Red dresses, a symbol honoring missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, hang from a fence at the Brady Landfill outside Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the remains of Rebecca Contois were found. Photo for The Washington Post by Shay Conroy (Shay Conroy/)

The two women had been missing for more than seven months when police called their loved ones to a meeting.

The families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran had taped up missing person posters and canvassed the areas around Winnipeg, Manitoba, where the Indigenous women spent time. No bit of intel was too small for cases R22-23037 and R22-50231. “Have you seen this woman?” they’d ask anyone. Some said they had.

But those tips led nowhere. So as the meeting with police last December approached, Kirstin Witwicki, a cousin of Harris, was uneasy but holding out hope. “You make bargains in your head,” she said, “to rationalize things that you know don’t make logical sense.”

What came next was a grim “blur of information.”

Harris, 39, and Myran, 26, members of the Long Plain First Nation, had been the victims of a serial killer who had preyed on Indigenous women, police said. Investigators had determined in June, soon after their disappearances, that their remains had been dumped in the Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg, police said, but it wasn’t safe or feasible to search it.

Logan Staats, a member of First Nations Indigenous Warriors, holds an orange smoke bomb during a protest Wednesday near Brady Landfill. Photo for The Washington Post by Shay Conroy (Shay Conroy/)

Other forensic analysts dispute that conclusion. Now the families are locked in a dispute with authorities over whether to search, and the treatment of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls generally.

Refusing to search, family members and their advocates say, betrays Canada’s pledges to reconcile with Indigenous people and address the disproportionately high rates of violence against Indigenous women and girls, which a national inquiry recently called a “genocide.”

“We can easily talk about reconciliation,” said Cathy Merrick, grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. “But there’s no action with it, so it’s meaningless.”

Canadian officials have “made so many promises to Indigenous people,” said Jorden Myran, who was raised with Marcedes and calls her a sister. “This is just showing that nothing has changed. . . . If this was a White woman in the landfill, there would have been no question that there would have been a search.”

Police charged Jeremy Skibicki, 35, in December with first-degree murder in Harris and Myran’s deaths. He was already in custody for allegedly killing Rebecca Contois, 24, from the Crane River First Nation. Her obituary noted her “great love for animals.”

Skibicki has also been charged with murdering an unidentified woman who police believe was Indigenous. Elders have named her Buffalo Woman. Her remains have not been located.

Skibicki has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Jorden Myran, who was raised with Marcedes Myran, at Camp Marcedes in Downtown Winnipeg. Photo for The Washington Post by Shay Conroy (Shay Conroy/)

Police recovered Contois’s remains from a garbage bin in Winnipeg and the Brady Road landfill. Conditions for searching that landfill, Winnipeg police forensics chief Cam MacKid told reporters in December, were “preferable.”

The debris was loose, he said, not compacted. Only a few hours had passed between when Contois’s remains were dumped and when police became aware of it.

Waste at the Prairie Green landfill, in contrast, is covered with thousands of tons of wet heavy construction clay and compacted by heavy machinery, MacKid said. The presence of asbestos poses safety risks. The number of animal bones presents another challenge.

Further complicating matters, police believe the remains of Harris and Myran had spent 34 days in the landfill before investigators realized it. During that time, some 10,000 truckloads of waste were dumped there.

“When it comes up that there might be human remains at a landfill, we approach that with the mindset that we’re going to be searching,” MacKid told reporters. But after studying the site, he said, “We made the very difficult decision as a service that [it] wasn’t operationally feasible to conduct a search.”

Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson has backed that decision.

That’s not sitting well with the families of the victims, who note authorities’ willingness to conduct complex searches elsewhere, including the year-long search in 2002 of a 14-acre pig farm in British Columbia owned by the country’s most prolific serial killer. It uncovered the DNA of 33 women.

With $368,000 in funding from the federal government, the families and their advocates tapped several forensic analysts to conduct their own study on whether a search of the Prairie Green landfill might be possible.

In a report released in July, the analysts concluded that there are “considerable risks” to such an operation, including exposure to toxic chemicals such as asbestos and asphyxiants such as methane, but they can be mitigated. A search, they said, is “feasible.”

They also said it could take as long as 36 months and cost as much as $184 million in Canadian dollars - $135 million in U.S. dollars - and “a successful outcome is not guaranteed.”

Still, analysts said, not searching could cause “considerable distress” to victims’ families.

“It’s pretty clear to most who have read the study that risks can be mitigated, and the search can be conducted safely,” Kristopher Dueck, a forensic consultant who co-chaired the study, told reporters.

Winnipeg police declined to answer questions from The Washington Post.

Stefanson, leader of Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives, has leaned into the dispute, featuring it prominently in newspaper ads and on billboards ahead of the provincial election on Tuesday.

At a debate in September, Stefanson asked New Democratic Party leader Wab Kinew about his support for a search.

“Why are you willing to put $184 million and Manitoba workers at risk for a search without a guarantee?” she asked.

Kinew, who is Indigenous, accused Stefanson of using the dispute to “divide us.”

“At this moment in the province’s history, I think it’s time for us to live up to that phrase ‘Every child matters,’” he said. “I will balance respect and dignity for these families while also being responsible with the public purse.”

Stefanson has suggested the federal government could take a role. Canada’s chief liaison to Indigenous people called her position “heartless.”

“The federal government’s willing to help,” Marc Miller said in July, when he was minister of Crown-Indigenous relations. “But . . . the government of Canada can’t nationalize a garbage dump or the waste disposal system of the city of Winnipeg.” (Miller has since moved to minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.)

Stefanson did not respond to a request for comment.

Indigenous women make up 5 percent of women in Canada, but they represented 24 percent of all women homicide victims from 2015 to 2020.

Melissa Robinson, Vanessa and Jorden Myran at Camp Morgan. Photo for The Washington Post by Shay Conroy (Shay Conroy/)

A government-appointed commission said in 2019 that the deaths and disappearances of Indigenous women and girls in Canada amounted to a “race-based genocide.”

The panel issued 231 recommendations, framed as “calls to justice.” Indigenous leaders have said implementation has been slow.

“They’re sitting on somebody’s shelf collecting dust,” Merrick said.

The Harris and Myran families and their supporters have set up camps in Winnipeg to honor the women. Elroy Fontaine recently visited Camp Morgan. The body of his older sister, Tina Fontaine, was found in a Manitoba river in 2014 weighed down with rocks. The death of the 15-year-old girl galvanized public attention to the plight of Indigenous women and girls.

The Harris and Myran families traveled to Ottawa in September to meet with federal officials and to demonstrate on Parliament Hill. But they see little progress.

Gary Anandasangaree, Miller’s successor as minister of Crown-Indigenous relations, called the dispute “heart-wrenching.” He urged officials to avoid politicizing it.

“Our government will continue to work in partnership with Indigenous leaders, families, survivors, and communities to support healing and closure,” he said in a statement to The Post.

Harris and Witwicki’s grandmother attended the Portage-la-Prairie residential school, a government-funded, church-run institution that sought to assimilate Indigenous children into White European culture. Residential schoolchildren were punished for speaking their languages or practicing their traditions.

The trauma of that experience, Witwicki said, has been passed down from one generation to the next. Harris struggled with substance abuse and homelessness, her family members have said.

“Unfortunately, she didn’t really have it easy, but she was always very vocal, very feisty, very caring,” Witwicki said. “She had hopes and dreams like everyone else, but the life she was born into [was shaped] by colonization, and unfortunately, that contributed to her ending.”

Jorden Myran has fond memories of going on “adventures” with her sister, a “kindhearted person” who “loved to play jokes and prank people.”

She is hopeful that the election will bring a change in power and a search of the Prairie Green landfill. If not, she said, “We will go in there with our very own people and dig.”

The Snake River rushes through Hells Canyon Dam as night falls on the Idaho-Oregon border.(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Deep in the bowels of Idaho’s Brownlee Dam, Neal Lincoln is ready to offer a demonstration

Almost 40 feet below the surface of the Snake River — whose waters originate in Yellowstone National Park, then cascade down the Rocky Mountains and course across Idaho — Lincoln makes a call to the power plant control room. The narrow hallway where we stand waiting is chilly, the air dank and the floor covered with leakage from the river.

A siren goes off. A minute later there’s a long whooshing sound from behind an imposing metal hatch, as the control room fires up the hydroelectric turbine on the other side — the largest hydro turbine operated by Idaho’s largest power company.

I grab hold of a handle on the hatch, my fingers brushing a “DANGER” warning sticker, and feel a powerful vibration as water rushes through the turbine. As the blades turn, they spin a generator up above, sending electricity onto the power grid. Below, the water exits through a large tube, emerging from the bottom of the dam and into the river more than 50 feet beneath us.

Neal Lincoln, operator of Brownlee Dam for Idaho Power, stands at the end of a hallway beneath the flow of the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Here in the narrow hallway, it’s getting louder and louder, the walls rattling and rumbling. There are no fossil fuels being burned, no coal or oil or natural gas heating the planet and filling the air with pollution. Just hydropower, which forms the backbone of the Gem State’s electric grid and has allowed Idaho Power to pledge 100% clean energy by 2045.

It’s an unprecedented green ambition in a deep-red state — or a greenwashing sham, depending on whom you ask.

Brownlee is one of 17 hydroelectric dams owned by Idaho Power on the Snake River and its tributaries. These artificial river-stoppers, and others operated by the federal government, have devastated salmon and steelhead trout populations, blocking many of their historical spawning grounds and depriving Indigenous tribes of fish central to their nourishment and cultures.

Those harms, and others, aren’t unique to Idaho.

Across the American West, dams have reshaped ecosystems for the worse, raising water temperatures, diminishing downstream flows and driving fish species toward extinction. From Grand Coulee Dam on the Columbia River to Hoover Dam on the Colorado, reservoirs have fueled toxic algae blooms, increased evaporation and flooded land that was home to Native Americans for millennia.

As far as some tribal and environmental activists are concerned, many of those dams never should have been built.

Maybe they should even be dismantled.

The flow of the Snake River has been fundamentally altered by Hells Canyon Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Nobody has proposed tearing down Idaho Power’s hydroelectric plants — at least not yet. But one of the nation’s highest-profile battles over dam removal is playing out downstream in Washington, near the Snake River’s confluence with the Columbia.

It’s a battle that has scrambled traditional political alliances, with U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson, an Idaho Republican, leading the push to remove four dams on the Lower Snake, and prominent Democrats, including Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, urging caution.

“Idaho salmon runs are going extinct,” Simpson said at a conference in Boise this year. “We can’t let that happen.”

Almost everybody wants to protect salmon. Here’s the challenge.

Even if every Western dam stays in place, we’ll need to build a mind-boggling number of solar fields, wind turbines, lithium-ion batteries and long-distance electric lines to break our fossil fuel addiction — and fast. That’s going to be tough, even after the landmark climate bill signed by President Biden last year. Already, opposition to renewable power infrastructure is bubbling up from rural communities, conservationists and tribes as ever-larger stretches of land are eyed by energy developers.

Start tearing down dams, and the energy transformation gets even harder. In a typical year, hydropower plants generate around 6% or 7% of U.S. electricity. The lower that number gets, the more sprawling solar and wind farms we’ll need to build.

And as much damage as dams cause, other types of climate-friendly power generation aren’t totally clean either.

Solar fields can chew up desert wildlife habitat. Wind turbine blades can kill endangered birds. Mines to supply lithium for electric car batteries and energy storage devices can decimate ecosystems and raze landscapes held sacred by Native Americans.

There are no perfect climate change solutions. But the increasingly deadly heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires and droughts caused by fossil fuel combustion don’t care about that. They’ll only get worse if we make the perfect the enemy of the good.

All of which brings us back to Brownlee Dam.

Another siren goes off, and the hallway quiets down as water stops flowing. We walk upstairs to see the hydroelectric generator, which was added to the dam’s four original generators in 1978 and can produce as much as 265 megawatts — enough to supply roughly 200,000 homes at full blast. Lincoln estimates his brief demonstration produced about 10 megawatts.

One of five shafts connecting hydropower turbines to generators within Brownlee Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

That power is a lot better than coal and oil and gas. But is it worth sacrificing a healthy river to help preserve a safe planet?

A team of Los Angeles Times journalists spent a week in Idaho trying to answer that question. We sat down with Idaho Power’s president, walked along the Snake with an agent of local tribes and watched the sun rise over a spectacular river canyon with environmental activists. We also explored alternatives to hydropower, including a controversial plan for the Gem State’s biggest wind farm.

Are hydroelectric dams good or bad for the planet and the people living on it?

Here’s what we saw, and what it means for the West.

Up against the wall

An unnaturally placid section of the Snake River, between Oxbow Dam and Hells Canyon Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Brownlee Reservoir is low this spring morning. A boat dock is totally dry, its end not quite reaching the water. A thin bathtub ring lines the bottom of the hills on the far side, as Idaho Power leaves room for mountain snowmelt after a wet winter.

Scott Hauser’s wife likes to water ski with friends on Brownlee over the summer. But Hauser can’t bring himself to join them. After a decade-plus working for the Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation, he sees this artificial lake as “the death knell for tribes.”

“I didn’t even want to come here today,” he says, his voice cracking with emotion as we stand by the reservoir’s edge.

Scott Hauser, executive director of Upper Snake River Tribes Foundation, at Idaho Power’s Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Hauser isn’t Native American. But as the foundation’s executive director, and its environmental program director before that, he’s gotten so invested in the struggle for justice that it’s hard for him to visit this wildly altered stretch of the Snake River.

The Snake is one of many tributaries of the Columbia River, which collectively drain a quarter-million square miles — an area larger than France. The watershed covers most of Idaho, much of Oregon and Washington and parts of Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and British Columbia. It connects Missoula, Mont., with Portland, Ore., funneling their rain and snow to the Pacific Ocean.

For millions of years, salmon and steelhead built their lives around that water, being swept out to the ocean as youngsters and then, a few years later, swimming back upstream to their home streams to spawn. Indigenous tribes such as the Nez Perce and the Shoshone-Bannock subsisted on those fish, with salmon in particular taking on great spiritual significance.

Then white settlers arrived, re-engineering the Columbia and its tributaries to suit their own needs. They built dozens of dams that remain in place today, generating electricity, storing irrigation water for farms and protecting cities from floods.

