In Anchorage’s North Muldoon and Russian Jack neighborhoods, two candidates are facing each other for the second time in two years for a seat in the Alaska House.
While Republican incumbent Rep. Stanley Wright is seeking reelection, Democrat Ted Eischeid is on a mission to unseat Wright in the rematch.
In 2022, Eischeid lost to Wright by 72 votes.
This year, Eischeid said he retired early from his job as planner for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough so he could redouble his campaign efforts —“I knocked a lot of doors two years ago, I’m doubling that effort this time,” he said.
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Eischeid led the race in the primaries with a 3% edge over Wright, although only 8% of registered voters turned out.
Any flipped seat could be consequential in a closely divided House, so an Eischeid victory could tip the balance of power away from the current Republican majority.
Wright is a Navy veteran from South Carolina. He followed his wife to Alaska where they raised their children. Before representing House District 22, Wright worked as a community systems manager in Anchorage’s Community Safety and Development office. His previous public service roles include work in the state governor’s office and for the state’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Rep. Stanley Wright, R-Anchorage, speaks to fellow members of the Alaska House of Representatives on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Eischeid had a career as a middle school science teacher in the Midwest before he, too, followed his wife to Alaska where he found work as a planner for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. His previous public service was two terms as a nonpartisan county board supervisor in Wisconsin. He said the value of listening to all viewpoints was driven home to him in that role.
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“Sometimes I voted conservative, sometimes I voted progressive. I let people’s public testimony and I let the data guide me. And I listened very closely, tried to suspend my bias as much as I could,” he said.
As part of his campaign, Eischeid said he heard that the district’s main concerns are education, public safety and infrastructure. He said the value of a good education is a priority for him in part because he grew up poor in Iowa after his father died when he was very young.
“I’m a food stamp kid. I’m a free and reduced lunch kid. And because I had good public school teachers, I got a good education. I was able to earn that college degree, and I entered a good middle-class lifestyle,” he said, adding that, if elected, he will bring that history — and the sense of compassion it instilled in him — to Juneau.
Ted Eischeid is seen in an undated photo. (Photo courtesy of Ted Eischeid)
That sentiment points to a similarity between the candidates. In 2022, Wright told the Alaska Beacon that a “pretty rough” childhood on a South Carolina farm and, later, in a housing project, taught him about the value of public assistance. He sought federal grants for low- and moderate-income housing as a city employee in Anchorage, according to his campaign.
Eischeid described himself as a moderate Democrat who will listen, but doesn’t want to “waste time” fighting culture wars.
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“People don’t want professional politicians, and they’re not asking for much, but they want somebody that represents them and knows them and puts people over party,” he said.
Wright did not respond to the Alaska Beacon’s requests for an interview for this story. But his voting record has at least one striking example of putting concerns raised in his district over the leadership of his party: In the last session, he was one of the seven members of the Alaska House’s majority caucus who voted with members of the House minority in a failed attempt to override Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of an education bill that included a permanent increase for state education funding.
At the time, Wright said one of the schools in his district had been threatened with closure and that “really weighed heavy on my heart.”
In his first term in office he co-sponsored a number of bills that became law, including the measure that led to state recognition of Juneteenth, and passed a law that is intended to streamline the certification process for counselors in order to increase access to mental health care.
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.
By U.S. Wildland Fire ServiceonSmoke 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
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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.
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A new fire broke out 3 miles west of Ambler Tuesday night. The Jade Fire is also west of the Kopshesut Fire that escaped the Ambler landfill on June 4 and was contained last week. Click on the map for a PDF version.Here’s a closer look at the Jade Fire (#285) burning west of the Kopshesut Fire and about 3 miles west of Ambler. Use this link for an interactive map to zoom in and out for a closer look at the location of the fire.
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U.S. Wildland Fire Service, P.O. Box 35005 1541 Gaffney Road, Fort Wainwright, AK 99703
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Categories: Active Wildland Fire, AK Fire Info, US Wildland Fire Service
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
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The U.S. military has released new details about the massive Fightertown Recapitalization (FTR) program at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), in Anchorage, southeastern Alaska. This is a huge effort valued at approximately $7 billion that would effectively create an entirely new fighter hub to support future Air Force operations in the strategically important Arctic and Pacific regions.
