Dear readers,
We are building a case to stop the PFD steal. If you have been following the Great Debate series, you know that your right to the PFD is based on long-standing, continuous, reliable use. The Legislature thinks it can reappropriate your money. We disagree. Share your PFD testimony with us!
Email your PFD testimony to [email protected]. Please tell us how you/ your family has been impacted by the PFD and why you believe in Alaskans’ right to a full PFD.
We appreciate the generous Alaskans who keep this conservative voice alive! Thank you for being a subscriber to Must Read Alaska.
Visit our website at www.mustreadalaska.com. Also find us on X and Facebook.
Table of Contents
Alaska Crime Watch
Protect Alaska’s Children: Task Force Dawnbreaker Brings 16 Child Sexual Abusers to Justice
By Natalie Spaulding
This year, Task Force Dawnbreaker has charged a total of 16 individuals with child sexual abuse crimes: 6 Mat-Su residents, 2 Fairbanks residents, 1 Kodiak resident, 1 Anchorage resident, 1 Kenai resident, 1 Juneau resident, and 4 residents of the Metlakatla Indian Community.
Task Force Dawnbreaker is comprised of the Alaska Bureau of Investigation’s Technical Crimes Unit (ABI TCU), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and relevant local police departments. The task force focuses on cracking major child sexual abuse cases.
Military in Alaska
Historic Coast Guard Investment Passes Senate
By Natalie Spaulding
On December 17, the Senate Passed the Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a 3100-page piece of legislation which includes a historic investment for the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, included in the NDAA, authorizes $15.5 billion for FY 2026 and $17.2 billion for FY 2027 to support and expand the U.S. Coast Guard. Combined with the $25 billion Coast Guard investment provided by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, this year marks America’s largest investment in the Coast Guard to date.
Justice for American Heroes: Alaska Congressional Delegation Ensures Vietnam Vets Receive Promised Native Land Allotments
By Natalie Spaulding
Alaska Natives who served overseas during the Vietnam war came home to discover they had missed the deadline to receive their 160-acre land allotment. In 1971, The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANSCA) repealed the 1906 law granting 160 acres to Alaska Natives who could prove, as head of household, that they maintained “substantially continuous use and occupancy of that land for a period of five years.”
Many Alaska Natives served in the military during the Vietnam War, which spanned two decades from 1955 to 1975. In fact, Native Americans, including Alaskan Natives, serve in the U.S. military at a higher rate than any other ethnic group in America…
Alaska Industry
Trawl Bycatch: Understanding the Serious Harm to Alaska and the Possible Solutions
By Captain David Bayes
The trawl (also known as the dragger) fishery occurring offshore of Alaska is one of the largest in the world. Many trawl boats currently fishing in Alaska moved here after fisheries in their home waters collapsed. Many crews of factory trawlers fly from their homes in other states/nations to meet the boat, extract Alaskan fish, sell them mostly overseas, and then fly home. Therefore, they rely upon Alaska’s fish, but they do not rely on nor significantly contribute to Alaska’s economic and geographic stability.
The scale of trawl and trawl bycatch (discarded fish) is difficult to comprehend. Over the last decade, trawlers in Alaska average 141 million pounds of observed and reported bycatch each year. That amounts to approximately 3.53 billion pounds of bycatch waste since the year 2000. On an hourly basis, that equates to 16,000 pounds of waste per hour…
DARPA’s LIFT Challenge, Promising Transformative Impact for the Last Frontier
By Todd Lindley
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched the LIFT Challenge to redefine aerial capabilities, inviting innovators to design drones that can lift payloads exceeding four times their own weight. Weighing no more than 55 pounds, these aircraft must haul at least 110 pounds over a 5-nautical-mile course, targeting breakthroughs in vertical lift for military logistics, disaster relief, and civilian applications like infrastructure inspections and remote deliveries. With $6.5 million in prizes and live trials slated for summer 2026, the competition echoes DARPA’s history of fostering ingenuity through high-stakes contests.
Alaska, with its vast, rugged terrain and remote communities, stands as a natural proving ground, linking the LIFT initiative to a rich tapestry of past drone efforts…
Alaska Legislative Budget and Audit Committee Receives “Key Issues” Report on Alaska LNG Project
By Natalie Spaulding
December 12, GaffneyCline Energy Advisory submitted the final draft of “Key Issues: Legislative and Policy Options for Alaska LNG” to the Alaska Legislative Budget and Audit (LB&A) Committee.
GaffneyCline is a subsidiary of the Baker Hughes Company, a global company who owns and operates businesses specializing in the energy sector. LB&A requested the report from GaffneyCline to help legislators better understand the financial, economic, and regulatory issues associated with the Alaska LNG project. The report is the latest in a long list of materials requested by LB&A from various hired consultants.
According to the report, key inputs such as “capital cost estimates, gas supply arrangements, degree of federal support, and other important parameters” are not yet known.
