David is currently part of the 360TV team working on major digital and content projects. Formerly he worked in the newsroom as Digital Director overseeing digital platforms.
The Alaska Permanent Fund is protected by the state constitution, so how can the legislature use it to fund government operations?
The answer is that the principal is protected (that’s the money that comes from oil or deposits by the Legislature), but investment income from the fund can be spent pretty easily.
These two parts of the fund (principal and income) are treated very differently:
(Jeremy Hsieh, Andrew Kitchenman, Rashah McChesney and Aidan Ling contributed to this video.)
Watch the event in 360° (click and drag or swipe to look around):
Watch a summary of the event:
https://www.facebook.com/ktoopublicmedia/videos/1608645885901411/
Photos from the festival (click any picture for a slideshow):
Emry and Casey Harris have a vision for video games. In an industry that’s not always welcoming to people who don’t fit the “gamer” stereotype, they’re on a mission to build a community that’s welcoming to all.
“Everybody gets something from video games,” Casey said. “It’s play.”
When the couple started Game On in Juneau about a year and a half ago, they wanted it to be a different kind of store.
They said gaming culture isn’t normally reflective of LGBTQ interests. Both identify as non-binary and use the singular, gender-neutral pronoun “they.”
One difference about the store is clear as soon as you walk in: a “Diversity in Videogames” alcove is at the center of the front wall. It’s a response to an industry that isn’t exactly inclusive.
Casey Harris calls it a “highlight wall of video games that feature gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, women of color, men of color. Everyone who isn’t a straight white dude in their mid-20s with stubble and bad attitude.”
Which is a contrast to most of the games that come into the store.
“You turn around and there are thousands of games behind you,” they said. “They’re all that guy. You’re just playing the same guy in every game again and again and again.”
The couple says they’ve seen a lot of support for their vision for games and a community that includes everyone, not just people who fit a particular stereotype.
That community support helped the Harrises get enough online votes to place as a finalist in a small business competition run by SCORE, a national organization providing resources and mentorship for small businesses.
Being a finalist comes with a year of small business mentoring and a trip to Reno for a training and networking event. It also puts them in the running for a $15,000 grand prize.
Even if they don’t win the grand prize, the Harrises are excited about what the award will mean for their business.
They would also like to expand their store and offer more services, like console repairs and more new merchandise.
“Being able to pay ourselves and being able to put more into this would be stupendous,” Casey said.
After being in business for a year and a half, the couple can pay themselves a small amount but still work other jobs to make ends meet.
“But that’s not what we’re excited about,” they said. “We’re excited because of the opportunity we have to bring light to this.”
Casey and Emry Harris agree the best part of the award has been the opportunity to share their vision for inclusive gaming with a wider audience.
As the only video game store that they know of in Southeast Alaska, they’re excited to be defining gaming culture in the region.
They hope the platform and resources from this competition will help them spread the word and expand their operations.
The canning line at the Alaskan Brewing Company on March 8, 2018 (Photo by David Purdy/KTOO)
The Trump administration’s steel and aluminum tariffs have a Southeast Alaska business unsure how it’ll be affected.
The Alaskan Brewing Company employs about 100 people making beer in Juneau.
The almost fully automatic canning line is behind the towering steel tanks that brew the beer.
A pallet full of empty aluminum cans is loaded into a machine, which feeds them into the almost fully automatic assembly line.
They slide down a series of conveyor belts. Along the way they’re washed, filled, sealed and finally packed into boxes.
The brewery buys those empty cans – ready to fill – from another manufacturer.
“We’re sort of almost an end user,” said Andy Kline, the brewery’s communications director. “Not quite the end user drinking the beer – but we’re almost an end user of that aluminum.”
Since it has a supplier, the brewery is insulated to some degree from fluctuations in the cost of materials.
“We don’t directly pay that raw material cost,” Kline said. “That’s the other thing that’s hard to predict – what the multiplier effect of a raw material cost will cost to us kind of buying an end product.”
The price of steel actually concerns Kline just as much as aluminum, he said.
The two-story vats that brew the beer and the maze of pipes connecting them are all made of stainless steel.
Expanding the brewery’s infrastructure means a lot of money goes into steel.
But Kline doesn’t seem too worried.
Making beer in Alaska, the brewery is no stranger to unusual supply chain concerns, he said.
“We’re in one of the most unique positions in the United States for a beer supplier,” he said. “Every single thing we get in – 98 percent, about, of all of our materials are brought in by barge.”
The remote location requires some flexibility and creativity.
A few years ago, for instance, the brewery started taking the spent grain leftover after the brewing process, and burning it for fuel. Before then, they had to ship it out to dispose of in the Lower 48.
Why make beer in a place with so many unusual challenges?
For the brewery, it’s practically a founding principle. Showcasing the manufacturing possibilities of Alaska is actually in their mission statement.
Kline said the brewery doesn’t foresee any specific changes – there’s no plans for price increases or big layoffs – for now.
The brewery is just keeping an eye out for any impact the tariffs might have.
Editor’s note: The Alaskan Brewing Company is a financial and in-kind underwriter of KTOO.
Designs for Juneau’s Project Playground have been released. The rebuilt playground will be similar to the one that burned down in April of last year, but with a few improvements, including:
Two ziplines are planned for the north end of the playground, each about 30-feet long.
Most of the cost will be covered by insurance, with donations funding the rest. Fence pickets are still on sale to raise additional money for the new playground surfacing.
Construction is scheduled to begin in June, with an opportunity for the community to help with some of the building in August.
The project web site is ProjectPlayground.org.
Once a year, Juneau organizations came together in one place for Project Homeless Connect.
The main hall of the Juneau Arts and Culture Center was packed with booths and tables, like a trade show or craft fair, but these tables are staffed by organizations that provide services to homeless individuals.
More than 30 organizations offered help with housing, employment, health care, warm weather clothing and more.
Organizers even provided a hot lunch and local stylists gave free haircuts.
“Usually, it’s pretty hard for a homeless person to get around to all these places and get everything they would need done,” said James Cole Bottelson, who was was one of about 200 people who received services at the event.
He said that as someone experiencing homelessness, having all these organizations in one place helps a lot.
The city’s chief housing officer Scott Ciambor said it helps the providers, too.
“You know the service providers really enjoy it because they get to see their peers and network,” he said. “It keeps peoples’ spirits up for the work is being done in the community, so it’s great.”
The number of people served at the event also helps with an annual estimate of the number of homeless individuals in Juneau.
This year, there will be no street canvassing. Last year, a survey that did include street canvassing counted 215.
Ciambor said the free haircuts were the most popular this year, with more than 50 people signing up.
