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Friday
August 24, 2018
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South Tongass Waterfall
Front Page Feature Photo By CARL THOMPSON ©2018
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National: Senators Introduce Legislation To Protect Americans with Pre-Existing Conditions - The Ensuring Coverage for Patients with Pre-Existing Conditions Act, that would guarantee Americans have equal health care coverage, regardless of their health status or pre-existing conditions has been introduced in the U.S. Senate.
The legislation was introduced by U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dean Heller (R-NV), Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), John Barrasso (R-WY), and Roger Wicker (R-MS) introduced
Oral arguments in the 20-state lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act - also known as Obamacare - have been rescheduled for Sept. 5th, and if the Texas federal judge handling the case rules in favor of the plaintiffs, protections for patients with pre-existing conditions could be eliminated. The coalition of 20 states claims that since the GOP eliminated the tax penalty associated with the individual mandate, that ObamaCare itself is no longer constitutional.
The legislation introduced will amend the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to guarantees the availability of coverage in the individual or group market, for all Americans, including those with pre-existing conditions, regardless of the outcome in Texas v. United States. The legislation prohibits discrimination against beneficiaries based on health status, including the prohibition against increased premiums for beneficiaries due to pre-existing conditions.
“No matter where I go, or who I talk to, healthcare remains a huge concern for Alaskans. And one of the key pieces to care is ensuring that people with pre-existing conditions can purchase insurance,” said Senator Murkowski. “With the uncertainty of the outcome in the upcoming Texas v. United States case, this legislation is needed now more than ever to give Alaskans, and all Americans, the certainty they need that protections for those with pre-existing conditions will remain intact. I’m proud to support a bill that will make sure no one loses coverage.” - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
Alaska: Suit Filed Against State of Alaska for Unconstitutional Crackdown on Political Speech - The American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska (ACLU), independent expenditure group Dunleavy for Alaska, and Alaska resident Eric Siebels jointly filed suit against the State of Alaska yesterday seeking to immediately block enforcement of a state statute barring political signs near roadways and asking for those rules to be struck down as unconstitutional.
Alaska Statute 19.25.105 prohibits “outdoor advertising” on or within 660 feet of state rights-of-way for interstate, primary, and secondary highways within Alaska. This statute effectively prohibits thousands of Alaskans from displaying political speech anywhere on their own property.
Using this statute as justification, on July 10, 2018 the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) sent a notice to Dunleavy for Alaska threatening financial and criminal sanctions for posting political signs within the view of certain roadways. According to multiple media reports quoting DOT officials, this was part of a planned “sweep” of signs near roadways. Quoting the ACLU news release, photo evidence clearly shows this sweep specifically targeted political signs while leaving adjacent non-political signs untouched. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
Alaska: Congress Urged to Close Deadly Fentanyl Loophole - Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth, as part of a bipartisan group of 52 state and territory attorneys general, called on Congress Thursday to help end the opioid epidemic and close a loophole that allows those who traffic deadly fentanyl to stay a step ahead of law enforcement.
“This legislation is critical to stopping the opioid epidemic,” said Attorney General Lindemuth. “Drug traffickers are constantly coming up with new chemical compositions that are more deadly but may be different enough that they don’t constitute an illegal opioid under the Controlled Substances Act. The SOFA Act will close the loophole at the federal level and ensure traffickers will be held accountable.”
Led by Attorneys General Brad Schimel, R-Wis., and George Jepsen, D-Conn., the attorneys general sent a letter to Congress yesterday in support of S. 1553 and H.R. 4922, Stopping Overdoses of Fentanyl Analogues (SOFA) Act. Fentanyl is currently a Schedule II controlled substance and when used as prescribed by a doctor, can be a safe painkiller. However outside of careful supervision, fentanyl and analogues manufactured illicitly can be lethal.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is used to treat late-stage cancer patients. However, fentanyl and its analogues have made their way onto the streets with alarming regularity and overdose deaths related to fentanyl now surpass deaths related to heroin according to the letter.
The SOFA Act, if passed by the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives, would eliminate the current loophole which keeps the controlled substance scheduling system one step behind those who manufacture fentanyl analogues and then introduce these powders into the opioid supply. The SOFA Act will allow the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to proactively schedule all newly-modified fentanyl analogues, ensuring that their illegal distribution can be criminally prosecuted. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018 |
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Alaska: Study investigates shortcoming of ITQ systems for fisheries By LAUREN FRISCH - Individual transferable quota systems for fisheries around the world may be ideal for some fisheries, but they can exclude rural, indigenous, low-income and next-generation fishermen from the industry, according to a new paper co-authored by a University of Alaska Fairbanks professor.
