East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray
147 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 25 ratingsThe East Anchorage Book Club is an interview podcast where Alaskan leaders discuss politics and community issues.
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Episodes
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...
Alyse Galvin: State House Representative and former congressional candidate
September 05, 2023 04:00 - 46 minutes - 32.3 MBRepresentative Alyse Galvin represents Midtown Anchorage in the Alaska State House, but she is most well known for her two runs for the US House in 2018 and 2020 against long-term Congressman Don Young. Earning 46.7% of the vote, she came closer to defeating him than any other challenger in his 49-year tenure. A third generation Alaska, Alyse's childhood was difficult. So difficult that some will find it unbelievably hard, while for too many Alaskans, it will sound all too familiar. We talk...
George Martinez: Anchorage Assembly Member for East Anchorage
August 28, 2023 18:00 - 52 minutes - 36.3 MBAnchorage Assembly Member George Martinez was raised in Brooklyn, NY, as part of the hip hop community and made a name for himself as a rapper and lyricist at an early age. Growing up in the 80s,he was politicized by the anti-welfare rhetoric of President Reagan’s administration. That experience eventually led him to run for political office, and he was elected as the district leader in the 51st Assembly District in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in 2002 making him the first hip-hop artist elected t...
Tiffany Hall: Director of Recover Alaska
August 21, 2023 16:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBTiffany Hall was born and raised in Anchorage, and, since 2016, has served as the executive director of Recover Alaska. That organization works across the state to reduce not only excessive alcohol use but also to reduce the harms that come from that excessive alcohol use. Tiffany is sober herself, and we discuss her story and how she ended up as head of Recover Alaska. Mentioned in the podcast: 1. World Health Organization statement on alcohol: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-01-2...
Scott Kawasaki: AK Senator and former Fairbanks City Council member
August 14, 2023 14:00 - 50 minutes - 34.6 MBFairbanks Senator Scott Kawasaki was born in Japan to a Japanes-American father and a Chinese-American mother. He moved to Fairbanks halfway through kindergarten and has basically been there ever since. He was elected to the Fairbanks City Council when he was just 22 years old making him the youngest person ever elected to that body; and in 2006 he was elected to the Alaska legislature where he initially served in the House, and now serves in the Senate. We talk about being in public office ...
Anna Hutchinson: campaign fundraiser and manager
August 07, 2023 13:00 - 51 minutes - 35.2 MBAnchorage politico Anna Hutchinson has for the past few years been a major fundraiser for political campaigns in Anchorage and is now managing campaigns herself. In 2021 she came to Anchorage to work for her college friend Forrest Dunbar’s mayoral campaign. The plan was to be here for just a few months, but she has stayed on to work on other political campaigns. Although we set out to discuss strategies for new folks to get involved in local politics, we ended up with a wide-ranging conversa...
Andy Josephson: AK State House Representative
July 31, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 45.9 MBRepresentative Andy Josephson was born and raised here in Anchorage, and although he is the son of former Alaska state Senator and Anchorage Assembly member Joe Josephson, Andy didn’t initially think politics was for him. In 2012, though, he followed in his father’s footsteps getting elected to the Alaska State House where he represented the UMED district until 2022. After the redistricting process he ran to represent the Taku-Campbell District; he was successful, and now with 11 legislative...
Brett Watson: economist at ISER on the PFD and Housing
July 24, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 44.1 MBDr. Brett Watson, economist at ISER, was born and raised in a suburb of Houston, Texas. Brett made his way to Anchorage in 2017 as a postdoc at the University of Alaska Anchorage after earning his PhD in Mineral and Energy Economics at the Colorado School of Mines. We discuss how he ended up with his job, and we do a dive into two topics of great interest to many listeners: Alaska’s PFD system and Anchorage’s housing market.
