rules committee in the Alaska State Senate. He discusses the upcoming legislative special session called by Governor Mike Dunleavy to begin at 10 am, on Saturday, August 2. Sen Wielechowski explains the way special sessions generally work, why this one is different, and discusses frankly the political gamesmanship given that overrides of the Governor's vetoes must be taken up within the first 5 days of the legislature reconvening. We discuss the budget line item veto of education funding but also Senate Bill 183 which helps the legislature's auditor better assess the oil and gas tax revenue for our state. This bill was widely seen as a transparency bill and Governor Dunleavy's veto of SB 183 raises red flags.
Here is a link to the Alaska Beacon's article by reporter James Brooks about the veto of SB 183.
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Gabe Rottman is the Vice President of Policy for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. A practicing attorney with a focus on the novel issues at the intersection of press freedom, newsgathering, and technology, Gabe is the perfect person to discuss the media environment in America today and what resources are available to journalists who, through the course of just doing their jobs, could find themselves in the crosshairs of the government.
From 2012 to 2015, Rottman served as the lead federal legislative and regulatory counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union on open government, press freedom and the First Amendment. While at the ACLU, Rottman directed federal advocacy on the Espionage Act and its implications for journalist source protection. After the ACLU, he opened PEN America's Washington, D.C., office and served as its first Washington director.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press was started by journalists and lawyers in 1970 to provide legal representation to reporters. RCFP remains the leading provider of free legal services to journalists and newsrooms across the US. To contact the organization, visit RCFP.org.
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Former editor of the Anchorage Daily News Pat Dougherty worked at that paper for 34 years. Born in 1950 as the eldest son of an Air Force pilot father, Pat never found a long term home till he landed in Anchorage in 1975 to take a job as a sports reporter at the Anchorage Times. Once transferring over to the ADN in 1980, he worked his way up the ranks and was the editor of the series that won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize. The ADN has won the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service three times. Only three papers in the history of the awards have won more.- But, Dougherty fears that the ADN's best days are behind it -- as is true for most legacy newspapers in our country. We discuss the current media environment in Alaska including the influence of blogs like Must Read Alaska & its founder Suzanne Downing, and The Alaska Landmine and its founder Jeff Landfield, as well as other more traditional news outlets like Alaska Public Media and the Alaska Beacon.
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This interview was originally published in March of 2023.
Anchorage born Representative Genevieve Mina talks about growing up as part of a unique family business and how those experiences helped her when challenged with her own childhood trauma. She also touches on forging her own professional path against cultural norms.
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This episode originally aired in March of 2023.
Will Stapp tells of his childhood being raised by his grandparents, going to war in Iraq and moving to Alaska to raise a family and ultimately become a member of the Alaska House of Representatives.
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Journalist Tom Hewitt is the former opinions editor of the Anchorage Daily News from 2018 to 2024. He previously was editorial page editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and news director of KTVF and KXDF in Fairbanks. He is currently special assistant to Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Grier Hopkins.
This interview is part of a series regarding the media landscape in Alaska in 2025.
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Dr. Mara Kimmel is the Executive Director of the ACLU of Alaska and former first lady of Anchorage. Prior to taking the helm of the ACLU of Alaska, She had a long career in Alaska public policy focused on rights and justice in northern communities. She has served on the faculty at the Seattle University School of Law, the University of Alaska Anchorage and Alaska Pacific University.
Most relevant to our conversation today, Dr. Kimmel worked for over a decade as an immigration attorney and as an advocate for tribal subsistence rights. In her role as first lady of Anchorage, as wife to Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, she led the development of Welcoming and Resilience initiatives at the Municipality of Anchorage.
She serves on the national board of directors for Welcoming America, the regional advisory board for the Anti-Defamation League, and is a board member and co-founder of the Alaska Institute for Justice. Mara received her law degree from the University of Minnesota School of Law and her Master’s degree in Natural Resource Management at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She earned her PhD in Environmental Science and Policy from Central European University in Budapest in 2014.
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Rose O’Hara-Jolley is the Alaska State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. Planned Parenthood is a network of 600 health clinics across the country -- Alaska has two (one in Fairbanks and one in Anchorage) -- that provide reproductive and sexual health care including birth control, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, cancer screenings, well-woman exams and mental health care. Planned Parenthood is the only provider of abortions in Alaska. Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates is separate from the health care clinics; it is an advocacy organization tasked with keeping the Planned Parenthood clinics open and accessible. As head of that organization, Rose directs all of their advocacy including legislative lobbying, electoral engagement, endorsed candidate programming, local organizing, and youth leadership development.
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JJ Harrier is the 2025 chair of the Anchorage Pride Parade. After a childhood in Girdwood, he traveled around the lower 48 and Europe trying to find himself ultimately ending up homeless on the streets of Portland in his early 30s. His mother got him into rehab in Alaska and from there his life took a different direction. JJ is the former Vice President of Marketing for the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the former Director of Development for Alaska Addiction Rehabilitation Services at Nugent’s Ranch, and is currently the Director of Development at Denali Family Services.
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Alaska State House Representative for Downtown Anchorage Zack Fields explains the budget reconciliation bill recently passed in the US House by a single vote. That bill is now in the US Senate, where if it is not substantially amended, it would adversely affect Alaska in many ways. One is cutting funding for SNAP – which is the federal food stamp program. About 70,000 Alaskans receive SNAP benefits. The bill would also significantly affect Medicaid – which is government health insurance for low-income people and families. About 250,000 Alaskans are enrolled in Medicaid. The bill offers significant tax cuts that primarily benefit the ultra wealthy. Ultimately, if the 2025 budget reconciliation bill passes as is, it would massively increase the federal deficit which is already alarmingly high and has contributed to a reduction in America’s credit rating.
To listen to Rep. Zack Field's previous episode on the podcast (where we discuss him and his life), click here.
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Tessa Hulls is the 2025 Pulitzer prize winner for her graphic memoir Feeding Ghosts. Tessa is only the second graphic novelist to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize, the first being Art Speigleman for Maus in 1992. Tessa was kitchen staff for this past legislative session in Juneau. She worked in the legislative lounge every day making legislators' breakfasts and lunches. No one knew she was an author and certainly no one expected the woman serving us our soup to be announced as the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner.
We discuss her incognito lounge staff role and how it helped her cope with her newfound international fame. Here is a description of Hulls' book which we will be discussing today:
"Feeding Ghosts is a powerful graphic memoir that explores the enduring impact of history and generational trauma on three generations of Chinese women. The memoir follows Hulls' grandmother, Sun Yi, a journalist who fled Shanghai after the 1949 Communist victory, and the ways her experiences shaped her daughter and granddaughter. The book delves into themes of love, grief, exile, identity, and the haunting legacy of trauma."
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Alaska State House Representative for South Anchorage, Girdwood & Whittier Ky Holland was born and raised in Anchorage. He is the eldest son of Federal Judge Russ Holland who was the judge in the case against Exxon after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill. Ky left Alaska for college in Oregon and stayed away for over a decade. Returning in the late 90s, he continued his work as a mechanical engineer, but expanded into academia and eventually into entrepreneurship. Lack of state investment in the private sector has motivated his legislation during his freshman session in Juneau. But it was a fear that we wouldn't properly fund our schools that led him to run for office for the first time in 2024. We talk about all of that and the case against ten American Samoans in Whittier who have been charged with voter misconduct.
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Alaska State House Representative for West Anchorage Carolyn Hall got an internship with the Boston Red Sox during her senior year of college in New Hampshire. This led to her dream job working for the team as a videographer during their World Series win in 2004. In 2008 she branched into TV journalism getting her first job with a small local market: KTUU in Anchorage. She covered the Iditarod, Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. Ted Stevens'trial from DC, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski's 2010 write-in campaign. Hall then worked for a larger TV market in Seattle where she earned an Emmy for her coverage of the Oso Landslide in 2014. After returning to Anchorage, she left broadcast journalism and branched into politics working as communications director for Governor Bill Walker, and at the start of the Covid pandemic, for Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. We talk about all of that and how she ended up running for office in today's episode.
Watch the video of Carolyn Hall and Ethan Berkowitz leaving Anchorage Assembly Chambers, Aug 12, 2020.
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Former Alaska State Senator and Iraq war veteran Josh Revak was born and raised in Minnesota. While serving in the Army in the early 2000s, a mortar blast in Iraq blew a quarter-sized hole through the back of his foot. He then got his first job in politics back in Minnesota working on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Then, while visiting the Alaska family of a fellow soldier who had been killed in Iraq, Revak met Congressman Don Young's staff who suggested he apply for a job in the congressman's office. After 8 years working for Don Young and Senator Dan Sullivan, Revak ran for the Alaska State House in 2018 defeating incumbent Charisse Millett in the Republican primary and was elected to represent the Abbott Loop Area of Anchorage. When State Senator Chris Birch suddenly passed away, Revak was appointed to that seat by Governor Dunleavy. In 2022 with the sudden death of Don Young, Revak ran for that seat with the endorsement of Don Young's widow. After Mary Peltola ultimately won the seat, Revak went to work for Peltola's office. He is now lobbying for the drone program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Watch Josh Revak perform on Governor Mike Huckabee's Fox talk show in 2010 here.
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Deko Harbi, Shannon Smith, and Tali Stone are former Alaska foster youth. All three recently visited the Capitol in Juneau as part of a trip organized by Facing Foster Care in Alaska. Facing Foster Care in Alaska is a nonprofit organization that provides foster youth and alumni opportunities to share their lived experience about life in foster care to raise community awareness and promote improvements in the system. This is this podcast’s third episode featuring former foster youth; the first from 2023 was with FFCA co-founder Amanda Metivier and former state house representative Les Gara. The second was from 2024 with six former Alaska foster youth.
The Alaska foster system depends on listeners like you becoming foster parents. To learn more about becoming a foster parent, click here or call 1-800-478-7307.
Working for Alaska’s office of children’s services is an extremely challenging job, and that organization is filled with good people doing good work. The purpose of this podcast is not to demonize OCS, but rather to give these former foster youth the opportunity to share their stories from their own perspectives.
Warning: today’s episode contains frank discussions about child abuse, drug abuse, and suicide. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call Alaska's suicide hotline: 988.
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Alaska State House Representative Kevin McCabe of Big Lake landed in Kodiak with the Coast Guard in 1981. He raised his three sons there before he began work as a pilot. That work took him to East Anchorage and eventually to Big Lake. He and his wife Linn entered politics as supporters of Sarah Palin for governor in the mid-2000s. During his initial political awakening he adhered to a version of purity politics that he no longer avows. We discuss his life and the evolution of his politics on today’s episode.
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Mindy O’Neall is the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Chair and the Executive Director of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. CCHRC is a non-profit organization located near the Univerity of Alaska Fairbanks that for the past 25 years has advanced building solutions for healthier, more resilient homes in cold climates. Prior to her current roles, Mindy was the director of the coordinated campaign for the Alaska democratic party. She worked as staff for Senator Johnny Ellis and House Representative Les Gara and House Representaive now Senator Scott Kawasaki.
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Rep. Andrew Gray is the usual host of this podcast, but in this episode he is the guest. He is interviewed by his Legislative Aide Kyle Johansen at the request of his other legislative aide Claire Bredar in honor of her birthday. Gray was first elected to the Alaska State House in 2022 to represent the U-Med district. Outside the legislature, he is a physician assistant at an Anchorage Urgent Care.
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Legislative Lobbyist Reed Stoops moved to Alaska in 1971 after his youth on the East Coast. He worked as a Committee Aide to Kay Poland in the State Senate and then took a job in the Department of Natural Resources in Gov. Jay Hammond's Administration. During Gov. Bill Sheffield's Administration, he began legislative lobbying, and in 2000, he co-founded the Juneau Community Foundation. The Juneau Community Foundation gives away millions of dollars each year to improve the capital city by making Juneau healthier, safer and culturally richer.
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Alaska State House Representative Jubilee Underwood of Wasillalost the August 2024 primary to the incumbent Representative David Eastman. Few folks thought that she had a chance of winning that race, but come November, Underwood defeated Eastman. She is now here in Juneau forging a new path for her community. Prior to running for the House she served three years on the MatSu School Board, the last as President. We talk about her journey into politics as well as her early life on today's show.
Note: one of her best friends from high school, Elexie Moore was also elected to the State House at the same time as Underwood. Moore replaced Jesse Sumner as a representative of Wasilla. You will hear us refer to Elexie by her first name at various points during today's interview.
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Michael Rovito is the deputy director of the Alaska Power Association (APA). The Alaska Power Association is the statewide trade association that represents the electric utilities that supply power to more than a half-million Alaskans. As part of his duties with APA, Michael hosts a podcast called, "Alaska Powerline," which talks about issues facing Alaska’s electric utilities. He trained as a journalist and moved to Alaska in 2006 to take a job at the MatSu Valley Frontiersman. He left journalism to staff Senator Linda Mennard (R-Wasilla) in the Alaska Senate from 2009 until she was defeated by Mike Dunleavy in the Republican Primary of 2012. Mike Rovito has a substack called, "Alaska Rhythms," which largely features his nature writing.
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Alaska State Senator Rob Yundt was born and raised in Wasilla and stumbled into wrestling as a 7th grader. Little did he know that wrestling would change his life ultimately leading to a career as a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter with a professional record of 9 wins and five losses – his UFC match against Ricardo Almeida in 2008 (which is available on YouTube) was a pay-per-view event streamed live from the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas and was watched by millions of people worldwide. After a couple decades of managing his own construction companies, he ran for the MatSu Borough Assembly and won serving from 2020 to 2024. Last year, he defeated incumbent Wasilla Senator David Wilson. We talk about all of that and his bill that would close the S-Corp loop hole that allows certain companies to pay less taxes than others.
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Alaska State Senator Matt Claman first laid eyes on Alaska while working as a cook for a mining company the summer before his senior year of college. After law school, he made his way back to Alaska settling in Anchorage. In the mid 2000s he was elected to the Anchorage Assembly and was elevated to Chair at the start of his second year. This meant that when Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich was elected US Senator, Matt Claman as the Assembly Chair assumed the role of acting mayor. This happened just after the 2008 fiscal crisis. Mayor Claman was forced to make difficult decisions that hurt him politically, but that he stands by today. In 2014 he was elected to the Alaska State House representing West Anchorage, and in 2022 he was elected to the Alaska State Senate where he serves as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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Dr. Brock Wilson is the newest faculty at UAA’s Institute of Social And Economic Research (ISER). Brock recently earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Oregon where his primary area of study was labor economics. His most important published work is on pension generosity and its effect on hiring and keeping workers. It was his time spent as a wildland firefighter in Oregon that initially got him interested in recruitment and retention policy.
Read Dr. Wilson's paper on pensions here.
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Alaska State House Representative Bill Elam of Kenai and Nikiski served for almost six years on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly before running for the open House seat created when former Rep. Ben Carpenter ran for the Alaska State Senate. It wasn’t an easy race: Carpenter endorsed Elam’s opponent, and Elam lost the August primary, although just barely. We talk about all of that and more.
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Representative Frank Tomaszewski of Fairbanks got his start in local politics opposing a plan by North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins to build a parking lot near Frank’s home. He ran for the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly in 2019 and served until 2022. He then ran against Luke Hopkins' son Grier Hopkins who was serving in the Alaska State House, and Frank defeated him. Frank and I were freshmen together in 2022, and now as we start are second terms together, we sit next to each other on the House floor.
