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Ketchikan: Motion to Override Mayor's Veto of Resolution 2866 on Agenda; Resolution 2866, supported action by the Alaska Legislature to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. By MARY KAUFFMAN - The Ketchikan Borough Assembly will hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 2020. Typically the Assembly meets on Mondays; however, this coming Monday is the Labor Day holiday with many offices closed. The public meeting will begin on Tuesday at 5:30 PM and held in the Borough Assembly Chambers, White Cliff building.

Among the items on the agenda, under New Business is a motion sponsored by Assembly Member A.J. Pierce to override Ketchikan Borough Mayor Dial's recent veto of Resolution 2866 which was adopted by the Assembly on August 17th by a 6-1 vote.

The resolution passed by the Assembly and vetoed by the Mayor sought legislative adoption of changes to the Alaska Human Rights Law designed to bring Alaska into greater conformity with articulated Supreme Court principles. On August 21, 2020, Assembly Member submitted a written request to place a motion to override Mayor Dial's veto on the upcoming regular Assembly meeting's agenda scheduled for September 8, 2020.

Mayor Dial said at the August 17th meeting to the Assembly, “If you are inclined to bring this back, I would encourage you to consider a way to address your concerns with a new resolution that does not benefit one group at the expense of another.  Consider a resolution that encourages and supports peace and harmony in our community through mutual respect and not forced governmental intervention.”

In a written comment emailed to SitNews, Mayor Dial wrote when he first heard that a few Assembly members were forwarding what they labeled as an “Anti-Discrimination” ordinance… he was disappointed.  "Not disappointed because of the intent, but of what would follow.  I need to make this one thing very clear… passage of this ordinance does not change anything for the groups the sponsors seek to protect…nothing. It is merely a request for the State legislature to act."

The Mayor stated in his email, "I vetoed this resolution due to a moral opposition of creating new discrimination in Ketchikan against people of faith and to give the Assembly time to put forward a resolution that does not pit one group against another and to present a document that could encourage “immediate” change, harmony and respect in our community…it can be done.  

Mayor Dial wrote, "I will not apologize for “not” supporting an attempt to create new discrimination on our island when we could look for other ways to promote mutual respect and peace in our community, at a time when it is needed most."  

According to the Clerk's Office, the written request to override the mayor's veto of Resolution 2866 was submitted in accordance with KGBC 2.15.030(a) and (b). In her sponsor's statement Pierce wrote, "The proposed changes to A.S. 18.80 would serve to direct statewide policy without the need for likely litigation at the state and municipal level advancing the broad application of this principle. In sum, the Supreme Court has stated that while “religious and philosophical objections are protected, it is a general rule that such objections do not allow business owners and other actors in the economy and in society to deny protected persons equal access to goods and services under a neutral and generally applicable public accommodations law.”" - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Ketchikan: From Ketchikan to Adak, Sullivan Shows Navy Secretary Alaska’s Strategic Military Advantages; Visit to Alaska is Braithwaite’s first visit as Secretary of the Navy - This week, U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) hosted Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite for the secretary’s first visit to Alaska since being appointed and confirmed.

On Monday in Ketchikan, Sullivan and Braithwaite toured the Ketchikan Shipyard, visited the U.S. Navy acoustic facility on Back Island, and joined members of the community and veterans for a dinner and discussion.

At the Ketchikan Shipyard, Secretary Braithwaite was able to tour the 70,000 square foot assembly hall and adjacent fabrication shop, one of the most modern yards in the entire country that offers year-round service of new construction, repairs, and refit of nearly any vessel. 

The Southeast Alaska Acoustic Measurement Facility (SEAFAC), which both Sullivan and Braithwaite visited, is the Navy’s only West Coast acoustic site capable of making high fidelity passive acoustic signature measurements on vessels, including assessing the stealth capabilities of U.S. submarines. SEAFAC was constructed on Back Island, near Ketchikan, due to its minimal noise interference.

On Tuesday, Sullivan and Braithwaite traveled to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER) for briefings on the combined U.S. military forces in Alaska, the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) in the Interior, the Red-Flag-Alaska Air Force training exercises conducted several times per year at JPARC, opportunities for Marines to train in Alaska, and Arctic defense issues.  - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Ketchikan set a new summer rainfall
record with 47.29 inches
Courtesy National Weather Service

Ketchikan: Ketchikan set a new summer rainfall record with 47.29 inches - Wrapping up the meteorological summer season (June-August 31), what is there to say about August other than that it was a soaker.

You may ask, where is all of this rain coming from? The phrase that we became all too familiar with here in Southeast Alaska is: “there is a low in the Gulf."

