East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray

Send us a textRose O'Hara-Jolley is the Alaska State Director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates. Planned Parenthood is a network of 600 health clinics across the country -- Alaska has two (one in Fairbanks and one in Anchorage) --  that provide reproductive and sexual health care including birth control, sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment, cancer screenings, well-woman exams and mental health care.  Planned Parenthood is the only provider of abortions in Alaska. Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates is separate from the health care clinics; it is an advocacy organization tasked with keeping the Planned Parenthood clinics open and accessible. As head of that organization, Rose directs all of their advocacy including legislative lobbying, electoral engagement, endorsed candidate programming, local organizing, and youth leadership development. 

Send us a text JJ Harrier is the 2025 chair of the Anchorage Pride Parade. After a childhood in Girdwood, he traveled around the lower 48 and Europe trying to find himself ultimately ending up homeless on the streets of Portland in his early 30s. His mother got him into rehab in Alaska and from there his life took a different direction. JJ is the former Vice President of Marketing for the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the former Director of Development for Alaska Addiction Rehabilitation Services at Nugent's Ranch, and is currently the Director of Development at Denali Family Services.

Send us a textAlaska State House Representative for Downtown Anchorage Zack Fields explains the budget reconciliation bill recently passed in the US House by a single vote. That bill is now in the US Senate, where if it is not substantially amended, it would adversely affect Alaska in many ways. One is cutting funding for SNAP – which is the federal food stamp program.  About 70,000 Alaskans receive SNAP benefits. The bill would also significantly affect Medicaid – which is government health insurance for low-income people and families. About 250,000 Alaskans are enrolled in Medicaid. The bill offers significant tax cuts that primarily benefit the ultra wealthy. Ultimately, if the 2025 budget reconciliation bill passes as is, it would massively increase the federal deficit which is already alarmingly high and has contributed to a reduction in America's credit rating. To listen to Rep. Zack Field's previous episode on the podcast (where we discuss him and his life), click here.

Send us a textTessa Hulls is the 2025 Pulitzer prize winner for her graphic  memoir Feeding Ghosts. Tessa is only the second graphic novelist to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize, the first being Art Speigleman for Maus in 1992. Tessa was kitchen staff for this past legislative session in Juneau. She worked in the legislative lounge every day making legislators' breakfasts and lunches. No one knew she was an author and certainly no one expected the woman serving us our soup to be announced as the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner. We discuss her incognito lounge staff role and how it helped her cope with her newfound international fame. Here is a description of Hulls' book which we will be discussing today:"Feeding Ghosts is a powerful graphic memoir that explores the enduring impact of history and generational trauma on three generations of Chinese women. The memoir follows Hulls' grandmother, Sun Yi, a journalist who fled Shanghai after the 1949 Communist victory, and the ways her experiences shaped her daughter and granddaughter. The book delves into themes of love, grief, exile, identity, and the haunting legacy of trauma."

Send us a textAlaska State House Representative for South Anchorage, Girdwood & Whittier Ky Holland was born and raised in Anchorage. He is the eldest son of Federal Judge Russ Holland who was the judge in the case against Exxon after the Exxon Valdez Oil spill. Ky left Alaska for college in Oregon and stayed away for over a decade. Returning in the late 90s, he continued his work as a mechanical engineer, but expanded into academia and eventually into entrepreneurship. Lack of state investment in the private sector has motivated his legislation during his freshman session in Juneau. But it was a fear that we wouldn't properly fund our schools that led him to run for office for the first time in 2024. We talk about all of that and the case against ten American Samoans in Whittier who have been charged with voter misconduct.

Send us a textAlaska State House Representative for West Anchorage Carolyn Hall got an internship with the Boston Red Sox during her senior year of college in New Hampshire. This led to her dream job working for the team as a videographer during their World Series win in 2004. In 2008 she branched into TV journalism getting her first job with a small local market: KTUU in Anchorage. She covered the Iditarod, Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. Ted Stevens' trial from DC, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski's 2010 write-in campaign. Hall then worked for a larger TV market in Seattle where she earned an Emmy for her coverage of the Oso Landslide in 2014. After returning to Anchorage, she left broadcast journalism and branched into politics working as communications director for Governor Bill Walker, and at the start of the Covid pandemic, for Anchorage Mayor Ethan Berkowitz. We talk about all of that and how she ended up running for office in today's episode. Watch the video of Carolyn Hall and Ethan Berkowitz leaving Anchorage Assembly Chambers, Aug 12, 2020.