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Anchorage Attorney Pat Galvin grew up in southern California and hoped to be a sports agent. He never intended to be an attorney, to live in Alaska, nor work in state government. But as a relatively young lawyer he got a job in Governor Tony Knowles'’s administration as the Director of Governmental Coordination in the Office of the Governor before moving into the Department of Natural Resources. He stayed at DNR through Gov. Frank Murkowski's administration, and then with the election of Gov. Sarah Palin, Pat was tapped to be her Commissioner of Revenue. In that role, he crafted ACES, an aggressive oil & gas tax policy that netted the state billions in additional revenue. Although he stayed on in Gov. Sean Parnell's administration after Palin resigned, Pat left state government in 2010 and has been working for an oil company ever since.
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Sarah Vance spent her early life in north Texas and Oklahoma before moving to Homer, Alaska, at age 10. She had not paid much attention to politics until a 2017 Homer City Council resolution to make Homer a sanctuary city for immigrants. Sarah helped mobilize against the resolution and led a recall election against the three city councilmembers who had brought forth the resolution. In 2018 she challenged longtime incumbent Paul Seaton for his seat and won. After four years serving in the House minority, she was part of the Republican majority these past two years where she chaired both the House Judiciary and Fisheries Committees.
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Alaska State Refugee Coordinator Issa Spatrisano does her work through Catholic Social Services' Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services (RAIS), which is the resettlement agency for the state of Alaska. RAIS connects newly arrived refugees with housing, jobs, and other services that weave them into the Alaska community.
A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her home because of war, violence or persecution, often without warning. They are unable to return home due to unsafe conditions in their native land.
Those who obtain refugee status are given protections under both international and US federal law.
An asylum seeker is someone who is also seeking international protection from dangers in his or her home country, but whose claim for refugee status hasn’t yet been determined legally. Asylum seekers apply for protection in the country of destination. Until an asylum seeker has attained the correct status they may not be able to access refugee services.
In most cases to qualify for help from RAIS a person must have federal refugee status.
There are many more folks (immigrants, migrants, & others) who need assistance than qualify for it.
Today we are primarily talking about folks with refugee status. But as you will hear the terminology is challenging because Alaska has had a recent influx of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees who have a different status (humanitarian parole). What will happen to them during the Trump administration is up in the air.
To listen to the recent podcast episode with Alaska Literacy Program's outgoing and incoming executive directors Lori Pickett and Deepika Ramesh Perumal, click here.
This is an edited version of the original episode. Please email Rep.Andrew.Gray@akleg.gov or call 907-269-0123 for a link to the complete version.
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Former Alaska State Senate Minority Leader Hollis French moved to Alaska from Colorado when he was 20 to work in the oil industry. After earning a law degree, he worked as a prosecutor and then, when the opportunity presented itself, ran for the state Senate, winning on his second try in 2002. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2010 and in 2014. Governor Bill Walker appointed him to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) 2016-2019. Now retired, Hollis spends much of the year in his wife’s home state of Idaho, and that is where we recorded this zoom interview from.
To read Hollis French and Kate Troll's op-ed from the Beacon, "Alaska's environmental standards are not some of the best," click here.
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Bronson Frye is the Alaska representative for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, local 1959. At age 19, he apprenticed in Anchorage with the union as a painter after growing up in Homer. Bronson became the union rep in 2007 and has remained deeply involved in workers' rights and politics ever since, which is a surprising turn for someone raised a Jehovah’s Witness. We talk about that journey as well as his discovery of yoga. Bronson is the yoga teacher for the West Anchorage High School Football team, and he’s also taught in Alaska’s prisons. He and his wife Michelle own their own yoga business, LunaWithSol.
Listen to Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson's podcast episode here.
Listen to former Rep. Chris Tuck's podcast episode here.
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Dr. Mimi Benjamin has been a family practice physician for over 35 years, the last 14 in Juneau. She is the former Medical Director and creator of the Bartlett Regional Hospital Hospitalist program, which started in 2017. She is the 2018 recipient of the Golden Stethoscope award from the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA) for her relentless advocacy for patient safety, for serving as the physician champion of the electronic medical record, and for cofounding and serving as medical director of Bartlett’s antibiotic stewardship program.
This interview was recorded in May of 2024 During legislative session, I rented an apartment from Mimi and her husband Brian who is also a physician. Somehow in my move back to Anchorage I thought I’d lost this audio, but I eventually found it. Dr. Benjamin offers an interesting perspective from her experience in Southeast Alaska on both the specific issues in Juneau but also on health care in general.
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After 29 years at the Alaska Literacy Program, Lori Pickett recently retired and handed off the executive director responsibility to Deepika Ramesh Perumal. Both women are interviewed on the show today where we discuss their lives and what brought them to ALP.
The Anchorage Literacy Program started 50 years ago in 1974 as an all-volunteer organization to teach people to read. Over the years it has metamorphosized into predominantly an English language school that enables immigrants with limited or no English language capabilities to navigate and thrive in Anchorage. In addition to its volunteer-led English Language Classes, ALP also offers other clases, like GED prep courses, and staffs a Peer Leader Navigator which helps folks achieve digital literacy. All ALP classes are free of charge and the bulk of their work is provided by volunteers. To be a part of the Anchorage Literacy Program visit their website by clicking here.
Lori Pickett is also the outgoing vice president of the Russian Jack Community Council. Big thanks to Lori for her service to RJCC. Find your community council by clicking here.
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Megan Edge is the Prison Project Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska. At age 19, Megan got her first job in a newsroom, and she worked as a journalist for seven years covering local Anchorage issues, state politics, military affairs, the Iditarod, and most relevant to today’s conversation, crime and courts. In 2017, she left the news business to work in Governor Bill Walker’s administration as the Department of Corrections Public Information Officer. Her eyes were opened to many of the problems in Alaska’s prison system, and this led her to create the Prison Project at the ACLU of Alaska.
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Writer and former Anchorage Assembly member Charles Wohlforth is the author of more than ten books and numerous articles about science and the environment, politics and history, medicine, travel, and as-told-to biography including his 2012, To Russia with Love, with Vic Fischer. His book, The Whale and the Supercomputer, won the L.A. Times Book Prize in 2004. His three-times-weekly column for the Anchorage Daily News in 2019 won the western U.S. states’ most prestigious journalism award, “Best of the West.” Today, we are talking about his series of articles from the ADN published in 2016 and 2017 about problems with Alaska’s health care system. We are also discussing his 2022 book that he co-wrote with Dr. David Nash, How Covid Crashed the System: A guide to fixing American Health Care.
For link to Charles' ADN op-ed about zoning, click here.
For link to Celeste Hodge Growden's response to Charles' Zoning op-ed, click here.
For a list of Charles' ADN articles on Alaska Health Care, click here.
For a list of Charles' books, click here.
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Former Alaska State House Representative Kyle Johansen was first elected to represent his hometown of Ketchikan in 2006. Two years later he became the Majority Leader in the Republican-led House. After being re-elected as Majority Leader in 2010 he left the caucus in protest of a committee leadership decision which he now sees as a huge mistake – a mistake he continues to pay for years afterward, ultimately driving him in 2019 to relocate to Hawaii. In the 34th Legislature which starts this January, he will be returning to Alaska to staff my office in Juneau. Today we learn his story.
- Link to former Alaska State House Majority Leader Charisse Millett's episode here.
- Link to former Alaska State Senator Lesil McGuire's episode here.
- Link to former Alaska State House Rep Cliff Groh's episode here.
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Michelle Macuar Sparck is the director of strategic initiatives of the organization Get out the Native Vote. Get out the Native Vote is a non-partisan effort in Alaska to mobilize Alaska Native and American Indian Voters. Michelle Sparck is a member of the Qissunamiut Tribe of Chevak but grew up in Bethel. After graduating from Bethel High School, she moved to DC to attend American University. While there she worked for Senator Ted Stevens and later Congressman Don Young. After her work in DC she returned to Alaska to work with Tribes and subsistence activities with the Association of Village Council Presidents. She has been the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Get out the native vote since 2022.
Visit Get out the Native Vote, here.
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Michelle Turner is an environmental scientist who serves as the president of the Anchorage Democrats. Her day job is as a Principal Scientist with over 25 years of professional experience providing analysis and strategic advice under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for a local environmental consultancy firm. Her work includes data gap analyses, Environmental Impact Assessments, and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) working on behalf of both project sponsors and federal regulators.
Michelle's husband Carl Johnson is an environmental lawyer who ran for the state Senate in South Anchorage in 2020. His lifelong passion for photography first manifested in the Navy. He has served as the artist-in-residence for Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, Badlands National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. In 2010, he was named the “Environmental Issues” category winner for the Windland Smith Rice International Awards sponsored by Nature’s Best Photography. His winning piece, “Wolf Tracks on Ice,” highlights the challenges of aggressive wolf predator control programs and was on display at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC.
Together Carl & Michelle own and manage two businesses: Alaska Photo Treks and Great Land Graphics.
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Tom Pittman is the new Executive Director of Identity Inc. which was established in 1977 as the Alaskan Gay Community Center. Over the years, Identity has had different roles and purposes within the Alaska LGBTQIA2S+ community but has always sought to provide a safe haven for the queer community. In 2021, Identity merged with Full Spectrum Health and became Identity Health Clinic.
Tom Pittman has a master’s in health administration from the University of Washington, and has supported his tribe, the Tlingits, by working for the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). He worked as an administrator for Fairbanks Memorial Hospital throughout the covid pandemic and its aftermath. He began his tenure as executive director of Identity in January 2024.
Visit Identity's website here.
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Maija Katak Lukin served as Mayor of Kotzebue in 2015 when President Barack Obama visited. She later became superintendent of the National Park Service’s Western Arctic National Parklands. She is now the Native Relations Program Manager for the National Park’s Service’s Region 11 which encompasses Alaska. We discuss her early life, her commitment to the Inupiaq language, climate change's tangible impacts on the Arctic and more.
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Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal is the author of the 2017 book, An American Sickness: how healthcare became big business and how you can take it back. The Washington Post describes the book as: “An authoritative account of the distorted financial incentives that drive medical care in the United States . . . Every lawmaker and administration official should pick up a copy of [it].”
Dr. Rosenthal was for 22 years a reporter, correspondent, and senior writer for The New York Times before becoming the editor in chief of Kaiser Health News, an independent journalism newsroom focusing on health and health policy. She holds an MD from Harvard Medical School, trained in internal medicine, and has worked as an ER physician. For over a decade she has been responsible for a popular segment on National Public Radio called, “the Medical Bill of the Month.”
Click here for, "Where the frauds are legal: welcome to the weird world of medical billing," by Elisabeth Rosenthal from The New York Times, Dec. 7, 2019.
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Ron Hoffman is the lead pastor of Mountain City Church, formerly known as the Anchorage Baptist Temple. Anchorage Baptist was founded in 1956 by Pastor Don White under the name Baptist Bible Church. The church by whatever name has been a launching pad for conservative Republican politicians in Alaska for decades, and with its 2500 members, it maintains its political influence today. Ron Hoffman’s first contact with the church was in 1984 when he enrolled as a high school freshman at its associated school Anchorage Christian School, now known as Mountain City Christian Academy. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Liberty University in 1991, Ron returned to Anchorage with his wife Crystal and worked in the church’s youth ministry for the next 25 years and raised three children. In 2019, Jerry Prevo retired after 47 years as the head of the church; in May of that year, Ron became lead pastor at Mountain City Church.
Watch Pastor Ron's testimony about his early life here.
Watch Anchorage Police Department Critical Incident, Aug. 13, 2024, here.
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Writer Tom Kizzia's eight-part series on the first white settler girl born in American Alaska concludes today in the Anchorage Daily News. “Josie’s Story" tells the story of the life of Josie Rudolph who was born in Sitka in 1869 to German Jewish parents but moved back to Germany when she was still a child. 69 years later in Nuremberg, it was Josie’s Alaskan birth that saved her from the Nazis.
Tom Kizzia had a 25-year career as a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. He is the author of three books Cold Mountain Path, Pilgrim’s Wilderness,The Wake of the Unseen Object.
This is Tom Kizzia’s third appearance on this podcast, please check out the links below to listen to his previous appearances:
Tom Kizzia: author on ghost town McCarthyTom Kizzia: author of "Wake of the Unseen Object"
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Today our guest is former Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer. She moved from Wisconsin to Alaska over 50 years ago and has spent much of that time in public service at the local, state, and national levels. She is the former chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, appointed by President Obama in March 2011 and serves on the National Parks Conservation Association Board and chairs the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy. In June 2010, President Obama appointed her to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Ulmer was chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). Fran served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, as a state representative, and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska with Governor Tony Knowles.
This is the first of three planned interviews. Today we will be focusing on her early life and her work in Governor Jay Hammond’s administration.
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Jenny Fayette is the immediate past president of the Alaska Academy of Physician Assistants. She is a graduate of the only physician assistant training program in Alaska, the MEDEX program which is a partnership with the University of Washington and the University of Alaska Anchorage. Prior to going to PA school, Jenny was an exercise physiologist, a high school science teacher, and a professional cross-country skier. After a decade working in orthopedic surgery, she recently took a job as PA in breast surgery.
We will be discussing a bill from the most recent legislative session that would have modernized the treatment of PAs in Alaska statute. Senate Bill 115 was sponsored by Senator Löki Tobin who represents downtown Anchorage; her bill never made it to the floor of the Alaska State House for a vote, and therefore it died at the end of the 33rd legislature. A new version of that bill will likely be introduced in the 34th Legislature.
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Lisa Aquino is the CEO of the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center (ANHC). Before taking over that organization in 2021, she was the Executive Director of Catholic Social Services for seven years. She has a Masters in Health Sciences degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is a federally qualified health center that provides primary health care services to everyone in our community with a special focus on those who face extra barriers to care.
- Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is accepting new patients for primary care services
- and has behavioral health services available to all its established patients.
To learn more or establish care visit ANHC.org or call 907-743-7200.
Dr. Bill Sage is the Assistant Vice President of the Texas A&M Health Science Center, a professor of Medicine at the Texas A& M University School of Medicine, and a professor of Law at Texas A& M University School of Law. He has published hundreds of papers over the decades on health law and policy, and he has edited four books including the Oxford Handbook of US Health Law. He has previously been a professor of law and/or medicine at the University of Texas Austin, Columbia Law School, Yale, Harvard and NYU. Although we will be talking about American health care policy rather than specifically Alaska health care policy, our conversation is relevant since the Alaska Health Care system is a microcosm of our national health care system.
Here are links to many of the Dr. Sage's papers discussed during today's episode:
"What the Pandemic Taught Us: The Health Care System We Have Is Not the System We Hoped We Had"
"Minding Ps and Qs: The Political and Policy Questions Framing Health Care Spending"
"Brand New Law! The Need to Market Health Care Reform"
Retired Alaska District Court Judge Elaine Andrews moved to Alaska in 1976 immediately upon graduating from law school. Her first job as a lawyer was with the Alaska Judicial Council, which is tasked with vetting new judges and with deciding whether or not to recommend sitting judges for retention. In Alaska, a judge must be at least 30 years old, and Elaine Andrews applied and was appointed to the bench shortly after she turned 30. She served as a full-time district court judge for 22 years and continued as a pro tempore judge part-time for another two decades after that.
Kendra Sticka, PhD, RDN, is the Executive Director of healthEconnect Alaska, the state-designated health information exchange (HIE). In this role, she spearheads the HIE's strategic growth and operations, including its continued expansion into underserved rural and urban communities. Dr. Sticka has worked in Alaska healthcare for more than 20 years, beginning as a clinical dietitian in hospital, clinical, and private practice before transitioning into academics and education. Prior to joining healthEconnect in 2023, she served as the Associate Dean of Clinical Health Sciences at the Univeristy of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Sticka hold master degrees in nutrition and adult education and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology.
