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Anne Sears is no longer Alaska’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons investigator

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Anne Sears is no longer Alaska’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons investigator


Anne Sears speaks at Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s June 28 information convention. (Photograph by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)

Juneau, Alaska (Alaska Beacon) – After 5 months on the job, Anne Sears is not Alaska’s investigator for lacking and murdered Indigenous individuals with the Alaska State Troopers.

When the Division of Public Security employed her in April, the place was the primary of its form within the state. Now, the important function is unfilled.

In late August, Sears “determined to return into retirement to spend extra time together with her household,” in response to Austin McDaniel, communications director for the Division of Public Security.

“The Alaska State Troopers are at present working to establish and rent a brand new MMIP Investigator for this important function. The investigation of lacking individuals and homicide circumstances involving Alaska Natives is a prime precedence for the State of Alaska,” McDaniel wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. The political web site the Alaska Landmine first reported the information.

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McDaniel stated the division intends to fill the place as quickly as doable. As MMIP investigator, Sears was tasked with engaged on unsolved circumstances throughout the Alaska State Troopers’ space of accountability. The place works intently with trooper investigators and legal intelligence analysts inside the Alaska Bureau of Investigation.

Sears’ work

Sears’ final day on the job was Sept. 2. In her 5 months on the job, McDaniel stated Sears labored on a number of chilly circumstances, “together with the homicide of Arnoldine Simone Hill from 2020 and different important circumstances.”

Sears additionally hung out touring and talking with group teams, Alaska Native communities and associations, and talking to members of the family of lacking or murdered indigenous individuals, in response to McDaniel.

There are not any subordinate workers related to the place, however the subsequent MMIP investigator will possible work with a tribal liaison on outreach and engagement.

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“With the FY 2023 finances, the Governor and Alaska Legislature supplied DPS with funding for a Tribal Liaison inside the Alaska State Troopers,” wrote McDaniel.

Want for investigators continues

Kaax’kwei Leona Santiago stated there must be a couple of individual within the state engaged on lacking and murdered Indigenous individuals circumstances.

“I don’t assume one individual can do this job. There’s a want for a couple of individual,” Santiago stated.

Santiago is a part of the Central Council of Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska’s Violence Towards Girls Activity Drive and helped set up the Lacking and Murdered Indigenous Folks rally held in entrance of Alaska State Capitol in Might, which Sears spoke at. Santiago hopes the place is stuffed rapidly.

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“It’s a place that’s essential to Alaska. We’ve very many murdered and lacking ladies and other people, even younger, younger youngsters,” Santiago stated.

Throughout the nation, hundreds of circumstances of lacking and murdered Indigenous individuals are unsolved and plenty of go unreported. Of states with the best variety of lacking and murdered Indigenous ladies and women circumstances, Alaska is fourth, in response to a report by the City Indian Well being Institute. Anchorage ranks third in prime 10 cities with the best circumstances. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention listed homicide because the third- main explanation for loss of life for American Indian or Alaska Native ladies in 2016.

Sears initially got here out of retirement to be the state’s MMIP investigator. She spent 22 years in legislation enforcement and was the primary Alaska Native lady employed to be an Alaska state trooper. She labored as one in Palmer, Galena, Nome, Fairbanks and Kotzebue, and retired in October 2021.

She began the MMIP investigator job April 4. In Might, she stated she felt very lucky to have been requested to tackle the job.

“Being in legislation enforcement for 22 years, being an Indigenous lady, being born and raised within the state of Alaska, having lived throughout Alaska rising up, then working throughout Alaska as a state trooper and being in public service for 30 years has sort of all culminated on this one place, this one goal, this one concern. I really feel very lucky that I used to be requested to take this on and privileged to have been requested to take this on,” she stated.

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Council report due in October

Because the MMIP investigator, Sears was a part of the 11-member Governor’s Alaska Council on Lacking and Murdered Indigenous Individuals. The council, which began assembly earlier this 12 months, is tasked with delivering a ultimate report back to the governor by Oct. 15 that gives suggestions for enhancing interagency cooperation on lacking individual protocols, enhancing public security in tribal communities that don’t have any legislation enforcement presence and methods to enhance investigations.

At a council assembly on Tuesday, Sears’ title was referred to as within the assembly roll name. Nobody replied. About 20 minutes into the assembly, council member Sam Vandergaw talked about Sears’ departure from the place.

“I don’t know if it’s been introduced already, however Anne Sears is not working with us. She determined she wished to stay retired, in order that’s what she’s doing,” stated Vandergaw, who’s an assistant lawyer normal.

Council Chair Valerie Chadwick implied that Vandergaw’s remark was the primary she had heard of Sears’ departure. She included that amongst a number of issues associated to the council’s work.

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“And now I’m listening to about Anne leaving. So I’m seeing if anyone else has been feeling sort of misplaced as I’ve been feeling misplaced,” Chadwick stated.

Chadwick requested the council’s assist workers how the council strikes ahead with noticing the governor that there’s now a emptiness left by Sears’ departure.

In accordance with McDaniel, Division of Public Security Commissioner James Cockrell “holds the seat that Investigator Sears had on the Governor’s Council on Lacking and Murdered Indigenous Individuals. Commissioner Cockrell will resume attending these important conferences and dealing with the council on their ultimate report.”

Cockrell was not on the Tuesday council assembly.