Send us a textFormer Alaska State Senator and Iraq war veteran Josh Revak was born and raised in Minnesota. While serving in the Army in the early 2000s, a mortar blast in Iraq blew a quarter-sized hole through the back of his foot. He then got his first job in politics back in Minnesota working on John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. Then, while visiting the Alaska family of a fellow soldier who had been killed in Iraq, Revak met Congressman Don Young's staff who suggested he apply for a job in the congressman's office. After 8 years working for Don Young and Senator Dan Sullivan, Revak ran for the Alaska State House in 2018 defeating incumbent Charisse Millett in the Republican primary and was elected to represent the Abbott Loop Area of Anchorage. When State Senator Chris Birch suddenly passed away, Revak was appointed to that seat by Governor Dunleavy. In 2022 with the sudden death of Don Young, Revak ran for that seat with the endorsement of Don Young's widow. After Mary Peltola ultimately won the seat, Revak went to work for Peltola's office. He is now lobbying for the drone program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.Watch Josh Revak perform on Governor Mike Huckabee's Fox talk show in 2010 here.

Send us a textDeko Harbi, Shannon Smith, and Tali Stone are former Alaska foster youth. All three recently visited the Capitol in Juneau as part of a trip organized by Facing Foster Care in Alaska. Facing Foster Care in Alaska is a nonprofit organization that provides foster youth and alumni opportunities to share their lived experience about life in foster care to raise community awareness and promote improvements in the system. This is this podcast's third episode featuring former foster youth; the first from 2023 was with FFCA co-founder Amanda Metivier and former state house representative Les Gara. The second was from 2024 with six former Alaska foster youth. The Alaska foster system depends on listeners like you becoming foster parents. To learn more about becoming a foster parent, click here or call 1-800-478-7307. Working for Alaska's office of children's services is an extremely challenging job, and that organization is filled with good people doing good work. The purpose of this podcast is not to demonize OCS, but rather to give these former foster youth the opportunity to share their stories from their own perspectives.Warning: today's episode contains frank discussions about child abuse, drug abuse, and suicide. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call Alaska's suicide hotline: 988.

Send us a textAlaska State House Representative Kevin McCabe of Big Lake landed in Kodiak with the Coast Guard in 1981. He raised his three sons there before he began work as a pilot. That work took him to East Anchorage and eventually to Big Lake. He and his wife Linn entered politics as supporters of Sarah Palin for governor in the mid-2000s. During his initial political awakening he adhered to a version of purity politics that he no longer avows. We discuss his life and the evolution of his politics on today's episode. 

Send us a textMindy O'Neall is the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly Chair and the Executive Director of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center. CCHRC is a non-profit organization located near the Univerity of Alaska Fairbanks that for the past 25 years has advanced building solutions for healthier, more resilient homes in cold climates. Prior to her current roles, Mindy was the director of the coordinated campaign for the Alaska democratic party. She worked as staff for Senator Johnny Ellis and House Representative Les Gara and House Representaive now Senator Scott Kawasaki. 

Send us a textRep. Andrew Gray is the usual host of this podcast, but in this episode he is the guest. He is interviewed by his Legislative Aide Kyle Johansen at the request of his other legislative aide Claire Bredar in honor of her birthday. Gray was first elected to the Alaska State House in 2022 to represent the U-Med district. Outside the legislature, he is a physician assistant at an Anchorage Urgent Care.  

Send us a textLegislative Lobbyist Reed Stoops moved to Alaska in 1971 after his youth on the East Coast. He worked as a Committee Aide to Kay Poland in the State Senate and then took a job in the Department of Natural Resources in Gov. Jay Hammond's Administration. During Gov. Bill Sheffield's Administration, he began legislative lobbying, and in 2000, he co-founded the Juneau Community Foundation. The Juneau Community Foundation gives away millions of dollars each year to improve the capital city by making Juneau healthier, safer and culturally richer. 