To access the healthEconnect website, click here.
Rev. Matt Schultz has been the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in downtown Anchorage for eleven years. We discuss what Christian Nationalism is and why it’s dangerous. We also talk about Matt’s childhood, what brought him to the ministry, and how he came to be a liberal in both politics and theology.
Rev. Schultz is leading classes starting Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 6:30 pm entitled, "The Dangers of Christian Nationalism." Additional classes will be held, Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 6:30 pm, and possibly the Tuesday after that at First Presbyterian Church, 616 W. 10th Avenue, on the Delaney Park Strip.
Dr. Lawrence Weiss founded the Masters in Public Health program and was instrumental in starting the Alaska Native Studies program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He has a PhD in Sociology from SUNY Binghamton, but it was his postdoctoral Masters degree from Harvard in Occupational Health that moved him to Anchorage in the early 80s and led to a 35 year career in public health as a researcher, educator, writer, program evaluator and policy analyst.
For Dr. Weiss's article on Medicare-for-All, click here.
For Dr. Weiss's article on teacher retirements, click here.
For Forbes's ranking of cost of health care by state, click here.
For NPR story on cost of chemo in Juneau, click here.
Dr. Anne Zink served as the Chief Medical Officer for the state of Alaska in Governor Dunleavy’s administration from 2019 until the Spring of 2024. She is a practicing emergency room physician who served as the emergency department medical director of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center from 2010 to 2018. She received her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her emergency medicine residency at the the University of Utah.
Watch the full clip of Dr. Zink's grandfather, Albert Bartlett, here.
Rep. Jennie Armstrong of West Anchorage was first elected to the Alaska State House in 2022 but is not running for re-election. Instead, she will continue running the two companies that she founded and dedicate more time to her young family. In this Labor Day episode, she shares insights into managing staff that she has gleaned from years of first-hand experience and thoughtful exploration. Many new legislators are caught by surprise suddenly having employees who answer to them; this conversation is intended to help legislators -- and any new bosses -- run better offices through creating an environments where staff thrive.
To learn more about Jennie Armstrong, listen to her interview from 2023 for, "East Anchorage Matters."
Here is the link to Simon Sinek's TED Talk, "Why good leaders make you feel safe."
Here is the link to Kim Scott's TED Talk, "How to lead with radical candor."
Tom Begich is a former Alaska State Senate Minority Leader. After a life-long career as a singer-songwriter and political advisor, he first ran for office in 2016 to for the state senate seat held by Johnny Ellis representing downtown Anchorage. Tom did not run for re-election in 2022, but instead set up his staffer Löki Tobin to take his seat. We also discuss his childhood as the son of Congressman Nick Begich whose plane disappeared in 1972 in Southeast Alaska. We end with a contemplation of Tom Begich’s next chapter in Alaska politics.
The Alaska Delegation to the 2024 Democratic National Convention consisted of 19 voting delegates, but also party officials, pages, and others, who all traveled to Chicago last week. This episode is an attempt to capture their impressions of the convention immediately upon their return to Alaska.
The guests (in order of their appearance)
- Jessica Cook
- Rep. Andy Josephson
- Brenda Knapp
- Rep. Genevieve Mina
- Rozlyn Grady Wyche
- Sen. Bill Wielechowski
- Veronica Slajer
- Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson
- Mike Wenstrup
- Kimberly Metcalfe
- Jacob Begich
- Monica Southworth
- Lindsay Kavanaugh
- Fauna Hunt
- Jasmine Carter
- Sen. Löki Tobin
- Chuck Degnan
Representative Zack Fields has represented downtown Anchorage in the Alaska state house for the past 6 years. He began his work in Alaska in 2012 doing political work first through the AFL/CIO and later as communications director for the Alaska Democratic Party. He is currently a union organizer for the Laborers Union Local 341. We discuss his childhood, how he became an activist, and what got him involved in unions in particular.
Jenna Wright is the president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. AEDC exists for three reasons:
- to encourage economic growth and diversity in Anchorage
- to promote a favorable business climate
- to raise Anchorage residents’ standard of living.
The corporation is funded through private contributions, municipal & state grants, and contracts. Jenna took over AEDC last year from recent mayoral candidate Bill Popp who had been the President for the previous 16 years.
Today we discuss “Choose Anchorage” which is a research project looking at four different areas that Anchorage needs to improve in order to make our municipality more attractive to business. We also talk about "Project Anchorage," an AEDC proposal to institute a 3% sales tax in Anchorage; 2% would go to relieve the property tax burden, while 1% would go to fund capital projects that would make Anchorage a more amazing place to live.
Visit AEDC's website here.
Visit Project Anchorage here.
Erin Baldwin Day is the founder of the Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) and an organizer of the Anchorage Housing Club. Mutual aid is collective coordination to ensure that the basic needs of all of our neighbors are met, acknowledging that our existing social support systems are not enough to meet those needs. MANA works with local partners to tackle big issues that affect the health and well-being of our network neighbors, including capping interest rates on payday loans, developing a worker-owned childcare co-op, and addressing the SNAP benefits backlog. Click here to reach MANA's website. The Anchorage Housing Club is an informal group of folks interested in expanding the available housing in Anchorage. To reach that group, email anchoragehousingclub@gmail.com. The focus of today's discussion is housing in Anchorage.
Arianna Bellizzi is the new Executive Director of Anchorage’s Federation of Community Councils. We talk about her background, how she came to this job, and the history of Anchorage’s community council system. We also discuss the current state of community councils in our city and potential ways for improving them.
Find your community council by clicking here.
Soldotna City Council member Lisa Parker became at the age of 19 the youngest person in Alaska to achieve elected office when she won her election to the Anchorage Charter Commission. In 1975 that commission unified the City of Anchorage with the Borough of Anchorage into the municipality that it is today. Like our guest last week, Jane Angvik who also served on the Charter Commission, Lisa Parker was a borough representative because where she was living at the time, near Baxter and Tudor in what is today East Anchorage, was outside the city limits. After graduating from American University with a degree in Political Science, Lisa assisted in the establishment of the the Red Dog Mine in Northwest Alaska. Throughout her diverse varied career, she has served as the Planning Director for the Kenai Peninsula Borough, as government and community relations manager for both an international manufacturing company and a Cook Inlet oil & gas company, and last year she finished a 6 year stint on the University of Alaska Board of Regents. She is currently in her 14th year on the Soldotna City Council.
Link to Anchorage Charter Bill of Rights.
Anchorage Charter Commission member Jane Angvik ran for the Anchorage Charter Commission not too long after she had moved to Anchorage in 1973. What she had learned during her time working for the Greater Anchorage Borough Planning Department was that the City of Anchorage and the Borough of Anchorage hated each other – they couldn’t stop suing each other, and the State of Alaska had grown weary of the drama. The ridiculous conflict even resulted in the loss of life. This is Jane Angvik’s recollections of her time serving on the Charter Commission.
For the rest of Jane Angvik’s life story listen to the previous episode which covers her childhood in Minnesota all the way to her administering the oath of office to Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance two weeks ago.
Jane Angvik was an Anchorage Charter Commission member who drafted the founding document that unified the city and borough of Anchorage in 1975. On July 1, 2024, she administered the oath of office at the inauguration of Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. Jane has spent her life in service to Alaska whether at her first job for the Anchorage borough as a planner upon her arrival in 1973, working for the Alaska Federation of Natives, serving on the Anchorage Assembly, or training the next generation of leaders through Alaska Women Ascend, the ways that she has contributed to our state and city are many and profound. This episode will discuss much of Jane’s life including her childhood in Minnesota and her meeting of her husband Vic Fischer – a founding father of Alaska who we sadly lost last year at the age of 99.
This episode will not include Jane’s time on the charter commission. That period of her life, which so profoundly impacts what Anchorage is today, will be its own episode released next week.
Community activist Dr. Cal Williams was born on November 30, 1941, in Monroe, Louisiana. A college graduate, Williams served in the United States Air Force during the early 1960s and participated in the Civil Rights Movement through his affiliation with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1965, following the advice of Charles and John LeViege, two high school friends who were enrolled at Alaska Methodist University (now Alaska Pacific University), Williams came to Anchorage seeking a change. .
Over the next 60 years, Williams worked at Providence Alaska Medical Center as a dishwasher (aka director of pots and pans), then as a nursing assistant at the Alaska Psychiatric Institute, and eventually landed a role in communications for Alaska Housing Finance Corporation until his retirement.
Williams served as president of the Alaska chapter of the NAACP from 1968 to 1970. During that time, he partnered with Alaska Native leadership to lobby for the landmark Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Williams was honored by the Anchorage Municipal Assembly for his contributions to the growth and strength to the State of Alaska. In 2017, Williams was the recipient of the St. Francis of Assisi Award. Williams has served as Grand Knight of the Council of Knights of Columbus at St. Patrick's Church in Anchorage, as well as in 2018, he served as the District 22 chair for the Alaska Democratic Party.
More recently, Williams collaborated with UAA associate professor of history Ian Hartman, Ph.D., and David Reamer in the writing of Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest. Together, they have done presentations, book signings, museum exhibitions and archive curations. For his invaluable contributions, UAA awarded Williams an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in fall 2022.
The 400 years of African American History Commission, a federally appointed committee established in 2019 with the goal of rediscovering the 400 years of history since Africans were first brought to English colonies in 1619, recognized Cal Williams during Juneteenth 2024 as one of America’s 400 African American History Keepers.
Tafilisaunoa Toleafoa was born and raised in the islands of Samoa in the the South Pacific. She moved to Anchorage 20 years ago to join the rest of her family who were already here. Ms. Toleafoa serves as Executive Director at the Pacific Community of Alaska. She serves as co-chair for the board of directors for the National Association of Pasifika Organizations (NAOPO) and member of the board of directors for the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA); she also serves as an officer for United Territories of Pacific Islands Alliance Alaska ( UTOPIA ), an organization focused on supporting Queer and Trans Pacific Islanders. Her professional background encompasses a diverse range of expertise, including housing interventions for the houseless population, advocacy for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, & human trafficking, and working with folks suffering from substance abuse and behavioral and mental health challenges.
University of Alaska Anchorage Economics Professor Kevin Berry returns to the podcast to discuss the Alaska economy. For a deeper dive into his personal story, listen to his episode from November 2022 (click here). Today we talk about the way the private sector and the public sector economies interact with each other in typical states and how Alaska is different; the need for zoning change in Anchorage; and ways that Anchorage's current community councils might be improved.
To read Dan Robinson's article, "Government and Private Sector Jobs," in Alaska Economic Trends, June 2024, click here.
To read " SHORT-RUN ECONOMIC IMPACTS OF ALASKA FISCAL OPTIONS ," by Gunnar Knapp, Matthew Berman, and Mouhcine Guettabi from the Institute of Social and Economic Research, click here.
In honor of Juneteenth 2024, I am airing an interview I conducted with Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson from 2023 for my previous podcast, "East Anchorage Matters." Last month the Alaska State House and Senate passed Sen. Gray-Jackson's bill making Juneteenth an Alaska State Holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States and began in Galveston, Texas, where the freed slaves there didn’t learn of their freedom until June 19, 1865, over two years after President Abraham Lincoln had signed the emancipation proclamation officially freeing them. Juneteenth has been the longest running African American Holiday, but for many years it was predominantly celebrated in the South, and many folks didn’t know about it. Senator Elvi Gray-Jackson herself arrived in Anchorage from New Jersey on June 19, 1982, with little knowledge of that holiday, but now 42 years later, we celebrate Elvi Gray-Jackson's achievement having made Juneteenth an official Alaska State Holiday.
intérprete: Israel Portilla Gomez
La información de este episodio se basa en una entrevista que realizó en 2024 con Jeremy Applegate, jefe de la división de Salarios y Horas del Departamento de Trabajo del Estado de Alaska. Todos los trabajadores en Alaska tienen derecho a un salario y un trato justos según la ley. Muchos trabajadores desconocen sus derechos, lo que permite al empleador aprovecharlos. El propósito de este podcast es educar a los trabajadores de Alaska sobre sus derechos para asegurarse de que se les pague y se les trate de manera justa.
Si cree que se han violado sus derechos como trabajador, puede enviar un correo electrónico a la División de Salarios y Horas a statewide.wagehour@alaska.gov, o puede llamar a la oficina al (907) 269-4900 de martes a jueves entre las 8:30 y 16:30 h.
Incluso si no está seguro, no dude en llamar a la oficina para obtener ayuda.
Puede llamar con seguridad incluso si está trabajando sin visa. El Departamento de Trabajo tiene la tarea de ayudar a que todos los trabajadores reciban un salario justo. No será reportado a inmigración por comunicarse con el Departamento de Trabajo para denunciar prácticas laborales injustas.
Es muy importante entender esto: todos los trabajadores en Alaska, independientemente de su estatus, tienen derecho a un salario y condiciones de trabajo justos.
Перекладач: Катерина КлименченкоІнформація в цьому епізоді базується на інтерв’ю, яке він провів у 2024 році з Джеремі Епплгейтом, керівником відділу оплати праці та робочих годин Департаменту праці штату Аляска. Відповідно до закону, усі працівники на Алясці мають право на справедливу оплату праці та ставлення. Багато працівників не знають своїх прав, і це дає змогу роботодавцю нажитися на ниx. Мета цього подкасту – розповісти працівникам Аляски про їхні права, щоб переконатися, що вони отримують зарплату та чесне ставлення.
Якщо ви вважаєте, що ваші права як працівника були порушені, ви можете надіслати електронного листа до відділу оплати праці та робочих годин за адресою statewide.wagehour@alaska.gov або зателефонувати в офіс за номером (907) 269-4900 з вівторка по четвер з 8:30 до 4:30 вечора. Навіть якщо ви не впевнені, сміливо телефонуйте в офіс по допомогу.
See on eestikeelne versioon taskuhäälingusaate intervjuust Jeremy Applegate’iga – Alaska tööministeeriumi palga ja tunni osakonna juhatajaga. Kui arvate, et teie õigusi on rikutud, helistage numbril 907-269-4900. Te ei pea inglise keelt rääkima.
Zoo siab txais tos txhua tus los rau Tsab Ntawv East Anchorage; Hnub no lub xov tooj cua luv luv no yuav piav qhia txog Alaska cov neeg ua haujlwm txoj cai hauv lus Hmoob. Kuv lub npe yog Emery Yaj , kuv yog tus txhais lus Hmoob rau tus tuav thiab coj xov tooj cua Andrew Gray. Andrew Gray yog tus sawv cev rau East Anchorage hauv Alaska State House. Cov ntaub ntawv thiab lus tham hauv ntu no yog raws li kev xam phaj xyoo 2024 los ntawm tus thawj coj Jeremy Applegate hauv lub chaw Haujlwm Saib Xyuas nyiaj thiab Sijhawm rau xeev Alaska cov neeg ua haujlwm txoj cai.
Txhua tus neeg ua haujlwm hauv Alaska muaj cai tau txais kev them nyiaj ncaj ncees thiab vaj huam sib luag raws li txoj cai. Ntau tus neeg ua haujlwm tsis paub txog txoj cai no, ua rau cov tswv ntawv lawv lub chaw ua hauj lwm coj tsis ncaj rau lawv. Lub hom phiaj ntawm lub xov tooj cua no yog los qhia rau cov neeg ua haujlwm hauv Alaska kom paub txog txoj cai ntawm kev them nyiaj thiab vaj huam sib luag.
