By Mark Thiessen. Much of the start of the world’s most famous sled dog race is covered in barren gravel, forcing Iditarod organizers to move the start farther north where there is snow and ice.
A weather pattern that buried the eastern U.S. in snow has left Alaska fairly warm and relatively snow-free this winter. . .
The nearly 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race starts Saturday with a ceremonial run through Anchorage. But the official start two days later has been moved 225 miles north, over the Alaska Range, to Fairbanks to avoid the area that left many mushers bruised and bloodied last year. Iditarod officials said the conditions are worse this year. (Read more about pushing the Iditarod race farther north HERE)
Record Number of Women to Compete in 2015 Iditarod Race
By Ch2ktuu. In 1985, Libby Riddles was one of just 5 women out of 61 mushers to compete in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Today, 30 years after Riddles claimed the title, a record number of women — one-third of the field — are starting the race. KTUU’s Abby Hancock tells how times have changed.
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Original Musher from First Iditarod, Friend of Joe Redington, to Appear on The Joe Miller Show Next Week
One of twelve living mushers who completed the first Iditarod will be interviewed on The Joe Miller Show next week. Rod Perry has written a book on the race and also helped produce a successful documentary on it. The Joe Miller Show airs daily from 2 to 4 p.m. Alaska Time (6 to 8 p.m. EST).
The crash in world oil prices has sent Alaska state financial officials reeling. After years of high oil revenue, nearly unrestrained government growth, and unrepentant “bring home the bacon” pork spending, Alaska now finds itself with a whopping fiscal year deficit expected to exceed $3.5 Billion. If you divide this amongst Alaska’s tiny 738,000 population, this financial bloodletting amounts to a staggering $4,742 per individual Alaskan, $18,970 for a household of four, or $28,455 for a household of six.
For years Alaska has grown our state bureaucracies on autopilot by mathematical formula (around 6-9% per year) into cash draining behemoths. We now employ over 24,000 state employees- many of which to help protect Alaskans from themselves.
Our legislature also writes huge annual checks to literally hundreds of state funded non-profits for myriads of diverse social causes or even to entertain us, such as the Alaska State Fair. If you want to get a good laugh at some of the more humorous titled non-profits getting state funding just from just one state agency- Alaska’s Department of Health and Human Services, download their FY2014 report. I caution you not to try to print it out because it is 302 pages long and you may run out of ink, or paper, or patience trying.
Perhaps the worst example of legislative largess is found in the Capital Budget (I call it Alaska’s pork budget which may be a little harsh considering some of it is good). This is the part of the budget where new roads and bridges are funded. Who can argue with that right? This has however devolved into a catch-all category where legislators fund micro “pork” projects at every level in their voting districts- from sewer pipes, to extra fire engines and police cars, to senior center vans. These can be argued as good things to fund from a social viewpoint, but shouldn’t local governments fund local projects with local tax dollars and not rely on the state legislature to bridge the gap between their bronze-plated haves and gold-plated wants?
Last but not least is the profligacy of local entities continually voting to sell bonds for capital improvement projects such as roads and schools where the state is on the hook for paying back 70% of the bond debt back while the local entity only pays back the remaining 30%. Alaskan bond debt is now a crushing $40,714 per Alaskan– the highest in the nation.
At this hemorrhage rate, the legislature has only about three years’ worth of savings left in the financial blood bank before it turns anemic and must adopt new revenue sources such as a state income tax, a state sales tax, new oil taxes, or a raid on the PFD. All are being actively discussed for implementation as early as 2017. We need not go limping down this gray government-bricked road.
The University of Alaska Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) has calculated a maximum annual sustainable budget amount of $4.5 Billion (unrestricted general fund that is currently around $6.1B or $6.3B if you add the $262 Million annual PERS/TERS retirement contribution to make yearly comparisons). This is the amount we can spend annually nearly into perpetuity without having to implement ANY new taxes or raid the PFD.
