Posts

Thousands of Out-of-State Voters Found On Alaska's Voter Registry

/45 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: jkbrooks85

Just two years after Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell gave Alaska’s Division of Elections a clean bill of health, the Associated Press reports that 25,000 of Alaska’s registered voters are also registered to vote in other states. The revelation comes as a result of Alaska’s participation in a 22-State cooperative effort to cross-check voter rolls.

Treadwell blocked an independent investigation of the disputed 2010 election after US Senate Candidate Joe Miller petitioned for an outside review, opting instead for an “internal review” by the same Division of Elections and Department of Law who were alleged to have swept fraud and irregularity under the rug.

Miller’s request was based upon myriad complaints of widespread fraud and corruption from concerned citizens across the state of Alaska.

In an unprecedented move, the Alaska Court System dismissed sworn affidavits from eyewitnesses as unacceptable evidence for discovery, and the Department of Corrections has subsequently refused to disclose the list of felons in their custody during the 2010 election cycle who had committed crimes of moral turpitude, despite FOIA requests for the relevant information.

At least 11,000 of the newly discovered duplicate voters were reported to have more current registrations outside the State of Alaska. It appears that some have voted in multiple states, though Treadwell says it is unclear whether voter fraud was committed.

There is no data available on how many of “Alaska’s registered voters” are on the rolls in the 28 States that did not participate in the study.

3 Feared to be Dead After Alaska State Trooper Helicopter Crash

/0 Comments/in /by

Photo Credit: AP

An Alaska State Trooper helicopter carrying a trooper, a pilot for the agency and a rescued snowmobiler crashed in the south-central part of the state, leaving the three aboard feared dead, a spokeswoman said Sunday night.

Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said the aircraft went down Saturday night, the wreckage spotted Sunday, and no survivors have been found.

Peters said that though the three are feared dead, there has been no confirmation of any fatalities. “This is a huge, profound tragedy for us. We can replace the helicopter but we can’t replace what went down with it,” she said. “It’s been a bad day.”

Wreckage of the helicopter burned, but Peters said it was not known how the fire started or how long it lasted.

The trooper helicopter was on a mission to pick up a snowmobiler stranded near Larson Lake 7 miles east of Talkeetna in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska’s Young May Have Met His Match In Backlash Over Slur, Ethics Probe

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Marc Lester

Rep. Don Young is a survivor. But he may have met his match. He’s beaten back six years worth of federal investigations, 40 years of unsuccessful Republican challengers, and one of the most expensive and highly criticized earmarks.

But now the 21-term Alaska Republican is facing a freshly launched Ethics investigation and perhaps his biggest hurdle of all: his own mouth.

On Friday, Young came under heavy fire from Republicans and Democrats for using a racial slur to refer to hired laborers who were once employed at his father’s ranch. Young used the term “wetbacks” to describe the laborers.

GOP leaders immediately distanced themselves from the veteran lawmaker, who has not always had a pleasant relationship with his own party, saying that he should apologize without delay.

Young did apologize, twice. But the political heat came less than 10 days after the House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating Young on charges that he may have violated the chamber’s rules.

Read more from this story HERE.

After Repeatedly Refusing to Answer, Alaska’s Sen. Begich Now Embraces Homosexual Marriage

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Alex Wong

After remaining mum on the subject when asked about it last week, Sen. Mark Begich’s office issued a statement Monday night from the senator supporting marriage equality.

“I believe that same sex couples should be able to marry and should have the same rights, privileges and responsibilities as any other married couple,” the Alaskan senator said in what appears to be his first direct statement on the subject.

“Government should keep out of individuals’ personal lives — if someone wants to marry someone they love, they should be able to. Alaskans are fed up with government intrusion into our private lives, our daily business, and in the way we manage our resources and economy,” he continued.

Although Begich’s office did not respond to an earlier request for comment about his views on marriage equality, the Human Rights Campaign informed BuzzFeed Monday afternoon that Begich’s office had told the LGBT rights organization that Begich supported [it].

Read more from this story HERE.

Alaska Legislative Hearing Today: Demand the Right to Vote on School Vouchers

/0 Comments/in /by

The Democrats are claiming that, “Alaska’s children are facing attacks on their education this year – from eroding foundation funding to vouchers to early education cuts.”

This attack is coming because of the effort of liberty-minded Alaskans to allow the people to vote on a constitutional amendment to allow publicly-funded school vouchers. This would create competition for public schools, something lobbyists and unions are trying to prevent.

In other words, they don’t want YOU to have a say in the matter. They’d prefer to have the ruling class make that call for you.

Take a look at the liberals’ flier below. And then make time today to call in and demand that Alaskans be permitted to vote on this important issue.

Photo Credit: ak democrats

Miniature Horse Aids Alaska Boy With Special Needs

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: AP

A young miniature horse in sneakers is helping a 4-year-old special needs child at an Anchorage public elementary school. Zoe, a black mare, is a service animal for preschooler Zaiden Beattie at Russian Jack Elementary School. It’s the only service horse in an Alaska school _ and after multiple online searches, the only service horse Principal Elizabeth Hornbuckle could find at any school in the nation.

Zaiden is one of 300 children in the U.S. diagnosed with A-T, or ataxia-telangiectasia, a genetic disorder that progressively robs children of their ability to coordinate movement such as walking. Zaiden’s mother, Lesley Zacharias, a professional horse trainer, is teaching Zoe to help Zaiden walk steadily until the disease inevitably shackles him to a wheelchair.

“He moves around a lot better and has more energy if he’s got a hand on someone, either holding someone’s hand or a hand on something,” Zacharias said. “My personal goal is first grade with a pony instead of a walker.”