A halibut fishing boat sits at a dock in Kodiak.
Photo by Courtney Carothers |
“ITQs are being advocated across the board without much reflection on what individual fisheries need,” said College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences professor Courtney Carothers. “ITQs might work well for some big industrial fisheries, but, for small-scale fisheries, they’ve had lots of negative consequences.”
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the paper was the result of a workshop that gathered international social scientists to discuss the ITQ panacea—a simple policy solution aimed to uniformly solve complex problems. Researchers in the workshop argued that the worldwide advocacy of ITQs has overlooked their shortcomings in many regional fisheries and discouraged development of equitable alternatives.
ITQ systems regulate fisheries access by dividing up total catch limits among individual quota owners. ITQs are largely an economic tool meant to encourage consolidation and efficiency. By limiting the number of quota holders and making quotas a tradable commodity, the value of the quota share has increased greatly, which can make it harder for certain people to opt in. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
Fish Factor: Seafood Tariffs Hitting Alaska By LAINE WELCH - More seafood tariffs in Trump’s trade war with China are hitting Alaska coming and going.
On July 6 the first 25 percent tax went into effect on more than 170 U.S. seafood products going to China. On August 23 more items were added to the list, including fish meal from Alaska.
“As of right now, nearly every species and product from Alaska is on that list of tariffs,” said Garrett Evridge, a fisheries economist with the McDowell Group.
Alaska produces more than 70,000 metric tons of fish meal per year (about 155 million pounds), mostly from pollock trimmings, with salmon a distant second. The pollock meal is used primarily in Chinese aquaculture production, while salmon meal goes mostly to pet food makers in the U.S.
In 2017 about $70 million worth of fish meal from Alaska pollock was exported to China from processing plants all over the state.
Anchovy-based fish meal from Peru is the predominate source for world aquaculture, but white fish meal made from Alaska pollock is regarded as the premium. According to Undercurrent News, pollock meal commands $600-$700 per ton more than Peruvian meal and is currently trading at up to$2,300 per ton.
The tariffs on U.S. seafood products exported to China is a done deal. In the long run, Evridge said Alaska might be able to shift exports to other countries, but the mere size of the Chinese market makes it tough to replace.
“On the Chinese side, it looks like there is little recourse,” Evridge said. “At least in the short term there is little ability for the Alaska seafood industry to avert these tariffs.”
And there’s also a flip side. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018 |
CCTHITA President Richard J. Peterson with the donated baskets.
Photo courtesy CCTHITA |
Southeast Alaska: Spruce Root Basket Donated from Private Collection - Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (Tlingit & Haida) was recently donated two baskets – a Tlingit spruce root basket ( shéiyi xaat kákgu ) and a small basket with a whale motif made by a member of the Makah tribe of Washington. The baskets were a part of a private collection belonging to Maxine Gresset, the late mother of Marie Kauffman of Camp Verde, Arizona.
Maxine Gresset's daughter shared that her desire to return the basket was simply based on a feeling that it was the right thing to do.
“My mother would be pleased to know the spruce root basket has returned to its place of origin,” said Marie Kauffman.
Steve Henrikson, Curator of Collections for the Alaska State Museum, identified one of the baskets as being Tlingit spruce root in the “ginger jar” form based on Chinese pottery containers.
Basket making is one of the oldest Tlingit art forms and our Southeast Alaska indigenous people produced some of the finest examples of the two-strand twining weaving method. Spruce root baskets were water-tight vessels that typically exhibited bold geometric designs. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
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Alaska Science: Franklin, Alaska: A town that once was By NED ROZELL - Floating down the Fortymile River, we saw a cut in the green hills that hinted of a creek. My canoeing partner and neighbor, Ian Carlson, 13, wanted to see a ghost town. The map told us one should be dead ahead.
There, up a path of floury soil, was Franklin, Alaska. Like many Alaska ghost towns, it was a less-than-ideal place for kids and dogs: rusted nails, jagged edges and punky wood floors that can no longer bear weight. The four kids and two dogs in our party were all over it.
No one was there to meet us at Franklin, population zero, the site of the first major gold strike in Interior Alaska. It was a living town from 1887 to 1948.
We noticed stone steps fitted into the hillside with care, a shed with an intact roof, and a dozen spruce-log buildings on their way to becoming soil.
