OPINION: Alaska has a new acting director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation and a good one this time. And yet it appears the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has grown so dysfunctional that even this is hard for some to recognize. Acting director Doug Vincent-Lang finds himself under attack because the old director is accused of being a poacher, because the state has been involved in Endangered Species Act issues, because Commissioner Cora Campbell can't spell so well, and because...
It may not seem like it, but for a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization, three years is a lifetime. The Senate on Monday voted 75-20 to approve a bill granting FAA $63 billion through 2015 and ending years of piecemeal, short-term extensions that sometimes secured funding for just a few months.
As The Hill points out, short-term authorizations have been the name of the game for the FAA since 2007, and the long-term extension comes at a time few would have expected it. In August...
Editor's note: Mike Doogan is an Alaska State House Representative, author and former newspaper columnist. This commentary appeared in his legislative e-newsletter on Feb. 3.
I have started to try to get support for my bill to put $10 billion into the Alaska Permanent Fund. The bill is in the Powerful House Finance Committee, of which I am an insignificant member. I haven’t asked for a hearing yet; I want all the members of the House to have a chance to think about it first.
The bill has...
Tax reform critics are continuing to try and bluff their fellow Alaskans into believing the state's oil tax regime is competitive. For the sake of Alaska's economic well being, they should start being honest about the cards we're playing. The fact is lawmakers are playing ACES high.
One of the bedrock arguments proffered by critics who oppose reforming oil taxes is that compared to other oil producing regions, Alaska is right in the middle. This is false.
Here is what retired University...
After the latest hurricane force winds drifted in roads and plugged driveways, the snow was falling again in force Friday on Anchorage's South Hillside. There was 4 inches on the desk outside my office window by noon, about the time I read bad news from the National Weather Service:
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM AKST THIS EVENING ... STORM TOTALS RANGING FROM 4 TO 8 INCHES IN TOWN TO 8 TO 12 INCHES ALONG THE HILLSIDE.
And then comes this from the Alaska...
The United States is a pluralistic society. So is Alaska, and perhaps no place in Alaska is more pluralistic than Anchorage. Pluralism means that people of varying backgrounds, cultures and belief systems must somehow agree on ways to live productively despite disagreeing on how or why to live.
For such a system to work, there must be a civil society, a part of life that functions mostly independent of our individual beliefs, cultural practices, or religions. Broadly, civil society concerns...
Stand down, avast, move on to the next crisis, catastrophe averted — all is well in Nome.
“Down South” Coast Guard and elected officials can sleep soundly knowing no one was killed and no one outside Alaska was inconvenienced. D.C. policy makers can move on to the pressing issue du jour. The National Science Foundation remains the smartest agency in the room by proving, once again, that the U.S. does not need a robust Arctic surface fleet of seagoing vessels — all our polar needs can be...
It might be a bit of hyperbole when The Atlantic Wire refers to the pilot of this plane, who successfully completes an emergency landing without a propeller, as "superhuman." But it still takes a hefty dose of skill to pull off a propeller-less landing, and about as much luck that there's enough forward momentum to maneuver the aircraft and a landing surface in sight. The single-engine Cessna 172 was reportedly on a training flight with a student, instructor and two passengers when the...
OPINION: After a spate of euphoria, Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation employees have once again adopted the downcast gaze and shuffling gait of inmates in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Last week’s exaggerated state of bliss and well-being was occasioned by the resignation of their director, Corey Rossi. Rossi, who was neither popular nor qualified for his position, has been indicted on 12 Class A misdemeanors, mostly for falsifying information on official records...
It won't be news to most that aviation is big in Alaska. It's a common talking point for Alaska's members of Congress that more than 80 percent of Alaska's communities lie off the road or ferry system, accessible only by air. Airport and aviation infrastructure are vital to many rural communities in providing much-needed goods and services.
The Department of Transportation on Tuesday released its annual "Alaska Airports and Aviation" report for 2011, which summarizes the numerous initiatives...
