Tag Archives: Alaska

Anchorage’s NRP affiliate reports: An Anchorage Daily News and ProPublica investigation published last week revealed the attorney general directed the Alaska Commission for Human Rights to void equal protections for LGBTQ Alaskans in areas like housing and financing. On Wednesday, the state’s first-ever out, queer lawmakers sponsored a bill in the Alaska House to enshrine anti-discrimination protections in law. For …

Pro Publica reports: In June 2020, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace discrimination against people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity was illegal, Alaska quickly moved to follow suit. But a year later, the Human Rights Commission quietly reversed that position. It deleted language from the state website promising equal protections for transgender and gay Alaskans …

The Associated Press reports: An Alaska lawmaker with a history of incendiary remarks was censured by the state House Wednesday after he said it has been argued that cases of fatal child abuse can be a “cost savings” because the child won’t need related government services. The House voted 35-1 to censure Republican Rep. David Eastman of Wasilla, with Eastman …

The Anchorage Daily News reports: Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman sparked outrage online after asking whether there could be economic benefits from the death of abused children. “It can be argued, periodically, that it’s actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise be entitled to receive and …

The New York Times reports: The Pentagon downed an unidentified object over Alaska on Thursday night at the order of President Biden, according to a U.S. official. The U.S. official said it was not confirmed if the object was a balloon, but it was traveling at an altitude that made it a potential threat to civilian aircraft. Mr. Biden ordered …

The Fairbanks Daily News reports: A local youth pastor indicted Wednesday on one count of felony second-degree sexual abuse of a minor was arrested Friday after turning himself in to Alaska State Troopers. David Duffett, 45, is listed on the Bible Baptist Church of Fairbanks’ website as the youth director, bus ministries director and teacher of the Teen Church and …

From the Justice Department: Five members and associates of a white supremacist gang were sentenced in Alaska this week to life in prison without the possibility of parole for racketeering, including murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping, and other offenses. The person formerly known as Timothy Lobdell, 46, who legally changed his name to “Filthy Fuhrer” (Lobdell); Roy Naughton, aka …

The Anchorage Daily News reports: A polar bear killed a woman and boy Tuesday afternoon in the Northwest Alaska community of Wales, according to Alaska State Troopers. Troopers received a report of a polar bear attack around 2:30 p.m. According to initial accounts, a polar bear came to the village and chased several residents. The two people who were killed …

Posted this afternoon to Sarah Palin’s Facebook page: *Official Press Release From Governor Sarah Palin* It’s an honor to run for office in my homestate, offering to serve the great people of Alaska! Congratulations to Rep. Mary Peltola and her family as this new chapter in their lives – and the life of Alaska – unfolds. Challenging Washington, DC’s status …

The New York Times reports: Representative Mary Peltola, Democrat of Alaska and the first Alaska Native woman to serve in Congress, on Wednesday won a full term in the House, according to The Associated Press, holding back three conservative challengers. Ms. Peltola first won the seat in an August special election to finish the term of Representative Don Young, a …

NBC News reports: Sen. Lisa Murkowski has won re-election in Alaska, NBC News projected Wednesday night, dealing former President Donald Trump another loss in what has largely been a miserable midterm cycle for his hand-picked candidates in competitive Senate races. Murkowski, one of only seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump at his second impeachment trial, survived a challenge from …

The Independent reports: Sarah Palin has gone nuclear on the Republican Party, claiming the GOP sabotaged her Alaska House race and that they deserved their drubbing in the midterms. In a conspiracy-laden Instagram post, Ms Palin blamed the “cockamamie” ranked choice voting system, Senator Lisa Murkowski and the “dark, dysfunctional GOP machine” after she was seemingly trounced by Democrat Mary …

Talking Points Memo reports: With about 75 percent of the vote in, Rep. Mary Peltola (D-AK) leads with 47 percent of the vote in the ranked choice contest for Alaska’s sole congressional seat. When she won the same seat for a partial term, she had 40 percent of the vote after round one, and went on to beat the same …

The Hill reports: The Alaska Republican Party on Monday voted to censure Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for what they called spreading “divisive and misleading statements” about their endorsed candidate in Alaska’s Senate race. The state party added that McConnell’s financial support for incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in the Senate race against fellow Republican Kelly Tshibaka was “in …

The Associated Press reports: A Republican gubernatorial candidate in Alaska faces accusations he sexually harassed a former assistant while he was a borough mayor. The lawsuit filed Friday accuses Charlie Pierce of “constant unwanted physical touching, sexual remarks, and sexual advances.” In the lawsuit, she claims Pierce touched her breast, made sexual remarks, falsely imprisoned her in his private office, …

The Insider reports: A flurry of fake votes threatened to throw the balance of the annual Fat Bear Week competition at the Katmai National Park in Alaska, a tournament where online users get to vote for their favorite beefed-up brown bears as they fatten themselves to survive the harsh winter ahead. Organizers said  that as the competition neared voting for …

The New York Times reports: The two Russians braved miles of open sea, traveling on a vessel from Russia to a small isolated island in Alaska with the apparent aim of avoiding being ensnared in President Vladimir V. Putin’s mandatory conscription to fight in Ukraine, two U.S. senators said on Thursday. The two escapees appeared to have accomplished their goal, …

The Anchorage Daily News reports: An Anchorage judge said Thursday that based on the limited evidence presented, Wasilla Republican Rep. David Eastman is likely ineligible to hold public office, but his name will stay on the general election ballot until a trial scheduled for December can be held. Former Mat-Su Assembly member Randall Kowalke, who filed the lawsuit, has argued …

The Washington Post reports: Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the tanker Exxon Valdez when it ran aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in March 1989, leaking 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in a massive environmental catastrophe that ravaged maritime habitats and brought sweeping inquests into who was to blame, died on July 21. He was 75. The toll to the …

The Associated Press reports: Alaska U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin called on fellow Republican Nick Begich to drop out of the race Monday, holding a news conference in the same place where on a holiday weekend more than a decade ago she announced plans to resign as Alaska’s governor. “He keeps calling me a quitter,” she told reporters, adding later: …