With oil trading at $60 per barrel, Alaska will only generate about $2B in oil revenue. In this scenario Alaska will generate more income from our savings invested in financial instruments than from oil. However, if the Alaska legislature continues to plow through our savings like a Valdez snowplow in January on Thompson Pass, we will have no investment income left and therefore the sustainable budget number will also plummet to around $2B. It is absolutely essential therefore to reduce the state budget from $6.3B to $4.5B. If I were governor, I would rip the Band-Aid off in one year by vetoing any budget that came in a penny over $4.5B (this number does not include federal grant money which is additional). However since I am not governor, the current plan is to reduce our state budget to $4.5B over a three year period to help reduce price shocks in the economy. The goal then is to reduce state spending to $5.5B this year, then $5.0 the second year, and $4.5B the third year and thereafter. Many grassroots politicos are putting the entire political weight of their organizations behind this plan. Big-spending scoffers will likely find us funding their opponent during the next political primary.
Many legislators from both political parties would rather increase revenue rather than cut spending owing to the intense lobby pain being inflicted on them by special interest groups (who are also the largest campaign donors). The big-government ideological phrase now echoing through the legislative halls in Juneau is, “You cannot cut your way to prosperity.” Really? Imagine yourself as a CEO at the helm of a large corporation that was losing fistfuls of cash because of having too many redundant employees on their books that used that phrase to their investors. The board would fire the CEO immediately. Historically, states like Texas that have had the most prosperous economies in the nation have also governed themselves in the most businesslike manner by attempting to keep their bureaucracies small, budget balanced, and taxes low. Those that have tried to overtax and spend their economies into a Utopian existence like California always seem to be in financial trouble and have high unemployment. You cannot spend your way to prosperity either.
Having too many state bureaucrats living off the private sector reduces Alaska’s prosperity in three fundamental ways. First, public pay and benefit costs must be born on the shoulders of the private sector. Secondly, the state loses out on the potential economic growth from state employees that could be otherwise similarly employed in the private sector. Thirdly and not insignificantly, too many red-tape producing bureaucrats can slow new economic activity to a crawl as potential new natural resource developers are dragged through a veritable glacial mud steam of regulations, fees and permits.
Alaska’s economic future now rests in the strong hands of State Representative Mark Neuman (R-Big Lake). He is Co-Chair of the powerful House Finance Committee and in charge of Alaska’s massive Operating Budget (the Capital Budget is assumed to be nearly zero during this financial crises). Rep. Neuman told me he has a goal to reduce the Operating Budget by $600-700M which would put Alaska on the recovery trajectory. However, he is facing enormous opposition from special interest groups to keep spending levels near their historic highs.
Quite frankly, the special interest voices being heard in Juneau for continued levels of spending can be much louder than their district grassroots voices for spending restraint. The Roman Senate had a famous saying of vox populi, vox Dei or “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” Though somewhat blasphemous for a person of faith like myself, I am convinced that many legislators informally poll their districts daily by the volume of daily phone calls, emails, and faxes they receive as their district vox populi. If you the grassroots are silent on this issue, than the budget will likely follow the voices of the special interests and your family will soon be facing a state income tax, a state sales tax, an industry stifling rise of oil taxes, or the raiding of your PFD- or possibly all at once.
Keep Alaska financially solvent and a good place to do business and raise a family. Contact Rep. Neuman today to encourage him and his staff along with your local legislators. Crimson red now paints the Alaskan skyline. Whether it is on the east or western horizon is up to you. Contact Rep. Mark Neuman at 907-465-2679 or [email protected] to give him encouragement along with your local representatives. Remember, our elected legislators work for us, not the other way around.
A 28-year-old Italian tourist was killed in Alaska when he was crushed by a chunk of ice that broke from a glacier, authorities said.
Alaska State Troopers said Alexander Hellweger, of Sand in Taufers in northern Italy, died Sunday at Lake George Glacier, north of Anchorage.
Hellweger was with a group of eight friends from Italy and Belgium who were vacationing in Alaska. Guides had taken seven members of the party to the backcountry by helicopter to go skiing.
The party was later taken to the glacier site by helicopter. Troopers spokeswoman Beth Ipsen said the group began gathering for a photo.
