The latest evidence that no one knows what the gas will cost comes from an independent report by Rapidan Energy Group, which says the likely cost of the pipeline project is far higher than the $44 billion estimate still in circulation.

“Rapidan noted the second phase of the project alone could cost up to $60 billion based on current large-scale export projects underway along the Gulf Coast,” the webiste Natural Gas Intelligence reported.

Add in the cost of the so-called first phase—building a pipeline from the North Slope to Anchorage without compression and export facilities—and the total project cost would exceed $70 billion.

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A muddled statement from Sen. Lisa Murkowski treats President Donald Trump as a careful and thoughtful human being who weighed all the alternatives before going to war with Iran and surely knows what he’s doing.

Instead of succumbing to this Republican groupthink, Murkowski needs to admit that Trump started a war without consulting Congress or sticking to any one story about what he hopes to accomplish. Her comments are alarmingly similar to the brilliant claim by Pete Hegseth that the U.S. is not at war with Iran, only with its attempt to get nuclear weapons.

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Alaska Republicans instantly lined up behind Donald Trump’s unconstitutional decision to go to war with Iran.

Sen. Dan Sullivan, Rep. Nick Begich the Third and Gov. Mike Dunleavy led the mindless cheerleading. Even Sen. Lisa Murkowski had a kind word for the “focused strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.”

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A veto by Gov. Mike Dunleavy of state highway matching funds could delay hundreds of millions in federal highway funding for projects in Alaska.

Dunleavy vetoed $70 million in transportation match money that was reappropriated by legislators from various older projects. An appropriation was necessary to qualify for $600 million in federal matching funds.

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If you haven’t done so already, I recommend that you read the New York Times interview with Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

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The little birds showed no desire to leave the nest, even as they outgrew the comfortable confines of their birthplace and jostled each other incessantly.

And just like that, they were gone.

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Someone who walked the length of the route said he did his best to concentrate on the sea of humanity and put the turnout at 1,600.

Others said it may have been far higher. It’s hard to estimate crowds. But this was a big showing of opposition to Trump from Fairbanks.

Someone like former Trump spokesman Sean Spicer might have called it the largest Fairbanks protest in history. Period.

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There are many issues related to this idea that deserve a dispassionate review, especially the potential impact on class sizes at other local schools and whether the approval of the charter school would lead to the close of University Park, Woodriver or Anne Wien elementary schools.

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On April Fools’ Day, the head of AIDEA said the long-delayed $250,000 “independent” review of the agency would be released by mid-April after the contractor inserted revisions prepared and demanded by AIDEA.

“I would hope that it could be done in the next two weeks,” Randy Ruaro told a joint meeting of the state affairs committees of the Legislature on April 1.

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Sen. Dan Sullivan refused to say anything when Alaska Public Media reporter Liz Ruskin asked him about Trump’s decision to send the military to Los Angeles over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsome.

“Talk to me about the Marine deployments in Los Angeles?” Ruskin asked.

Sullivan should have answered the question. Instead, he took cover.

“Sorry,” Sullivan said. He ducked into an elevator and was gone.

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