The head of the 10-month-old horse only rises to an adult’s waist and is almost irresistible to touch, though training protocols call for her to be petted on the neck, not the face, and only when given permission. Zoe is calm but playful, eager to play or work, and lets her owners know it by nuzzling their hands.

The sturdy, 150-pound animal began making appearances in Zaiden’s preschool classroom in January. Early training began with socialization _ exposure to crowds and loud noises such as the school’s fire alarm. Now she’s learning tasks.

Read more from this story HERE.

Murkowski’s Folly: No Road For King Cove

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: U.S. Army Alaska

Alaska has long received more than its fair share of federal tax dollars, as evidenced by its perennial first place ranking in pork per capita according to Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Congressional Pig Book. Now, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) wants taxpayers to pay for a road in her state linking the town of King Cove (about 750 year-round residents) to Cold Bay and the latter’s all-weather airport, purportedly for safety reasons. In February, Sen. Murkowski threatened to block the nomination of Sally Jewell to be Secretary of the Interior unless the road was approved.

Sen. Murkowski’s pet project had previously been rebuffed by the Department of the Interior because the road would run through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Environmental Impact Statement, the road would cost $22.7 million, but data from the Alaska Statewide Improvement Transportation budget projections from fiscal years 2010-2015 suggest that the cost of the road could exceed $80 million, or more than $2 million per mile. Undeterred, Sen. Murkowski stated on February 12 that she was “prepared to consider all actions available…to convince this administration that denying the people of King Cove reliable access to medical care would be a travesty.” This week, Sen. Murkowski struck a deal with the Interior Department to get the road proposal reevaluated and toned down her rhetoric regarding the nomination.

Predictably, it appears that commercial interests, not medical emergencies, are the primary driver of the project. According to a February 24, 2013 Washington Post article, “Originally, both area residents and state officials viewed the road as a way to bolster the region’s fishing industry. …when King Cove passed its first resolution calling for its construction, it did not mention safety concerns and instead called for the road to ‘link together two communities having one of the state’s premier fishing port/harbors.'” The “safety” defense emerged only after it appeared unlikely that the road would receive federal funds.

Read more from this story HERE.

US To Deploy More Ground-Based Missile Interceptors As North Korea Steps Up Threats (+video)

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: The U.S. Army

The U.S. is deploying 14 new ground-based missile interceptors in Alaska to counter renewed nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Friday.

The new interceptors will be based at Fort Greely, an Army launch site about 100 miles southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska, and are projected to be fully deployed by 2017, Hagel said. The additions will bring the U.S.-based ground interceptor deployment from 30 to 44, including four that are based in California.

That will boost U.S. missile defense capability by 50 percent and “make clear to the world that the United States stands firm against aggression,” he said in a briefing at the Pentagon.

The announcement comes as North Korea has been making bellicose threats to void the armistice that ended the Korean War and launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. The U.S. and South Korea began annual military drills this week despite the North Korean threats.

Hagel said the U.S. would also shift some “resources,” which he didn’t specify, from the delayed Aegis anti-missile program in Europe to U.S.-based defenses, saying the Aegis program was “lagging” because of reduced congressional funding. And he reiterated previously announced plans to add a second U.S. anti-ballistic missile radar installation in Japan.

watch video here:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read more from this story HERE.

Interior Chief: Shell ‘Screwed Up,’ Must Improve To Resume Arctic Affort

/0 Comments/in , /by

Photo Credit: Lee Jordan

Royal Dutch Shell “screwed up” in 2012 during its troubled efforts to begin oil exploration off Alaska’s coast, and must improve planning and contractor oversight before regulators will let it return, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

Interior on Thursday released the findings of its 60-day review of the oil giant’s mishap-filled effort to begin looking for oil in Arctic waters off Alaska’s coast last year.

“Shell screwed up in 2012 and we are not going to let them screw up” when they seek to resume their effort, Salazar told reporters on a conference call.

“This review has confirmed that Shell entered the drilling season not fully prepared in terms of fabricating and testing certain critical systems and establishing the scope of its operational plans,” the review states.

Interior said it would require Shell to develop a “comprehensive and integrated” operational plan and complete a third-party audit of its management systems, which are two of the various recommendations in the report.

Read more from this story HERE.

Nine Southeast Communities Oppose Revised Sealaska Bill

/0 Comments/in , /by

photo credit: roy.luck

Ketchikan, Alaska – Nine communities in southeast Alaska said they oppose a bill by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) to allow an Alaska Native-owned corporation to acquire some 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest, arguing the bill could threaten their livelihoods. A February letter from the nine communities have asked the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Energy Committee, Ron Wyden, to kill “special interest legislation” for Sealaska Corporation.

Calling the bill introduced by Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski “unfair and morally repugnant,” the towns pointed out that the bill would “create a new injustice against us” in the name of righting a wrong against them that was settled in 1971 when ANCSA passed. The towns pointed out to Wyden in a letter two weeks ago, that the best solution is for BLM to finalize Sealaska?s designation of land in 2008 which was put on ice.

History shows federal cases dating to the 1940s holding that compensation for aboriginal land could only be for lands actually occupied and courts and judges who conducted extensive testimony finding that actually occupied lands only existed “around Native villages as they were in 1907, according to the letter.

“Instead of taking land around their villages, Sealaska wants to take land around our villages. Where is the fairness or justice in that said Myla Poelstra, the postmistress of Edna Bay.

“We relied on law that was 77 years in the making . Now Sealaska wants Congress to rewrite the law. Our towns are having none of that, “Poelstra said.

Read more from this story HERE.