Alaska News Nightly: Monday, September 29, 2025

Support for Alaska Public Media on Demand comes from North Rim Bank, supporting economic and business reporting across the state on Alaska Public Media, Northrimbank.com. It's been the law in the lower 48 forever, and Alaska is part of the United States and the same federal law supply here as they do everywhere else. A Trump administration ruling threatens the future of the Eclutna Tribes Gaming Hall. From Alaska Public Media, this is statewide news on Alaska News Nightly for Monday, September 29th. Good evening. I'm Casey Grove. Also tonight, it's been 10 years since Anchorage expanded civil rights protections to include gender identity and sexual orientation. Those rights were given. by the stroke of a pen, and a stroke of a pen can take them away. Those stories and more tonight on Alaska News Nightly. The U.S. Congress and the White House have still not agreed on a short-term spending plan, so federal agencies are preparing for a government shutdown that is likely to begin Wednesday, the first day of the next fiscal year. With the federal government's outsized influence in Alaska, the impacts could be acute here in the 49th state. Alaska Public Media Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin joins us now from the Capitol. She's been through this before. But Liz, is this shutdown going to be like the other shutdowns? This one has an edge to it because the White House Office of Management and Budget issued an unusual pre-shutdown memo last week. It directs agencies to take the shutdown as an opportunity to fire employees working on any program not funded by another law and not consistent with the president's priorities. So this could bring mass terminations then, like permanent job losses? That is the big question. Is this just posturing a bluff to get Democrats to give in or to blame Democrats? The memo kind of reads that way. It names Democrats and their partisan demands as the obstacle. On the other hand, the Trump administration has shown an appetite for cutting loose thousands of civil servants. And the president's budget next year calls for huge cutbacks to just about every department except defense and homeland security. But the president's budget, that's really just a suggestion. It's Congress that is supposed to decide funding. But Congress hasn't decided anything. I mean, that's why we're on the brink of a shutdown, right? That's right. And the Trump administration might take advantage of the lapse and carry out its vision. I can also tell you that Senator Lisa Murkowski has moved on this issue some. The last time the Senate was in session, 10 days ago, she voted against a Republican measure to just keep the money flowing temporarily. She had a few things she wanted. Her biggest ask, she wants Congress to continue health care subsidies. That's for those who buy their insurance on the marketplace. She still wants those tax credits not to expire.

but she says she'll vote for whatever avoids a shutdown, which right now is that Republican bill. Okay, let's back up and assume this is going to be a regular government shutdown. Alaskans want to know about services like social security checks and mail service. Will those carry on as usual? Yes, services that are mandatory or have another source of funds will continue. Social Security checks and mail service should continue. Social services like Medicaid and food benefits for women, infants and children, also known as WIC, those should remain on track. But I was just hearing from senators of both parties that those programs will run out of money fairly soon. In Alaska, Governor Mike Dunleavy's office. says SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is funded through the month of October. And Alaska's WIC program is funded through the first three weeks of October. Well, you know, fall time, it's a pretty popular time for Alaskans to be traveling by air. What about air travel? In past shutdowns, air traffic controllers and TSA personnel were considered essential workers and therefore continued to work, for the most part, despite not receiving pay until after the shutdown ended. Flights arrived and departed Alaska largely as usual. Well, Alaska, of course, is home to a lot of other federal workers. What about them? What do they just stay home? Yeah, Alaska's home to about 15,000 civilian federal workers. They'd be affected differently, depending on what jobs they do and how their agencies are funded. We're still waiting for most agencies to issue their updated shutdown plans, so a lot of this is up in the air. But in the past, essential workers, that's like air traffic controllers, FBI agents. They would work, but without paychecks until the impasse is resolved. And then other workers, non-essential, they're sometimes called, they would be furloughed. They wouldn't go to work, but they'd get back pay when Congress passes a bill to restart the government. But if the White House memo is to be taken seriously, some federal workers will receive termination notices. Yeah. Well, Liz, what about public lands? And, of course, the biggest question for people, could this disrupt Fat Bear Week? We've sent inquiries to the public lands offices. Most of Alaska's public lands aren't fenced or gated, though. So those areas would likely remain accessible, even if staff are not available. As for Fat Bear Week, a beloved feature of Catmine National Park. The champion is due to be crowned Tuesday before the shutdown is supposed to begin. So that will go on as scheduled. Thankfully. And Liz, lastly, if we have a shutdown, how and when does it end?