Ito ay isang Filipino na bersyon ng isang nakaraang podcast episode. Ang layunin ay upang turuan ang mga manggagawa tungkol sa kanilang mga karapatan. Ang interpreter ay si Elsie Janes. Kung naniniwala ka na ang iyong mga karapatan ay nilabag, makipag-ugnayan sa Alaska Department of Labor sa statewide.wagehour@alaska.gov o tumawag sa 907-269-4900. Hindi mo kailangang magsalita ng Ingles.
이번 팟캐스트 에피소드는 송명숙 번역가가 참여한 한국어 버전입니다. 알래스카의 모든 근로자는 공정한 임금과 안전한 근무 조건을 누릴 자격이 있습니다. 귀하의 권리가 침해되었다고 생각되면 907-269-4900으로 전화하십시오. 불만사항을 제기하기 위해 영어를 구사할 수 있을 필요는 없습니다.
This short episode is largely based on information gathered from the podcast interview with Jeremy Applegate, the chief of the Wage and Hour division for the State of Alaska Department of Labor, from May 6, 2024. To listen to the whole interview, click here. The plan is to release this short guide in Spanish, Tagalog, Hmong, Ukranian, and other languages so that non-English speakers will also have easy access to this information.
All workers in Alaska are entitled to fair pay and treatment under the law. Many workers are unaware of their rights, though, and this enables an employer to take advantage of them. The purpose of this podcast is to educate workers in Alaska about their rights to make sure that they are paid and treated fairly.
To email the Alaska Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division, use this address: statewide.wagehour@alaska.gov
To call them, this is their number: 907-269-4600. This number is answered between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm Tuesdays, Wednesday, and Thursdays. You do not need to speak English to contact the Department of Labor.
Amber Batts is a founding member of the Community United for Safety and Protection (also known as CUSP), an Alaska-based group of current and former sex workers, sex trafficking survivors, and allies working towards safety and protection in Alaska’s sex industry. Amber began working as sex worker at the age of 30 to escape an abusive marriage while supporting her two young children. We discuss her path through the Anchorage sex industry, the Alaska legal system, and her political advocacy today. Please note today’s episode will contain discussion of sex work, child sexual abuse, substance addiction, overdose, and violence. For link to Amber's most recent Alaska Beacon* article, "Alaska needs to stop prioritizing incarceration over education in effort to reduce sex trafficking," click here. * For link to CUSP, click here.
Rebecca Braun of Juneau moved to Alaska about 30 years ago initially to work for the forestry service. She then taught math and science at Juneau-Douglas High School before randomly applying for a journalist position with The Alaska Budget Report. The Alaska Budget Report, which no longer exists, was a nonpartisan publication that covered state government in depth. In 2005 she purchased that publication and became the editor-in-chief; she did deep dives into the VECO bribery scandal as well as Sarah Palin’s time as governor. As much as she may bristle at the comparison, Rebecca Braun was the Jeff Landfield (owner of The Alaska Landmine) of the oughts but in a more respectable way. After selling The Alaska Budget Report, she served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Governor Bill Walker. Today she is a Senior Policy Strategist with the Alaska Venture Fund, which is a philanthropic organization seeking a more sustainable future for our state. We discuss the sudden death of her husband in a tragic acccident when their children were young, and her diagnosis with advanced breast cancer and melanoma of the retina.
Link to Rebecca's Blog, "An improvised life"
Link to Rebecca's most recent ADN editorial: "Alaskans want more school funding. Dunleavy and legislators should listen."
Donna Arduin is most well known in Alaska as Governor Dunleavy's 2019 director of the Office of Management and Budget. She is currently staff for representative Ben Carpenter of Nikiski. As Dunleavy's OMB Director, she advised major cuts to the state budget including eliminating the state ferry system, dismantling the University of Alaska, and drastically cutting funding for the K-12 public education system. Prior to her work in Alaska, she earned a reputation as a "budget fixer" for her work with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, Governors Jeb Bush and Rick Scott in Florida, Governor George Pataki in New York, and most recently with Governor Greg Gianforte in Montana.
She is the President of the consulting firm Ardoin, Laffer Moore, which she founded 20 years ago with the man known as the father of supply side economics, Arthur Laffer. Supply side economics is the theory that economic growth can most effectively be fostered by lowering taxes, decreasing government regulation, and allowing more free trade.
Jeremy Applegate is the chief of Wage and Hour for the State of Alaska Department of Labor. The goal of today’s episode is to inform workers, particularly seasonal workers who may have never worked in Alaska before, of their rights. Important things to know up front: workers are entitled to a written contract at the start of their employment which specifies how much they will be paid, when they will be paid, and how they will be paid. Most workers in Alaska are entitled to the state minimum wage of $11.73 an hour, and if a worker works more than 8 hours in a single day or more than 40 hours in a single week, most are entitled to overtime payment.
If you believe that your rights as a worker have been violated call: 907-269-4900 Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm or email: statewide.wagehour@alaska.gov or click here. You do not need to speak English to contact this office and make a claim.
Municipal attorney of Bethel Libby Bakalar is today's guest. Libby became famous in Alaska for her blog, One Hot Mess, and then her social media presence as One Hot Mess Alaska. Her outspokenness led to her unlawfully firing by the Dunleavy administration when she was working there as an assistant attorney general. Today, we discuss all of that as well as her complicated feelings about the conflict in Israel as a Jewish woman and descendant of Holocaust survivors.
Today is the final episode in our series on Transgender Rights. I, Rep. Andrew Gray, explain the purpose of this series and broadcast the special order that I gave on the Alaska State House floor on April 17, 2024. It provides an olive branch to folks who may be on the other side with regards to these issues. It is my sincere belief that the vast majority of those opposed to trans rights have not had conversations with trans people, their families, or health care providers. If they had had the talks that I have had over the past ten days, they would not support the anti-trans legislation currently being considered.
The impulse for this Trans Rights series is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
Dr. Marci Bowers is a pelvic and gynecologic surgeon with more than 32 years’ experience. She is the president of WPATH – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health. Her gender diverse work has been highlighted through appearances on Oprah, CBS Sunday Morning, Discovery Health and the TLC reality series, “I am Jazz." She was interviewed in 2021 by Leslie Stahl for “60 Minutes.” Dr. Bowers is recognized as one of the 100 most influential LGBT people on the Guardian’s World Pride Power List. She has performed more than 2250 primary Male-to-Female Vaginoplasties and 3900 Gender Affirming Surgeries overall.
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The impulse for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
Dr. Joshua Safer is the executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York. He is the founding medical director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine, and he was the inaugural president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH). He serves on the Global Education Initiative for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Dr. Safer was a co-author of the Endocrine Society Guidelines for the medical care of transgender patients.
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
Becca Bernard is a former environmental lawyer and a Unitarian Universalist minister based in Anchorage. She is also mom to two children, one of whom is trans.
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
David Leslie is an Inupiaq Sipiniq (Two-Spirit) living in Fairbanks. He is a frequent testifier against the anti-trans bills moving through the Alaska State House. We discuss his specific perspective as a queer Alaska Native man.
To check out the book recommended by our guest, Yuuyaraq: The Way of The Human Being, by Harold Napoleon, Click here.
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
Henry is a 15 year old trans boy. He and his mother are the guests today discussing their experience in Alaska. No last names will be given in the interest of their safety.
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
Jessica Kalarchik was an Army First Sergeant who deployed with me and the Alaska Army National Guard’s 1-297th infantry battalion to Kosovo 2019-2020. 1st Sergeant Kalarchik presented as a very masculine man, and I never suspected that she was a trans woman. She was medically retired after 31 years in the military during her next deployment to Poland. Leaving the military gave her the freedom to begin her life as a openly trans woman, with the support of her wife, her daughters, and her grandchildren. She is the lead plaintiff in a class action lawsuit brought by the ACLU against her birth state of Montana over the right to amend the gender on her birth certificate.
To read more about the lawsuit, click here.
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
The Banning family consists of:
- Lindsey, clinical psychologist, mom
- Charlie, age 15, non-binary trans masculine
- Ezzy, age 12, sister
- Earl, neuropsychologist in the Air Force at Elmendorf, dad
This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights.
Aaron Poe has been a wildlife biologist in Alaska since 1998. He is the father of a trans daughter in the Anchorage School District, and today we discuss that experience.
This episode is the first in a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows doctors to be sued up to 20 years after performing gender affirming procedures on trans youth.
Alaska has many big problems. The pressing need to increase the funding of our public school system and finding a solution for an imminent energy crisis, for example. But instead of working on these very real, very substantial problems, we are spending the last weeks of session debating whether trans youth exist and have rights. They do exist; they do have rights; and over the next few days we will be hearing from them and their families.
Aaron Poe recommends the following Ted Talk, "What it means to be intersex," by Susannah Temko. Click here to watch.
Alaska State Senator James Kaufman represents the Abbott Loop and Hillside areas of Anchorage. Although in his teens and 20s he was a guitar player & song writer for several successful rock bands, James began earning real money as an aircraft mechanic in Houston, Texas. He quickly found himself taking on bigger and bigger management positions which ultimately led to him transitioning to the oil and gas field which eventually brought him to Alaska with BP. He was elected to the state house in 2020 where he served in the Republican minority, and then to the Senate in 2022 where he now serves in the bipartisan supermajority.
Reggie Joule of Kotzebue is a former Alaska State House Representative and the former Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor. He is listed in the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame as: “the greatest practitioner of the blanket toss in the long history of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics.” His skill in that Alaska Native sport led to his appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson twice. He ran for the Alaska State House the first time in 1988, but it he lost. Eight years later he ran and won and represented the North Slope in the state house for 15 years before running for mayor.
Judge Sharon Gleason is the Chief Judge of the United State District Court for the District of Alaska. She was appointed by Barack Obama in 2012 after serving 11 years as a judge on the Alaska Superior Court. She is the first woman to serve as a federal judge for Alaska.
On March 29, 2024, she released a 29-page decision against the fishing of the Kuskokwim River by urban fishermen, reserving subsistence fishing only to rural Alaskans. Read more here.
Her fame as a federal judge stems from important environment rulings including her 2015 ruling that fined Greenpeace $2500 per hour that they blocked Shell Oil icebreaker from leaving Portland to head to the arctic for drilling operations. In 2019 she found that President Trump unlawfully sought to open the Chukchi Sea for offshore drilling; that same year she also blocked road construction between King Cove and Cold Bay. And in November 2023 she upheld the Biden administration’s approval of the Willow project rejecting Inupiat and environmental claims against it.
This interview came about after I gave a special order on the House floor in honor of the country of Estonia’s Independence Day. The most famous Estonian-Alaskan is Judge Sharon Gleason. She is the granddaughter of Timotheus Grünthal – he was an Estonian politician serving in the Estonian parliament; Judge Gleason’s Grandmother was Vera Poska-Grünthal was a leading Estonian Feminist and a founder of the International Federation of Women’s Lawyers.
Vera’s father, Judge Gleason's great-grandfather, was Jaan Poska who was the first ethnic Estonian admitted to the bar in Tallinn, the capitol of Estonia. Poska served as mayor of Tallinn from 1913-1917 and then became the governor of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia in 1917. The Republic of Estonia was formally declared on 24 of February 1918 and Judge Gleason’s Great Grandfather was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs. He negotiated the Treaty of Tartu with Russia in 1920, and he was a drafter of the Estonian Constitution. So our guest today is a direct descendent of a founding father of Estonia.
This interview was recorded on Zoom and there was a sound issue with Judge Gleason’s microphone. I apologize for the buzzing sound.
With over 20 years of experience in Alaska's guardianship system Lisa Warzonek has been our statewide guardianship compliance officer since the position was created four years ago. A guardian is a person that the court appoints to manage the affairs of another person. In spite of the sensationalized negative headlines we see, most guardians do a difficult job for the right reasons with very little recognition or compensation. To learn more about guardianship and conservatorship in Alaska, click here, or call the Adult Guardianship Self-Help Line during normal business hours: 907-264-0520.
The Mobile Home Owner Town Hall Episode
Today our show is about mobile home parks. As the state representative for house district 20, I have several mobile home parks in my district. Mobile home owners face unique challenges: they own their home but must rent the land on which their home sits. Every year that rent goes up – yet the value of their home tends to go down. This can create a vicious cycle that can be incredibly difficult for a mobile home owner to break out of. This podcast episode today is an edited version of the Town Hall that I held on Zoom on March 14, 2024. The main guest is attorney Charles Ward of Alaska Legal Services. He answers questions specific to mobile home owners. I also included an excerpt of an interview that I did with my younger brother David Andrew. He owns several mobile home parks and speaks from that perspective. Finally, we hear from Demetria Veasy the assistant director of workforce services at the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. She discusses resources available through her Job Centers throughout the state which help folks achieve higher paying employment.
- To reach Alaska Legal Services, click here, or call Charles Ward at 907-373-3656
- To reach the Department of Labor and Workforce Development Job Centers, click here, or call the Midtown Anchorage Job Center at 907-269-0088.
- To read "‘We are in dire need’: Mobile home park residents urge Nevada lawmakers to stabilize rents," click here.
- To learn more about the the PBS documentary, "A Decent Home," click here.
Charisse Millett is a born and raised Alaskan who represented the Abbott Loop area of Anchorage in the Alaska State House from 2009 to 2019. During her legislative career she served as both the House Republican majority and minority leaders. In this episode we discuss:
- growing up Alaska Native in Anchorage
- serving as chief of staff to Rep. Vic Kohring just before the FBI probe that sent him to prison
- her decision to leave the Republican majority caucus during her 2nd term and how she earned her way back in
- the vote she most regrets
- losing the 2018 Republican primary to Josh Revak
- her job today as executive director of the Public Safety Employees Association (PSEA)
Chelsea Foster of Anchorage is a director on the board of the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association and a long-time cannabis advocate. She is COO for Birch Alaskan Naturals CBD, and a consultant for the Alaskan cannabis industry. She has successfully pursued regulatory and statuary changes for the Alaska cannabis industry with a focus on social equity and sustainability.
Bailey Stuart of Wasilla is co-owner of the the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's first recreational dispensary Green Jar. She also teaches a course at UAA called "Cannabasics." The class is a hands-on culinary course that covers proper cannabis terminology, techniques for decarboxylation and infusion, and utilization of the plant's anatomy. Stuart has been a trailblazer for the Alaska industry by advocating at the local, state, and federal levels to modernize the marijuana industry and treat it like any other business.
Visit the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association website by clicking here.
Facing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA) is a non-profit group made up of folks with lived experience in the foster care system. As former foster youth themselves, these individuals can offer expertise to make Alaska's system better from the inside out. Today on the show we hear from the most recent FFCA board president, Angel Gonzalez, Mateo Jaime, Kxlo Stone, and then three sisters, Anna Redmon, Sarah Lewis, and Abby Redmon.
If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, click here to learn more.
If you are interested in working for the Office of Children's Services, click here to learn more.
NOTE: this episode contains discussions of child abuse, neglect, substance abuse, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, drug overdose, and death. If you are thinking of harming yourself, call 988. Someone is waiting for your call.
Representative Gray's office is sponsoring two bills related to foster care:
House Bill 320 would protect foster youth sibling relationships when they get adopted. What this bill does is when a foster youth is adopted, they become a legal stranger to their biological family. But this bill would exclude their sibling relationships, which means that after they're adopted, they are still legally brother and sister with their biological siblings.