Throughout the month of August, several low pressure systems moved into the Gulf of Alaska bringing wave after wave of weather fronts across the Panhandle. On August 9th, one of the stronger lows caused several impacts throughout the panhandle. High wind along with flood watches and advisories were issued for portions of the panhandle.

As the summer season was coming near the end the possibility of breaking record rainfall started to look promising for several stations.

Ketchikan set a new record with 47.29 inches, previous record was 46.99 inches set in 2017.

Petersburg also broke their summer rainfall record with 31.60 inches, the previous record was 31.06 inches set in 2015. Juneau fell 1 inch short of their record, finishing the season as the 3rd wettest summer.

August began where July ended with above normal temps near or at 70 degrees. According to the US National Weather Service Juneau Alaska, temperatures quickly dropped back to near normal as the wet weather set up through the remainder of the month.

Sitka even tied the record low temperature on the 13th when the mercury dipped to 46 degrees. With only a handful of rain free days during the month, rainfall amounts were well above normal. Ketchikan finished the month with a whopping 13.04 inches above normal. Yakutat was the station bucking the trends with slightly warmer temperatures and was slightly drier for the month of August.

The forecast for September from the Climate Prediction Center is temperatures showing a slightly above normal chance that we could be warmer than normal. Precipitation has no indications for a trend either way towards wetter, drier or near normal, according to the US National Weather Service Juneau. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Alaska: Alaska Supreme Court Rules Oil and Gas Tax Credit Bonds Unconstitutional By MARY KAUFFMAN - Friday the Alaska Supreme Court, in Forrer v. State of Alaska, struck down legislation enacted under the previous Walker administration in 2018 that authorized the issuance of “subject-to-appropriation” bonds to pay outstanding cashable oil and gas tax credits.  According to the Department of Revenue, there is $743 million in outstanding tax credits that were eligible to participate in the tax credit bonding program. The tax credit program ended in 2017. 

With the collapse of oil prices over the last six years, the State was no longer able to immediately pay such tax credits. As an alternative, the Walker administration introduced HB 331 which sought to issue “subject to appropriation” bonds to pay the tax credits. HB 331 permitted the State to pay the tax credit holders in 2018 with bond proceeds and the legislature would pay off these bonds over time. The legislation also provided that tax credit holders would have to accept a discounted payment in order to participate in the program.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled HB 331 unconstitutional.

The Alaska Supreme Court’s decision invalidates HB 331’s “subject-to-appropriation” debt. When anticipating a shortfall of revenue from previously enacted tax incentives, the 30th Alaska State Legislature attempted to offset future fiscal unpredictability by authorizing a discounted buyback of tax credits financed by bonds without pledging the “full faith and credit” of the State.

Without a vote of the people, the Alaska legislature created a public corporation capable of borrowing up to $1 billion through the issuance of subject-to-appropriation bonds to purchase outstanding oil and gas exploration tax credits, with bondholders to be reimbursed solely at the discretion of future legislatures through appropriations to the new public corporation.

A taxpayer filed suit, alleging, among other things, that the legislature violated the Alaska Constitution’s state debt limitation. The superior court granted the State’s motion to dismiss, ruling that the legislation did not create “debt” for purposes of the constitutional limitation. The Alaska Supreme Court reversed, finding that this financing scheme, even if unforeseeable in the mid-twentieth century, was the kind of constitutional “debt” that the framers sought to prohibit under article IX, section 8 of the Alaska Constitution. The Supreme Court reversed the superior court's decision granting the State's motion to dismiss, and affirmed the superior court’s decision rejecting the State’s arguments under section 11. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Fish Factor: First Debate Planned Between Candidates for U.S. Senate By LAINE WELCH - Kodiak has again scored a first debate between candidates in one of Alaska’s most high-profile political races: the U.S. Senate.

Kodiak has been hosting debates for congressional and gubernatorial hopefuls since 1999 with a single focus: Alaska’s seafood industry.

The date and format for the U.S. Senate faceoff are still being finalized, but it will occur in close proximity to the annual ComFish event on September 17 and 18, bumped by Covid from its traditional dates in March, and now set to be a virtual experience.

Republican Senator Dan Sullivan and Independent challenger Dr. Al Gross are working out the details of their participation, said Sarah Phillips, executive director at the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce and ComFish organizer.

Viewers can livestream the debate via Facebook, YouTube and the comfishak.com website, Williams said. Those platforms also will be used for the many educational forums that will be presented virtually and made available online long after.

Phillips is certain there will be a great deal of interest in the debate and ComFish events, based on the response to a virtual five-day annual Crab Fest the Chamber successfully pulled off last month.

