Nesbett Courthouse in downtown Anchorage on Oct. 7, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
A group that advocates in favor of Alaska’s nonpartisan judicial system has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Dunleavy, alleging that he illegally appointed a member to the board that nominates candidates for the state’s judicial vacancies.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Anchorage Superior Court by Alaskans for Fair Courts, claims Dunleavy violated the constitution and state law when he picked John W. Wood — also named as a defendant — for a public seat on the Alaska Judicial Council.
Under the state constitution, the council consists of three non-attorneys picked by the governor and three attorneys selected by the Alaska Bar Association. In addition, whoever holds the office of chief justice of the Alaska Supreme Court sits as the council’s chair.
The council accepts applications for judicial vacancies, vets those applicants for merit using nonpartisan metrics, then submits a list of nominees to the governor for final selection.
Wood was picked for a non-attorney seat on the board but is a former attorney, making him ineligible to serve, the suit alleges. In addition, the suit says Wood is ineligible because he held a “position of profit” with the state when appointed in May.
State records show Wood has served as a state contractor, receiving more than $132,000 this year. The most recent payment is listed as June 6.
Alaskans for Fair Courts also claims that Wood is ineligible because he has not been confirmed by the Legislature.
Wood was appointed during this year’s legislative session, but after lawmakers had voted on confirmations for the year, the suit claims, meaning that Wood’s appointment should not be considered a recess appointment subject to confirmation next year.
“If the governor were to appoint a (judge) nominee selected by a judicial council that is not properly constituted … the resulting legal deficiency … could subject actions taken by the new judge to challenge by litigants,” the suit claims.
It asks that the Anchorage Superior Court issue an order declaring that Wood is ineligible, and that his appointment is void.
In a written statement, Attorney General Treg Taylor said the state hasn’t yet been served with the lawsuit and can’t comment on the merits.
About the timing issue, Taylor said, “The Governor has the ability to appoint three members to the Judicial Council, and the Alaska Bar Association appoints the other three members to provide a 50/50 balance on the Council. The Council then nominates judges for the Governor’s selection with any ties on the Council being broken by the Chief Justice. It is important that the Council have this balanced perspective as it moves forward with its work. Having to wait almost a full year before seating a Governor’s appointee, as the Alaskans for Fair Courts argues, upsets that balance and doesn’t seem so fair.”
Dunleavy has seemingly violated the state constitution’s judicial nomination process before.
In 2019, he failed to appoint a judge under the timeline required by the constitution, which was part of the basis of a failed attempt to recall him from office. In 2021, he called for the council to add a nominee in addition to the three it had forwarded to him for a seat on the Supreme Court. The constitution does not allow governors to appoint someone from outside of the council’s list of nominees. He ultimately did by the constitutional deadline in that instance.
Health care costs. Stethoscope and calculator symbol for health care costs or medical insurance
By: Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon
Health care costs. Stethoscope and calculator symbol for health care costs or medical insurance (Photo by Valeriya, provided by Alaska Beacon and Getty Images)
Health insurers must provide speedier responses to prior authorization requests for certain medical treatments and services, under a bill that went into law on Monday without Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s signature.
The measure, Senate Bill 133, requires insurers to notify patients within 72 hours whether the requested services are authorized in cases when requests are sent by fax or by other routine means. In cases of expedited requests, the insurer must provide answers within 24 hours, under the bill.
The bill, which passed unanimously in both the Senate and House, is intended to prevent delays in patient treatment, said the main sponsor, Sen. Jesse Bjorkman, R-Nikiski.
“Alaskans should not have to fight with their insurance company to get the care they need,” Bjorkman said in a statement. “This bill makes the process quicker, clearer, and fairer for everyone.”
The bill was officially sponsored by the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, which Bjorkman chairs.
It was supported by medical organizations, including the Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association, the Alaska State Medical Association and the Alaska Native Health Board.
It also got some qualified support from Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alaska, the state’s largest health insurer.
In a March 25 letter to Bjorkman and members of the Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, Premera said that the version that emerged through the committee process had “some reasonable sideboards as well as incentives that will help plans modernize and improve their prior authorization systems so that these systems optimally serve providers, patients and plans alike.”