The details emerged in a special notice announcing an upcoming virtual industry day, where government officials plan to brief contractors on the scope of the program and gather feedback on construction risks, industry capabilities, and acquisition strategies before moving toward a formal procurement process.
A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson flies over the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. James Richardson
While the notice, from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is intended primarily as market research, it offers one of the clearest looks yet at the scale and ambition of the Fightertown recapitalization effort.
According to the notice, existing airfield facilities cannot support the program’s requirements, prompting the selection of a new site to expand the current airfield infrastructure. Rather than a collection of isolated projects, the government describes the effort as a “complete campus approach” intended to synchronize facility construction with aircraft procurement, personnel movements, and logistical requirements.
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The envisioned campus would include aircraft hangars, squadron operations facilities, corrosion control facilities, maintenance shops, and other aviation support infrastructure. Extensive airfield improvements are also planned, including new taxiways, aprons, shoulders, and specialized aircraft operating surfaces.
A picture of a so-called “elephant walk” readiness exercise at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson showing 24 of the resident 3rd Wing’s F-22s, as well as a C-17 and an E-3. U.S. Air Force
Highly likely to be included in the recapitalization efforts will be measures to help reduce vulnerability and ensure critical operations could continue in wartime. After all, in a potential fight against China or Russia, JBER would be high on the list of priority targets in the opening phases of a large-scale conflict. As we have repeatedly outlined in the past, aircraft shelters with varying degrees of hardening are suddenly very much back on the agenda in response to growing drone and missile threats.
Beyond flight-line infrastructure, the project encompasses a substantial support ecosystem. Plans call for a munitions complex, petroleum operations facilities, warehousing and supply functions, dining facilities, visitor control infrastructure, firefighting facilities, training centers, simulators, and housing for unaccompanied airmen.
The government also notes that the campus design remains flexible and could ultimately involve modifications to, or demolition of, existing facilities as planning progresses.
Rather than relying solely on traditional military construction contracting approaches, the Army Corps of Engineers says the program intends to leverage authorities provided in the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act. Those authorities could allow the use of Other Transaction Authority (OTA), Progressive Design-Build (PDB), and other alternative execution methods.
The sprawling Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER), in Anchorage, southeastern Alaska, as seen in a satellite image from May of this year. Google Earth
The notice explicitly states that the government intends to capitalize on private-sector innovation while avoiding what it describes as costly and time-consuming federal contracting burdens. It also emphasizes that the execution strategy will encourage industry partners to propose novel technical and construction solutions.
The scale of the investment underscores Alaska’s growing importance as a hub for U.S. airpower. JBER already serves as one of the Air Force’s premier fighter installations and occupies a critical geographic position between North America, the Arctic, a part of the world that has only grown in strategic significance in recent years, and the Indo-Pacific theater, where strategic planning is highly focused on a potential future conflict with China.
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Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson hosts the headquarters of the 11th Air Force, the service’s top command in Alaska, and its 3rd Wing, which operates a mix of F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning Control System (AWACS) radar planes, C-17 Globemaster III airlifters, and C-12 light utility aircraft. It is also home to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 176th Wing, which has additional C-17s, as well as HC-130 Combat King rescue aircraft and HH-60 rescue helicopters.
HH-60W Jolly Green II helicopter aircrew assigned to the 210th Rescue Squadron, 176th Wing, Alaska Air National Guard, hoist a simulated downed pilot during a full mission profile training exercise at Malemute Drop Zone, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, March 31, 2026. Alaska National Guard photo by Alejandro Peña
In addition, in 2023, the Air Force announced the creation of the 55th Operations Group, Detachment 1 at the base, as a detachment of the 55th Wing at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska.
“The new detachment will… serve as a strategic launch and recovery point for RC-135V/W Rivet Joint operations and exercises in the region,” according to the Air Force.
The move reflected increased demand for RC-135V/W Rivet Joint spy plane sorties in the Pacific, with JBER being well-positioned for these aircraft to gather intelligence on areas of interest in the northern end of the Pacific and the increasingly strategic Arctic region.