Send us a textAlaska State House Representative Jubilee Underwood of Wasilla lost the August 2024 primary to the incumbent Representative David Eastman. Few folks thought that she had a chance of winning that race, but come November, Underwood defeated Eastman. She is now here in Juneau forging a new path for her community. Prior to running for the House she served three years on the MatSu School Board, the last as President. We talk about her journey into politics as well as her early life on today's show. Note: one of her best friends from high school, Elexie Moore was also elected to the State House at the same time as Underwood. Moore replaced Jesse Sumner as a representative of Wasilla. You will hear us refer to Elexie by her first name at various points during today's interview. 

Send us a textMichael Rovito is the deputy director of the Alaska Power Association (APA). The Alaska Power Association is the statewide trade association that represents the electric utilities that supply power to more than a half-million Alaskans. As part of his duties with APA, Michael hosts a podcast called, "Alaska Powerline," which talks about issues facing Alaska's electric utilities. He trained as a journalist and moved to Alaska in 2006 to take a job at the MatSu Valley Frontiersman. He left journalism to staff Senator Linda Mennard (R-Wasilla) in the Alaska Senate from 2009 until she was defeated by Mike Dunleavy in the Republican Primary of 2012. Mike Rovito has a substack called, "Alaska Rhythms," which largely features his nature writing.

Send us a textAlaska State Senator Rob Yundt was born and raised in Wasilla and stumbled into wrestling as a 7th grader. Little did he know that wrestling would change his life ultimately leading to a career as a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter with a professional record of 9 wins and five losses – his UFC match against Ricardo Almeida in 2008 (which is available on YouTube) was a pay-per-view event streamed live from the Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas and was watched by millions of people worldwide. After a couple decades of managing his own construction companies, he ran for the MatSu Borough Assembly and won serving from 2020 to 2024. Last year, he defeated incumbent Wasilla Senator David Wilson. We talk about all of that and his bill that would close the S-Corp loop hole that allows certain companies to pay less taxes than others. 

Send us a text Alaska State Senator Matt Claman first laid eyes on Alaska while working as a cook for a mining company the summer before his senior year of college. After law school, he made his way back to Alaska settling in Anchorage. In the mid 2000s he was elected to the Anchorage Assembly and was elevated to Chair at the start of his second year. This meant that when Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich was elected US Senator, Matt Claman as the Assembly Chair assumed the role of acting mayor. This happened just after the 2008 fiscal crisis. Mayor Claman was forced to make difficult decisions that hurt him politically, but that he stands by today. In 2014 he was elected to the Alaska State House representing West Anchorage, and in 2022 he was elected to the Alaska State Senate where he serves as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Send us a textDr. Brock Wilson is the newest faculty at UAA's Institute of Social And Economic Research (ISER). Brock recently earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Oregon where his primary area of study was labor economics. His most important published work is on pension generosity and its effect on hiring and keeping workers. It was his time spent as a wildland firefighter in Oregon that initially got him interested in recruitment and retention policy. Read Dr. Wilson's paper on pensions here.

Send us a textAlaska State House Representative Bill Elam of Kenai and Nikiski served for almost six years on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly before running for the open House seat created when former Rep. Ben Carpenter ran for the Alaska State Senate. It wasn't an easy race: Carpenter endorsed Elam's opponent, and Elam lost the August primary, although just barely. We talk about all of that and more. 

Send us a textRepresentative Frank Tomaszewski of Fairbanks got his start in local politics opposing a plan by North Star Borough Mayor Luke Hopkins to build a parking lot near Frank's home. He ran for the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly in 2019 and served until 2022. He then ran against Luke Hopkins' son Grier Hopkins who was serving in the Alaska State House, and Frank defeated him. Frank and I were freshmen together in 2022, and now as we start are second terms together, we sit next to each other on the House floor. 

Send us a textAnchorage Attorney Pat Galvin grew up in southern California and hoped to be a sports agent. He never intended to be an attorney, to live in Alaska, nor work in state government. But as a relatively young lawyer he got a job in Governor Tony Knowles''s administration as the Director of Governmental Coordination in the Office of the Governor before moving into the Department of Natural Resources. He stayed at DNR through Gov. Frank Murkowski's administration, and then with the election of Gov. Sarah Palin, Pat was tapped to be her Commissioner of Revenue. In that role, he crafted ACES, an aggressive oil & gas tax policy that netted the state billions in additional revenue. Although he stayed on in Gov. Sean Parnell's administration after Palin resigned, Pat left state government in 2010 and has been working for an oil company ever since. 

