Free Republic

A legislator’s chief of staff was arrested in Juneau on Friday on federal charges of sex trafficking and child exploitation, enticement and coercion and creating child sexual abuse material. Craig Scott Valdez, 36, was chief of staff to Sutton Republican Sen. George Rauscher since November, and worked in Rauscher’s office since 2021, according to a government staffing website Legistorm. Rauscher was not immediately available for comment Friday. A spokesperson for the Senate Minority Caucus, of which Rasucher is a member, said Friday afternoon that Valdez had been terminated from his employment with the Legislature, effective immediately. Valdez also served as...

t should not come as a surprise to see the Senator who lost her 2010 primary, then refused to leave congress and ran as a write in candidate; then supported changing the state voting system to a ranked choice structure; who then lost again in 2022 but ultimately won because Democrats all listed her as their second choice in the new structure; come out against anything that would lead to stronger voting requirements. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski has now pledged to vote against the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act would bar states from registering a person to vote unless they...

The House this week is set to take up the SAVE America Act (the SAVE Act 2.0), an election-integrity measure that some Senate Republicans can’t seem to get behind even though the vast majority of Americans already have. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s office confirms the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register and photo identification to vote in federal elections, will hit the floor on Tuesday. While Democrats will spend hours making a mockery of truth and reality in opposing it, the legislation is expected to pass mostly along party lines — as the...

Susan Collins (ME) Lisa Murkowski (AK) Rand Paul (KY) Mitch McConnell (KY) Thom Tillis (NC) Todd Young (IN) Chuck Grassley (IA) Jerry Moran (KS)

Most in the GOP are silent or backing the Trump administration, but a conspicuous few are speaking out. A small but growing number of Republicans are raising public concerns about the killing Saturday of a 37-year-old Minnesota man by federal agents.Hours after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti on a Minneapolis street, one House GOP chair called for the top ICE leader and other Trump administration officials to publicly answer lawmakers’ questions. GOP Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina called for independent probes into the shooting, with Cassidy arguing the integrity...

At first blush, Trump’s insistence on Greenland sounds outlandish, but recall over 20 yrs ago I began warning of foreigners aggressively claiming Arctic resources and waterways - while America slept. Russia was flagging underseas energy sources, our inventory of icebreakers dwindled to ONE reliable (against DOZENS of foreign-flagged vessels), and DC ignored my concerns of countries hogging new transportation routes that would screw us over. In explaining Alaska’s strategic location (30% of which is in the #Arctic) I was mocked for ringing the warning bells… but really I was just before my time. So now that attention is finally paid,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The killing of a Minnesota woman by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer is reverberating across Capitol Hill where Democrats, and certain Republicans, are vowing an assertive response as President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation operations spark protests nationwide.Lawmakers are demanding a range of actions, from a full investigation into Renee Good’s shooting death and policy changes over law enforcement raids to the defunding of ICE operations and the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in what is fast becoming an inflection point.“The situation that took place in Minnesota is a complete and total disgrace,” House Democratic...

WASHINGTON — The Senate advanced a resolution Thursday to block President Trump from taking additional military action in Venezuela, just five days after the capture of Caracas strongman Nicolas Maduro. In a 52-47 vote, the upper chamber agreed to consider a so-called “War Powers resolution” to force Trump to end hostilities toward the South American nation, in a blow to the administration. The measure must still clear the Senate and House to take effect

https://511.alaska.gov/map/Cctv/165?t=1767394030 This is wha the ice fog in Fairbanks looks like today. It is a clear day. This is frozen exhaust. Mostly ice crystals.

President Donald Trump has signed a resolution backed by members of Alaska’s Congressional delegation to revoke restrictions on drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve on the North Slope. The White House announced Friday evening that Trump had signed Senate Joint Resolution 80 into law. SJR 80 uses the Congressional Review Act to reverse restrictions enacted during the administration of President Joe Biden. Those restrictions, imposed as part of a 2022 activity plan for the reserve, were intended to protect environmentally sensitive areas against harm from oil and gas drilling. ... Friday’s signing was one of several Trump administration actions taking...

