Alaska

Opinion: Alaska’s win-win constitutional solution – Homer News

Published

1 month ago

May 21, 2026

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Opinion: Alaska’s win-win constitutional solution

Published 1:30 am Thursday, May 21, 2026

Alaska’s Legislature just wrapped another budget cycle with the same tired script. Cut the Permanent Fund Dividend to fund government, or cut government to fund the dividend.

Every proposal forces Alaskans to lose so someone else can win.

Senator Robert Myers captured our fiscal crisis perfectly in a recent article: “Our constitution says we are supposed to manage our resources in such a way we maximize the benefits to all Alaskans. The problem is we have defined it in such a way as to mean only the maximum revenue to the state.”

The constitutional insight points toward something Alaska has never tried: a solution where everybody wins.

Ten percent of the Permanent Fund could provide Alaska families with home mortgages at 2% interest rates. The Fund would earn market returns through mortgage payments. Families would save $330,000 over the life of a typical loan. No losers. No trade-offs. No raids.

Alaska’s Permanent Fund holds more than $80 billion. Ten percent—$8 billion—could fund mortgages for 23,000 Alaska families. Current mortgage rates hover around 7%. The program would offer 2% rates to Alaska residents buying homes in Alaska.

The math favors everyone. A family borrowing $350,000 at 7% pays $2,300 per month and $830,000 in total over 30 years. The same loan at 2% costs $1,300 monthly and $470,000 total. The family saves $1,000 per month and $360,000 over the loan’s life.

Meanwhile, the Fund earns 2% annually on mortgage payments instead of hoping for higher returns in volatile markets. Stable, predictable income backed by Alaska real estate.

The program serves exactly the constitutional purpose Senator Myers described: maximum benefit to all Alaskans rather than maximum revenue to government. Jay Hammond designed the dividend as a “resource dividend” to connect Alaskans to their resource wealth. Home ownership extends the connection to where Alaskans live and build futures.

The political advantages matter more than the economics. Homeowners vote across party lines. A program saving families $330,000 on their largest expense creates a constituency defending it aggressively. Compare the Permanent Fund Dividend — legislators cut the PFD every budget cycle because families have no organized way to fight back.

The program also addresses Alaska’s most serious long-term challenge: keeping young families in the state. A $330,000 mortgage savings gives families a powerful reason to stay and build lives here rather than seeking affordable housing elsewhere.

Traditional housing programs fail because they require subsidies competing with other budget priorities. The mortgage program requires no state spending. The Fund provides the capital. The mortgages provide the returns.

Alaska’s current fiscal mess stems from treating Permanent Fund earnings as government revenue rather than people’s wealth. The mortgage program reverses the relationship. Instead of government spending Fund earnings on itself, the Fund serves Alaskans directly.

We can keep fighting over who loses, or we can try something where everybody wins.

Evan Swensen, an Alaska resident since 1957, is publisher of Publication Consultants and author of “What’s The Money For,” which examines constitutional solutions to Alaska’s fiscal crisis.

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Alaska

Crews continue making progress on Delta Fires

Published

9 hours ago

June 24, 2026

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Crews continue making progress on Delta Fires

By Alaska Division of Forestry & Fire Protection on June 24, 2026

A White Mountain Crewmember feels for any remaining heat along the Rapeseed Fire (#275) outside of Delta Junction on June 24 2026. Photo/ Sam Porter

#222 Granite Fire– The Clackamas Crew joined the Southwest Type 1 Crew and TCC Squad A on the Granite Fire today. The fire is now 85% contained.
A thermal detection drone was flown over the fire to identify any remaining heat. A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place and will continue tomorrow, meaning aircraft and drones that are not supporting firefighting operations are prohibited from flying over or near the incident.
Crews are also checking windrows for remaining heat. Windrows are rows of trees left standing to reduce wind erosion on farmland. Firefighters will pile and burn dead or downed trees, as well as hazard trees with burned roots.

#257 Barley 2 Fire– All personnel have been demobilized from the Barley 2 Fire after it was declared contained and controlled. The fire will remain in monitor status. This will be the last update for this fire unless significant changes occur.

#268 Moosehead Fire– A boat is transporting TCC Squad C to the Moosehead Fire, where they are gridding the interior and checking for any remaining heat.