Send us a textSarah Vance spent her early life in north Texas and Oklahoma before moving to Homer, Alaska, at age 10. She had not paid much attention to politics until a 2017 Homer City Council resolution to make Homer a sanctuary city for immigrants. Sarah helped mobilize against the resolution and led a recall election against the three city councilmembers who had brought forth the resolution. In 2018 she challenged longtime incumbent Paul Seaton for his seat and won. After four years serving in the House minority, she was part of the Republican majority these past two years where she chaired both the House Judiciary and Fisheries Committees. 

Send us a textAlaska State Refugee Coordinator Issa Spatrisano does her work through Catholic Social Services' Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services (RAIS), which is the resettlement agency for the state of Alaska. RAIS connects newly arrived refugees with housing, jobs, and other services that weave them into the Alaska community. A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her home because of war, violence or persecution, often without warning. They are unable to return home due to unsafe conditions in their native land.Those who obtain refugee status are given protections under both international and US federal law. An asylum seeker is someone who is also seeking international protection from dangers in his or her home country, but whose claim for refugee status hasn't yet been determined legally. Asylum seekers apply for protection in the country of destination. Until an asylum seeker has attained the correct status they may not be able to access refugee services.In most cases to qualify for help from RAIS a person must have federal refugee status.There are many more folks (immigrants, migrants, & others) who need assistance than qualify for it.Today we are primarily talking about folks with refugee status. But as you will hear the terminology is challenging because Alaska has had a recent influx of Afghan and Ukrainian refugees who have a different status (humanitarian parole). What will happen to them during the Trump administration is up in the air.To listen to the recent podcast episode with Alaska Literacy Program's outgoing and incoming executive directors Lori Pickett and Deepika Ramesh Perumal, click here. This is an edited version of the original episode. Please email Rep.Andrew.Gray@akleg.gov or call 907-269-0123 for a link to the complete version.

Send us a textFormer Alaska State Senate Minority Leader Hollis French moved to Alaska from Colorado when he was 20 to work in the oil industry. After earning a law degree, he worked as a prosecutor and then, when the opportunity presented itself, ran for the state Senate, winning on his second try in 2002. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2010 and in 2014. Governor Bill Walker appointed him to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) 2016-2019. Now retired, Hollis spends much of the year in his wife's home state of Idaho, and that is where we recorded this zoom interview from.To read Hollis French and Kate Troll's op-ed from the Beacon, "Alaska's environmental standards are not some of the best," click here.  

Send us a textBronson Frye is the Alaska representative for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, local 1959. At age 19, he apprenticed in Anchorage with the union as a painter after growing up in Homer. Bronson became the union rep in 2007 and has remained deeply involved in workers' rights and politics ever since, which is a surprising turn for someone raised a Jehovah's Witness. We talk about that journey as well as his discovery of yoga. Bronson is the yoga teacher for the West Anchorage High School Football team, and he's also taught in Alaska's prisons. He and his wife Michelle own their own yoga business, LunaWithSol. Listen to Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson's podcast episode here.Listen to former Rep. Chris Tuck's podcast episode here.

Dr. Mimi Benjamin has been a family practice physician for over 35 years, the last 14 in Juneau. She is the former Medical Director and creator of the Bartlett Regional Hospital Hospitalist program, which started in 2017. She is the 2018 recipient of the Golden Stethoscope award from the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association (ASHNHA) for her relentless advocacy for patient safety, for serving as the physician champion of the electronic medical record, and for cofounding and serving as medical director of Bartlett's antibiotic stewardship program. This interview was recorded in May of 2024 During legislative session, I rented an apartment from Mimi and her husband Brian who is also a physician. Somehow in my move back to Anchorage I thought I'd lost this audio, but I eventually found it. Dr. Benjamin offers an interesting perspective from her experience in Southeast Alaska on both the specific issues in Juneau but also on health care in general.

