The Alaska Senate voted without dissent Monday to allow the Department of Natural Resources to stop publishing some public notices in local newspapers.
Senators approved Senate Bill 68 by a 17-0 vote. It now advances to the House for consideration. Sens. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel; Bert Stedman, R-Sitka; and Shelley Hughes, R-Palmer, were excused absent.
Before the final vote, newspaper publishers unsuccessfully asked legislators to reconsider their plans. Allowing the state to control its public notice process poses transparency risks, they testified, and it likely will harm papers’ finances, potentially reducing the amount of independent reporting available in Alaska.
“Newspapers certainly are concerned that not everyone has internet coverage, and it’s going to just further depress the finances of a money-losing business that’s important to communities,” said Larry Persily, owner and publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel.
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“Public notices are one of the few remaining revenue streams we have left,” he said.
SB 68 addresses only a fraction of the notices required, by state law, to appear in local newspapers, and it doesn’t affect notices published by local cities and boroughs, most of whom still require newspaper publication as well.
The bill only applies to “public notices relating to the sale, appropriation, or removal of water,” commonly required of mining projects.
Persily said he nonetheless thinks it’s the sign of a national trend reaching Alaska.
“I’m actually surprised it took this long,” he said.
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States are moving away from mandatory print publication, with some requiring publication on a newspaper website instead. Florida, for example, implemented a law this year that allows a local government to publish notices on a public website instead of through a newspaper.
In the United States, mandatory publication dates to the first Congress, in 1789, and the practice has continued as a way to keep the public informed.
Speaking to the Senate on Monday, Giessel said that newspaper readership has declined and that internet access has become common in Alaska.
Requiring only online publication — with print publication as an optional backup — isn’t a barrier to access, she said.
Sen. Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, said after the vote that getting rid of the public notice newspaper requirement isn’t a new idea, but he opposed it the last time it came around because he didn’t believe his district had appropriate internet access.
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Now, following the advance of technology, he believes it does, and he voted for the bill.
Virginia Farmer, publisher of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, and Ryan Binkley, owner and president of Anchorage Daily News, were among those who testified against it, mostly on transparency grounds.
“The public has relied on community newspapers to keep them informed and to publish public notices. If the state government publishes their own notices, where’s the transparency in that?” Farmer wrote in a letter to Giessel.
Binkley, who wrote a separate letter, said by phone that he’s surprised the Senate was willing to give the executive branch more power over public notice requirements.
“That’s a lot of power for the executive branch to hold. I’m surprised the Legislature wants to continue to consolidate power,” he said.
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He also said he was skeptical of claims by state agencies that publishing their own notices will have no cost.
“Anybody who runs a business knows that a website isn’t free,” he said.
Binkley said that if legislators are concerned about the cost of print notices, they might consider changing the law to require publication on newspaper websites instead.
“If the goal is for people to see those notices and be able to find them as easily as possible,” he said, “use the website with the highest amount of traffic in the state. If you want eyeballs on notices, if you want them easily findable, there’s no better place than adn.com or the local paper in any community.”
It has not been announced by the U.S. Court in a press release, but it shows up on the court’s website: Alaska’s U.S. District Court Judge Joshua Kindred has resigned, effective July 8.
Kindred was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019 to serve as a judge for the District of Alaska. He is a graduate of University of Alaska Anchorage and Willamette University College of Law, graduating in 2005.
The move is sudden, unexplained, but came in a letter of resignation offered by Kindred, who is 47 years old.
Head of the McDonald Fire as seen from Aerial Reconnaissance flight taken on July 3, 2024 photo by Liliana Lopez
The McDonald Fire is at 172,236 acres and has 75 assigned personnel on Thursday, July 4 2024.
Size: 172,236
Personnel: 75
Start Date: June 8, 2024
Cause: Lightning
FAIRBANKS, Alaska – The McDonald Fire received wind from the west-southwest Wednesday, with gusts as high as 35 mph. Fire behavior was moderated due to the higher humidity yesterday and smoke was present on the highway over the course of the day. A reconnaissance flight found heat along the northern edge with most of the heat in the northeast corner, which aligned with the wind direction. There was minimal perimeter growth with the gain in total acreage attributed to the fire consuming unburned pockets in the interior.
Crews have secured roughly 50 feet of depth along most of the line in the 5 Mile Creek Area and will continue with mop-up operations and securing the fires edge. Several crews reported trees falling over in the areas where they were working. The potential for fire-weakened trees to fall is high and firefighters must be alert to these dangers while working on the line. Rain is in the forecast today for the area, so operations will be weather and safety dependent. Crews will monitor fire behavior for any potential spotting or flanking beyond the perimeter. A module is staffing several lookouts and engines are patrolling the ridge and lookout areas as well as the Richardson Highway to provide information to crews on the ground.
Weather: Rain is expected today with winds from the southwest at 5 to 7 mph. Temperatures are forecast to be in the 50s to 60s. This should reduce fire activity.
Burn Permits: The Division of Forestry and Fire Protection has issued Burn Permit Suspensions for Fairbanks, Salcha, Delta, Tok, and Railbelt areas. The fire danger in these areas remains HIGH. Please check https://dnr.alaska.gov/burn/fireareas or call the burn permit hotline for the Fairbanks Area Forestry at (907) 451-2631 for the most current updates.