On the Snake, none of those dams is taller than Brownlee, part of a three-dam complex with Oxbow and Hells Canyon.

As many as 1.7 million chinook salmon and steelhead once returned from the Pacific each year to spawn upstream of where Hells Canyon now interrupts the Snake. Idaho Power says that number had dropped to 25,000 by the time its dams were built.

Whatever your starting point, today a concrete wall serves as an insurmountable barrier.

“This was the most productive fall chinook spawning area in the world,” Hauser says. “And now we’ve gone to zero fish.”

Pre-Western colonization, he tells me, the tribes he works for ate as much as two pounds of salmon per person per day. Today members of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation eat just half a pound of salmon per person — per year.

“There’s thousands of salmon just slamming their heads against the downstream side of Hells Canyon Dam,” Hauser says.

Dead steelhead that were spawned at a hatchery near Oxbow Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

In addition to blocking the Snake, the three dams trap irrigation from farms and dairies, leading to fertilizer chemical buildups that can cause low oxygen levels, harmful algae blooms and dangerous amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin. Health officials warn against eating too many fish from Brownlee Reservoir and have occasionally urged people not to touch the water at all.

High temperatures are another issue. Water stored in reservoirs absorbs sunlight, resulting in warmer flows downstream that make it even harder for fish to survive. Climate change adds to the overall ecosystem stress, heating the river and fueling longer dry spells and more intense wet spells.

And even as hydropower turbines help fight the climate crisis by generating pollution-free electricity — especially when they start up after sundown, limiting the need for gas-fired power plants — the reservoirs behind them can release substantial amounts of methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas, as plants and other organic materials buried beneath the water decompose.

Hydroelectric dams are, on the whole, still a lot better for the atmosphere than fossil fuels. But they’re no saint.

An unnaturally placid section of the Snake River, between Oxbow Dam and Hells Canyon Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

“The concept that hydropower is clean power is really a fallacy,” Hauser says.

For many environmentalists, the question is which dams should come down, and which ones we still need.

In the Columbia River Basin, much of the attention has focused on four dams downstream of Hells Canyon, on a 100-mile stretch of the Lower Snake running across southern Washington. Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, these dams are the ones that Simpson, the Republican member of Congress, wants so badly to tear down, as do the Nez Perce and other tribes.

The battle has dragged on for years, with most Republican officials looking to protect the dams and leading Democrats arguing they should come down only after the benefits they provide — including energy, irrigation and transportation for wheat grown by Washington farmers — are replaced. Simpson has proposed a $33.5-billion plan to breach and replace the dams.

The debate frustrates Hauser, who says there’s never been serious talk about dismantling the Hells Canyon dams so harmful to the tribes he represents. But he’s been hesitant to push for them to come down, worried that doing so could prompt a backlash that jeopardizes support for removing the four dams on the Lower Snake.

Although politicians and conservationists tend to think about the two sets of dams separately, Hauser’s employers have taught him they’re connected. Tribes, he said, “don’t think about these little boxes. They think about the whole ecosystem.”

Breach the Lower Snake dams, he asks, and what happens to all the fish that will just end up blocked by Hells Canyon?

That’s a question for Idaho Power.

The clean and the dirty

A person fishes on the rocky shoreline of the Snake River near Hells Canyon Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Idaho is one of the nation’s most conservative states. Nearly two-thirds of voters chose Donald Trump for president in 2020.

So it was startling when Idaho’s largest utility announced in 2019, halfway through the Trump administration, that it would target 100% clean energy. Deep-blue California had adopted such a mandate just six months earlier, and there was no movement in the Idaho Legislature to do the same. Yet Idaho Power was one of the first U.S. utilities to commit to zero carbon pollution.

What prompted that decision?

Lisa Grow, the company’s chief executive, has a simple answer: People were asking for it.

In Boise, city officials were gearing up to announce a 100% clean energy goal. Companies such as Facebook and semiconductor maker Micron Technology were looking for renewable energy to power their data centers and factories.

Idaho Power’s chief executive, Lisa Grow, at the utility’s headquarters in downtown Boise.(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

An Idaho Power survey found that 90% of its customers would support 100% clean energy, so long as their bills didn’t go up.

“We’re not doing it because we want to be like California,” Grow tells me. “We think it’s the right thing for Idaho.”

She and her team decided they could get to 100%. But not without hydro.

Even with rivers choked by drought last year, Idaho Power’s dams supplied nearly one-third of its electricity. Add in wind, solar and other zero-carbon resources, and in a wet year the company’s supplies can be 70% climate-friendly.

So how is the utility dealing with the destruction wrought by its dams?

That’s my main question the next day, when we set out before sunrise from a tiny company town nestled along the Snake, where the river separates Idaho from Oregon. We’re joined by Brett Dumas, Idaho Power’s director of environmental affairs.

He’s wearing a Patagonia jacket — ironic, he acknowledges, given the retailer’s opposition to dams.

His boss Grow “always gives you kind of the stink eye when you wear Patagonia,” Dumas says.

Brett Dumas, director of environmental affairs for Idaho Power, at Hells Canyon Dam on the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

We park atop Hells Canyon Dam. Dark clouds loom overhead, the water below glistening in the early-morning light as it carves a path between the brown rocks of Oregon’s Wallowa Mountains and Idaho’s Seven Devils Mountains. Two of the dam’s hydropower turbines are running; workers are preparing to replace the third later this afternoon, nearly 60 years after it first started up.

Few of the local fish protected under the Endangered Species Act, which include several species of salmon and steelhead, make it as far upstream as Hells Canyon to spawn, considering the many federal dams between here and the Pacific Ocean.

But all of those downstream dams have “fish ladders” that make it possible for at least some returning fish to swim past them.

So why don’t Hells Canyon, Brownlee and Oxbow?

The Snake River flows through hydropower turbines at Brownlee Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Decades ago, Idaho Power spent a few years trapping salmon and hauling them upstream past Brownlee, which was built before Hells Canyon. That worked just fine. The problem came when the company tried to help young salmon go the other way, setting up a net to catch them behind Brownlee and move them to the downstream side, so they could swim to the Pacific. The juveniles had trouble reaching the net, getting lost in the reservoir’s slack waters without a strong current to pull them.

So Idaho Power gave up on that program, with federal officials instead ordering the utility to build a series of hatcheries.

“Today we produce just under 7 million juvenile steelhead and salmon each year,” Dumas says.

We tour a hatchery later that day. It’s run by Idaho Department of Fish and Game staff, who take steelhead captured behind Hells Canyon Dam and combine their eggs and sperm. Employees have produced about 1 million eggs over the last few weeks.

The steelhead hatchery near Oxbow Dam is currently undergoing renovations. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

We head to the incubation building, where a staffer pulls out a shallow tray full of eggs. I lean in for a closer look at hundreds of tiny red spheres that remind me of “Finding Nemo.” Nearly all of them have faint gray dots: embryonic fish eyes.

But as valuable as the hatcheries are, they don’t make up for all the harm done by Idaho Power’s dams. Far from it.

Under long-standing requirements, the fish produced at these hatcheries are sent to Idaho, Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe, with none set aside specifically for the Upper Snake River tribes that Hauser represents. What’s more, hatchery fish are genetically less resilient than wild fish — in a world where resilience is increasingly important, with climate change heating rivers and oceans.

Add in water pollution from farms and other human intrusions, and it’s no wonder salmon continue to struggle.

“It’s not the same as a natural river,” Dumas says. “We all know that.”

Idaho Power has taken other steps to improve conditions on the Snake, funding mercury research at Brownlee and launching a pilot program that pays farmers to convert from flood irrigation to sprinklers, reducing polluted runoff. As part of a long-running federal relicensing process for the Hells Canyon dam complex, which appears to be nearing its conclusion, the utility has agreed to spend $1 billion on environmental measures over the next 50 years, including efforts to reduce river temperatures.

A person fishes from a dock on the Snake River, between Oxbow and Hells Canyon dams. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

At the behest of Oregon regulators, Idaho Power also plans to reintroduce salmon and steelhead in Oregon’s Pine Creek, which flows into the Snake near Oxbow. Federal regulators have suggested they could go further, by ordering the company to truck fish around Hells Canyon and reintroduce them in Idaho waterways, despite a state law designed to block such a move.

None of those steps will return the river to what it once was.

But in a warming world, neither would tearing down the dams.

Nothing is easy

Two hundred miles southeast of Hells Canyon, cows are mooing and birds are chirping as the sun rises over the Snake River Plain. A power line cuts across fields of sagebrush and invasive plants, the snow-capped Sawtooth Range rising to the north.

Luke Papez and his employer hope to build hundreds of wind turbines across this vast stretch of mostly public lands.

Luke Papez, LS Power’s project manager for the proposed Lava Ridge wind farm, drives across the project site. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

But they’re facing opposition from an unlikely source: Friends of Minidoka, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the memory of the Japanese American prison camp operated by the federal government a few miles from here during World War II.

The group says Idaho’s largest wind farm would be a blight on the landscape, with massive turbines cluttering the desolate views and making it hard to imagine the feelings of isolation experienced by more than 13,000 people incarcerated at Minidoka.

“I’m going to have an opinion,” Papez says. “But it’s not going to be the same as your opinion, and it’s not going to be the same as a Japanese American’s opinion.... There’s some amount of science to it, and there’s some amount of subjectivity to it.”

This dispute is just one of many involving renewable energy projects across the West.

But it’s a valuable case study for why tearing down dams would make stopping climate change even harder.

LS Power, Papez’s employer, started looking for windy spots in Idaho several years ago. The New York company thought it had found a good place for a wind farm, but government officials encouraged it to look elsewhere, saying the desired site was valuable habitat for greater sage grouse — a troubled bird species known for its elaborate mating dance.

The developer later set aside a second site for the same reason.

“At that point we crumpled up the wind map and threw it out the window,” Papez says.

That’s how the company ended up in a farming and ranching area on the Snake River Plain. It’s seeking a federal permit for its Lava Ridge wind farm, with the Bureau of Land Management publishing a draft environmental analysis in January.

LS Power’s Luke Papez stands near electric lines on the Lava Ridge site. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

We hike up a rocky hill, the loud winds making conversation tough. Papez manages to point out a few landmarks, including a spot where LS Power was forced to propose a three-mile buffer around an unexpectedly active sage grouse breeding ground.

I ask Papez if he ever gets frustrated. Doesn’t he wish he could just get permission to start building wind turbines?

“That would be easy,” he says. “But I think the things that are worth doing in life often aren’t that easy to do.”

Sometimes for good reason.

After bidding adieu to Papez, we head to Minidoka National Historic Site. It’s not hard to grasp the trauma experienced here.

“This land has a lot to tell,” says Robyn Achilles, Friends of Minidoka’s executive director.

As we walk across the quiet grounds — past historic barracks, a restored baseball field and an “honor roll” listing more than 800 incarcerees who went on to serve in the U.S. military, many voluntarily — Achilles and her colleagues have stories to share. About families torn from their homes and livelihoods, often never to return. About communal showers and toilets that eliminated any sense of privacy. About parents who refused for decades to talk with their children about their suffering.

Robyn Achilles, executive director of Friends of Minidoka, at Minidoka National Historic Site.(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

I’m deeply moved by the stories. Still, I can’t help but wonder: Would wind turbines on the horizon really diminish this place? Visual simulations prepared as part of the federal review process suggest the machines wouldn’t fundamentally change the viewshed.

Achilles has given this a lot of thought. For Japanese Americans, she says, Minidoka is “hallowed ground.” When descendants of former incarcerees visit, she tells me, many break out in tears as they see what life was like for their parents or grandparents.

Part of what they learn is just how remote the prison was. Even if incarcerated people made it past the barbed-wire fences, “the prison was the landscape, because there was no place for them to go,” Achilles says.

“Would you put wind turbines over the memorial for Flight 93? Or over the Washington Monument?” she asks.

LS Power says it’s willing to build a smaller wind farm, farther from Minidoka.

A sign opposing the Lava Ridge wind farm is posted along the road to Minidoka National Historic Site. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

The company’s initial plan included turbines as close as two miles to the historic site. But Papez and his team are open to other configurations. Under one of the “preferred alternatives” studied by the Biden administration, federal officials could require LS Power to build turbines no closer than 8.5 miles to Minidoka, shrinking the project from 400 turbines to 269.

Would that be good enough?

Definitely not, Achilles says. The landscape is so flat, she tells me, that turbines could be seen dozens of miles away.

“If the project is built, it would absolutely change people’s experience at the site,” she says.

Deer roam across the site of the proposed Lava Ridge wind farm. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Whatever your own view might be, keep this in mind: Every renewable energy project faces some form of local opposition. If we want to avoid the worst consequences of the climate crisis, many of those facilities will need to get built regardless.

And the more that get blocked? Then the more hydropower we’ll need.

Getting to yes

We stand transfixed on the rim of a verdant canyon, the Snake River meandering past 400 feet below as the sun comes up over Dedication Point. The low-lying clouds and distant horizon cycle through a series of rich blues and soft yellows, the changing light bathing the canyon walls in magnificent golden hues. Prairie falcons that nest in those walls soar through the air.

Down by the water’s shimmering edge, we spot a group of campers.

“The West may seem wide open. But when you get down to it, every single patch of ground has a stakeholder that’s very invested in it,” says John Robison, a staffer at the Idaho Conservation League. “There are no more real empty spaces in the West.”

This canyon is a prime example.

An April sunrise over Dedication Point on the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

A few years back, federal officials were considering letting Idaho Power and another utility build a power line near Dedication Point, which is part of the Morley Nelson Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area, a raptor sanctuary. But after seeking input from the Idaho Conservation League and others, who worried the line would disrupt some of the area’s best remaining sage grouse habitat, land managers and the utilities agreed on a compromise route that avoids the worst environmental damage.

“Everybody had to come to the table,” Robison says. “It took several years to work it out.”

That kind of compromise is crucial to building the huge amounts of infrastructure we’ll need to avoid climate catastrophe.

So what can clean energy developers and government agencies do to address the concerns so often raised by conservationists, rural towns and Native American tribes? How can we make sure we have enough solar and wind farms — and, yes, hydropower dams — churning out carbon-free electricity to avoid a future where we’ll all wish we had made different choices?

Justin Hayes doesn’t have all the answers. But he has some ideas.

