Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from Aliasca Pipeline Service Company, maintaining and operating the 800-mile Trans-Alasca Pipeline since 1977. Learn more at aliasca pipeline.com. We are able to accomplish what I feel needs to be addressed for the state of Alaska. The Alaska Senate moves forward a high-profile budget bill. From the Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News Nightly for Wednesday, March 11th. Good evening, I'm Laurie Townsend. Also tonight, environmental groups sue the federal government over its plan for two million acres in the interior. Trump's reversal of these protections came without any sort of environmental review or public process. Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. Hi, I'm Avery Elfalt, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media, Cage and S, where I work in Haynes, and other public radio stations, and Anchorage Fairbanks and the Illusions. It allows us to connect you with the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the morning news on aliasca news nightly or online at alascapublic.org. The Alaska Desk is only possible with the support of grants and listeners like you. Thank you. A high-profile budget bill that would unlock hundreds of millions in government construction projects across Alaska took a substantial step forward in the state legislature today. The Alaska Senate unanimously passed what's known as the Supplemental Budget this afternoon, setting an up or down final vote in the House in the coming days. The budget bill faced a brief delay in the Senate as Republican lawmakers objected to the initial half a billion dollar proposal passed by the House and expanded by a Senate committee. The budget bill taps a savings account so it needed a super majority, and that gave the Republican minority leverage to negotiate. And today, minority Republicans ultimately agreed to a roughly 30% reduction. All 20 members of the Senate voted to advance a newly trimmed back $370 million spending package. Bethel Democratic Senator Limon Hoffman says a spike in oil prices erased some of the deficit lawmakers had planned to fill. As a result of that, we are able to accomplish what I feel needs to be addressed for the state of Alaska and also the concerns of many of the members of the minority. The deal removes from the budget bill tens of millions of dollars to make up for unexpected spending by some departments this past year, most prominently the Department of Corrections. Tulk Republican Senator Mike Cronk, the minority leader says it's important for lawmakers to dig a little deeper into why agencies spent more than planned. By reducing this, this is, you know, one step closer to not withdrawing as much as what was initially looked at. Other Republicans thank the majority for pairing the budget back to only what they saw as the most urgent items. Senators are also hoping the deal will placate House Republicans who initially withheld their votes to draw from savings. Minority caucus members said they wanted more time to examine why spending had grown. House leaders indicated this afternoon they'd seek a final supermajority vote tomorrow, but the Republican minority leader says it'd be irresponsible to hold a final vote before a new state revenue forecast on Friday. Alaska is on track to receive more than $1 billion from the federal government over the next few years to improve health care in the state, but millions of that depends on the legislature, passing several bills aligning Alaska with best practices for rural health care. So far, some of the changes have been fairly uncontroversial. But as Alaska Public Media's Rachel Cassandro reports, a proposal that would make it easier for out-of-state nurses to practice in Alaska is facing fierce pushback. When you boil it down, Alaska Hospital and Health Care Association had Jared Kosen says joining a so-called license compact is pretty simple. He says there would be a set of criteria nurses would demonstrate. And if they do, then they are issued a license within whatever states in the compact, and then they can practice in any states that use those same standards as set by the compact. Proponents say joining a compact would help ease a nurse shortage across the state that's projected to worsen. A 2023 report showed one in five registered nurse positions across Alaska were unfilled. Kosen says it may be simple to explain, but actually getting a bill passed to join the compact has been anything but it's just so snagged up in politics. The last version of the bill was introduced in 2023. It was supported by most health care organizations in the state, but it was opposed by nursing unions. He says that created a toxic dynamic. And this year there's new pressure on the legislature thanks to the Rural Health Transformation Program. When the state health department applied for the money, it told the centers for Medicare and Medicaid services the state would join the compact. CMS has been very clear that these are things that they want to see and if