Air Quality: Cooler temperatures and rain forecast today and into the weekend should help moderate smoke production. This should continue the overall trend of improving air quality. However, due to the amount of fire on the landscape and wind, there may be periods of increasing smoke until significant wetting rain arrives. Winds will continue to be from the southwest today, pushing smoke northeast. Lingering smoke may enhance any fog that forms and impact visibility. Fairbanks Memorial Hospital (1650 Cowles St.) has clean-air rooms available for people impacted by smoke open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Find information on how to protect yourself from wildfire smoke at the Smoke Management page on https://akfireinfo.com/smoke-management/.
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Evacuation Notices: A Level 2: SET evacuation notice is in effect for the approximately 20 cabins near the fire’s southeastern edge west of the Tanana River. The communities east of the Tanana River are in READY status, including the Johnson Road neighborhoods, Canaday, Harding Lake, Salcha, the lower Salcha River, Hollies Acres, and south to Birch Lake. Find more information and an interactive map of these areas on the Fairbanks North Star Borough Emergency Services website.
Temporary Flight Restriction: New temporary flight restrictions were put in place on July 1; for more information, see: 4/6081 NOTAM Details (faa.gov).
-BLM-
Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005, 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, AK 99703
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The Bureau of Land Management Alaska Fire Service (AFS) located at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, provides wildland fire suppression services for over 240 million acres of Department of the Interior and Native Corporation Lands in Alaska. In addition, AFS has other statewide responsibilities that include: interpretation of fire management policy; oversight of the BLM Alaska Aviation program; fuels management projects; and operating and maintaining advanced communication and computer systems such as the Alaska Lightning Detection System. AFS also maintains a National Incident Support Cache with a $18.1 million inventory. The Alaska Fire Service provides wildland fire suppression services for America’s “Last Frontier” on an interagency basis with the State of Alaska Department of Natural Resources, USDA Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Military in Alaska.
‹ Crews on the Montana Creek Fire continue to secure the perimeter and achieve 53% containment on the fire.
Change in weather contributes to the decreased levels of evacuations on the Grapefruit Complex ›
Categories: Active Wildland Fire, BLM Alaska Fire Service
Gov. Mike Dunleavy has vetoed $10 million in funding for the organization charged with marketing Alaska seafood — but may agree to the funding later.
On Friday, Dunleavy issued a line-item veto for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The governor’s office said that he could seek the funding later if the institute submitted a more detailed plan for the funds.
“The Dunleavy administration has offered support of supplemental funding next session once ASMI has developed a comprehensive marketing plan,” said Jeff Turner, the governor’s communications director.
The funding could be included in a supplemental budget bill — every legislative session, Alaska governors propose these bills to cover unexpected needs and other expenses that weren’t included in the original budget.
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Alaska’s $6 billion seafood industry employs over 48,000 workers annually in the state, according to a report commissioned by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. The institute is a state agency that aims to increase the economic value of Alaskan seafood.
The veto comes at a time when Alaska’s fishing industry is in crisis, facing low consumer demand and steep competition from Russia, which harvests many of the same species as Alaska. For example, in 2023, the price paid to sockeye-salmon fishers delivering their catches was half of the 2022 price, according to the report.
Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, described the condition of Alaska’s fishing industry as “pretty miserable.”
“I’ve been involved in the fishing industry since 1970 and it’s just the worst I have ever seen,” said Stevens, who is also one of six legislators who are nonvoting members of the institute’s board.
Last year, the institute received $5 million in funding from the state. Before then, they had not received any state general funds since June 2018. The institute relies mainly on federal and industry payments: This year, the institute is expected to receive $13 million in funds from the federal government, and $16.2 million from industry assessments.
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“The governor is always saying that we want to tell the world that we are open for business, but nothing says ‘we’re closed for business’ more than cutting these funds from ASMI,” said Stevens.
If the institute submits a detailed marketing plan for the vetoed funds, the governor could include funding in the state’s supplemental budget during the next legislative session, the governor’s office said. However, any potential funding would not be quickly available to the institute.
“Waiting doesn’t help at all,” said Stevens. “It’s a very short-sighted view of the industry. Now is the time to help it out, not to just delay things.”
According to ASMI’s executive director, Jeremy Woodrow, the institute’s main priorities lie in domestic markets. Multiple factors have influenced this focus. Among them: a strong dollar and weak yen has made Alaskan seafood less competitive in Japan, a key global market, said Woodrow.
Regarding the effect of the veto, Woodrow said: “We support the governor’s budget, one way or another.”
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Additionally, in 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that prohibited Russian seafood imports. This executive order created a “hole” in the domestic seafood market that ASMI is looking to fill, according to Woodrow.
“Any updated marketing plan is going to include those priorities,” said Woodrow.
Tracy Welch, executive director of United Fishermen of Alaska, described the veto as a “missed opportunity” to support the state’s fishers, processors, and coastal communities.
“ASMI has operated on a shoestring budget for quite a few years, and so they do a lot with what they’re given, so I have confidence that they’ll do as best they can,” she said.
Despite her faith in the institute’s ability to “get creative” with the smaller budget, she emphasized the crisis that the seafood industry is currently facing. “The industry needs help now,” said Welch. “Not two years from now.”
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For now, Alaska’s seafood industry will need to wait until the next legislative session to know if the institute will receive additional funding from the state.
“Any funding that we can get to help bolster that mission today, as opposed to tomorrow, is a step in the right direction,” said Welch.