#275 Rapeseed Fire- The Rapeseed Fire is 80% contained. The White Mountain Type 2 Initial Attack Crew is constructing sawline and cold trailing the fire’s edge to locate and extinguish any remaining heat.
A Nodwell continues to provide an effective way to transport personnel, equipment, supplies, and water through the remote, sensitive terrain while supporting suppression efforts.

#223 Pogo and #226 Shaw Fires continue to be in monitor status.

‹ More Firefighters Heading to Ambler for Jade Fire

Categories: Active Wildland Fire, Alaska DNR – Division of Forestry & Fire Protection (DFFP)

Tags: #FireYear2026 #2026AKFIRESEASON, 2026 Alaska Fire Season, Delta, Granite Fire, Moosehead Fire, Pogo Fire, Rapeseed Fire, Shaw Fire

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Alaska

Characteristics of Leadership: Recklessness – Alaska Business Magazine

Published

20 hours ago

June 24, 2026

Press Room

Characteristics of Leadership: Recklessness – Alaska Business Magazine

Picture it: an 800-mile engineering marvel traversing Alaska’s rugged wilderness. An immense zinc mine powering Northwest Alaska’s economy. World-class sustainable harvests feeding global markets with seafood.

The Trans Alaska Pipeline System, Red Dog mine, and the Alaska fishing industry: These massive ventures represent high-stakes investments in infrastructure and resources that have transformed Alaska into a powerhouse of global energy, minerals, and food. Today, we call these ventures inspired, but that label masks a fundamental nuance and common misconception: there is a distinction between the risky and the reckless.

That line between bold visionary and reckless gambler is usually written in ink only after the dust settles and the checks clear. Winners are often labeled as geniuses while thousands of leaders who made similar bets but went bust are ignored. When you see any winner in the marketplace, their strategy can look like a guaranteed blueprint for success. This is survivorship bias in action, obsessing over the front-runners while ignoring the graveyard of those who made the same choices. Recklessness is a classic leadership trap, in part, because it is very easy to mistake good luck for repeatable strategy. Our brains are wired to find patterns in chaos, even when they don’t exist, and when a gamble pays off, it is easy to invent a story to explain why it worked. This explains, in part, why high-risk behavior is often rebranded as “visionary” in the business world.

Understanding the mechanics of recklessness can help a leader spot the difference between a smart move and a predictable bad one. It is the contrast between a high-wire artist using a safety net and having practiced the route, versus one who just hopes they don’t fall. The first one is making calculated moves, and the second is wishing for the best.

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Alaska

Smokejumpers, aircraft responding to new fire near Ambler

Published

1 day ago

June 24, 2026

Press Room

Smokejumpers, aircraft responding to new fire near Ambler

By U.S. Wildland Fire Service on June 23, 2026

Smoke from the Jade Fire (#285) to west of Ambler as shown on this FAA Weather Camera at 5 p.m. on June 23, 2026.

9:50 p.m. Update, June 23, 2026: Another load of 12 smokejumpers is en route to join the 11 already working on the Jade Fire (#285), which is burning about 3 miles west of Ambler and west of the Kopshesut Fire. Two single‑engine water scoopers — highly effective in calming the Kopshesut Fire in its early days — along with personnel aboard an air attack platform, are working the incident. The air attack platform is used to coordinate airspace and relay information between aircraft and firefighters on the ground.

The larger multi‑engine water scoopers were requested but were unable to respond due to weather at Ladd Airfield on Fort Wainwright.

At about 8:42 p.m., the fire was reported at 10 acres and was torching and active on all sides. It was burning toward the Kopshesut Fire, which stands between it and Ambler

Use this link for an interactive map to zoom in and out for a closer look at the location of the fire: https://arcg.is/1XLmHm8

8:45 p.m., June 23, 2026: U.S. Wildland Fire Service contracted aircraft and smokejumpers are en route to Ambler after receiving reports of a new fire near the Kobuk River community.

Numberous reports from locals reporting the fire is west of the Kopeshusut Fire (#137) that escaped from the landfill June 4 and threatened the community before being contained last week.

More information will be released when it’s available.

Contact U.S. Wildland Fire Service Public Affairs Specialist Beth Ipsen at elizabeth_ipsen@ios.doi.gov or (907)388-2159 for more information.