Premera said in its letter that it requires prior authorizations for care in only about 2% of cases, unlike insurers that “have been exceedingly aggressive in this space,” requiring prior authorization for up to 20% of all claims.
The bill has some exceptions, caveats and special provisions. For example, it does not prevent insurers from requiring generic versions of medicines prescribed by providers. It also has a section giving guidelines for insurers to grant exceptions for cancer patients who are covered by “step therapy” protocols. Those protocols provide patients with the least expensive medications first before advancing to more expensive medications.
Additionally, the bill gives insurers up to 14 working days to obtain more information from providers if they determine that there is a lack of sufficient information for decisions on prior authorization requests.
The new law goes into effect on Jan. 1, except for a portion that directs the state Division of Insurance to start drafting regulations. That portion went into effect immediately.
Commercial fishing boats are lined up at the dock at Seward’s harbor on June 22, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Commercial fishing boats are lined up at the dock at Seward’s harbor on June 22, 2024. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
NOTN- Governor Mike Dunleavy has vetoed a bipartisan bill that aimed to expand loan access for small commercial fishing businesses in Alaska, legislation that passed the Legislature by a vote of 59–1.
Senate Bill 156, sponsored by Senator Jesse Kiehl , would have enabled the Alaska Commercial Fishing and Agriculture Bank (CFAB) to offer low-interest loans for permit holders in the state’s fishing industry. It also authorized the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development to invest in CFAB through the purchase of nonvoting, preferred shares, using funds left over from a now-defunct aviation loan program.
“That’s a weird move. First because it built on work I helped him do last year,” Sen. Kiehl said in a Facebook post Thursday. “I was glad to help Alaskans, and even took pains to share credit with the governor.”
The veto halts what advocates called a targeted solution to help permit-holding fishers refinance debt under more stable terms, a tool supporters say could have strengthened Alaska’s seafood economy and reduced the risk of permit loss in the face of rising interest rates.
“With our fisheries being dominated by outside special interests, this bill was designed to help struggling AK fishermen by providing competitive loans to help them buy permits, vessels and gear.” Senator Bill Wielechowski said in a post on X.
Kiehl expressed disappointment at the veto, noting the bill’s near-unanimous support across party lines. “Strange way to run a state,” he said.
The bill posed little to no costs to the state, according to legislative analysis.
The governor’s office has not yet released a public explanation for the veto.
Alaska Republican U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (Alaska Beacon file photos)
Alaska’s two U.S. senators voted differently on a bill requested by President Donald Trump to block federal funding for foreign aid and public broadcasting.
The cuts include $1.1 billion for public broadcasting over two years, with more than $20 million in funding for Alaska’s 27 public radio and television stations. The measure is known as a rescission package, because it claws back funding that Congress had already approved earlier this year.
The overall bill includes $9 billion in cuts, with most in foreign aid.
The bill passed 51 to 48, with Alaska’s Republican senators voted differently: U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan voted for the rescission, and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against.
Sullivan spokesperson Amanda Coyne sent a statement by email on Thursday repeating the senator’s position that he had warned public media, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for years about their “biased reporting” that “would eventually jeopardize federal support for both national and local radio stations,” she said.
However, Coyne added, Sullivan has advocated for rural stations and has been working with other senators and White House officials on alternative sources of funding to keep rural stations on the air, particularly Native stations in Alaska.
“Currently, there is approximately $10 million available for tribal and Native stations in the country. Alaska has 11 Native stations. Going forward, Senator Sullivan will continue working to provide resources to support as many Alaska rural radio stations as possible. He was discussing this funding issue with a senior administration official this morning,” Coyne said.
Coyne did not respond to questions on how much would be available for Alaska stations, when, or what stations would be eligible.
Murkowski was outspoken and critical of the rescission bill, voting no.
In a statement on Thursday, she first cited a lack of clarity by the Trump administration for what programs and amounts would be rescinded, especially for global health programs. “We still lack necessary details, including which ones will be zeroed out. There is no way to determine the implications for lifesaving care and vital resources for women and children abroad,” she said.
“I also strongly oppose the rescission of funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. My colleagues are targeting NPR but will wind up hurting – and, over time, closing down – local radio stations that provide essential news, alerts, and educational programming in Alaska and across the country,” she said.
