Liz Ruskin, Alaska Public Media
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
How Murkowski Played Dealmaker to Get Controversial Lands Package
The Senate is expected to pass a major public lands package this week as a rider to the annual defense bill. Sen. Lisa Murkowski was one of the key negotiators on this controversial compromise, which has split advocacy groups on the right and left. Murkowski is planning more of the same when she becomes a committee chairman in the new year. What did it take to free these bills from the Congressional quagmire?
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Bill to Remove Alaska Exception to VAWA Passes in U.S. Senate
A bill to remove Sec. 910 from the Violence Against Women Act cleared the Senate today. But it's unclear whether the bill can pass the House before Congress adjourns this week.
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Sullivan Announces New Hires for DC Office
U.S. Senator-elect Dan Sullivan has chosen Joe Balash as chief of staff, Mike Anderson as spokesman and DeLynn Henry as scheduler.
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Sealaska Selections in Tongass Added to Defense Bill
Sealaska Corporation would get land within the Tongass National Forest in a bill that’s moving quickly in the final days of Congress. It would turn over about 70,000 acres of the Tongass National Forest to Sealaska, mostly for logging and development. It's part of a large package of public lands bills that's been tacked on to a must-pass defense bill.
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BOEM Report Says Chukchi Sea Drilling Runs Heightened Risk Of Large Spill
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is holding hearings around the state on lease sale 193, in the Chukchi Sea. In its latest Environmental Impact Statement, BOEM says there’s likely more oil there, but also more risk of a large oil spill.
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EPA Regs Hit Fishing Industry, Unless Congress Meets Deadline
Alaska’s fishing industry is watching a deadline approach: Dec. 18. That’s the date tough new EPA regulations apply to commercial fishing boats, unless Congress intervenes.
Anti-Begich Ad in Voter Guide Prompts Bill to Ban Parties From Booklet
The state Division of Elections took some heat this year for publishing an attack ad against Sen. Mark Begich within the pages of the official voter guide. Now, Rep. Les Gara, an Anchorage Democrat, wants to ban partisan ads in the guide, a booklet that’s mailed to every voting household.
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Begich Bill Would Shush Political Calls
After losing an election that was the most expensive -- and some say annoying -- in state history, outgoing Sen. Mark Begich has proposed a bill that would curtail political calls to voters’ homes.
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Senate Committee Holds Hearing On High Violence Levels In American Indian, Alaska Native Communities
The trauma American Indian and Alaska Native children experience due to the high levels of violence in their communities was the subject of a hearing today in the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee. Both Alaska senators pressed for solutions, in law and federal dollars.
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What’s Next For Sen. Mark Begich?
Sen. Mark Begich finally conceded that he lost the election this week, but for now, until Jan. 3, he’s still a U.S. senator, and he’s back in Washington.
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American Indian, Alaska Native Children Suffering High Rates Of PTSD
American Indian and Alaska Native children see so much violence in their homes and communities that they suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder at triple the rate of the general population, akin to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s one of the starting points of a new federal task force report on indigenous children and their exposure to violence.
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Marijuana Entrepreneurs Face Special Business Burdens
Alaskans who hope to operate marijuana businesses will have to defy U.S. drug law, of course. But they’ll also face other federal rules they’re likely to find severely inconvenient and perhaps crippling to their enterprise.
Murkowski Questions Differing National Guard Investigation Results
Two different Pentagon agencies investigated the Alaska National Guard for allegedly mishandling sexual assault complaints. They came to opposite conclusions, and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski wants to know why.
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Where Did That $57 Million Go?
More than $57 million was spent on Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, which comes to about $230 per vote cast, and the campaigns aren’t done reporting their spending totals. If you're looking for where it went, start with where a lot of it came from: Out of state. Then look at your TV.
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With Persistent Lead, Sullivan Heads to Washington
With more votes counted in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, Republican Dan Sullivan still leads Democrat Mark Begich by about 8,000 votes. While Begich hasn't conceded, the former attorney general seem to be claiming his victory. A spokesman says he's flying to Washington today.
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Lawsuit Claims Chukchi Rules Fail to Protect Walrus
A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit today against the Fish and Wildlife Service, saying its rule allowing the oil industry to disturb or harm Pacific walrus in the Chukchi Sea violates the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
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Sullivan Leads Begich by 8,000 votes
Alaska appears to have followed the national trend and elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate. But Democratic Sen. Mark Begich isn’t conceding just yet.
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Knowns and Unknowns Among Uncounted Ballots
With a few candidates up and down the ballot unsure whether they won or lost, a lot of Alaskans are looking to the thousands of ballots that remain uncounted. Division of Elections chief Gail Fenumiai says it's unclear exactly how many ballots are outstanding.
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Begich, Sullivan Rally Voters, Each His Own Way
In the final days before the U.S. Senate election, candidates Mark Begich and Dan Sullivan are making their final pitches, aiming to rally their supporters to the polls. Sullivan got help from two national figures representing polar opposites of the GOP: Mitt Romney, an establishment Republican, and Sen. Ted Cruz, a Tea Party hero.
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Letter Shaming Alaska Voters Cribbed From Study Proving Its Value
Letters from an unknown group calling itself the Alaska State Voter Project are appearing in Alaska mailboxes. They list the voting history of the addressee – along with that of other community members. Many recipients are outraged, saying the letters are an attempt to shame them into voting. A political scientist says the letters are nearly identical to ones he used in a 2006 experiment.