Justin Hayes, executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, at Dedication Point overlooking the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

As executive director of the Idaho Conservation League, Hayes has spent a lot of time trying to “get to yes” on badly needed clean energy projects, to use his words. That’s meant pressing LS Power, for instance, to do more to limit potential harm to sage grouse and migrating pronghorn at Lava Ridge — a wind farm that Hayes doesn’t yet support but hopes to eventually.

“We need to figure out a way to get projects like that on the ground,” he says.

To Hayes, that will require federal land managers giving the public more ways to weigh in on clean energy projects without outright objecting to their approval. It will also require ensuring that communities on the front lines of the energy transition, including rural towns and Indigenous tribes, receive tangible benefits when projects are built in their backyards.

“People want to be heard,” Hayes says. “We have to listen and try.”

As we leave Dedication Point and drive down into the canyon, we get a look at Swan Falls Dam, site of the first hydroelectric plant built on the Snake in 1901. An American flag flutters over the small power plant, 200 miles upstream of Hells Canyon.

Swan Falls Dam on the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

We park on a dirt road that runs alongside the river. Robison pulls out his binoculars and looks for birds while Hayes and I evaluate the pros and cons of hydropower. Dams have long been a major force driving salmon species toward extinction — but now they can help salmon too, by producing carbon-free electricity that limits the effects of climate change.

Hydropower from the Pacific Northwest has been especially valuable for California, helping the state keep the lights on after dark. At the same time, global warming is making dams a less reliable energy source by sapping the flow of Western rivers.

Some conservationists have advocated for tearing down the worst dams while adding hydroelectric capacity at others. Groups including American Rivers, the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund have spent several years working toward that end, partnering with the National Hydropower Assn. to seek tens of billions of dollars in federal funding.

A bald eagle makes off with a fish in its talons as it soars through Hells Canyon on the Snake River. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Hayes has a similar view. He agrees with Simpson, Idaho’s Republican member of Congress, that the best way to help salmon and steelhead would be to tear down the four dams on the Lower Snake. Not much electric capacity would be lost, in Hayes’ view, and fish would have easier access to the Salmon River, a free-flowing Snake River tributary and a great place to spawn.

“Those dams are not clean energy if they are resulting in the extinction of species and cultures,” Hayes says.

And what about Idaho Power’s Hells Canyon dams? Should those come down too?

“I don’t think the region is ready to go there,” Hayes says. “I don’t think we are able to go there as a society at this point.”

Because of climate change?

“Because of climate change,” he says. “Because of our needs. Because of the way that the system is built.”

I’ve spent the week asking questions about Idaho. But the answers are relevant to the broader American West. We’re all part of the same electric grid, the same century-old machine with dozens of interlocking pieces that will either lift each other up or drag each other down as society moves on from fossil fuels. The more climate-friendly power on the Western grid, the easier it will be for all of us — red state or blue — to keep our air conditioners running without fossil fuels during the next heat wave.

And the more fish sentenced to death to make that possible?

You won’t find a simple answer along the banks of the Snake River. Only gently flowing water, meted out by a dam.

The Snake River flows toward Hells Canyon Dam. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS) (Robert Gauthier/)

Sammy Roth is the climate columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He writes the weekly Boiling Point newsletter and focuses on clean energy solutions. He previously reported for the Desert Sun and USA Today, where he covered renewable energy and public lands.

Robert Gauthier has been with the Los Angeles Times since 1994. He was the photographer for a project detailing the failings of an L.A. public hospital that won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for public service. Before The Times, Gauthier worked at the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Escondido Times-Advocate and the Bernardo News in San Diego County, his hometown.

The vessel Admiral Bellingshausen finished sailing the Northwest Passage in September, with Diomede islands in the background. (Photo by Reino Kuber)

A vessel with 12 Estonians on board approached Kotzebue Bay recently, eager to visit the community named after their compatriot.

The crew on the ship Admiral Bellingshausen had an ambitious goal: They set out to become the first Estonian sailing vessel to cross the treacherous Northwest Passage.

“Now it has officially been done,” said Boatswain Maris Pruuli.

Besides completing the challenging ocean traverse in September, the group of Estonians fulfilled a dream to follow the steps of Estonian adventurers from the past century, and connected with communities in the Arctic and Bering Sea regions along the way.

Crossing the passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea lane that connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It was first crossed at the beginning of the 20th century by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. In recent decades, the ice in the Arctic has been diminishing, and traveling through the passage has grown easier. In the summer of 2007, the route became ice-free for the first time, and in 2016, the first tourist cruise completed the crossing.

Overall, since Amundsen pioneered the passage, more than 350 ships have repeated the crossing using various routes, according to data from the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. The vessels were from 43 countries, the data shows, but none were from Estonia.

Until this year.

On June 21, the crew climbed aboard the Admiral Bellingshausen. The 39-year-old Dutch-built ketch, a type of two-masted sailboat, is named after an Imperial Russian naval officer and explorer, Fabian Gottlieb Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, who is credited with discovering Antarctica.

The Admiral Bellingshausen made short stops on Gotland and Orkney islands in Sweden and Scotland, respectively, and did a weeklong tour in the Outer Hebrides in the U.K. Then the group sailed over the Atlantic Ocean to Greenland, where they visited local villages and historical and natural sites.

“We are not racing, we want to see and experience as much as possible,” Pruuli said.

The Admiral Bellingshausen sails in Ilulissat icefjord in Greenland. (Photo by Reino Kuber)

The Northwest Passage opens for only a few months a year, so they planned to be at the eastern “gate” by mid-August, Pruuli said. That’s when the expedition left Greenland and sailed across Baffin Bay.

“Some big storms had made the ice move and blown our entrance to the passage quite clear,” Pruuli said.

In total, the crew spent 36 days in Arctic Canada and Alaska, visiting Kivalina, Point Hope, Kotzebue, Nome and Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait, Pruuli said.

“The last big emotion was entering the Bering Strait and going between the Diomede islands knowing that now it has officially been done,” Pruuli said. “We are the first Estonian sailing boat who has ever sailed through the passage.”

The crew of the Admiral Bellingshausen sailing through the Bering Strait. (Photo courtesy of Maris Pruuli)

Estonian connection to Kotzebue

Visiting Kotzebue was a must for the expedition, Pruuli said. Located thousands of miles from Estonia, Kotzebue has a strong link to the country’s history.

Kotzebue Sound and Kotzebue the city were named after naval officer and explorer Otto von Kotzebue, who was from Estonia, then a part of the Russian Empire. In search of a passage across the Arctic Ocean, the officer led several naval expeditions into the Pacific, including along the western coast of North America and the Bering Strait.

Kotzebue — locally known as Kikiktagruk or Qikiqtaġruk, which means “almost an island” — had served as a trading center for the Inupiat for hundreds of years before Otto von Kotzebue’s arrival.

Cape Krusenstern and Cape Espenberg near Kotzebue Sound are also named after men born in Estonia.

“We were absolutely sure from the very beginning that we wanted to visit Kotzebue Bay and the town itself,” Pruuli said. “We are pretty sure that not very many Estonians, if any, have sailed those waters after Kotzebue, the place with symbolic meaning for us.”

One challenge in visiting Kotzebue was the size of the Admiral Bellingshausen. The sailboat is about 78 feet long and 20 feet wide, and has a draft of about 10 feet. The vessel is too big to sail through Kotzebue Sound to the shore, Pruuli said.

The crew anchored 9 miles away and contacted KOTZ radio on the morning of Sept. 13, asking for assistance to get into town.

“At last, Ed Iten with his boat, Katie Marie, was ready to give us a ride although the waves were pretty big and the sea quite bumpy,” Pruuli said. “He was a real professional and we are very grateful.”

Kotzebue resident Ed Iten offered help to the crew of the Admiral Bellingshausen on Sept. 13, when the Estonian travelers wanted to visit the community. (Photo courtesy of Maris Pruuli)

While in Kotzebue, the group visited the local radio station, walked around town and ate dinner at Empress Restaurant.

Kotzebue resident Johnson Greene greeted the group at the Northwest Arctic Heritage Center, where the travelers told him the reason for their visit and asked him about the history of Kotzebue.

“They’re a nice bunch of people, they spoke their language and also spoke English, and they were very excited to be there,” Greene said. “I thought it was very interesting and cool.”

Greene, who was born and raised in Sisualik, across the bay from Kotzebue and around the corner from Cape Krusenstern, said he was fascinated with the connection between Kotzebue and Estonia.

“One of the ladies, she said back in her hometown in Estonia, there’s a street named Kotzebue, and I thought that was awesome!” Greene said.

That was crew member Susan Luitsalu, an author of several travel books who — back home in Tallinn, Estonia — lives on Kotzebue Street and in a building named Otto House in honor of the explorer. During the visit, Luitsalu split from the group and explored the city on her own.

“There’s a lot of Kotzebue in my life lately,” Luitsalu said. “I walked almost every street — very enjoyable after days on a boat — went to the museum, sent postcards from Kotzebue to Kotzebue and took in the vast views from the promenade.”

After their Kotzebue visit, the crew went to Nome, took a short break and set off to sail to the Aleutian Islands and explore the area, hoping to reach Seattle by mid-October.

Throughout their voyage, travelers enjoyed the aurora borealis shows and glimpsed abundant wildlife in the Arctic. After coming through the narrow Bellot Strait, they entered a region where they saw dozens of polar bears on the shore and a big pod of belugas, Pruuli said.

“We anchored and just watched and watched and watched,” she said.

But the main highlight, she said, was the people they met in the region.

“The idea was to meet as many people as possible in those very sparsely inhabited, remote regions to get the local touch, understand better the way of their living, traditions, beliefs,” Pruuli said. “Those meetings became very valuable part of our journey, I dare say, we left some friends behind there. It was very heartwarming when you felt that people trusted you.”

Asmeret Berhe, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science director, left, and Erin Whitney, director of the Arctic Energy Office, U.S. Department of Energy, stand at the department's NGEE Arctic research site in the coastal tundra in Utqiagvik on Sept. 21. (Photo by AnneMarie Horowitz)

Climate scientist Asmeret Berhe walked on the soft, grass-covered tundra in Utqiaġvik, holding a cube-shaped chunk of soil — permafrost, to be exact.

Berhe, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science director, visited the town recently to examine research projects tracking environmental changes in the rapidly warming Arctic.

The visit, Berhe said, was also personal to her since her research focuses on the intersection of soil science and global change science.

“This is an unbelievable once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity to see the soils up close,” Berhe said, “literally, hug the soil and touch permafrost.”

Studying the Arctic environments such as the one in Utqiaġvik is important for understanding how the climate is changing and for making informed policy decisions about adaptation to warming and mitigation of some of its consequences, Behre said.

“We fund researchers to help us understand how the climate system plays out in environments like this in the Arctic,” she said, “but also make that information available for communities and policymakers so that we can make relevant and informed decisions for the future.”

Permafrost and climate

Arctic soils play a crucial role in regulating the temperature of the Earth and reducing the effects of climate change.

That’s because Arctic soils store a lot of carbon in the form of permafrost: When the ground is frozen most of the year, microbes can’t efficiently break down carbon, accumulated from decomposing plants and animals. As a result, for hundreds of thousands of years, carbon-rich materials have been accumulating in Arctic soils, which cover a relatively small swath of the Earth’s surface.

“An ecosystem that’s only covering 3% of the global land area stores a third of all the carbon in its soil and across the globe,” Berhe said. “That’s, of course, until you come to the recent warming that we’re experiencing.”

Now that the Arctic systems are warming about three to four times faster than the global rate, permafrost in these carbon-rich soils is thawing ― and releasing carbon into the atmosphere.

“It keeps making the problem worse,” Behre said. “It keeps creating this vicious cycle of further thawing and draining of the permafrost where the decomposition causes more warming and it goes on and on and on.”

Permafrost and research

To observe climate warming research in Utqiaġvik, Berhe visited two sites during her trip on Sept. 20 and 21: The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments Arctic, or NGEE Arctic, and the North Slope site of the Atmospheric Research Measurement facility, or ARM.

The ARM facility collects climate measurements of cloud and radiative processes at high latitudes. In turn, researchers with the NGEE Arctic observe how the landscape and vegetation affect permafrost, how much more greenhouse gas is being emitted into the atmosphere, and what makes the Arctic ecosystems more vulnerable.

Observations from the NGEE Arctic inform the climate-predicting E3SM earth system model, NGEE Arctic Director Colleen Iversen said.

“Future predictions are much better if the virtual world in models is based on the reality of unique and rapidly changing places like the Arctic tundra,” Iversen said. “So what we’ve been doing since 2012 is making measurements to make sure that the model gets permafrost right, and it gets the flow of water right, and it gets the vegetation right, and then that it gets the production of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane right.”

For decades, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science has been funding projects like the NGEE Arctic and ARM facility observations. The point of Berhe’s visit was to evaluate research progress, she said.

“I’ve been really glad to be able to witness what’s happening here in person, interact with community leaders and different scientists,” Behre said, “and I’m just blown away by the incredible science that is getting done.”

The NGEE Arctic project is entering its last phase, but with Arctic strategy being one of the top national priorities, the Office of Science plans to discuss future research with the local and scientific community.

“We’re excited that we could show someone so high up in the Department of Energy’s Office of Science what the Arctic looks like because, you know, it’s rapidly changing, but it’s also so beautiful and such an important part of our world,” Iversen said. “When someone sees something like that in person, it’s a lot easier for them to advocate for more science there.”

During the trip, Berhe also met with community leaders and staff from Iḷisaġvik College and Ukpeaġvik Iñupiat Corp., discussing the shrinking layer of permafrost and continued erosion along the coast of Alaska, said Ross Wilhelm, vice president of Arctic operations and development at UIC.

“We were talking about soils, especially what’s in them, what’s been in them, what is in them now. ... How do we turn right or turn left if we see something that’s damaging that permafrost layer?” Wilhelm said. “Their tenure is like, pretty much up, so we’ve been trying to get them back so they could continue the science of why permafrost is melting so fast.”

