Trends have continued for last several sets of results.
South Anchorage Assembly still close as is School Board seat C.
I'm starting this one with the numbers from the last post, so you can see the changes from one report to the next. Slash separates the reported numbers 1111/2222/3333
Putting in percentage points for the leader, or two leaders if it's still close.
Assembly and ASD are 22:13 numbers/ Propositions are 22:45 numbers
These are 9:47 results for Assembly and School Board and 9:57 for Propositions.
Still a few close races. Donley seems to have his school board seat though.
[UPDATE - I'm adding the 9:57 numbers to the 9:47 numbers for Assembly and ASD.
These are 8:30pm results. Probably early voting results. Mostly less than 1% of the precincts.
For the propositions there are two sets of numbers. I took the one from the group that listed the most precincts.
I voted today at my local precinct. I was voter number 76 at about 2pm. That doesn't sound like a lot and it isn't. There are about 1200 voters registered in my precinct.
HOWEVER,
more and more people are voting early
the state is notoriously slow about purging people who have died or moved away
Midnight Sun blog posted the other day that the Municipality is hosting election central at the Denai'na Center starting at 6:30pm (polls don't close until 8pm) with parking available in the Muni parking lot.
"The rule would have required internet service providers (ISPs) to get consent from users before collecting information from their web browsing history for any purpose, including advertising. Other internet companies like Google and Facebook don't have to do the same; though they have more limited access to browsing history, they do use the information they gather to make money advertising to users. Murkowski, Sullivan and Young for the most part said that their concerns about piecemeal regulations outweighed their desire to protect individuals' data. 'So we looked at this one very carefully. Where I came down on it at the end was: What this rule did was it set up basically two standards depending on what the platform was. And that made no sense," Murkowski said after voting in favor of repealing the FCC rule. "It would have created confusion.'"
Their explanation means two things to me:
They value fairness for corporations over fairness for US citizens
There were a number of noteworthy (which literally means worthy of noting) clusters of words in today's Alaska Dispatch News.
Here's the letter that triggered this post's title:
"Teachers should work for less
To go along with the article "Senate education plan could cut hundreds more jobs statewide" by Dermot Cole, teachers statewide should consider taking a reduction in pay during this state of Alaska budget crisis to help save some of their peers' jobs!
— Richard N. Ramirez
Anchorage"
What sort of pay cuts is Mr. Ramirez suggesting? Why should teachers alone take a cut in pay for the benefit of everyone else's children? Why, "during this state of Alaska budget crisis" shouldn't all Alaskans take a cut in pay to help save some jobs? And to help keep the student/teacher ratio a little lower so each kid gets more attention?
But why stop at teaching jobs?
If everyone who works in Alaska (including non-residents) took a cut in pay, no one would have to take too big a cut. There is a way to, in effect, have all working Alaskans take a cut in pay to share the burden. Now that oil isn't paying all our bills, shouldn't all of us pay equitably for the roads and the bridges, for our state parks, for keeping our water clean, for use of the airports, for disease prevention, and all the other, sometimes, invisible, benefits of having a state government? All these things we use and like a lot that we don't notice until they stop working. Shouldn't Alaskans take a little pay cut for what we get, like the people in other states and in the rest of the world?
There's a system already set up to do that. It's called an income tax.
It does exactly what you are saying teachers should do - take a cut in pay. We'll still get our PFD's. Come on all my mighty fellow Alaskans who get all these state benefits for free. Let's stop whining and grow up and pay our fair share. But, let the legislators know, you want them to design a tax that is as easy as filling out a PFD application.
"If having 300 cabs available on the streets to take us from A to B whenever we wanted them actually didn't cost us any more money than having 188, then why stop there? Can we have 1,000? 10,000? Hey, can we have, like, a cab each? Parked outside our houses, with a private driver wearing a chauffeur's hat? He can take us wherever we need to go for the same rates … in fact, it should cost us less, because competition, right?"
Cute, but no one is asking for a cab for everyone.
Let's stick with 300 cabs for a minute. Give us the numbers to show us how many hours cabs have fares and how many hours a day the average cab is riding empty. Or which hours no cabs are available. Show us how much income you get by owning a cab permit, the hours you work on cab stuff, and what that comes to as an hourly wage. Maybe you have numbers that prove your point, but you didn't offer them here. And you didn't mention things like access for handicapped passengers which was improved by the ordinance you want to repeal, or how Uber and Lyft are going to impact the taxi business. Or is this really about how much you stand to lose if your permit loses its value?
There's also a great story in We Alaskans about an Indonesian 17 year old who is an exchange student in Kasilof told from the perspective of the student and her American temporary father. I've spent ten minutes trying to find a way to link to the story for people who aren't ADN subscribers, but I can't. Here's a link to We Alaskans with the other stories in today's edition, maybe it will show up eventually.
Finally, I'd note that Nathaniel Herz' brief interviews with new legislators gives us a chance to see these people as, well, people. Nat got glimpses that add a little bit to our understanding of individual legislators and the legislature as a whole. Rep. Jason Gren has a son named Atticus who's not pleased that his daddy isn't always home to tuck him into bed. Rep. Dean Westlake is part of the R.J. Reynolds Caucus which meets for smoke breaks and gives him a chance to spend time with Republicans. Gary Knopp gets to ride excavators and road graders when he's not in the legislature. Rep. George Rauscher drove about 7000 miles in his Jeep campaigning in his huge Southcentral district. Wasilla's Rep. David Wilson doesn't seem to like talking to the media. Nothing huge here, but reminders that our legislators are not cartoon stereotypes, but real human beings trying to make a difference.