“Alexander was away from the group, but making his way there when the others in his group of heli-skiiers reported hearing the crack of ice as if it was going to calve,” Ipsen said in an email. “Some members of the group ran when they heard the ice start to crack. The glacier calved and a chunk fell on Alexander.” (Read more about the Italian tourist being killed HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-03-03 03:11:532016-04-11 11:01:50Italian Tourist Killed When Hit by Piece of Alaska Glacier
A volcano in Russia led to the cancellation of flights in Alaska over the weekend.
“We canceled two roundtrip flights between Anchorage and Bethel, and Anchorage and Nome after an advisory of low visibility,” Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Halley Knigge said.
Ash from Russia’s Shiveluch volcano was the culprit behind the flight disruptions Saturday, said Jeff Freymueller, a scientist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.
The volcano erupted Friday, shooting ash into the atmosphere some 30,000 feet. Winds blew the ash cloud across the Bering Sea and into western Alaska, Freymueller said. (Read more about the Alaska flights being cancelled over the ash from the volcano HERE)
Three Brooklyn, New York, residents are behind bars Thursday, charged with conspiring to support the Islamic State . . .
FBI Director James Comey said the agency has current investigations into homegrown radicals in every state.
“Those people exist in every state… Until a few weeks ago there was 49 states. Alaska had none, which I couldn’t quite figure out. But Alaska has now joined the group so we have investigations of people in various stages of radicalizing in all 50 states,” Comey said.
The FBI said more than 20 people in just the past year have been arrested trying to fly from the United States to join ISIS.
The arrests are just the latest examples of the growing dangers of “lone wolf” terrorists inspired by ISIS – and the possibility that more such terrorists could attempt attacks in the future. (Read more about how ISIS is in Alaska HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-02-27 03:49:132016-04-11 11:01:57FBI: ISIS is in Alaska, Putting the Terrorists in All 50 States
Photo Credit: WNDOn Tuesday, Alaska became the first red state to legally allow the possession, gifting, and growing of marijuana.
The legal change comes after Alaska voters in November approved a ballot initiative that fully legalized marijuana in the northernmost state. Alaska is the third state to legalize the drug after Colorado and Washington. Oregon and Washington, DC, will follow later this year.
As of Tuesday, Alaska’s Ballot Measure 2 lets adults 21 and older possess up to one ounce of pot, maintain six marijuana plants, and gift and transport the drug. Smoking in public remains prohibited.
The measure will eventually allow for the commercial production and sales of marijuana. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, or a Marijuana Control Board if one is created, will regulate commercial production and sales. These rules must be finalized by November 24. The board must then begin accepting and processing applications for marijuana businesses by February 24, 2016. Sales are expected to begin sometime after.
Although the measure makes Alaska unique among Republican-controlled states, it’s well within a fiercely independent and libertarian streak that has at times put the state’s residents and courts at odds with its political leaders. (Read more about Alaska being the first red state to legalize marijuana HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-02-24 23:57:192016-04-11 11:02:04Alaska Just Became the First Red State to Legalize Marijuana
As Americans hurried home to avoid last weekend’s snowstorm, the Obama administration unveiled new regulations that, for the first time, propose strict mandates on drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean.
The administration’s proposed Arctic offshore drilling rule will cost $1.2 billion — the most expensive provision being a requirement that oil companies keep backup rigs ready to dig relief wells if there’s a spill. The rule comes as the Obama administration has been making parts of the Arctic Ocean off-limits to oil drilling.
The oil industry has criticized the rule, saying that while it brings some certainty, it is costly and could stymie U.S. drilling in the Arctic at a time when countries like Russia, Canada and Norway continue to drill or plan on drilling more.
“Is America ready to be a leader in the Arctic for generations to come and what do we want our legacy to be?” Randall Luthi, president of the National Ocean Industries Association, said. “Will we continue to lag behind other countries such as Russia, Canada and Norway, all countries that have drilled or plan to explore Arctic waters?”