you don't get them passed through legislation, there will be financial consequences to the state. That's Anzinc, emergency room physician and former chief medical officer of Alaska. The state's been directed by CMS to create compacts for other health care positions too. Physicians, emergency medical services, psychologists and physician assistants. The state Department of Health doesn't know exactly how much money would be clawed back if Alaska doesn't pass all the required legislation, including the nurse compact bill. But a health department official wrote over email that a ballpark estimate is that millions of dollars is at stake annually and tens of millions of dollars over the five years of rural funding. State Senator Kathy Geesele, Republican from Anchorage and a nurse, said she won't vote for the bill as is. She's worried because she says it would mean Alaska turns over regulatory authority to a national organization. I certainly respect their expertise in the profession of nursing, but Alaska is different. We have reasons that we need to regulate our own nurses. We have cultural differences than other states in the lower 48. We have distances and issues like that. And she says even if the bill is altered, the compact can't be. It has to be joined as written. Shannon Davenport is a union leader and nurse working in behavioral health and hospice care in Anchorage. She says there are many problems with the nursing field right now, especially workplace safety. And she doesn't think the nursing compact is the solution to them. She says the compact is designed to serve institutions, not always nurses. It's not the golden goose. It's not the answer to everything. It's not the magic key that's going to unlock everything. Even so, most nurses support a compact, almost 90% of nurses living in Alaska, according to a 2023 survey, and 85% of union nurses do. Legislative leaders say they're reviewing the proposals closely and weighing the pros and cons. But at least this year, Kosen says he's not expecting much progress. I feel like we've completely lost vision for what the policy is, what the merits of this bill are, and it's just going to continue to be in a fight. So at this time, am I optimistic? I'm not. Lawmakers do have one more session to consider the idea. The federal deadline to join the compact is at the end of 2027. In Anchorage, with additional reporting by Eric Stone, I'm Rachel Cassandra. The U.S. Department of Interior announced last month that it will offer more than two million acres of land to the state of Alaska with the idea of removing longstanding federal barriers to energy and mining development. Now 10 environmental groups are suing the department for rolling back those protections. As Shelby Herbert reports for the Alaska Desk, their concerns range from habitat destruction to the loss of subsistence rights. For over 50 years, an area called the Dalton corridor, which stretches from the Yukon River to the Brooks Range in Northern Alaska, has been subject to federal oversight. Now, the Department of the Interior says it's reversing those protections to facilitate energy and mineral development, like the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline and the Amblor Road Project. Governor Mike Dunlavy hailed the announcement, saying it fulfills a promise made in the 1959 Alaska Statehood Act, which authorized the transfer of over 100 million acres of federal land to the state. But a group of environmental organizations say the transfer breaks a number of other land management laws, like the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. These lanes have been protected since the 1970s because of their critical importance to wildlife and the communities that rely on that wildlife. And Trump's reversal of these protections came without any sort of environmental review or public process or explanation for the reversal. And so we'll see him in court. That's Rebecca Noblan, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity. An organization dedicated to protecting endangered species and ecosystems across the United States. And one of
of the petitioners in the lawsuit. The complaint, filed on Tuesday in the US District Court in Anchorage alleges that the transfer will cause widespread harm to vulnerable ecosystems and species, like caribou. Here's Pam Miller from Alaska Community Action on Toxic. - Yeah, well, this would certainly pave the way again for the Ambuler Road and other extractive industries to move in and damage the lands and waters and habitats and the communities that depend on these lands and waters for cultural and subsistence reasons and threatens communities with contamination from heavy metals and other harmful chemicals. - Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Director Kevin Pendergast previously acknowledged that subsistence users in the area could experience new restrictions on lands that are transferred to the state. And in the lawsuit, the petitioners highlighted the BLM's admission that local communities could lose