RCA Probe ENSTAR’s Gas Cost Hike Amid Subsidization Fears
By Todd Lindley
The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) opened an investigation into ENSTAR Natural Gas Company’s proposed gas cost adjustment (GCA) increase earlier this year, stemming from concerns over potential cross-subsidization linked to a special contract with Homer Electric Association (HEA). ENSTAR filed tariff revision TA355-4 on May 15, 2025, seeking to raise the GCA from $9.0716 to $10.1091 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) for the period from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, citing higher gas purchase prices and storage costs. The case, docketed as U-25-021, was triggered by RCA’s prior approval of ENSTAR’s contract with HEA in February 2025, where regulators worried that treating HEA as a gas sales customer could burden other consumers with costs tied to HEA’s supply needs, especially amid declining Cook Inlet gas volumes.
Alaska’s First Commercial Fishing Boat Hybrid Prepares to Hit the Water
By Natalie Spaulding
Jeff Turner’s Mirage prepares to launch from the Sitka Marine, marking history as the state’s first commercial fishing boat hybrid.
The Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association (ALFA) has been working to hybridize Alaska’s fishing fleets since receiving a grant from the Department of Energy’s Vehicle Technology Office (VTO) in 2021. From 2021-2023, ALFA partnered with the National Research Energy Laboratory to “identify that the viable next step is a hybrid diesel/electric boat.”
On October 3, 2023, ALFA announced that they had received a $700,000 grant from the Department of Energy for furthering their commercial fleet conversion project. The project became known as the “ALFA Boat Energy Transition Accelerator (BETA)” project.
Politics Impacting Alaskans
Georgia Election Board Faces Fines Over Fulton County 2020 Voting Irregularities
By Todd Lindley
At the December 9, 2025 Georgia State Election Board hearing, Fulton County admitted to certifying approximately 315,000 early ballots in the 2020 presidential election without required signatures on tabulator tapes, violating state law and breaking the chain of custody. This admission stemmed from a complaint filed by election integrity activist David Cross in March 2022, alleging that the county failed to provide signed tapes for these votes despite open records requests. The board voted to refer the matter to the Attorney General, imposing a $740,000 fine—calculated at $5,000 per violation for 148 unsigned tapes. These 315,000 uncertified votes, far exceeding President Trump’s 11,779-vote loss margin in Georgia, have placed a spotlight on potential fraud, though no direct evidence of altered outcomes was presented.
US Advances AI in K-12 Education, Drawing Lessons from El Salvador’s Groundbreaking Partnership
By Todd Lindley
As part of America’s AI Action Plan, the United States is ramping up efforts to integrate artificial intelligence into K-12 education, aiming to equip the next generation with essential skills for a tech-driven future. The plan, outlined in a comprehensive White House document, calls for public-private partnerships to develop AI literacy resources, update curricula, and train educators through federal grants and programs like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. This includes promoting AI in career and technical education, dual enrollment for high school students, and apprenticeships in AI-related fields, ensuring early exposure to foster innovation and critical thinking.
Education in Alaska
Steller Secondary Explores Occult Spirituality with “Witches and Stitches” Intensive
By Natalie Spaulding
Steller Secondary, an Anchorage School District choice school, offers students elective short-term intensives twice a year to enhance artistic and experiential learning. This winter, Steller students can sign up for “Witches and Stitches.” The flyer invites student to “choose your own mysticism to explore” and hear from “local guest speakers who will help be our spirit guides on our cosmic journey.”
The intensives run December 8-18. Some of the intensives on the list give students opportunities to explore specific types of art like dance, pottery, creative writing, and filmmaking. Others like “Basketball with Bob” and “Yoga with Ayme” appeal to students who want to stay active. For science-loving students, there is “Madi’s Solar and Circuits.” For travelers, there is an intensive on Peru, a winter survival class, and “Cooking Around the World with Laura”.
“Witches and Stitches” is the only class among the 15 intensives that openly promotes a specific spiritual perspective.
Facts and Figures
Keep an Eye on Arabella: Dark Money Infects Alaska
On Nov. 12 this year, the American Accountability Foundation (AAF) launched the Alaska Influence Pipeline. This online hub traces how wealthy, out-of-state advocacy networks fund a liberal agenda in Alaska. Disguised behind seemingly benign nonprofits and nonpartisan brands, out-of-state plutocrats are pushing progressive politics into Alaska.
Key Industry Numbers
Alaska Oil: ~$58.95 per barrel
Henry Hub Gas: ~$3.91 per mmBTU
Alaska North Slope Production: ~479,374 barrels per day
Permanent Fund (Principal + Earnings Reserve): ~$87.0 billion
Community Meetings
Do you want to know more about what is going on in your local community? Consider showing up to a local political or utilities meeting, learn the details for yourself, and add your own voice to the conversation.
Download the pdf below to see upcoming community meetings happening this week in Alaska!
In Pursuit of Wisdom
If you want to see the poor remain poor, generation after generation, just keep the standards low in their schools and make excuses for their academic shortcomings and personal misbehavior. But please don’t congratulate yourself on your ‘compassion.’”
Education means emancipation.
It means light and liberty. It means the uplifting of the soul of man into the glorious light of truth, the light by which men can only be made free.
Must Read Alaska Show
We hope to get our podcast back up and running in the near future. Plus, we are continuing to develop our sortable audio-files for easy listening of our stories.
Submit Your Feedback
Do you have story ideas? Do you want to submit an op-ed for consideration? Or perhaps you have feedback for us on how we can improve your experience. If that’s you, please reach out to us at [email protected]. We love to hear from our readers!
Thank you for reading! Until next time,
The MRAK Team
A Force for Good