Alaska
Lisa Murkowski Bets on Infrastructure to Keep Alaska Senate Seat, Deny Trump Revenge
NOME, Alaska—To former President
Donald Trump,
Sen.
Lisa Murkowski
is a turncoat RINO—“Republican in Identify Solely”—who so infuriated him that he vowed to marketing campaign for anybody with a pulse who may defeat her.
To the mayor of Nome, John Handeland, Ms. Murkowski is a strong ally in Washington with the pull to funnel $250 million in federal funds for an growth of his metropolis’s port, 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. The long-sought undertaking will make Nome residence to the distant area’s lone deep-draft port and allow it to shelter ships throughout fierce storms resembling one earlier this month.
“I imply, whether or not it’s proper to name Lisa a RINO or not, I don’t give a rattling,” Mr. Handeland stated. “She does a very good job for me.”
The competing views of Ms. Murkowski lie on the coronary heart of Alaska’s Senate race, which pits the centrist Republican towards Trump-endorsed challenger
Kelly Tshibaka.
The state Republican Celebration and Mr. Trump backed Ms. Tshibaka after what they see as a sequence of betrayals by Ms. Murkowski, most notably by becoming a member of Democrats in making an attempt unsuccessfully to convict Mr. Trump of inciting rebellion in early 2021, when he was impeached for a second time. To win, Ms. Murkowski might want to persuade a broad coalition of Alaskans that her energy to ship for them outweighs ideological variations.
Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka with former President Donald Trump throughout a July rally in Anchorage, Alaska, supporting Republican candidates.
Photograph:
patrick t. fallon/Agence France-Presse/Getty Pictures
“We’re a younger state, a brand new state, nonetheless,” stated Ms. Murkowski, 65, who was born when Alaska was nonetheless a territory. “We’re not related with our roads. We’re not related with our coastal communities. We lack broadband.” Given the infrastructure wants, she stated in an interview, her Capitol Hill expertise and relationships are important. “Alaskans have come to grasp the worth of seniority,” she stated.
Ms. Tshibaka, 43, stated Ms. Murkowski squanders that seniority. “She’s used these 21 years to develop into a whole D.C. insider, and he or she’s doing the work of
Joe Biden,
” Ms. Tshibaka stated in an interview.
When Mr. Trump endorsed her in June 2021, he stated Ms. Tshibaka is a fighter who’s “MAGA all the best way.” This summer season, he flew to Alaska to rally Republicans to help her and former vice presidential nominee and onetime Gov.
Sarah Palin,
who’s working for the state’s Home seat.
Ms. Tshibaka labored in federal watchdog companies in Washington, D.C., earlier than turning into commissioner of an Alaska division that gives administrative providers to state companies. She cheered the Supreme Court docket ruling in June that ended a federal proper to abortion. Ms. Tshibaka has emphasised voter-fraud concern, and again in November 2020, referred to as for a “prudent pause in declaring a winner” of the presidential election to type out now-discredited claims of irregularities promoted by Mr. Trump.
Ms. Murkowski has angered many state Republicans together with her vote towards repealing the Inexpensive Care Act in 2017, her help for codifying federal rights to abortion and same-sex marriage and extra not too long ago her votes to verify Biden nominees
Deb Haaland
for Inside Secretary and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court docket.
At a Walmart retailer in Anchorage, retired bookkeeper Mary Allen, 74, stated that Alaskans want new blood and that she is going to vote for Ms. Tshibaka.
“I’m so bored with Lisa leaning towards the left for thus lengthy, child killing and all of that,” Ms. Allen stated, referring to Ms. Murkowski’s stance in favor of abortion entry. The senator’s vote to convict Mr. Trump additionally turned her off, she stated, reinforcing her perception that Ms. Murkowski isn’t actually a Republican. Perhaps “a really liberal impartial,” she stated.
Kelly Smith, 44, of Eagle River, stated Ms. Murkowski is his best choice, particularly after the Supreme Court docket’s abortion ruling. Polls present a majority of Alaskans imagine abortion ought to be authorized most or all the time.
“She does a very good job of representing ladies, although it would go towards what the conservative platform is, and I believe that’s actually vital,” stated Mr. Smith, a registered Democrat who works in finance.
Alaska’s ranked-choice voting may gain advantage Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has a bonus in marketing campaign funding.
Photograph:
Ash Adams for The Wall Road Journal
Conservative Scott Klein, 58, a contractor in Soldotna, stated he’s fed up with Mr. Trump and has sworn off voting for Republicans. He may make an exception for Ms. Murkowski due to her vote to convict Mr. Trump.
“It most likely simply swung my vote just a little bit extra her approach,” he stated.
