East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray
142 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 11 hours ago - ★★★★★ - 25 ratingsThe East Anchorage Book Club is an interview podcast where Alaskan leaders discuss politics and community issues.
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Episodes
TRANS RIGHTS: Dr. Joshua Safer, author of the Endocrine Society Guidelines for the medical care of transgender patients
April 26, 2024 13:00 - 31 minutes - 21.8 MBDr. Joshua Safer is the executive director of the Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York. He is the founding medical director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Boston University School of Medicine, and he was the inaugural president of the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH). He serves on the Global Education Initiative for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). Dr. Safer was a c...
TRANS RIGHTS: Becca Bernard, a lawyer, minister, and mom to a trans girl
April 25, 2024 08:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBBecca Bernard is a former environmental lawyer and a Unitarian Universalist minister based in Anchorage. She is also mom to two children, one of whom is trans. This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 which allows...
TRANS RIGHTS: David Leslie, an Inupiaq Sipiniq (Two-Spirit)
April 24, 2024 14:00 - 32 minutes - 22.4 MBDavid Leslie is an Inupiaq Sipiniq (Two-Spirit) living in Fairbanks. He is a frequent testifier against the anti-trans bills moving through the Alaska State House. We discuss his specific perspective as a queer Alaska Native man. To check out the book recommended by our guest, Yuuyaraq: The Way of The Human Being, by Harold Napoleon, Click here. This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State Ho...
TRANS RIGHTS: Henry, a 15-year-old trans boy and his mom
April 23, 2024 14:00 - 23 minutes - 16.5 MBHenry is a 15 year old trans boy. He and his mother are the guests today discussing their experience in Alaska. No last names will be given in the interest of their safety. This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 338 ...
TRANS RIGHTS: Retired Army 1st Sergeant Jessica Kalarchik on being trans
April 22, 2024 14:00 - 27 minutes - 19.2 MBJessica Kalarchik was an Army First Sergeant who deployed with me and the Alaska Army National Guard’s 1-297th infantry battalion to Kosovo 2019-2020. 1st Sergeant Kalarchik presented as a very masculine man, and I never suspected that she was a trans woman. She was medically retired after 31 years in the military during her next deployment to Poland. Leaving the military gave her the freedom to begin her life as a openly trans woman, with the support of her wife, her daughters, and her gran...
TRANS RIGHTS: An Air Force family raising a trans child
April 21, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 46.2 MBThe Banning family consists of: Lindsey, clinical psychologist, mom Charlie, age 15, non-binary trans masculine Ezzy, age 12, sister Earl, neuropsychologist in the Air Force at Elmendorf, dad This episode is part of a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name an...
TRANS RIGHTS: wildlife biologist Aaron Poe discusses being a father to a trans daughter in Anchorage
April 20, 2024 22:00 - 36 minutes - 24.8 MBAaron Poe has been a wildlife biologist in Alaska since 1998. He is the father of a trans daughter in the Anchorage School District, and today we discuss that experience. This episode is the first in a series on trans rights. The inspiration for these interviews is three bills currently moving through the Alaska State House: HB 183 which bans trans girls from playing girls sports; HB 105 which requires kids to get signed permission slips approving their preferred name and pronouns; and HB 3...
James Kaufman (R-Anchorage): AK State Senator for Abbott Loop and the Hillside
April 14, 2024 15:00 - 43 minutes - 29.9 MBAlaska State Senator James Kaufman represents the Abbott Loop and Hillside areas of Anchorage. Although in his teens and 20s he was a guitar player & song writer for several successful rock bands, James began earning real money as an aircraft mechanic in Houston, Texas. He quickly found himself taking on bigger and bigger management positions which ultimately led to him transitioning to the oil and gas field which eventually brought him to Alaska with BP. He was elected to the state house i...
Reggie Joule: Kotzebue House Rep (1997-2012) & Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor (2012-2015)
April 07, 2024 22:00 - 1 hour - 56.8 MBReggie Joule of Kotzebue is a former Alaska State House Representative and the former Northwest Arctic Borough Mayor. He is listed in the Alaska Sports Hall of Fame as: “the greatest practitioner of the blanket toss in the long history of the World Eskimo Indian Olympics.” His skill in that Alaska Native sport led to his appearance on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson twice. He ran for the Alaska State House the first time in 1988, but it he lost. Eight years later he ran and won and repre...