Phyllis Rhodes: former director of Identity
July 17, 2023 15:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBPhyllis Rhodes is the former executive director of Identity, the Anchorage-based nonprofit that seeks to advance Alaska’s LGBTQIA2S+ community. Born in 1937, Ms. Rhodes spent her youth in Amarillo, Texas. She moved to Anchorage in 1964 with her then husband, because she wanted a better future for her daughters. Although she’d known she was a lesbian since childhood, Phyllis was 62 years old before she began living openly. Despite her late start, the Alaska LGBTQ+ community is forever indebte...
Nolan Klouda: Center for Economic Development Director on Alaska Housing
July 10, 2023 15:00 - 50 minutes - 34.5 MBNolan Klouda is the director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Alaska Anchorage. The Center promotes entrepreneurship, economic development planning, and research that provides potential policy solutions to Alaska mayors, assembly members, and legislators. Nolan was born and raised in Anchorage and left the state 20 years ago with no plan to return. Luckily for us he did come back and has led the Center for Economic Development for the past 9 years. Today we discuss...
Forrest Dunbar: AK State Senator & former East Anchorage Assembly Member
July 03, 2023 15:00 - 1 hour - 41.4 MBIn 2014, just before his 30th birthday, Alaska State Senator Forrest Dunbar made a name for himself when he attempted to unseat Alaska’s long-term lone Congressman Don Young. Although he ultimately failed, with just a shoestring budget Dunbar upended expectations earning 41% of the vote and establishing himself as a force to be reckoned with. We discuss his childhood in rural Alaska, his decision to become a lawyer, and how he ended up in the Alaska State Senate. But we begin by talking abou...
Victor Carlson: Alaska superior court judge & Anchorage LGBTQ+ icon
June 24, 2023 22:00 - 50 minutes - 35 MBRetired Superior Court Judge Victor Carlson was born in 1935 and raised on a farm in rural Michigan. He realized at an early age three things: 1. That he wanted to be a lawyer 2. That he was gay. 3. That he wanted to live in Alaska. He first arrived in Alaska in 1957 when he was stationed at Adak with the Navy. He settled here in 1962 once he was an attorney. He did not begin living openly as a gay man until the age of 50, and he faced terrible consequences. In fact, one man went to prison ...
Margo Bellamy: President of the Anchorage School Board
June 17, 2023 14:00 - 1 hour - 41.8 MBMargo Bellamy was recently elected by her fellow board members to serve as president of the Anchorage School Board for the third time. Ms. Bellamy grew up in Coconut Grove, an African American neighborhood in Miami, Florida. At the end of her 8th grade year in 1964 she was chosen as one of eight Black students to integrate the nearby all white high school. We discuss that experience and how it informed her life afterwards including her move to Alaska and her almost 50 years of work in the An...
East Anchorage Matters: State Senator Löki Tobin
January 26, 2023 23:00 - 38 minutes - 26.3 MBEast Anchorage Matters Podcast is the new version of the East Anchorage Book Club podcast now that the host is a legislator in the Alaska House. It includes a legislative update and an interview with an Alaskan of interest. Alaska State Senator Löki Tobin is a life-long Alaskan who was born in Nome and is named after her dad Charles Lewis Tobin, who goes by the nickname "Lew." In our most recent statewide election, Löki won the senate race to represent downtown Anchorage. That seat had bee...
Dana Stabenow: life of an Alaska author
January 03, 2023 16:00 - 59 minutes - 40.8 MBDana Stabenow is one of the most prolific authors living and working in Alaska today. Born in Anchorage in 1952, she grew up in Cordova and Seldovia, and earned her Bachelors degree in Journalism at the University of Alaska in 1973. Unable to make a decent living as a new journalist she took a job with the oil industry in Prudhoe Bay just as construction on the Pipeline was taking off. She later earned her master’s degree in creative writing at UAA. Since then she has published over 35 book...
Dana Stabenow: Alaska’s great mystery author
January 03, 2023 16:00 - 59 minutes - 40.8 MBDana Stabenow is one of the most prolific authors living and working in Alaska today. Born in Anchorage in 1952, she grew up in Cordova and Seldovia, and earned her Bachelors degree in Journalism at the University of Alaska in 1973. Unable to make a decent living as a new journalist she took a job with the oil industry in Prudhoe Bay just as construction on the Pipeline was taking off. She later earned her master’s degree in creative writing at UAA. Since then she has published over 35 book...