(iStock / Getty Images) (semenovp/)

Q: I am a divorced father of two teenage boys. They are good kids and I respect their privacy; I don’t track them by cellphone. I believe in the golden rule of treating others how you’d want to be treated and I wouldn’t want anyone tracking my every move. Their mom does track them. But what really irks me is that she tracks them even when they are staying with me; thus if I go somewhere with them, she is tracking me. She’ll also send annoying texts. I’m single (she’s not) and I might be out on a Friday night, be on the way to get my kid and I’ll get a text like, “Isn’t it a little late for [name of son] to be at his girlfriend’s?” (girlfriend’s parents also home). Isn’t this wrong, tracking the kids when I have custody? I have hinted to her that I think this is wrong but am afraid she’ll fly off the handle if I formally ask her to stop.

A: This is a sticky one. Teen boys, defensive ex, tracking gone amok - there are no easy answers in any of this. I have a lot of respect for your trust and the importance of privacy, and it seems that your boys have risen to the occasion. If you ask a million people for their opinions on this, you will get a million thoughts, so here are mine.

As a parent coach, I am going to advocate for preserving the peace at (almost) all costs. I would like to give your ex the benefit of the doubt and hope that she isn’t as controlling and paranoid as she sounds, or that she has a past that explains this extreme control. In any case, you are on one end of the spectrum (no surveillance) and she is on the other end (total surveillance, even when they are with you).

You are probably not going to bring her to your side, so why don’t you do some careful listening. Say to her: “I have noticed you are really worried about Tom and Jerry when they are out. Tell me more about that.” Yes, you may bristle at even asking her opinion but, generally, humans relax a bit when they feel free to express their worries. And, if you are truly ready to listen without judgment, you may find that you can empathize with her fears. She may have some evidence that you didn’t know that could change your outlook. You don’t know until you ask.

The worst-case scenario is that she stays in attack mode, doubles down on tracking the kids and attacks your parenting. If this is the case, then you simply have to do your best until the boys graduate and move away. Sadly, your ex is hurting her relationship with her boys and, as annoyed as you are, they are the victims here. Teens don’t do well when they are treated with chronic suspicion (especially when they haven’t earned it). As the father, you are going to need to be a container for their frustration and disappointment. Their anger at their mother may come out sideways on you, it may result in them lying to your ex and it may result in sneakiness when they are with her (which is what mistrust and control yields in most adults). Navigating this with your sons will take some problem-solving, empathy and lots of patience. This is unfair for you (you’re not the one controlling them), but, alas, this is the gig. Unless you are ready to call lawyers, you don’t have that many years left to manage this. Put a price on this: What are you willing to spend with lawyers to address this problem?

If your ex is amenable to finding a middle ground, be prepared to still feel surveilled and perturbed. You want to reach a place where at least you don’t feel like you are being watched and need to respond to her panic, so work from both of your needs when you have custody of the boys. Decide on your boundary and keep it. “Ex-wife, when I have custody of the boys and we are out, and you text me, unless there is an emergency, I am not going to respond. That’s what we decided on in the custody agreement and I am sticking to it. If you would like to discuss curfews, reach out to me at another time and we can hop on the phone.” Your ex may not enjoy that boundary, but you don’t have to bend to her unreasonable will. Hold your boundary and keep your phrasing clear and kind, “I am happy to talk to you about the curfews, but I will not respond to your texts when I have custody.”

But I am hoping that if you actively listen and show empathy, you will both come to a reasonable agreement. Points to not make when you talk to her: that this issue needs to be solved in one conversation, that she is going to lose her kids due to her controlling ways, that they are going to turn 18 and block her, that she is unreasonable, “crazy,” or any word where we call her mental wellness into question. Of course you are justified in your anger and frustration, but we are working toward what is best for the boys. This is going to be (and already is) humbling for you. Just remember: It is harder on your boys.

Find friends who understand you and use them as sounding boards, find a good therapist, find anyone that can help you steady and see the larger picture. Your patience won’t be rewarded now; the reward will be the relationship you share with your boys as they grow into young men. Keep the faith and good luck.

Dear Amy: I am a 73-year-old man who was widowed four years ago.

I’ve been dating “Maria” for over a year. She is 71 and was raised in Spain.

Maria is a genuinely good person, and she is madly in love with me, to the point of smothering. (Her late husband was not very kind to her.)

Maria has been professing her love for me since we began texting before our first date. (She is a neighbor of some friends of mine and apparently had her eye on me for a while.)

She says I am the man of her dreams and that she wants to spend the rest of her life with me. And she says this with total earnestness and wide-eyed schoolgirl innocence.

I do feel love for her, though not as intensely as she does for me. I’ve just never felt that special “click” with her.

My dilemma is this: I want to date other women. I want to find one that I really click with and without having to always explain basic Americana (like baseball, “The Wizard of Oz”, the Emmy Awards, etc.). Maria never really immersed herself in our culture.

But I know that breaking up with Maria will tear her apart. After my wife died, I had one relationship before this one; after nine months the woman broke up with me and I felt shattered. I don’t want her to feel that way and I know how badly she would take it.

I’ve already made two attempts at breaking up and each time she’s basically talked me out of it.

She says it’s fine if I see other women, but she needs to see me once a week because she can’t live without me in her life.

I enjoy her very much when I’m with her, but I don’t really miss her when we’re apart.

I also think at times, how can I give up a love this deep and pure?

I was with my wife for 51 years and I’m afraid I have no real experience in these matters.

Your advice?

– Still Looking

Dear Still Looking: You need to back slowly away from this relationship (the way you would after encountering a bear in the woods).

And then turn around and run.

If you don’t feel that special “click” with “Maria,” and want to pursue other relationships, then you need to break up with her. For real.

Maria is grasping a number of red flags and waving them at you.

This is not a deep and pure love – this is clutching and smothering.

You know that Maria will be hurt, but I suggest that what you’re really worried about is the intense discomfort you will feel because of her behavior.

She is capitalizing on your fear when she lures you back.

You should be both clear and calm. Tell her that you have decided to be single again and that you will not be seeing her. Stay focused, firm, polite and kind.

Dear Amy: I’m reflecting on our society’s increasing slide toward the dogs.

It seems that people are bringing their dogs everywhere and that they often assume their dogs are welcome to come along to dinner parties, etc.

I’m wondering what can be done about this?

– Doggone

Dear Doggone: I agree with you about this trend. If you don’t want to share space with dogs, you should not patronize businesses that welcome them.

And for those who don’t want dogs in their homes, it is vital that hosts make it extremely clear that guests should leave their dogs at home.

Dear Amy: “Had It” expressed her frustration that her new husband let her adult stepchildren dominate their relationship.

As a person whose parents divorced and remarried when I was in college, I’d like to add an overlooked perspective.

I suggest that stepparents should be aware of how their presence changes the visit dynamic.

Just as grandparents might enjoy spending time with their grandchildren without the parents present, an adult wanting to spend time with their parents without their parent’s spouses should be entirely OK to do.

Sometimes we just want to relax with our parents without their spouse involved.

Bravo to this dad who for one weekend each year spends time with his children in the way they are most comfortable.

– Been There

Dear Been There: Thank you for offering your perspective. I completely agree with you about parent/child visits, but in her question, “Had It” said that she was “routinely excluded” from family gatherings.

The Princess Sophia underway with passengers on deck. (Alaska State Library, John Grainger Photo Collection, P255-79-79)

Part of a continuing weekly series on Alaska history by local historian David Reamer. Have a question about Anchorage or Alaska history or an idea for a future article? Go to the form at the bottom of this story.

On Oct. 24, 1918, the steamship Princess Sophia struck and stuck upon the Vanderbilt Reef northwest of Juneau. For 39 hours, the ship sat there, perched on the precipice of its demise, before storm and tides lifted, dragged, and dropped the steamer on the rocks. Gouged and falling apart, the ship sank beneath the water around 5:50 p.m. on Oct. 25. That was the time noted on the victims’ watches when seawater or oil stopped them.

The sinking of the Princess Sophia is the deadliest maritime disaster in Alaska history. Every living thing on the Sophia, except a single dog, died. No one knows precisely how many people died that day. Passenger and crew lists were not exact, and some recovered bodies were never identified. After decades of research, the best estimates suggest that 364 to 368 people were on board.

The story of the wreck, its immediate context and causes, has been told many times. Less well-known is the gory aftermath, including the corpses, photo ops, and racism in the official response. Amidst those tangled narratives of the aftermath, one story stands out. One man was willing to shatter his fortune and health to keep the last promise to his beloved, lost wife.

The last broadcast from the Princess Sophia came at 5:20 p.m. as the ship was rapidly sinking. Wireless operator David Robinson sent, “For God’s sake, hurry, the water is coming into my room.” A lighthouse tender replied, “We are coming. Save your batteries.” Robinson then sent his last message, “Alright, I will. You talk to me, so I know you are coming.”

In its last moments, the ship was surrounded by a snowstorm, ice, rocks, frigid water, and a thick blanket of oil released from its fuel bunkers. As the ship flooded, some tried for the lifeboats, others tried to swim with and without life preservers, and others still remained in their rooms and grimly accepted their fate. The pervasive oil choked those who reached the water. When the first bodies were recovered, most of the victims were found to have died from ingesting oil.

Due to the snowstorm, which had contributed to the wreck, nearby ships could not observe the Princess Sophia’s last moments. Early the next day, boats in the area drifted back to the site, hoping to rescue survivors or at least gawk at what they assumed would be a macabre scene. Through the long stormy night, from captain to greenest sailor, they had imagined a horror, frozen bodies amidst broken shards of a steamship, a mangled nightmare landscape dusted with snow.

Instead, they arrived and saw almost nothing. No survivors were clinging to wreckage. There was also no wreckage, no corpses floating past, no oil slick. Wind, waves, and currents had already shifted the debris and bodies away from the wrecksite. The only hint that anything had happened, that a boat with nearly 400 people had been just there, was a bit of mast sticking out of the water.

These were sailors on ships, many of them experienced veterans of the Inland Passage. While they lacked specifics on the Sophia’s final demise, they did possess some understanding of what the outcomes would have been possible for those aboard the doomed steamer.

A few days later, a sailor wrote: “We were simply dumbfounded to see no sign of the Sophia, except fifteen or twenty feet of one of her masts sticking out of the water, close to the buoy. Our feelings were hardly describable. It seemed to strike us numb and cold, so that we could scarcely credit the evidence of our own eyes. It was incredible.”

The mast of the SS Princess Sophia after it sank on Oct. 25, 1918 near Juneau. (Public domain photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Yet, not all visitors to the site were as humbled by the experience. Some sightseers made the most of the opportunity. They took turns climbing onto the surviving mast, needing that personal photograph to prove they had stood where hundreds had died.

The death of nearly 400 people meant there was suddenly a hunt for nearly 400 corpses, a need to provide closure to families and friends. The Canadian Pacific Railway, the Princess Sophia had been part of its princess fleet, offered a reward of $50, more than $900 in 2023 dollars, for every recovered body, but the grim work took time. In October 1919, a year after the wreck, the remains of passenger Joseph Santine washed ashore near Haines. By then, he was a skeleton wrapped in clothes, though still in possession of his bankbook and naturalization papers. He had been on his way home to finally ready to marry his love, Mary Brown of Seattle.

The Sophia sank on a Friday. By Saturday, a flotilla of local ships scoured the inlets, island, and beaches. By the end of Sunday, 160 bodies had been found. By Nov. 1, about 180 bodies had been recovered, still only half the total passengers and crew.

A repeated fear at the time, and one without even the slightest bit of evidence, was looting by Alaska Natives. In a letter, Governor Thomas Riggs wrote, “We were keeping track ... that there was no pilfering by Indians.” Deputy Collector of Customs C. D. Garfield warned that all Alaska Natives in the search area were “to leave adjacent waters immediately and not return under severe penalties.”

Before that weekend was over, there was already a procedure in place in Juneau. Bodies were brought in, recorded, and checked for any identifying possessions. Then, a group of volunteers stripped and cleaned the bodies. Men handled the adult male corpses, and women took the women and children. Oil covered most of the bodies. Eroded by elements and animals, they no longer looked like people. As one participant said, the corpses “could not be recognized as human bodies at all. They looked more like a huge liver.” Gasoline was needed to clear the oil from the bodies before they could be embalmed.

Naturally, there were some more mundane, practical issues. Two days after the wreck, there were no more coffins available in Juneau, and embalming fluid ran out soon after. Boxes of deceased filled warehouses. The influenza pandemic, popularly known as the Spanish Flu, also struck Juneau at this time. On Oct. 29, the mayor, city health officer, and health board chairmen announced that Juneau was under quarantine. All residents were to avoid the docks when a ship was in. All public gatherings were banned, including schools and churches. A mask mandate with a $21 fine followed on Nov. 13.

John Pugh, a customs collector, was the only known Juneau resident to die on the Sophia. On the day of his funeral, banks closed, and flags were hung at half-mast. The locals really liked him. While the town would have turned out en masse for his funeral, only Masons were allowed to attend due to the influenza edict.

Almost everyone in Southeast Alaska would have known someone on the Sophia if not many individuals. The ship and its crew were regular visitors, and its passengers included prominent Alaskans like Walter Harper, who summited Denali in 1913. As Governor Riggs wrote, “I feel the disaster probably as much as any many in Alaska as there were on board fully fifty people with whom I was acquainted, many of them intimately, and whom I regarded with deep affection.”

While divers worked the icy waters, the Princess Alice left Juneau on Nov. 9 carrying 156 bodies, most bound for Vancouver and Victoria. In recognition of its somber cargo, no whistles were blown, and it pulled away from the dock with as little noise as possible. From this point, the recovery of bodies continued in dribs and drabs, a corpse washed onto a beach here, a sudden underwater discovery there. Some bodies were never recovered and, again, given the uncertain nature of the crew and passenger list, no one can be sure as to who might have been missed. Four bodies were never identified, three buried in Vancouver and the last in Juneau.

By December 1918, Canadian Pacific Railway management considered the recovery process concluded. The bounties for bodies continued, but company leadership believed, not entirely without cause, that the remaining dead must have been carried out to sea. However, still among the missing was Ilene Winchell, a situation her husband could not endure, would not allow to endure.

Albert Winchell was born in 1873, the son of German immigrants. And like so very many, he was lured to Alaska by golden prospects. In 1907, he was the president of a miner’s union in Valdez. Three years later, he was living in Seward. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Flat as part of the Iditarod gold rush, sometimes called the last gold rush in Alaska, or at least the last major one. During its 1910 to 1912 peak, around 10,000 fortune hunters piled into the region.