Sharon Gleason: Chief Judge of the US District Court for Alaska
March 30, 2024 16:00 - 42 minutes - 29 MBJudge Sharon Gleason is the Chief Judge of the United State District Court for the District of Alaska. She was appointed by Barack Obama in 2012 after serving 11 years as a judge on the Alaska Superior Court. She is the first woman to serve as a federal judge for Alaska. On March 29, 2024, she released a 29-page decision against the fishing of the Kuskokwim River by urban fishermen, reserving subsistence fishing only to rural Alaskans. Read more here. Her fame as a federal judge stems fro...
Lisa Wawrzonek: Statewide Guardianship Compliance Officer on Alaska's Guardianship Crisis
March 23, 2024 20:00 - 49 minutes - 34 MBWith over 20 years of experience in Alaska's guardianship system Lisa Warzonek has been our statewide guardianship compliance officer since the position was created four years ago. A guardian is a person that the court appoints to manage the affairs of another person. In spite of the sensationalized negative headlines we see, most guardians do a difficult job for the right reasons with very little recognition or compensation. To learn more about guardianship and conservatorship in Alaska, cl...
Mobile Home Owners Town Hall with Attorney Charles Ward, David Andrew, and Demetria Veasy
March 19, 2024 22:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBThe Mobile Home Owner Town Hall Episode Today our show is about mobile home parks. As the state representative for house district 20, I have several mobile home parks in my district. Mobile home owners face unique challenges: they own their home but must rent the land on which their home sits. Every year that rent goes up – yet the value of their home tends to go down. This can create a vicious cycle that can be incredibly difficult for a mobile home owner to break out of. This podcast epis...
Charisse Millett: Director of PSEA & former AK House Majority Leader
March 16, 2024 02:00 - 57 minutes - 39.4 MBCharisse Millett is a born and raised Alaskan who represented the Abbott Loop area of Anchorage in the Alaska State House from 2009 to 2019. During her legislative career she served as both the House Republican majority and minority leaders. In this episode we discuss: growing up Alaska Native in Anchorage serving as chief of staff to Rep. Vic Kohring just before the FBI probe that sent him to prison her decision to leave the Republican majority caucus during her 2nd term and how she ear...
Chelsea Foster & Bailey Stuart: Alaska Marijuana 101
March 10, 2024 18:00 - 45 minutes - 31 MBChelsea Foster of Anchorage is a director on the board of the Alaska Marijuana Industry Association and a long-time cannabis advocate. She is COO for Birch Alaskan Naturals CBD, and a consultant for the Alaskan cannabis industry. She has successfully pursued regulatory and statuary changes for the Alaska cannabis industry with a focus on social equity and sustainability. Bailey Stuart of Wasilla is co-owner of the the Matanuska-Susitna Borough's first recreational dispensary Green Jar. She...
Foster Care in Alaska: Angel Gonzalez, Mateo Jaime, Kxlo Stone, Anna Redmon, Sarah Lewis, & Abbey Redmon
March 03, 2024 19:00 - 1 hour - 50.1 MBFacing Foster Care in Alaska (FFCA) is a non-profit group made up of folks with lived experience in the foster care system. As former foster youth themselves, these individuals can offer expertise to make Alaska's system better from the inside out. Today on the show we hear from the most recent FFCA board president, Angel Gonzalez, Mateo Jaime, Kxlo Stone, and then three sisters, Anna Redmon, Sarah Lewis, and Abby Redmon. If you are interested in becoming a foster parent, click here to le...
Keri Ladner: author on Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority, and QAnon
February 28, 2024 13:00 - 54 minutes - 37.7 MBKeri Ladner is the author of the 2024 book End Time Politics: From the Moral Majority to QAnon. She earned her doctorate in Divinity from the University of Edinburgh and much of her doctoral research focused on researching the theological roots of Jerry Falwell, the co-founder of the Moral Majority. She exposes the racism, contempt for the poor, and false patriotism of Falwell and his followers, as well as his commitment to "Biblical capitalism," which led Falwell to call for the eliminati...
EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS: former AK House Rep Ivan Ivan (D-Akiak); Jena Crafton, Chair of the Governor's Council on Disabilities & Special Education
February 26, 2024 06:00 - 30 minutes - 21.3 MBJena Crafton is the chair of the Governors Council on Disabilities and Special Education. She has been a vocal advocate for people with disabilities since she was young as Crafton has developmental disabilities herself. We discuss her childhood including how she learned about her own disabilities and what she most wants the community at large to understand about people with disabilities. Former Alaska State House Representative Ivan Ivan of Akiak in the YK delta replaced Lyman Hoffman in th...
EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS: Ed Wesley & Shenee Williams, Shiloh Community Housing's planned Community Resource Center
February 18, 2024 17:00 - 49 minutes - 34.2 MBEd Wesley was born in Bolivar County, Mississippi, on January 9, 1951. He moved to Fort Greeley, Alaska, in 1973 after being drafted into the Army. His wife joined him shortly thereafter and the two raised all five of their children here and the two have never lived outside Alaska since. He was elected president of the Anchorage NAACP in 1981 and led the charge to change the way the Anchorage Police Department uses deadly force. Wesley has served on the boards of numerous organizations such ...
EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS: Paul Peterson, Harvard Professor on Alaska Charter Schools
February 12, 2024 04:00 - 35 minutes - 24.4 MBToday's episode is about Alaska's Charter Schools which were recently ranked #1 in the country. The lead author of the study is Dr. Paul Peterson of Harvard University. Paul E. Peterson is the Henry Lee Shattuck Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Education Policy and Governance at Harvard University, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Senior Editor of Education Next, a journal of opinion and research. He received his Ph. D. in politic...
EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS: Shelley Hughes, AK State Senator on establishing a religious community in Hoonah & her journey into MatSu politics
February 05, 2024 13:00 - 57 minutes - 39.6 MBAK State Senator Shelley Hughes of Palmer moved to Hoonah, Alaska, in the late 70s as a young adult to help establish a religious community with her parents. We talk about that experience, as well as her travels around Alaska with her husband and young family, and ultimately how she ended up involved in Alaska politics. We also discuss some of her policy interests. This is an episode of East Anchorage Matters. Legislative Update for Monday, Feb. 5, 2024: 1. My vote on HB 129 -- Rep. Vanc...
EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS: CJ McCormick, state house representative discusses life in Bethel, suicide, and partisanship
January 29, 2024 15:00 - 55 minutes - 37.9 MBThis is an episode of East Anchorage Matters. Representative C. J. McCormick of Bethel is 26 years old and the youngest member of the Alaska State House. Prior to serving in the legislature, he served on city council and as vice mayor of Bethel. Bethel is the 8th largest city in Alaska with just over 6,200 residents. Today, we discuss why his parents settled in the YK Delta, how he ended up in politics, And what it's like serving in the House majority, where he is just one of two Democrats...
EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS: Lesil McGuire, former AK state senator on partisanship, love, and leadership
January 22, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 46.1 MBLesil McGuire is a lifelong Alaskan, former state senator, women’s and rural rights advocate, and mother. This episode is the premier of season 2 of Rep. Gray's legislative podcast: EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS. Lesil lives in Anchorage and works as a consultant in the aerospace, technological innovation and Arctic policy sectors. We discuss why she became a lawyer, why she identifies as a Republican, and how she served for 16 years in the House and Senate by "leading with love." She served as the...
Lesil McGuire: former AK state senator on partisanship, love, and leadership
January 22, 2024 14:00 - 1 hour - 46.1 MBLesil McGuire is a lifelong Alaskan, former state senator, women’s and rural rights advocate, and mother. This episode is the premier of season 2 of Rep. Gray's legislative podcast: EAST ANCHORAGE MATTERS. Lesil lives in Anchorage and works as a consultant in the aerospace, technological innovation and Arctic policy sectors. We discuss why she became a lawyer, why she identifies as a Republican, and how she served for 16 years in the House and Senate by "leading with love." She served as the...
Beth Kerttula: former AK House Minority Leader
January 15, 2024 19:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBDaughter of Alaska Legend Jalmar "Jay" Kerttula -- the only person to ever serve as both speaker of the house and president of the senate -- Beth Kerttula is the former Director of the National Ocean Council, where she led the implementation of the United States National Ocean Policy, including the creation of the first two U.S. regional marine plans. Previous to that, she was a Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions, working with policymakers from multiple disciplines on ...