Yes, there should be more in depth articles about legislation that help spell it out for average folks, but I'm guessing far more readers will read this piece than more penetrating news on what they are and aren't doing in Juneau.
The China's official Xinhua News Agency reports that Qin Shi Huang Construction Company of China, whose CEO's family can be traced back to the emperor who built the original parts of the Great Wall of China, has submitted a serious bid for a one hundred kilometer stretch of Trump's proposed Mexican wall. The plans are said to meet all the threshold requirements (see below*) as well as the objective requirements of the General Services Administration's request for proposal RFP.
Meeting Threshold Requirements
For example, requirements 3 and 4 of the threshold requirements (again, see below*) call for a wall that is impossible to climb and has "anti-climb topping features." QSHCC's proposal includes provisions for detection of contact starting at eight feet above the ground level. "Such contact triggers the release of hot oil from the top of the wall in the section where contact was detected."
Financial Issues
In addition the QSHCC proposal has a number of additional features addressing other issues not required by the RFP, but which have been raised as challenges to construction. There are arrangements, for example, to develop financing from Mexican sources through the Sinaloa Banking Cartel who have worked closely with Mexican and US officials in the past. This could help meet Trump's pledge that Mexico would pay for the wall.
The QSHCC proposal calls for portions of the wall to be sited up to a mile north of the Rio Grande. There will be razor wire fences along the river and the land in between will become an international wildlife refuge that will be populated with pumas, jaguars, wolves, tarantulas and other poisonous spiders, wild pigs, various kinds of poisonous snakes as well as a variety of particularly thorny cacti. There is research included to determine whether alligators can be introduced to portions of the Rio Grande. Not only will this give these animals habitat in which to grow their populations, but it is felt their presence will deter illegal immigrants.
Financing Maintenance Costs
Financing for maintenance of the wall includes a proposal for making parts of the wall into exotic tourist hotels and casinos. While these will be low rise hotels to maximize the wall's intent of blocking the border, there will be some observation towers and possibly restaurants on top. In addition, all rooms will have south facing bullet-proof one-way glass allowing visitors to look towards Mexico and the wilderness area. The Chinese have not named an American partner for the hotels, however, drawings and descriptions of the US wall side showing a hotel would follow the design criteria described in the Xiaodong Ji, Dan Liu, Jiaru Qian article, "Improved design of special boundary elements for T-shaped reinforced concrete walls" in Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Vibration , Volume 16, Issue 1,pp 83–95.
In those parts located in or near populated areas, Amazon has partnered with QSHCC, with a proposal to make some of the wall suitable for warehouse space, with Amazon lockers on the south side where Mexicans could pick up American goods they had purchased on line. This too would help finance maintenance of the wall and offer employment to US border residents.
US Jobs
The plan also includes as partners, Winnebago Industries in Forest City, Iowa as well as the Departments of Labor in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and West Virginia. Unemployed coal miners as well as workers from other industries will be hired, have three weeks of initial training, then be transported to Forest City to pick up, eventually, a total of 10,000 newly designed and built Winnebagos (bringing employment for 300) that will be used as housing for the workers. Additional training will be conducted at the construction sites.
Meanwhile, the construction industry in the United States is concerned about a concrete shortage due to the wall, which will sharply raise the cost of aggregates and construction.
The Mexican sports magazine, Tritón, ran an article which noted that the specifications for the wall say "designs with heights of at least 18 feet may be acceptable," In contrast, the article pointed out that world record for pole vaulting is 6.16 meters or just over 20 feet. With springier than officially allowed poles, athletes should be able to 25, possibly even 30 feet. Mexican sporting good stores report a shortage of vaulting poles.
Additional Information from General Services Administration Request for Proposal
*Threshold Requirements [see page 62 of the link]
1) The wall design shall be reinforced concrete.
2) The wall design shall be physically imposing in height. The Government’s nominal concept is for
a 30-foot high wall. Offerors should consider this height, but designs with heights of at least 18feet may be acceptable. Designs with heights of less than 18 feet are not acceptable.
3) It shall not be possible for a human to climb to the top of the wall or access the top of the wall from either side unassisted (e.g. via the use of a ladder, etc.)
4) The wall design shall include anti-climb topping features that prevent scaling using common and more sophisticated climbing aids (e.g. grappling hooks, handholds, etc.)
5) The wall shall prevent digging or tunneling below it for a minimum of 6 feet below the lowest adjacent grade.
6) The wall shall prevent/deter for a minimum of 1 hour the creation a physical breach of the wall(e.g., punching through the wall) larger than 12-inches in diameter or square using sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools.
7) The north side of wall (i.e. U.S. facing side) shall be aesthetically pleasing in color, anti-climb texture, etc., to be consistent with general surrounding environment. The
manufacturing/construction process should facilitate changes in color and texture pursuant to site specific requirements.
8) The wall design shall be able to accommodate surface drainage.
9) The wall design shall be able to accommodate Border Patrol approved design standards for pedestrian and automated mechanized vehicle sliding gates (25 feet and 50 feet).
10) The wall design shall be constructible to slopes up to 45 percent.
11) The wall fittings and fixtures shall be secured on the north side of the wall to shield from external attack.
12) The wall design should be cost effective to construct, maintain and repair.
Objective Requirements
1) It is operationally advantageous that the design of first 12 feet of wall height (as measured from the highest adjacent grade) be adaptable to prevent/deter for a period of time greater than 1 hour 30 minutes up to 4+ hours the creation of a physical breach of the wall (e.g., punching through the wall) larger than 12-inches in diameter or square using sledgehammer, car jack, pick axe, chisel, battery operated impact tools, battery operated cutting tools, Oxy/acetylene torch or other similar hand-held tools.
For more information on the Chinese proposal click here.
