FIRST ON FOX: Democrats sounding the alarm of potential harms to Alaskan communities if their efforts were reversed and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was further opened to energy development got a very different response than they may have been expecting from a consortium of local Native Americans.

Using the Congressional Review Act, the Senate voted Thursday night to pass a resolution from Rep. Nick Begich, R-Alaska, that formally reversed a Biden-era rule restricting more than 1 million acres to development in the refuge, where Native communities like Kaktovik reside. 

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., notably spoke out on the Senate floor against the effort, saying that Congress rightly established the refuge in 1980 but neglected to properly protect the “very fragile ecosystem” there from development, calling it “America’s Serengeti.”

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“So far, we’ve been able to protect the coastal plain and keep it intact as it has been for millions of years, and many Americans had hoped we had moved on,” Cantwell said.

Using “the Congressional Review Act to drill in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge (could) very well backfire on our drilling advocates. If Congress votes to overturn the Biden record of decision today, it would create legal and regulatory chaos, not clarity.”

Additionally, several Democrats and at least one Republican supported a separate bill in April that would designate the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as statutorily protected wilderness, shutting out any development whatsoever.

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“There are some places too special and too amazing and too ecologically and culturally significant to allow them to be permanently despoiled by oil and gas,” House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Jared Huffman, D-Calif., said at the time as chief sponsor.

Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., also led that bill’s introduction along with Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania moderate from the Philadelphia suburbs.

Despite such claims that development would damage the land and adversely affect those living there, Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat (VOICE) — a group representing the communities in and around the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, were ecstatic at the Senate’s reversal of the restrictive rule.

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“These joint congressional resolutions are a positive sign that congressional decisionmakers support our Iñupiaq self-determination,” VOICE President Nagruk Harcharek said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

Harcharek said that the vote is turning the tide on years of “lopsided relations” with Congress and the executive branch.

Our “communities are cautiously optimistic for the people of Kaktovik following this vote — supported by our local and regional leaders — in our Indigenous homelands.”

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Kaktovik Mayor Nathan Gordon Jr., added that the Kaktovikmiut — the community’s residents — overwhelmingly support responsible development projects in their native lands because it provides a prime way for them to provide for themselves and their regional economy.

“Kaktovik is the only community within ANWR, but the federal government and Congress have disregarded our voices for generations,” Gordon said.

A whaling captain who also attended a joint appearance in the region by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright also praised the news, crediting such officials for making efforts to engage with the Native community on issues that impact their lands.

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“Moving forward, we are hopeful to continue this positive relationship built on mutual respect with both Congress and the executive branch,” Charles C.C. Lampe said.

In a statement after the vote, Begich remarked that “America is strongest when Alaska is empowered to responsibly develop its resources.”

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, also expressed the importance of listening to their state residents’ needs rather than the assumptions of the bureaucracy.

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Murkowski said previous Democratic administrations “paused everything, illegally canceled every lease, and then rewrote the program to ensure that neither leasing nor development would occur.” 

“Their worldview was exactly backwards,” she said.

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“Today, we are on the cusp of righting this wrong, rolling back the lawless lock-up of ANWR, and unleashing good-paying jobs and opportunity for Alaska’s working families,” added Sullivan.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cantwell, Markey, Huffman and Fitzpatrick for comment.

More than a dozen people were injured when a cable car in San Francisco came to a screeching halt on Monday afternoon, rattling passengers inside, according to authorities.

A total of 15 people suffered minor to moderate injuries after the cable car abruptly stopped without warning and tossed around those onboard, the San Francisco Fire Department said on social media.

Two people were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, 11 others were hospitalized with “minor aches and pains,” and two people refused assistance at the scene, authorities said.

Fire officials told ABC7 that an object might have been thrown at the cable car, causing the abrupt stop. Authorities have not officially released information on what led up to the incident.

Some of the cable car’s windows were completely shattered, according to photos of the aftermath. Video posted by fire officials also captured several ambulances crowded around the stopped cable car.

“Safety for our passengers on all Muni vehicles continues to be our top priority. We’ll be conducting a full review of incident details to ensure continued safety on the cable cars,” SFMTA said in a statement.

Cable cars first began running in San Francisco in the 1870s, and became designated as a National Historic Landmark in the 1960s.

Passengers on the famed tourist attractions do not wear seat belts and often hang off the cars, which are partially open-air.

The SFFD and the SFMTA will investigate the incident.

With Post wires

The Grinch has more room for nostalgia in his heart than one Patrick Sean Payton.

Before we get to the good stuff, just know that what applies to Von Miller and Payton absolutely applies to Justin Simmons, too. Even though the Broncos now have a starting safety slot wide open while a former Pro Bowl safety in Simmons is local and looking for a gig, the locker room in Dove Valley might not be big enough for the both of them. Although stranger things have happened, and it’s almost Christmas.

