WE ALASKANS Assemblyman tries TOTAL SAVINGS VILLAGE SCRAMBLES TO to get Uber back IN TODAY’S to Anchorage PAPER: $230 SAVE A DYING LANGUAGE , A2

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2017 SUNDAY $2.00 ALASKA’S INDEPENDENTLY OWNED NEWSPAPER • ADN.COM FINAL Alaska lost another 9,000 jobs in 3rd quarter

Oil sector hammered with picture much worse. Apprenticeships: New programs aim to train a 26 percent drop, as state Employment cuts across Alaska have Alaska workers amid tough job market. A6 Alaska average monthly jobs mounted monthly since late 2015, leading to All industries endures 4 quarters of decline. four straight quarters of job decline as Alaska Percent remains mired in recession with the nation’s losses slowing soon, in part because producers Month 2015 2016 Change change Alex DeMarban worst unemployment rate. and explorers have already made giant cuts. January 322,455 318,647 -3,808 -1.2 Alaska Dispatch News The oil and gas sector was particularly ham- The industry’s record employment of 14,800 February 326,731 322,698 -4,033 -1.2 Alaska lost 9,000 jobs in late summer 2016 mered in the three-month period, according to jobs in March 2015 sagged to 11,700 positions in March 329,104 324,381 -4,723 -1.4 from the number of people employed the year the report. The industry employed 3,640 fewer December, a preliminary estimate. April 334,307 329,950 -4,357 -1.3 before, the biggest decline yet in the current jobs compared to third quarter 2015, a 26 per- The industry averaged 8,000 jobs in the late recession as low oil prices continued to shred cent drop. 1990s, said Caroline Schultz, Labor economist. May 346,765 340,585 -6,180 -1.8 the economy. While health care and tourism-related jobs “They are very dramatic losses and it’s hap- June 353,091 345,849 -7,242 -2.1 The job losses, reported by the Alaska De- were once again bright spots, the loss of high- pened very quickly,” she said. “But in the last July 354,227 346,163 -8,064 -2.3 partment of Labor and Workforce Develop- er-paying petroleum positions drained other five years we had very dramatic gains in the oil August 355,538 347,133 -8,405 -2.4 ment on Friday, extended from July to Sep- sectors as oil companies thinned their ranks of and gas industry.” September 353,279 343,350 -9,929 -2.8 tember. Some decline is normal in that period, contractors and workers spent less at restau- Statewide, employment during the quarter Source: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, as tourists leave and salmon fishermen put rants and shops. Research and Analysis Section up their nets, but other factors made the job The state expects to see the oil and gas See A13, JOB LOSSES KEVIN POWELL / Alaska Dispatch News

Walker Trump won’t say officials if he voted move to for Trump restore but wants travel ban his help Meanwhile, some New King Cove road people from listed and development countries try for U.S. of ANWR could be Mark Landler The New York Times nearer for Alaska. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Trump administra- Nathaniel Herz tion moved Saturday night to Alaska Dispatch News appeal a U.S. District Court ’s cam- ruling that blocked the presi- paign and transition have dent’s immigration order, set- proven politically vexing ting the stage for a legal show- for Alaska’s congressional down over his authority to delegation, which has faced tighten the nation’s borders in tough questions about sup- the name of protecting Ameri- port for Cabinet appointees cans from terrorism. and Trump’s divisive ex- ecutive actions in his first 10 Cabinet: Trump’s team tries days in office. to gain a sense of order But Gov. Bill Walker, a LISA DEMER / Alaska Dispatch News Isabelle Dyment has worked as a nontraditional classroom teacher in the Lower Kuskokwim School District and is one of a hand- amid missteps, A8 former Republican who ful selected to be paid while going to college full-time to earn her teaching degree. won election as an inde- Travel ban: Judge’s stay of pendent working with the Trump order triggers race Alaska Democratic Party, to enter US, A8 never gave or withdrew an endorsement of Trump or Kuskokwim schools make push The brief notice of appeal . He won’t say came after a chaotic day in which candidate got his vote which the government com- and so far has been care- plied with the district court’s ful about criticizing any of to create homegrown teachers ruling by allowing the entry of Trump’s executive actions, refugees and travelers from including the one on immi- seven predominantly Muslim gration. nations, even as President Instead, Walker says Bethel-centered district invests $500K to educate Donald Trump unleashed a after two years of clashes fusillade of criticism at the rul- over natural resource poli- local staff to battle turnover at its 27 schools ing and the judge who had is- cies with former President sued it. that he’s At airports around the looking forward to working Lisa Demer more comfortable. Yet she wanted is a full-time college student. world, small numbers of closely with Trump’s appoin- Alaska Dispatch News more. The district not only covers her travelers from the