access to entire areas that were previously open for subsistence use. The Tannenau Chiefs Conference, a Fairbank-based Alaska Native Tribal Consortium, isn't involved in the lawsuit, but it did release a statement condemning the transfer, saying the decision was made without necessary tribal consultation and that it could strip protections from important harvesting grounds and cultural sites. The Department of the Interior declined a comment on the lawsuit. Reporting in Fairbanks, I'm Shelby Herbert. - Still to come on Alaska News Nightly, Sitka gets special recognition for being a culinary hotspot. - There's so many talented chefs on this island and there's so many amazing female chefs on this island. I just think it's really special. - That's ahead, stay with us. - I'm Shelby Herbert, a reporter with the Alaska Desk. That's a joint reporting effort from Alaska Public Media and KUAC, where I work in Fairbanks and other public radio stations and anchorage hains and the illusions. It allows us to connect to the issues happening in communities all across the state. You can hear our stories during the morning news, Alaska News Nightly, or online at AlaskaPublic.org. Thank you. - A bill that would change the scope of an Alaska sexual assault law had its first committee hearing yesterday. Democratic Juno Representative Sarah Hannan's bill introduced this year would alter a law that specifically criminalizes sexual assault by a medical provider. As it stands now, a key part of the legal definition of sexual assault by a medical provider requires that the alleged victim isn't aware of sexual contact happening at the moment. Hannan's bill, if passed, would eliminate that stipulation. The bill was heard in the House Health and Social Services Committee Tuesday. Hannan introduced the bill. - That stems from a very high profile sexual assault case that happened here in Southeast. The case was tried in Juno last fall and it became apparent there was a loophole in the law and a couple of the victim's cases could not be pursued. - That case involves more than a dozen former patients predominantly Alaska Native women who accused chiropractor Jeffrey Faults of sexual assault under the guise of medical care while he worked at Southeast Alaska's Regional Health Consortium in Juno. The bill comes after the sexual assault trial against Jeffrey Faults ended with two acquittals and 14 charges declared mistrials in September. But shortly after the jury returned their verdict, the judge in the case dismissed one of those remaining charges. That charge was associated with Saeithton Jamahan Hasselquist, who testified that Faults assaulted her under the guise of medical care in 2018 and 2019. Judge Larry Wolford ruled that Hasselquist testimony didn't match the legal definition of the sexual assault by a medical provider charge. The acquittal order said the charge is being dismissed because Hasselquist was aware that the contact she received was sexual and that it was not part of legitimate medical treatment. Hasselquist testified on behalf of the bill Tuesday. Awareness does not mean consent. Awareness does not mean a patient feels safe enough to stop what is happening or challenging a medical provider. That gap allowed the person who harmed me to avoid accountability. After spending 10 minutes hearing the bill, the House Health and Social Services Committee put it aside to continue at a later date. On Wednesday morning, Handan Staff says the bill's next hearing hasn't been scheduled yet. While Faults would not be tried under the altered law if HB242 passes, it would close that loophole in any future cases of sexual assault by a medical provider. Since the trial ended with a hung jury in September, the court assigned Faults to a public defender, public defender Niko Ambrose's Faults' third attorney. And he says he needs more time to prepare to go to trial again. The next readiness hearing in the case is scheduled for April 15th. (soft music) The first third of the IDIDRAD Trail sled dog race has seen a bit of everything, from severe wind chill to watery overflow and even some wildlife. Front of the pack team zipped through the interior hub of McGrath late last night and early today. But several other stayed at the checkpoint for their mandatory 24 hour breaks. Alaska Public Media's Able White has more from McGrath more than 300 miles into the 1000 mile race. Defending champion Jesse Holmes was first to McGrath late Tuesday, but he only stopped for a few minutes to grab supplies from his drop bags, including frozen fish to feed his team. - We didn't need dogs a little bit to care of. Getting ready for the next stage is of the race. I expected it to continue to be tough, so if you guys well rested there, get the dogs in my self-reviewed for the journey. - Front running muskers like Holmes and Frequent Top 10 Finisher Page drawbney, both from the Denali Highway area, opted to blow through McGrath, headed for the village of Tacatna, where they betted down their dogs to take their 24s. Others like Up and Commer