27th Alaska State Legislature, House & Senate Leadership, Chairmen, Finance Committee Members

House Leadership
Speaker: Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski
Majority Leader: Alan Austerman, R-Kodiak
Majority Whip: Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell
Bush Caucus: Reggie Joule, D-Kotzebue
Minority Leader: Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau
Minority Whip: Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage
Minority Floor Leader: Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage

House Standing Committees
Community & Regional Affairs: Cathy Muñoz, R-Juneau
Education: Alan Dick, R-Stony River
Finance Co-Chairmen: Bill Stoltze, R-Chugiak/Mat-Su (Capital Budget) & Bill Thomas, R-Haines (Operating Budget); Other Members: Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River (Vice-Chair); Reggie Joule, D-Kotzebue; Bryce Edgmon, D-Dillingham; Mark Neuman, R-Mat-Su Valley; Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole; Mia Costello, R-Anchorage; Mike Doogan, D-Anchorage; Les Gara, D-Anchorage; David Guttenberg, D-Fairbanks
Health & Social Services: Wes Keller, R-Wasilla
Judiciary: Carl Gatto, R-Palmer
Labor & Commerce: Kurt Olson, R-Soldotna
Resources Co-Chairmen: Paul Seaton, R-Homer & Eric Feige, R-Chickaloon
Rules: Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage
State Affairs: Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage
Transportation: Peggy Wilson, R-Wrangell

House Special & Joint Committees
Administrative Regulation Review: Kurt Olson, R-Soldotna
Economic Development, Trade, & Tourism: Bob Herron, D-Bethel
Energy Co-Chairmen: Neal Foster, D-Nome & Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage
Fisheries: Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks
Joint Armed Services House Co-Chairman: Dan Saddler, R-Anchorage
Legislative Budget & Audit Committee: Mike Hawker, R-Anchorage
Legislative Council Vice-Chairman: Bob Herren, D-Bethel
Military & Veterans' Affairs Co-Chairmen: Dan Sadler, R-Anchorage & Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks

Senate Leadership
President: Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak
Majority Leader: Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage
Minority Leader: Charlie Huggins, R-Wasilla

Senate Standing Committees
Community & Regional Affairs: Donny Olson, D-Nome
Education Co-Chairmen: Joe Thomas, D-Fairbanks & Kevin Meyer, R-Anchorage
Finance Co-Chairmen: Bert Stedman, R-Sitka (Capital Budget) & Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel (Operating Budget) (Other Finance Committee members are Donny Olson, D-Nome; Joe Thomas, D-Fairbanks; Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage; Lesil McGuire, R-Anchorge; & Dennis Egan, D-Juneau)
Health & Social Services: Bettye Davis, D-Anchorage
Judiciary: Hollis French, D-Anchorage
Labor & Commerce: Dennis Egan, D-Juneau
Resources Co-Chairmen: Joe Paskvan, D-Fairbanks & Tom Wagoner, R-Kenai
Rules: Johnny Ellis, D-Anchorage
State Affairs: Bill Wielechowski
Transportation: Albert Kookesh, D-Angoon

Senate Special & Joint Committees
Joint Armed Services: Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage
Legislative Council: Linda Menard, R-Wasilla
World Trade: Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak

Upcoming Legislative Hearings

Monday, October 4
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness (http://hecr.aksenate.org/)
Location: Nome, Pioneer Hall - 110 Front Street
8:30 - 9:40 a.m. - Dr. Lee Haugen, director, UAF Northwest Campus (http://www.nwc.uaf.edu/)
9:50 - 10:50 a.m. - Jon Wedhe, superintendent, Nome Public Schools (http://www.nomeschools.com/)
11:00 a.m. - Noon - Todd Hindman, principal, teacher, Anvil City Science Academy (http://www.nomeschools.com/~acsa/)
Noon - 1:30 p.m. - Lunch Break
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Russel Poulin, deputy director, Research & Analysis, WCET, WICHE (http://wcet.wiche.edu/) "Addressing Remediation through Distance Education"
2:40 - 3:40 p.m. - Wanetta Ayers, director, Office of Economic Development, DCCED (http://www.commerce.state.ak.us/oed/home.htm) "Connect Alaska: Broadband Mapping & Planning"
3:50 - 4:50 p.m. - Sandra Wildfeuer, assistant professor, Mathematics; program manager, Bridging the Gap, Interior Aleutians Campus, UAF College of Rural & Community Development (http://www.uaf.edu/iac/) "Reexamine Praxis Cut Scores in Alaska in Terms of Economics of Supply & Demand"

Tuesday, October 5
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness (http://hecr.aksenate.org/)
Location: Nome, Pioneer Hall - 110 Front Street
8:30 - 9:30 a.m. - Doug Walrath, director, Northwestern Alaska Career & Technical Center (http://nacteconline.org/)
9:40 - 11:00 a.m. - Roundtable Discussion: improving the K-12 and postsecondary systems in Alaska
11:00 - 11:45 a.m. - Public Testimony
11:45 a.m. - Wrap up, unfinished task force business, closing comments.
Noon - 1:30 p.m. - Lunch Break
1:30 - 5:00 p.m. - Tour local school facilities & programs

Friday, October 8
Joint Legislative Higher Education Scholarship Funding Task Force
Location: Anchorage LIO, Room 220
8:30 a.m. - Needs-Based Scholarship Component
3:00 p.m. - Public Testimony

Friday, October 15
Joint Legislative Higher Education Scholarship Funding Task Force
Location: Anchorage LIO, Room 220
8:30 a.m. - Funding & Finance

Monday & Tuesday, November 8-9
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Sitka (Agenda, exact location, & time to be announced)

Monday & Tuesday, January 10-11
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Anchorage (Agenda, exact location, & time to be announced)

Friday & Saturday, March 4-5
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Juneau (Agenda, exact location, & time to be announced)

Worth Their Weight in Gold

One of this year's newly announced MacArthur Foundation winners is economist Emmanuel Saez, who helped calculate the worth of outstanding kindergarten teachers.

