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Ketchikan: Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce Announces New Executive Director - The Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors announced that Michelle O’Brien has been named the new Executive Director. O’Brien is a familiar face around Ketchikan, having been very active in the community for over a decade.

“The Board is very excited to have Michelle take on this role.”, commented Ben Edwards, President of the Board of the Directors. “Michelle brings to the position an incredible passion for our community and its citizens. She is a proven leader and the Board is confident that she will take the Chamber in an exciting direction – delivering even more for our members and Ketchikan.”

O’Brien was most recently the General Manager of the Ketchikan Radio Center, as well as formerly serving a key role in promoting the community at KPU Telecommunications through KPUtv’s local television. She has a long history of working with businesses and nonprofits throughout Ketchikan and the state of Alaska. Additionally, she has extensive Chamber of Commerce experience which was gained through serving as a Chamber Board member and helping to plan many Chamber sponsored events. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

Fish Factor: Alaska Fishing Industry Faces Millions in Covid-related Costs By LAINE WELCH - Alaska seafood processors are paying tens of millions of dollars extra to cover costs from the Covid pandemic, and most of it is coming out of pocket.

Intrafish Media  provides a first, in-depth look at how costs for providing protective gear like masks and gloves, testing thermometers, extra staff to handle sanitizing demands between work shifts, and modifying worker lines for social distancing are playing out in the nation’s seafood processing sector.

At Bristol Bay, for example, where around 13,000 workers from outside Alaska come to work on fishing boats and in 13 plants of varying sizes, it’s estimated that all major processors combined likely spent $30 million to $40 million on Covid-related costs during the two peak fishing months of June and July this summer.

Alaska processors covered extra costs for putting up employees in hotels and other 14-day quarantine sites, as required by the state. That alone added up to an estimated $3,500 per worker.

Seafood companies also paid for pricey charter flights to isolate workers from passengers on commercial flights.

Most medium to large processors had medical professionals onsite for the duration, at a cost of $30,000 to $60,000, Intrafish said.

Workers were tested multiple times for the virus, with costs amounting to $175 per test.

Intrafish cited testimony by Silver Bay Seafoods CEO, Cora Campbell, at a virtual U.S. Senate committee hearing on July 29.

"In the past several months, Alaska seafood processors have spent tens of millions of dollars implementing proactive health and safety protocols to ensure we are minimizing risks to Alaska communities, protecting our seasonal and resident workforce, and maintaining operations," she testified.

"The industry is taking on these costs out of pocket at the same time we are facing severe disruption in key markets and multiple pre-COVID cost burdens,” Campbell told the senators. “While a fraction of these costs may be reimbursed, we face significant uncertainty because there’s no specific congressional directive to support health and safety protocol costs for critical seafood supply chains."

Covid prevention measures have not been included so far in federal relief loans and funds. It is unknown if they will be added into a stimulus relief package Congress could eventually pass when it returns in September from a month long vacation. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

Alaska: Historic Bristol Bay, Alaska salmon fishery dealing with latest challenge: COVID-19 By KEVIN BERRY AND BRETT WATSON - Northwest summers mean salmon on the grill. While Alaskans fill freezers with their own catch – our freezers are filled with enough salmon to last until next summer – those grilling elsewhere must buy either farm-raised salmon or wild sockeye salmon caught in Bristol Bay, Alaska.

Wild salmon return from the ocean to restart a life cycle that has persisted for millions of years. Wild Alaska sockeye (a favorite species of salmon) is caught over the course of a four- to six-week season, from mid-June through July, when the largest remaining wild salmon population returns to Bristol Bay.

These fish have been harvested by Alaska native peoples for thousands of years. Sockeye have been smoked, filleted, canned and frozen – and given, traded, sold and eaten – for generations.

But the fishermen, seafood processors and communities of Bristol Bay are under threat, and not for the first time. Bristol Bay carries painful memories of the 1918 Great Influenza, which devastated the local indigenous population. Now, the global economy has collapsed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the market for seafood, often eaten at restaurants, has collapsed along with it.

