Juneau Independent

There’s a new 15-second ad out that claims “Dan Sullivan always puts Alaska first.” Don’t be fooled. If he hadn’t been putting the interests of President Donald Trump first, more than a few hardcore MAGA Alaskans would have filed to run against him.

Every summer, people living near the Mendenhall River in Juneau, Alaska, keep a close eye on the water level. When the river level begins to rise rapidly, it’s a sign that Suicide Basin, a small glacier-dammed lake 5 miles up the mountains, has broken through the glacier again and a glacial lake outburst flood is underway.

As an investor, one of the hardest decisions is not choosing what to buy but deciding when to walk away. That becomes even harder when an investment is underwater — when the numbers no longer support the original thesis, the timeline has slipped and the cost continues to grow. At that point, the challenge is no longer analytical. It is emotional.

The Key Campaign is coming to town! I am excited about this because it brings together a community of Alaska advocates to Juneau.

Telephone Hill is our last refuge downtown, a place of peace and beauty and a historic treasure. It needs to be a designated historic district. It is beauty created and left to us by our pioneers to give us joy and transcendent peace.

The sequence of decisions made in advancing this ridiculous project constitutes a breach of fiduciary duty by Southcoast Region Director Christopher Goins and Alaska Marine Highway System Director Craig Tornga.

On Wednesday, Sen. Lisa Murkowski voted against a War Powers Resolution that would have directed President Donald Trump to end U.S. Armed Forces involvement in the war against Iran. She’s certainly right that he “should have sought authorization from Congress before striking Iran on this scale.” And I agree with her argument that an “abrupt cessation of all offensive operations” would be a mistake.

As you approach the Vanderbilt Hill intersection from the Valley, on the hillside you can see three new two-story apartment buildings. This is the Chilkat Vista development and yes, you can see the Chilkat Mountains from the apartments’ picture windows.

Just as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 drove oil prices higher — over $100 a barrel for several months — so too are the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, and Iran’s counterattacks, sending prices upward.

Alaskans are fortunate to have a long history of secure elections. The Alaska Division of Elections under lieutenant governors of both parties has been a model of safety, security and integrity. The rare instances of voter fraud in our state have been identified and prosecuted.

I watched the Juneau Assembly’s Feb. 23 Committee of the Whole meeting because a discussion of Telephone Hill was on the agenda, only to watch in amazement as city Engineering and Public Works Director Denise Koch told the Assembly that the glacial outburst flooding (GLOF) expected in the coming years could affect huge swaths of the valley that were not affected last year.

Sen. Dan Sullivan doesn’t like being portrayed as a weak-kneed politician. So when asked if he’d ever be willing to say no to President Donald Trump, he said when the administration does things he doesn’t like, he’ll sometimes “beat them up in public.”