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OPINION: CDQ program and pollock fishery are essential to Western Alaska

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OPINION: CDQ program and pollock fishery are essential to Western Alaska


By Eric Deakin, Ragnar Alstrom and Michael Link

Updated: 1 hour ago Published: 1 hour ago

We work every day to support Alaska’s rural communities through the Community Development Quota (CDQ) program and have seen firsthand the lifeline the program provides to our state’s most isolated and economically vulnerable areas.

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This program is one of the most successful social justice programs in the United States, giving rural, coastal communities a stake in the success of the Bering Sea fisheries, and transferring these benefits into community investments. Our fisheries participation provides $80 million to $100 million of programs, wages and benefits into Western Alaska annually, and the full economic reach of the CDQ program is substantially larger when accounting for jobs and support services statewide.

In some communities, CDQs are the largest and only private-sector employer; the only market for small-boat fishermen; the only nonfederal funding available for critical infrastructure projects; and an essential program provider for local subsistence and commercial fishing access. There is no replacement for the CDQ program, and harm to it would come at a severe cost. As one resident framed it, CDQ is to Western Alaska communities, what oil is to Alaska.

Consistent with their statutory mandate, CDQ groups have increased their fisheries investments, and their 65 member communities are now major players in the Bering Sea. The foundation of the program is the Bering Sea pollock fishery, 30% of which is owned by CDQ groups. We invest in pollock because it remains one of the most sustainably managed fisheries in the world, backed by rigorous science, with independent observers on every vessel, ensuring that bycatch is carefully monitored and minimized.

We also invest in pollock because the industry is committed to constantly improving and responding to new challenges. We understand the impact that salmon collapses are having on culture and food security in Western Alaska communities. Working with industry partners, we have reduced chinook bycatch to historically low levels and achieved more than an 80% reduction in chum bycatch over the past three years. This is a clear demonstration that CDQ groups and industry are taking the dire salmon situation seriously, despite science that shows bycatch reductions will have very minimal, if any, positive impact on subsistence access.

The effects of recent warm summers on the Bering Sea ecosystem have been well documented by science. This has caused some species to prosper, like sablefish and Bristol Bay sockeye salmon, while others have been negatively impacted, including several species of crab and salmon. Adding to these challenges is the unregulated and growing hatchery production of chum salmon in Russia and Asia, which is competing for limited resources in the Bering Sea, and increasing management challenges.

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Attributing the current salmon crises to this fishery is misguided and could cause unnecessary harm to CDQ communities. Without the pollock fishery, we would see dramatic increases in the cost of food, fuel and other goods that are shipped to rural Alaska. We would also see the collapse of the CDQ program and all that it provides, including a wide array of projects and jobs that help keep families fed and children in school.

The challenges Alaska faces are significant, and to address them we need to collectively work together to mitigate the impacts of warming oceans on our fisheries, build resiliency in our communities and fishery management, and continue to improve practices to minimize fishing impacts. We must also recognize the vital need for the types of community investments and job opportunities that the CDQ program creates for Western Alaska and ensure these benefits are considered when talking about the Bering Sea pollock fishery.

Eric Deakin is chief executive officer of the Coastal Villages Region Fund.

Ragnar Alstrom is executive director of the Yukon Delta Fisheries Development Association.

Michael Link is president and CEO of Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.

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The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.





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‘Drag racing for dogs:’ Anchorage canines gather for the ‘Great Alaska Barkout’

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‘Drag racing for dogs:’ Anchorage canines gather for the ‘Great Alaska Barkout’


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – Alaska’s first “flyball” league held its annual “Great Alaska Barkout Flyball Tournament” on Saturday in midtown at Alyeska Canine Trainers.

Flyball is a fast-paced sport in which relay teams of four dogs and their handlers compete to cross the finish line first while carrying a tennis ball launched from a spring loaded box. Saturday’s tournament was one of several throughout the year held by “Dogs Gone Wild,” which started in 2004 as Alaska’s first flyball league.

“We have here in Alaska, we’ve got, I think it’s about 6 tournaments per year,” said competitor and handler Maija Doggett. “So you know every other month or so there will be a tournament hosted. Most of them are hosted right here at Alyeska Canine Trainers.”

See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com

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State of Alaska will defend its right to facilitate oil and gas development

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State of Alaska will defend its right to facilitate oil and gas development


Last week, Superior Court Judge Andrew Guidi indicated he will rule that Alaska does not have authority to permit access across its lands to facilitate oil and gas development on the North Slope.

The Alaska Dept. of Natural Resources plans to fight and appeal any final adverse ruling that undermines the state’s constitutional interests in resource development.

The Department of Natural Resources has issued a permit allowing Oil Search Alaska (OSA) to cross the Kuparuk River Unit, operated by Conoco Phillips Alaska, to develop the Pikka Unit. As described in the State’s brief to the court, “the denial of such access implicates the delay of development of millions of barrels of oil and billions of dollars of public revenues.”

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“The State of Alaska has a constitutional obligation to maximize the development of our resources,” DNR Commissioner John Boyle said on Nov. 22. “We have to confirm with the Supreme Court that we have the authority to permit access for all developers to ensure we can meet this obligation.”

Once the Superior Court issues the final judgement, Alaska will be able to file its appeal. This is expected to occur in the coming weeks.

Click here to support the Alaska Watchman.

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