“Rules that take years to make tend not to reflect the best and newest technology being developed and used by industry on a daily basis,” Luthi said. (Read more about the arctic drilling HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-02-24 02:16:482016-04-11 11:02:05Feds Dump on Alaska Again, Impose New Billion Dollar Regulatory Costs on Arctic Drilling
Today we are on the precipice of determining whether Alaska should follow the guidance of Commissioner of Education, Michael Hanley and Alaska School Board President Esther Cox as they direct our entire educational K-12 foundation to align with the national and international standards and curriculum of Common Core.
Certainly, there are convincing arguments that there should be standards of achievement for students and that there should be a method of assessment periodically throughout what is commonly held as the “formal years of education.” The argument evolves into a sense that without these standards, our Alaskan children will not be able to properly compete with all citizens for work in a global market.
And certainly, one can argue that our current educational standards are subpar both globally (ranked 26th in the world) and nationally (Alaska~ 39th overall) which are issues we need to take into account specifically when Alaska spends more money per capita, per student than anywhere in the world at approximately $22,000.00 per student. When you factor in the Taj Mahal brick and mortar structures , we have no financial competition. We get the financial “Blue Ribbon” with very little accountability, which brings me to my next point…
Most people do not know that the Commissioner of Education does not answer to the Governor in the state of Alaska. To add insult to injury, neither does the Alaska School board. These are officials who are appointed through the legislature and do not answer directly to the electorate. I find it fascinating that the most important resource Alaska has is directed by administrators who are not directly accountable to “We the People.” Perhaps, this is why we get the results we have, which brings me to my next point…
Esther Cox ~ President of the Alaska School Board recently made remarks in the House Education Committee hearing when asked what implementing Common Core standards would cost the state over a period of ten years, Ms. Cox answered:
“I could not possibly answer that question. I don’t live and breathe this daily as do those through the department.”
Commissioner of Education, Michael Hanley has made statements all over the map regarding whether the State of Alaska is Common Core compliant, and whether or not our children’s personal data has been shipped away to a national database. His changing testimony over the last few years has been less than stellar and one could certainly argue extremely deceptive and definitely not forthright and transparent.
Through it all, even a passive observer will come away with a sense that the education network in Alaska is run by a very selective “education cartel.”
Generally speaking, the Alaska legislature has had somewhat of a “hands off” approach in directing educational policy, and those few legislators who have actively engaged in the promotion of ideas of educational excellence seem to be met with some form of ostracizing as “educational zealots.” One comes away with a sense that the professionals are in place to promote the monopoly of an average educational experience and nothing more which brings me to my next point…
Common Core is being “sold” to the Alaskan legislature and to the citizen’s of Alaska as the “new” best way forward. I find it disconcerting that Bill Gates recently stated that Common Core is a 10 year experiment. One must wonder if we should expend an entire generation of our children on an educational experiment cooked up in the “Bill and Belinda Gates” education kitchen, but I divert…
Common Core is actually similar to the same national conversation we are having regarding global warming or it’s new label, “Climate Change.” There is a fascinating similarity especially here in Alaska for instead of Commissioner Hanley calling our standards “Common Core” he just promotes them as “Alaska Standards” but any reasonable assessment would indicate that they are 95% compliant to Common Core , so much so that the federal government has been willing to shovel some educational dollars into our coffers all with the idea that we will be a “good little state” and be compliant. Why do I hear that catchy tune from the movie Chicago playing in my head….” Give them the old Razzle Dazzle…” which brings me to my final point..
We are on the verge of an educational explosion based on technology. Today we have the opportunity to deliver a massive array of educational packages that are interactive in real time for pennies on the dollar. We can either embrace this new technology and begin directing the definition of excellence in educational content, or be bound to the convention of the “horse and buggy” of Common Core which is simply put, reinventing the same experiment which has given us questionable results. Recently, the “education cartel” passed legislation that “distance learning” or internet educational content must come from Alaska based educators. Given this notion, if Albert Einstein were alive today and wanted to provide Alaskan children with physics lessons via the cyber world, he would be turned down unless he wanted to take up residence in Alaska. This is an excellent example how decisions are made inside the narrow confines of the “cartel.”