Unlike most stampeders, the Albert prospered in their new domain. He was not exactly nouveau riche but was certainly comfortable and prominent. In 1914, the Seward Daily Gateway described him as “one of the old timers on Kenai peninsula and an owner of some valuable property above Susitna Station.” By 1918, long after most would-be prospectors had departed, he and his wife were still ensconced in Flat.

For all his modest fortune, land, and minor renown, Albert valued nothing more than his wife, Ilene, whose health had been faltering of late. That fall, with the dreaded winter approaching, they decided that Ilene would spend the season blanketed by the warmer weather of California. Albert would stay in Alaska and mind the homestead.

An aside, different sources variably spelled the family name as Winschell, Winschel, Winchel, and Winchell. Similarly, Ilene was occasionally Aileen. However, Winchell and Ilene are how the names were predominantly published in Alaska, including on her death certificate, so those spellings are used here.

Before she left, Ilene was overwhelmed with a vague, foreboding premonition that something terrible would happen to her on the journey south. So, before she set out, she made Albert promise, made him swear that if anything happened to her, he would ensure she was buried next to her mother, also in California. Then, she was off for her first-class cabin on the Princess Sophia.

When Albert heard the news of the disaster, he waited until it was cold enough, and the ground firm enough, for him to walk several hundred miles to Anchorage and take his own steamer to Juneau, where he arrived in December. The sheer tragedy of the Princess Sophia disaster can overwhelm smaller stories, and the story of the Winchells is so dramatic in its entirety that this walk is the smallest detail of a far larger tale. Apart from its admittedly inescapable context, the walk might have been the subject of its own stories, as with Emil Anderson’s 20-day hike across the upper Alaska Peninsula in 1916 to turn himself into prison.

If the Canadian Pacific Railway was not going to send more divers to investigate the wreck — and they were not — then Albert Winchell would hire his own. On Dec. 21, Albert and a local diver, Selmer Jacobson, made their first of five visits to the Vanderbilt Reef. And on Jacobson’s first dive, he saw four bodies, recovering one. Because of Ilene’s illness, she was given her own stateroom on the steamship. Jacobson located that cabin and was able to observe two women within but could not reach them. On Jacobson’s last visit to the site with Albert, the diver was able to remove rings from one of the women, but they did not belong to Ilene.

Jacobson made no more dives at the Princess Sophia site due to the risky nature of the work. Diving in winter, with the level of technology available in Alaska then, was hazardous work. The floating ice continually threatened to clip the hose, and Jacobson quit after his breath froze into his breathing apparatus, blocking the air passage. As soon as he could, Albert hired another diver out of Seattle.

The Princess Sophia grounded on Vanderbilt Reef, on Oct. 24, 1918 at 11 a.m. This view is looking northeast towards the coast of Alaska, which can be dimly seen on the right. The warning buoy (day mark only) at Vanderbilt Reef is clearly shown. (Public domain photo)

Whether shamed into action by Albert or not, by March 1919 the Canadian Pacific Railway was again sending divers to re-examine the wreckage. On July 2 alone, 21 bodies were brought into Juneau directly from the wreckage of the Princess Sophia. While the lot did not include Ilene, her handbag was discovered in the coat pocket of a recovered man, a little mystery with no answer.

Finally, on July 10, 1919, six and a half months after Albert began his search, Ilene was recovered, along with four other bodies. As it turned out, she had spent her last moments not in a stateroom but with several others on the ship’s saloon deck. The Whitehorse Weekly Star declared: “There are men who have torn the writing of solemn pledges to shreds and drenched the shreds in blood and called it nothing. There are men who have been willing to spend life itself to keep good a promise made. Of the latter is Al Winchell.”

The discovery was bittersweet news for Albert. There had been months to grieve before he was suddenly confronted with the reality of his loss in the most gruesome manner possible. Impolite as it may be to mention, there is a significant difference between a body found the day after a wreck and one found seven and a half months later.

Moreover, Albert had spent himself in the endeavor: financially, physically, and emotionally. Divers were not cheap, and the costs consumed his savings. When his liquid assets were tapped dry, he borrowed money. He could have stayed on land but instead accompanied every trip to the site, hoping for a different result each time. Over the months, he aged visibly, and his once robust energy dwindled. Everything he possessed had gone into keeping his word.

The Dawson Daily News wrote, “Winchell is an old man now. His friends say that he has grown old since the Princess Sophia went down. He lives with but one thought and one end and that is expressed in the line of a letter he wrote a few days ago, which says, ‘I hope there is a God in heaven who will favor me by giving me my poor Ilene. I am nearly in.’ ”

Four days after Ilene was recovered, the Winchells left Juneau together, bound for California on the Princess Mary, another ship in the Canadian Pacific Railway fleet. Later that month, Albert duly buried Ilene in the Saint Catherine of Siena Cemetery of Martinez, California, next to her mother. Albert lived until 1955, alone but perhaps revitalized by the thought of a promise kept.

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Key sources:

“Al Winchell Goes South With Body of Wife from Sophia.” [Juneau] Alaska Daily Empire, July 14, 1919, 5.

“Al Winchell’s Heroic Efforts to Recover Body of Lost Wife.” Cordova Daily Times, August 19, 1919, 3.

Coates, Ken, and Bill Morrison. The Sinking of the Princes Sophia: Taking the North Down with Her. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1990.

“Diver Will Try Again to Get Wreck Bodies.” [Juneau] Alaska Daily Empire, February 14, 1919, 5.

“Local Union.” [Valdez] Alaska Prospector, June 13, 1907, 2.

“Long Search is Rewarded for Body of Wife.” [Juneau] Alaska Daily Empire, July 11, 1919, 6.

“More Bodies of Sophia Wreck Reach Juneau.” [Juneau] Alaska Daily Empire, July 3, 1919, 5.

“Remains Recovered.” Iditarod Pioneer, August 16, 1919, 3.

Thompson, Judy, and David R. Leverton. Those Who Perished: SS Princess Sophia, the Unknown Story of the Largest Shipwreck Disaster Along the Pacific Northwest Coast. Victoria, BC: Maritime Museum of British Columbia Society, 2018.

“Two Women Found by Diver Who is Now in the City.” [Juneau] Alaska Daily Empire, February 1, 1919, 2.

Untitled article. Seward Daily Gateway, March 13, 1914, 1.

Dear Annie: I’m conflicted, just as I am sure many grandparents are in my situation. I have one child, a son, who is married with four children, my grandchildren. In spite of poor health, I have been a hands-on grandmother, taking them on trips, paying one’s way to Hawaii as a graduation gift, etc.

The only time I hear from these kids is if there is a fundraiser and they want a donation. I give birthday money and Christmas gifts. I never get a response or a thank you. My question is, should I continue giving under these circumstances or stop altogether any gift giving?

This is very difficult for me, as I love these kids very much.

-- Feeling Unappreciated

Dear Unappreciated: No one likes to feel used or like their presents were not appreciated. Speak with your son about asking his kids to say thank you once in a while to their grandmother. It will serve them well in life to learn the value of showing appreciation when someone does something kind for you.

You definitely should not cut them off. Do you only give to get a thank you, or does it feel good to give? Have you enjoyed the trips with your grandkids? Don’t let the bad manners of your grandkids make you and them miss out on quality family vacations. That is time you can’t get back. You can look at their mistakes as teaching moments.

Dear Annie: My 11-year-old niece is a wonderful young lady. She’s respectful, full of love and just a great kid.

Since Covid, she has been dealing with some anxiety that she did not have pre-pandemic. Her parents, my sister-in-law and brother, are addressing these issues with her doctor. She’s adjusting.

Their neighbor has a daughter the same age, and the two were once friends, but they have grown apart. The other girl was bullying my niece (calling her names because of her size), so it was decided the two should no longer speak to one another because of the way the relationship had evolved.

The mother of the other girl took this “lost relationship” to heart. My niece can no longer walk past the neighbor’s home without this woman berating her to the point of tears and total fear. The police have been called twice to quell the situation but have not done a thing to stop this woman.

Any suggestions? There is no talking to her. She’s a bully at its finest. -

- Bullying a Kid

Dear Bullying a Kid: What a witch! It is horrible to think that an adult could be so cruel to an 11-year-old girl. You have stuck up to the bully, and you have notified the police. If you want, you can use your iPhone camera to record her in the act.

When speaking to your daughter, remind her that the way someone treats you says a lot more about them than it does about you. At this point, you might need to file a restraining order against this adult woman.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) before a vote Saturday. (Photo for The Washington Post by Tom Brenner) (Tom Brenner/)

In the span of three hours, rank-and-file Republicans bucked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, leaving both GOP leaders weakened Sunday heading into a critical legislative period.

First, after days of internal rebellion, McCarthy (Calif.) threw in the towel at a Saturday morning meeting. His leadership team had run the numbers, and at least six Republicans would oppose any plan to keep the government open by the midnight deadline.

With just four votes to spare on a GOP-only plan, McCarthy gave up and turned to Democrats to help pass a “clean” resolution to keep the government open at current levels into mid-November.

The only olive branch to staunch conservatives? No funding for Ukraine’s defense in the war against Russia.

[Biden says there’s ‘not much time’ to keep aid flowing to Ukraine and Congress must ‘stop the games’]

Across the Capitol, McConnell (Ky.) had spent the month of September delivering floor speeches dedicated to the defense of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who visited the Capitol nine days earlier to rally support behind President Biden’s request for $24 billion in military and diplomatic support. He worked with Biden administration officials to pare back that request to $6 billion and ask for more funding later this year.

So when the Senate GOP gathered at lunchtime Saturday for a roughly 90-minute meeting, McConnell delivered a pitch to rally support for the original plan - a funding plan that included $6 billion for Ukraine.

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His caucus overruled him. They preferred McCarthy’s plan to keep the government open by ditching the debate over Ukraine money until later this year.

The diminished stature for the two leaders could have big consequences.

McCarthy, who lost support from more than 40 percent of his rank and file on the stopgap funding vote, opened himself to a challenge from hard-right members who want to oust him as speaker.

For McConnell, the longest-serving floor leader in Senate history, his iron hold over the GOP suffered a surprising blow and places future support for Ukraine in some doubt. That this occurred after the 81-year-old spent the past six months battling myriad health problems, stemming from a bad fall in March, only further heightened questions about his future.

In perhaps an unintentional slight, McCarthy told reporters he did not talk to McConnell to personally relay his decision to pursue a bipartisan plan with no money for Ukraine. Instead, the speaker dealt with Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), who previously served 10 years in the House, and John Thune (R-S.D.), the No. 2 GOP leader for the past five years.

But the House speaker faces a more immediate question about his long-term standing.

After months of trying to coddle his right-wing detractors, McCarthy finally had a brief “Bulworth” moment, sounding like the Warren Beatty character in the 1998 film who just starts speaking his mind without worrying about the consequences.

“There has to be an adult in the room,” the speaker said. He suggested that the group of 15 to 20 GOP holdouts who regularly sabotaged Republican-backed votes act like political children.

“It’s all right that Republicans and Democrats joined to do what is right. If someone wants to make a motion [to remove me as speaker], bring it,” he told reporters at a news conference after the 335-91 vote.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the anti-McCarthy renegade, said Sunday that he would bring such a motion this week after the House reconvenes for legislative business. It would force a vote on a “motion to vacate” within two days of filing it.

“This agreement that he made with Democrats to really blow past a lot of the spending guardrails we had set up is a last straw,” Gaetz said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.”

If more than four Republicans vote to remove McCarthy, his entire fate would rest in the hands of Democrats, who traditionally would not give any support to the other party’s speaker. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has declined to answer hypotheticals about such a vote.

If Democrats decide to save McCarthy, they would probably seek some concessions - and the more the speaker concedes, the more Republicans will be agitated to toss him aside. McCarthy’s allies insist that Gaetz is a gadfly with no following, that the speaker will survive a vote to oust him. And that this process will make him stronger in the long run.

“If he wants to do a motion to vacate, let him do it. Kevin McCarthy is gonna be speaker as long as Kevin wants to be speaker,” Mullin said.

A close McCarthy confidant, Mullin spent the week shuttling back and forth across the Capitol, interpreting for the House and Senate GOP what the other was thinking. His Senate colleagues frequently ask about Gaetz.

“I tell people all the time, ‘Matt is not about policy, has nothing to do with principle. All Matt Gaetz wants is just attention,’” Mullin said.

But McCarthy spent the entire summer and early fall acting like a leader very concerned about losing support on his far-right flank. He reneged on a budget-and-debt deal that he cinched with President Biden in May and ordered his lieutenants to cut more than $100 billion from the spending outline to meet conservative demands.

This guaranteed he had to pass those agency spending bills with only Republican votes, rather than the usual bipartisan approach past speakers have taken to government funding. When Republicans narrowly passed three spending bills Thursday, they celebrated on the House floor as if they’d won the World Series - high-fives and hugs and fist bumps everywhere.

Each previous attempt to appease the right came with the vote to expel the speaker looming in the backdrop - if we don’t give in on this demand, maybe they’ll try to oust McCarthy.

So when the House GOP gathered in the Capitol basement Saturday, few expected McCarthy to take the only path to keeping government open - gathering Democratic votes - because it could provoke a challenge to his gavel.

McCarthy knew he had no other choice than to ditch the hard right.

“The only answer is shut down and not pay our troops? I don’t wanna be a part of that team,” he said. “I want to be a part of a conservative group that wants to get things done.”

No speaker has ever been ejected midterm in this manner. If it happens, the House will basically come to a halt until lawmakers elect a speaker.

While McCarthy’s standing has been wobbly all year, McConnell has maintained staunch backing despite his health troubles.

It made his support for Ukrainian aid seem certain to be included. Allies of the GOP leader blamed White House officials Saturday for not being more forceful in keeping House Democrats away from the “clean” government funding plan. Once it became clear the House would approve that bill, the die was cast.

By late Saturday, before an 88-9 vote in the Senate, McConnell remained defiant that Congress has to approve a robust funding package for Ukraine. But he acknowledged that, as political support in Congress has wavered, the worse outcome for Zelensky would have been a federal shutdown that served as a proxy battle over the fight against Russia.

“I’m confident the Senate will pass further urgent assistance to Ukraine later this year,” he said in his floor speech. “But let’s be clear. The alternative to our action today - an entirely avoidable government shutdown - would not just pause our progress on these important priorities, it would actually set them back.”

