Fifty-Three Alaskans Sign Up for ObamaCare During First Month

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Photo Credit: WND Alaska is one of 36 states that has relied on the federally run site to provide access to the marketplace, where individuals can browse for insurance to help meet requirements of the federal health care law. The site has been marred by glitches since its launch Oct. 1, and in the first month, less than 27,000 people in those states had selected plans, figures released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed. Another 79,000 individuals had signed up in states running their own exchanges.

“There is no doubt the level of interest is strong,” Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a release. She said enrollment is expected to grow “substantially” over the coming months. The open enrollment period ends March 31. That is also the cutoff date to enroll without risk of a penalty.

The federal health care law requires virtually all Americans to have insurance beginning next year. There are exemptions for financial hardships and religious objections, but those who ignore the mandate will face fines.

U.S. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the figures released Wednesday show the health care law “is a sinking ship with too many holes to fill.”

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Senate Duo Announces Bill Protecting 1.56M Acres of Arctic Refuge

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Photo Credit: USFWS HeadquartersA bipartisan Senate duo introduced legislation on Wednesday that would section off 1.56 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) bill would protect the Arctic Refuge’s coastal plain, which is the last of the original refuge without the wilderness designation.

The legislation would also preserve minimum hunting and traditional uses.

“The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a national treasure that must be preserved for future generations to experience and enjoy,” Cantwell said in a statement.

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Begich and Other Red State Senate Democrats In ObamaCare Damage Control Mode

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Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesThree of the most vulnerable red-state Democrats are scrambling to neutralize the growing political threat that President Obama’s health care law is posing to their reelection campaigns.

This week, Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas have undertaken a series of unusually aggressive maneuvers designed to distance themselves from the health care law, whose botched rollout has raised concerns it will become a major liability for the 2014 midterm elections. The defensive steps are a smart political play from lawmakers already preparing in earnest for their reelection campaigns, but also amount to a tacit admission that Obamacare has already become a major headache.

Hagan is preparing to ask the inspector general of the Health and Human Services Department and the General Accounting Office for a full investigation into the health care law’s rollout, Politico first reported Monday. Begich, meanwhile, announced he personally enrolled in Alaska’s health care exchange the same morning, declining to take the federal government’s contribution to his plan. In a statement, he also called for a “full and transparent accounting of how the vendors contracted to build the site failed to launch it successfully,”

Pryor, considered the most vulnerable Senate Democrat next year, took the most aggressive action of the three. His campaign criticized a senior adviser working for Republican Rep. Tom Cotton for supporting a deal to implement Obamacare in Arkansas, according to The Hill. John Burris, who is a state lawmaker, voted earlier this year to effectively expand Medicaid in the state by helping poor citizens buy private insurance.

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Palin Says Christmas is Being Hijacked by ‘Angry Atheists’ (+video)

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreFormer Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says America’s celebration of Christmas is being hijacked by “angry atheists”bent on eroding the nation’s cherished religious freedoms.

“There is a war on Christmas, a war on religious freedom in America,” Palin, author of the new book “Good Tidings and Great Joy: Protecting the Heart of Christmas,” told Newsmax TV.

“It’s imperative we protect the heart of Christmas — and Christmas is all about good tidings and great joy — because if that’s marginalized, our ability, our right to express our faith . . . leads to an erosion of much of America’s great foundation.”

Palin says Americans are being subjected to an intimidation campaign by “angry atheists armed with an attorney who would want to kick out God from the public square . . .

“An innocent Nativity scene with a plastic baby doll representing Jesus in a hay-filled manger — that that is going to offend somebody to the degree that they can intimidate a city!”

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Seventeen Year ‘Pause’ in Global Warming May Last 20 More Years; Arctic Sea Ice Recovering

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail The 17-year pause in global warming is likely to last into the 2030s and the Arctic sea ice has already started to recover, according to new research.

A paper in the peer-reviewed journal Climate Dynamics – by Professor Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Dr Marcia Wyatt – amounts to a stunning challenge to climate science orthodoxy.

Not only does it explain the unexpected pause, it suggests that the scientific majority – whose views are represented by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) – have underestimated the role of natural cycles and exaggerated that of greenhouse gases.

The research comes amid mounting evidence that the computer models on which the IPCC based the gloomy forecasts of a rapidly warming planet in its latest report, published in September, are diverging widely from reality.

The graph shown above, based on a version published by Dr Ed Hawkins of Reading University on his blog, Climate Lab Book, reveals that actual temperatures are now below the predictions made by almost all the 138 models on which the IPCC relies.

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Alaska’s Catholic Senators have Backed Bill Aimed to Enshrine LGBTQ Rights; Believed to Violate Religious Freedoms

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Photo Credit: catholicanchor.orgA bill that would make it a federal crime to “discriminate” against homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender people — including forbidding men to use the women’s restroom or locker room – passed a key vote in the Senate Nov. 4.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed a test vote by 61-30, a critical margin that will allow the controversial bill to overcome any potential filibuster. Senate rules require 60 votes to cut off debate. The vote means the bill will almost certainly pass the full Senate without delay.

Photo Credit: catholicanchor.orgAlaska Sen. Mark Begich voted for the measure, while fellow Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski was absent for the test vote. However, Murkowski, who supports same-sex marriage, helped Democrats vote the bill out of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee earlier this year.

Opponents, however, say the bill (S. 815) would deny traditional religious business owners the right to practice their religion. Its religious exemption is excessively narrow, according to a letter from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In an Oct. 31 letter to Congress, three leading U.S. bishop explained that they do not support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act because it “does not justly advance the dignity of all workers and authentic non-discrimination.”

