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Alaska: Respiratory Pathogen Confirmed for First Time in Alaska Dall's Sheep and Mountain Goats - A strain of bacteria known to cause pneumonia in Lower 48 bighorn sheep has been detected for the first time in Alaska Dall's sheep and mountain goats.

Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (Movi, for short), described as a respiratory bacteria that can cause disease in susceptible hosts, was recently confirmed in four Dall's sheep within a sample of 136 and in two of 39 mountain goats. The Dall's sheep testing positive for Movi were all in Game Management Unit 13A; all were taken by hunters and appeared healthy. The mountain goats were live captured and released in Southeast and on the Kenai Peninsula and showed no sign of illness; only samples from goats on the Kenai tested positive.

"Our initial research has confirmed Movi in a small number of Dall's sheep and mountain goats in relatively isolated areas of the state," said Division of Wildlife Conservation Director Bruce Dale, adding that Alaska's Dall's sheep and mountain goat populations overall are healthy.

"We are not aware of any pneumonia outbreaks or die-offs in Dall's sheep or mountain goats related to this bacterium." - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018

Alaska: Scientists unravel complex factors of sea star wasting disease By BLAINE FRIEDLANDER  - Cornell University scientists are beginning to unravel the complicated connections between viruses, the environment and wasting diseases among sea stars in the waters of the Pacific Northwest.

As ocean temperatures rise and oceanic diseases proliferate, species like sea stars struggle to survive, and scientists are looking for underlying causes. To bring clarity to the sea star disease problem, the scientists propose a new, broad nomenclature in a study published in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Previous scientific work suggested that sea star-associated densovirus (SSaDV) was the best candidate pathogen responsible for sea star wasting disease (SSWD) among about two dozen species affected by it. But the researchers noticed viruses did not correlate in some hard-hit species.

"Disease among sea stars is likely caused by multiple factors, not just one factor like SSaDV or rising temperature. The 'disease' is actually multiple diseases. Understanding this, it's a lot more complicated to explain than simply a virus - like SSaDV - coming along or water temperature increasing by way of climate change," said lead author Ian Hewson, associate professor of microbiology.

Sunflower sea stars - whose 16 to 24 arms exceed 3 feet long - were once prolific throughout the Salish Sea, which borders Washington state and Canada's British Columbia. In 2013-14 wasting disease decimated their population.

The paper suggests renaming the wasting disease to Asteroid Idiopathic Wasting Syndrome because the term correlates with an array of symptoms, "which is more correct for describing this situation, as there are likely multiple diseases present," Hewson said.

The wasting disease appears to have mostly run its course, said Hewson. "It has been waning in recent years and is currently present at low levels. The ultimate consequence of the disease is that there has been a huge reduction in sunflower stars and a few other large starfish species." - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018

Alaska: Alaska House Passes Legislation to Increase Unemployment Benefits to Allow Families to Survive the Lingering Recession - Today, the Alaska House of Representatives passed legislation to help struggling workers and their families weather job losses resulting from the Alaska recession, which has been ongoing since 2015. 

House Bill 142, sponsored by Rep. Chris Tuck (D-Anchorage), increases the maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit from $370 to $510 over two years to match 50 percent of the average weekly wage, which is the national norm for unemployment benefits.

“The Alaska economy is in a recession that has cost thousands of our friends and neighbors their jobs. I know many of these hard-working men and women. They are ready to go to work to support their families, but good jobs are scarce,” said Rep. Tuck. “This bill makes a long-overdue change to the state’s Unemployment Insurance Program so that more unemployed Alaskans can make it through the hard times and stay in Alaska.” - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018

Alaska: Alaska Cruises Sail to the Top of Most Booked U.S. Vacations - Alaska cruises jumped to the top spot from last year's fifth place to become the most booked domestic vacation for 2018, according to findings from Travel Leaders Group's authoritative 2018 Travel Trends Survey, released today. Orlando was bumped down a notch to second place. Las Vegas, Maui and New York City rounded out the Top 5.  Internationally, Caribbean cruises and Cancun, Mexico, respectively, maintained the top two spots, while European river cruises edged up one place to third. Mediterranean cruises and Punta Can, Dominican Republic, were fourth and fifth, respectively. 

"Alaska is a truly unique bucket-list destination and more and more people from around the world are discovering its awe-inspiring beauty," noted Chacko. "Our travel advisors frequently recommend it as a not-to-be-missed travel experience, especially for those interested in vivid scenery, wildlife or expedition travel." 

