Alaska Beacon

The U.S. Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it has awarded a $137 million contract for the first phase of a project intended to allow its Seattle base to host two new heavy icebreakers.

The contract, awarded to The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, covers dredging of the Coast Guard’s Slip 36 and construction of two ship berths capable of hosting the new icebreakers, formally known as Polar Security Cutters.

The first of those ships, the Polar Sentinel, is expected to be complete in 2030. When accepted into the Coast Guard, it will be the service’s first new heavy icebreaker since the Polar Star was commissioned in 1977.

The Coast Guard operates the federal government’s icebreaker fleet, and the Polar Star is key to supplying American research bases in Antarctica from its Seattle home port.

A second and third heavy icebreaker were fully funded with $4.3 billion included as part of the Republican budget package approved by Congress and President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The budget package also included $300 million for port construction in Juneau to support the newly commissioned Coast Guard icebreaker Storis, a converted oilfield services ship. Until that work is complete, the Storis will be homeported in Seattle.

The Republican budget package, known as the “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” includes billions of dollars for shoreside port facilities like those in Juneau and Seattle.

Additional phases of work are expected in Seattle, which is expected to be the home port of four new major Coast Guard cutters, the service said in a written statement.

State officials have barred the import, transport and sale of two fast-growing invasive species that were once popular garden ornamentals but have now wreaked havoc on natural vegetation.

The Alaska Division of Agriculture on Friday said it issued a quarantine for the two species: Prunus padus, commonly known as the European bird cherry tree or mayday tree, and Prunus virginiana, commonly known as the Canada red or chokecherry tree.

The order went into effect Monday.

In essence, it will extend through the state a ban that was imposed in 2017 in Anchorage. The trees have become a particular nuisance in Alaska’s largest city, where they have proliferated in greenbelts and other spaces and crowded out native species like birch and spruce.

State and local officials have been trying to remove these non-native trees, and the new policy should help that effort, said Division of Agriculture Director Bryan Scoresby.

“This quarantine prohibits the importation, transport, and sale within the state of these two trees and their parts,” Scoresby said in a statement. “Many agencies continue to pursue control measures with the goal of eliminating these invasive trees. With this quarantine, the flow of trees into Alaska will stop, making this goal more attainable.”

The ornamentals quickly spread, displacing native vegetation, impeding animals’ access and upsetting natural food webs, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service.

Their berries can be toxic to moose, causing cyanide poisoning that is sometimes fatal.

Along with those problems, the invasives might be spreading disease to other trees, according to the Division of Agriculture. A fungal disease called “Black Knot” was recently discovered on chokecherry trees on the University of Alaska Anchorage campus, making the invasive trees potential disease spreaders, the division said.

The two tree species are prime targets of annual Anchorage “weed smackdown” invasive-removal events. There is also a concerted effort to remove the trees from Fairbanks, including on the UAF campus, where officials have been methodically replacing them with native trees.

Eradicating the trees might require more than simply cutting them down because new trees can grow out of root systems below stumps, according to the Cooperative Extension Service.

For all the damage the two invasive tree species cause in Alaska, however, some people have found ways to benefit from them. The toxin in their berries can be neutralized and eaten by people.

In a Friday letter to the leaders of the Alaska House and Senate, Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he will not call lawmakers into a special legislative session when the current one expires at the end of Sunday.

“I write today to inform you that I will not be extending the current special session,” Dunleavy’s letter begins.

Officially, Dunleavy called the session in hopes that legislators would take up education policy legislation and his proposal to create an independent Alaska Department of Agriculture.

The agriculture issue remains unresolved amid a dispute over executive power and appears headed to the court system.

Lawmakers rejected the governor’s education ideas during this spring’s regular session and declined to take them up during the special session, something Dunleavy called “disappointing” in his letter.

Unofficially, lawmakers and political observers believe the governor called the session to force an early vote on his decision to veto millions of dollars of public school funding. Because not all lawmakers were expected to attend the session, it was expected that an early vote would increase the odds that Dunleavy’s veto would stand.

Instead, through extraordinary actions, 59 of 60 legislators were present on the first day of the special session and overrode Dunleavy’s veto. It was the first time since 1987 that Alaska legislators reversed a sitting governor’s budget veto.

After the override, legislators left Juneau and have not held a meeting in the Capitol since.

An education funding task force, created before the special session, has met once, but lawmakers have not taken up education policies the governor prefers, including legal changes that could lead to an increase in the number of charter schools statewide.

In his letter, Dunleavy said that if he does not see progress on his education policies next year, “I am prepared to call additional special sessions, in both duration and number, until we see substantive steps taken to improve Alaska’s education system.”

“That’s his right,” said Senate President Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak. “He can call us into as many special sessions as he wants. Of course, we’re not going to waste time and money. We’ll meet and see where we go.”

