Alaska Public Media

Congress last week agreed to spend more than a half-billion dollars on military construction projects in Alaska.

Most of the projects are in Fairbanks, to prepare Eielson Air Force Base for the arrival of F-35 aircraft. The short-term spending bill Congress passed also has $155 million for a new radar system at Clear Air Force Station, and $47 million for a drone hangar at Fort Wainwright.

Jim Dodson, president of the Fairbanks Economic Development Corporation, says the projects are a big deal for Alaska’s economy, especially if the work goes to in-state contractors.

“We don’t expect to get 100 percent of the contracts. But Alaska should have, let’s just say an equal shot at getting those contracts,” he said.

Dodson says he’s talking to the Corps of Engineers to ensure that contract set-asides and bidding preferences don’t inadvertently exclude Alaskans. He says, for instance, that one contract has been set-aside for contractors from Historically Underused Business Zones, or HUBzones.

“In Fairbanks there’s only a very small, like a six block area, that’s HUBzone-qualified,” he said. “Not only does the contractor have to reside in the HUBzone, but 30 percent of his employees, or her employees, have to live in that HUBzone. So that pretty well means there’s no contractor in Fairbanks, Alaska that can bid competitively on that contract.”

Most of rural Alaska, though, is considered a HUBzone. The appropriations bill also has about $34 million for projects at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, in Anchorage.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, added a section encouraging the Defense Department seek out Alaska contractors and cooperate with the state’s workforce development agencies.

These are the days when a president turns to thoughts of legacy.

As the months tick down on this administration, President Barack Obama has created a marine national monument off new England and last month vastly expanded one near Hawaii.

Alaska interest groups are working to get his attention, too.

Some want him to take bold action in the 49th State before he leaves office, and others are urging him to resist those calls.

A TV ad ran in Washington, D.C., this month that flashed footage of oil tankers bathed in the golden light of a Valdez sunset, an offshore drill rig and Alaska Natives on the tundra.

Its call to action: “Tell the White House to keep the Arctic in the next off shore leasing program. It’s the right thing for Alaska. It’s the right for our nation.”

That’s part of a six-figure ad campaign by a coalition that includes the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, unions and the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

They took out a full page ad in the Washington Post, too.

Meanwhile, environmental groups are working just as hard to make sure Obama knows how much they want the Arctic ocean tracts removed from the off-shore leasing plan, due out this fall.

That’s one way the president might choose to leave his mark on the 49th state.

Or he could do something really dramatic, like use his powers under the Antiquities Act to declare a national monument in Alaska, or off its shores.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski dreads a White House announcement like that, which she believes would diminish Alaska’s opportunities.

“We’ve seen some indication that he doesn’t plan on any ocean protection designation,” she said. “But until we’re on the last day of the administration, I’m not going to rest and believe that’s the case.”

Some Alaskans, though, are hoping Obama will help them preserve their marine environment, in ways short of monument status.

Austin Ahmasuk of Nome is trying to marshal federal and local support for a presidential order about managing the Bering Strait. Locals are especially concerned about increased pollution from ship traffic, said Ahmasuk, a marine advocate for Kawerak, the Native non-profit for the Bering Strait region.

“At each point that our tribes have considered the north Bering Sea and climate change and shipping, we’ve asked – basically pleaded – with the Coast Guard that no discharges occur,” he said.

Ahmasuk says they’re still working an executive order they’d like the president to sign, and still gathering local support, although they started quite a while ago.

“At that time we thought, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s virtually no time with this president.’ This is two years ago,” he said. “And now here we are in 2016 and we think we have, of course, even less time now.”

Another person feeling deadline pressure is Pat Pletnikoff, the mayor of St. George, one of the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea. He does not want a presidential order, but he’d like to see the waters around St. George protected. Pletnikoff said St. George is witnessing some upsetting changes, like the loss of vast bird populations.