Dan O’Neill: author on Project Chariot, the government’s plan to nuke Alaska
December 27, 2022 02:00 - 1 hour - 51.7 MBIn the late 1950s the US Atomic Energy Commission initiated Operation Plowshare, which was a research project designed to find peaceful uses for nuclear explosives. Edward Teller, known as the father of the hydrogen bomb, championed the first big project of Operation Plowshare which was to blast a deep sea harbor near Cape Thompson, Alaska, by detonating a series of nuclear bombs simultaneously. This proposal was known as Project Chariot. What the proponents of this plan insisted was that it...
Chris Tuck: AK House Majority Leader
December 20, 2022 06:00 - 52 minutes - 36.2 MBRep. Chris Tuck is the AK House Majority Leader. He talks about growing up without a dad, being a Pro-Life Democrat, and his efforts to hold Rep. David Eastman accountable for his membership in the Oath Keepers. We end by finding out why he decided not to run for re-election. Rep. Chris Tuck: "This is still the people's government, and the government needs to serve the people, not the other way around. To those people that get elected, and say they don't like the government? Get out of gove...
Ivan Hodes: Iraq war veteran on Alaska State Rep. David Eastman
December 12, 2022 03:00 - 1 hour - 43.7 MBWest Point graduate and Iraq war veteran Ivan Hodes discusses his background, his military service, and his efforts to have Wasilla Representative David Eastman invalidated from serving in public office for his association with the Oath Keepers, an organization with ties to the January 6th insurrection of which Representative Eastman remains a life-long member. The trial to establish Rep. Eastman's eligibility to hold pubic office begins December 12, 2022.
Matt Pacillo: Trans Rights Activist
November 30, 2022 04:00 - 51 minutes - 35.4 MBTrans Rights Advocate Matt Pacillo, who recently graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage, grew up in the MatSu before moving to Anchorage as a teenager. While attending Dimond High School, he first came out as a lesbian and later as a trans man. We discuss his journey as well as his reaction to the most recent episode of this podcast which featured independent journalist Jeff Landfield.
Jeff Landfield: Editor of The Alaska Landmine
November 27, 2022 20:00 - 1 hour - 43.1 MBJeff Landfield is the founder and editor-in-chief of The Alaska Landmine Blog and podcast. In a world where traditional local media is on the verge of extinction, independent bloggers and podcasters have had to fill the void. Since its founding in 2017, The Alaska Landmine has done that with important investigative stories and through close coverage of municipal and state government. Jeff Landfield was a state Senate Candidate in 2012 and 2016, and was appointed to the commission on judicia...
Christine McClure: Racial injustice during construction of the Al-Can Highway
November 21, 2022 15:00 - 44 minutes - 30.7 MBOn the 80th anniversary of the completion of the Alaska-Canada highway, we talk with author Christine McClure, who with her late husband Dennis, wrote two books about the construction of the Al-Can. The first, We Fought the Road was a more general history of the three African-American regiments that were instrumental in the building of that 1600 mile road in just 8 months. Today we explore their second book: A Different Race which tells a specific story. The winter of 1943 was record-setting...
Brian Brettschneider: Alaska Climate Scientist
November 15, 2022 00:00 - 1 hour - 41.4 MBAlaska Climate Scientist Dr. Brian Brettschneider discusses his background, how he ended up in Anchorage, and the 4th National climate assessment from 2018; he is currently helping edit the Fifth National Climate Assessment which has not yet been published. We also discuss his very popular Twitter account (almost 37,000 followers) and whether or not he plans to stay on the platform now that Elon Musk has purchased of it.
Kevin Berry: UAA Economist
November 03, 2022 05:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MBKevin Berry is an environmental economist at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is well-known for his tweets and for his frequent op-eds in the Anchorage Daily News. We discuss a variety of issues regarding the Alaska economy.