“We actually had an audience of 44,000 tune in for Crab Fest so we got a lot more reach than we typically do,” she said.  “We are very aware that we have a big audience outside of Kodiak.”

Still, Phillips admits that Islanders will miss the swarm of visitors, trade show exhibitors and industry experts that normally fill the town during a normal ComFish.

“We can't deny that our local hospitality industry is very highly impacted by this,” she said. “Everything from our hotels to our B&Bs and restaurants and bars. Kodiak is a really fun place for our attendees and vendors to come to, and we are missing that significant economic driver. And our fishing industry really relies on the goods and services and information that ComFish brings.” - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Alaska: Alaska’s Attorney General Resigns Hours After “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague Published - Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson resigned Tuesday following the publication of an Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica investigation showing he sent hundreds of text messages to a younger state employee that Clarkson acknowledged had made her uncomfortable.

Records obtained by the newsrooms found Clarkson sent at least 558 text messages between March 5 and March 31 to a woman whose job required she sometimes interact with the attorney general. In at least 18 messages he invited the woman to come to his home.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, said in an email Tuesday that he had accepted Clarkson’s resignation.

“This administration has and always will expect the highest level of professional conduct in the workplace,” a statement from Dunleavy said. “There is nothing more important than the protection of our state employees, and that includes feeling safe when an employee is at work.

“Kevin Clarkson has admitted to conduct in the workplace that did not live up to our high expectations, and this is deeply disappointing. This morning he took responsibility for the unintentional consequences of his actions and tendered his resignation to me. I have accepted it. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Alaska: Statewide Coalition calls for change in Governor's next Attorney General Appointment Posted & Edited By MARY KAUFFMAN - Friday, a statewide coalition of organizations representing civil rights, consumers, poverty alleviation, sex workers, sex trafficking victims, health care, Alaska Natives, youth, and veterans' interests sent a letter to Governor Dunleavy asking him to carefully consider Alaska's sexual assault crisis in his next appointee for state Attorney General.

Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson resigned Tuesday following an investigation revealing hundreds of text messages he sent to a younger state employee that made her uncomfortable. (See Alaska’s Attorney General Resigns Hours After “Uncomfortable” Texts He Sent to a Younger Colleague Published)

In the letter the coalition wrote, "Former AG Clarkson's sexual harassment of a junior state employee was abhorrent and his actions meet the standard of termination. Clarkson should not have been allowed to resign."

The statewide coalition is made up of organizations representing civil rights, consumers, poverty alleviation, sex workers, sex trafficking victims, health care, Alaska Native, youth, and veterans' interests. Organization involved in the coalition are Alaska Poor People's Campaign. Alaska Public Interest Research Group, Alaskans Take A Stand, Bread Line, Inc., Community United For Safety And Protection, Native Movement, The Alaska Center and Wellness Worthy. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Study determines early Interior Alaskans had complex, diverse diets
By JEFF RICHARDSON
Members of an archaeology field team watch as researchers Ben Potter and Josh Reuther excavate at the Upward Sun River site. An analysis of human remains from the site indicates that early Interior Alaskans had a diverse, complex diet.
Photo courtesy of Ben Potter

Alaska: Study determines early Interior Alaskans had complex, diverse diets By JEFF RICHARDSON - A chemical analysis of ancient human remains shows that Alaska’s earliest people had a complex diet that featured both land animals and salmon.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks-led study analyzed the chemical composition of bones and teeth from two Ancient Beringian infants. Stable isotope analysis of human tissues can directly reveal the foods consumed by individuals, in this case their mothers’ diets during pregnancy.

The infant remains, dated to about 11,500 years ago, were discovered at the Upward Sun River archaeological site in Alaska’s Tanana Valley. The study represents the first comprehensive isotopic diet analysis of Ice Age Native Americans.

The findings were published yesterday in the journal Science Advances.

The diets of Ice Age Native Americans have sometimes been portrayed with either a focus on hunting large animals or general foraging. However, although ancient Alaskans’ diets were dominated by large animals like bison, isotope analysis shows the summer diet also included salmon. Those results are consistent with other evidence, including animal bones found at archaeological sites and chemical analysis of ancient hearths. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Alaska: Study: Bering Sea ice extent is at most reduced state in last 5,500 By JEFF RICHARDSON - Through the analysis of vegetation from a Bering Sea island, researchers have determined that the extent of sea ice in the region is lower than it’s been for thousands of years.

A newly published paper in the journal Science Advances describes how a peat core from St. Matthew Island is providing a look back in time. By analyzing the chemical composition of the core, which includes plant remains from 5,500 years ago to the present, scientists can estimate how sea ice in the region has changed during that time period.