Of course, no one knows. And one theory is that neither side, Republicans, Democrats, the White House, no one has an incentive to have government operating as usual. So it could be a while. All right. Well, we will stay tuned. That was Alaska Public Media, Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin. Liz, thanks for being here. Thank you, Casey. The U.S. Interior Department has reversed a Biden administration decision to give Alaska tribes legal jurisdiction over native allotments. The order could return millions of acres of land to stay control and shut down the occluded tribe's new casino near Anchorage. It's a decision that the state has applauded, but as K&BAs Rhonda McBride tells us, the battle for control of native allotments in Alaska is likely far from over. In the final days of the Biden administration, the Eklutina tribe want approval to operate a small casino on a native allotment near the Birchwood airport. The decision came after the Interior Department's chief legal officer, Bob Anderson, revoked a 1993 legal opinion that gave authority over native allotments to the state. He then issued a new interpretation of the law that cleared the way for the National Indian Gaming Commission to allow the tribe to run its gaming hall. On Thursday, the Trump administration changed course. The Deputy Secretary of Interior, Catherine McGregor, struck down Anderson's opinion and instructed all department bureaus, including the National Indian Gaming Commission, to follow the 1993 opinion. Anderson now lives in Anchorage and is a visiting professor at Harvard. He says McGregor's reversal of his decision is wrong, that native allotments in Alaska should be regulated by the tribe just as they are in the lower 48. It's been the law in the lower 48 forever, and Alaska is part of the United States, and the same federal laws apply here as they do everywhere else. So I'm fairly confident that we'll continue to prevail on these questions. Today, there are more than 17,000 Native allotments in Alaska. Under the 1906 Native Allotment Act, they were awarded as individual homesteads until the program ended in 1971 after the passage of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, or ANCSA. Since then, the state has claimed jurisdiction over those allotments. In April, the state of Alaska sought an injunction from a federal court in Washington, D.C. to shut down the Eklutna tribe's gaming hall. It argued the tribe did not have the jurisdiction to operate the casino as it would on a lower 48 Indian reservation because ANCSA created a different power structure in which for-profit native corporations gained title to most of the state's native lands, while the state retained the power to regulate the land. Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox said in a statement that the new Interior Department opinion restores the jurisdictional balance Congress intended, and courts have repeatedly affirmed. So what happens now that the Interior Department has revoked tribal jurisdiction over native allotments in Alaska? The state has not said what its next step will be.

Despite last week's opinion, the native village of Acclutna said that Chanan Gaming Hall remains open. The tribe's president, Aaron Leggett, said it will review the opinion to clarify questions of legal jurisdiction and will work with the state and federal government so that the gaming hall can provide meaningful benefits to the tribe, the surrounding community, and the state for years to come. There's also another lawsuit against the gaming establishment involving a group of neighboring property owners. After a U.S. District Court judge dismissed their bid to shut down the hall in July, they launched an appeal. Their attorney, Don Mitchell, says the Interior Department's decision is good news. The neighbors are delighted that this development has happened. But Mitchell says it's hard to predict what will happen next. The chairwoman of the National Indian Gaming Commission, based upon the new legal decision, should disapprove the gaming ordinance and tell the Nadi Village Veclutner to shut its doors. That's what should happen. Whether that does happen, we shall see. For now, the gaming hall continues to draw brisk business. It sits on about eight acres of land, housed in a modular building that was assembled in a matter of days just before President Trump began a second term. The tribe says it's already created jobs for the local economy and income for tribal programs. Earlier this month, it donated $9,000 to local charities. In Anchorage, I'm Rhonda McBride.