In response to COVID-19, the state of Alaska imposed restrictions on the industry, including quarantines and social distancing mandates. Salmon processors have also imposed their own rules to keep workers restricted to company grounds.

All of this means the processors of Bristol Bay’s salmon catch face higher costs and lower retail prices. This has resulted in a dramatic 48% fall in prices paid to fishermen for their catch.

Fishermen, who must own or rent expensive permits to participate in harvesting, maintain boats and equipment and pay crew, face being forced out of the fishery.

An evolving business

In the late 19th century, commercial salmon fishing first drew fishermen to Bristol Bay from what Alaskans refer to as “Outside.” The fishing was first done via sailboat.

Seafood companies owned the boats, hired the crews and towed them to the fishing grounds, allowing the industry to restrict who fished and where. This control prevented overfishing and protected profits.

Seafood companies resisted modernization of the fleet until 1951, when the introduction of powerboats led to a new arrangement with fishermen, who at that point shifted to working more independently from the processing companies that handled cleaning, filleting and packaging the fish.

Fishermen have informal relationships with processors, to whom they deliver their product before knowing the price they’ll be paid. They receive bonus payments after the season based on market conditions and practices they can adopt that affect fish quality, including chilling fish as soon as they are caught, bleeding them and handling them carefully to protect the quality of the fish.

Disagreements about fishermen safety, unionization or cooperatives, and conflicts about prices have existed as long as the fishery. Fishermen, suspicious that processors were colluding to hold down prices, sued in the early 2000s. Though the lawsuit was settled, skepticism persisted. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

Alaska: ALASKA CARES Expanded to Help More Small Businesses Posted & Edited By MARY KAUFFMAN - Effective today - Monday, August 31, 2020- businesses that received any amount of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds will become eligible to apply for AK CARES grants, as will businesses that are secondary sources of income. These businesses can apply through the online application portal (www.akcaresonline.org) starting Monday.

This change to the AK CARES program was made possible by the Revised Program Legislative (RPL) submitted to the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee by Governor Mike Dunleavy on Thursday, August 20; and the Committee’s approval of that RPL today.

“I want to personally thank the Legislative Budget & Audit Committee for their focus and prompt response in approving my plan that will provide much needed critical relief to small Alaskan businesses as quickly as possible,” saidGovernor Mike Dunleavy. “I have directed my team to immediately begin distributing these funds.”

The AK CARES program launched on June 1, 2020 and was initially intended to assist Alaska’s small businesses that did not receive any federal assistance. On August 6, the program was expanded to include commercial fishermen, 501(c)6 nonprofit organizations, and small businesses that received $5,000 or less in PPP or EIDL funding. Now that these businesses have had a few weeks to submit applications and the AK CARES program still has funds remaining, the program is being expanded to ensure the State assists as many small businesses as possible.

“I appreciate the Governor’s leadership in expanding the AK CARES program, and the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee’s swift action to approve the RPL,” said DCCED Commissioner, Julie Anderson. “The PPP and EIDL funds were issued for very specific types of expenses, so being able to offer relief funds to businesses that received federal assistance, but are still in need, is significant for our local businesses and Alaska’s economy.”

Businesses that have received funds through different assistance programs – such as the PPP, EIDL, or a local grant program – can request funds for any eligible expenses under the AK CARES program; with the exception of expenses claimed or paid by other assistance programs. 

The RPL approved by the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee also allows the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development (DCCED) maximum flexibility going forward, to ensure AK CARES meets the needs of small businesses in the most effective and efficient manner possible. This means DCCED can adjust eligibility requirements and disbursement processes as necessary to allow for full use of the federal funds made available through the CARES Act to assist Alaska businesses.

