Marvin Roberts has won his case against the City of Fairbanks for wrongful conviction. The settlement is $11.5 million.

Here is a press release from his attorney, Fairbanksan Mike Kramer, of the law firm Kramer and Cosgrove.

“I don’t think any amount of money will be enough to justify what I endured as an innocent man in prison,” Roberts was quoted as saying.

“This settlement, however, give me freedom with my life, and most importantly, more time with my daughter and my parents, who supported me throughout the nightmare.”

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The president of the school board and the city mayor complained at length on KFAR Monday about my blog post headlined “Alaska Republicans invent lie that 200 Fairbanks protesters were imported actors.”

In the process, School Board President Melissa Burnett and Mayor David Pruhs misrepresented the contents of that blog post. Now I admit the headline could have been toned down, but nothing in that blog post was inaccurate.

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Fairbanks Assembly Member Barbara Haney promoted this Alaska Republican Party nonsense about someone, somewhere spending tens of thousands of dollars to import 200 Outside actors to take part in a Fairbanks protest.

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Sen. Dan Sullivan said that he’s been through more stressful environments than having elected officials “asking me questions that were clearly drafted from some far left group.”

This comment about questions legislators asked him Thursday tells me that Sullivan is out of touch with a significant number of his constituents and does not understand that many Alaskans are worried about the chaos created by President Trump.

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Speaking to reporters in Juneau Thursday, Sen. Dan Sullivan left no doubt that he blames Sen. Lisa Murkowski for the disastrous decision to put Josh Kindred on the federal bench. He takes no personal responsibility for his role in backing Kindred, wanting Alaskans to forget that Sullivan predicted Kindred would be a fantastic judge.

He did not name Murkowski as he complained about Kindred, just as he did not name federal Judge Sharon Gleason, when he attacked her as doing unimaginable damage to Alaska with rulings he doesn’t like.

He said he has a “red line” that he won’t cross when it comes to supporting new judges and that he will block anyone he thinks will be like Gleason.

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Though he has refused invitations to take place in town hall meetings in Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan will be the keynote speaker Friday at a Republican Lincoln Day banquet with a $100 per person charge at Pike’s Landing in Fairbanks.

There will be a free protest outside the venue from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Sullivan prefers speaking to people who agree with him, but the Musk/Trump regime has many people in Alaska deeply worried about the future of the nation.

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In selecting future trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund, the state should consider looking Outside of Alaska for candidates, according to a 7-page memo prepared by a consultant to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

“An expanded geographic scope may provide a broader field of candidates for consideration who have relevant expertise,” the $450,000 report from Alyssa DaCunha and Bejamin Neaderland of WilmerHale says.

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Sen. Dan Sullivan’s stonewalling deprives Alaskans of any knowledge of what he is doing behind the scenes to evade the more open and traditional process that Sen. Lisa Murkowski is using to consider names of applicants to be forwarded to the president for consideration.

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Alaska’s senators know better, but they have attached their names to a letter to the Trump administration that claims “four years of inaction and squandered time” by the Biden administration prevented construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline.

I don’t know if Rep. Nick Begich the Third, who also signed the letter, understands that the claim is a lie.

The thrust of the argument from Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Dan Sullivan and Nick the Third is that by failing to set up federal regulations to qualify for a federal loan guarantee the Biden administration stopped the project.

Sullivan has lied on a separate document that it is a priority to “reverse the Biden administration black-balling” of the federal loan guarantee program.

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“We all want this war to end, but it cannot end on Russia’s terms,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Tuesday.

“If it does, we should expect nothing more than a temporary respite before the resumption of hostilities. Why are we going to start trusting and believing Putin’s word now, given his track record? We’ve seen this before and the appeasement of tyrants does not bring peace. Russia started this conflict and it’s critical for us to stand with Ukraine to end it, not just because it’s right, but because it’s necessary.”

And what of Sen. Dan Sullivan?

His new position is that whatever Trump says on Ukraine and Russia is correct, regardless of whether Trump is contradicting himself, lying or catering to Putin.

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The bill to reduce oil tax credits from a maximum of $8 per barrel to $5 per barrel is one step toward erasing the state deficit and providing the money needed to adequately fund public education.

The change will not mean a drastic cut in the profitability of the North Slope oil companies, according to research the Dunleavy revenue department did in 2021 before proposing this as an option.

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It has long been obvious that the Dunleavy administration does not have a coherent agriculture policy, going back to his 2019 vetoes and the layoffs of 20 employees.

It’s also obvious that the Legislature should reject the Dunleavy executive order creating a new ag department until there is a plan for something other than an nearly empty shell.

Dunleavy has not produced a coherent plan to do anything or pay for anything that needs to be done. All we have is a bumper crop of weasel words.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski is following tradition in Alaska, using a method that allows some openness in the process. We know the names of the people who have applied to be federal judges.

Unhappy with this approach, Sen. Dan Sullivan is using a secret process in which the names of applicants are known only to former Gov. Sean Parnell, former Lt. Gov. Loren Leman and the seven other people chosen by Sullivan to screen applications.

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“It’s time for America to become the first #BITCOIN superpower,” Nicholas the Third wrote on X. “I am working on something Big with Sen Lummis,” he said, referring to Wyoming Republican cyrpto promoter Cynthia Lummis.

Lummis, who posts pictures of herself with laser eyes, claims to have a plan to “supercharge the U.S. dollar and pay down the national debt by establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve.”

The Bitcoin Policy Institute claimed Begich will make “an historic announcement at Bitcoin for America,” an online gabfest with Lummis as the honorary co-host. A cyrpto promotion site claimed Begich’s “statement has sent ripples across the cryptocurrency market.”

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Now that GOP owner Elon Musk has wiped out federal funding for Sullivan’s organization as part of the attack on the U.S. Agency for International Development and other entities, Sullivan has offered only a timid defense for its work.

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"This is unacceptable, and we're going to ensure that the Americans understand how pissed off we are, how unified we are, how committed we are to working as a country to stand up for each other," the Canadian Press quoted B.C. Premier David Eby as saying. "And I say we don't let up until the president takes the threat off the table."

Tolls on Alaska-bound commercial truck traffic may be coming soon.

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The depth of the Trump deception in his speech didn’t stop Alaska’s Trump-loving leaders—Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Sen. Dan Sullivan—from claiming that Trump mentioning the gas pipeline means the pipeline is as good as built.

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Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s response to the White House debacle is a model of what Sen. Dan Sullivan and other Republicans should be saying about Trump, but aren’t.

She said, “I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and U.S. values around the world.”

Sullivan’s silence makes his position clear. He is right there with the Alaska Republican Party in agreeing with anything Trump says.

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This is the weakest argument ever made to justify the expansion of government by creating a new state ag department: “Look at the bottom of our state seal and you’ll see a farmer,” says Gov. Mike Dunleavy.

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While Sen. Lisa Murkowski recognizes the real danger created by Trump chaos, Sen. Dan Sullivan and Rep. Nick Begich the Third are blindly cheering every dumb and reckless move by the Musk/Trump regime as brilliant and inspired.

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