In the future, the strategic location of JBER, as well as its current status as one of the few F-22 bases, suggests that it could well eventually host the F-47 sixth-generation stealth fighter, the first of which is expected to make its first flight sometime in 2028. The F-47 could therefore well end up as the centerpiece of the Alaskan Fightertown, in keeping with the vision for the jet serving as a critical force multiplier that can bring together other crewed and uncrewed assets. With that in mind, at least some of the Fightertown Recapitalization program may be specifically tailored to the requirements of the F-47.
Importantly, JBER also serves as the focal point for the Red Flag-Alaska and Northern Edge exercises.
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The Red Flag-Alaska exercises can take place up to four times a year and mirror those flown over the Nellis Range Complex in Nevada, with some differences. Namely, the ranges in Alaska, many of which are instrumented, are enormous, and can include a more varied array of assets.
A U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry takes off during exercise Red Flag Alaska 26-1 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, April 29, 2026. U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Joseph Miller
From JBER and other bases in the region, Red Flag-Alaska participants have access to the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC). Covering an area of more than 67,000 square miles and providing 77,000 square miles of airspace above, JPARC is the “largest instrumented air, ground and electronic combat training range in the world,” according to the Air Force. It is regularly used to provide a realistic training environment for full-spectrum engagements, ranging from individual skills to large-scale joint engagements.
JPARC’s role could grow further in the coming years as the Air Force pushes large-scale exercises further and further out into the broad expanses of the Pacific. Other range complexes further down along the West Coast are seeing increasing use, as well. Even very large overland ranges, such as the sprawling Nevada Test and Training Range (NTTR) adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base, are increasingly constrained when attempting to replicate modern scenarios based on ever-growing adversary anti-access and aerial denial (A2/AD) bubbles.
Meanwhile, Northern Edge also occurs in and around Alaska every two years, with these large-scale events being used to test and evaluate new systems and capabilities from across the U.S. military.
One of the Air Force’s tiny force of semi-retired F-117 Nighthawk stealth jets, now used for test and evaluation purposes, at Elmendorf during Northern Edge 2023. U.S. Air Force
In the past, the Air Force has described Northern Edge as a demonstration of “the U.S. commitment to the region by building interoperability, advancing common interests and a commitment to our allies and partners in ensuring a free and open Indo-Pacific,” as well as showcasing U.S. ability to defend the homeland from and throughout Alaska.
As planning advances, we will learn more about what this new Alaskan Fightertown will look like. What is already clear is that the Air Force and the Pentagon are preparing for a long-term expansion and modernization effort on a scale rarely seen at an operational fighter base.
More details could emerge during the industry day scheduled for June 30, when government officials will provide a comprehensive update on the program and solicit feedback from industry partners on how to execute one of the Air Force’s biggest military infrastructure projects.
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Update: 3:45 PM ET –
“We are deliberately investing in Pacific Air Force’s critical infrastructure by replacing and upgrading operations and maintenance facilities in addition to making repairs to existing buildings and funding mission-ready materiel, storage, and sustainment necessary for homeland defense and Agile Combat Employment operations,” a U.S. Air Force official has now told us in response to our queries for more information about the Fightertown plan. “We are also extending the runway and building a Joint Integrated Test and Training Center at JBER.”
“We are in the design stage now and will have a better idea of timelines once we receive an appropriation,” they added.
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A new fire broke out 3 miles west of Ambler Tuesday night. The Jade Fire is also west of the Kopshesut Fire that escaped the Ambler landfill on June 4 and was contained last week. Click on the map for a PDF version. burning west of the Kopshesut Fire and about 3 miles west of Ambler.
” data-large-file=”https://i1.wp.com/akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=700&ssl=1″ width=”700″ height=”540″ fifu-data-src=”https://i1.wp.com/akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=700&ssl=1″ alt=”A red dot marks the spot of the new fire next to a much larger fire as shown in a large pink blob.” class=”wp-image-48634″ srcset=”https://i1.wp.com/akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=700&ssl=1 700w, https://akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=150 150w, https://akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=300 300w, https://akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=768 768w, https://akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png?w=800 800w, https://akfireinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/map_gad_jadefire2_20260623.png 1056w” sizes=”(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px”/><figcaption class=)
Here’s a closer look at the Jade Fire (#285) burning west of the Kopshesut Fire and about 3 miles west of Ambler. Use this link for an interactive map to zoom in and out for a closer look at the location of the fire.
