March 28, 2016
Volcanic eruption led to dozens of flight cancellations in Interior, NW, Northern Alaska
By AP
The Pavlov volcanic eruption has been downgraded from red alert to yellow watch status. An ash cloud from the remote Alaska volcano rose to more than seven miles, and stretched more than 400 miles wide over parts of the state Monday. Because volcanic ash can damage or cause jet engines to malfunction, dozens of flights were cancelled into and out of Fairbanks and to parts or northwest and northern Alaska. The U.S. Geological Survey says the Pavlof Volcano erupted Sunday, causing tremors on the ground. The volcano is 625 miles southwest of Anchorage on the Alaska Peninsula, the finger of land that sticks out from mainland Alaska toward the Aleutian Islands.
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Rubio’s delegates may influence national GOP delegate count
By AP
The Alaska Republican party has decided to let Marco Rubio keep the five delegates he won during the state's presidential preference poll. The party earlier this month announced that it had reassigned the delegates Rubio won in the March 1 preference poll because he had suspended his campaign. It reallocated Rubio’s delegates proportionally to candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trup. But party chairman Peter Goldberg said in a release Monday that Rubio asked to retain the delegates bound to him, at least through the first nominating ballot at this summer's national convention. A GOP spokesperson says it is unlikely Rubio will re-open his presidential bid. But the move could influence the delegate count at the party's national convention in July.
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Alaska’s highest court rules in favor of tribal authority on child welfare
By Jennifer Canfield, KTOO - Juneau
The State of Alaska must recognize and enforce child support orders issued by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, according to a state Supreme Court ruling issued Friday. That’s something the Walker administration chose to do when it signed an agreement with the Central Council earlier this month. The state Supreme Court decision makes that agreement legally binding regardless of any administration change.
Central Council President Richard Peterson says that while the court decision is an important milestone, there are still more issues surrounding the administration of tribal child welfare that need to be dealt with. Some of the issues are between tribes. Peterson says there are families in Juneau that encounter problems because they live there but are still under the jurisdiction of their home tribes. Peterson says the Central Council must be careful to not overstep its bounds because other tribes also receive federal dollars to oversee child welfare.
"That’s a hurdle we’re still trying to get across,” said Peterson. “A lot of our folks want us to step in and solve the problem but we’re really going to have to work with some of the tribes to work out jurisdictional issues and come to agreements. We’re always going to uphold the sovereignty of other tribes and we’re not going to push our weight around,” Peterson said.
Earlier this month, the state and the Central Council signed a maintenance agreement, similar to one the Parnell administration signed in 2013 with the Tanana Chiefs Conference. The agreement essentially requires the state to make no claims of jurisdiction over child support orders for Tlingit and Haida children and to share federal funds with the Central Council. Peterson says the court decision sets a precedent for other tribes that may want to more actively oversee their own child welfare programs.