Alaska cruises have been among the top 10 domestic trips booked by Travel Leaders Group travel advisors over the last several years, but this is the first year Alaska cruises have reached the number one spot in the annual Travel Trends Survey. According to the Cruise Lines International Association, the world's largest cruise industry trade association, 1,089,700 passengers cruised in Alaska in 2017 and that number is projected to grow another seven percent to 1,165,500 passengers in 2018.

Chacko added, "Also, optimism among Travel Leaders Group agents with respect to their travel business is at the highest level we've seen this decade."

Top "up and coming" destinations include Iceland, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam and Croatia.  Additionally, of the respondents who book travel to the Caribbean, 45.6 percent said their 2018 bookings to the Caribbean are about even with last year, while 13.3 percent said their bookings to the Caribbean are higher. When it comes to Caribbean cruises, 71.7 percent said these bookings are either higher than or equal to last year's bookings. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018

Analysis: What the National School Walkout says about schools and free speech By CLAY CALVERT - Thousands of high school students across the nation left their classes March 14 precisely at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes.

The walkout served two purposes: to honor the 17 people – including 14 students – killed exactly one month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and to call for stronger gun control laws.

Organized by a Women’s March unit called Youth Empower and promoted on Twitter with the hashtags #Enough and #NationalSchoolWalkout, students throughout the country took to the streets and gathered at various places to call attention to the problem of gun violence in schools and in their communities.

Some schools are threatening to punish these young activists. But others are trying to work with them. As one article put it, “The response from school districts has been mixed, with some threatening to suspend students and others promising to incorporate the walkout into a civics lesson.”

From my standpoint as director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project at the University of Florida, all of this raises important questions about the scope of First Amendment speech rights for high school students. Are the students who exit their classes immune from punishment?

A starting point for answering this question is to understand that the First Amendment only protects against government censorship, not censorship by private entities. Thus, only public school students have First Amendment speech rights. Private school students do not.

California is an exception to this rule. It has a statute known as the Leonard Law that extends First Amendment speech rights to students at private nonreligious high schools. No other state has such a statute. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018

WILL DURST: Ways Democrats Could Screw Up the Midterms - Okay, Democrats, settle down. Drop the confetti and back away from the champagne. Stop punching each other in the arm, making with the whoop-whoop noises. Straighten your tie. These celebrations need to be put on hold. They are as premature as counting your chickens before they cross the road to a bridge that hasn't been burned yet.

Sure, you might have had a few encouraging outcomes in some special elections and early midterm primaries, but those are as fleeting as the New York City Ballet dreams of an overweight third-grader in her first pair of toe shoes.

Do not be deceived into thinking that reclaiming the House of Representatives in November is a fast- break, slam-dunk because if anybody could blow a lead this late in the game, it's you. And, the Atlanta Falcons, of course.

President Donald Trump's approval rating could sink lower than the pressure-release screw on the bottom of a submarine sewer hose, and Democrats still couldn't stir the electorate with a crowbar the size of Chile.

You are the kings and queens of tying your shoelaces together and tripping over your own feet. Have the killer instinct of mud. Possess the uncanny ability to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory through the tiniest dental window. Hold the Guinness book record for accidentally rolling over on the self-destruct button and blowing everything you stand for to smithereens. On that rare occasion you take a stand. - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018

PETER ROFF: Tillerson Is Out, But Was He Ever Really In? - Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's exit has been on its way for so long it's arrival is anti-climatic. To understand why he's going though, one needs to look at the reasons he was picked. 

Trump needed a big name at Foggy Bottom, the phrase long-time Washingtonians use to describe the State Department. Someone who looked the part but who was not, and this is important, the kind of person who could become the rallying point for the disloyal opposition within the president's own party at least as he saw it. That's why Mitt Romney, who Trump toyed openly toyed with like a cat with a piece of yarn, was never really under consideration for the job. All he'd have to do is wait for what could be described as a principled reason to break with the president before heading out the door and on to New Hampshire and Iowa where he would be welcomed by "Never Trumpers" hoping for a 2018 alternative. 

This made Romney, or most anyone else with even a normal degree of ambition in the world of politics, an unacceptable choice. Trump instead went to corporate America to find what he hoped would be a like-minded and tough CEO with experience in the multi-national arena. 

On paper, Tillerson fit the bill. He looks the part and, as the long-time CEO of ExxonMobil, one of the world's largest public companies, he knew just about everyone worth knowing, especially the folks in those unstable regions of the world upon which (at least prior to the fracking revolution) America depended on to help with price stability in the oil market.

So what went wrong? - More...
Wednesday PM - March 14, 2018