The Legislative Budget and Audit Committee (LB&A) voted Thursday afternoon to make it so more Alaskans will have access federal pandemic relief money made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Thursday’s vote amends the eligibility requirements of the small business relief program originally approved on May 11 through the Revised Program Legislative proposal. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

Alaska: Alaska Supreme Court Upholds Ruling to Correct Ballot Measure 1 Summary - The Alaska Supreme Court last Wednesday upheld Superior Court Judge William F. Morse's ruling ordering Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer (R-Anchorage) to correct the ballot summary for Ballot Measure 1, Alaska’s Fair Share Act, as requested by initiative sponsors. In a two page order, the court rejected Meyer's appeal. The court will issue a longer decision explaining its reasoning at a later date.

Initiative sponsors filed suit challenging Meyer’s initial summary of three of the four key provisions of the Fair Share Act as biased, untrue, and partial. After the initiative sponsors brought suit, Meyer’s revised his summary to correct his characterization of two of the three provisions, but continued to mischaracterize the third provision that required “[a]ll tax filings . . . shall be a matter of public record.” This transparency provision amends the existing law and permits Alaskans to know the revenues, costs, and profits of the major producers in our three major oil fields.

Meyer, who as a state senator was a key architect of Alaska’s current oil tax system, proposed a summary of the transparency provision claiming tax filings would remain confidential--the opposite of its plain language. In his June ruling, Morse agreed that “the phrase ‘matter of public [record]’ is often used as shorthand to mean information or documents are not to be kept confidential but will be available for public inspection.”

Morse also agreed with the initiative sponsors that Meyer’s interpretation should be struck from the ballot summary, holding that “[Meyer] places his finger on the scales and affirmatively states that [the transparency provision] does not mean or accomplish what its sponsors say was their intent or would be the effect of the initiative.” “This affirmative resolution of the dispute over its meaning is not an impartial summary of [the transparency provision]. By siding with the possibility of confidentiality Meyer has engaged in partisan suasion. That is improper.” - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

Melanie Brown: Bristol Bay Salmon Mama
By BJORN DIHLE
Melanie Brown with her children Mariana and Oliver fishing Bristol Bay. 
Photo by Joanne Teasdale

Alaska: Melanie Brown: Bristol Bay Salmon Mama By BJORN DIHLE - When Melanie Brown was 10 years old, her mom decided it was time for her to begin fishing the family’s setnet site on the Naknek River in Bristol Bay.

“It was exhausting,” Melanie said, remembering that first season. “Once, when I was really tired, my mom told me to go take a nap in the truck. After a short bit, I ended up sleepwalking back to go fishing.”

Salmon runs in Melanie’s blood. She is Yup’ik and Inupiaq - her people have been connected to the salmon, land and waterways of Bristol Bay since time immemorial. Her great-grandfather, Paul Chukan, commercial driftnet fished Bristol Bay during the end of the sailboat era. Commercial fishermen in Bristol Bay either driftnet or setnet to catch sockeye and other species of salmon. Driftnetting involves the use of a boat and allows fishermen to chase fish across different districts of Bristol Bay. Setnetting involves a specific site operated from the shore that, ideally, lies along the trajectory of where salmon are running. Native women, according to the stories Melanie has heard, came up with the idea of setnetting in Bristol Bay. While the men were away driftnetting, women came up with the idea to motor out a net and stretch it perpendicular to the shore. Women negotiated deals with canneries across the bay and were incorporated into the fishery.

The setnet site just upriver from Melanie’s family was fished by Governor Jay Hammond and First Lady Bella Hammond. Jay passed on in 2006, and is remembered a good, fair and respectful leader by Alaskans across the state. Bella lived alone at the couple’s homestead on Lake Clark until last winter, at the age of 87, when she, too, passed. The Hammonds, like Melanie and the majority of Alaskans, were adamantly opposed to the proposed Pebble Mine. Bella is remembered as a private person, except for when it came to protecting Bristol Bay. Now, the Hammonds’ setnet site is operated by their daughter Heidi.

“They were good, down to earth people. Hardworking people like us,” Melanie said, remembering Jay and Bella Hammond.