Ben Walker: 2018 Alaska Teacher of the Year
January 11, 2024 15:00 - 53 minutes - 36.5 MBBen Walker is a 7th grade science teacher at Romig Middle School, and he was also Alaska’s teacher of the year in 2018. Ben is on the show today because, after listening to some of East Anchorage Book Club's previous podcast episodes discussing the Alaska education system, he felt an important perspective was missing. He wanted to share what it’s like inside the classroom for teachers in the Anchorage School District right now. Link to Anchorage School's District Academy Model
Michele Girault: Director of Hope Community Resources & President of Friends of Pets
January 08, 2024 15:00 - 35 minutes - 24.1 MBThe executive director of Hope Community Resources is Michele Girault. Hope Community Services is a non-profit organization that provides services and supports to people of all ages and abilities who experience intellectual or developmental disabilities, traumatic brain injury, or other mental health challenges. Michele started working there 40 years ago just after she’d moved to Anchorage – she thought she’d stay a year, but she is here. We will also discuss Friends of Pets, a non-profit fo...
Ben Robinson: General Director of Anchorage Opera
January 04, 2024 15:00 - 1 hour - 41.3 MBNew general director of Anchorage Opera Ben Robinson directed the recent production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. We talk about the bold choices he made with that production. We also discuss Anchorage Opera’s upcoming production of Scalia/Ginsburg which explores the friendship between the late US Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. In addition to serving as General Director of Anchorage Opera, Ben is also the artistic director of Opera Ithaca in New York and R...
Tom Kizzia: author on ghost town McCarthy
January 01, 2024 15:00 - 56 minutes - 38.6 MBAuthor Tom Kizzia is most well-known for his best-selling 2013 book, Pilgrim’s Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaska Frontier, which was chosen by the New York Times as the best true crime book set in Alaska. Kizzia began his life in our state in the late 70s as a Homer-based journalist at the Homer News. In the early 80s he was hired by the late Howard Weaver to work at the Anchorage Daily News where he started as a crime reporter. In 1983 he visited McCarthy for the f...
Tyler Robinson: City Planner on Anchorage Housing
December 28, 2023 15:00 - 35 minutes - 24.7 MBUniversity Area Community Council President Tyler Robinson is a city planner who has been in Anchorage since 2005 and working for Cook Inlet Housing Authority for over a decade. He is CIHA's Vice President of Community Development and Real Estate. Many have noticed the new Cook Inlet Housing Authority buildings in Muldoon, Mountain View, and Spenard. Those buildings often feel like the only recent construction that's happened in Anchorage. Tyler discusses how CIHA figured out how to build ...
Karen Bronga: East Anchorage Assembly Member
December 25, 2023 15:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBEast Anchorage Assemblywoman Karen Bronga is a lifelong Alaskan and former school teacher who has spent most of her life in East Anchorage. She was elected in a special election to replace Forrest Dunbar when he was elected to the Alaska State Senate. Today, we discuss her background, how she got to the assembly, and what this last year has been like. If you would like to find out more about becoming an Anchorage Lifeguard, you can click here.
Diane Hirshberg: Director of ISER discusses Alaska public education
December 20, 2023 15:00 - 54 minutes - 37.6 MBDr. Diane Hirshberg is the Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. We talk about her backstory and how she made it to Alaska, but also her research into rural education and potential solutions for improving it. This episode marks a milestone because, after including the interviews from my other podcast East Anchorage Matters, this is my 100th interview. To read Education, Equity and Inclusion: Teaching and Learning for a Sus...
Louise Stutes: Alaska State House minority whip and former speaker of the house
December 18, 2023 02:00 - 39 minutes - 27.5 MBAlaska State House Representative Louise Stutes of Kodiak is the former Speaker of the House and the current Minority whip. We talk about her family’s long history in Alaska, why she ended up in Kodiak, and how she initially got involved in politics as a member of the Kodiak Borough Assembly. We also discuss her decision as a Republican to become part of the House coalition almost 7 years ago.
Jharrett Bryantt: Superintendent of Anchorage School District
December 10, 2023 19:00 - 55 minutes - 38.4 MBDr. Jharrett Bryantt is the superintendent of the Anchorage School District (ASD). He grew up in San Antonio and then went to college on the East Coast. He returned to Texas for his first teaching job at a charter school in Houston where he taught math as part of Teach for America which is a national program that supports college graduates to become teachers in our neediest schools through an alternative teacher certification process. Alaska does not qualify for Teach for America because we ...
Glen Maxey: first openly gay Texas legislator
December 06, 2023 20:00 - 1 hour - 56.5 MBFormer Texas House Representative Glen Maxey was born near a refinery in Baytown, Texas, in 1952. His first job was working in a traveling rodeo and his first serious foray into politics was as a student at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, where he led the charge to allow alcohol to be sold in that formerly dry county. Although he was already a known quantity in the Texas Democratic Party by his early 20s, it wasn’t till he was almost 30 and left teaching 5th grade in rural Texas...