Ms. Murkowski’s voting file places her on the center of the Senate, extra conservative than any Democrat, and extra liberal than any Republican save one, Sen.
Susan Collins
of Maine, in line with a calculation by FiveThirtyEight.
Final yr, Ms. Murkowski secured funds for the Port of Nome and different state initiatives within the roughly $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure regulation that she helped negotiate. The Nome undertaking will prolong the causeway and double the port’s depth to about 40 ft, opening the world to greater ships, a better quantity of products and extra analysis and tourism.
Nome, with a inhabitants of about 3,800, is reachable solely by boat or aircraft. It serves as a regional hub for much more remoted outposts, mines and Native villages, and because the end line of the Iditarod dogsled race.
Ms. Tshibaka stated that whereas Nome wants cash for its port, she would have voted towards the infrastructure invoice as a result of it opened the door for extra laws and allowed “exorbitant spending” for a climate-change agenda that she says hurts Alaska’s oil-and-gas trade.
Mayor John Handeland of Nome, Alaska, praises Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s advocacy for the port metropolis, which has a inhabitants of three,800. Lindsay Clever/The Wall Road Journal
Not like Ms. Murkowski, who not too long ago tweeted a map promoting her earmarks, Ms. Tshibaka stated she would oppose the observe of permitting lawmakers to direct funding for particular initiatives if it got here up for a vote. Nonetheless, she stated so long as the Senate permits earmarks, “We’d get what we are able to for Alaska.”
Ms. Murkowski is political royalty in Alaska. Her father, Frank Murkowski, appointed her to fill his U.S. Senate seat in 2002, after he received the governorship. In 2004, the state GOP organized sending greater than 1,000,000 items of mail to spice up Ms. Murkowski’s first re-election, however the relationship deteriorated after that, stated Randy Ruedrich, former chair of the Alaska Republican Celebration.
“It’s gone from extraordinarily good to extraordinarily poor,” Mr. Ruedrich stated, citing what he sees as her regular leftward shift. Her stances have “precipitated increasingly and extra Republicans to query how they’ll help her, and finally not help her,” he stated.
Ms. Murkowski’s break with Mr. Trump got here in June 2020, when she stated she was scuffling with whether or not she may nonetheless help him, and he responded by making an attempt to oust her. “Get any candidate prepared, good or unhealthy, I don’t care, I’m endorsing,” Mr. Trump tweeted. “In case you have a pulse, I’m with you!”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski at a marketing campaign meet-and-greet occasion in downtown Anchorage, Alaska.
Photograph:
Ash Adams for The Wall Road Journal
Months later, Ms. Murkowski was one in all seven Republicans who voted to convict Mr. Trump in his second impeachment trial. She is the one a type of seven working for re-election this yr.
Immediately, Ms. Murkowski hardly ever brings up Mr. Trump. Requested whether or not she would ever think about leaving the Republican Celebration if she felt it was too intently aligned with him, Ms. Murkowski replied that she identifies with GOP values resembling small authorities and powerful protection, however that the celebration “goes to have to determine the place they’re proper now.”
She added: “I simply wish to ensure that our celebration doesn’t develop into a celebration of a person.”
Ms. Murkowski has a big fundraising benefit—she has reported $9.4 million in donations in contrast with Ms. Tshibaka’s $3.3 million—and the senator’s supporters say she has already demonstrated that she will survive with out the GOP. After narrowly shedding a main to conservative Republican Joe Miller in 2010, Ms. Murkowski launched a profitable write-in marketing campaign that concerned educating voters to spell her title appropriately.
Working to Ms. Murkowski’s benefit this time is the state’s new nonpartisan main and ranked-choice general-election system. In Alaska, most voters aren’t affiliated with any main celebration. Registered Republicans make up about 24% of the voters, and about 13% are Democrats.
Within the August main, Ms. Murkowski superior as one in all 4 finalists. In November’s basic election, voters will rank these 4 so as of choice. If no candidate wins 50% of the first-choice votes, the weakest candidate is eradicated and the second-choice votes on these ballots are distributed to the remaining candidates. The method is repeated as mandatory till one candidate will get a majority.
Kelly Tshibaka, sporting a blue jacket on the state honest, says she would have voted towards the infrastructure invoice.
Photograph:
Photograph: Ash Adams for The Wall Road Journal
Ms. Murkowski received 45% of the first vote to Ms. Tshibaka’s 38.6%, adopted by Democrat Pat Chesbro at 6.8%, and Republican Buzz Kelley with 2.1%. Mr. Kelley has endorsed Ms. Tshibaka.
Ms. Tshibaka stated Ms. Murkowski is susceptible in a state Mr. Trump received by 10 share factors two years in the past. She provides that turnout will likely be increased in November and cites an inside ballot that exhibits the race to be very shut.
