Friday in the Sun (Jan. 29): The Last Park Ranger edition
The latest and sometimes greatest Friday-based Alaska-focused political gossip column out there.
January 2021
Alaska Senate’s first covid hearing was about what you’d expect when it’s run by Sen. Reinbold
Reinbold has spent much of the last year using Facebook to spread doubt and disinformation about the coronavirus, health measures and the vaccine, but she has reserved most of her ire for Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s “tyrannical” (largely toothless to the rest of us) public health order. With a new pulpit courtesy of GOP Senate Majority, Reinbold was ready to hit the ground running to make her case.
Dunleavy appoints former GOP senator Ralph Seekins to UA Board of Regents
The 75-year-old car dealership owner will take the place of Regent Gloria O’Neill for an eight-year term that concludes in 2029. O’Neill, who is the President and CEO of Cook Inlet Tribal Council and lives in Anchorage, was appointed to the position in 2013 by former Gov. Sean Parnell.
The weaponization of disinformation: MEMO
Things get dark on the Anchorage Assembly as the Nazi-license-plate saga continues. Oh, and the House is still not organized.
‘Hate has no place in Anchorage,’ says mayoral candidate Dunbar amid anti-Semitic attacks
Anchorage Assemblyman and mayoral candidate Forrest Dunbar joined the chorus of voices denouncing a pair of anti-Semitic license plates reading 3REICH and FUHRER that fellow Assemblywoman Jamie Allard defended as harmless foreign language.
Anchorage Assemblywoman who defended Nazi plates is no longer on Alaska Human Rights Commission
Allard’s term on the Commission for Human Rights was set to expire in 2024. It’s not immediately clear if Allard resigned or was removed from the position, which would be a decision left up to Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
The license plate brouhaha takes a predictably repulsive turn: MEMO
From The Midnight Sun Memo, a brand-new newsletter project from your humble Midnight Sun editor. For everyone who’s been asking about keeping up via email or…
Senate GOP puts covid, election denier Reinbold in charge of Judiciary committee
This session’s Judiciary chair Sen. Lora Reinbold has spent the last year using Facebook to spread doubt and disinformation about the coronavirus and elections. Now, the GOP majority has given her a new platform.
The problem with platforming Nazis: MEMO
From The Midnight Sun Memo, a brand-new newsletter project from your humble Midnight Sun editor. For everyone who’s been asking about keeping up via email or…
Friday in the Sun (Jan. 22): The Just Barely edition
It’s Friday.