House Bill 363 would require that foster youth placed in a psychiatric institution would get a timely hearing in front of a judge to ensure that they actually require that level of care. This bill has been referred to Health and Social Services Committee.
To learn more or donate to Facing Foster in Alaska, click here.
Keri Ladner is the author of the 2024 book End Time Politics: From the Moral Majority to QAnon. She earned her doctorate in Divinity from the University of Edinburgh and much of her doctoral research focused on researching the theological roots of Jerry Falwell, the co-founder of the Moral Majority. She exposes the racism, contempt for the poor, and false patriotism of Falwell and his followers, as well as his commitment to "Biblical capitalism," which led Falwell to call for the elimination of all social welfare programs, including public education.
What Ladner does well is demonstrate how Jerry Falwell and his associates -- including former Anchorage pastor Jerry Prevo -- with their promotion of end times prophecy and various conspiracy theories, laid the path for the Tea Party and QAnon, which thus led to the election of Donald Trump and ultimately to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U. S. Capitol.
Find End Time Politics here
Jena Crafton is the chair of the Governors Council on Disabilities and Special Education. She has been a vocal advocate for people with disabilities since she was young as Crafton has developmental disabilities herself. We discuss her childhood including how she learned about her own disabilities and what she most wants the community at large to understand about people with disabilities.
Former Alaska State House Representative Ivan Ivan of Akiak in the YK delta replaced Lyman Hoffman in the state house when Hoffman was first elected to the state senate. Ivan served for a total of 6 years between 1991 and 1998. In 1996 Mary Peltola (Mary Sattler at the time) ran against him when she was just 24 but lost. She tried again in 1998 and defeated him. We discuss Ivan’s childhood in Akiak living a subsistence lifestyle, his decision as a Democrat to caucus with Republicans, and the importance of preserving the Yupiit language.
Ed Wesley was born in Bolivar County, Mississippi, on January 9, 1951. He moved to Fort Greeley, Alaska, in 1973 after being drafted into the Army. His wife joined him shortly thereafter and the two raised all five of their children here and the two have never lived outside Alaska since. He was elected president of the Anchorage NAACP in 1981 and led the charge to change the way the Anchorage Police Department uses deadly force. Wesley has served on the boards of numerous organizations such as treasurer for the Anchorage Council of PTAs, Worshipful Master of Mt McKinley Lodge #2 and Grand Jr Warden of Prince Hall Masons State of Alaska and its’ jurisdiction, chairman of the 3rd great Alaska high school basketball classic tournament, Municipality of Anchorage Zoning Board of Examiners and Appeals, vice president of Anchorage Board of Realtors, president of Alaska Black Leadership Conference, president of the African American Business Council, president of the African American Historical Society (sponsor of Juneteenth) and Board of Trustees for the State of Alaska Personnel Retirement System. A veteran’s advocate for many years, Wesley has served on the Veterans Volunteer Committee at the Alaska Veterans Administration Hospital. He is past commander of American Legion Post 34, where he sponsored activities for Veterans. He has raised funds for local Disabled Veterans to attend the National Wheel Chair Games. He has worked towards and championed youth activities continually in Anchorage. Wesley has been honored by the Alaska State Legislature as a nation builder for his community service and the National Association of Black State Legislators for his community service. He has also served as Deacon of the Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church and is here in the capitol with Shiloh Community Housing advocating for funds for their new Community Resource Center.
Delmonicia Shenee Williams is the President and CEO of Shiloh Community Housing, Incorporated, an organization she has been serving since its inception 24 years ago. Although her degree is in computer science and she has had a career as a computer programmer and systems analyst, her true passion is public service and she has helped bring the vision of Shiloh Community Housing to life. From its first affordable housing project through its transitional home for youth to today and its potential Community Resource Center, Shenee Williams has been at the center of these important projects that have diminished homelessness in Anchorage.
Link to Shiloh Community Housing
Today's episode is about Alaska's Charter Schools which were recently ranked #1 in the country. The lead author of the study is Dr. Paul Peterson of Harvard University.
Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Senior Editor of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research.
He received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Chicago. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education, he has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the German Marshall Foundation, and the Center for Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He is an author or editor of over 30 books, four of which have been identified as the best work in its field by the American Political Science Association.
Peterson was a member of the independent review panel advising the Department of Education’s evaluation of the No Child Left Behind law and a member of the Hoover Institution’s Koret Task Force of K-12 Education at Stanford University. The Editorial Projects in Education Research Center reported that Peterson’s studies on school choice and vouchers have been among the country’s most influential studies of education policy.
LINK TO STUDY: "The Nation’s Charter Report Card: First-ever state ranking of charter student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress"
AK State Senator Shelley Hughes of Palmer moved to Hoonah, Alaska, in the late 70s as a young adult to help establish a religious community with her parents. We talk about that experience, as well as her travels around Alaska with her husband and young family, and ultimately how she ended up involved in Alaska politics. We also discuss some of her policy interests.
This is an episode of East Anchorage Matters.
Legislative Update for Monday, Feb. 5, 2024:
- My vote on HB 129 -- Rep. Vance's election reform bill
- Floor speech on difficulty of modelling all of public school on charter schools.
This is an episode of East Anchorage Matters.Representative C. J. McCormick of Bethel is 26 years old and the youngest member of the Alaska State House. Prior to serving in the legislature, he served on city council and as vice mayor of Bethel. Bethel is the 8th largest city in Alaska with just over 6,200 residents. Today, we discuss why his parents settled in the YK Delta, how he ended up in politics, And what it's like serving in the House majority, where he is just one of two Democrats.
This episode discusses suicide. Call 988 if you are thinking of killing yourself; someone is waiting for your call.Legislative Update, January 29, 2024:
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Status of Senate Bill 140 (internet for rural schools, BSA increase, Charter School changes, etc)
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Introduction of Rep. Gray's Alcoholic Beverages and Cancer bill (ABC) which adds language to existing alcohol warning signage that alcohol can cause cancer including colon and breast cancer.
Lesil McGuire is a lifelong Alaskan, former state senator, women’s and rural rights advocate, and mother. This episode is the premier of season 2 of Rep. Gray's legislative podcast: EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS. Lesil lives in Anchorage and works as a consultant in the aerospace, technological innovation and Arctic policy sectors. We discuss why she became a lawyer, why she identifies as a Republican, and how she served for 16 years in the House and Senate by "leading with love." She served as the Senate Rules Chair, Co-Chair of the Alaska Arctic Policy Commission, and House Judiciary Chair.
The legislative update discusses:
- Joint Session attempted veto override
- House Bill 140 to increase the base student allocation
- My special order honoring the late great AK State Senator Vic Fischer
To contact me, email rep.andrew.gray@akleg.gov or call 907-465-4940
Daughter of Alaska Legend Jalmar "Jay" Kerttula -- the only person to ever serve as both speaker of the house and president of the senate -- Beth Kerttula is the former Director of the National Ocean Council, where she led the implementation of the United States National Ocean Policy, including the creation of the first two U.S. regional marine plans. Previous to that, she was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions, working with policymakers from multiple disciplines on the impacts of climate change on the ocean and the Arctic.
Beth has extensive experience in both elected and appointed office. She is a dedicated public servant who was elected eight times and is a 15-year veteran of the Alaska House of Representatives, where she served as Minority Leader from 2006 to 2013. An attorney, Beth served as the Alaska State Bar Board of Governors President. She also held positions in the State of Alaska Attorney General’s Office, and the Public Defender Agency.
Beth was the original sponsor of landmark cruise ship pollution legislation as well as other important environmental bills. She led efforts to defend and improve the Alaska Coastal Zone Management Program and research efforts by the University of Alaska on ocean acidification and community sustainability. Beth was also a member of the State of Alaska’s first Arctic Policy Commission, which created Alaska’s first Arctic policy recommendations for the state legislature.
Ben Walker is a7th grade science teacher at Romig Middle School, and he was also Alaska’s teacher of the year in 2018. Ben is on the show today because, after listening to some of East Anchorage Book Club's previous podcast episodes discussing the Alaska education system, he felt an important perspective was missing. He wanted to share what it’s like inside the classroom for teachers in the Anchorage School District right now.
Link to Anchorage School's District Academy Model
The executive director of Hope Community Resources is Michele Girault. Hope Community Services is a non-profit organization that provides services and supports to people of all ages and abilities who experience intellectual or developmental disabilities, traumatic brain injury, or other mental health challenges. Michele started working there 40 years ago just after she’d moved to Anchorage – she thought she’d stay a year, but she is here. We will also discuss Friends of Pets, a non-profit founded in 1989 that provides vital animal welfare and protective services for abandoned animals in Anchorage. Michele Girault serves as the president of Friends of Pets.
Link to Hope Community Services
Link to Friends of Pets
New general director of Anchorage Opera Ben Robinson directed the recent production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. We talk about the bold choices he made with that production. We also discuss Anchorage Opera’s upcoming production of Scalia/Ginsburg which explores the friendship between the late US Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. In addition to serving as General Director of Anchorage Opera, Ben is also the artistic director of Opera Ithaca in New York and Raylnmor Opera in New Hampshire. He is the managing director of LyricFest in Philadelphia. Opera News called his Julia Child inspired film version of the Humberdinck opera Hansel and Gretel, “moving, visually daring.” That film joined the Opera Philadelphia Channel and was streamed last summer in a series of outdoor events. His production of Gianni Schicchi for Opera Ithaca in 2020 was described by Opera Magazine as “the deftest use of covid-era technology as part of modern operatic reality.”
To purchase tickets to Anchorage Opera, visit AnchorageOpera.org
Links to Clips in the show:
Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot sung by Luciano Pavarotti
Puccini's "Si, mi chiamano Mimì" from La Bohème sung by Martina Arroyo
Donizetti's "Una furtiva lagrima" from L'elisir d'amore sung by Juan Diego Florez
Wagner's "Hojotoho!" from Die Walküre sung by Alexandra Loutsion
Composer/librettist Derrick Wang's "TED Talk" on Scalia/GinsburgSupreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses Scalia/Ginsburg
Author Tom Kizzia is most well-known for his best-selling 2013 book, Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier, which was chosen by the New York Times as the best true crime book set in Alaska. Kizzia began his life in our state in the late 70s as a Homer-based journalist at the Homer News. In the early 80s he was hired by the late Howard Weaver to work at the Anchorage Daily News where he started as a crime reporter. In 1983 he visited McCarthy for the first time to investigate a mass shooting in that ghost town that had killed 6 people. Kizzia and his wife later built a cabin near McCarthy. It was this connection to the community that enabled Tom to get close to Papa Pilgrim the patriarch of his most famous book, Pilgrim's Progress. Cold Mountain Path, Kizzia’s third book, preserves the rollicking history of McCarthy from the abandonment of the Kennecot mine in 1938 until the mail day murders in 1983. For Cold Mountain Path, Kizzia was named 2022 Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society.
Link to Howard Weaver's obituary by Tom Kizzia
University Area Community Council President Tyler Robinson is a city planner who has been in Anchorage since 2005 and working for Cook Inlet Housing Authority for over a decade. He is CIHA's Vice President of Community Development and Real Estate. Many have noticed the new Cook Inlet Housing Authority buildings in Muldoon, Mountain View, and Spenard. Those buildings often feel like the only recent construction that's happened in Anchorage. Tyler discusses how CIHA figured out how to build in Anchorage and what needs to happen to incentivize more housing construction.
Link to my op-ed in the Anchorage Daily News about the need to open the Bettye Davis East Anchorage High School Swimming Pool.
Link to information about applying to be a municipal lifeguard.
East Anchorage Assemblywoman Karen Bronga is a lifelong Alaskan and former school teacher who has spent most of her life in East Anchorage. She was elected in a special election to replace Forrest Dunbar when he was elected to the Alaska State Senate. Today, we discuss her background, how she got to the assembly, and what this last year has been like.
If you would like to find out more about becoming an Anchorage Lifeguard, you can click here.
Dr. Diane Hirshberg is the Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. We talk about her backstory and how she made it to Alaska, but also her research into rural education and potential solutions for improving it.
This episode marks a milestone because, after including the interviews from my other podcast East Anchorage Matters, this is my 100th interview.
To read Education, Equity and Inclusion: Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable North, co-edited by Diane Hirshberg, click here. This is an open source book so you can read it for free.
Alaska State House Representative Louise Stutes of Kodiak is the former Speaker of the House and the current Minority whip. We talk about her family’s long history in Alaska, why she ended up in Kodiak, and how she initially got involved in politics as a member of the Kodiak Borough Assembly. We also discuss her decision as a Republican to become part of the House coalition almost 7 years ago.
Dr. Jharrett Bryantt is the superintendent of the Anchorage School District (ASD). He grew up in San Antonio and then went to college on the East Coast. He returned to Texas for his first teaching job at a charter school in Houston where he taught math as part of Teach for America which is a national program that supports college graduates to become teachers in our neediest schools through an alternative teacher certification process. Alaska does not qualify for Teach for America because we do not allow for alternative teacher certification. Two years later Jharrett left the classroom to begin his quick ascension up the administrative ladder of the Houston Independent School District. While working for HISD, he earned his doctoral degree in education policy and leadership from the University of Texas at Austin. In 2019, Dr. Bryantt was named one of Forbes’ magazines 30 under 30 for education based on his work to get more low income students into college. He began as ASD's superintendent in Summer 2022.
Former Texas House Representative Glen Maxey was born near a refinery in Baytown, Texas, in 1952. His first job was working in a traveling rodeo and his first serious foray into politics was as a student at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, where he led the charge to allow alcohol to be sold in that formerly dry county. Although he was already a known quantity in the Texas Democratic Party by his early 20s, it wasn’t till he was almost 30 and left teaching 5th grade in rural Texas that he got his first job working at the Capitol. In 1981 after getting Kent Caperton elected to the State House, Glen was asked to join Representative Caperton's staff and immediately began cultivating a relationship with the most powerful senator in the state, Oscar Mauzy. The following year, Glen lost his own race for an open House seat in Bryan-College Station. He quit teaching and permanently relocated to Austin to join the staff of Sen. Mauzy. Glen lived an extremely closeted life as a gay man. But that ended in 1985, when, using the bull horn of Sen. Mauzy’s office, he stood up against Texas’s draconian response to the HIV crisis, and overnight became a very public gay rights activist and the first executive director of the Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby (LGRL). No one thought he had a real chance to win an election in Texas in the early 90s; his good friend Governor Ann Richards said, “Don’t do it. Even if you win, they’ll never let you do what’s important.” Glen Maxey proved them all wrong becoming the first out gay man elected to the Texas State House in 1991 and over the next 12 years passing more impactful legislation than any legislator in Texas history.
Amanda Metivier is the director of the Alaska Child Welfare Academy at UAA and is a board member and co-founder of Facing Foster Care in Alaska. She and her husband are foster parents who have provided homes for many youth over the past 15 years – many of them teenagers since both Amanda and her husband were foster youth themselves and know the difficulty that older children face in finding a willing home.
Les Gara was the 2022 democratic candidate for governor of Alaska. He is a former legislator who served in the Alaska state house from 2003 to 2019. Throughout his time in the legislature he advocated for foster care reform and in 2018 achieved it with House Bill 151.
In spite of that landmark legislation, little has changed about our foster system. Alaska faces a severe shortage of licensed foster care parents. To learn more about how to be a foster parent, click here.
LINKS:
Mother Jones article "Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a 'Gold Mine'" by Julia Lurie.
New Yorker article "When Foster Parents Don't Want to Give Back the Baby" by Eli Hager.