Murkowski introduced an amendment on the Senate floor late Wednesday night to protect CPB funding, and it was voted down 51 to 47.
Murkowski told reporters on Thursday afternoon in an audio recording shared with the Alaska Beacon, when asked about the fate of rural stations in Alaska, that her office was also looking into funding for stations from federal tribal grants.
“Some of them, about a dozen, will be able to access these tribal grants,” she told the reporters.
“But that’s less than half of the Alaska stations. So what happens to KUCB going forward?” she said, referring to the public radio station in Unalaska that broadcast a tsunami warning and emergency evacuation order for remote Aleutian Island communities following a magnitude 7.3 earthquake the day before.
“So what we’re trying to do is kind of identify how perilously close are many of these small stations to being in a shut down mode. How much do they have to carry them forward?” she said.
In her statement, Murkowski emphasized her opposition to the rescission process, driven by the White House Office of Management and Budget, as undermining Congress’ authority.
“Finally, and most importantly, approving this package in this manner further shifts the balance of power over the federal budget to the executive branch. Congress, not OMB, holds the power of the purse under the Constitution. To the extent that certain appropriations are not necessary to comply with the laws passed by Congress, we can best address that through the annual budgeting process, where we routinely rescind funds every year.”
The rescission bill now advances back to the U.S. House, which passed an earlier version of the measure. As of Thursday evening it had not been taken up for a vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., walks to his office from the Senate chamber as Senate Republicans vote on President Donald Trump's request to cancel about $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting spending, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 16, 2025.(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., walks to his office from the Senate chamber as Senate Republicans vote on President Donald Trump’s request to cancel about $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting spending, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 16, 2025.(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
AP- The Senate has passed about $9 billion in federal spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump, including deep reductions to public broadcasting and foreign aid, moving forward on one of the president’s top priorities despite concerns from several Republican senators.
The legislation, which now moves to the House, would have a tiny impact on the nation’s rising debt but could have major ramifications for the targeted spending, from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to U.S. food aid programs abroad.
It also could complicate efforts to pass additional spending bills this year, as Democrats and even some Republicans have argued they are ceding congressional spending powers to Trump with little idea of how the White House Office of Management and Budget would apply the cuts.
The 51-48 vote came after 2 a.m. Thursday after Democrats sought to remove many of the proposed rescissions during 12 hours of amendment votes. None of the Democratic amendments were adopted.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Republicans were using the president’s rescissions request to target wasteful spending. He said it is a “small but important step for fiscal sanity that we all should be able to agree is long overdue.”
But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, said the bill “has a big problem — nobody really knows what program reductions are in it.”
Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined Democrats in voting against the legislation. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader, had voted against moving forward with the bill in a Tuesday procedural vote, saying he was concerned the Trump White House wanted a “blank check,” but he ultimately voted for final passage.
The effort to claw back a sliver of federal spending comes after Republicans also muscled Trump’s big tax and spending cut bill to approval without any Democratic support. The Congressional Budget Office has projected that measure will increase future federal deficits by about $3.3 trillion over the coming decade.
Lawmakers clash over cuts to public radio and TV stations
Along with Democrats, Collins and Murkowski both expressed concerns about the cuts to public broadcasting, saying they could affect important rural stations in their states.
Murkowski said in a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday that the stations are “not just your news — it is your tsunami alert, it is your landslide alert, it is your volcano alert.”
Less than a day later, as the Senate debated the bill, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the remote Alaska Peninsula, triggering tsunami warnings on local public broadcasting stations that advised people to get to higher ground.
The situation is “a reminder that when we hear people rant about how public broadcasting is nothing more than this radical, liberal effort to pollute people’s minds, I think they need to look at what some of the basic services are to communities,” Murkowski said.
The legislation would claw back nearly $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which represents the full amount it’s due to receive during the next two budget years.
The corporation distributes more than 70% of the money to more than 1,500 locally operated public television and radio stations, with much of the remainder assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service to support national programming.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he secured a deal from the White House that some funding administered by the Interior Department would be repurposed to subsidize Native American public radio stations in about a dozen states.
But Kate Riley, president and CEO of America’s Public Television Stations, a network of locally owned and operated stations, said that deal was “at best a short-term, half-measure that will still result in cuts and reduced service at the stations it purports to save, while leaving behind all other stations, including many that serve Native populations.”