previ- tees. ETHEL — When teacher Isa- Now both Dyment and her em- bills at its partner college, University ously banned countries be- “Who I voted for is not as belle Dyment found herself in ployer, the Lower Kuskokwim School of Alaska Fairbanks, it also pays her gan venturing trips to the relevant as my relationship Bfront of a classroom of kinder- District, have sights on higher goals: salary so she can concentrate on her United States, knowing that with the new administra- gartners five years ago, she felt near- college. studies. She was one of a handful of the judge’s ruling could be tion,” Walker said in an in- ly as much at a loss as the scared, The Bethel-based school district associate teachers selected for the overturned at any time. The terview. “I know we’re going crying children just starting school. wants a certified teacher in every new program. State Department reversed to have a different opportu- She came with skills and knowl- classroom and expects to spend “We’re putting a big investment its cancellation of visas for nity with this administration edge. She’s a mother of seven and a $500,000 to support those in college into our people,” said Josh Gill, direc- people from the seven affected than we did the last.” fluent Yup’ik speaker. But she had no this budget year alone. It’s the lat- tor of personnel and student services countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, With Trump working college degree, no regular teaching est configuration of a long-standing for the district. Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Ye- alongside a Republican certificate, no teaching experience. effort across Alaska to create more Urban school districts like An- men — and aid groups scram- Congress, Alaska politicians “I had to learn everything on homegrown teachers and address a chorage’s generally only hire certi- bled to take advantage of what are suddenly much closer my own. I didn’t know what to do,” worsening teacher shortage. fied teachers. But in the Lower Kus- they acknowledged might be to winning long-sought con- Dyment says. With help from her Dyment, who taught four years at kokwim district, dozens of classroom a brief window for refugees to cessions from the federal teacher aide and a fellow teacher, Bethel’s Yup’ik immersion school, is enter the United States. she quickly grew more confident and one of the first to plunge in. At 45, she See A12, RURAL TEACHERS See A12, WALKER See A10, IMMIGRATION

ALASKA LIFE FOOD SPORTS JUNEAU CRIBS ’TIS THE SEASON FOR ALASKANS, THE JOURNEY From apartments to FOR QUESO FUNDIDO TO D-1 FOOTBALL FOLLOWS boats — take a look MANY PATHS, B1 Nothing kicks off game at how lobbyists, leg- day better than a big islators and aides live NATION skillet bubbling with in one of the nation’s cheese and spiked with REPUBLICAN-LED CONGRESS smallest capitals. D1 chilies. D4 HURRIES TO SLASH OIL AND GAS REGULATIONS, A11

INSIDE CLASSIFIEDS...... C1 ECONOMY...... A6,7 IDEAS...... E1 OBITUARIES...... B6,7,14 TECHNOLOGY...... B11 FOR HOME ADVICE...... D2 COMICS...... B12,13 FOOD...... D4 LETTERS...... E4 SCIENCE...... B8 TRAVEL...... B10 DELIVERY CALL ALASKA...... A2 CROSSWORD..... B13,D5 HEALTH...... B9 NATION/WORLD...... A8 SPORTS/OUTDOORS...B1 WEATHER...... A13 1-907-257-4400 A12 Cover Stories Alaska Dispatch News | www.adn.com SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2017

WALKER: Some of his positions have been at odds with Trump’s vision

Continued from A1 secretary. After Trump instead chose said. can’t afford that anymore, I guess “As offended as I think most Alas- government, like permission to build a Montana Republican congress- While the state’s natural resource what I would have to do is just cele- kans are by these executive orders, a road through a national wildlife man, Ryan Zinke, Walker sought out managers are looking forward to new brate the fact that we had 27,000 Alas- it seems to me the raw politics are refuge on the Alaska Peninsula and the appointee for a pair of chats in openings under Trump, the pros- kans that had better health coverage that it’s not in Walker’s interests to opening 1.5 million acres of another, Washington, D.C., during Trump’s pects are less certain for health care. for a period of time,” he told host Lori take Trump on over those issues,” the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, inauguration — where Walker said At a legislative hearing last week, Townsend. “And so I’ll take that as a Ramseur said. “I think he’s more to oil and gas development. he learned that Zinke’s wife, Lolita, Walker’s health commissioner, Val good thing for Alaska — and hope- wise to keep his powder dry and pick But Walker has also taken some once lived in Anchorage and worked Davidson, suggested that Trump’s fully, it’ll be able to continue on.” his battles.” progressive stances at odds with the at the Lucky Wishbone restaurant. plans to repeal the Affordable Care Walker also was careful about One particular risk Walker would vision laid out by Trump and congres- “I was very, very pleased with his Act — which included the provisions registering objections to Trump’s ex- face by