HB 151 SUMMARY
HB 27 SUMMARY
Keeley Olson has been the executive director of STAR since 2016.She has spent all of her adult life working with the survivors of sexual assault – from her college days in Montana through her time at STAR which began in Anchorage in 2007. STAR was founded in 1978 to respond to the needs of survivors of sexual assault. It also provides prevention and education programs to schools and organizations throughout Alaska to prevent assaults from happening. When STAR was founded the acronym stood for Standing Together Against Rape, but the organization is attempting a rebrand, and prefers to be known simply as, "STAR."
If you have experienced sexual trauma or have questions, call:
907-276-7273
Someone will answer at anytime.
If you would like to make a donation to STAR, click here.
Colleen Mondor is a freelance investigative journalist who lives part-time in Alaska. She is a pilot and primarily writes about aviation safety. After running dispatch operations for four years at a Fairbanks-based commuter and charter airline, she wrote a memoir largely based on that experience, The Map of my Dead Pilots: The dangerous game of flying in Alaska. In 2020, she published an article in the Midnight Sun called “Everything you ever wanted to know about Alaska’s bypass mail.” Today we will discuss the subject of that article: how bypass mail got started, how it has morphed over time, and why rural Alaska is absolutely dependent on it.
Article: "Everything you ever wanted to know about Alaska's bypass mail"
Book: The Map of my Dead Pilots: The dangerous game of flying in Alaska
Today’s episode is a little bit different. I held an Alaska house district 20 constituent town hall on Zoom regarding renters' rights. According to Alaska Economic Trends magazine, the average rent in Anchorage went up by 14.2% from 2021 to 2022, and then rose an additional 5% on top of that this year. The median rent in Anchorage is $1,532 a month. Folks fear they may lose their apartments due to inability to pay. In response to those concerns, I invited today’s guest attorney Dan Coons to speak; Dan is a fair housing expert who has been working at Alaska Legal Services Corporation since 2010. He specializes in illegal housing discrimination and eviction prevention, as well as a broad range of other civil legal issues. Although I geared this event toward my constituents – and you will hear some unmute to ask questions – I actually needed this town hall for me. I was not aware just how free Alaska landlords are, when their tenants are on month-to-month leases, to increase rents by any amount multiple times. At the end of the episode, we offer some resources to help folks struggling with rent or facing eviction; here are those links:
- Alaska Legal Services Corporation
- State of Alaska Eviction Diversion Program
- Basic Housing Assistance Program
- Call Center for Homeless Veterans: 877-424-3838
North Anchorage Assembly Member Daniel Volland was born and raised in Washington State, and began coming to Alaska regularly in 2016 to do remote work as an optometrist. After relocating permanently to Anchorage in 2019, he became very active very quickly in local politics and successfully ran for the newly established 12th seat on the Anchorage Assembly in the summer of 2022. Today he is talking about the Anchorage Assembly’s Housing Action Strategic Plan and the Anchorage Housing Action Week that just finished with a big summit on Friday. That summit was held at UAA and the keynote address was given by Charles Marohn, a land-use planner and municipal engineer who advocates for the development of dense towns and the restructuring of suburbia. I bring this up because he features prominently in my conversation with Assembly member Volland.
Important links:
1. Anchorage Assembly Housing Focus Page
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Charles Marohn's book Strong Towns
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Charles Montgomery's book Happy Cities4. Zoom link to Tenants' Rights meeting, Thursday, Nov. 9, 5:30 - 6:15 pm
The Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMWIG2S) Alaska Working Group was founded by today's guests Kendra Kloster and Dr. Charlene Aqpik Apok (who will be referred to by her Inupiaq name Aqpik throughout today’s interview). The MMWIG2S Alaska Working Group is an Indigenous-led consortium that is supported by the partner organizations: Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, Alaska Native Justice Center, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Data for Indigenous Justice, and Native Movement. Kendra and Aqpik began meeting in 2018 and continue to meet weekly to share strategies to address the MMIWG2S crisis in our state. According to the National Institute of Justice, Native American women are more than twice as likely to experience violence than any other demographic. The numbers are higher in Alaska, but exact reliable data are lacking, and this is one of the issues we will be discussing today.
Links to websites:
- Missing Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit Alaska Working Group
- Alaska Native Women's Resource Center
Link to Book
Alaska Native Women: Ending the Violence, Reclaiming a Sacred Status
Dr. Dayna DeFeo is the director of the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) and a research assistant professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. DeFeo’s primary research interests include college and postsecondary transitions, particularly in career and technical fields for underrepresented populations, but today we will discuss another primary interest of hers: teacher turnover, recruitment and retention. Dr. DeFeo has authored several papers on this subject and is one of the authorities in our state to speak on this issue.
Links referenced in the show:
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Alaska Trends Article regarding Alaska Teachers' wages
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ISER Publications Search Page
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Education Commission of the States articles about Alaska
In honor of Filipino American History Month our guests are two professors from the University of Alaska Anchorage: Drs. EJR David and Gabriel Garcia. This past session House Bill 23 sponsored by Representative Genevieve Mina passed the Alaska legislature unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Dunleavy. This bill makes October officially Filipino American History Month. So today we will be talking about Filipinos in Alaska; our guests are both PhDs, both born in the Philippines, and both immigrated to Alaska as children.
Dr. Gabriel Garcia is a professor of Public Health at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is the coordinator of UAA’s Master of Public Health Program. His research highlighted health disparities in Filipino fish processing plant workers in Dutch Harbor. We will also be discussing his current research about the potential resiliency that can be gained from ethnic studies programs.
Dr. E.J. R. David is a professor of psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage. His primary duties are with the PhD program in clinical community psychology with a rural, cultural, and indigenous emphasis. He has published four books. The first three are academic works about internalized oppression and the colonial mentality. His fourth is a memoir titled, We Have Not Stopped Trembling Yet: Letters to my Filipino Athabaskan Family.Rep. Genevieve Mina is the second Filipino woman elected to the Alaska House of Representatives. She represents East Anchorage (Airport Heights, Mountain View, and Russian Jack neighborhoods).
David Ramseur has been a major figure in Alaska politics for over 30 years. He served as press secretary, communications director, chief of staff, and foreign policy advisor to Alaska Governors Steve Cowper and Tony Knowles and to Anchorage Mayor and U.S. Senator Mark Begich. Today we are discussing Ramseur’s 2017 book Melting the Ice Curtain which tells the story of the courage and persistence of the Alaskan and Russian citizen-diplomats who stared down the Cold War to bridge the gap between Alaska and Russia, which are separated at their closest point by just 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) between Little and Big Diomede islands. David was inspired by his many visits to the USSR and Russia, including his time living and working there in the early 90s. He began researching this book in earnest in 2015 by interviewing more than 130 key players and examining enormous amounts of archived materials which were being stored all over the US and Russia. Currently, David is a visiting scholar in public policy at the University of Alaska Anchorage's Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER).
Alaska House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage was born and raised in Anchorage. He chose not to follow his father into firefighting unlike his younger brothers. At 32, he is one of the youngest members in the Alaska legislature, and the youngest by far serving in a leadership position. We discuss why he didn’t become a firefighter, how he ended up representing the district he grew up in (near Service High School), and what it was like to become a father in the middle of this past legislative session just before the budget hit the floor, which is the busiest time in the legislature.
Bob Loeffler is a professor at UAA’s Institute of Social And Economic Research (ISER), where he teaches courses on the mining industry as well as natural resource policy and public land management. Before ISER, he worked for Alaska’s department of natural Resources initially in 1996 as coordinator for the permitting of large mines, and for seven years as the Director of the Division of Mining, Land, and Water. After DNR, he took a job with Jade North, a consulting firm specialized in natural resource issues, where he works on mining, permitting, and policy issues for industry, local government, and Native Corporations.
Alaska State Senate President Gary Stevens has been working on a play about US Senator Ted Stevens for almost a decade. That play Uncle Ted premiered at Cyrano’s theater in Anchorage on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. I was at opening night, and we discuss the play and Gary’s relationship with Senator Ted Stevens as well as Ted’s oldest son Senator Ben Stevens: the three Senator Stevens’s, although it is important to note that Gary is not related to Ted or Ben. We also discuss why Gary first came to Kodiak in 1970 and his launch into local politics, before completing his PhD in American History.
To purchase tickets for Uncle Ted which is showing through Oct. 22, 2023, click here:
https://centertix.com/events/uncle-ted
Dr. Travis Hedwig is the assistant dean of the division of population health sciences at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He is co-editor of a forthcoming book entitled Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North. The book brings together leading scholars from Alaska, the Canadian north, and Greenland who examine the factors contributing to our housing and homelessness issues and how to develop policies that respond to our northern realities. Travis was an instrumental researcher in Anchorage’s early foray into Housing First policy with Karluk Manor. Karluk Manor was Anchorage’s first permanent housing project that did not require any level of sobriety for the chronically unhoused individuals that were chosen to stay there. Although that project was met with fierce community resistance, now over ten years later, it is seen as a great success and guides our commitment to Housing First policy.
Alexis Johnson, Anchorage’s housing and homelessness coordinator, joins us to discuss the municipality's emergency cold weather shelter plan for this coming winter.
Dr. Mike Jones, an economist at UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), has focused much of his research on food security and food transportation in Alaska. He is a member of the legislature’s food strategy task force where he has served on the infrastructure and transport subcommittee. Born and raised in northern Florida, he earned a BS in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida, an MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, and a PhD in Economics from North Carolina State University. He and his wife moved to Anchorage three years ago.
Homer-based author Tom Kizzia is most well-known for his best-selling 2013 book Pilgrim’s Wilderness, which was chosen by the New York Times as the best true crime book set in Alaska. Kizzia moved to Homer in the mid-70s where he took over the Homer News. In the early 80s, he was hired by the Anchorage Daily News and while working for that paper he wrote a series of stories under the title, "North Country Journal.” That project required Kizzia to travel to small Alaskan villages off the road system and report back. In 1991 he expanded some of those stories into his first book, The Wake of the Unseen Object: Travels through Alaska’s Native Landscapes. In 2021 the book celebrated its 30th anniversary and was reprinted by the University of Alaska Press. We are discussing that book today. Tom will be back later this year to discuss Pilgrim’s Wilderness and his most recent book Cold Mountain Path, for which he was named 2022 Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society.
This interview was recorded via Zoom.
Ivy Spohnholz is the Alaska State Director of The Nature Conservancy, which is a global environmental organization and the largest non-profit organization by assets in the Americas. Their mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Prior to becoming the Alaska director of the Nature Conservancy, Ivy had served three terms in the Alaska House of Representatives where she chaired the Ways and Means Committee and Co-chaired the Labor and Commerce Committee. She passed several important pieces of legislation during her time in office, most notably, a price transparency in health care law and a law expanding telehealth options in Alaska. We discuss her sudden entry into the legislature when she was appointed by Gov. Walker to replace Max Gruenberg who had died unexpectedly in 2016 as well as her surprising decision not to seek re-election in 2022.
This episode was recorded in Ms. Spohnholz's office downtown and there are some bird and street sounds.
Representative Alyse Galvin represents Midtown Anchorage in the Alaska State House, but she is most well known for her two runs for the US House in 2018 and 2020 against long-term Congressman Don Young. Earning 46.7% of the vote, she came closer to defeating him than any other challenger in his 49-year tenure. A third generation Alaska, Alyse's childhood was difficult. So difficult that some will find it unbelievably hard, while for too many Alaskans, it will sound all too familiar. We talk about how her challenges as a youth inspire her indefatigable work to strengthen families and improve Alaska's public education system.
Anchorage Assembly Member George Martinez was raised in Brooklyn, NY, as part of the hip hop community and made a name for himself as a rapper and lyricist at an early age. Growing up in the 80s,he was politicized by the anti-welfare rhetoric of President Reagan’s administration. That experience eventually led him to run for political office, and he was elected as the district leader in the 51st Assembly District in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in 2002 making him the first hip-hop artist elected to political office in New York. He is a former adjunct professor at Pace University where he taught American politics and his own self-developed course, “The politics of hip hop.” In 2007, he served as cultural ambassador for the US state department in the Western Hemisphere under secretary of state at the time Colin Powell. We talk about how he and his family got to Anchorage, his 4 years serving in Ethan Berkowitz’s Mayoral administration, and his experience now on the Anchorage Assembly after being elected for the first time this past spring.
Tiffany Hall was born and raised in Anchorage, and, since 2016, has served as the executive director of Recover Alaska. That organization works across the state to reduce not only excessive alcohol use but also to reduce the harms that come from that excessive alcohol use. Tiffany is sober herself, and we discuss her story and how she ended up as head of Recover Alaska.
Mentioned in the podcast:
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World Health Organization statement on alcohol: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2023-no-level-of-alcohol-consumption-is-safe-for-our-health
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Dr. David Jernigan's lecture about the marketing of alcohol:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfYoQ-BkpTc&t=984s -
Recover Alaska's website: https://recoveralaska.org/
During this episode we refer to "AA;" "AA" stands for Alcoholics Anonymous which is a peer-led abstinence-based sobriety program with a strong spiritual component.
Fairbanks Senator Scott Kawasaki was born in Japan to a Japanes-American father and a Chinese-American mother. He moved to Fairbanks halfway through kindergarten and has basically been there ever since. He was elected to the Fairbanks City Council when he was just 22 years old making him the youngest person ever elected to that body; and in 2006 he was elected to the Alaska legislature where he initially served in the House, and now serves in the Senate. We talk about being in public office for more than half his life, Gov. Sarah Palin, and much more.
This interview was recorded in Anchorage in July 2023.
Anchorage politico Anna Hutchinson has for the past few years been a major fundraiser for political campaigns in Anchorage and is now managing campaigns herself. In 2021 she came to Anchorage to work for her college friend Forrest Dunbar’s mayoral campaign. The plan was to be here for just a few months, but she has stayed on to work on other political campaigns. Although we set out to discuss strategies for new folks to get involved in local politics, we ended up with a wide-ranging conversation discussing her unusual childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, her obsession with Harry Potter, and her time as director of a domestic violence shelter in rural California.
Representative Andy Josephson was born and raised here in Anchorage, and although he is the son of former Alaska state Senator and Anchorage Assembly member Joe Josephson, Andy didn’t initially think politics was for him. In 2012, though, he followed in his father’s footsteps getting elected to the Alaska State House where he represented the UMED district until 2022. After the redistricting process he ran to represent the Taku-Campbell District; he was successful, and now with 11 legislative sessions under his belt, he is the most senior Democrat in the House minority caucus. He currently serves on the coveted finance committee.
Dr. Brett Watson, economist at ISER, was born and raised in a suburb of Houston, Texas. Brett made his way to Anchorage in 2017 as a postdoc at the University of Alaska Anchorage after earning his PhD in Mineral and Energy Economics at the Colorado School of Mines. We discuss how he ended up with his current job, and we do a dive into two topics of great interest to many listeners: Alaska’s PFD system and Anchorage’s housing market.
Phyllis Rhodes is the former executive director of Identity, the Anchorage-based nonprofit that seeks to advance Alaska’s LGBTQIA2S+ community. Born in 1937, Ms. Rhodes spent her youth in Amarillo, Texas. She moved to Anchorage in 1964 with her then husband, because she wanted a better future for her daughters. Although she’d known she was a lesbian since childhood, Phyllis was 62 years old before she began living openly. Despite her late start, the Alaska LGBTQ+ community is forever indebted to Phyllis Rhodes for her incredible work to advance our community.