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Election watchers stated Ms. Murkowski, who has by no means received a majority in her prior Senate victories, will want a major variety of Democrats to rank her no less than second to be able to go the 50% mark for victory.
On the Alaska state honest in Palmer, retired healthcare employee Valerie Mittelstead, 69, was tending to the Democrats’ sales space. Whereas she is not any fan of Ms. Murkowski, she is alarmed by Ms. Tshibaka, who she stated is just too excessive.
She stated she may put the senator on her poll, after Ms. Chesbro, the Democrat.
“To let you know the reality, I’ve by no means voted for a Republican,” Ms. Mittelstead stated. “And I’m going to have to carry my nostril to place her second.”
Write to Lindsay Clever at lindsay.sensible@wsj.com
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Meghan Tabacek stepped off the narrow path of the Black Bear Trail in Juneau and pointed to a U-shaped bend in Montana Creek where loose dirt and tree roots jut out over the water.
“If this all were to erode out and cut under the bank, then our whole trail could collapse,” she said. “At first glance, this looks pretty subtle and pretty far away from the trail. But give it like, three or four big storm cycles, and that could really get eaten away.”
Tabacek is the executive director of Trail Mix, Inc., a local non-profit that spends each summer clearing brush, downed trees and — occasionally — landslide debris, on trails managed by the City and Borough of Juneau, the state and the Forest Service.
But mostly, her crews work to strengthen trails against the rain that pummels Southeast Alaska.
“We’re used to mud,” Tabacek said. “Mud is our bread and butter.”
What they’re not used to is the intensity of the mud, the erosion and the wash-outs that are wreaking havoc on trails as human-caused climate change makes rainstorms more extreme. Typically, Tabacek says, trails have a lifespan of 10 to 20 years before they need major maintenance. But that’s changing now.
“The time from when we build a trail or do a refurbishment of a trail to the time it needs touch-ups and fixings is shortening,” Tabacek said. “We’re having to do a lot of maintenance that isn’t technically planned.”
Warmer air holds more moisture. So as greenhouse gas pollution drives up global temperatures, rainy Southeast Alaska is becoming even rainier. According to Juneau’s Climate Change report, Juneau’s average annual precipitation has increased 20 inches in the last century. And a lot of that rain is coming down in atmospheric rivers — periods of heavy, prolonged rainfall that are often accompanied by high winds.
An atmospheric river in December 2020 brought record-breaking rain that caused flooding and mudslides across Juneau. It also washed out local trails like the Blackerby Ridge Trail, which took weeks to clear and repair.
Then another storm in 2021 blew down enormous trees that made some trails impassable, like the Herbert Glacier Trail. Tabacek recalls chainsawing and hauling out hundreds of downed trees.
“Those trees would have dropped at some point anyway. But when we have these big storms and big wind events, then they’ll drop at once,” Tabacek said. “So we’ve been seeing some of these things that we have to react to more frequently.”
Storms may become more frequent over time, but Southeast Alaska’s trail system has always taken a beating. James King, who was the executive director when Trail Mix got started back in the 1990s, says he remembers cleaning up frequent landslides on the city-owned Perseverance Trail.
That trail was closed just this spring because of landslides.
Like a lot of trails in Alaska, Perseverance was created from an old mining road. Those routes were built to get to resources as fast as possible — not for longevity or climate resilience.
“They go up narrow canyons. They’re going along creeks,” said King, referring to routes which make trails vulnerable to threats like landslides and erosion. “Some of these trails just aren’t in the right spot.”
Now King is the director of Recreations, Lands and Minerals for the Tongass and Chucagh National Forests. In the Tongass, the Forest Service manages nearly 1,000 miles of trails for nearly 3 million annual visitors.
Even without climate change, upkeep on some of these trails has been disrupted as federal funding fluctuated over the years. But right now the agency is relatively flush. And as they work on a new iteration of the Tongass forest plan, climate change and tourism are some of the most pressing priorities.
“So rerouting, rethinking how we get people through these places and how we build infrastructure that’s more resilient, that reduces that long term maintenance? That’s a big goal of ours,” King said.
Building trails with climate resilience in mind might mean putting in larger bridges that can handle larger floods. It might also mean laying down gravel paths to weigh down the soil and stop water from pooling or rerouting trails so they’re less vulnerable to erosion.
Those improvements tend to make trails more accessible for hikers of all abilities too.
Just down the Black Bear Trail, crews are building up a new fortified abutment for a lopsided wooden bridge. The bridge itself is in good condition, but it falls short of one bank and slumps into the mud. Erosion caused it to collapse.
“You see trail damage like this, and it’s just like a line of dollar signs floating down the water,” Tabacek said.