Still to come on Alaska News nightly, Interior Alaska will soon be getting its first veteran cemetery. I'm trying diligently to get to as close to a thousand creaming burial slots as we can. That's ahead. Stay with us. Today it marks 10 years since the municipality of Anchorage extended civil rights protections to include gender identity and sexual orientation. As Alaska Public Media's Wesley Early reports, the effort was decades in the making, and advocates say the fight isn't over. When the municipality of Anchorage formed 50 years ago, its charter called for the establishment of an equal rights commission. Initially, the commission was tasked by ordinance to prevent discrimination on the basis of, among other things, sexual preference. Current municipal ombudsman and previous equal rights commissioner, Daryl Hess, says the assembly passed it unanimously and without much controversy. at first. It had flown under the radar. So the next day when the newspaper started talking about the assembly passing the homosexual ordinance, All hell broke loose. Hess, who was closeted at the time, says the timing of Anchorage's commission came during a historical turning point in the fight for equal rights for LGBT people nationwide. The American Psychiatric Association had only recently removed homosexuality as a mental illness. And Stonewall had only happened in 1969. The first pride marches were in 1970. It was pretty revolutionary for the members of the Assembly. the majority of the assembly at the time to pass this ordinance with sexual preference included. It didn't last. Then Mayor George Dan Sullivan vetoed the ordinance. He would go on to veto four more attempts from the assembly to establish a commission that protected sexual preference, writing in one of his veto messages, quote, it has been and remains my conviction that the people of Anchorage should not be forced to associate with sexual deviates. Hess says he and other members of the gay community took it personally. Here's the mayor. I voted for saying I was a deviate and basically saying that people in the community should be able to discriminate against me and others, you know, not provide us housing or... public accommodations or a loan or whatever that we were fair game to be discriminated against. Eventually, on the sixth try, 14 months after the municipality was formed, the Assembly passed an ordinance establishing an equal rights commission, preventing discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, national origin, marital status, age, or physical handicap. but not sexual preference. It happened to pass on Hess's 24th birthday, November 9th, 1976. I remember thinking it wasn't the birthday present I wanted, but I could understand why it was done. The fight to enshrine LGBTQ protections didn't end then.

There were numerous attempts to provide civil protections for the community, including in the early 90s and again in 2009, both vetoed by the mayors at the time. Current Anchorage Assembly member Felix Rivera was part of a campaign to put the issue to voters in 2012. He says opposition to the effort came out in full force, and voters ultimately rejected the ballot proposition by about a 10-point margin. He remembers watching the results come in with supporters at Anchorage Gay Club Mad Mernas. I was just crying. Like, I couldn't... contain the emotions because we had all spent so much time and energy and put our souls into this and to see it just go down in flames. It was completely unexpected for me. Another ordinance to protect the civil rights of Anchorage's LGBTQ community was put forth in 2015 by assembly members Patrick Flynn, a liberal, and Bill Evans, a conservative. And the irony of two straight white guys working on this. was not lost on me. That's Flynn. He says he and Evans debated which parts of the LGBTQ community would be protected. Flynn says Evans had initially proposed excluding transgender people. It was my opinion that trans community was the most vulnerable amongst the group and I thought it would be unwise to leave them out. And to his credit, he acceded to that thinking and did include it in his first draft. So I think that was the hardest part. People just not. having familiarity with an aspect of the community and being uncomfortable with it. After weeks of public testimony, including an organized opposition that bust in people from outside of Anchorage to testify against it, the ordinance passed the Assembly and Anchorage codified civil rights protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Rivera, who would go on to become one of the Assembly's first two openly gay members two years later, says the codification of those rights sent a signal to the city's LGBTQ community. They know that if their landlord, if their employer, if some financial institution. decide to discriminate against them, they know they have recourse. They know they have agency. And before, that didn't exist. We had no ability to protect ourselves. Hess says the 10-year anniversary is worth celebrating. But it's also a call for residents to continue to fight for the community they want to live in. He says he was gifted one of the pens used to sign the ordinance by then-assembly chair Dick Traney. And he hangs it in his office as a reminder. Those rights. were given by the stroke of a pen, and a stroke of a pen can take them away. So we have to be vigilant, not just the gay community, but everybody. Reporting in Anchorage, I'm Wesley Early. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has awarded a $16.7 million grant to begin construction of the first veteran cemetery in the interior. KUAC's Tim Ellis reports. State Veterans Affairs Office Director Verdi Bowen says the federal Veterans Agency informed him of the grant last week. He says that'll pay for the first phase of the cemetery to be located in Salchia. I'm trying diligently to get close to 1,000.