In the early 1900s, gold miners and other river travellers called Franklin “Dogtown” because so many were staked at the mouth of Franklin Creek. Those dogs were ready to pull sleds over the trail that followed the river and ridges to both Chicken and Eagle.
The Franklin roadhouse is still identifiable by its 39-foot by 29-foot log outline. It now has no roof and the log floor joists are exposed, but the structure was once a lively place; built into a south-facing cliffside of sedge and shale, Franklin was home to 200 people in the late 1800s.
Meals at that roadhouse cost $1, paid in gold dust, reported geologist and government explorer Louis Prindle, who left his name on a lonely volcano in the boreal forest not far away. Prindle, who visited Franklin in the early 1900s, saw this:
“A small collection of cabins, picturesquely located on the small flat at the mouth, is known as Franklin and includes a post office and roadhouse. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
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MICHAEL REAGAN: Purging the Church's Predatory Priests -
Am I the only Catholic who thinks the church needs to consider getting rid of the old guard - all the way up to the Pope?
That may be the only way to finally purge the predatory priests who have been allowed to exist within the bowels of the Catholic Church for so long.
The church has been rocked in recent years by sexual abuse scandals in Ireland, Australia, Chile, Boston, LA ...
Then two weeks ago we got the shocking results of the country's largest investigation ever into the sex crimes of Catholic priests.
A grand jury in Pennsylvania identified more than 300 "predator priests" in six dioceses who over the course of 70 years had molested and raped nearly 1,000 children, mostly boys.
The bombshell report named the priests who had been caught abusing kids, and in graphic and sordid detail it described what they did - again and again, even after their superiors learned of their molesting.
According to the grand jury report, the priests' serial sexual abuse was only possible because of a church-wide cover up that reached all the way to the Vatican.
The scandal in Pennsylvania is the familiar horror story: The children who were victimized were not believed while the pedophile priests were protected by the church. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
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JOHN L. MICEK: 'Wrecked': Abuse Survivors On Their Connection to Church - Years after he was abused by a Catholic priest, Shaun Dougherty uses just one word to describe the state of his faith these days.
It's "wrecked."
Dougherty, who lives about 90 minutes west of Pittsburgh, was among the more than 1,000 victims who suffered unspeakable suffering at the hands of more than 300 priests across Pennsylvania, with the oldest incidents dating to the 1940s.
And for decades, officials at the highest levels of Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic church engaged in criminally shameful conspiracy of silence, covering up horrific acts of sexual abuse by clergy.
Then, incomprehensibly, rather than removing these abusers from the pulpit and reporting them to law enforcement, church leaders shuffled them from parish to parish, where they abused again and again.
The details of that abuse were laid out in stomach-churning detail in a sprawling grand jury report released last week by Pa. Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Tragically, because of Pennsylvania's statute of limitations, most of the alleged perpetrators, whom Shapiro described as "predator priests," will never be brought to justice. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018 |
Political Cartoon: School bus safety
By Dave Granlund ©2018, PoliticalCartoons.com
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.
Rising Above Partisanship By
Rep. Dan Ortiz - Government should represent “We, the people” - not the party leaders, or those who can buy access to power. I believe good governance is about rising above partisanship, which can sometimes get petty, and putting the people first. In order to do that effectively, elected officials need to provide many avenues for people to communicate with them. Door to door communication from one end of our island(s) to the other, letters to the editor, town halls, social media, and email communication are specific examples of the ways that I have done that.
What I have heard from constituents throughout District 36 in those communications is that they want government to reduce its spending, but also maintain vital services. People want their roads paved, particularly Evergreen road in Wrangell, and South Tongass Hwy in Ketchikan. They want Fish and Game to continue to manage our fisheries resources effectively, and they want our growing senior citizen population to be able be able to access government resources in housing and economic assistance so that they can live their lives with dignity here in Southern S.E. Alaska.
Since the beginning of my service, the State’s fiscal situation has been the primary issue that has faced the legislature. Working in cooperation with the leadership of the Walker Administration, the Legislature has reduced the budget deficit by reducing general fund expenditures by 44% – from $8.3 billion in FY 2013 to $4.3 billion in FY 2017. Twenty-six percent of the reductions were in day to day agency operations. The reductions have come at a cost, resulting in significant cuts to the Ak State Fish and Game, DOT, (our roads and the AMHS,) and Senior programs like Pioneer Home Funding. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
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Salmon For All: Hatcheries Support Strong Science and Abundance for Alaskans By
Clay Koplin - Few things define Alaskans more than our love of salmon. Not surprisingly, salmon allocation decisions and fluctuations in resource abundance often spur bitter political battles between user groups. A robust public process rooted in best available science has long been the arbiter of such disputes. As an Alaskan born and raised on the Kenai, and in my current role as Mayor of Cordova, it is with deep consternation that I followed a recent Board of Fisheries evaluation of an emergency petition seeking to restrict hatchery salmon releases in Prince William Sound. The Board narrowly voted to reject the petition averting a dangerous departure from best available science, transparency, and public process; the principles that are the bedrock of our management system.