Amanda Metivier and Les Gara: Foster Care in Alaska
November 30, 2023 15:00 - 56 minutes - 39.1 MBAmanda Metivier is the director of the Alaska Child Welfare Academy at UAA and is a board member and co-founder of Facing Foster Care in Alaska. She and her husband are foster parents who have provided homes for many youth over the past 15 years – many of them teenagers since both Amanda and her husband were foster youth themselves and know the difficulty that older children face in finding a willing home. Les Gara was the 2022 democratic candidate for governor of Alaska. He is a former le...
Keeley Olson: Director of STAR, Alaska's sexual trauma prevention and response organization
November 23, 2023 07:00 - 1 hour - 41.8 MBKeeley Olson has been the executive director of STAR since 2016. She has spent all of her adult life working with the survivors of sexual assault – from her college days in Montana through her time at STAR which began in Anchorage in 2007. STAR was founded in 1978 to respond to the needs of survivors of sexual assault. It also provides prevention and education programs to schools and organizations throughout Alaska to prevent assaults from happening. When STAR was founded the acronym stood...
Colleen Mondor: Alaska's bypass mail system
November 15, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 51.2 MBColleen Mondor is a freelance investigative journalist who lives part-time in Alaska. She is a pilot and primarily writes about aviation safety. After running dispatch operations for four years at a Fairbanks-based commuter and charter airline, she wrote a memoir largely based on that experience, The Map of my Dead Pilots: The dangerous game of flying in Alaska. In 2020, she published an article in the Midnight Sun called “Everything you ever wanted to know about Alaska’s bypass mail.” Toda...
Dan Coons: fair housing expert on renters' rights
November 10, 2023 15:00 - 53 minutes - 36.5 MBToday’s episode is a little bit different. I held an Alaska house district 20 constituent town hall on Zoom regarding renters' rights. According to Alaska Economic Trends magazine, the average rent in Anchorage went up by 14.2% from 2021 to 2022, and then rose an additional 5% on top of that this year. The median rent in Anchorage is $1,532 a month. Folks fear they may lose their apartments due to inability to pay. In response to those concerns, I invited today’s guest attorney Dan Coons to...
Daniel Volland: Anchorage Assembly member on housing
November 06, 2023 00:00 - 1 hour - 42.7 MBNorth Anchorage Assembly Member Daniel Volland was born and raised in Washington State, and began coming to Alaska regularly in 2016 to do remote work as an optometrist. After relocating permanently to Anchorage in 2019, he became very active very quickly in local politics and successfully ran for the newly established 12th seat on the Anchorage Assembly in the summer of 2022. Today he is talking about the Anchorage Assembly’s Housing Action Strategic Plan and the Anchorage Housing Action We...
Kendra Kloster & Dr. Charlene Aqpik Apok: Founders of the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, & 2-Spirit (MMIWG2S) Alaska Working Group
November 01, 2023 19:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MBThe Missing, Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMWIG2S) Alaska Working Group was founded by today's guests Kendra Kloster and Dr. Charlene Aqpik Apok (who will be referred to by her Inupiaq name Aqpik throughout today’s interview). The MMWIG2S Alaska Working Group is an Indigenous-led consortium that is supported by the partner organizations: Alaska Native Women’s Resource Center, Alaska Native Justice Center, Alaska Native Heritage Center, Data for Indigenous Justice, and Na...
Dayna DeFeo: Director of the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research
October 29, 2023 22:00 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MBDr. Dayna DeFeo is the director of the Center for Alaska Education Policy Research (CAEPR) and a research assistant professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Alaska Anchorage. Dr. DeFeo’s primary research interests include college and postsecondary transitions, particularly in career and technical fields for underrepresented populations, but today we will discuss another primary interest of hers: teacher turnover, recruitment and retention. Dr. D...
EJR David & Gabriel Garcia: UAA Professors on Filipino American History Month
October 26, 2023 08:00 - 53 minutes - 36.7 MBIn honor of Filipino American History Month our guests are two professors from the University of Alaska Anchorage: Drs. EJR David and Gabriel Garcia. This past session House Bill 23 sponsored by Representative Genevieve Mina passed the Alaska legislature unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Dunleavy. This bill makes October officially Filipino American History Month. So today we will be talking about Filipinos in Alaska; our guests are both PhDs, both born in the Philippines, and ...