creaming burial slots as we can. Because the idea behind this is I want this cemetery to go at least 12 to 13 years before it needs an expansion project. He says that money will be used to pay Fairbanks-based HC contractors to build the first phase of the project off Johnson Road just south of Ielson Air Force Base. The company submitted the lowest bid for the project. The dollar value for the contract is going to be around $14 million because that's the construction side. The other $2 million is going to be for the installation of the internal equipment inside the buildings, the oil tanks outside of the buildings, the crypts, columbariums. Bowen says Department of Transportation and Public Facilities officials hope to complete preparation work on the 257 acre site by the end of next month. He says that'll enable HC contractors to begin construction of the cemetery next spring. We have one building left, just a little piece of the building left to be moved, and so then the property is ready for complete construction. Besides DOT, the State Office of Veterans Affairs also is working with the Alaska Department of Natural Resources on the project. Bowen says those state agencies and the Federal Veterans Agency managed to complete preliminary work on the project last week. So he says they won't have to worry about it being delayed by a possible federal government shutdown if that happens. If they do a government shutdown, it doesn't affect these funds because this is current year funds. This is the next year's funds. And so instead of turning the money back into the treasury, the VA just move the money into our bucket. He says the first phase of the project must be completed by the end of 2028. But he's confident that HC contractors will have it done before then, maybe even a year early. It is a very large project, but they have great faith in them of being able to complete it by October of 27. Bowen says if all goes well, the state will begin interring the remains of veterans by the spring of 2028. In Delta Junction, I'm Tim Ellis. Another glacial outburst flood is underway on the Taku River south of Juneau today. Water that was held back by glacial ice is draining out of Lake No Lake. The National Weather Service predicts the water will not breach the river's banks. The river is forecast to crest at just under 42 feet at about 10 p.m. Tuesday. That's a foot below the height that the river would enter an official flood stage. Some Juneau residents own cabins along the river, but it's otherwise a largely undeveloped area. This is the third glacial outburst flood on the Taku River and the fifth within the city and borough of Juneau so far this year.