For me, it is a clear picture. On one hand, we can continue to assist in the development of a condensed curriculum of educational content controlled by a select few for their own proprietary reasons which is generally associated with force, fraud and money, or we can embrace the open source market and explore all the options available to direct educational content truly as a learning tool instead of the convention of the global model which simply exists to socialize our citizens to “fit” into a global construct.
Is there any reason why any motivated student cannot accelerate at their own pace far beyond the convention of any “minimum standards” of education. Don’t we owe our very intellectual existence to assist in the development of true “brain power” based on the spirit of an individual and their desire to want more than the conventions of an educational cartel working on a “Common Core” design in the backwater of an archaic workshop simply to move the money around within their legions?
Our constitution was written for the individual to protect our personal liberties from an oppressive government. At the very least, shouldn’t our education construct reinforce the strength of our individual nature in assisting us to reach for the stars? Is our educational salvation going to find it’s greatest achievement in social doctrine?
I say we are on the shore of a great educational journey. We should not lack the common sense it will take to reclaim our destiny. “Common Core” is nothing but an expensive and embellished anchor. One we do not have the luxury to afford.
To accept the nomination of Commissioner Michael Hanley and President Esther Cox is to purchase the anchor. We deserve better
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-02-24 02:00:132016-04-11 11:02:06Alaska Determining Whether it Should Follow Common Core (+video)
At no other time in Alaskan history has it been more critical to block the nomination of two individuals for ANY position in Alaska’s government. I am writing you today in the hopes that you will contact every legislator, especially your state senator, to block the nominations of Mike Hanley for Commissioner of Education and Esther Cox for State School Board. Please call, write, and if possible, show up in person and dig in to block their appointment.
If you believe in State Sovereignty, you should oppose their confirmation. As Commissioner, Mike Hanley led the move for Alaska to join the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia. The move was supported by Esther Cox, School Board President.
Had there not been a significant grassroots backlash and threats to take action under Alaska’s procurement laws, Alaska would have lost control of education matters to this California-based consortium. The consortium agreement would have dictated that the state of Alaska obey rules and regulations passed by a group of other individuals that Alaskans did not elect and were not accountable to Alaskans.
If you believe that public officials should be honest to the state legislature and to the people of Alaska, you should oppose the nominations of Mike Hanley and Esther Cox. Even if you like the Common Core Standards, Alaskans should have an honest and open discussion on these standards. This has never happened because Mike Hanley has continued to misrepresent the truth to the Alaskan people and the legislature, with the blessing of Esther Cox.
•January 23, 2013, Mike Hanley told federal race to the top officials at the US Department of Education that Alaska’s standards are identical to the Common Core.
•June 3, 2013, Mike Hanley told the House Education Committee that the standards were 95% Common Core.
•On June 20, 2013, in written answers to the House Education Committee he stated that Alaska’s standards were close enough to the Common Core for a Common Core test to be valid.
•January 7, 2014, Mike Hanley testified to the State Senate that Alaska’s Standards are not Common Core.
•March 25, 2014, Mike Hanley stated it was false that Alaska’s Standards were 95% Common Core.
•February 4, 2015, Mike Hanley stated that the standards were “common core in outputs but not in inputs.”
The standards are not the only issue upon which Mike Hanley has played fast and loose with the truth. Hanley has repeatedly insisted that there was no money tied to the ESEA flexibility waiver. For example, on February 4, 2015, Mike Hanley reiterated that there was no money tied to the Elementary and Secondary Act Waiver from the U.S. Department of Education. However, Deputy Commissioner Les Morse indicated in his testimony before the House Finance Subcommittee Committee on the Department of Education and Early Development a few days later that all the Title funds were connected to testing, a requirement of the waiver, and that several full time positions at DEED were 100% federally funded due to the waiver.
On February 4, 2015, Esther Cox told the House Education Committee that she approved the Alaska Standards after she read them. She further indicated that she had no idea how much the standards would cost because she didn’t live and breathe education matters.Yet, she is the President of the Alaska School Board; shouldn’t she have a ballpark estimate?