“You know, we see a lot of seals on our rookeries at St. George Island dead. And they’re dying because they’re probably starving,” he said, adding that they’d need more research to know for sure.

Pletnikoff is wary of opposition from the fishing industry, so he wants to nominate St. George for possible designation as a marine sanctuary. That’s a public process that can take years. Pletnikoff says it would be more transparent.

“We’re not looking to close of lots of areas of sea to non-fishing,” he said. “What we want to do is start to understand what it is that the fur seal population and the sea bird population require in the way food in order to thrive.”

Though he isn’t asking for an executive order, Pletnikoff has taken his case to the White House, to Obama’s top Arctic advisor.

Pletnikoff knows this is a critical time for marine conservation.

“A lot of folks talk about the fact that perhaps the president would like to leave a legacy,” the mayor said, “and they’ve already done that significantly in the Hawaiian area and that there might be some need or desire on the part of the president to do the same thing in Alaska, because he’s the first sitting president to visit north of the Arctic Circle, in Alaska.”

If Obama is planning to declare any monuments in Alaska, or off Arctic shores, then he’s keeping his cards close to his vest.

Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze recently told Murkowski, at a committee hearing, that he does not know of any planned monuments in Alaska. But, he added, he’s not privy to the president’s thoughts.

Congress, for the first time, overrode one of President Barack Obama’s vetoes. The bill — which now becomes law — allows 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia based on allegations it provided support to the terrorist attackers.

Obama argued the law makes U.S. officials vulnerable to similar lawsuits in foreign courts. Ninety-seven senators voted to overturn the veto Wednesday, including both Alaskans. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said it gives victims and their families an “avenue to justice.”

Alaska Congressman Don Young bucked the tide. He was one of only 18 Republicans in the House who voted to uphold Obama’s veto. His spokesman, Matt Shuckerow, says the Congressman voted for principle over politics.

“Many have made this vote (an) issue of overriding the president and overriding his veto rather than an examination of the legislation and the policy itself,” Shuckerow said.

In a written statement, Young says he sympathizes with the victims, but says the law allowing them to sue Saudi Arabia threatens national security and the safety of Americans deployed abroad. Shuckerow says Young would like to reverse many of Obama’s actions, but he agrees with Obama in opposing this bill.

“This was not a vote he took lightly but it was something that, given his concerns, the risk it posed to American military and intelligence personnel overseas, and the unintended consequences of this legislation … he could not support it,” Shuckerow said.

Congress is also on track to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. Both Alaska senators voted for the spending bill and the House was scheduled to vote on it Wednesday evening.

Anchorage police have charged a former Anchorage School District employee with embezzlement.

The charges come after a five month investigation.

Kellie Fagan allegedly took between $50,000 and $60,000 in school district funds from two schools, said Detective Tony Pate, who serves the fraud division of Alaska Police Department APD fraud division.

“It was pretty complicated,” Pate said. “The forged checks were part of a dual signature system the school district uses. She forged both signatures for that, and that was verified when we talked to the people who’s signatures were allegedly on there.”

Fagan, 61, used her school district procurement card and forged checks to reimburse herself for purchases, voided computer deposit records to hide theft and moved money from one account to another through forged checks, Pate said.

She has been charged with scheme to defraud, theft, falsifying business records, and forgery, all felonies.

The thefts occurred between 2010 and 2016.

When the fraud was discovered, Fagan was a Gruening Middle School financial data clerk, who collected money for student activities.

She also had worked at Central Middle School, and embezzled funds there as well.

District Superintendent Deena Paramo said the suspect does not represent the school district’s 6,000 employees, and likens the thefts to insider trading

“When someone steals from people in Alaska, from school districts, they steal from classrooms,” Paramo said. “As our budget is 25 percent paid for by local citizens and 75 percent by the state, they are stealing from the city of Anchorage and they are stealing from the state of Alaska.”

The school district is undergoing a business process review and is moving toward an accounting system for student activities that will be available online, which will generate electronic receipts, Paramo said.