After 29 years at the Alaska Literacy Program, Lori Pickett recently retired and handed off the executive director responsibility to Deepika Ramesh Perumal. Both women are interviewed on the show today where we discuss their lives and what brought them to ALP.The Anchorage Literacy Program started 50 years ago in 1974 as an all-volunteer organization to teach people to read. Over the years it has metamorphosized into predominantly an English language school that enables immigrants with limited or no English language capabilities to navigate and thrive in Anchorage. In addition to its volunteer-led English Language Classes, ALP also offers other clases, like GED prep courses,  and staffs a Peer Leader Navigator which helps folks achieve digital literacy. All ALP classes are free of charge and the bulk of their work is provided by volunteers. To be a part of the Anchorage Literacy Program visit their website by clicking here. Lori Pickett is also the outgoing vice president of the Russian Jack Community Council. Big thanks to Lori for her service to RJCC. Find your community council by clicking here.

Megan Edge is the Prison Project Director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska. At age 19, Megan got her first job in a newsroom, and she worked as a journalist for seven years covering local Anchorage issues, state politics, military affairs, the Iditarod, and most relevant to today's conversation, crime and courts. In 2017, she left the news business to work in Governor Bill Walker's administration as the Department of Corrections Public Information Officer. Her eyes were opened to many of the problems in Alaska's prison system, and this led her to create the Prison Project at the ACLU of Alaska.

Writer and former Anchorage Assembly member Charles Wohlforth is the author of more than ten books and numerous articles about science and the environment, politics and history, medicine, travel, and as-told-to biography including his 2012, To Russia with Love, with Vic Fischer. His book, The Whale and the Supercomputer, won the L.A. Times Book Prize in 2004. His three-times-weekly column for the Anchorage Daily News in 2019 won the western U.S. states' most prestigious journalism award, “Best of the West.” Today, we are talking about his series of articles from the ADN published in 2016 and 2017 about problems with Alaska's health care system. We are also discussing his 2022 book that he co-wrote with Dr. David Nash, How Covid Crashed the System: A guide to fixing American Health Care. For link to Charles' ADN op-ed about zoning, click here.For link to Celeste Hodge Growden's response to Charles' Zoning op-ed, click here.For a list of Charles' ADN articles on Alaska Health Care, click here.For a list of Charles' books, click here. 

Former Alaska State House Representative Kyle Johansen was first elected to represent his hometown of Ketchikan in 2006. Two years later he became the Majority Leader in the Republican-led House. After being re-elected as Majority Leader in 2010 he left the caucus in protest of a committee leadership decision which he now sees as a huge mistake – a mistake he continues to pay for years afterward, ultimately driving him in  2019 to relocate to Hawaii. In the 34th Legislature which starts this January, he will be returning to Alaska to staff my office in Juneau. Today we learn his story.   Link to former Alaska State House Majority Leader Charisse Millett's episode here.Link to former Alaska State Senator Lesil McGuire's episode here.Link to former Alaska State House Rep Cliff Groh's episode here.

Michelle Macuar Sparck is the director of strategic initiatives of the organization Get out the Native Vote. Get out the Native Vote is a non-partisan effort in Alaska to mobilize Alaska Native and American Indian Voters. Michelle Sparck is a member of the Qissunamiut Tribe of Chevak but grew up in Bethel. After graduating from Bethel High School, she moved to DC to attend American University. While there she worked for Senator Ted Stevens and later Congressman Don Young. After her work in DC she returned to Alaska to work with Tribes and subsistence activities with the Association of Village Council Presidents. She has been the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Get out the native vote since 2022.Visit Get out the Native Vote, here.

Michelle Turner is an environmental scientist who serves as the president of the Anchorage Democrats. Her day job is as a Principal Scientist with over 25 years of professional experience providing analysis and strategic advice under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for a local environmental consultancy firm. Her work includes data gap analyses, Environmental Impact Assessments, and Environmental Impact Statements (EIS) working on behalf of both project sponsors and federal regulators. Michelle's husband Carl Johnson is an environmental lawyer who ran for the state Senate in South Anchorage in 2020. His lifelong passion for photography first manifested in the Navy. He has served as the artist-in-residence for Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, Badlands National Park, and Rocky Mountain National Park. In 2010, he was named the “Environmental Issues” category winner for the Windland Smith Rice International Awards sponsored by Nature's Best Photography. His winning piece, “Wolf Tracks on Ice,” highlights the challenges of aggressive wolf predator control programs and was on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Together Carl & Michelle own and manage two businesses: Alaska Photo Treks and Great Land Graphics. 