Dan O'Neill: author on the Bering Land Bridge
October 28, 2022 02:00 - 54 minutes - 37.4 MBAward-winning Fairbanks author Dan O’Neill's 2004 Book The Last Giant of Beringia: The Mystery of the Bering Land Bridge not only tells the story of the historic land bridge that connected Siberia to Alaska, but also of the scientists, in particular geologist Dave Hopkins, who worked so hard to synthesize the evidence that has led to our current understanding. During periods of glaciation – otherwise known as Ice Ages -- our sea levels dropped by as much as 480 feet. The Bering sea is only...
Patricia Chesbro: US Senate Candidate
October 14, 2022 14:00 - 50 minutes - 34.7 MBLifelong Democrat Pat Chesbro moved to Palmer, Alaska, in 1974. She taught at Palmer High School for 15 years before becoming principal for nine more. She eventually became the superintendent of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District. She came out of retirement to join the Education Department at the University of Alaska Anchorage. After placing third out of nineteen candidates in the open primary, Pat Chesbro is Alaska's Democratic candidate for US Senate in the upcoming general elec...
Dan O'Neill: author on the destruction of the subsistence lifestyle on the Upper Yukon
October 11, 2022 12:00 - 59 minutes - 40.8 MBFairbanks Author Dan O’Neill has been enamored with the upper Yukon between Dawson City and Circle for decades. In 2006 he published his travel memoir entitled: A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage Along the Yukon River. The book was awarded the Outstanding Alaskana Award by the Alaska Library Association, was named an “Editor’s Choice” by The New York Times, and was selected by National Geographic Travel as part of its “Ultimate Travel Library” along with books by John Steinbeck and Edwar...
Dan O'Neill: author on the destruction of the subsistence lifestyle on the Upper Yukon
October 11, 2022 12:00 - 59 minutes - 40.8 MBFairbanks Author Dan O’Neill has been enamored with the upper Yukon between Dawson City and Circle for decades. In 2006 he published his travel memoir entitled: A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage Along the Yukon River. The book was awarded the Outstanding Alaskana Award by the Alaska Library Association, was named an “Editor’s Choice” by The New York Times, and was selected by National Geographic Travel as part of its “Ultimate Travel Library” along with books by John Steinbeck and Edwar...
Anna Brawley: Anchorage Community Planner
October 03, 2022 20:00 - 38 minutes - 26.3 MBCity planners have to be experts on a wide variety of issues; yet, because they are not elected officials, their well-informed advice is not always followed. Victor Fischer, a previous podcast guest, was Anchorage's first city planner in the 1950s. So much of the city was a blank slate then that it's easier to imagine the utility of the planner: this goes here, this can't go here, etc. But what about when much of the city is already built? Today we talk with Anna Brawley from the consulting ...
Care Clift: The 2022 Platform of the Libertarian Party of Alaska
September 26, 2022 19:00 - 45 minutes - 31.3 MBCarolyn "Care" Clift was the Libertarian Party of Alaska's candidate for governor in 2014, their lieutenant governor candidate in 2018, and AK senate candidate in 2020. She is the current chair of the Libertarian Party of Alaska's Platform Committee, and today we discuss that document. Although Libertarians seem like a fringe party, they have thoroughly taken over the Republican party over the past 40 years. During a July 15, 2022, interview with the Alaska Landmine, Anchorage Mayor Dave Br...
Wigi Tozzi: political strategist on volunteering for campaigns
September 05, 2022 15:00 - 26 minutes - 18.1 MBWigi Tozzi's first experience as a campaign manager was for a North Star Borough Assembly candidate in 1994. Since then he has managed many campaigns at the local and statewide level. He discusses the value of volunteers and gives specific advice for how they can have the most impact on a campaign. He pays particular attention to social media.