publicly criticizing Trump sional Republicans — particularly attitude about states’ opportunities for Medicaid expansion — could ecutive action closing U.S. borders to is Alaska’s share in the president’s his support for expansion of the Med- to have access on federal land,” Walk- wreak havoc on Alaska. refugees and people from seven pre- promised infrastructure program, icaid health care program, a compo- er said. “Fifty thousand Alaskans now dominantly Muslim nations. He ini- said Gerry McBeath, an emeritus po- nent of the Affordable Care Act that In an interview, Walker’s natu- have some kind of coverage either tially issued a three-sentence state- litical science professor at University the GOP wants to overturn. ral resources commissioner, Andy through Medicaid or through mar- ment Monday saying that he was of Alaska Fairbanks. And some of the Democrats who Mack, listed several areas where the ketplace plans. So, how are those “paying close attention to national Lawmakers in states less de- have loaned Walker state-level po- state was frustrated by Obama’s poli- folks going to be covered now?” Da- events while working to ensure a sta- pendent on federal revenue — like litical support say they’ll be watching cies and is looking for new coopera- vidson asked. “What’s going to hap- ble fiscal future for Alaska.” Washington, where Attorney General what he does to defend their priori- tion from Trump’s administration. pen with the economic impact?” He then told Townsend on Tues- Bob Ferguson, a Democrat, is suing ties. The Alaska Peninsula road Walker sent a letter to the U.S. day that the border closure wasn’t Trump over his immigration order “Some of this stuff is pretty outra- through the Izembek refuge, de- House’s GOP leadership last “well thought out” and caught people — have more political flexibility, Mc- geous — the Affordable Care Act af- signed to ease King Cove’s access to month asking them to “move forward off guard. Beath said. fects a lot of people,” said Rep. Adam Cold Bay’s jet runway, is one top pri- carefully” on health care reform, Walker’s early responses to Walker, McBeath said, is not going Wool, D-Fairbanks. “You can’t ignore ority, Mack said. and he said he plans to work with the Trump may not satisfy Alaska’s to say anything “that would prejudice the things you don’t like just because So are opening ANWR and sched- National Governors Association to Democrats and those offended by the fiscal interests of the state.” He’s there’s one or two things you like.” uling oil and gas lease sales in fed- make sure the state’s interests are the new president’s policies, but also likely to be eyeing re-election, Walker so far has extended a eral waters off Alaska’s Arctic coast, represented in Washington. they make sense politically, said Da- which is less than two years away, warm welcome to the new adminis- Mack said. Walker’s administration But Walker didn’t bring up health vid Ramseur, who worked as chief of McBeath said. tration. He wrote a Dec. 1 letter con- also has other, lower-profile goals, care in his December letter to staff to former Democratic U.S. Sen. “And that means paying close at- gratulating Trump on his election; in like resolving lingering disputes with Trump. And in a radio appearance and, before that, as an tention to making sure the state is it, he also suggested potential areas federal land managers over control Tuesday on “Talk of Alaska,” he aide to former Democratic Gov. Tony solvent — and is not being written for collaboration and invited the new of rivers in Alaska. sounded resigned to the idea that the Knowles. off,” McBeath said. president to visit Alaska. “Where we were frustrated, we’ll expanded Medicaid program could In a phone interview, Ramseur cit- Walker also encouraged Trump go back to the table with, in many be curtailed. ed Trump’s volatility and his tenden- Contact Alex DeMarban to appoint an Alaskan as his interior cases, often an identical ask,” Mack “If it reached the point that we cy to “hold grudges” against critics. at [email protected]. RURAL TEACHERS: Yup’ik fluency, cultural knowledge are assets for district

Continued from A1 with a better base of knowl- teachers have just a high edge. school degree — and proven As the district require- proficiency in Yup’ik. They ments increased, UAF set up also either passed a basic test an extensive support system similar to the old high school that includes rural advisers to exit exam or have a couple of guide students. It sends fac- years of college behind them. ulty to village schools each Oc- The district long has en- tober. Classes fold in aspects couraged its nontraditional of rural life. or associate teachers to work UAF is not the only campus toward a degree and in 2013 working for more homegrown began requiring it. But start- teachers. At the University of ing this school year, there is a Alaska Southeast, any Alaska deadline. The associate teach- Native student who wants ers — who mainly live and to become a teacher gets a work in small Yup’ik village full-ride scholarship, said Mer- schools — must finish their edith, with the state education college degree in 10 