Tom Pittman is the new Executive Director of Identity Inc. which was established in 1977 as the Alaskan Gay Community Center. Over the years, Identity has had different roles and purposes within the Alaska LGBTQIA2S+ community but has always sought to provide a safe haven for the queer community. In 2021, Identity merged with Full Spectrum Health and became Identity Health Clinic. Tom Pittman has a master's in health administration from the University of Washington, and has supported his tribe, the Tlingits, by working for the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC). He worked as an administrator for Fairbanks Memorial Hospital throughout the covid pandemic and its aftermath. He began his tenure as executive director of Identity in January 2024.Visit Identity's website here.

Maija Katak Lukin served as Mayor of Kotzebue in 2015 when President Barack Obama visited. She later became superintendent of the National Park Service's Western Arctic National Parklands. She is now the Native Relations Program Manager for the National Park's Service's Region 11 which encompasses Alaska.  We discuss her early life, her commitment to the Inupiaq language, climate change's tangible impacts on the Arctic and more.

Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal is the author of the 2017 book, An American Sickness: how healthcare became big business and how you can take it back. The Washington Post describes the book as: “An authoritative account of the distorted financial incentives that drive medical care in the United States . . . Every lawmaker and administration official should pick up a copy of [it].” Dr. Rosenthal was for 22 years a reporter, correspondent, and senior writer for The New York Times before becoming the editor in chief of Kaiser Health News, an independent journalism newsroom focusing on health and health policy. She holds an MD from Harvard Medical School, trained in internal medicine, and has worked as an ER physician. For over a decade she has been responsible for a popular segment on National Public Radio called, “the Medical Bill of the Month.”Click here for, "Where the frauds are legal: welcome to the weird world of medical billing," by Elisabeth Rosenthal from The New York Times, Dec. 7, 2019.

Ron Hoffman is the lead pastor of Mountain City Church, formerly known as the Anchorage Baptist Temple. Anchorage Baptist was founded in 1956 by Pastor Don White under the name Baptist Bible Church. The church by whatever name has been a launching pad for conservative Republican politicians in Alaska for decades, and with its 2500 members, it maintains its political influence today. Ron Hoffman's first contact with the church was in 1984 when he enrolled as a high school freshman at its associated school Anchorage Christian School, now known as Mountain City Christian Academy. After earning his bachelor's degree from Liberty University in 1991, Ron returned to Anchorage with his wife Crystal and worked in the church's youth ministry for the next 25 years and raised three children. In 2019, Jerry Prevo retired after 47 years as the head of the church; in May of that year, Ron became lead pastor at Mountain City Church. Watch Pastor Ron's testimony about his early life here.Watch Anchorage Police Department Critical Incident, Aug. 13, 2024, here.

Writer Tom Kizzia's eight-part series on the first white settler girl born in American Alaska concludes today in the Anchorage Daily News. “Josie's Story" tells the story of the life of Josie Rudolph who was born in Sitka in 1869 to German Jewish parents but moved back to Germany when she was still a child. 69 years later in Nuremberg, it was Josie's Alaskan birth that saved her from the Nazis.Tom Kizzia had a 25-year career as a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. He is the author of three books Cold Mountain Path,  Pilgrim's Wilderness,  The Wake of the Unseen Object. This is Tom Kizzia's third appearance on this podcast, please check out the links below to listen to his previous appearances:Tom Kizzia: author on ghost town McCarthyTom Kizzia: author of "Wake of the Unseen Object"

Today our guest is former Lieutenant Governor Fran Ulmer. She moved from Wisconsin to Alaska over 50 years ago and has spent much of that time in public service at the local, state, and national levels. She is the former chair of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, appointed by President Obama in March 2011 and serves on the National Parks Conservation Association Board and chairs the Global Board of the Nature Conservancy. In June 2010, President Obama appointed her to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. From 2007 to 2011, Ms. Ulmer was chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA). Fran served as an elected official for 18 years as the mayor of Juneau, as a state representative, and as Lieutenant Governor of Alaska with Governor Tony Knowles. This is the first of three planned interviews. Today we will be focusing on her early life and her work in Governor Jay Hammond's administration.

