Free Republic

CNN — In a sweeping win for climate and environmental advocates, the Biden administration on Friday finalized a rule to ban fossil fuel drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, alongside other major conservation actions. The Interior Department will block oil drilling on over 13 million acres in the Western Arctic, including about 40% of the land of the NPR-A – a remote area that is home to protected animal species including polar bears and caribou. The reserve is more than 23 million acres of public land and an underground emergency oil supply for the US...

The new head of Boeing’s troubled commercial airplane unit said the planemaker faces a “pivotal moment” as it works to boost quality and address significant concerns from regulators and airline customers after a panel flew off a 737 MAX 9 jet in January. “This is a pivotal moment for us, and we have serious work ahead to build trust and improve our operations,” said Stephanie Pope, who was named president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes ... Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would leave by the end of the year, while the company’s long-time head of commercial airplanes, Stan...

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy is inarguably the most witty person in the U.S. Senate. With a folksy quip or quotation always at the ready, Kennedy can effortlessly dismantle an opponent’s argument with his deadpan delivery while keeping the whole room in stitches. And the reason why his delivery hits so well is that he makes sense — the common kind, which has become almost extinct in these woke times. For example, discussing some of his Democratic colleagues who support transgender athletes in women’s sports on Fox News’ “The Story,” Kennedy once said, “One of my Democratic colleague’s witnesses testified that...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) suggested she is not ruling out leaving the GOP, pointing to its shift toward former President Trump. “I wish that as Republicans, we had a nominee that I could get behind. I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump,” she said in an interview on “Inside Politics With Manu Raju.” When asked if she is considering an independent run, the Alaska lawmaker kept her cards close to her chest, telling Raju, “Oh, I think I’m very independent-minded. I just regret that our party is seemingly becoming a party of Trump.”

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has threatened to leave the Republican Party over the nomination of Donald Trump. Murkowski, who has long sought to undermine Trump and the wider conservative agenda, bemoaned the fact that he was once again the party’s nominee. “I wish that as Republicans, we had … a nominee that I could get behind,” Murkowski said in an interview with CNN. “I certainly can’t get behind Donald Trump.”

Planet Fitness' valuation has plummeted $400 million in five days after they banned a member who shared a photo of a 'trans woman' using a female locker room. The company's value dropped from $5.3 billion on March 14 to $4.9 billion on March 19, and its shares are down by 13.59 percent compared to a month ago. The decline follows Planet Fitness refusing to walk back its decision to ban a member who exposed a 'trans woman' shaving in a female locker room earlier this month. Patricia Silva was barred after she detailed an incident at her Alaska gym online,...

West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin on Wednesday indicated that he would not support President Joe Biden's judicial nominees if they could not secure the support of at least one upper chamber Republican. "Just one Republican. That’s all I'm asking for. Give me something bipartisan. This is my own little filibuster. If they can't get one Republican, I vote for none. I've told [Democrats] that. I said, 'I'm sick and tired of it, I can't take it anymore," he said, according to Politico. The moderate senator, who is retiring at the end of his current term, has long taken positions...

November’s ranked-choice election [for Congress] is a toss-up.

The Alaska Supreme Court ruled on Friday that law enforcement officers in Alaska are not permitted to conduct aerial surveillance of a person’s yard using a zoom lens without first obtaining a warrant. In its ruling, the court said that it disagrees with the state’s claim that such surveillance was constitutional “because small airplane travel is so common in Alaska, and because any passenger might peer into your yard and snap a picture of you, law enforcement officials may do the same.” “The Alaska Constitution protects the right to be free of unreasonable searches,” the court stated in a 34-page...

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced Friday she is endorsing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in the GOP presidential primary against former President Trump. “I’m proud to endorse Gov. Nikki Haley,” Murkowski said in a statement. “America needs someone with the right values, vigor, and judgment to serve as our next President—and in this race, there is no one better than her,” she continued. “Nikki will be a strong leader and uphold the ideals of the Republican Party while serving as a President for all Americans.” Murkowski, the first GOP senator to endorse Haley in the race, was among seven Republican...

