The political chasm between Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Sen. Dan Sullivan has been best illustrated over the last four yeas by their conflicting approach to the confirmation of federal judges for lifetime appointments.
Murkowski voted to confirm 160 district and circuit judges appointed by Biden, while Sullivan voted for 2.
Read MoreWhile staffing shortages have received national attention and have been a problem across Alaska, we need to hear from the governor about the real decline in state services on his watch, what he’s doing to fix the growing problems, the impact on Alaskans and how much it will cost to turn things around. He hasn’t provided a recovery plan
Read MoreAs the calendar closes on 2024, I can tell you the high points for me took place in late November and early December.
Read MoreThe idea is not to draw from AIDEA’s hundreds of millions in cash reserves to potentially pay for a gas pipeline study, but to get the Legislature to add $50 million to AIDEA’s cache of $600 million.
It turns out that AIDEA, AGDC and the Dunleavy administration did not tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the $50 million.
They will be asking legislators for forgiveness, not permission. I doubt they will get it.
Read More“The window for making decisions is closing,” says Bob Pickett, a longtime member of the Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
“If things just sort of slide and there’s no leadership, and we’re in the same position 12 months from now, we are looking at a dire, dire, situation. And people should get angry.”
Herz mentions how the potential shortfall in fuel supplies has the natural gas utility, the electric utilities, regulators and legislators worried about the immediate future.
Indecision is the biggest problem right now.
Read MoreThe Alaska Industrial Development & Export Authority continues to claim that the $250,000 “independent economic analysis” of AIDEA can be kept secret because it is a draft and not subject to the public records law.
Randy Ruaro, the executive director of AIDEA, has denied my appeal of the agency’s refusal to release the report. The report was supposed to be released in late 2023.
Ruaro said if I want the document my only option is to appeal to Alaska Superior Court.
Read MoreBefore the vote, Sullivan’s office sent form letters to Alaskans in which Sullivan highlighted his reservations about the bill championed by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who worked on the idea for more than 20 years.
Sullivan refused to answer questions from reporters about the bill, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
“Spokesperson Amanda Coyne instead shared a statement prepared last month, indicating Sullivan favored a more tailored response from the Social Security Administration ‘to find an Alaska solution for Alaskan public servants,’” the Daily News reported.
Read MoreAnnouncing the creation of a new department, the cost of which will exceed $20 million, will do nothing for agriculture and food security unless there is leadership from the governor, backed by a larger financial commitment from the Legislature for research, marketing, farm development programs, business initiatives and infrastructure.
Unfortunately, Dunleavy’s empty Office of Food Security is the clearest sign of what to expect.
Read MoreThe U.S. Congress deleted a provision in the defense authorization act that would have required the Interior Secretary to approve a 211-mile road to the Ambler mining district from the Dalton Highway within 30 days.
Read MoreA 1-gigawatt computer data center—on the low end of the Dunleavy vision for power—would require more than twice as much electricity than what could been drawn from the 700-foot Susitna River dam that was never built. A gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts.
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