Jenny Fayette is the immediate past president of the Alaska Academy of Physician Assistants. She is a graduate of the only physician assistant training program in Alaska, the MEDEX program which is a partnership with the University of Washington and the University of Alaska Anchorage. Prior to going to PA school, Jenny was an exercise physiologist, a high school science teacher, and a professional cross-country skier. After a decade working in orthopedic surgery, she recently took a job as PA in breast surgery. We will be discussing a bill from the most recent legislative session that would have modernized the treatment of PAs in Alaska statute. Senate Bill 115 was sponsored by Senator Löki Tobin who represents downtown Anchorage; her bill never made it to the floor of the Alaska State House for a vote, and therefore it died at the end of the 33rd legislature. A new version of that bill will likely be introduced in the 34th Legislature. 

Lisa Aquino is the CEO of the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center (ANHC). Before taking over that organization in 2021, she was the Executive Director of Catholic Social Services for seven years. She has a Masters in Health Sciences degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is a federally qualified health center that provides primary health care services to everyone in our community with a special focus on those who face extra barriers to care.  Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center is accepting new patients for primary care servicesand has behavioral health services available to all its established patients. To learn more or establish care visit ANHC.org or call 907-743-7200.

Dr. Bill Sage is the Assistant Vice President of the Texas A&M Health Science Center, a professor of Medicine at the Texas A& M University School of Medicine, and a professor of Law at Texas A& M University School of Law. He has published hundreds of papers over the decades on health law and policy, and he has edited four books including the Oxford Handbook of US Health Law. He has previously been a professor of law and/or medicine at the University of Texas Austin, Columbia Law School, Yale, Harvard and NYU. Although we will be talking about American health care policy rather than specifically Alaska health care policy, our conversation is relevant since the Alaska Health Care system is a microcosm of our national health care system. Here are links to many of the Dr. Sage's papers discussed during today's episode:  "What the Pandemic Taught Us: The Health Care System We Have Is Not the System We Hoped We Had" "Minding Ps and Qs: The Political and Policy Questions Framing Health Care Spending""Brand New Law! The Need to Market Health Care Reform"

Retired Alaska District Court Judge Elaine Andrews moved to Alaska in 1976 immediately upon graduating from law school. Her first job as a lawyer was with the Alaska Judicial Council, which is tasked with vetting new judges and with deciding whether or not to recommend sitting judges for retention. In Alaska, a judge must be at least 30 years old, and Elaine Andrews applied and was appointed to the bench shortly after she turned 30. She served as a full-time district court judge for 22 years and continued as a pro tempore judge part-time for another two decades after that. 

Kendra Sticka, PhD, RDN, is the Executive Director of healthEconnect Alaska, the state-designated health information exchange (HIE). In this role, she spearheads the HIE's strategic growth and operations, including its continued expansion into underserved rural and urban communities. Dr. Sticka has worked in Alaska healthcare for more than 20 years, beginning as a clinical dietitian in hospital, clinical, and private practice before transitioning into academics and education. Prior to joining healthEconnect in 2023, she served as the Associate Dean of Clinical Health Sciences at the Univeristy of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. Sticka hold master degrees in nutrition and adult education and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology.To access the healthEconnect website, click here. 

Rev. Matt Schultz has been the Pastor of First Presbyterian Church in downtown Anchorage for eleven years.  We discuss what Christian Nationalism is and why it's dangerous. We also talk about Matt's childhood, what brought him to the ministry, and how he came to be a liberal in both politics and theology.      Rev. Schultz is leading classes starting Tuesday, Sept. 26, at 6:30 pm entitled, "The Dangers of Christian Nationalism." Additional classes will be held, Tuesday, Oct. 1  at 6:30 pm, and possibly the Tuesday after that at First Presbyterian Church, 616 W. 10th Avenue, on the Delaney Park Strip.

Dr. Lawrence Weiss founded the Masters in Public Health program and was instrumental in starting the Alaska Native Studies program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He has a PhD in Sociology from SUNY Binghamton, but it was his postdoctoral Masters degree from Harvard in Occupational Health that moved him to Anchorage in the early 80s and led to a 35 year career in public health as a researcher, educator, writer, program evaluator and policy analyst. For Dr. Weiss's article on Medicare-for-All, click here. For Dr. Weiss's article on teacher retirements, click here. For Forbes's ranking of cost of health care by state, click here.For NPR story on cost of chemo in Juneau, click here.