Republicans face a Friday deadline
Collins attempted to negotiate a last minute change to the package that would have reduced the cuts by about $2.5 billion and restored some of the public broadcasting and global health dollars, but she abandoned the effort after she didn’t have enough backing from her Republican colleagues in the Senate and the House.
The House has already shown its support for the president’s request with a mostly party line 214-212 vote, but since the Senate amended the bill, it will have to go back to the House for another vote.
The bill must be signed into law by midnight Friday for the proposed rescissions to kick in. If Congress doesn’t act by then, the spending stands.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, center, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, arrives for a closed-door Republican meeting to advance President Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, center, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, arrives for a closed-door Republican meeting to advance President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has joined a group of Republican senators urging the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to release federal education funds already approved by Congress for the 2025 fiscal year.
In a letter sent to OMB Director Russell Vought, the senators asked the agency to fully implement the Fiscal Year 2025 Full-Year Continuing Resolution Act, which includes funding for several education programs supporting students, educators and adult learners.
“The decision to withhold this funding is directly contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states,” the senators wrote. “This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent, because as we know, local communities know how to best serve students and families. Withholding this funding denies states and communities the opportunity to pursue localized initiatives to support students and their families.”
The funding in question includes grants for Supporting Effective Instruction, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, Student Support and Academic Enrichment, English Language Acquisition, Migrant Education, and Adult Basic and Literacy Education, including integrated civics and language programs.
Murkowski and her colleagues argue the funds are essential for local school districts and adult education providers, especially those that support English learners, workforce training, and after-school care. They also emphasized the bipartisan nature of these programs, writing, ” We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs. However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds. These funds go to support programs that enjoy longstanding, bipartisan support like after-school and summer programs that provide learning and enrichment opportunities for school aged children which also enables their parents to work and contribute to local economies.”
The letter was also signed by Senators Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Boozman (R-AR), Katie Boyd Britt (R-AL), Deb Fischer (R-NE), John Hoeven (R-ND), Jim Justice (R-WV), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), and M. Michael Rounds (R-SD).
The senators said they welcome further collaboration with OMB and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, writing, ” We want to see students in our states and across the country thrive, whether they are adult learners, students who speak English as a second language, or students who need after-school care so that their parents can work. We believe you share the same goal.” They urged Vought to reverse the decision and release the congressionally approved funding without further delay.
A full copy of the letter is available on Sen. Murkowski’s official website, or on her Facebook page.
A school bus passes in front of the Alaska Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
A school bus passes in front of the Alaska Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
By: Shauneen Miranda, States Newsroom
Republican members of the U.S. Senate called on Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought in a letter Wednesday to release the $6.8 billion in funds for K-12 schools that the Trump administration is withholding.
The letter marked a major friction point between President Donald Trump and influential lawmakers in his own party as his administration tests the limits of the executive branch’s authority in clawing back federal dollars Congress has already appropriated. Every state has millions in school funding held up as a result of the freeze.
Wednesday’s letter came after the Supreme Court temporarily cleared the way earlier this week for the administration to carry out mass layoffs and a plan to dramatically downsize the Department of Education that Trump ordered earlier this year.
Just a day ahead of the July 1 date when these funds are typically disbursed as educators plan for the coming school year, the Education Department informed states that it would be withholding funding for several programs, including before- and after-school programs, migrant education and English-language learning, among other initiatives.
“Withholding these funds will harm students, families, and local economies,” wrote the 10 GOP senators, many of them members of committees that make decisions on spending. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican and chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, led the letter.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, chair of the broader Senate Appropriations Committee, also signed onto the letter, along with: Sens. Katie Britt of Alabama, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, John Boozman of Arkansas, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, John Hoeven of North Dakota, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Jim Justice of West Virginia.
“The decision to withhold this funding is contrary to President Trump’s goal of returning K-12 education to the states,” the senators wrote. “This funding goes directly to states and local school districts, where local leaders decide how this funding is spent, because as we know, local communities know how to best serve students and families.”
States Newsroom has asked the Office of Management and Budget for comment on the letter.