The thefts were discovered earlier this year, during an audit.

Once the fraud was discovered, it was turned over to the police dpartment’s fraud unit.

Fagan was immediately placed on administrative leave and terminated in April 2016.

Cabinet members and high-ranking science advisors from 25 governments will convene on the White House today to discuss the Arctic. It’s billed as the first-ever White House Arctic Science Ministerial.

The aim is to pool science resources from around the globe to better understand the rapid changes in the Arctic and also what those changes mean for other regions.

“The Arctic is a foreshadow. It’s an augury. It’s a preview of what is coming our way in the rest of the world,” said Mark Brzezinski, the top White House liaison to the Arctic. “The sooner and the more effectively we get in front of that scientifically, the better off we all will be.”

One of the themes of the meeting is the need for better and more coordinated observation in the Arctic. Brzezinski says that includes traditional knowledge from indigenous people.

“They are the first people of the Arctic. They, more than anyone else, can report on changing patterns, whether flora or fauna or weather or ice,” he said.

Among the attendees are representatives of the Athabaskan, the Gwich’in, the Inuit and the Saami people. Thirty Alaska Native leaders met with U.S. delegation today, to air their concerns and priorities. Former Alaska Lt. Gov. Fran Ulmer, now chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, says countries well beyond the Arctic are sending science ministers to the conference.

“You have countries from Italy and India and China coming, because they’re not only willing to contribute scientists to this work, but understand that what happens in the Arctic

is really impacting them in terms of sea level rise and mid-latitude climate change,” she said.

Documents from the ministerial will be posted after tomorrow’s meeting on Arctic.gov. Ulmer says they’ll include two pages from each country that summarizes the Arctic science they’re conducting.

Citing the concerns among his constituents an Anchorage Assembly member knelt during the Pledge of Allegiance during a Tuesday meeting.

Downtown assembly member Patrick Flynn represents Fairview and Mountainview, two of the most diverse census tracts in the country.

As the pledge began, Flynn kept his hand over his chest and recited the words, but took to one knee.

In a brief interview afterwards, he said the gesture was “out of respect for those who’ve expressed concern that we don’t always live up to our ideals.”

“I’m mindful and respectful of that, particularly since I represent a lot of that population,” Flynn added, referring to minority communities in his district.

Political protests surrounding the pledge have been a contentious topic the last few weeks, both at the national level among professional athletes, as well as closer to home, with several football player’s from Anchorage’s West High recently taking a knee ahead of a game.

Flynn said it was likely a one-time demonstration for him.

The gesture went largely unnoticed at the time, with Assembly Chair Elvi Gray-Jackson saying later on that she thought Flynn simply fell.

Amy Demobski, who represents the conservative Eagle River district, said toward the meeting’s end she was bothered by what had taken place.

“As a veteran, as someone who supports law enforcement, as someone who looks at the Pledge of Allegiance as something that honors the sacrifices made from men and women who’ve died defending our country I find it disrespectful,” she said during comments. “As an assembly member I find it disrespectful, this is a formal procedure.”

Demboski asked the assembly’s leadership to counsel members against similar displays, citing it as a violation of formal protocols for the body.

But others, including both active-duty and retired service-members, disagreed with that level of condemnation.

A mild counter-protest to the kneel came from Flynn’s conservative colleague from South Anchorage, Bill Evans, himself an Army veteran.

Evans sits next to Flynn on the dais, and heard through social media that his colleague was considering making a statement.

He went out of his way during opening remarks to mention that he’d pinned his jump wings from airborne training to his lapel. But Evans was matter-of-fact that respects anyone’s right to symbolic protest.

“I just thought if we were going to open it up to comments with symbols I wanted to do the same thing,” Evans said during a brief interview.

“It’s great Patrick (Flynn) has the right to express whatever concern he’s trying to express, and I just want to make it clear that other people view it somewhat differently, and have equally valid concerns.”