Christine McClure, author of "We Fought the Road"
August 29, 2022 14:00 - 55 minutes - 37.8 MBThe 1500 mile Alaska-Canada Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Delta Junction, Alaska, was initially constructed in 8 months in 1942. The story of the difficult conditions experienced by the 10,000 Army soldiers and 6,000 contractors is a compelling one, but the experience of the 3600 African-American soldiers who were segregated and exposed to even more challenges is a less well-known one. Christine McClure and her husband Dennis published their first book about the constructio...
Christine McClure, author on the Al-Can Highway construction
August 29, 2022 14:00 - 55 minutes - 37.8 MBThe 1500 mile Alaska-Canada Highway from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, to Delta Junction, Alaska, was initially constructed in 8 months in 1942. The story of the difficult conditions experienced by the 10,000 Army soldiers and 6,000 contractors is a compelling one, but the experience of the 3600 African-American soldiers who were segregated and exposed to even more challenges is a less well-known one. Christine McClure and her husband Dennis published their first book about the constructio...
Heather Lende, author and former Haines Borough Assembly Member
August 08, 2022 14:00 - 52 minutes - 36.1 MBHeather Lende, the Alaska State Writer Laureate for 2021, is the author of a number of best-selling memoirs about her life in Haines. Her most recent book is 2020’s Of Bears and Ballots: an Alaskan Adventure in Small-Town Politics, which tells the story of her time serving on the Haines Borough Assembly, where shortly after her election, a recall petition was launched against her. This interview was the very first meeting of the East Anchorage Book Club, and it happened on August 9, 2021. Le...
KL Marshall: the Religious Right, Oil, and Alaska
August 01, 2022 05:00 - 55 minutes - 38.4 MBKL Marshall, while working on her PhD in Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, became enthralled with the influence of oil money on Christian Fundamentalism in Alaska. She moved to the MatSu Valley to research her 2020 book, Faith & Oil: How the Alaska Pipeline Shaped America’s Religious Right. Her doctoral thesis was on Jerry Falwell who started the Moral Majority that helped elect Ronald Reagan. Falwell founded Liberty University in 1971, the same year that his friend Jerry Prevo began...
Judge Michael Wolverton: 38 years on the Alaska Bench
July 25, 2022 14:00 - 45 minutes - 31.1 MBMichael Wolverton did not come from a family of attorneys or judges; his parents were educators and that was what he planned to do. However, while doing his student teaching, he realized it wasn't the right path. He went to the University of Minnesota Law School and after a stint in the Peace Corp found himself in Alaska. Like so many, he had only planned to stay for a year, but never left. He started as a public defender in Anchorage and opened the Palmer Public Defender's office. He then s...
Jason Grenn, Executive Director of Alaskans for Better Elections
July 18, 2022 14:00 - 43 minutes - 29.6 MBJason Grenn is the executive director of Alaskans for Better Elections, an organization that lobbied for Ranked Choice Voting in Alaska and, now that we have it, is working to educate the electorate about it. After years as a registered Republican, he changed his registration to Independent just prior to running for the Alaska House of Representatives where he served from 2016-2018 representing the Sand Lake area of Anchorage. We discuss how his time in the House Majority Coalition and his ...
Lise Adams Sherry, minister of Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
July 11, 2022 14:00 - 25 minutes - 17.7 MBReverend Lise Adams Sherry was chosen to be the permanent minister of the Anchorage Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in March 2022. She grew up in a small town in Oregon as a regular church-goer thanks to her grandmother. As a teen, she questioned the central tenets of the Christian faith, and moved away from organized religion until stumbling into a Unitarian Church in Vancouver, Canada, thirty years ago. Today we discuss the Unitarian Universalist religion, Reverend Lise's journey to the ...
Jasmin Smith, Anchorage entrepreneur and community organizer
July 04, 2022 14:00 - 50 minutes - 34.6 MBOn this special July 4th episode, Andrew interviews Jasmin Smith: lifelong Alaskan, entrepreneur, and community organizer. From her youth in Eagle River to her leadership on the Mountain View Community council; from the formation of her landmark company, Baby Vend, to her heading up the most recent Juneteenth celebrations on the Delaney Park Strip, all is discussed. Also, on the show today, former staffer to Governor Bill Walker and lifelong Alaskan, Jonathan Taylor reads an abridged version...