A link to Mr. Saez's homepage: http://elsa.berkeley.edu/~saez/

A New York Times article on this year's awardees: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/arts/28macarthur.html?src=twr

Incredible Weather

The weather has been INCREDIBLE this past week!  The first two pictures were taken from the Mountainside Neigborhood, the rest from my deck.

Looking at Thunder Mountain from the south.

Looking north toward the Chilkats

NYTimes Article: Can Exercise Make Kids Smarter?

"...researchers sorted the children, based on their treadmill runs, into highest-, lowest- and median-fit categories. Only the most- and least-fit groups continued in the study (to provide the greatest contrast). Both groups completed a series of cognitive challenges involving watching directional arrows on a computer screen and pushing certain keys in order to test how well the children filter out unnecessary information and attend to relevant cues. Finally, the children’s brains were scanned, using magnetic resonance imaging technology to measure the volume of specific areas.

Previous studies found that fitter kids generally scored better on such tests. And in this case, too, those children performed better on the tests. But the M.R.I.’s provided a clearer picture of how it might work. They showed that fit children had significantly larger basal ganglia, a key part of the brain that aids in maintaining attention and 'executive control,'....

in a separate, newly completed study by many of the same researchers at the University of Illinois, a second group of 9- and 10-year-old children were also categorized by fitness levels and had their brains scanned, but they completed different tests, this time focusing on complex memory. Such thinking is associated with activity in the hippocampus, a structure in the brain’s medial temporal lobes. Sure enough, the M.R.I. scans revealed that the fittest children had heftier hippocampi."

link to full article: Phys Ed: Can Exercise Make Kids Smarter?

Street Performers, Boston

(just because a blog with no photos is boring!)

Upcoming Hearings

Friday, September 17

Joint Legislative Higher Education Scholarship Funding Task Force
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Anchorage LIO, Room 220
Agenda: Merit-based scholarship component

Monday & Tuesday, October 4-5
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Nome (agenda, exact location & time to be announced)

Friday, October 8
Joint Legislative Higher Education Scholarship Funding Task Force
8:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Anchorage LIO, Room 220
Agenda: Needs-based scholarship component

Monday & Tuesday, November 8-9
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Sitka (agenda, exact location & time to be announced)

Monday & Tuesday, January 10-11
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Anchorage (agenda, exact location & time to be announced)

Friday & Saturday, March 4-5
Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness
Juneau (agenda, exact location & time to be announced)

Upcoming Task Force Hearings

Joint Legislative Higher Education Scholarship Funding Task Force:
8:30 - 11:30 a.m., Friday, August 27

Location: Anchorage Legislative Information Office, 2nd Floor Conference Room
Agenda: Opening Remarks and Introduction of Task Force Members; Historical Review of Alaska Scholarship: Taylor Plan, Governor’s Performance Scholarship, SB 224/HB 297, SB 221 – Alaska Merit Scholarship Program; Current Activities regarding Alaska Scholarship: Establishment of Regulations, Programmatic and Administrative Start-up, Expenditures and Financial Obligations to Date; Member Discussion; Closing Remarks & Adjournment

Advisory Task Force on Higher Education & Career Readiness:
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Wednesday & Thursday, Sept. 1 & 2
Location: UAF Regents' Conference Room (Rm. 109), Butrovich Building, 910 Yukon Drive, Fairbanks
Agenda: http://www.legis.state.ak.us/basis/get_hearing.asp?session=26&Chamb=B&Date1=090110&Date2=090210&Comty=&Root=&Sel=1&Button=Display

You can follow hearings at any Legislative Information Office open during the interim. For a list of LIOs and whether they are open during in the interim go to: http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/misc/lios.php .  If you are not in a location with an open LIO, send me an email or call me at (907) 500-7069 and I will give you the phone number to call to join the teleconference. Staff at the Juneau Legislative Information Office said it is preferable that you go to an LIO, if possible, since there are a limited number of teleconference ports available.

Fountains, Alaska State Museum

Does anyone remember the fountains at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau?  I'm sad they are no longer there.  My brother and I loved playing in them when we were kids.  Here is a photo I found on VILDA http://vilda.alaska.edu/

Moore v. State: who has control, the Alaska Legislature, the Dept. of Education & Early Development, or Local School Boards?

During the July 30 Legislative Budget & Audit hearing the agenda was a request for a DEED audit and testimony from the plaintiffs' attorneys in the Moore vs. State of Alaska case. It was a very interesting discussion of legislative versus departmental versus local control of education.

Judge Gleason’s 2007 Decision, pages 173-174, says:
1. “The Alaska Constitution requires that the Legislature.....