Speaking of presents, the Chiefs finally returned the AFC West throne to the store, receipt and all, after hogging that thing for 3,270 days. Eight years, 11 months, and 14 days, officially.

A child born on New Year’s Day 2017, the actual start of the Kansas City Chiefs’ AFC West dynasty, would be halfway through third grade as of Monday. At last, Heaven help us, we can clearly see the end, a light at the end of long, red tunnel of darkness.

The Chiefs were mathematically eliminated from the postseason this past Sunday. Kansas City is slated to be $43.8 million over the cap in 2026. Travis Kelce just turned 36. Chris Jones will be 32 next summer. Mahomes will be 31 next September, and his left knee just went kablooey in a home loss to the Chargers. Legends live forever in our hearts, but every anterior cruciate ligament comes with an expiration date.

The second-hardest thing in the NFL is to win a championship. The hardest is to pull it off multiple times. It never ceases to amuse me how the most popular sports league in America, land of me-first, is simultaneously a screaming bastion of socialism and enforced parity. The good of all before the one.

Bad teams get the best draft picks. A salary cap that prevents elite teams from hoarding all the elite players, so long as those elite players want to get paid. And they do.

All that being said, the Broncos (12-2) aren’t just poised to win a division title this fall. They’re in a really good position to follow in the Chiefs’ cleats and go on a little dynastic run of their own. And we’ll give you five reasons why:

1. The Chiefs’ best players are getting old

Even if Kelce, who can become an unrestricted free agent next year, elects to return, the Chiefs’ books are looking fairly lopsided. Per Spotrac, Kansas City will have 44.9% of its cap space for 2026 taken up by four players who will be 31 years or older: Jones ($44.85 million), K Harrison Butker ($7.3 million), LB Drue Tranquill ($7.5 million) and Mahomes ($78.2 million).

The Broncos’ 31-and-older club, depending on what becomes of linebacker Alex Singleton, is slated to take up 24.9% of next year’s cap.

2. The Chargers’ best players are already old

The Bolts have 33.3% of their active roster cap tied up in 17 players who are at least 29 years old. And at least 10 of those guys are scheduled to hit the open market after this season.

QB Justin Herbert is better with one good hand than most NFL signal-callers are with two. He’s just 27. Although working with Jim Harbaugh has been known to age people prematurely.

3. The Broncos’ best players are … not

The Broncos went into Week 1, per PhillyVoice.com, with the eighth fewest number of players among NFL rosters who were aged 29 or older (10).

Bo Nix, the QB1 who keeps rising to the moment, is 25 and on a rookie contract through 2027 (for now).

Also signed through ’27, per Spotrac.com (deep breath): CB Pat Surtain II, RT Mike McGlinchey, DL Zach Allen, WR Courtland Sutton, LT Garett Bolles, OLB Jonathon Cooper, OLB Nik Bonitto, S Talanoa Hufanga, DB Jahdae Barron, DL D.J. Jones, LB Dre Greenlaw, G Quinn Meinerz, DL Malcolm Roach, C Luke Wattenberg, OLB Jonah Elliss, RB RJ Harvey, CB Kris Abrams-Draine, K Wil Lutz and P Jeremy Crawshaw. Oh, and WRs Troy Franklin and Pat Bryant.

Pretty good core, that. Especially when you consider that only five of those guys are 30 years or older — and one of those five happens to be Lutz.

4. GM George Paton has the drafting part down

And he always did. Nine of Denver’s 11 starters are former Broncos draft picks or former collegiate free agents. As are five of the 11 guys who usually start for Vance Joseph’s defense. The more expensive Nix’s contract becomes, the more important hitting on rookies immediately is going to get.

5. Sean Payton has done this before

Yes, Sunshine Sean loves the screen game more than Homer Simpson loves Duff Beer. Yes, he holds fools and journalists in equal disdain. But the man also won seven division titles in New Orleans, including four straight (2017-2020) after his 2012 suspension. From 2018-2022, talk about the Broncos largely focused on the franchise’s sagging floor. Now it’s about the ceiling. Whether you like him personally or not, there’s no denying the degree to which Payton flipped the script.

Tom Brady was 42 when he signed with Tampa Bay and 45 when he retired for the second time. Rob Gronkowski hung ’em up for the USAA life at age 33. Savor the now. When a window opens, you don’t walk through it. You sprint like there’s a raging, snorting Nederland moose in hot pursuit.

In the NFL, age is a running clock. As any Broncomaniac can tell you, there’s one defensive coordinator worse than Belichick, a mastermind not even Mahomes, Brees, Elway or Manning could lick: Father Time. For the first time in a decade, he’s finally on the Broncos’ side.