Meanwhile, a slew of congressional Democrats and one independent — 32 senators and 150 House Democrats — urged Vought and Education Secretary Linda McMahon in two letters sent last week to immediately release the funds they say are being withheld “illegally.”
Democratic attorneys general and governors also pushed back on these withheld funds when a coalition of 24 states and the District of Columbia sued the administration earlier this week.
Wooden gavel with books in background. Law and justice concept
Wooden gavel with books in background. Law and justice concept
If you’re an Alaskan and believe a government agency or public official is doing something seriously wrong, something that puts public safety or welfare at risk, you now have a clear and official way to ask for an investigation.
Alaskan residents now have a more transparent process to request an Investigative Grand Jury to probe suspected systemic wrongdoing by public figures or public entities in Alaska. This effort aims to empower the community and ensure that public trust in government is maintained.
This Department of Law initiative formalizes a process that follows rules created by the Alaska Supreme Court by dedicating a new webpage, standing up policies and procedures, and assigning attorneys to examine criteria to facilitate the convening of an Investigative Grand Jury in situations where citizens present evidence on matters that jeopardize public welfare or safety.
“The Alaska Constitution guarantees that an Investigative Grand Jury will have the authority to investigate matters of public welfare or safety, and that this right shall never be suspended,” said Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor. “This new, transparent process ensures that every Alaskan’s voice can be heard when it comes to safeguarding our community and holding our government accountable.”
An investigative grand jury is a group of citizens that are tasked with investigating potential criminal activity or issues of public welfare and safety within a specific jurisdiction. Unlike a trial jury, its role is not to determine guilt or innocence, but rather to investigate potential wrongdoing and decide whether there is sufficient evidence to issue an indictment or make recommendations for action.
Back in 2022, the Alaska Supreme Court updated the rules around Investigative Grand Juries. The Court gave the Attorney General and the Department of Law the responsibility of reviewing citizen requests and determining whether they should go forward. But until now, there wasn’t a public-facing process for how to do that.
If a citizen investigation involves actions, sections or offices within the Department of Law, a neutral prosecutor will be appointed to advise the Investigative Grand Jury.
The Department of Law says this is just phase one of a broader effort to make Alaska’s legal system more open and responsive to public concerns. More improvements and public input opportunities are expected to follow.
Elayna Cunningham, a college student interning at Koahnic Broadcast Corp., records a program on July 10, 2025, at the Anchorage, Alaska, studios of KNBA, the flagship station for National Native News. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
Elayna Cunningham, a college student interning at Koahnic Broadcast Corp., records a program on July 10, 2025, at the Anchorage, Alaska, studios of KNBA, the flagship station for National Native News. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
AP- Dozens of Native American radio stations across the country vital to tribal communities will be at risk of going off the air if Congress cuts more than $1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, according to industry leaders.
The U.S. Senate is set to vote this week on whether to approve the Department of Government Efficiency’s plan to rescind previously approved public broadcasting funding for 2026 and 2027. Fear is growing that most of the 59 tribal radio stations that receive the funding will go dark, depriving isolated populations of news, local events and critical weather alerts. The House already approved the cuts last month.
“For Indian Country in general, 80% of the communities are rural, and their only access to national news, native story sharing, community news, whatever it is, is through PBS stations or public radio,” said Francene Blythe-Lewis, CEO of the Lincoln, Nebraska-based Native American video programming producer Vision Maker Media. “If the claw back happens, I would say a good 90% of those stations will cease to exist.”
Native American communities rely on local radio stations
Local radio plays an outsized role in the lives of many who live in Indigenous communities, where cable television and broadband internet access are spotty, at best, and nonexistent for many. That leaves over-the-air TV stations — usually a PBS station — and more often local radio to provide local news, community event details and music by Indigenous artists. Sometimes the news is delivered in Indigenous languages.
“It means we’re not going to hear our language on the radio,” Blythe-Lewis said.
Flagstaff, Arizona-based Native Public Media, which supports the network of 59 radio stations and three television stations serving tribal nations across the country, said about three dozen of those radio stations that rely heavily on Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding will be the first to go dark if funding is cut for the coming fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
Loris Taylor, CEO of Native Public Media, said in an op-ed that the tribal stations reach more than 1.5 million people and “may be the only source of locally relevant news, emergency alerts, public safety announcements, language preservation, health information and election coverage.”