A broader snapshot of recent and historical abundance reveals many positive trends in our fisheries. It was just a few years ago that Kenai-area dipnetters harvested more than half a million sockeye two seasons in a row. Across Alaska, harvest and abundance of wild Pacific salmon have remained steady for the past twenty years and are markedly higher than pre-hatchery levels. In fact, three of the four largest record-breaking wild salmon harvests occurred in the last five years (2013, 2015, and 2017). Average abundance of wild Cook Inlet sockeye over the past twenty years is more than double than in 1952-1972, and abundance of wild Prince William Sound sockeye has also increased over that same period. If you look at the data, the numbers tell the story.
It is important to recognize the resounding success of the hatchery management program. Salmon hatcheries have been a key component of our state’s commercial, recreational, and subsistence fisheries since the 1970s. Alaska’s hatchery program provides immense economic and social benefit to the entire state, particularly coastal communities like Cordova. The enhanced commercial harvest leads to the creation of processing jobs, fisheries tax revenue, economic investment, and state general fund revenues. An often-overlooked fact is that hatcheries create significant sport fishing opportunities in Prince William Sound and statewide, which increases the summer tourism industry. These benefits are essential to our coastal communities as well as the state, particularly in times of decreasing state budget resources. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
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Open Letter: CPV Proposal for $199,000 toward restoration of two totems By
Mary L. Stephenson - Thank you for permitting an open discussion about the CPV Community Profile, Needs, Priorities and Expenditures, in this example, with the City of Saxman, as they own and manage the Saxman Totem Park; caretakers of a collection of (30) Tlingit carvings from abandoned villages and cemeteries of Tongass, Cat, Village and Pennock Islands as well as Cape Fox Village.
With the exception of the Dogfish Pole, aka Chief Ebbits Pole, all the totems have been replaced since the 1930s and admittedly, the City of Saxman is attempting to replicate for the second time many of those who life’s expectancy exceeds 70 years. (Page 3 CPV Proposal) Master Carver Nathan Jackson as well as the City’s Totem Committee has identified 5 major totems that need immediate attention. Is it a birthright of future generations that totems carved, replicated, restored or installed in the Saxman collection will be at someone else’s expense? When a new story pole has been commissioned, who pays for the carving, restoration or replication during its 80-year lifespan? Is it the responsibility of the caretaker, receiving revenues during its promotion of, obligated to finance the repair or replacement what Mother Nature damaged during its lifetime? Does funding a restoration take higher priority than social, education or mental health programs?
(Page 6 CPV Proposal) Chief Ebbits : Ebbetts Pole lineage comes down through Chief Ebbits, the Head Chief of the Tongass Tribe and a monument that tells an important peaceful story of early Tlingit contact with white traders. Giant Rock Oyster Pole was brought to Saxman from Cape Fox Village and stood in front of the Eagle Claw House; illustrates four emblems related to house groups of the Nexadi clan, descendants of Eagle Claw House. Thus the descendants of the Tongass Tribe and Cape Fox Tribe revere the importance in preservation, yet critical toward non-natives involvement all-the-while (privately) profit in their own entrepreneur endeavors. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
Pretender President By
Donald Moskowitz - I commend Trump for implementing a $717 billion Defense budget, but I am concerned he has to backtrack on major issues.
At the G7 talks Trump agreed to the dissemination of a joint statement at the conclusion of the talks. After leaving the meeting, and away from the other attendees, he rescinded his support of the statement.
Trump imposed tariffs on imports from China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico without analyzing the consequences. He had to walk back the Canada and Mexico tariffs and is trying to reach an agreement with the European Union. China retaliated by imposing tariffs on our agricultural exports so Trump has to bail out U.S. farmers with $12 billion of U.S. taxpayer funds, and China is developing European Union and other sources for importing agricultural products U.S. farmers previously provided. - More...
Friday PM - August 24, 2018
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