Two of McConnell’s biggest foes, Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.), wore smiles after the vote. They have clamored for a more deliberate process to consider government spending plans, arguing for an open process. Both said they welcome a debate on Ukraine as a stand-alone issue, not tacked onto an up-or-down vote to keep the government open.

Johnson called Saturday “small progress” but acknowledged it was probably his first win against leadership on such a spending plan.

“We’re making some progress, which we haven’t made - I haven’t made in 12 years here,” he said.

Thune and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 leader, both worked to support the McCarthy plan - an unusual moment for two aspirants to McConnell’s job who are among his most loyal backers.

Afterward, Thune remained committed to funding Ukraine. “This is an issue that we have to deal with. And we will,” he said.

When the Senate GOP broke up their Saturday meeting, a group of senators walked toward reporters to explain the new decision. But McConnell kept on walking through the doors into the Senate chamber and started down the aisle.

Thune yelled “leader, leader,” before McConnell stopped and realized he was all alone.

McConnell turned around and joined his Republican colleagues to announce the reversal on Ukraine.

People get assistance filing Alaska Permanent Fund dividend applicants on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. (Bill Roth / ADN/)

In a recent editorial, the Anchorage Daily News editorial board argued that Permanent Fund dividends are government spending and that they should be cut so the funds can be diverted instead to cover other spending, “like education and public safety.”

But that’s not what PFD cuts are. Virtually every economist that has looked closely at them over the past several years, including researchers at the University of Alaska Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and analysts at the national Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), has viewed PFD cuts as a source of government revenue, like taxes. Indeed, earlier this year, Matthew Berman, a senior Harvard and Yale-trained Professor of Economics at ISER, who has been on faculty there since the early 1980s, called them exactly that in an opinion piece published on the ADN’s own pages. “Let’s be honest,” he wrote. “A cut in the PFD is a tax — the most regressive tax ever proposed. A $1,000 cut will push thousands of Alaska families below the poverty line. It will increase homelessness and food insecurity.”

The difference is a huge one. When evaluating whether to make cuts in the PFD, the editorial board wants readers to compare them to other spending.

But Berman and others, instead, compare them to other sources of revenue, such as other taxes. And when economists have looked at them in that way, they have found PFD cuts to be the worst possible alternative. In a 2016 study prepared for the administration of Gov. Bill Walker, researchers at ISER concluded that, compared to other revenue options, “the impact of the PFD cut … has the largest adverse impact on the economy per dollar of revenues raised.”

Follow-up ISER studies in 2016 and 2017 concluded that, again, compared to alternatives, “a cut in PFDs would be by far the costliest measure for Alaska families,” and, unlike any other revenue approach, “reducing the PFD by $1,000 will likely increase the number of Alaskans below the poverty line by 12,000-15,000 (2% of Alaskans).”

And in 2017, as then-ADN reporter Nat Herz wrote on its pages, researchers at ITEP concluded: “For (80% of) Alaskans, an income tax would hurt less than a PFD cut.”

So, why do some nonetheless push PFD cuts?

In my view, there’s one simple explanation. While PFD cuts have the “largest adverse impact” on the Alaska economy, are the “costliest measure for (80% of) Alaska families,” and will “increase the number of Alaskans below the poverty line” by far more than any other option, there are some who benefit greatly from disproportionately concentrating the state’s revenue burden on middle and lower-income Alaska families in the way PFD cuts do.

For example, as the ITEP study found, while using PFD cuts reduces the income of those in the middle-income bracket by 2.5% and those in the lowest-income bracket by more than 7% per $500 million in cuts, it reduces the income of those in the top 20% income bracket by less than 1%, and those in the top 5% income bracket by less than one-half of a percent.

Because PFD cuts only affect Alaska families, non-residents contribute nothing — or, as former Gov. Jay Hammond once put it, unlike in every other state in the nation, they escape “scot-free.” And as long as the Legislature can use PFD cuts to raise revenues, there is no need to look at needed modifications in oil taxes seriously.

Yes, the top 20% and non-residents would contribute more to the costs of government under other, more broad-based alternatives, but as the ISER and ITEP studies have made clear, even then, they would still contribute much less than middle and lower-income Alaska families are being required to contribute now using PFD cuts.

I agree with the ADN editorial board that the Legislature needs to resolve Alaska’s fiscal situation. But the action they need to take is to adopt broad-based revenue alternatives that would result in all segments contributing relatively modest amounts, not to lock in a hugely regressive PFD cut — and with it, its large and hugely adverse impacts on the Alaska economy and families — in perpetuity.

Brad Keithley is the managing director of Alaskans for Sustainable Budgets. As part of that project, he both writes a weekly column for the Alaska Landmine and, together with talk radio host Michael Dukes, records and publishes a weekly podcast on Alaska fiscal issues.

The views expressed here are the writer’s and are not necessarily endorsed by the Anchorage Daily News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)adn.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@adn.com or click here to submit via any web browser. Read our full guidelines for letters and commentaries here.

President Joe Biden speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Manuel Balce Ceneta/)

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the president said in a warning to Congress.

“We cannot under any circumstances allow American for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress voted late Saturday to avert a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding package that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

“We have time, not much time and there’s an overwhelming sense of urgency,” he said, noting that the funding bill lasts only until mid-November.

Biden urged Congress to negotiate an aid package as soon as possible.

“We’re going to get it done,” he said.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional supporters of Ukraine say they won’t give up after a bill to keep the federal government open excluded President Joe Biden’s request to provide more security assistance to the war-torn nation.

Still, many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war between Russia and Ukraine grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum in the halls of Congress.

[Gaetz says he will seek to oust McCarthy as speaker this week. ‘Bring it on,’ McCarthy says]

Voting in the House this past week pointed to the potential trouble ahead. Nearly half of House Republicans voted to strip $300 million from a defense spending bill to train Ukrainian soldiers and purchase weapons. The money later was approved separately, but opponents of Ukraine support celebrated their growing numbers.

Then, on Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., omitted additional Ukraine aid from a measure to keep the government running until Nov. 17. In doing so, he closed the door on a Senate package that would have funneled $6 billion to Ukraine, roughly a third of what has been requested by the White House. Both the House and Senate overwhelmingly approved the stopgap measure, with members of both parties abandoning the increased aid for Ukraine in favor of avoiding a costly government shutdown.

The latest actions in Congress signal a gradual shift in the unwavering support that the United States has so far pledged Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and it is one of the clearest examples yet of the Republican Party’s movement toward a more isolationist stance. The exclusion of Ukraine funding came little more than a week after lawmakers met in the Capitol with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who sought to assure lawmakers that his military was winning the war, but stressed that additional aid would be crucial for continuing the fight.

After that visit, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said that one sentence summed up Zelenskyy’s message in his meeting with the Senate: “‘If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,” Schumer said.

Yet, McCarthy, pressured by his right flank, has gone from saying “no blank checks” for Ukraine, with the focus being on accountability, to describing the Senate’s approach as putting “Ukraine in front of America.” He declined to say after the vote on government funding whether he would bring aid for Ukraine up for a House vote in the coming weeks.

“If there is a moment in time we need to have a discussion about that, we will have a discussion completely about that, but I think the administration has to make the case for what is victory,” McCarthy said.

Biden said in a statement after Congress averted a shutdown that “we cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted.” He called on McCarthy to “keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine” and push through “the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment.”

In the Senate, both Schumer and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky pledged to move quickly to try and pass the full White House request. But it was clear that goal will be increasingly difficult as more rank-and-file GOP senators have questioned the aid or demanded that it be attached to immigration policy that would help secure the southern border — echoing similar demands in the House.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, a Republican who voted for the spending bill after the Ukraine aid was stripped out, said that Congress needs to have “a conversation with the American public.” He said he was optimistic after seeing the money taken out of the bill.

“In my state, people want to be helpful to Ukraine, but they also want to be helpful to Americans,” Scott said. “And so they want to really understand how this money has been spent.”

Democrats said they were disappointed by the lack of Ukraine funding, but expressed determination that they would get the aid to the war-torn country.

“We will not stop fighting for more economic and security assistance for Ukraine,” Schumer said after the bill passed. “Majorities in both parties support Ukraine aid, and doing more is vital for America’s security and for democracy around the world.”

Leading up to Saturday’s vote, Pentagon officials expressed alarm at the prospect of no extra funding for Ukraine. In a letter to congressional leaders dated Friday, Michael McCord, under secretary of defense, wrote that the department has exhausted nearly all the available security assistance.

“Without additional funding now, we would have to delay or curtail assistance to meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements, including for air defense and ammunition that are critical and urgent now as Russia prepares to conduct a winter offensive and continues its bombardment of Ukrainian cities,” McCord said.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the vote that U.S. assistance was vital as Ukrainians “fight to defend their own country against the forces of tyranny. America must live up to its word.”

Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said he would like to send a clear message to the world about U.S. support for Ukraine by passing legislation, but believes the Pentagon has “enough draw-down money” to last through December. He said he believes McCarthy still supports funding for Ukraine.

“I think the speaker has always had a good position on Ukraine. I think he’s dealing with a caucus that’s got fractures that he has to deal with and none of them can be ignored when you’ve got a four-seat majority and 15 nuts in the conference,” Rogers said, referring to far-right lawmakers who have staunchly opposed funding for Ukraine.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he heard McCarthy tell Zelenskyy during his visit that “we will give them what they need.”

“Unfortunately, the message that speaker and the former president is sending is that they can’t be relied upon,” Meeks said, adding a reference to former President Donald Trump, who has called on Congress to withhold additional Ukraine funding until the FBI, IRS and Justice Department “hand over every scrap of evidence” on the Biden family’s business dealings.

The U.S. has approved four rounds of aid to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion, totaling about $113 billion, with some of that money going toward replenishment of U.S. military equipment that was sent to the frontlines. In August, Biden called on Congress to provide for an additional $24 billion.

Saturday’s move by the House to act first on government funding left the Senate with a stark choice: either go along with a bill that fails to help Ukraine, or allow what could have been an extended government shutdown to occur.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., expressed frustration at the outcome.

“Every day that goes by that we don’t get the additional money is a day Russia gets closer to being capable of winning this war,” Murphy said.

Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Ukraine should not be deterred, and that aid can be approved by other means.

“Neither our friends nor our enemies should look at this as being some change in the United States’ commitment to Ukraine,” Risch said.

Associated Press writers Stephen Groves and Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

This slide presented to the Alaska House Finance Committee on Thursday, March 16, 2023, shows a satellite view of the Mustang Road. (Alaska Legislature screenshot)

Alaska’s state-owned development bank is planning to sell a troubled North Slope oil field development that previously received a state bailout loan.

At a regularly scheduled meeting Sept. 21, the board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority agreed to open final negotiations for the sale of Mustang Holdings LLC to the subsidiary of a privately owned Texas oil firm.

The board voted unanimously to give AIDEA CEO Randy Ruaro 30 days to close a deal with Finnex Operating LLC, a firm wholly owned by Thyssen Petroleum USA through an Alaska intermediary.

The term sheet for the proposed sale was not disclosed during the meeting, and officials with the corporation said on Friday that they were unable to provide financial figures.

AIDEA has owned the Mustang oil field, formally part of the Southern Miluveach Unit, since 2021, when the state-owned investment bank foreclosed on owners who had failed to repay an AIDEA loan.

The field is estimated to contain more than 25 million barrels of oil and is located between two highly productive fields owned by ConocoPhillips.

It has the potential to generate millions in revenue for its owners and millions in tax revenue for the state treasury, but that’s still hypothetical.

Before the foreclosure, AIDEA spent $72 million developing the oil field and supporting infrastructure, not counting a special $22.5 million bridge loan from the Alaska Department of Revenue.

Budget documents show the investment bank has spent additional money since then to maintain the project, with little to show for it. Earlier this year, AIDEA gave part of the project to the state in order to reduce the annual cash dividend it pays the state treasury.

AIDEA CEO Randy Ruaro said during last week’s meeting that its pending deal with Finnex is protected by a letter of credit, “so we will get payment regardless of what happens with their progress in developing the field,” he told board members.

Rick Fox is president of Fairweather LLC, a small oil and gas support firm caught up in the foreclosure. His firm accepted 30 cents on the dollar to settle debts associated with the Mustang project, he told board members, and he supports the sale.

“We have the expectation that Finnex will follow through with their plans and we will get a chance to put our people to work again on this project,” Fox said.

Crude oil is loaded in a tanker truck at the Mustang Operations Center near the Kuparuk River field on the North Slope. The road and gravel pad constructed with state money to facilitate oil production at the site has only been used by other companies for staging and other purposes since it was completed in 2013. (Photo courtesy Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority)

He later added: “I believe it is in the best interest of the state of Alaska for AIDEA to transfer the Mustang field to Finnex.”

Three days before AIDEA’s board voted to go ahead with the sale, Doyon Limited — Interior Alaska’s regional Native corporation — sued AIDEA to recoup more than $2 million in outstanding debts related to the project.

Through its attorney, the company declined additional comment on Friday.

A public notice first reported by Petroleum News in February indicates AIDEA officials have been negotiating the deal for some time.

It isn’t the first time Finnex has expressed interest in the project. In 2020, after the project’s former owner, Singapore-based Caracol Petroleum, failed to make payments on an AIDEA loan, Finnex appeared ready to take over the project.

That never happened, and AIDEA foreclosed on the project, leaving it in the hands of its subsidiary, Mustang Holdings LLC.

“AIDEA basically got screwed to take this thing,” said Bernie Karl, a former AIDEA board member who spoke at last week’s meeting. “It was a bad deal. You didn’t just one day decide you were going to buy it. You got screwed, blued and tattooed on the deal. So now you’ve got a chance to get out of this.”

Gordon Pospisil, president and CEO of Finnex LLC, said that after the purchase, his firm will submit a plan of development to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

He said he anticipates a phased development that will reconnect the oil field to an export pipeline and eventually drill new oil wells for more production.

“If we are at full success, this would provide for, we estimate, 120 construction (jobs) and then 10 to 20 jobs that would be permanent,” he said.

Before the final vote, board member Albert Fogle was among those who praised the sale’s potential.

“I think this is a good deal for everyone, especially Alaska employers and Alaska residents as well, to get this field back into production,” he said.

Originally published by the Alaska Beacon, an independent, nonpartisan news organization that covers Alaska state government.

