Oil production in Alaska is lower now than it was when SB 21 was approved five years ago. Oil prices are nowhere near $100 and the idea of a sustainable budget of $6.7 billion is a distant memory.
Former Sen. Mike Dunleavy, through the shadow campaign bankrolled by his brother and a few others, is all but claiming the blessing of the late Gov. Jay Hammond from beyond the grave.
Paul Gavora, who died May 21 in Fairbanks at 86, did more than any other single person to shape the development and growth of local business in Fairbanks over the last half-century.
Read MoreThe Pebble mine project faces new threats as a deal with a major investor has been terminated, according to the Canadian company backing the proposed mine.
Read MoreIf you have a lot of money, the best way to get the most bang for your buck is to bankroll a shadow campaign.
Read MoreTrump leads the league in low-level discourse, but Sen. Dan Sullivan won't say that or object that the president chose to respond by complaining about leaks instead of his staff member's crude joke about Sen. John McCain.
Read MoreSen. Cathy Giessel said the name change she wanted for state refuges was not important enough to order new signs. Never has there been such a good reason to leave well enough alone.
Read MoreThe consistent silence, which equates with political approval, has given Trump confidence that he can do or say anything as far as Republican members of Congress are concerned.
Read MoreThe surprise was not that Murkowski voted for a tax cut. It was that Murkowski voted for a giant tax cut that had no more public review than a bill to name a road or a post office.
Read MoreI hope the Alaska Historical Commission sticks with Bulchitna Lake and rejects a proposal to start calling it Hneh'itnu Bena Lake. The existing name is important for historical reasons and it has literary merit.
Read MoreThis grandstanding move is not sustainable. It is a 2018 election ploy, pure and simple, by politicians with conflicting goals.
Read MoreToday is a good day to ask Curtis Thayer if the road to a balanced budget is paved with cuts to spending for repairing bridges on the Glenn Highway. There is a connection between state spending and services.
Read MoreRebecca Logan was the president and CEO of a small organization that did not comply with a court order to direct a portion of her paycheck to pay a debt. That could not have happened without the knowledge of the president and CEO.
Read MoreAlaska candidates running for state office have to admit that every financial choice means inflicting pain on the public now or taking more from savings, postponing the pain until young Alaskans are old enough to realize what we've done to them.
Read MoreThere is an easy way to bypass the ineffective Alaska law limiting campaign contributions to $500. The shadow campaign backing Republican Mike Dunleavy for governor shows how it's done.
Read MoreNorth Pole Rep. Tammie Wilson, who once said she doesn't believe in inflation, is wasting valuable state time again with dozens of budget amendments based on a misreading of budget statistics.
Read MoreThe record shows that Rep. Mike Kelly was wrong and that offering a weaker retirement plan did create personnel problems in Alaska. The latest confirmation comes from an unusual source—Mike's brother Pete.
Read MoreIn the latest example of Youngspeak, Rep. Don Young said that millions died in Russia because they didn't have guns and "Jews were put into the oven" because they didn't have guns. He was not quoted out of context.
Read MoreThe first financial reports on the governor's race are out. Gov. Bill Walker and Lt. Gov. Bryon Mallott lead the field with about $440,000 on hand for their re-election campaigns, while Scott Hawkins has dumped $200,000 of his own money into his campaign and Mike Dunleavy's major financial backing has gone to an independent group that he is not supposed to have any connection with.
Read MoreWe should drop the pretense that there are no tradeoffs and that the Permanent Fund Dividend cut has nothing to do with oil taxes or an income tax.
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