Next year is an election year, and the Alaska Constitution prohibits legislators from campaigning while the Legislature is in session.

Calling a special session could keep incumbent lawmakers from raising money or holding campaign events.

“That would be an impact,” Stevens said, “but you know, he has more of his followers running — or as many as people who are opposing his ideas on education. So, it could really hurt his friends more than his enemies.”

In a news conference with reporters after the veto override, Dunleavy said he was considering a special session in September or October to discuss long-term measures intended to bring state revenue and expenses in line.

That’s now off the table.

“The fiscal plan is moving forward. I would expect it to be ready for the 2026 session,” said Jeff Turner, the governor’s communications director.

Another aspect of the special session will linger and may not be resolved short of the court system.

At the start of the special session, Dunleavy issued an executive order setting up the Department of Agriculture.

Lawmakers refused to take up the order, saying they believe it is unconstitutional to issue an executive order during a special session, and they believe it is unconstitutional to reissue one that has already been rejected.

The governor has declined to withdraw the executive order and has said he plans to consider it effective unless lawmakers vote it down.

Legislators are unwilling to vote it down, because doing so would be an implicit recognition of the governor’s right to issue an order during a special session.

The dispute remains unresolved as the special session ends.

A year before Alaska’s 2026 primary election, 10 candidates have already announced their intent to run for governor, and more are expected to announce campaigns in the coming months.

Incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited and unable to run himself, and with so many people in the race, there is no clear front-runner.

During a question-and-answer session at this week’s Alaska Oil and Gas Association conference in Anchorage, Dunleavy was asked who he supports.

Among the confirmed candidates are Dunleavy’s lieutenant governor, Republican Nancy Dahlstrom, and his former revenue commissioner, Adam Crum. His former attorney general, Treg Taylor, is also expected to enter the race.

But given the opportunity to endorse any or all of them, Dunleavy didn’t name any specific candidate as his preference and spoke only in generalities.

“Who do you want to replace you as governor?” asked the event moderator.

“Somebody taller than me,” Dunleavy said to laughter. “No, I’m kidding. … Somebody that believes in Alaska like you do and like I do. You’ve got to be on a mission, right?”

Dunleavy said he believes any governor faces distractions and nay-sayers, people who will oppose projects and a governor’s efforts.

“I would hope that whoever is the next governor has a mission to continue the good things that are happening for the state, continue to work with the Trump administration, because I’ll be gone,” Dunleavy said, alluding to President Donald Trump’s efforts to increase mining, logging and oil and gas drilling in Alaska.

“There’ll be two more years, at least, of President Trump, and hopefully someone after him in a similar vein, who wants to keep this going for the country. So whoever you talk to that’s running for governor, ask them what their mission is. If they balk, or they look up at the sky or they think about it, that’s a concern,” the governor said. “Getting things across the finish line, getting things across the finish line, is the most important thing.”

After the governor’s remarks, deputy press secretary Grant Robinson said by email that the governor’s statement about “at least” two more years was “nothing more than an approximation of the time remaining in the President’s term.”

The 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits someone from being elected President more than twice.

Dunleavy’s own political future is also in question. On Thursday, Fox News, citing unnamed sources, said the governor is considering whether to run against Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, when her current term expires in 2028.

The Fox News report could not be immediately corroborated, but Murkowski herself has said she may leave the Senate. In interviews earlier this month, she declined to rule out a run for governor in 2026.

In addition to Crum and Dahlstrom, seven other Republicans have filed documents for a campaign: former state Sen. Click Bishop of Fairbanks; current state Sen. Shelley Hughes of Palmer; 2022 write-in governor candidate Bruce Walden of Palmer; Matanuska-Susitna Borough Mayor Edna DeVries; podiatrist Matt Heilala of Anchorage; former teacher James William Parkin IV of Angoon; and business owner Bernadette Wilson of Anchorage.

Former state Sen. Tom Begich of Anchorage is the only Democratic candidate to have filed paperwork for a candidacy, and no independents have entered the race so far.

The Alaska Legislature opened an 18-month study of the state’s troubled public education system on Tuesday as lawmakers convened the first meeting of their Task Force on Education Funding, established by law this spring.

Alaska’s public schools rank among the worst in the country according to national standardized testing data, and members of the bipartisan, bicameral task force have been charged with identifying ways to improve performance by changing the way schools are funded and manage their students.

Legislative leaders have said the task force will also have the opportunity to examine funding for schools and ways to address rising costs of transportation, utilities, insurance and maintenance.

Members of the task force will hold a series of hearings and discussions before drafting recommendations for new laws that legislators might implement. Those recommendations must be delivered before lawmakers arrive at the Alaska Capitol in January 2027.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy called legislators into a special session to address education issues, but lawmakers have ignored that call and are not planning to hold formal meetings before the special session ends at the end of the month. Legislative leaders have said they prefer to work through the task force instead.