A new five-year offshore oil and gas leasing plan proposes 21 sales in Alaska, from the Gulf of Alaska to the High Arctic, and 13 more off the U.S. West Coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. .... Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, was among a group of mostly California Democrats in Congress who blasted it during a news conference Thursday. “We are here because President Trump just put out what we believe is an asinine pro-polluter plan to open up our coast to offshore drilling,” Huffman said.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has rocked Alaska on Saturday, Dec. 6, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). The earthquake occurred in northeast of Yakutat, Alaska, the USGS said. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Yakutat had a total population of about 657 in 2020 and 332 housing units in 2023. Yakutat is over 300 miles from Anchorage, where the earthquake was also felt, the USGS's interactive map shows.

A project heralded by Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and accelerated by President Donald Trump stands to deal a huge blow to China’s dominance in the nanotechnology, energy and automotive sectors as the GraphiteOne site near Nome uncovered vast reserves — for which Beijing previously accounted for 90% of production. As of 2024, the U.S. was at least 93% import-dependent on both rare earth elements (REEs) and graphite itself, according to the International Energy Agency, and the Graphite Creek deposit has already been dubbed the largest such tranche in the U.S. But, this week’s announcement that REEs were discovered in addition...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday ruled there would be no prison time for a former Alaska Airlines pilot who had taken psychedelic mushrooms days before he tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit.U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio in Portland, Oregon, sentenced Joseph Emerson to time served and three years’ supervised release, ending a case that drew attention to the need for cockpit safety and more mental health support for pilots. Federal prosecutors wanted a year in prison, while his attorneys sought probation.“Pilots are not perfect....

A growing number of Republicans on Capitol Hill have raised concerns about President Trump’s expanding war against drug cartels carried out without consultation or authorization by Congress, and are pressing for more information and involvement in a campaign whose legal basis remains murky. Most in the group have not expressed explicit opposition to the strikes that have been carried out so far against boats in the Caribbean Sea and, this week, expanded to the Pacific. The vast majority of Republicans have enthusiastically rallied behind them, and this month, all but two of them voted to block a measure that would...

Alaska’s new social studies standards don’t mention the Nome Gold Rush. They don’t mention the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. They don’t mention William Egan, the state of Alaska’s first governor, and they don’t mention Sarah Palin, who ran for Vice President of the United States. There’s a lot more that’s missing in the Alaska social studies standards, but you can tell right away that something is wrong when Alaska’s social studies standards leave Alaska’s children ignorant of the headlines of Alaska’s history and the most famous Alaskans. Education departments in every state are on radical autopilot when they make social studies...

GOLOVIN, Alaska – A historic storm blasted western Alaska Friday and Saturday with hurricane-force winds, over 50-foot seas and coastal flooding not seen in decades, leaving homes flooded, roads washed away and power out to a wide area. What used to be Typhoon Merbok morphed into a powerful northern Pacific storm as it raced nearly due north and pushed through the Aleutian Islands Friday and into the Bering Sea Saturday, bringing a dangerous storm surge inundating coastal villages and towns under several feet of water for hours.

We just had municipal elections here in Fairbanks and the Fairbanks North Star Borough. With one exception we are now run by leftist lunatics. There was a rip roaring 18% turnout. So 82% of voters don't care what happens to them. Fairbanks has joined Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, and Frisco in gong down the toilet. I am here for the natural wonder of the place, but the government here is absolute sewage.

Alaska's City of Fairbanks Mayor David Pruhs, a Republican, conceded to Mindy O'Neall, a Democrat, in the mayoral election on Tuesday night. According to unofficial election night results made available by the city of Fairbanks, O’Neall received 1,808 votes (54 percent) and Pruhs received 1,528 votes (45.7 percent). Newsweek has contacted Pruhs and O'Neall for comment via emails sent outside regular business hours. Why It Matters The ballot in mayoral elections in Fairbanks does not list party affiliations next to candidates’ names, but Republicans have held the role in Fairbanks for nearly a decade. Pruhs, a conservative backed by local...

The Senate confirmed 107 of President Donald Trump’s nominees in a single vote on Tuesday evening, significantly clearing the backlog of the president’s picks awaiting floor consideration. Senators voted along party lines to approve the large group of nominees, which included former football star and ex-Senate candidate Herschel Walker and former White House personnel director Sergio Gor. The mass confirmation of the president’s picks comes after Senate Republicans changed chamber precedent to expedite the confirmation process, citing months of unprecedented obstruction from Senate Democrats. Trump has nearly 300 civilian nominees confirmed following the massive group vote. The 107 individuals confirmed...