Riley Dyke and Matt Hall, the runner up the last two years, passed those staying into Tacatna and headed for the ghost town checkpoint of Ofer for their 24 hour rest. It's been cold all along the trail so far. Teams experienced wind chill down to 45 below near McGrath and even colder in lower lying areas. Southmore, I did a Rod Mustard Keaton Lowbrick says, his boots were frozen when he pulled into McGrath this morning. - It always feels colder on, I don't know if that's the river or whatever that was, but I mean these are frozen salad. Josie Shelley is another veteran mousher from Fairbanks in the 2024 I did a Rod Rookie of the Year. She won the first Yukon Quest Alaska 750 in mid-February and laughs when asked about the cold weather. - I did the Yukon Quest, it was like 68 below. - So this, I mean I don't like the 40 below, but I'm also not, it's fine. - Shelley spent six hours in the McGrath checkpoint and squeezed in a two hour nap her longest since the race started before heading farther down the trail. But not everyone continued down the trail, a handful of moushers declared their 24 hour rests in McGrath, including Jeff Deeter, another Fairbanks mousher. Deeter is competing in his ninth I did a Rod and says his 16 dog team is doing great and eating like wolves. He says, that's a good sign. - I was trying not to go into my 24 with any sort of depletion of the team, like I wanted to catch them while they're still sound and hungry and feeling their best, so that we can build on that and actually leave here really ready for the final two thirds of this race. - Coming into the checkpoint, Deeter says he ran into overflow that left the entire team soaking wet with an ambient temperature of 25 below. Moushers also spoke of running into bison earlier in the race heading through the farewell burn after the treacherous Dalzell gorge. Will a mousher gave Dunham is terrified of them and says they were standing right at the edge of the trail. - And then they kind of moved off a little bit and we snuck by him really quick, but Jason Mackey was right behind me. And he was like, they were so close. - There was no bison on the menu for Dunham in McGrath where she was taking her 24 hour layover and had southwestern chicken and rice for breakfast Wednesday. Stopping here, she says, is part of a challenging but strategic plan. - I chose to come here because it sets me up to where now I'll go to offer and I'll stay there for break after this. And then that's my team up for hopefully three runs into Ruby. - The first mousher to Ruby where teams reach the Yukon River when the gourmet meal cooked by flown in chefs that is sometimes eaten like Dunham's chicken and rice for breakfast, just depending on when they arrive. In McGrath, I'm Ava White. - As of this afternoon, I did ride teams were spread out across nearly 100 miles of trail from the front runners in Ulfer all the way back to Nikolai. At last check, Riley Dyke remained in the lead but was taking a 24 hour break in Ulfer along with Matt Hall, Lara Ecland and Josie Shelley. The top rookie so far, Jesse Terry was still on the trail looking to join the others in Ulfer. A new program and anchorage aims to make it easier for people to add tiny homes known as accessory dwelling units or ADUs to their property. This week, the municipality launched the first of several pre-approved designs that are available.
to residents for free. Claire Ross is with the mayor's office. She says the program is part of a larger push to address the city's housing shortage. "I just want young people to be able to stay in Anchorage and live here and that means we have to have a variety of houses. We need more apartment buildings, we need more single-family homes, and we need more ADUs." The municipality worked with architects to design homes specifically for Anchorage Climate and Landscape. The city launched one design this week, a more than 800 square foot open concept ADU over a two-car garage. Ross says a smaller design will be available in coming weeks, followed this summer by what she says will be the most economical design. Three years ago, the Anchorage Assembly amended City Code to make it easier to build ADUs in the municipality. Data shows permits for ADUs have gone up noticeably since then, but Ross says numbers are still nowhere near city goals. "The most part you can build them anywhere now, so there's all this interest, but it's still really complicated and so we wanted to just remove a couple of barriers to make it even easier." The program includes a checklist to walk residents through the process with estimated timelines and permitting costs. The plans themselves are free and they're designed to be simple and less expensive to build. Ross says the cost of building an Anchorage is a major barrier. "That's one of the things we can't really control and that's why the moon you wanted to do this pre-approved plan is what are the costs of the moon you can control that we can lower and make easier for people because interest rates and building costs we can't touch