Alaska: Permanent Fund Corporation Must Follow Law and Transfer Funds Sufficient for Full Payment of Permanent Fund Dividends Says Wielechowski - Senator Bill Wielechowski (D-Anchorage) sent a letter last week to Angela Rodell, Chief Executive Officer of the Permanent Fund Corporation, requesting the Permanent Fund Corporation follow Alaska law and transfer from the Earnings Reserve Account to the Dividend Fund the statutorily required amount necessary to pay every Alaskan a full Permanent Fund Dividend.

In his letter, Sen. Wielechowski noted the Alaska Statutes, Alaska Constitution and Alaska Supreme Court are definitive, the transfer of funds for payment of the PFD is to be done “automatically”, and is not subject to veto.

“There doesn’t seem to be any gray area here,” said Sen. Wielechowski. “The wording is crystal clear from a legal perspective that the transfer of money ‘shall’ happen. ‘Shall’ is not up for debate, or subject to any Governor’s veto. This is the law that was established pursuant to the Alaska Constitution, and the Permanent Fund Corporation cannot simply ignore the law, especially when the Supreme Court has analyzed this law and stated this transfer is automatic. I urge the Permanent Fund Corporation to follow the law and make this full transfer.” - More...
Monday PM - August 15, 2016

Alaska: Spending Cuts Prompt Closure of AVTEC Anchorage Campus - The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development is closing AVTEC’s satellite campus in Anchorage as a result of a 33 percent cut to the department’s state general funds. Today, August 15th, will be the last day of operations for the campus.

“It is frustrating and disappointing to close a campus that trains Alaskans for rewarding careers in a fast growing industry like health care,” said Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas. “The department’s and AVTEC’s budgets have seen big cuts in the past couple of years and we simply cannot afford to keep the Anchorage campus open.”

AVTEC’s Allied Health program typically served 100 Certified Nursing Assistant candidates each year. Thirty Alaskans were on the waitlist for the Licensed Practical Nurse program with the hope it would be resurrected. Seventy-nine Alaskans completed a Health Care Academy course last year. - More...
Monday PM - August 15, 2016

Alaska: Alaska Department of Labor Closes Kotzebue Job Center to Reduce Spending - - The Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development will close the Kotzebue Job Center on Friday, August 19th. While the department has significantly reduced administrative costs to maintain maximum program and services delivery, a 33 percent cut in the department’s state general funds over the past two years requires a revamp of service delivery and closure of some offices. Efforts to increase efficiency in service delivery include enhancing online services, better coordination with partner organizations, and providing more itinerant services.

Last year, the department closed job centers in Barrow and Seward, which reduced spending by $316,000. The department estimates the Kotzebue Job Center closure will result in an additional savings of $166,000 annually.

“Deep budget cuts and the lack of a sustainable fiscal plan mean cuts in the services we provide to Alaskans,” said Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas. “I regret that the closure of a rural job center is necessary given our current fiscal situation; however, we will continue assisting Kotzebue residents through our online services.” - More...

Columns - Commentary

PHIL KERPEN: Taxpayers at Risk as Obamacare Crumbles - The health insurance exchanges that are the beating heart of Obamacare are on the edge of collapse, with premiums rising sharply for ever narrower provider networks, non-profit health co-ops shuttering their doors, and even the biggest insurance companies heading for the exits amid mounting losses.Even the liberal Capitol Hill newspaper The Hill is warning of a possible "Obamacare meltdown" this fall.

Three states -- Alaska, Alabama, and Wyoming -- are already down to just a single insurance company, as are large parts of several other states, totaling at least 664 counties.

UnitedHealth is pulling out completely, Humana is pulling out of 88 percent of counties it was in, and last weak Aetna strongly suggested it will be exiting, too, unless it gets bribed to stay with a huge, annual infusion of direct corporate bailout payments from taxpayers.

Dealing with the wreckage will be at the top of the agenda for the new president and Congress next year, and their options will be limited ---- especially if, as appears likely, we will continue to have divided government.Most Democrats would prefer moving toward a totally government-run system while Republicans continue to favor repeal. - More...
Monday PM - August 15, 2016

WILL DURST: Bizarre Similarities Between Trump and Clinton - Our quadrennial presidential sweepstakes regularly provides textbook studies in contrast. And 2016 raises the bar in disparity. Red and blue. Left and right. Hot and cold. Up and down. Good and bad. Boy and girl. Pro and con. Loud and soft. Rain or shine. Fish and fowl. Dumb and dumber.

Perhaps the only fact that supporters of both major party candidates can agree is that differences between the two do exist. Donald Trump is a Gemini and Hillary Clinton a Scorpio. He's 70 years old while she doesn't turn 69 until October. And that relative youth obviously goes a long way in explaining why Millennials overwhelmingly favor her.

One is a democrat and the other a demagogue. One is a woman who has big hands and the other isn't and doesn't. And as Michael Bloomberg put it, one of them is not insane.

But this is America, damn it, where yeah, sure, we acknowledge our differences. After all, each and every one of us is special and unique like a baby snowflake. But this is a country that also embraces that which binds us together, and the number of bizarre similarities the Donald and the Hillary share is uncanny. - More...
Monday PM - August 15, 2016