Two citizen-backed initiatives will likely appear on the general election ballot in November, including one seeking to repeal Alaska’s voting system, state election officials said Tuesday. After a monthlong review, the state Division of Elections made the initial assessment that groups had gathered enough signatures to place two questions on the ballot: Voters will be asked to indicate whether they support Alaska’s current ranked choice voting and open primary system; and whether they support provisions mandating paid sick leave for many Alaska workers and increasing the state’s minimum wage. The initiative opposing ranked choice voting was organized by allies of...

Alaska health officials confirmed the state’s first fatal case of Alaskapox — a recently discovered viral disease. An elderly immunocompromised man from the Kenai peninsula, south of Anchorage, died while undergoing treatment in late January, the Anchorage Daily News reported. He is one of only seven reported Alaskapox infections, the Alaska Department of Public Health said in an announcement on Friday. “People should not necessarily be concerned but more aware,” said Julia Rogers, a state epidemiologist. “So we’re hoping to make clinicians more aware of what Alaskapox virus is, so that they can identify signs and symptoms.” The double-stranded-DNA virus,...

Florida earned its reputation as the retirement capital of the US.. A fixed income in retirement can go a lot further in some states than others .. ... To make the most of your retirement savings, you should retire in a state where the cost of living and tax rates are friendly to retirees, if you have the resources to. You should also consider factors like the quality of the state's healthcare system and the abundance of activities that you enjoy.' Colorado, which ranked second for the best state to retire in 2024, offers similarly taxpayer-friendly conditions, with no estate...

The State Department on Monday brushed off reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering his government to look into the nation’s former “real estate” abroad, saying Alaska would be staying in American hands. Putin signed a new decree last week to allocate funds for the research and registration of Russian property overseas, including that in former territories of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Russian state media TASS reported. The decree, which comes amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, did not specifically mention Alaska, though it caught the attention of military bloggers, who argued Putin was using the decree to...

New edict affects all of Moscow's historic holdings across three continents, including former imperial colonies in the US. Russia has laid the groundwork for expanding its soft power across North America and Asia with a new decree Vladimir Putin signed last week. The new order provides funds to search, register and provide legal protection to Russian properties abroad – including land and buildings located in former Russian Empire and Soviet Union territories. Among the areas affected by the new decree is Alaska, which was sold to the United States in 1867 and still hosts communities with close links to Russia....

Administrative agencies are having a direct effect on whether Alaskans who don’t want RCV can organize and get their message out to voters... Efforts to repeal ranked-choice voting (RCV) in Alaska are proving confusing, and chaotic — just like RCV itself. But a disturbing question lies just beyond the pro-RCV and anti-election lobby smoke bombs: Does the Alaskan government have a tacit hand in silencing concerned citizens? Ranked-choice voting is profoundly complicated to explain, which in itself should be a giant red flag. It is a proposed change to our voting system pushed nationwide by some Republican operatives as well...

The cockpit voice recorder data on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 jet which lost a panel mid-flight on Friday was overwritten, U.S. authorities said, renewing attention on long-standing safety calls for longer in-flight recordings. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy said on Sunday no data was available on the cockpit voice recorder because it was not retrieved within two hours - when recording restarts, erasing previous data. The U.S. requires cockpit voice recorders to log two hours of data versus 25 hours in Europe for planes made after 2021. The industry has been wrestling with the...

A horrifying series of videos shared Friday showed the moment a window panel off an Alaska Airlines flight, and it turns out there were already concerns over the aircraft before takeoff. ... there was a significant concern over the aircraft’s safety well before the incident occurred, ... The aircraft was not being used for flights to Hawaii because a warning light already indicated there were pressurization problems on three different trips before the one where the door panel blew off. Alaska Airlines had apparently restricted longer flights over water so it “could return very quickly to an airport” if the...

Wanted: One plane door. If found, please contact the National Transportation Safety Board immediately. That was the message the feds put out Sunday when they asked for the public’s help finding a “plug door” that blew off an Alaska Airlines plane mid-flight Friday night, leaving a mammoth hole in the fuselage that threatened nearly 200 passengers. “We believe, from looking at radar data, that the door is around Barnes Road near I-217 in the Cedar Hills neighborhood,” NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said, referencing a region about seven miles west of Portland, Oregon. “If you find that, please, please contact local...

With state and federal money, University of Alaska researchers plan to explore the viability of a new coal plant in the Susitna River valley that would inject its carbon emissions underground...