The Juno Assembly approved funding to get started on a new playground at the Zanta Cahini campus in Lemon Creek, but the decision brought up budget concerns as voters consider reducing taxes in the municipal election. KTOO's Jamie Deep reports. The nearly three-quarter of a million dollar project is the next step in what's turned into a year's long process to build a new playground for the campus that houses three schools. The building used to be a middle school before the district consolidated middle and high schools, so no playground was necessary until elementary-aged students moved in. The money will go toward installing safety servicing and fencing, but the school district will be on the hook to fundraise for playground equipment. The final decision hit a brief bump in the road when one assembly member asked the body to consider potential reductions to the city's tax revenue. There are three ballot propositions in this year's election that could change how much money the city brings in annually. Assembly member Neil Steininger moved to table the decision until October. Signinger says he wants to wait until after the election to see what the city's budget looks like. I think it would be prudent when we're talking about a dollar value this large to wait until we have a better understanding of the revenue. available to the city before he makes this commitment. Juno's school district superintendent Frank Hauser says a delay in the decision could make it harder for the district to get that equipment. He says the district needs to order it in December or January to get things installed in time for the next school year. It just makes it really tight to do the fundraising. Not sure if we're going to be able to move forward with this until October 27th and then trying to put all that together and get pieces in place. for installation hopefully for the next school year. The district received a donation from the Juno Rotary Club to put some musical play equipment and Gaga Ball pits at the school in the meantime. Utter Assembly members agreed with Signinger's point, but said they should still move forward with the site preparations. Member Wade Bryson says the neighborhood as a whole has access to far fewer playgrounds than other parts of the city. So we're not doing this just to make sure that a school has... a playground, we're doing this for social equality to one of the most socioeconomic depressed parts of our community. Steinacher, who proposed delaying the decision ultimately backtracked after the assembly members opposed him. He says he wanted to make a point. This is a kind of thing that is at stake at the ballot box here in October, and these are the types of considerations and questions we have to ask in the comments before me about, you know, equity. in Lemon Creek and the count of playgrounds is very apt. The Assembly unanimously approved the funding. In a finance committee presentation, a district administrator said the district plans to begin work on the playground next summer. Reporting in Juneau, I'm Jamie Deep. A flingate master weavers using viral monster dolls called Labubo's to bring attention to Chilkat and Ravensail weaving. KTOOs of Uncrummery saw the regalia-clad dolls herself and has more. In Lily Hope's shop in downtown Juneau, she holds up a tiny doll with an evil grin. Some people are like, why? Oh, please, no. Why? What an ugly monster. And other people are like, oh, please let me have one.

Her shop is filled with pieces of weaving, earrings, formline robes, and pictures of models in more weaving. On her desk lies a green doll, wearing a Raven's Tail headdress, woven in pink, white, and blue yarn. This one is trans pride, requested from an art collector in New York City. Hope is a master weaver. She's dedicated her life to reviving Chilkat and Ravens Tail weaving, and through apprenticeships and classes, she's helped hundreds of Alaska Native people form their own weaving practice. She's also a mom of five, and those two worlds collided when her kids started asking for labooboos. My three small children introduced me to the dolls and said, please mommy, please mommy, buy these for us. You may have heard of them. The dolls are all over the internet with their fuzzy bodies, big, colorful eyes, and pointy teeth. They're based on storybook characters. And people go to great lengths to have unique ones. You may have heard this viral sound on TikTok. I have the one and only 24-carat gold libubu. Hope says they come in blind boxes, generic packaging that leaves the contents of mystery. So part of the fun is finding which libubu is in the box. Oh, yes, this is the whole rage, right? It's like, oh, I got leachy Bari Weiss. Oh, I got the green grape. Oh, now we need to get soy milk, Mama. Let's get soy milk. But in the craze, she saw an opportunity to continue to push Northwest Coast weaving into the spotlight. When somebody sees an indigenized Laboooo in Ravens Tell Regalia, they can be like, oh, where does that come from? Oh, what are those? Oh, what is Ravens Tail weaving? Oh, wait, it's related to Chilkat. Let's go. Klinget regalia is sacred attire that represents ancestral heritage and cultural identity. Hope's doll-sized regalia sets go for more than $600, and fine arts collectors all over the country are ordering them. But for those who don't want to shell out that much, Hope also sells kits so people can weave their own outfits for a doll. It's a way to get the work further into the world and kind of, you know, capture some people who wouldn't necessarily come to Ravenstale weaving otherwise, but are like, oh, this is a way that I can dress my looboo in traditional regalia. And I made it myself? That's huge. It's a way of weaving your own story into the trend, and the little monsters look pretty cool, too. In Juneau, I'm Yvonne Cremery.

And that's all for this edition of Alaska News Nightly. We had reports tonight from Liz Ruskin in Washington, D.C., Rhonda McBride, and Wesley Early in Anchorage, Tim Ellison Delta Junction, and Alex Solomon, Jamie Deep, and Yvonne Crumry in Juneau. Our audio engineer is Chris Hyde, Madeline Rose, is our producer, and I'm Casey Grove. Good night.