Nolan Klouda is the director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Center promotes entrepreneurship, economic development planning, and research that provides potential policy solutions to Alaska mayors, assembly members, and legislators. Nolan was born and raised in Anchorage and left the state 20 years ago with no plan to return. Luckily for us he did come back and has led the Center for Economic Development for the past 9 years. Today we discuss Alaska housing issues including the new municipal ordinance brought forward by Anchorage Assembly members Kevin Cross and Meg Zaletel that would simplify Anchorage’s Zoning Code: AO 2023-66.
Note: During the episode you will hear Nolan Klouda and myself refer to ISER. ISER stands for the Institute of Social and Economic Research which is organization also housed at the University of Alaska Anchorage which helps determine public policy.
In 2014, just before his 30th birthday, Alaska State Senator Forrest Dunbar made a name for himself when he attempted to unseat Alaska’s long-term lone Congressman Don Young. Although he ultimately failed, with just a shoestring budget Dunbar upended expectations earning 41% of the vote and establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with. We discuss his childhood in rural Alaska, his decision to become a lawyer, and how he ended up in the Alaska State Senate. But we begin by talking about the most recent US Supreme Court decisions that had just been released when we recorded this interview on the morning of Friday, June 30, 2023.
Retired Superior Court Judge Victor Carlson was born in 1935 and raised on a farm in rural Michigan. He realized at an early age three things: 1. That he wanted to be a lawyer 2. That he was gay. 3. That he wanted to live in Alaska. He first arrived in Alaska in 1957 when he was stationed at Adak with the Navy. He settled here in 1962 once he was an attorney. He did not begin living openly as a gay man until the age of 50, and he faced terrible consequences. In fact, one man went to prison for 6 years for paying to have Judge Carlson assassinated. We talk about all that and the current state of LGBTQIA2S+ rights in Alaska.
Margo Bellamy was recently elected by her fellow board members to serve as president of the Anchorage School Board for the third time. Ms. Bellamy grew up in Coconut Grove, an African American neighborhood in Miami, Florida. At the end of her 8th grade year in 1964 she was chosen as one of eight Black students to integrate the nearby all white high school. We discuss that experience and how it informed her life afterwards including her move to Alaska and her almost 50 years of work in the Anchorage School District.
East Anchorage Matters Podcastis the new version of the East Anchorage Book Club podcast now that the host is a legislator in the Alaska House. It includes a legislative update and an interview with an Alaskan of interest.
Alaska State Senator Löki Tobin is a life-long Alaskan who was born in Nome and is named after her dad Charles Lewis Tobin, who goes by the nickname "Lew." In our most recent statewide election, Löki won the senate race to represent downtown Anchorage. That seat had been held by former senate minority leader Tom Begich. Löki had been a staffer for Tom since 2019. Today we discuss what it was like growing up in rural Alaska as what she describes as a "hyper minority."
Dana Stabenow is one of the most prolific authors living and working in Alaska today. Born in Anchorage in 1952, she grew up in Cordova and Seldovia, and earned her Bachelors degree in Journalism at the University of Alaska in 1973. Unable to make a decent living as a new journalist she took a job with the oil industry in Prudhoe Bay just as construction on the Pipeline was taking off. She later earned her master’s degree in creative writing at UAA. Since then she has published over 35 books most of which are crime fiction. Her first Kate Shugak mystery, A Cold Day for Murder, won the Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original in 1993. In 2007 Stabenow was named Alaska Artist of the Year in the Governor's Awards for the Arts and Humanities. Her 17th Kate Shugak mystery, Though Not Dead, received the 2012 Nero Award. She is also the author of the popular Liam Campbell series about an Alaska State Trooper working in the bush. Ms. Stabenow just published Theft of an Idol, her third in the Eye of Isis series, which takes place in ancient Alexandria, Egypt, and shines a new light on Cleopatra.
In the late 1950s the US Atomic Energy Commission initiated Operation Plowshare, which was a research project designed to find peaceful uses for nuclear explosives. Edward Teller, known as the father of the hydrogen bomb, championed the first big project of Operation Plowshare which was to blast a deep sea harbor near Cape Thompson, Alaska, by detonating a series of nuclear bombs simultaneously. This proposal was known as Project Chariot. What the proponents of this plan insisted was that it was safe and would bring economic prosperity to Alaska. Edward Teller and his staff toured the state promoting the plan and stating over and over that these nuclear explosions would not cause any lasting harm to Northwest Alaska, specifically not to the people of Point Hope who lived just 30 miles from the planned harbor. If Project Chariot were to have been carried out it could have resulted in radiation exposure equivalent to up to 675 Chernobyl disasters. In his 1994 Book The Firecracker Boys Fairbanks author Dan O’Neill documents in riveting detail how the Atomic Energy Commission misled the Alaskan public, and how a group of concerned scientists and most importantly the Inupiat people of Point Hope themselves successfully fought back the US Government from conducting an atomic experiment that would have resulted in lasting nuclear devastation to our great state.
Rep. Chris Tuck is the AK House Majority Leader. He talks about growing up without a dad, being a Pro-Life Democrat, and his efforts to hold Rep. David Eastman accountable for his membership in the Oath Keepers. We end by finding out why he decided not to run for re-election.
Rep. Chris Tuck: "This is still the people's government, and the government needs to serve the people, not the other way around. To those people that get elected, and say they don't like the government? Get out of government. Because we've got to make it work.”
West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran Ivan Hodes discusses his background, his military service, and his efforts to have Wasilla Representative David Eastman invalidated from serving in public office for his association with the Oath Keepers, an organization with ties to the January 6th insurrection of which Representative Eastman remains a life-long member. The trial to establish Rep. Eastman's eligibility to hold pubic office begins December 12, 2022.
Trans Rights Advocate Matt Pacillo, who recently graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage, grew up in the MatSu before moving to Anchorage as a teenager. While attending Dimond High School, he first came out as a lesbian and later as a trans man. We discuss his journey as well as his reaction to the most recent episode of this podcast which featured independent journalist Jeff Landfield.
Jeff Landfield is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Alaska Landmine Blog and podcast. In a world where traditional local media is on the verge of extinction, independent bloggers and podcasters have had to fill the void. Since its founding in 2017, The Alaska Landmine has done that with important investigative stories and through close coverage of municipal and state government. Jeff Landfield was a state Senate Candidate in 2012 and 2016, and was appointed to the commission on judicial conduct by Governor Bill Walker. His appointment was withdrawn due to a scandal involving photos of Jeff in a speedo. Note: This episode contains profanity.
On the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Alaska-Canada highway, we talk with author Christine McClure, who with her late husband Dennis, wrote two books about the construction of the Alaska-Canada Highway. The first, We Fought the Road was a more general history of the three Black regiments that were instrumental in the building that 1600 mile road in just 8 months. Today we explore their second book: A Different Race which tells a specific story. The winter of 1943 was record-setting cold in interior Alaska. Soldiers of the 97th regiment were not provided with proper clothing and when a group of them were ordered into the back of a truck for a 130 mile trip to Fairbanks when it was 34 degrees below zero, they refused. They were court marshalled and brought up on charges of mutiny – a crime punishable by death. Nine of the 10 soldiers were found guilty.
Alaska Climate Scientist Dr. Brian Brettschneider discusses his background, how he ended up in Anchorage, and the 4th National climate assessment from 2018; he is currently helping edit the Fifth National Climate Assessment which has not yet been published. We also discuss his very popular Twitter account (almost 37,000 followers) and whether or not he plans to stay on the platform now that Elon Musk has purchased of it.
Kevin Berry is an environmental economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is well-known for his tweets and for his frequent op-eds in the Anchorage Daily News. We discuss a variety of issues regarding the Alaska economy.
Award-winning Fairbanks author Dan O’Neill's 2004 Book The Last Giant of Beringia: The Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge not only tells the story of the historic land bridge that connected Siberia to Alaska, but also of the scientists, in particular geologist Dave Hopkins, who worked so hard to synthesize the evidence that has led to our current understanding.
During periods of glaciation – otherwise known as Ice Ages -- our sea levels dropped by as much as 480 feet. The Bering sea is only about 160 feet deep. Therefore, during these periods of global cooling what today is the Bering Strait was dry land -- land that supported plant life and animals, and which enabled the migration of humans from Asia into the Americas 13,000 years ago.
Disclaimer: this episode is about O'Neill's book from almost 20 years ago. We acknowledge that some of what we discuss today may not be up-to-date, particularly with regards to human migration.
Lifelong Democrat Pat Chesbro moved to Palmer, Alaska, in 1974. She taught at Palmer High School for 15 years before becoming principal for nine more. She eventually became the superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. She came out of retirement to join the Education Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. After placing third out of nineteen candidates in the open primary, Pat Chesbro is Alaska's Democratic candidate for US Senate in the upcoming general election. We discuss all of that and much more.
Fairbanks Author Dan O’Neill has been enamored with the upper Yukon between Dawson City and Circle for decades. In 2006 he published his travel memoir entitled: A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage Along the Yukon River. The book was awarded the Outstanding Alaskana Award by the Alaska Library Association, was named an “Editor’s Choice” by The New York Times, and was selected by National Geographic Travel as part of its “Ultimate Travel Library” along with books by John Steinbeck and Edward Abbey. Even so, it is the least well known of Dan O’Neill’s books, which is tragic, because his documentation of the subsistence lifestyle and the efforts to stamp it out through regulation are essential to understanding interior Alaska.
City planners have to be experts on a wide variety of issues; yet, because they are not elected officials, their well-informed advice is not always followed. Victor Fischer, a previous podcast guest, was Anchorage's first city planner in the 1950s. So much of the city was a blank slate then that it's easier to imagine the utility of the planner: this goes here, this can't go here, etc. But what about when much of the city is already built? Today we talk with Anna Brawley from the consulting firm Agnew Beck. She discusses her family, what led her to become a planner, how she ended up in Alaska, and her major projects over the past decade: alcohol policy, housing, and homelessness.
Carolyn "Care" Clift was the Libertarian Party of Alaska's candidate for governor in 2014, their lieutenant governor candidate in 2018, and AK senate candidate in 2020. She is the current chair of the Libertarian Party of Alaska's Platform Committee, and today we discuss that document. Although Libertarians seem like a fringe party, they have thoroughly taken over the Republican party over the past 40 years. During a July 15, 2022, interview with the Alaska Landmine, Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson identified as a Libertarian, and thanks to mega-investment from Charles and David Koch most Republicans in elected office in our country today espouse Libertarian ideals and talking points, whether they know it or not.
Note: We use the term "prostitute" and "prostitution" in today's episode. I want to acknowledge that these are historically derogatory terms for sex work and sex workers, and I apologize for the use of this arcane language.
Wigi Tozzi's first experience as a campaign manager was for a North Star Borough Assembly candidate in 1994. Since then he has managed many campaigns at the local and statewide level. He discusses the value of volunteers and gives specific advice for how they can have the most impact on a campaign. He pays particular attention to social media.
The 1500 mile Alaska-Canada Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Delta Junction, Alaska, was initially constructed in 8 months in 1942. The story of the difficult conditions experienced by the 10,000 Army soldiers and 6,000 contractors is a compelling one, but the experience of the 3600 African-American soldiers who were segregated and exposed to even more challenges is a less well-known one. Christine McClure and her husband Dennis published their first book about the construction of the Al-Can called We Fought the Road in 2017. What prompted Christine to write the book was the discovery, after his death, of her father’s letters to her mother during his time with the 93rd Regiment; he had been one of the few white officers assigned to that Black regiment. Sadly, Dennis McClure passed away in September 2021. This interview took place via Zoom from Chris’s home in South Carolina in August 2022.
Heather Lende, the Alaska State Writer Laureate for 2021, is the author of a number of best-selling memoirs about her life in Haines. Her most recent book is 2020’s Of Bears and Ballots: an Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics, which tells the story of her time serving on the Haines Borough Assembly, where shortly after her election, a recall petition was launched against her. This interview was the very first meeting of the East Anchorage Book Club, and it happened on August 9, 2021. Lende offered us great political advice that many of those in attendance took to heart. This episode marks our one year anniversary and is the final episode of Season 1.
KL Marshall, while working on her PhD in Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, became enthralled with the influence of oil money on Christian Fundamentalism in Alaska. She moved to the MatSu Valley to research her 2020 book Faith & Oil: How the Alaska Pipeline Shaped America’s Religious Right. She focused on Sarah Palin and Jerry Prevo, former head of the Anchorage Baptist Temple and now president of Liberty University in Virginia,. KL Marshall is not her real name; for safety concerns in the MatSu, she published using this nom de plume. She is currently working on her second book about the founder of Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, tentatively titled Nation under God’s Wrath.
Note: although I include a clip of US Senate Candidate Kelly Tshibaka during a discussion of the New Apostolic Reformation, I do not mean to imply that Kelly Tshibaka is part of that movement. Rather, her call from the pulpit that Christians participate in government is meant to exemplify a teaching that might be found at a NAR church.
Michael Wolverton did not come from a family of attorneys or judges; his parents were educators and that was what he planned to do. However, while doing his student teaching, he realized it wasn't the right path. He went to the University of Minnesota Law School and after a stint in the Peace Corp found himself in Alaska. Like so many, he had only planned to stay for a year, but never left. He started as a public defender in Anchorage and opened the Palmer Public Defender's office. He then served as a district court judge until he was appointed to the superior court by Gov. Tony Knowles in 1996. He retired from the bench in 2022 when he turned 70.
Jason Grenn is the executive director of Alaskans for Better Elections, an organization that lobbied for Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska and, now that we have it, is working to educate the electorate about it. After years as a registered Republican, he changed his registration to Independent just prior to running for the Alaska House of Representatives where he served from 2016-2018 representing the Sand Lake area of Anchorage. We discuss how his time in the House Majority Coalition and his move away from the Republican party informed his passion for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV).
Reverend Lise Adams Sherry was chosen to be the permanent minister of the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in March 2022. She grew up in a small town in Oregon as a regular church-goer thanks to her grandmother. As a teen, she questioned the central tenets of the Christian faith, and moved away from organized religion until stumbling into a Unitarian Church in Vancouver, Canada, thirty years ago. Today we discuss the Unitarian Universalist religion, Reverend Lise's journey to the ministry, and how she steers a politically active congregation during polarized times.
On this special July 4th episode, Andrew interviews Jasmin Smith: lifelong Alaskan, entrepreneur, and community organizer. From her youth in Eagle River to her leadership on the Mountain View Community council; from the formation of her landmark company, Baby Vend, to her heading up the most recent Juneteenth celebrations on the Delaney Park Strip, all is discussed. Also, on the show today, former staffer to Governor Bill Walker and lifelong Alaskan, Jonathan Taylor reads an abridged version of Frederick Douglass's “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Michael Burke grew up in upstate New York and first moved to Anchorage in the 1980s. He has been the senior pastor of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in midtown for over 20 years. 2009 in Anchorage is colloquially known as “the summer of hate.” That year an equal rights ordinance was proposed by the Anchorage Assembly and conservatives came from near and far to testify against equal rights for the LGBTQ community. The measure passed the assembly, but was vetoed by Mayor Dan Sullivan, and there were not enough votes to override. Michael Burke confronted a hateful angry crowd to speak in support of non-discrimination protections during a series of contentious assembly meetings. We discuss that "summer of hate," today’s divisive political climate, and how he came to be a priest in the first place.