those." Ross says she hopes to have material cost estimates by the summer so people will know what they're getting into. Ross says anyone who lives in the municipality qualifies to use the designs, although some places may need to amend structures slightly for things like snow load or floodplains. Ross says the municipality plans to work closely with the first people who use the program using feedback to adapt it to residents needs. And she says if the program is popular they'll likely add more design options. Two popular Sitka restaurants have recently been nominated in USA Today's top 10 restaurants in Alaska list for 2026. The secret ingredient to their success building meaningful relationships with the community. KCW's Ryan Carter digs in for more. Chef Renee Chicae Distraftin stands at the ready in the kitchen of her restaurant, Beak. Warm afternoon sunshine spills through a window onto the counter of neatly organized ingredients and cooking supplies. Bite-sized pieces of raw fish are on a cutting board, which Chicae Distraftin will soon prepare into one of Beak's trademark dishes. "I'm going to make my chili crisp, marinated black hot tips. So I have my hot tips prepared there in the marinade. And then we have a flat top grill here, so I'm going to spray it and then put the hot tips right on the grill. Located in downtown Sitka, Beak has become a beloved staple for many sitkins since it opened nearly a decade ago. And now the rest of the country might be catching on too. Back in December, a representative from USA Today emailed to Chicae Distraftin, informing her that she is one of 10 Alaska restaurants nominated for the best restaurants in Alaska list for 2026. Chicae Distraftin says that Beak's high social media engagement probably played the partial role in its nomination. But also being one of the few restaurants open in Sitka gear round creates unique opportunities for connection. "In the summer it's thrilling because we have always tourists, so you might really make someone's day if you're like they've never had King Stammer before or Black Hot or Raw Fish. And they have a great experience. They might remember like Sitka and their meal like forever, which is like it's really special. But then the winter is like really quality because sometimes you just know everyone in the dining room and you're like, "Oh hey friends, it's great to hang out." When the newspaper's list was first published in late January, readers were able to vote as the which of the 10 restaurants would earn the number one spot. The results were officially announced on February 25th and Beak ended up in second place. And it's not the only Sitka restaurant on the list. Ludwig's Beastro, admitted training in Alaska Fusion restaurant, garnered enough votes to end up in fourth place. Owner and chef Edith Johnson says she feels incredibly proud that both restaurants made the top five. It just shows that Sitka is on the right trajectory that we're in just this culinary hub that maybe people don't even realize there's so many talented chefs on this island and there's so many amazing female chefs on this island. I just think it's really special that with our lower population compared to Anchorage that we could have two in the top five. Of course, one cannot describe Sitka's food scene without bringing up seafood. Johnson takes great pride in how Ludwig is able to source native Alaskan ingredients and cooking up iconic Mediterranean dishes from weather-vane Tuscan scallops to Piaya made entirely from local seafood. But beyond the food itself, Johnson says that a unique aspect of Sitka's dining culture is the relationships built between local fishermen and customers. They want to see fishermen's names on the menu. They want to know where their food has come from. This seed of table on this farm to table movement is not only just for people's health. It's also just to support your local community and everyone else that's in it. And to be able to say, oh yeah, I know who caught my spot prons. I know where my clams came from. I know where my scouts came from. It's so special and very uniquely Southeast Alaska. With their shared accomplishment under their belts, Jakite's Traftin and Johnson remain focused on preparing their restaurants for the upcoming summer season, eager to give visitors and locals a like, a taste of what makes their community special. In Sitka, I'm Ryan Cotter. And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. If you missed any of tonight's stories, we're online at AlaskaPublic.org and wherever you get your podcasts. We had reports tonight from Eric Stone and Ivon Crumbrey in Juneau, Rachel Cassandra and Hannah Flore in Anchorage, Shelby Herbert in Fairbanks, Able White in McGrath and Ryan Cotter in Sitka. If you want to send us a news tip, question or comment, email us.
[email protected] Our audio engineer is Crystal Hyde. Kirsten Doebroth is our producer and I'm Lauren Townsend. Good night. This is statewide news on Alaska Public Media.
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