Dr. Anne Zink served as the Chief Medical Officer for the state of Alaska in Governor Dunleavy's administration from 2019 until the Spring of 2024. She is a practicing emergency room physician who served as the emergency department medical director of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center from 2010 to 2018. She received her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her emergency medicine residency at the the University of Utah.Watch the full clip of Dr. Zink's grandfather, Albert Bartlett, here.

Rep. Jennie Armstrong of West Anchorage was first elected to the Alaska State House in 2022 but is not running for re-election. Instead, she will continue running the two companies that she founded and dedicate more time to her young family. In this Labor Day episode, she shares insights into managing staff that she has gleaned from years of first-hand experience and thoughtful exploration. Many new legislators are caught by surprise suddenly having employees who answer to them; this conversation is intended to help legislators -- and any new bosses -- run better offices through creating an environments where staff thrive. To learn more about Jennie Armstrong, listen to her interview from 2023 for, "East Anchorage Matters."Here is the link to Simon Sinek's TED Talk, "Why good leaders make you feel safe."Here is the link to Kim Scott's TED Talk, "How to lead with radical candor."

Tom Begich is a former Alaska State Senate Minority Leader. After a life-long career as a singer-songwriter and political advisor, he first ran for office in 2016 to for the state senate seat held by Johnny Ellis representing downtown Anchorage. Tom did not run for re-election in 2022, but instead set up his staffer Löki Tobin to take his seat. We also discuss his childhood as the son of Congressman Nick Begich whose plane disappeared in 1972 in Southeast Alaska. We end with a contemplation of Tom Begich's next chapter in Alaska politics.

The Alaska Delegation to the 2024 Democratic National Convention consisted of 19 voting delegates, but also party officials, pages, and others, who all traveled to Chicago last week. This episode is an attempt to capture their impressions of the convention immediately upon their return to Alaska.The guests (in order of their appearance)Jessica CookRep. Andy JosephsonBrenda KnappRep. Genevieve MinaRozlyn Grady WycheSen. Bill WielechowskiVeronica SlajerSen. Elvi Gray-JacksonMike WenstrupKimberly MetcalfeJacob BegichMonica SouthworthLindsay KavanaughFauna HuntJasmine CarterSen. Löki TobinChuck Degnan

Representative Zack Fields has represented downtown Anchorage in the Alaska state house for the past 6 years. He began his work in Alaska in 2012 doing political work first through the AFL/CIO and later as communications director for the Alaska Democratic Party. In Governor Bill Walker's administration, he served as Workforce Development Coordinator for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. He is currently a union organizer for the Laborers Union Local 341. We discuss his childhood, how he became an activist, and what got him involved in unions in particular.  

Jenna Wright is the president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation.  AEDC exists for three reasons: to encourage economic growth and diversity in Anchorageto promote a favorable business climateto raise Anchorage residents' standard of living. The corporation is funded through private contributions, municipal & state grants, and contracts. Jenna took over AEDC last year from recent mayoral candidate Bill Popp who had been the President for the previous 16 years. Today we discuss “Choose Anchorage” which is a research project looking at four different areas that Anchorage needs to improve in order to make our municipality more attractive to business. We also talk about "Project Anchorage," an AEDC proposal to institute a 3% sales tax in Anchorage; 2% would go to relieve the property tax burden, while 1% would go to fund capital projects that would make Anchorage a more amazing place to live.Visit AEDC's website here.Visit Project Anchorage here.

Erin Baldwin Day is the founder of the Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) and an organizer of the Anchorage Housing Club. Mutual aid is collective coordination to ensure that the basic needs of all of our neighbors are met, acknowledging that our existing social support systems are not enough to meet those needs. MANA works with local partners to tackle big issues that affect the health and well-being of our network neighbors, including capping interest rates on payday loans, developing a worker-owned childcare co-op, and addressing the SNAP benefits backlog. Click here to reach MANA's website. The Anchorage Housing Club is an informal group of folks interested in expanding the available housing in Anchorage. To reach that group, email anchoragehousingclub@gmail.com. The focus of today's discussion is housing in Anchorage.