Michael Burke, Episcopal priest on Anchorage's 2009 "Summer of Hate"
June 29, 2022 21:00 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MBMichael Burke grew up in upstate New York and first moved to Anchorage in the 1980s. He has been the senior pastor of St. Mary's Episcopal Church in midtown for over 20 years. 2009 in Anchorage is colloquially known as “the summer of hate.” That year an equal rights ordinance was proposed by the Anchorage Assembly and conservatives came from near and far to testify against equal rights for the LGBTQ community. The measure passed the assembly, but was vetoed by Mayor Dan Sullivan, and there w...
Jim Obergefell: marriage equality for America
June 20, 2022 14:00 - 54 minutes - 37.2 MBJim Obergefell and John Arthur embarked upon a life together when they were in their early 20s in Cincinnati. Twenty years later, when John was dying of ALS, they began a battle with the state of Ohio to have Jim recognized on John's impending death certificate as his surviving spouse. That case made it's way to the US Supreme Court, and in the landmark decision Obergefell v Hodges brought marriage equality to the whole country. Today Jim shares that story on the podcast.
Caitlin Shortell: Anchorage civil rights attorney on marriage equality
June 13, 2022 14:00 - 41 minutes - 28.6 MBCaitlin Shortell was born and raised in Anchorage. She returned home after earning her law degree at Northeastern University in Boston and worked as an Assistant Public Defender at the Alaska Public Defender Agency (2003); as an Assistant Attorney General at the Alaska Attorney General's Office (2004-2008); and as Human Rights Advocate at the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights (2008-2009). Ms. Shortell, along with two other attorneys, was plaintiff's counsel in Hamby v. Parnell (2014),...
Matt Hamby & Chris Sheldon: marriage equality in Alaska
June 06, 2022 14:00 - 40 minutes - 27.6 MBIn 2014 marriage equality was achieved in Alaska thanks to a case called Hamby vs Parnell. Although there were 5 couples involved, it was named after Matt Hamby who is our guest today along with his husband Chris Sheldon. They discuss their lives, the case, and the future of marriage equality in Alaska.
Scott Kendall, Anchorage attorney discusses redistricting
June 01, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour - 43.3 MBAnchorage Attorney Scott Kendall served as Sen. Lisa Murkowski's campaign attorney in 2010 and her 2016 campaign coordinator. He then served as chief of staff for Governor Bill Walker. In the last month he represented Alaska Redistricting Board members Melanie Bahnke and Nicole Borromeo in action against the Alaska Redistricting Board itself. Today we talk about redistricting, his childhood, and the evolution of his politics. DISCLAIMER: Scott Kendall and Andrew Gray speak for themselves alo...
Kameron Perez-Verdia, Assembly member on funding the shelter at Elmore and Tudor
May 23, 2022 14:00 - 45 minutes - 31.6 MBKameron Perez-Verdia, Assembly member for west Anchorage, spoke persuasively at the Assembly meeting on May 10, 2022, about why he couldn’t vote to fund Mayor Dave Bronson’s planned emergency shelter at Elmore and Tudor, but then he changed his mind at the last moment voting in support of that funding. His vote was decisive ensuring that the funding was approved. We discuss his sudden change of heart and much more, including his childhood in Utqiaġvik. Key: "Facilitation Group" = three membe...
Hrrrl Scouts: Anchorage Twitter sensation
May 17, 2022 00:00 - 34 minutes - 23.8 MBThe Alaska-based Twitter handle “Hrrrl Scouts” started in Fairbanks in 2016 as a group effort, but has been just one person in Anchorage since Spring 2020. From their frank sexuality to their in-depth Twitter threads of municipal government, Hrrrl Scouts has become an important asset to the Anchorage left; however, they are definitively not a Democrat. Hrrrl Scouts is not officially anonymous; but in order for them to speak most freely, and to protect their employer, we are not identifyin...