Republicans face pressure to pass the cuts
GOP senators are under pressure from President Donald Trump, who promised last week on his Truth Social platform that any Republican who votes against the cuts “will not have my support or Endorsement.”
Many Republicans say the public media system is politically biased and an unnecessary expense. Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Republican from Missouri, recently defended the cuts as necessary to hack away at the nearly $37 trillion national debt, adding, “It is critical in restoring trust in government.”
But some Republicans have pushed back, such as Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who questioned the proposed cuts last month during a Senate committee hearing. She said that while some of the federal money is assigned to National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting System, most of it goes to locally owned public radio and television stations.
Tribal stations provide lifesaving alerts
Jaclyn Sallee is president and CEO of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and KNBA, its radio station in Anchorage, Alaska. Koahnic produces National Native News, a five-minute daily newscast that features headline news from across Indian Country, and Native America Calling, a daily hourlong call-in program, for about 190 stations across the nation. It also produces Indigefi, a music program in Indigenous languages.
KNBA is on Native Public Media’s list of those stations that would be most affected by the federal funding cuts — a concern Sallee confirmed, as 40% of the station’s funding comes from CPB.
“What we’re really worried about are the rural stations in Alaska where they may be the only station in the community,” she said. “The people that live there depend on the station for vital weather alerts, emergency alerts; it’s the local hub of the community where people share information. So that is very troublesome because people’s lives are at risk without this service.”
It’s currently fishing season in Alaska, she said, “which means getting out in the ocean or in rivers and going long distances to subsist, and so they really rely on weather reports.”
Having the news reported in a tribe’s language isn’t just about preserving that language, she said. Sallee spent summers in Nome with her mother’s family. Her grandmother, she said, spoke only Inupiaq.
Loss of small stations could hurt the larger system
New Mexico PBS’s signal reaches all but one of the more than 20 tribes and pueblos in the state. It also has signed an agreement with the Navajo Nation, which has the largest reservation of any tribe in the U.S., that allows the tribe to carry the PBS signal and programming on the Navajo Nation Television network, New Mexico PBS general manger Franz Joachim said.
“It’s no question in my mind that, you know, immediately some stations will pretty much go dark,” Joachim said.
When those first stations fail, it won’t take long for others to follow, Joachim said. And as they do, it will mean fewer and fewer stations left to pay membership dues that also help fund all of the stations.
“So now the whole system starts to fracture,” he said. “So for me, the federal funding is really about the system as a whole that keeps us in place.”
That funding also helps produce national content that groups like Vision Maker Media produce. Those include Native American documentaries shown on PBS like “Mankiller,” the story of Wilma Mankiller who became the first woman elected principal chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Blythe-Lewis compared the potential loss of tribal stations to the country’s past attempts to erase Native American cultures, such as through federal boarding schools where Indigenous children were sent for generations to assimilate them into white society and where systemic abuse of Indigenous children was carried out.
“We’re erased from public media and therefore invisible and therefore become unknown and unheard of,” she said.
The Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building pictured on Nov. 25, 2024. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
By: Corinne Smith, Alaska Beacon
Federal funds for adult education services were among those blocked by the Trump administration on July 1, causing immediate cuts to Alaska adult education and workforce development programs and staff layoffs.
The U.S. Department of Education has withheld more than $6 billion in congressionally approved grants for education, including over $629 million for adult education basic grants, and more than $85 million in adult integrated English literacy and civics education grants. The administration has said that it’s withholding the federal funding to review the grant programs to ensure they align with the Republican president’s priorities.
Adult education can range from classes that help adults learn basic literacy to programs that assist students in gaining certificates equivalent to high school diplomas, and can teach skills that are essential to performing certain jobs.
Alaska had over $1.1 million allocated as part of an adult education basic grant, according to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which administers the grants. A department spokesperson said on Tuesday the grant amounts for English literacy and civics education this year were not available, but the state received more than $99,600 last year.
The withheld funds means immediate cuts to services for Alaska adult learners and staff layoffs, according to grant recipients.
“We were definitely blindsided,” said Lucie Magrath, executive director of the Literacy Council of Alaska, a Fairbanks-based nonprofit that provides adult education programs, including adult literacy, English language learning, civics and General Educational Development, or GED, preparation classes.