Jim Obergefell and John Arthur embarked upon a life together when they were in their early 20s in Cincinnati. Twenty years later, when John was dying of ALS, they began a battle with the state of Ohio to have Jim recognized on John's impending death certificate as his surviving spouse. That case made it's way to the US Supreme Court, and in the landmark decision Obergefell v Hodges brought marriage equality to the whole country. Today Jim shares that story on the podcast.
Caitlin Shortell was born and raised in Anchorage. She returned home after earning her law degree at Northeastern University in Boston and worked as an Assistant Public Defender at the Alaska Public Defender Agency (2003); as an Assistant Attorney General at the Alaska Attorney General's Office (2004-2008); and as Human Rights Advocate at the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights (2008-2009). Ms. Shortell, along with two other attorneys, was plaintiff's counsel in Hamby v. Parnell (2014), the case that secured same sex couples the right to marry in Alaska. Five years after winning the lawsuit that secured equal marriage, Ms. Shortell sued to stop the State of Alaska from a discriminatory practice of denial of PFDs to same sex military spouses and kids stationed out of State in Smith v. Dunleavy (2020). We talk about all of that and the potential undoing of landmark supreme court precedents on today's episode.
In 2014 marriage equality was achieved in Alaska thanks to a case called Hamby vs Parnell. Although there were 5 couples involved, it was named after Matt Hamby who is our guest today along with his husband Chris Sheldon. They discuss their lives, the case, and the future of marriage equality in Alaska.
Anchorage Attorney Scott Kendall served as Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign attorney in 2010 and her 2016 campaign coordinator. He then served as chief of staff for Governor Bill Walker. In the last month he represented Alaska Redistricting Board members Melanie Bahnke and Nicole Borromeo in action against the Alaska Redistricting Board itself. Today we talk about redistricting, his childhood, and the evolution of his politics. DISCLAIMER: Scott Kendall and Andrew Gray speak for themselves alone. They do not speak for any member of the Alaska Redistricting Board.
Kameron Perez-Verdia, Assembly member for west Anchorage, spoke persuasively at the Assembly meeting on May 10, 2022, about why he couldn’t vote to fund Mayor Dave Bronson’s planned emergency shelter at Elmore and Tudor, but then he changed his mind at the last moment voting in support of that funding. His vote was decisive ensuring that the funding was approved. We discuss his sudden change of heart and much more, including his childhood in Utqiaġvik.
Key:
"Facilitation Group" = three members of the assembly and three members of the mayoral administration who are working with mediators to create a homelessness plan.
"Alexis" = Alexis Johnson, Mayor Bronson's Chief of Staff
In 1970 Alaska repealed its abortion law making abortion legal here three years prior to Roe vs Wade. One Alaskan senator who voted to legalize abortion – three separate times as he will point out -- was Joe Josephson. That same year he lost the democratic primary for the senate race to replace Bob Bartlett who had died in office; Republican Ted Stevens went on to win that election. Josephson started his career in politics in the late 1950s as a young staffer for territorial delegate Bob Bartlett (later US Senator); he was vice-mayor of the city of Anchorage under Elmer Rasmussen, served on the municipal charter commission, the Anchorage Assembly, and served as an AK senator in the mid-1980s acting as unofficial defense counsel for Gov. Bill Sheffield during his impeachment trial. Joe Josephson has five children, one of whom is AK House Representative Andy Josephson. Mr. Josephson who is almost 89-years-old still works full-time as an attorney and this interview was recorded at his law office. The sound quality for the first half of this interview is less than ideal,; apologies to our listeners.
Former acting Mayor Austin Quinn-Davidson was Anchorage's leader for an extremely turbulent eight months. The decision to go into public service in today’s political environment is a fraught one, but imagine taking over as mayor during a pandemic after a scandal took down the previous mayor. That was what Austin Quinn-Davidson did on October 23, 2020, and as you’ll hear today, the weight she carried on her shoulders was almost unbearable, but she and her wife Stephanie did it for our city until July 2021 when the newly elected mayor Dave Bronson was sworn in. Today we talk with both Austin and Stephanie. This interview was recorded in Austin’s Assembly office in City Hall and you will hear some occasional street traffic. Disclaimer: Host Andrew Gray does not speak for the Alaska Army National Guard, the US military, or the federal government; he speaks for himself only.
Names mentioned in this episode:
“Alexis” = mayoral chief of staff Alexis Johnson
“Felix” = assembly member Felix Rivera
“Forrest” = assembly member Forrest Dunbar
“Ethan” = former mayor Ethan Berkowitz
Newly re-elected Midtown Assembly Member Meg Zaletel has been through the wringer. After surviving a recall election last fall while she was sponsoring Covid mitigation mandates which led to the most vicious Assembly meetings in Anchorage history, she was named the interim director of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness (ACEH). We talk about all of that and her hopes for the future. Note: this interview was recorded in Meg’s home which has an open floor plan with lots of windows, so you will hear traffic outside, her dogs barking throughout, and her husband setting off the fire alarms while cooking dinner. Two names that are mentioned but not identified: Nancy Burke was the MOA's Housing and Homelessness coordinator at the time; Jasmine Boyle preceded Meg as the director of ACEH.
Lying above Latvia, Estonia is the northern most Baltic country. Estonia’s capital city, Tallinn, is a short ferry ride from Helsinki, the capital of Finland. From 2001 - 2003, I lived in Tallinn. I have watched the war in Ukraine with particular alarm given so many of my friends live so close to the conflict. In this episode, I speak with two of them: Eva Finch, an Estonian living in Turku, Finland, and Valeri Zahharov, who moved to Estonia from Russia as a teenager, but strongly identifies today as an Estonian. We spoke via Zoom.
In December 2021, the East Anchorage Book Club held a Zoom event with Rabbi Abram Goodstein of Congregation Beth Shalom and Reverend Matthew Schultz of First Presbyterian Church. These two local progressive clergy co-host a podcast together called “What Divines Us.” After months of holding Zoom events that were not recorded, we experimented with recording this one; however, at the time it was decided that it was too controversial. We discuss the brandishing of the Stars of David at Anchorage Assembly meetings, the Mayor's apologies -- good and bad -- and the propensity of the religious right to follow-the-leader.
Homelessness has been front and center in Anchorage politics for years, but particularly during the covid pandemic with the conversion of the Sullivan Arena into an emergency mass shelter. The debate has been dominated by those of us who have never been homeless; in fact, few of us have ever had a meaningful interaction with a homeless person. Today we talk with a woman who has experienced homelessness at various stages of her life in multiple cities in Alaska including Anchorage. Natasha Aġnaŋuluuraq Gamache will explain how she first ended up on the streets as a child, what has kept her there, and what she most wants listeners to know about the homeless. Warning: this episode contains graphic content including descriptions of substance abuse, rape, suicide, and the physical and sexual abuse of children.
Eitan Hersh is a political science professor at Tufts University in Boston where he focuses on US elections, civic participation, and voting rights. In 2020 he published his second book, Politics is for Power: How to Move Beyond Political Hobbyism, Take Action, and Make Real Change. That book led to the start of this podcast, so it is a great honor to have him on the show. Eitan participated via Zoom from his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, as part of a group event.
Vanessa Stephens is a third-generation Chugiak resident running to represent district 2 on the Anchorage Assembly. She happens to be transgender but is adamant that this is not an important aspect of her campaign. Much of her advocacy focuses on making Chugiak-Eagle River more compliant with the Americans for Disabilities Act, as she has been using a wheelchair for over 20 years. Although encouraged to run by current Assembly member John Weddleton, her campaign does not have a website, has submitted no fundraising reports to APOC, and has no discernable field operation. She opposed the Anchorage Assembly’s mask mandate, dislikes Sen. Lisa Murkowski for being a “RINO,” and supports former president Donald Trump.
Save Anchorage is a powerful far-right propaganda machine that exerts a strong influence on our current mayoral administration and is informally led by Eagle River Assembly woman Jamie Allard. Today we are joined by community organizer and early member of the Save Anchorage Facebook Group, Yarrow Silvers . We are also joined by the anonymous Blogger The Blue Alaskan; The Blue Alaskan has done important work combatting misinformation put out by the Alaksan right-wing media. They have also reported on important stories that have not been covered in the mainstream press. Because of their anonymity, questions were submitted in advance, and are read today by Homer resident and former columnist, radio show personality, and Raw Story podcast host Shannyn Moore.
Many of us think of Eagle River-Chugiak as a conservative stronghold where an independent non-partisan candidate wouldn’t have a chance. However, the truth is that Eagle River-Chugiak, like most parts of Alaska, is a heterogeneous community with many different voices. Assembly Candidate Gretchen Wehmhoff is counting on that diverse population taking a chance on her. After 21 years as a teacher at Chugiak High School, she officially retired but has continued part-time teaching, both within the school district and at the University of Alaska Anchorage. In a somewhat unexpected turn of events, she became the co-publisher of the Skagway News and out of necessity has turned into an expert on that southeast community. In 2018, she was appointed to fill the seat left behind when Assembly member Amy Demboski went to work in Gov. Dunleavy’s administration, which means that Gretchen knows what she’s in for if she gets elected. NOTE: there are some sound issues with the first couple of minutes of recording, but they resolve after the first 3 minutes.
Here in the Anchorage School District our student body is over 60% students of color while less than 15% of our teachers identify as non-white. Today we sit down with Danyelle Kimp and Rozlyn Grady Wyche, founders of the Alaska Coalition of Black, Indigenous and People of Color Educators (ACBE) who advocate for better hiring practices that address this racial disparity. But beyond that, their organization strives to improve the health and safety of our students of color, while supporting a more inclusive curriculum that honestly portrays their people’s history.
This is the first part of our exploration of the private Facebook group Save Anchorage. These staunch Bronson supporters dominated the mask debate last Fall and are currently fielding viable candidates in our upcoming local elections. Here to talk about it is independent reporter for the Midnight Sun Blog Matt Buxton. He is one of the most prolific journalists working in Alaska today and also hosts his own podcast with Pat Race called "Hello, Alaska."
On this special bonus episode we debunk an inflammatory story about Assembly chair Suzanne LaFrance. The inaccurate article was authored by Suzanne Downing, a widely read right-wing blogger. For Anchorage residents who have been watching Suzanne LaFrance chair the assembly this past year, the story seemed farfetched. LaFrance does not present herself as someone with an out-of-control temper. And as you’re about to hear, the story is not true. The facts are that the mayor and his staff left LaFrance out of the loop regarding the new police chief's confirmation, misrepresented her and the assembly to the police department, and allowed a defamatory story to circulate in right-wing media.
The first two openly gay Anchorage Assembly members, vice-chair Christopher Constant and former chair Felix Rivera, talk about their experiences growing up, what their lives were like in Anchorage prior to politics, and what their lives have been like since joining the Assembly in 2017; we also discuss conflict with the mayor's office. This interview was recorded on Friday, January 28, 2022.
Longtime East Anchorage resident Donna Mears recently announced her candidacy for the new senate seat which pairs East Anchorage with South Eagle River. The incumbent senator is far right Republican Lora Reinbold, and Ms. Mears, a progressive Democrat, provides a dramatically different alternative to Senator Reinbold. Ms. Mears is a civil engineer for a local construction and demolition company. She has a long history of public service to the municipality and currently serves as Vice-Chair of Anchorage’s Health & Human Services Commission. She is a board member on the Northeast Community council and vice-president of the Alaska chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America. We discuss recycling challenges, our landfill's expiration date, her role in organizing Providence physicians to testify at the Anchorage Assembly about Covid-19, and her nascent senate run.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, our guest is Celeste Hodge Growden who discusses the brutal racism she experienced as an Anchorage municipal employee during the 1980s and '90s. The discrimination she faced inspired her to civil rights work, and she was elected president of the Anchorage branch of the NAACP in 1993, an office she would hold longer than anyone else before stepping down in 2001 prior to being named by Mayor Mark Begich as Deputy Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, later becoming the Director. In 2019, she revived the Alaska Black Caucus, and currently serves as that organization's president and CEO.
Michael Patterson is an outspoken communist, community organizer, and one of the founders of Anchorage’s “pre-branch” of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, (PSL). He discusses growing up in East Anchorage, his time in the army, his political awakening, and the socialist movement here in Alaska.
Today we celebrate 63 years of Alaskan Statehood by continuing our conversation with Victor Fischer, the last living signer of the our State’s Constitution. We discuss Alaska in the 1950s when he was both a territorial legislator and a delegate to the 1955 constitutional convention. We also talk about the Great 1964 Earthquake when Mr. Fischer was working in the administration of President Lyndon Johnson and was able to help direct substantial federal money to the reconstruction of the state. Joining the podcast today are others with memories from this period: retired Palmer Elementary school teacher Judith Anderegg, retired Fairbanks civil Engineer Mike Gavin, and Anchorage attorney and former legislator and Assembly member Joe Josephson. There are many amazing events in Victor Fischer’s life that we do not talk about today. Please read his 2012 book To Russia with Love: An Alaskan’s Journey. His autobiography co-written with Charles Wohlforth delves deeply into early statehood and so much more. This podcast was recorded via Zoom.
Melanie Bahnke, president of Kawerak, the nonprofit tribal consortium representing 20 Alaska Native tribes in the Bering Strait Region, talks about her childhood in the remote western Alaskan village of Savoonga where she grew up speaking St Lawrence Island Yupik. We also discuss her contentious time this past year serving as one of the 5 members on the Alaska Redistricting Board. This interview was recorded via Zoom at the beginning of December. Closing commentary is provided by Anchorage political consultant Robert Hockema.
Victor Fischer, the last living signer of the Alaska state constitution, was born in Berlin to a Russian mother and an American father in 1924. Today he recounts his childhood growing up in both Germany as Hitler took power and Russia under Josef Stalin. He discusses the atrocities that he experienced firsthand before his dramatic escape to America as a teenager. He covers this period in vivid detail in his remarkable 2012 autobiography, co-written with Charles Wohlforth: To Russia With Love: An Alaskan’s Journey. This interview was recorded via Zoom.
The politician who avoids the extremes of either the right or the left is an increasingly rare breed, but former Anchorage Assembly member and recent mayoral candidate Bill Evans is that politician. We will discuss the difficulties of walking that middle road and the political peril that lies along that path. We will also talk about his time on the Cleveland Police Force in the 1980s – a police force that was 100% white in a city that was more than 35% Black. He will reveal how he felt about that then and how he feels about it now. In light of yesterday’s guilty verdict for the three murderers in the Ahmad Arbery trial, we might say that progress is being made with regard to racism in America, but one only need look back a week to the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse trial to know that we have a long way to go. Here to comment on that case is Anchorage’s first Chief Equity Officer Clifford Armstrong III.
Leslie Gonsette, M.D., a hospitalist at Providence Alaska Medical Center, gave prominent testimony at two Anchorage Assembly meetings in favor of Covid mitigation. We discuss her experiences in the hospital and in the assembly chambers. Robin Ninefeldt, M.D., who owns her own medical practice, also testified in favor of the Covid mitigation ordinance. She authored a letter to the editor published in the Anchorage Daily News co-signed by over 300 Anchorage health care providers urging the public to do everything possible to slow the pandemic. Special guest on today's show: co-founder of Anchorage Action Yarrow Silvers, who comments on the death of a fellow testifier.
Former Anchorage Assembly member Heather Flynn is a political juggernaut once described by the Anchorage Daily News as “Velvet and Razor Blades.” After challenging a draconian pregnancy policy while teaching at Romig Middle school in 1971, she went on to dominate the political landscape of Anchorage, serving on the Anchorage Assembly and school board. She will recount some important moments in Anchorage history and comment on Anchorage politics today.