On a sunny spring day, the creek below the bridge is running low and the forest undergrowth is full of fresh fans of Skunk Cabbage and Fiddlehead Ferns.
“We get a couple weeks of rain and then it gets sunny for two days and everything goes ‘poof,’ she said.
Alaska
Sitka and Juneau residents propose hard caps on cruise ships as tourism grows • Alaska Beacon
On Thursday, a group of Sitka residents submitted a proposed cruise-ship-limiting ballot measure to city officials for legal review.
On the same day in Juneau, a different group of Alaskans submitted the last batch of signatures needed to put a different limit on the local ballot this fall.
With as many as 1.6 million cruise ship tourists expected to visit Southeast Alaska this year, a growing number of the region’s residents are seeking to put hard limits on the industry.
That comes even as Juneau prepares for a softer, voluntary limit that would be the first of its kind in Alaska.
In Sitka, it’s the third time that local residents have tried to put a limit on the ballot. Two prior attempts were rejected by the city’s attorney.
After those failures, organizers created a nonprofit, raised money, hired an attorney of their own, and are trying again with a new draft.
Klaudia Leccese is president of Small Town SOUL, the new nonprofit. She believes Sitka residents are fed up with overcrowding.
“I’m generally not much of a rabble-rouser. I’m a retired social worker,” she said.
This year, as many as 9,300 cruise ship passengers will visit Sitka on its busiest days, more than the town’s population of about 8,400. On 75 days, the number of tourists will be greater than half the population.
Sitka has only 14 miles of paved roads, and Leccese said the traffic caused by tour boats and tour buses has gotten out of hand. Lincoln Street, at the heart of downtown, is sometimes closed because the crowds are too large.
Tour buses run from one end of the town’s road network to the other, shuttling between the cruise ship dock and Fortress of the Bear, where animals live in captivity.
She said she and her husband frequently take their small boat down the coast for a getaway, but even there, they’re awoken by the wakes of passing tour boats.
“You go, wow, I think these wildlife and fishing charters are just a few too many,” she said.
The newly drafted Sitka proposal would limit the number of cruise ship passengers to 300,000 per year, with no more than 4,500 per day. Sitka is expected to see about 600,000 cruise tourists this year.
Small ships — those with fewer than 250 passengers — wouldn’t be included in the limit. That would protect locally run companies, including Alaskan Dream Cruises, which is based in Sitka.
Large ships wouldn’t be allowed before May 1 or after Sept. 30, and the city Assembly could shrink that window.
“Some businesses are uncomfortable with cruise ships starting in April,” Leccese said, because high school and college students — who make up much of the seasonal workforce — aren’t yet available.
Sitka officials are reviewing the proposed measure for legality and will respond by July 2, the city clerk’s office said. If the measure passes legal muster, backers would need to gather 334 signatures to place it on the local October ballot. To call a special election, 556 signatures would be needed.
In Juneau, a proposed ballot measure would install “ship-free Saturdays,” forbidding large ships from landing on that day.
Karla Hart, one of the measure’s backers, said supporters had needed 290 more signatures on their petitions after a preliminary review, and on Thursday, she drove to city hall to drop off 427 more.
If the signatures are certified, the initiative will be on Juneau’s Oct. 1 municipal ballot.
“We should be good to go,” Hart said.
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Alaska
'Unknown Odour' On Alaska Airlines Plane Sends Two Flight Attendants To Hospital; Probe Underway – News18
Last Updated:
Alaska Airlines planes are shown parked at gates at sunrise, March 1, 2021, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Seattle. (AP Photo)
Alaska Airlines flight canceled due to ‘unknown odour’ causing illness in two flight attendants, prompting medical response and investigation
An Alaska Airlines flight was canceled Monday night when two flight attendants fell ill due to an “unknown odour” detected at the rear of the plane.
Flight ASA 828, scheduled from Honolulu, Hawaii to Anchorage, Alaska at 11:45 pm, was boarding when the incident occurred, USA TODAY reported, citing Honolulu Emergency Medical Services (EMS) spokesperson.
The two female crew members reported feeling sick around 11:15 p.m., prompting Honolulu Emergency Medical Services to transport them to the emergency room in serious condition.
Alaska Airlines confirmed the incident and stated it had been reported to relevant authorities for further investigation. Both crew members have since been cleared medically to resume flying.
US media reports said toxic fumes, occasionally drawn into airplane cabins without filtration through ventilation systems, can cause symptoms like dizziness, nausea, headaches, or cramps.
Although rare, research indicates such incidents occur between 0.09 to 3.9 times per 1,000 flights in the U.S., translating to some two to three incidents daily. Given their prolonged exposure to cabin air, flight attendants face higher risks of encountering these fumes.
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