Turkish security forces cordon off an area after an explosion in Ankara, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Sunday, hours before parliament was scheduled to reopen after a summer recess. A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police. (AP Photo/Ali Unal) (Ali Unal/)

ANKARA, Turkey — A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara, while a second assailant was killed in a shootout with police Sunday, the interior minister said.

The attack occurred hours before Turkey’s Parliament was set to reopen after its three-month summer recess with an address by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Two police officers were slightly wounded in the bombing near an entrance to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Assailants who arrived at the scene inside a light commercial vehicle carried out the attack, he said.

“Our heroic police officers, through their intuition, resisted the terrorists as soon as they got out of the vehicle,” Yerlikaya later told reporters. “One of them blew himself up, while the other one was shot in the head before he had a chance to blow himself up.”

“Our fight against terrorism, their collaborators, the (drug) dealers, gangs and organized crime organizations will continue with determination,” he said.

The interior minister did not say who was behind the attack. However, ANF News, a news agency close to the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, reported Sunday night that the group had claimed responsibility for the blast.

Leftist extremists and the Islamic State group have also carried out deadly attacks throughout Turkey in the past.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya talks to journalists in Ankara, Sunday, Oct. 1, 2023. A suicide bomber detonated an explosive device in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Sunday, hours before parliament was scheduled to reopen after a summer recess. A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police. (AP Photo/Ali Unal) (Ali Unal/)

Erdogan gave his speech in Parliament as planned and called the attack “the last stand of terrorism.”

“The scoundrels who targeted the peace and security of the citizens could not achieve their goals and they never will,” he said.

The president reiterated his government’s aim to create a 30-kilometer (20 mile) safe zone along Turkey’s border with Syria to secure its southern border from attacks.

Turkey has launched several incursions into northern Syria since 2016 to drive away the Islamic State group and a Kurdish militia group, known by the initials YPG, and controls swaths of territory in the area.

Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the PKK, which is listed as a terror group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The PKK has waged an insurgency against Turkey since 1984. Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict.

Last year, a bomb blast in a bustling pedestrian street in Istanbul left six people dead, including two children. More than 80 others were wounded. Turkey blamed the attack on the PKK and the YPG.

The State-run Anadolu Agency reported that the two attackers on Sunday had seized the vehicle in the central province of Kayseri from a veterinarian. The pro-government daily Sabah reported that they shot the man in the head and threw his body into a ditch by the side of the road. They then drove the vehicle to Ankara, roughly 300 kilometers (200 miles) away.

Security camera footage on Sunday showed the vehicle stopping in front of the ministry, with a man exiting it and rushing toward the entrance of the building before blowing himself up. A second man is seen following him.

Earlier, television footage showed bomb squads working near a vehicle in the area, which is located near the Turkish Grand National Assembly and other government buildings. A rocket launcher could be seen lying near the vehicle.

Turkish authorities later imposed a temporary blackout on images from the scene.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said an investigation has been launched into the “terror attack.”

“These attacks will in no way hinder Turkey’s fight against terrorism,” he wrote on X. “Our fight against terrorism will continue with more determination.”

Police cordoned off access to the city center and increased security measures, warning citizens that they would be conducting controlled explosions of suspicious packages.

The two police officers were being treated in a hospital and were not in serious condition, Yerlikaya said.

Egypt, which has normalized ties with Turkey after a decade of tensions, condemned the attack. A terse statement from the Foreign Ministry offered Egypt’s solidarity with Turkey.

The U.S. Embassy in Ankara and other foreign missions also issued messages condemning the attack.

Erdogan in his speech did not provide any indication as to when Turkey’s parliament may ratify Sweden’s membership in NATO.

Stockholm applied for NATO membership alongside Finland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. While Finland has since joined, Turkey blocked Sweden’s membership in the military alliance, accusing it of not doing enough to tackle groups like PKK from operating on its soil. In a posting on X, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Stockholm “strongly condemns today’s terrorist attack in Ankara.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to long-term cooperation with Türkiye in combating terrorism and wish for quick and full recovery of the ones injured,” he wrote, using the Turkish government’s preferred spelling for the country.

Associated Press writers Cinar Kiper in Bodrum, Turkey, Robert Badendieck in Istanbul, and Jari Tanner in Helsinki, Finland contributed.

Dear Amy: I am a 73-year-old man who was widowed four years ago.

I’ve been dating “Maria” for over a year. She is 71 and was raised in Spain.

Maria is a genuinely good person, and she is madly in love with me, to the point of smothering. (Her late husband was not very kind to her.)

Maria has been professing her love for me since we began texting before our first date. (She is a neighbor of some friends of mine and apparently had her eye on me for a while.)

She says I am the man of her dreams and that she wants to spend the rest of her life with me. And she says this with total earnestness and wide-eyed schoolgirl innocence.

I do feel love for her, though not as intensely as she does for me. I’ve just never felt that special “click” with her.

My dilemma is this: I want to date other women. I want to find one that I really click with and without having to always explain basic Americana (like baseball, “The Wizard of Oz”, the Emmy Awards, etc.). Maria never really immersed herself in our culture.

But I know that breaking up with Maria will tear her apart. After my wife died, I had one relationship before this one; after nine months the woman broke up with me and I felt shattered. I don’t want her to feel that way and I know how badly she would take it.

I’ve already made two attempts at breaking up and each time she’s basically talked me out of it.

She says it’s fine if I see other women, but she needs to see me once a week because she can’t live without me in her life.

I enjoy her very much when I’m with her, but I don’t really miss her when we’re apart.

I also think at times, how can I give up a love this deep and pure?

I was with my wife for 51 years and I’m afraid I have no real experience in these matters.

Your advice?

– Still Looking

Dear Still Looking: You need to back slowly away from this relationship (the way you would after encountering a bear in the woods).

And then turn around and run.

If you don’t feel that special “click” with “Maria,” and want to pursue other relationships, then you need to break up with her. For real.

Maria is grasping a number of red flags and waving them at you.

This is not a deep and pure love – this is clutching and smothering.

You know that Maria will be hurt, but I suggest that what you’re really worried about is the intense discomfort you will feel because of her behavior.

She is capitalizing on your fear when she lures you back.

You should be both clear and calm. Tell her that you have decided to be single again and that you will not be seeing her. Stay focused, firm, polite and kind.

Dear Amy: I’m reflecting on our society’s increasing slide toward the dogs.

It seems that people are bringing their dogs everywhere and that they often assume their dogs are welcome to come along to dinner parties, etc.

I’m wondering what can be done about this?

– Doggone

Dear Doggone: I agree with you about this trend. If you don’t want to share space with dogs, you should not patronize businesses that welcome them.

And for those who don’t want dogs in their homes, it is vital that hosts make it extremely clear that guests should leave their dogs at home.

Dear Amy: “Had It” expressed her frustration that her new husband let her adult stepchildren dominate their relationship.

As a person whose parents divorced and remarried when I was in college, I’d like to add an overlooked perspective.

I suggest that stepparents should be aware of how their presence changes the visit dynamic.

Just as grandparents might enjoy spending time with their grandchildren without the parents present, an adult wanting to spend time with their parents without their parent’s spouses should be entirely OK to do.

Sometimes we just want to relax with our parents without their spouse involved.

Bravo to this dad who for one weekend each year spends time with his children in the way they are most comfortable.

– Been There

Dear Been There: Thank you for offering your perspective. I completely agree with you about parent/child visits, but in her question, “Had It” said that she was “routinely excluded” from family gatherings.

Dear Amy: I am a 73-year-old man who was widowed four years ago.

I’ve been dating “Maria” for over a year. She is 71 and was raised in Spain.

Maria is a genuinely good person, and she is madly in love with me, to the point of smothering. (Her late husband was not very kind to her.)

Maria has been professing her love for me since we began texting before our first date. (She is a neighbor of some friends of mine and apparently had her eye on me for a while.)

She says I am the man of her dreams and that she wants to spend the rest of her life with me. And she says this with total earnestness and wide-eyed schoolgirl innocence.

I do feel love for her, though not as intensely as she does for me. I’ve just never felt that special “click” with her.

My dilemma is this: I want to date other women. I want to find one that I really click with and without having to always explain basic Americana (like baseball, “The Wizard of Oz”, the Emmy Awards, etc.). Maria never really immersed herself in our culture.

But I know that breaking up with Maria will tear her apart. After my wife died, I had one relationship before this one; after nine months the woman broke up with me and I felt shattered. I don’t want her to feel that way and I know how badly she would take it.

I’ve already made two attempts at breaking up and each time she’s basically talked me out of it.

She says it’s fine if I see other women, but she needs to see me once a week because she can’t live without me in her life.

I enjoy her very much when I’m with her, but I don’t really miss her when we’re apart.

I also think at times, how can I give up a love this deep and pure?

I was with my wife for 51 years and I’m afraid I have no real experience in these matters.

Your advice?

– Still Looking

Dear Still Looking: You need to back slowly away from this relationship (the way you would after encountering a bear in the woods).

And then turn around and run.

If you don’t feel that special “click” with “Maria,” and want to pursue other relationships, then you need to break up with her. For real.

Maria is grasping a number of red flags and waving them at you.

This is not a deep and pure love – this is clutching and smothering.

You know that Maria will be hurt, but I suggest that what you’re really worried about is the intense discomfort you will feel because of her behavior.

She is capitalizing on your fear when she lures you back.

You should be both clear and calm. Tell her that you have decided to be single again and that you will not be seeing her. Stay focused, firm, polite and kind.

Dear Amy: I’m reflecting on our society’s increasing slide toward the dogs.

It seems that people are bringing their dogs everywhere and that they often assume their dogs are welcome to come along to dinner parties, etc.

I’m wondering what can be done about this?

– Doggone

Dear Doggone: I agree with you about this trend. If you don’t want to share space with dogs, you should not patronize businesses that welcome them.

And for those who don’t want dogs in their homes, it is vital that hosts make it extremely clear that guests should leave their dogs at home.

Dear Amy: “Had It” expressed her frustration that her new husband let her adult stepchildren dominate their relationship.

As a person whose parents divorced and remarried when I was in college, I’d like to add an overlooked perspective.

I suggest that stepparents should be aware of how their presence changes the visit dynamic.

Just as grandparents might enjoy spending time with their grandchildren without the parents present, an adult wanting to spend time with their parents without their parent’s spouses should be entirely OK to do.

Sometimes we just want to relax with our parents without their spouse involved.

Bravo to this dad who for one weekend each year spends time with his children in the way they are most comfortable.

– Been There

Dear Been There: Thank you for offering your perspective. I completely agree with you about parent/child visits, but in her question, “Had It” said that she was “routinely excluded” from family gatherings.

Run by a private firm hired by the city, migrants stay in a makeshift shelter at O'Hare International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Chicago. Unlike migrants in the public eye at police stations, the migrants at O'Hare and a handful at Midway International Airport have limited access to resources, including showers and medical care. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley) (Erin Hooley/)

CHICAGO — Hidden behind a heavy black curtain in one of the nation’s busiest airports is Chicago’s unsettling response to a growing population of asylum-seekers arriving by plane.

Hundreds of migrants, from babies to the elderly, live inside a shuttle bus center at O’Hare International Airport’s Terminal 1. They sleep on cardboard pads on the floor and share airport bathrooms. A private firm monitors their movements.

Like New York and other cities, Chicago has struggled to house asylum-seekers, slowly moving people out of temporary spaces and into shelters and, in the near future, tents. But Chicago’s use of airports is unusual, having been rejected elsewhere, and highlights the city’s haphazard response to the crisis. The practice also has raised concerns about safety and the treatment of people fleeing violence and poverty.

“It was supposed to be a stop-and-go place,” said Vianney Marzullo, one of the few volunteers at O’Hare. “It’s very concerning. It is not just a safety matter, but a public health matter.”

Some migrants stay at O’Hare for weeks, then are moved to police stations or manage to get into the few shelters available. Within weeks, Chicago plans to roll out winterized tents, something New York has done.

Up to 500 people have lived at O’Hare simultaneously in a space far smaller than a city block, shrouded by a curtain fastened shut with staples. Their movements are monitored by a private company whose staff control who enters and exits the curtain.

Sickness spreads quickly. The staffing company provides limited first aid and calls ambulances. A volunteer team of doctors visited once over the summer and their supplies were decimated.

Run by a private firm hired by the city, migrants stay in a makeshift shelter at O'Hare International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Chicago. Unlike migrants in the public eye at police stations, the migrants at O'Hare and a handful at Midway International Airport have limited access to resources, including showers and medical care. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley) (Erin Hooley/)
Run by a private firm hired by the city, migrants stay in a makeshift shelter at O'Hare International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Chicago. Unlike migrants in the public eye at police stations, the migrants at O'Hare and a handful at Midway International Airport have limited access to resources, including showers and medical care. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley) (Erin Hooley/)

Chicago offers meals, but only at specific times and many foods are unfamiliar to the new arrivals. While migrants closer to Chicago’s core have access to a strong network of volunteers, food and clothing donations at O’Hare are limited, due to airport security concerns.

Most of the 14,000 immigrants who have arrived in Chicago during the last year have come from Texas, largely under the direction of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

As more migrants arrived, the city’s existing services were strained. Officials struggled to find longer-term housing solutions while saying the city needed more help from the state and federal governments. Brandon Johnson took office in May and has proposed tents.

Many migrants are from Venezuela, where a political, social and economic crisis in the past decade has pushed millions of people into poverty. At least 7.3 million have left, with many risking an often-harrowing route to the United States.

Maria Daniela Sanchez Valera, 26, who passed through Panama’s dangerous, jungle-clad Darien Gap with her 2-year-old daughter, arrived at O’Hare days ago. She fled her native Venezuela five years ago for Peru, where her daughter was born. After her daughter’s father was killed, she left.

“We come here with the intention of working, not with the intention of being given everything,” she said. A recent Biden Administration plan to offer temporary legal status status, and the ability to work, to Venezuelans doesn’t apply to her because she arrived after the deadline.

She tries to keep the toddler entertained with walks around the terminal. On a recent day, a staff member told Valera to make her daughter stop running or else they would be kicked out. The company, Favorite Healthcare Staffing, said employees treat new arrivals with respect and it would investigate further.