Dunleavy is term-limited and will be out of office by the time the task force’s recommendations are complete.

“The current state of Alaska’s education is not where we’d like it to be, but I know that we can get to a better place if we all work together, we find common ground, and we build upon what we agree upon,” said Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage and co-chair of the task force.

But on Monday, it appeared that finding that common ground could be difficult, as task force participants identified different areas they prefer to focus upon.

“John Muir said that when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe. The same is true in education,” said Rep. Rebecca Himschoot, I-Sitka. If we take steps to improve teacher quality, that has an impact on the classroom. If we take steps to make sure kids are fed, that has an impact. If we take steps to make sure that we have the right ratios of teachers with students. All of these things have impacts.”

Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, said he would like the task force to consider how it measures results. What standardized tests, if any, should be used to consider performance?

“I think accountability broadly is a place that I hope to go, and I hope that the (Alaska Department of Education and Early Development) can have some input on that,” he said.

Sen. Jesse Kiehl, D-Juneau, suggested that the task force should be “looking at how we empower local government” to deal with education decisions, while Sen. Mike Cronk, R-Tok, said he wants to make sure the task force is “focusing on policies like the READS Act,” which was a bipartisan bill intended to improve reading performance among younger students.

“We are seeing success in that, and those are the kind of policies we need,” he said.

This year, lawmakers voted to increase the base student allocation, core of the state’s per-pupil funding formula, but Ruffridge suggested that lawmakers need to examine other aspects of the formula to see whether they are delivering the intended results.

Alaska, for example, multiplies the base student allocation for students with “intensive needs” and those in rural Alaska.

“It’s a scary proposition to open up the foundation formula, but I think it’s something that we are really tasked with doing in this group,” he said, adding that the state has failed to properly maintain school facilities, particularly in rural Alaska.

Cronk, in prior comments, said he also is concerned about school maintenance. In most of Alaska, proper maintenance depends on funding from the state government.

“If we want to continue to have (stable) education funding, us as a collective group need to create a fiscal plan for this state,” he said.

“I’m hoping that if we’re talking about funding, that should be our goal as part of this, to make sure that we can come up with something so we do have a level funding for all the government services,” Cronk said.

A legislative task force in 2021 did draft a long-term state plan to bring expenses and revenue into balance, but lawmakers have not adopted any legislation suggested by that task force.

The next meeting of the education task force is scheduled for Oct. 30 in Juneau.

Alaska’s state-owned Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island launched a secret U.S. Department of Defense missile last week during what observers believe was a hypersonic weapon being tested by the U.S. military.

The launch, which was not disclosed beforehand, took place about 10 p.m. Thursday night and was observed by people across the Kodiak Archipelago and was visible as far away as Seward.

Hypersonic missiles are those that can travel at least five times the speed of sound.

While long-range ballistic missiles — produced since World War II — frequently exceed that threshold, they cannot typically maneuver to avoid defenses and are locked on a fixed trajectory.

Modern hypersonic missiles, under development by several countries, would be able to avoid anti-missile systems being deployed by the United States, Israel and other countries.

KMXT-FM public radio and the Kodiak Daily Mirror first reported the launch, which was preceded by warnings to navigators and road closures on Kodiak, home to Alaska’s state-owned spaceport.

The spaceport is owned and operated by the Alaska Aerospace Corporation, a state-owned public corporation created in the late 1990s as part of legislative efforts to diversify Alaska’s economy.

Officials issued a written statement the day after saying that “a successful government rocket launch” took place Thursday night and that it was the 35th launch from the Kodiak spaceport since its creation in 1998.

“The residents of Kodiak should be proud of yesterday’s achievement and the significant contribution their community provides to the space legacy of the United States,” the statement said in part.

The corporation did not state the purpose of the launch.

Warning messages issued ahead of the launch are similar to those that observers saw in 2021, when the Department of Defense twice attempted and failed to launch a hypersonic missile from the Kodiak spaceport.

The corporation declined to answer questions asking about the launch on Monday.

John Oberst, president and CEO of the corporation, said by email, “The Alaska Aerospace Corporation considers transparency with Alaskans a priority.  On occasion, there are some launches, like the one last week, that do not permit us this latitude. Thank you for your interest in our business.”

Research scientist Dr. Marco Langebroek, who tracks space launches from his home in the Netherlands, observed that the warnings to navigators match a planned three-stage missile test splashing down near the U.S. military’s rocket site at Kwajalein, Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean.

Four years ago, the U.S. Army published documents indicating that it intended to test a hypersonic missile from Kodiak. The information in those documents matches the warning messages published ahead of last week’s flight.

In 2021, a prior test launch from Kodiak failed due to problems with the booster rocket intended to lift the hypersonic weapon to a high altitude.