years. department. If they don’t, they will be Dyment, the Bethel associ- out of a teaching job, Gill said. ate teacher now in school full- Lower Kuskokwim is pro- time, is one of four associates viding financial support and in the new program called working with UAF to prevent “two and done.” The Lower that from happening. Kuskokwim district pays both salaries and college costs for Lower turnover selected existing employees For a remote region where within two years of finishing a luring and keeping teachers degree. from elsewhere is a perpetual “That was the genius of challenge, the looming re- Josh Gill,” Angaiak said. quirement for a college degree It otherwise was taking marks a huge shift. too long to get more certified With about 4,300 students, teachers, Gill said. the Lower Kuskokwim is the LISA DEMER / Alaska Dispatch News Dyment grew up in the Nel- biggest rural school district Isabelle Dyment, right, looks on as biology professor Hector Douglas shows fellow student Kathleen Naneng a spreadsheet on plants son Island village of Toksook in Alaska. Its 27 schools are on the Kuskokwim campus. Dyment is a teacher in Bethel and is being paid her regular salary while she goes to college full-time. Bay and tried college for a spread among communities year and half in Fairbanks ear- from Mekoryuk on Nunivak from Coastal Villages Region coast. He remembers doing a ly on. Then she moved back to Island in the Bering Sea to Fund, a fishing group. math word problem involving the region and didn’t know if Atmautluak on the tundra to The Lower Kuskokwim a bus trip with his elementary she ever would get a degree. the Kuskokwim River hub of School Board gives scholar- students in the village. She started teaching in Bethel. ships of $2,000 for non-Yup’ik “What’s it like to ride on the Bethel’s Yup’ik immersion This isn’t postcard Alaska speakers and $4,000 to those bus?” one boy asked. school and took college class- with mountains and glaciers. with the language that can be At first, Gill thought the es after hours to meet the dis- But it has its own beauty and used at any school. kid was messing with him. trict requirement. But it was a riches with big, wild rivers, The district also covers Then he realized the boy didn’t strain. She has a big family to freezers full of salmon, moose UAF bills for the associate know. Gill parlayed that into care for too. and birds, and strong family teachers, who must take at an annual school field trip to When she was offered and community ties. least nine college credits a Seattle that taught kids about the chance to be done in two The district has long taken year, often through video or planning, fundraising and the years, she made sure her advantage of a special state online classes. Even that is outside world. husband, Hugh, who is a rule that allows those fluent in hard for someone working Not all outside teachers teacher and dean at Kusko- Alaska Native languages to be full-time, Gill said. And at that connect in that way. And not kwim Learning Academy, was full-time classroom teachers pace, an associate won’t have everyone from the region on board. Some nights he is in without a degree. a degree within 10 years. has control of teaching meth- charge of the kids, homework, There aren’t enough col- Many of those participating ods that weave real life into dinner, getting them to events. lege-educated teachers from in one college program or an- academics. Why not, Gill said, On weekends, the fam- the region, yet locals bring a Josh Gill, district director of personnel and student services, is other are Yup’ik and from the take the people already com- ily often enjoys the city pool. knowledge of Yup’ik culture behind the program to pay noncertified teachers to go to college area. All have passed this test: mitted to rural life and give Dyment goes too, even if she and language that outsiders full-time to get their credentials and return to work. To get the financial support, them the tools to be better must sit out on the side doing lack, said Barb Angaiak, a dis- they must have lived in the teachers? homework at first. trict education specialist who almost 300 certified teachers become teachers. region at least five years. Currently, there are 56 as- She is staying in Bethel and coordinates career develop- are Alaska Native, the high- “Living in Bush Alaska is sociate teachers, those with- taking classes both online and ment for associate teachers. est proportion in the state, From Napaskiak to Fairbanks not for everybody,” Gill said. out degrees but who are fluent in person on the Kuskokwim Teaching the language of he said. It also has 56 Yup’ik- Around 70 people connect- Southwest Alaska can seem in Yup’ik. They are chipping campus. Southwest Alaska is another speaking associate teachers. ed to the region are in some more like another nation than away at a degree under that In the fall semester, she top school board goal here. Lower Kuskokwim still type of district-funded college part of the United States. It’s new 10-year deadline. took a natural history biol- “The district is very com- lost 15 percent of its teachers program. a harsh yet beautiful