Commissioner Hanley also was the motivating force behind joining Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortia (SBAC), the Race to the Top consortium based out of California. In that agreement, Hanley committed the state to digital investment that still have local district budgets reeling. He committed the state to an assessment schedule that have cost the state millions of dollars. Further, he had indicated to the House Education Committee that SBAC was only a test, but his presentation five days later on June 7, 2013 highlighted the opportunity to use curriculum provided by them and cost benefits of that digital content to Alaska’s administrators. This again, was with the approval of Esther Cox.
It was Commissioner Hanley who supported Alaska’s P-12 student data to be used in a P-20W database by ACPE. This is a federally funded project with federally funded positions that meet monthly with the U.S. Department of Education. ACPE’s claim is that there is no right of opting out of this database and that parents consented when they enroll their children in public school in Alaska. Plans continue on the part of ACPE to market Alaska’s K-12 data through their Data Mart project with the consent and approval of Commissioner Mike Hanley and School Board President Esther Cox.
As revealed in the Hearings before the House Education Committee on February 9, 2015, not one family is known to have consented to their child’s data being shared or marketed in this project. Data from Alaskan students from the Online Alaska School Information System (OASIS) are being combined with the Permanent Fund data for cross referencing with other state databases and bundled into marketable items. This is what the Hanley-Cox regime has allowed to occur. It may seem inconceivable, yet, Hanley and Cox approved this project, and the Data Mart project to sell your child data, including test SBAtest scores, as well as the data on school employees, from the teacher to the lunch room monitors that would ordinarily be part of their personnel file.
What home school family can possibly forget that it was Commissioner Hanley and Esther Cox’s push for home school families to buy only curriculum that aligns with the Alaska Common Core Standards? What home school family can forget Hanley and Cox’s support of Senate Bill 9 in 2012 that would have criminalized home school?
Never, in the history of all of Alaska has any education administration been more against the rights of parents and against the privacy rights of Alaskans.
More recently, school board members came to Juneau to attempt to get many of the unfunded mandates of the Hanley/Cox regime off their plate. Legislators listened intently, but the Alaska Department of Education turned a deaf ear as did Alaska School Board President Esther Cox.
What district educator or principal can forget that it was Mike Hanley and Esther Cox who supporting the adaptive testing and the costs associated with these tests? What property tax payer can forget the impact on local budgets these measures are having as well as the loss of state and local control over education?
Recently Commissioner Hanley, with the support of Esther Cox, has attempted to expand the Alaska Department of Education’s authority to preschool and college. Perhaps once they were about education, but their actions since they have been in office suggest they are far more concerned about their own political power.
Soon it will be apparent that the measures undertaken by the Alaska Department of Education under the Hanley-Cox regime will consume over 50% of Alaska’s state budget. This isn’t my view; this was the conclusion of the Sustainability Task Force Chaired by Rep. Lynn Gattis and presented in the waning days 2014.
Please, for the sake of Alaska’s sovereignty, for the sake of honest government, for the sake of fiscal integrity, for your privacy rights, write and call your legislators and block the nomination of Mike Hanley for Commissioner and Esther Cox for Alaska School Board. Follow up with a letter to Governor Walker and let your voice be heard.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-02-22 23:34:572016-04-11 11:02:10Opinion: If You Believe in State Sovereignty, Help us Block these Confirmations [+video]
CAGW, a non-profit dedicated to eliminating government waste, gives the award annually to the lawmaker, government official, or political candidate who has shown the most “blatant disregard” for taxpayers that year. [Senator Elizabeth] Warren won over six other candidates with 34 percent of the vote in a public online poll.
She won the award because in 2014 she suggested the USPS fix its financial troubles by rebranding itself as a bank. If USPS offered basic bill paying, check cashing and small loans, it could make enough money to provide those services and shape up its finances . . .
Leading Porker in a Supporting Role went to Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, with 29 percent. Honorable Porker awards went to Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo, and former U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel. (Read more about the porker runner-up HERE)