Many setnet operations are worked by multiple generations of a family. At first, Melanie worked alongside her great-grandfather Paul Chukan. Later, once she became a mother, Melanie started her daughter fishing at age 10, too. Her daughter, now 18, and son, 13, now commercial fish alongside Melanie and her parents. If you were to hang out at the airport in the Bristol Bay town of King Salmon at the start of fishing season, you’ll meet people flying in from locations around the state, ranging from tiny villages to Anchorage - coming “home” to work their family’s setnet operations. Fishing is hard work, but it also serves as a family reunion. For many people, specifically Alaska Natives, fishing Bristol Bay strengthens their connection to their culture, salmon and the land. Pebble threatens that connection, as Melanie and many others point out. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

TOM PURCELL: CENSUS 2020: ACCURATE COUNT ESSENTIAL - I hope we get it right.

Data collection for the 2020 U.S. Census ends soon. This census, the 22nd in U.S. history, has faced its share of challenges and controversies.

The goal of the census has remained the same throughout its 230-year history: to count every person living in the United States.

The Constitution requires the federal government to do so every 10 years. The population count determines the number of U.S. House seats each state will have – which can become highly political.

When a state gains or loses seats, the party in power sometimes redraws congressional districts in hopes of making it impossible for the other party to win. That’s why census results are so important to politicians.

The census also determines how much federal funding your neighborhood will receive. The more people counted in a region, the more money that region will receive for roads, bridges and other government programs.

From the start, this census has faced no small number of controversies and challenges.

“From cybersecurity issues to administrative problems to a legal drama over a possible citizenship question, there are plenty of reasons to worry about the decennial head count,” noted The Atlantic in July 2018. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

MICHAEL REAGAN (Conservative Columnist): A TALE OF TWO CONVENTIONS (Conservative)- Last week’s Republican National Convention was the best I’ve ever watched.

The locations and settings were great.

Melania did a fine job in the White House Rose Garden.

Vice President Mike Pence praised President Trump remotely from Baltimore’s Fort McHenry.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke from somewhere in Israel.

In addition, the GOP’s diversity quotient was off the charts.

The impressive speakers included Tim Scott (the U.S. Senator from South Carolina whose inspiring life story is summed up by “From Cotton to Congress”), Nikki Hailey (the Indian-American former governor of South Carolina) and young Daniel Jay Cameron, the first black attorney general of Kentucky.

Plus, there were so many women coming to the podium over the first three days you couldn’t count them.

Along with Trump’s daughters, Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway and rising star Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota. There was also Kim Klacik, the dynamic young Republican running for Congress who filmed her remarks in the urban ruins of Democrat-run Baltimore. - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

DICK POLMAN (Liberal Columnist): JOE BIDEN WANTS TO ‘MAKE HOPE AND HISTORY RHYME’ - Given how dangerous Donald Trump truly is, how cavalier he is about torching the Constitution and tallying American casualties, it’s probably a darn good thing he’s stone-cold stupid.

Trump’s whole strategy has been to depict Biden as a decrepit vegetable who doesn’t know where he is or what day it is, some old fossil who drools when he tries to string together a sentence. Contrast that cartoon with the guy who capped the Democratic convention with a performance that was presidential in both style and substance.

Only Trump cultists drunk on the demagogue’s Kool-Aid could possibly conclude otherwise, but those folks aren’t reachable anyway. Thursday night, even some of Fox News’ commentators felt compelled to acknowledge reality. Karl Rove, the former Bush guru, said that Biden gave “a very good speech,” Brit Hume said that Biden spoke “with force and clarity,” and former Bush press secretary Dana Perino said that Biden “hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth. He had pace, rhythm, energy, emotion, and delivery.”

How so? Let us count the ways:

He prioritized country over party. Drawing a sharp contrast with Trump (one of many), he said: “While I will be a Democratic candidate, I will be an American president. I will work as hard for those who didn’t support me as I will for those who did. That’s the job of a president – to represent all of us, not just our base or our party. This is not a partisan moment. This must be an American moment.” - More...
Monday PM - August 31, 2020

Political Cartoon: Biden Finally Speaks
By Gary McCoy ©2020, Shiloh, IL
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.