David Ramseur: Russia's relationship with Alaska
October 23, 2023 21:00 - 51 minutes - 35.6 MBDavid Ramseur has been a major figure in Alaska politics for over 30 years. He served as press secretary, communications director, chief of staff, and foreign policy advisor to Alaska Governors Steve Cowper and Tony Knowles and to Anchorage Mayor and U.S. Senator Mark Begich. Today we are discussing Ramseur’s 2017 book Melting the Ice Curtain which tells the story of the courage and persistence of the Alaskan and Russian citizen-diplomats who stared down the Cold War to bridge the gap betwee...
Calvin Schrage: AK State House Minority Leader
October 17, 2023 01:00 - 1 hour - 41.4 MBAlaska House Minority Leader Calvin Schrage was born and raised in Anchorage. He chose not to follow his father into firefighting unlike his younger brothers. At 32, he is one of the youngest members in the Alaska legislature, and the youngest by far serving in a leadership position. We discuss why he didn’t become a firefighter, how he ended up representing the district he grew up in (near Service High School), and what it was like to become a father in the middle of this past legislative s...
Bob Loeffler: ISER professor on mining in Alaska
October 10, 2023 16:00 - 58 minutes - 40.1 MBBob Loeffler is a professor at UAA’s Institute of Social And Economic Research (ISER), where he teaches courses on the mining industry as well as natural resource policy and public land management. Before ISER, he worked for Alaska’s department of natural Resources initially in 1996 as coordinator for the permitting of large mines, and for seven years as the Director of the Division of Mining, Land, and Water. After DNR, he took a job with Jade North, a consulting firm specialized in natural...
Gary Stevens: author of "Uncle Ted" and President of the Alaska State Senate
October 06, 2023 14:00 - 48 minutes - 33.3 MBAlaska State Senate President Gary Stevens has been working on a play about US Senator Ted Stevens for almost a decade. That play Uncle Ted premiered at Cyrano’s theater in Anchorage on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. I was at opening night, and we discuss the play and Gary’s relationship with Senator Ted Stevens as well as Ted’s oldest son Senator Ben Stevens: the three Senator Stevens’s, although it is important to note that Gary is not related to Ted or Ben. We also discuss why Gary first came t...
Travis Hedwig: co-editor of Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North; Alexis Johnson: Anchorage's housing and homelessness coordinator
October 04, 2023 03:00 - 57 minutes - 39.2 MBDr. Travis Hedwig is the assistant dean of the division of population health sciences at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. He is co-editor of a forthcoming book entitled Housing, Homelessness, and Social Policy in the Urban North. The book brings together leading scholars from Alaska, the Canadian north, and Greenland who examine the factors contributing to our housing and homelessness issues and how to develop policies that respond to our northern realities. Travis was an instrumental re...
Mike Jones: ISER economist on Alaska food & infrastructure
September 25, 2023 18:00 - 59 minutes - 40.7 MBDr. Mike Jones, an economist at UAA’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), has focused much of his research on food security and food transportation in Alaska. He is a member of the legislature’s food strategy task force where he has served on the infrastructure and transport subcommittee. Born and raised in northern Florida, he earned a BS in Food and Resource Economics from the University of Florida, an MS in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University, and a PhD in Economic...
Tom Kizzia: author of "Wake of the Unseen Object"
September 18, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 44.6 MBHomer-based author Tom Kizzia is most well-known for his best-selling 2013 book Pilgrim’s Wilderness, which was chosen by the New York Times as the best true crime book set in Alaska. Kizzia moved to Homer in the mid-70s where he took over the Homer News. In the early 80s, he was hired by the Anchorage Daily News and while working for that paper he wrote a series of stories under the title, "North Country Journal.” That project required Kizzia to travel to small Alaskan villages off the road...
Ivy Spohnholz: Alaska State Director of The Nature Conservancy and former State House Representative
September 11, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 41.4 MBIvy Spohnholz is the Alaska State Director of The Nature Conservancy, which is a global environmental organization and the largest non-profit organization by assets in the Americas. Their mission is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Prior to becoming the Alaska director of the Nature Conservancy, Ivy had served three terms in the Alaska House of Representatives where she chaired the Ways and Means Committee and Co-chaired the Labor and Commerce Committee. She passed...