Magrath said an estimated $180,000 in federal funding, or over half of their budget, was impounded, causing immediate cuts to services and staff layoffs. While the organization did not identify the number of layoffs in an interview last week, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner has since reported that there were five layoffs.
“So we are having to make some pretty drastic decisions with staffing and programming,” she said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We likely will not be able to serve nearly as many people this year, and we’re making staffing cuts right now.”
The organization provides in-person and virtual instruction and mentoring to adult learners in Fairbanks, as well as in villages in the Interior and Western Alaska, stretching from the Yukon Flats to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
They also have a workforce development program, the Pathways Program, serving youths and young adults ages 16 to 24, and run the used bookstore Forget-Me-Not Books in Fairbanks, which provides revenues for its programs, jobs training and employment.
Shelby Cooke is the assistant executive director of the Literacy Council of Alaska, and said it’s difficult to fill such a large funding gap, especially on such short notice, and Alaskans will be impacted.
“The real detriment is to our students and Alaskans who need that GED credential to go to work, or maybe they’re a super-skilled person in their native tongue, but they need enough English to be able to navigate a job interview,” she said. “Those are the folks that are suffering, and in turn, our economy suffers too.”
Magrath said some programs will be suspended immediately. It’s possible that these suspensions will be temporary, as her organization figures out its next steps. “We’re looking at restructuring some of our programs just to be able to use the resources that we have to the maximum impact for our community and our students,” she said. “So we have a lot to figure out right now.”
Southeast Regional Resource Center, a nonprofit educational services agency that provides a variety of services statewide, including adult education, English language learning and workforce development programs. In addition, SERRC provides educational and business services to school districts, including special education programs, human resources and grant administration.
“We do have some state funds, and so we’ve had to modify our budget just off what we know we have for funding — for state funds — and we are looking at having to reduce our staffing,” said Chris Reitan, its executive director, in a phone interview Thursday. He said the organization is looking at cutting at least two staff positions and a few part-time positions. “So we are concerned about the ability to have the same level of impact.”
Reitan said the federal funding freeze withheld over $86,600 for adult education programs in Southeast Alaska, and over $64,000 in the Aleutians region.
Chris Reitan, executive director, SERRC, said SERRC’s program served 112 students last year in the areas of GED support, English language learning and workforce development across the state.
“Number one, adult education provides a kind of a lifeline for Alaskans seeking to improve their lives, and it also helps strengthen our state’s workforce,” he said, and will have an immediate impact on adult learners, “which then could immediately impact their ability in regards to getting good-paying jobs, their ability to provide for their families, their ability to contribute to their local communities.”
He added: “I see this as being a significant impact across the state, in regards to our citizens being able to have the opportunity to better themselves.”
SERRC and the Literacy Council of Alaska are two of 14 adult education programs across the state with grant funding administered by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. A department spokesperson, Adam Weinert, said by email that the department has continued to award available state matching funds for the programs, totaling more than $1.9 million.
“Sub-grantees were informed that we were moving forward at this time with state funding only,” Weinert said of the programs. “Once federal funding is released, we will move forward with a budget modification to provide for the federal funding.”
The full impact of how the freeze will affect some programs in the long term remains unclear.
The University of Alaska system has several adult education programs, funded in part by federal funds, as well as state and local funding. Jonathan Taylor, the university’s director of communications, said by email Monday that “discussions are ongoing” around funding but those programs are scheduled to continue.
Taylor said at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Bristol Bay Adult Education program will start up in August with funding from Bristol Bay Economic Development Corp.
Within the University of Alaska Anchorage, there are adult education programs at Kodiak College, serving the Kodiak Island Borough; Kenai Peninsula College, serving the Soldotna, Homer and Seward regions; and Prince William Sound College, serving the Valdez, Cordova and Copper Basin regions.
“We have received assurances that all three will receive some sort of funding this year,” Taylor said. “To our knowledge, the state will initiate these awards using either state funding or federal funding it has access to. If additional Federal Funds become available, the state will amend the agreements to make up to the original intended funding amount. Currently, this is an active endeavor and ongoing discussion with the state.”