“It’s a small island in the middle of the Bering Sea, and it’s essentially been recording what’s happening in the ocean and atmosphere around it,” said lead author Miriam Jones, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Jones worked as a faculty researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks when the project began in 2012.

The ancient sea ice record comes in the form of changes in the relative amounts of two isotopes of the element oxygen— oxygen-16 and oxygen-18. The ratio of those two isotopes changes depending on patterns in the atmosphere and ocean, reflecting the different signatures that precipitation has around the globe. More oxygen-18 makes for an isotopically “heavier” precipitation, more oxygen-16 makes precipitation “lighter.”

By analyzing data from a model that tracks atmospheric movement using the isotopic signature of precipitation, the authors found that heavier precipitation originated from the North Pacific, while lighter precipitation originated from the Arctic.

A “heavy” ratio signals a seasonal pattern that causes the amount of sea ice to decrease. A “light” ratio indicates a season with more sea ice. That connection has been confirmed though sea ice satellite data collected since 1979, and to a smaller extent, through the presence of some microorganisms in previous core samples.

UAF’s Alaska Stable Isotope Facility analyzed isotope ratios throughout the peat layers, providing a time stamp for ice conditions that existed through the millennia.

After reviewing the isotopic history, researchers determined that modern ice conditions are at remarkably low levels. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

DAVE KIFFER: A Brief Chat with NOAA - Well, that was an exciting last week of August, whew!

In a summer that shall not be named (okay, okay, 2020), that had more disappointment (no 4th of July, no Blueberry Festival) and less money (where have all the COVID ships gone, long time passing) than we have seen in decades, we finally had a bit of excitement as Ketchikan drizzled and dripped its way to an all-time summer rainfall record of slightly more than 47 inches.

During the later stages as the rain gauges not so slowly filled up, someone asked me how long the previous record had stood, no doubt expecting it to be one of those time honored marks, like Babe Ruth's homerun record, that had lasted decades and been seared into the minds of generations of locals.

Actually, the previous mark lasted exactly three years. In 2017, there was a dribble under 47 inches recorded.. That year had broken the 1967 record of 41 inches in June, July and August. But given the fact that 2017 was a year in the Pre-COVID Era where we were not socially distanced from our Alaskan Ambers at the local dispensaries, we really didn't notice the rain than much. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

MICHAEL REAGAN: AMERICA IS NOT A LAND OF RACISTS - At least the media haven’t politicized the weather reports – yet.

Watching the next Category 4 hurricane hit Florida is about all I can stand to see on TV these days.

The news and cable talk shows are brutal – all-partisan-politics-all-the time.

Sports programs are almost as bad, thanks to their blind worship of the Black Lives Matter movement and its dangerous ideas.

The NBA coverage is the worst.

You almost feel like you have to swear your allegiance to BLM or confess to being a lifelong racist before every tip off – which is why the NBA’s TV ratings for this year’s playoffs are in the toilet.

The only sports I can stand to watch anymore are professional golf and bike racing.

Thank God the Tour de France started last weekend. All the announcers talked about was bike racing.

Not one time did they make me think that I was a racist.

It was a refreshing break from months of our mainstream liberal media pushing the line that America’s Blacks are victims of systemic white racism. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

MICHAEL SHANNON: STEALING AN ELECTION IN SLOW-MOTION - This will come as news to most voters, but we’re having a two-stage presidential election this year. The first stage is Tuesday, November 3rd. The plutocrats at JP Morgan warn Trump’s chances at that stage are improving and consequently advise clients to “position accordingly.”

I assume that means double down on investments in tear gas and fireworks manufacturers.

A consulting group funded by Mike “Money Can’t Buy Me Love” Bloomberg agrees. Trump will do well on election day, but Hawkfish CEO Josh Mendelsohn describes Trump’s Nov. 3rd win as a “red mirage.”

That’s because election day only serves to set a target threshold for the left. Once the count is over on Nov. 3rd the left knows exactly how many mail ballots will be required to produce a victory for Gropey Joe Biden.

Mendelsohn is only preparing Trump voters for the final letdown: “The reason we talk about a red mirage is in fact because we believe that on election night, we are going to see Donald Trump in a stronger position than the reality actually is… the data is going to show on election night an incredible victory for Donald Trump.”

A “victory” that will be steadily eroded as mail ballots – or at least the mail ballots that are counted – turn decisively in Biden’s favor. - More...
Saturday PM - September 05, 2020

Political Cartoon: Burning Cities
By Rick McKee ©2020, Counterpoint
Distributed to paid subscribers for publication by Cagle Cartoons, Inc.