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Mark Begich’s Lie Costs 5,360 Alaskans Their Insurance

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Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield, Alaska’s Largest Health Insurer, Is Cancelling More Than Half Of Its Individual Policies Due To ObamaCare. “The largest health insurer in Alaska has sent cancellation notices to more than half its individual members in the state because their existing policies do not meet requirements of the new federal health care law. Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman Melanie Coon said Friday that of its more than 9,000 individual members in Alaska, fewer than 3,800 were on “grandfathered” plans. Those are plans that were in existence before March 23, 2010, and have changed very little.” (Becky Bohrer, “Premera Sends Alaskans Health Policy Cancellation Notices, Will Offer New Plans,” Anchorage Daily News, 11/1/13)

5,360 Alaskans Will Lose Their Existing Plans. “Coon said discontinuation notices have gone to about 5,360 other members, who have been told they will be matched to new plans that are closest to what they had before in an effort to keep anyone from losing coverage.” (Becky Bohrer, “Premera Sends Alaskans Health Policy Cancellation Notices, Will Offer New Plans,” Anchorage Daily News, 11/1/13)

BEGICH PROMISED ALASKANS THEY “CAN KEEP” THEIR CURRENT PLANS; BUT REFUSED TO HONOR THAT PROMISE WHEN GIVEN THE CHANCE

On July 27, 2009, As Health Care Reform Was Being Debated, Begich Promised Constituents That “If You’ve Got A Doctor Now, You’ve Got A Medical Professional That You Want, You Get To Keep That.” BEGICH: “If you got a doctor now, you got a medical professional you want, you get to keep that. If you have an insurance program or a health care policy you want of ideas, make sure you keep it. That you can keep who you want. That we keep that patient-doctor relationship very strong.” (Sen. Mark Begich, Remarks At iTownHall, 7/27/09)

After Voting To Pass ObamaCare, Begich Claimed “Alaskans Who Have Health Insurance Now, And Are Happy With It, Can Keep It.” “Alaskans who have health insurance now, and are happy with it, can keep it. While the thousands of Alaskans who do not have health insurance, or have insurance they can’t really afford, will have access to an insurance exchange offering affordable health insurance choices. An estimated 52,000 Alaskans will quality for tax credits to help purchase affordable health coverage.” (Press Release, “Sen. Begich Statement On Passage Of Health Reform Bill,” Sen. Mark Begich, 12/24/09)

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Radiation from Japan Nuclear Plant Arrives on Alaska Coast

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Photo Credit: CBC News Scientists at the University of Alaska are concerned about radiation leaking from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant, and the lack of a monitoring plan.

Some radiation has arrived in northern Alaska and along the west coast. That’s raised concern over contamination of fish and wildlife. More may be heading toward coastal communities like Haines and Skagway.

Douglas Dasher, a researcher at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, says radiation levels in Alaskan waters could reach Cold War levels.

“The levels they are projecting in some of the models are in the ballpark of what they saw in the North Pacific in the 1960s,” he said.

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Avista Corp. to Acquire Alaska Energy and Resources Company

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Photo Credit: Arthur ChapmanAvista Corp (NYSE: AVA) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Alaska Energy and Resources Company (AERC), a privately-held company based in Juneau, Alaska. When the transaction is complete, AERC will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Avista Corp.

The purchase price at closing will be $170 million, less the assumption of debt and other customary closing adjustments. The transaction will be funded through the issuance of Avista common stock to the shareholders of AERC. The transaction is expected to close by July 1, 2014, following the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other closing conditions. We expect that the addition of AERC to Avista Corp. will be slightly negative to earnings in 2014, and that it will contribute positively to earnings in 2015.

The primary subsidiary of AERC is Alaska Electric Light and Power Company (AEL&P), the oldest regulated electric utility in Alaska. In 2012, AEL&P had annual revenues of $42 million and a total rate base of $111 million. AEL&P, with 60 fulltime employees, serves approximately 15,900 customers in the city and borough of Juneau. The utility has a firm retail peak load of approximately 80 Megawatts (MW) and serves nearly 100 percent of its load with 102.7 MW of renewable hydroelectric generation capacity. The utility has 93.9 MW of diesel generating capacity to provide back-up service to all firm customers when necessary.

In addition to the regulated utility, AERC owns the AJT Mining subsidiary, which is an inactive mining company holding certain mining properties.

“AEL&P’s 120-year culture of service and community partnership is a great long-term fit with Avista Corp. We have found the company to have similar cultural values and focus on providing safe, reliable service to its customers that Avista has held dear for nearly 125 years. We look forward to working with AEL&P’S highly skilled and dedicated management and employees, and to being part of the Juneau community,” said Avista Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Morris. “This agreement reflects Avista’s strategy to expand and diversify energy assets and deliver long-term value to the customers, communities and investors we serve.”

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Crews Clear Huge Alaska Landslide At Denali National Park Road

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Photo Credit: Arthur Chapman/FlickrCrews at Denali National Park in Alaska have cleared a massive landslide from a road that is a popular tourist destination each summer.

The landslide discovered last week covered 200 feet of the Denali Park Road with tons of rock and soil.

Crews taking advantage of unseasonably mild weather finished clearing the road at day’s end Monday, and some snow has since fallen, park spokeswoman Maureen Gualtieri said Friday. It’s not clear if instability of the terrain will affect visitors next summer, park officials have said.

Gualtieri said the affected section of road, 37 miles from the park entrance, appears intact. That part of the road already was closed and there were no reported casualties from the slide, which officials believe occurred recently.

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