land with “These for the most part ogy class that included soil mitted to creating an oppor- a year, on average, between For students who are full its own language and customs. are people who are self-taught testing and other fieldwork. tunity for our students to be 2007 and 2012, according to the time — and most aren’t — the In some villages, not all and have learned how to teach For a project, she researched highly successful in any world most recent Alaska teacher new teacher must commit to homes have running water, from observing others or just mosquitoes, where they nest, they chose to be in, includ- turnover study by the Insti- a year in the region for every though most teacher housing thinking about what they be- how they hibernate, why the ing this one,” Angaiak said. tute of Social and Economic semester paid by the district. does. In most villages, there lieve and testing it out,” Anga- females are the ones that bite. Knowing the language is part Research at the University of Others must agree to a year in aren’t roads. People drive four- iak said. “They can lay up to 300 of that. Alaska Anchorage. the region for a year of help. wheelers or snowmachines. The top end of the pay scale eggs,” she remembered tell- Other districts have al- That’s higher than urban “If I get done in time, it will Flights often don’t make it in. for an associate: $52,000. For a ing the class. “If you kill one lowed those with deep districts like Anchorage and be eight years at least,” said Stores regularly run out of regular teacher: $93,000-plus. mosquito, there are another knowledge of Alaska Native Mat-Su but significantly better John Sipary, 18 of Napaskiak, basics. Yet their responsibilities are 299 of the babies.” language and culture to teach than a number of rural dis- describing his commitment to Even veterans in the the same. Those who get their This time around, she’s those areas — but not to be tricts. Ten small districts were return to Southwest Alaska. classroom can find village life degrees will get raises, too. ready for college, she said. the main teacher for math, losing 30 to 40 percent of their He’s in his first year at UAF challenging. For a brand-new She’s showing her kids how social studies, language arts teachers a year, and another, studying education, largely teacher fresh from college, ‘Two and done’ important school is. She’s or other subjects, said Sondra the Tanana city district, was with financial help from the it can be overwhelming, Gill Lower Kuskokwim sends learning new ways of teaching Meredith, state administrator losing half, ISER’s 2013 report district. said. its teachers-in-training to too. of teacher education and cer- found. Sipary hopes to follow his Sipary said he remembers UAF, which has had an un- “I’ve always considered tification. “If we were in that 30 to mother and grandmother and how hard it was to connect to a dergraduate degree program myself a teacher. I never “They are teaching to a 40 percent, we’d be in a lot of make a career of teaching. teacher new to rural ways. geared for rural areas since looked down on myself be- skill set they already have,” trouble,” Gill said. That would “Honestly, it is just to give “I was scared. Sometimes I 1972, said Carol Barnhardt, cause I didn’t have a degree,” she said. mean hiring 100 or so teachers back to the community,” Si- was afraid to open up to them chair of the UAF elementary Dyment said. A teacher shortage being a year rather than 45 or so. pary said. “To keep my culture because of the fact they were education department. The district may never felt around the country could The Lower Kuskokwim and traditions, to give back to outsiders,” Sipary said. He The Lower Kuskokwim make the goal of having all be amplified in rural Alaska brings in student teachers future generations.” hopes to use his college edu- district has a stable group of certified teachers and enough unless more locals take to the from all over the United He is one of a handful of cation to bring his experiences top administrators committed Yup’ik speakers too, Gill said. classroom, she said. States to give them a semes- recent Lower Kuskokwim into a village classroom. to homegrown teachers, she But it is getting closer. The Lower Kuskokwim terlong taste of rural life. It high school graduates the said. Three new teachers this district is unique. It has kept sends recruiters with bind- district is supporting to earn Teaching the outside world The associates not only school year got their degrees turnover down in part by hir- ers of photos of the region a bachelor’s degree in educa- Gill first came to the region learn techniques, philosophies with district support. ing locals, with or without a to teacher job fairs. And it tion. He also is the recipient of 14 years ago as a teacher in and child behavior, they also college degree, Gill said. has a multipronged effort to a separate $4,000 school board the village of Tuntutuliak, must study math, science and Contact Lisa Demer About 20 percent of its help the people already here scholarship plus a scholarship about 40 miles from the Bering other areas, so they end up at [email protected].