Valera said she wanted to take a train from the airport, but she didn’t have the roughly $5 subway fare. “There are many people who have been able to get out and they say that in the garbage dumps you can get good clothes for the children,” she added.

Chicago began using the city’s two international airports as temporary shelters as the number of migrants arriving by plane increased. Nearly 3,000 people who have arrived by plane since June have sought shelter.

A handful live at Midway International Airport. When they need clothes or services, they walk 2 miles (3 kilometers) to a police station, volunteers say.

At O’Hare, migrants have spread out beyond the curtain for more space, sleeping along windows. Travelers wheeling suitcases and airline staff catching buses whiz by, some stopping to take pictures.

Yoli Cordova, 42, of Venezuela, wipes her face as she sits in a makeshift shelter for migrants at O'Hare International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Chicago. Cordova left her home country because of sexual orientation discrimination and violence against members of the LGBTQ+ community. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley) (Erin Hooley/)
Run by a private firm hired by the city, migrants stay in a makeshift shelter at O'Hare International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Chicago. Unlike migrants in the public eye at police stations, the migrants at O'Hare and a handful at Midway International Airport have limited access to resources, including showers and medical care. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley) (Erin Hooley/)
Run by a private firm hired by the city, people walk next to a makeshift shelter hidden by a long row of black curtains at O'Hare International Airport, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, in Chicago. Unlike migrants in the public eye at police stations, the migrants at O'Hare and a handful at Midway International Airport have limited access to resources, including showers and medical care. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley) (Erin Hooley/)

Chicago officials acknowledge using O’Hare isn’t ideal, but say there aren’t other options with a crisis they inherited.

Cristina Pacione-Zayas, first deputy chief of staff, said Chicago is slowly building capacity to house people. The city has added 15 shelters since May and resettled about 3,000 people. They serve 190,000 meals weekly and partner with groups for medical care, but still rely heavily on volunteers to fill gaps.

“Is it perfect? No. But what we have done is stood in our values to ensure that we live up to operationalizing a sanctuary city,” she said. “We will continue to work on it, but we are holding the line.”

Other cities oppose using airports.

At Boston’s Logan International Airport, migrants who arrive overnight are given cots for a few hours before being sent elsewhere. Massport spokeswoman Jennifer Mehigan said Logan “is not the appropriate place” to stay.

When reports of a possible federal plan to use the Atlantic City International Airport in New Jersey as a shelter surfaced recently, elected officials blasted the idea.

“It is such a preposterous solution to the problems we have,” said Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson. “Who is going to secure these people? Who is going to feed them? Who is going to educate them? We really don’t have any infrastructure to take care of them.”

Jhonatan Gelvez, a 21-year-old from Colombia, didn’t plan to stay at O’Hare long, as he has a friend in Chicago. He teared up when he talked of being separated from his fiancé en route to the U.S. Among his few belongings was a silver, anchor-shaped necklace she gave him.

“Just by arriving here I feel peace,” he said. “It is a country with many opportunities. … I am very grateful.”

Yoli Cordova, 42, arrived at O’Hare days ago. She left Venezuela because she was discriminated against for her sexual orientation. She cried as she expressed relief at leaving but remained worried about her daughters in Venezuela.

“I don’t know if they’re going to help me here,” Cordova said. “I really don’t know what to do, where to go.”

(iStock / Getty Images) (eggeeggjiew/)

The Alaska Division of Public Assistance has temporarily paused a practice of dropping people from Medicaid for paperwork-related reasons after thousands of low-income Alaskans — including families with kids — lost health coverage that they may still be eligible for.

At the same time, some health care providers say they’re seeing more uninsured patients, and a possible increase in the number of patients who appear to be delaying important health care due to a recent loss in coverage.

Earlier this summer, the state resumed annual eligibility reviews, which had been paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, only a third of Alaskans on Medicaid whose eligibility has been checked so far have been found eligible and renewed in the program, according to state data.

Over the last two months, close to 40% of people previously on Medicaid who were up for review — nearly 14,000 people — were dropped from the program for procedural reasons, which often means that a family didn’t receive or respond to mail from the Division of Public Assistance requiring them to verify their eligibility for the program.

That can often happen because the state doesn’t have an updated address on file for a family, or a letter from the division gets mistaken for junk mail. But the state doesn’t know exactly why so many people were getting dropped for this reason, said Deb Etheridge, the department’s director.

“We were seeing a lot of kids being disenrolled,” said Etheridge. “So we paused procedural disenrollments for (October) benefits so that we can do a review of all individuals who haven’t sent their information back to see if we can make an eligibility determination, and if we can get to the bottom of why this is happening.”

[As Alaska works through post-pandemic Medicaid renewals, only about a third of people stay covered]

Etheridge said that in order to decrease the number of people who are dropped for procedural reasons, families will have at least an extra 30 days to respond to requests for income verification and other information, and the state will do its best to verify eligibility even without that paperwork.

She said that as part of that review, applications are being reopened in an effort to increase the number of people who can keep their health coverage. The state is also working on setting up a system to send text messages to people who are missing information.

“It’s definitely a learning curve. But our staff are out there doing the best they can with the tools they have,” Etheridge said.

She also noted that Alaskans who think they’re eligible for Medicaid but are dropped anyway have the right to a fair hearing, which is a review of a decision made by the state. Fair hearing requests can be made in person, by phone or in writing to any employee of the Division of Public Assistance, and must be made within 30 days from the date of the notice.

Before eligibility reviews resumed, approximately one in three Alaskans were enrolled in the state’s Medicaid programs, which are sometimes referred to as DenaliCare and Denali KidCare, and thousands more could lose their coverage in the coming months.

Under a provision in the federal health emergency that began in March 2020, Alaskans who might otherwise have lost Medicaid coverage due to a new job or other change in status were able to keep their coverage for the last two years without needing to submit annual paperwork — even if their income rose high enough that they were no longer eligible for the program.

Medicaid recipients include eligible low-income adults, children, pregnant women, older adults and people with disabilities. States administer the program, which is funded jointly by states and the federal government.

At the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center, a federally qualified health center where half of all patients are enrolled in Medicaid, clinic chief executive officer Lisa Aquino said staff have seen a recent increase in the number of patients who’ve been impacted by the change.

“We’re definitely seeing an increase of patients with questions, looking for help with health insurance, and our health insurance team is getting like, booked out farther in the future than it normally does,” she said.

Aquino said she’s also hearing from patients who are forced to wait hours on hold with the state’s Medicaid helpline, which she said has become backed up in recent months.

Her clinic has a sliding-scale fee for Alaskans who are uninsured or underinsured, which can reduce the cost of care significantly. But Aquino thinks many patients who’ve lost their Medicaid coverage in recent months may not know about the sliding-scale fee, and may be avoiding seeking care instead.

“We are seeing a reduction in patients on Medicaid, but we haven’t seen that increase in the people on the sliding scale, which makes me think that perhaps some of those people are just avoiding medical care at this point,” she said.

[Key federal status restored for Alaska Native Medical Center]

Resources

• To check on the status of an application or ask an eligibility technician with the state any other questions, the Virtual Call Center number is 1-800-478-7778. Wait times have been long due to the backlog, but callers have the option to leave their number for a same-day callback.

• To update your contact information with the state, you can visit its online form or call the Medicaid Information Update Hotline, 1-833-441-1870, which is staffed by a team dedicated to process contact information changes and was established to reduce wait times through the virtual call center.

• For a free appointment with a health care navigator who can help you determine if you’re still eligible for Medicaid — and what your options are if you’re not — dial 211, or 800-478-2221, or visit the Alaska 211 website at alaska211.org. Those appointments can happen in person in Anchorage, Mat-Su, Fairbanks and Soldotna, and virtually for the rest of the state.

• To check your eligibility for Medicaid, visit the state’s online eligibility screening tool at aries.alaska.gov/screener.

• Alaskans who think they’re eligible for Medicaid but are dropped anyway have the right to a fair hearing, which is a review of a decision made by the state. Fair hearing requests can be made in person, by phone or in writing to any employee of the Alaska Division of Public Assistance, and must be made within 30 days from the date of the notice.

Traffic passes one of the busiest intersections in Mat-Su at the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways on Sept. 26. The Matanuska-Susitna Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, if fully implemented, would create 134 miles of non-motorized paths and 10 new crosswalks. (Marc Lester / ADN) (Marc Lester/)

PALMER — A new proposal for pedestrian and bicycle access along the congested roads of Mat-Su recommends nearly 100 projects aimed at adding pathways and improving safety — if supporters can come up with ways to pay for changes that aren’t yet funded.

The sweeping Matanuska-Susitna Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan, approved unanimously by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly at a meeting Tuesday, singles out 95 new infrastructure projects in communities from Glacier View to Talkeetna, including shoulder widening, 134 miles of new paths and about 10 new crosswalks.

The document marks the borough’s first such nonmotorized plan, ordered as part of a 2017 long-range transportation project. Fairbanks-based consultant firm RESPEC was contracted to produce the plan, which cost $73,000. Work began in May 2022.

Mat-Su is the fastest-growing area of the state with about 113,000 residents, a population expected to reach 130,000 by 2027, according to the borough. The new plan notes that, while the borough hosts 2,000 miles of paths and trails across 25,000 square miles and 25 communities, vehicles are still the primary way residents get around, and bike and pedestrian travel has largely been an afterthought in local transportation planning.

Between 2010 and 2019, 103 pedestrian or cyclist injuries or fatalities were reported across Mat-Su, and about 20 of those were fatalities, according to the plan.

Unlike Anchorage, where 120 miles of paved bike and multiuse trails connect large parts of the municipality, paved paths within the Mat-Su often start and stop seemingly without reason, leaving users to navigate narrow shoulders and dark, busy roads.

People walk along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, near Westchester Lagoon in Anchorage, in May. (Emily Mesner / ADN) (Emily Mesner/)

For example, a bike path in Palmer runs 4 miles along busy, two-lane Bogard Road between the Glenn Highway and Trunk Road, terminating more than 5 miles before the next pedestrian path in Wasilla at East Seldon and Wasilla-Fishhook roads. And in Wasilla, a bike path along Knik-Goose Bay Road ends near Settlers Bay, rather than running an additional 6 miles past the congested corridor’s housing developments.

While planners said all of the projects are aimed at improving public safety, some of the roads or intersections flagged for updates are more dangerous than others.

For example, the intersection of the Parks Highway and Palmer-Wasilla Highway in Wasilla, where pedestrians must cross seven lanes of traffic in faded crosswalks, is flagged in the report as one of the busiest in the borough, with seven cyclist or pedestrian accidents logged there between 2010 and 2019.

Traffic passes the intersection of the Parks and Palmer-Wasilla highways on Sept. 26. (Marc Lester / ADN) (Marc Lester/)

Multiple pedestrian accidents have been logged on Bogard Road, including one involving a Palmer police officer driving a patrol car. And a proposed Meadow Lakes Loop Road path would connect the Parks Highway to the intersection of Pittman Road, an area where there were three serious bike or pedestrian accidents between 2015 and 2019, the report states.

[From 2021: Anchorage pedestrians have been more likely to be killed by vehicles in the last 2 years. Why isn’t clear.]

This attempt to carve pedestrian access from busy motorized corridors relied on hundreds of public comments over the research process, with a crosswalk near the Talkeetna library receiving the most support of any specific project. Commenters also highlighted a desire for more motorized pathways, something that will need to be addressed in a separate project, borough officials say.

All told, about 30 projects suggested through public comment, including the Talkeetna library crosswalk, were added to the borough’s original list of recommendations.

“It’s easy for us to look at a map and see a separated pathway ends here and another one is over here, so let’s put one in the middle. But figuring out where people actually bike and actually walk is difficult because the borough doesn’t have any sort of (use) counter,” Kelsey Anderson, a borough planner who has spearheaded the process, told the assembly Tuesday. “So we rely heavily on people telling us where they like to recreate.”

Receiving approval from the assembly is only the first step in getting the plan rolling, Anderson said.

While about 30 of the 95 infrastructure projects on the list are already underway as a part of previously approved plans and some are even in use; the remainder are only in the idea stage and still need funding, planning officials said.

Because the list represents only project priorities, not an actual completion plan, no total cost estimate has been created.

“There are so many different variables when it comes to actually having the funding to go fund these projects,” said Alex Strawn, the borough’s planning and land use director. “The price of oil, or who’s sitting on the assembly … how voters are feeling — if they’re feeling like these are important to them — how much money is in the economy.”

Some of the projects were funded as part of a 2021 transportation bond package, while others are in a ballot measure borough voters will decide in November. If approved, that bond would require a 50% match from the state for projects to move forward. Whether that happens will depend on state budget priorities.

“Bicycle and pedestrian facilities are kind of the only one where the whole ‘build it and they will come’ is actually true,” Anderson said. “I’m really excited about getting more people out and just being able to get around safely and go enjoy family and friends and the places that we love.”

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., left, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, confer in the hallway near the House chamber just after a stopgap spending bill advanced on a procedural vote but with final passage uncertain, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite/)

WASHINGTON — Rep. Matt Gaetz said Sunday he will try to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a fellow Republican, from his leadership position this week after McCarthy relied on Democratic support to pass legislation that avoided a government shutdown.

Gaetz, a longtime McCarthy nemesis, said McCarthy was in “brazen, material breach” of agreements he made with House Republicans in January when he ran for speaker. As a result, Gaetz said he would be filing a " motion to vacate the chair,” as House rules permit.

No speaker has ever been removed from office through such a move. Procedural votes could be offered to halt the motion or it could trigger a House floor vote on whether McCarthy, R-Calif., should remain speaker.

“I think we need to rip off the Band-Aid,” Gaetz, R-Fla., told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think we need to move on with new leadership that can be trustworthy.”

McCarthy has the support of a large majority of House Republicans, but because the GOP holds such a slim majority, he may need votes from some Democrats to keep his job.

“The only way Kevin McCarthy is speaker of the House at the end of this coming week is if Democrats bail him out,” Gaetz said.

The rules of the House allow for any single lawmaker — Democrat or Republican — to make a “motion to vacate the chair,” essentially an attempt to oust the speaker from that leadership post through a privileged resolution.

In January, McCarthy, hoping to appease some on the hard right as he fought to gain their vote for speaker, agreed to give as few as five Republican members the ability to initiate a vote to remove him. But when that was not good enough for his critics, he agreed to reduce that threshold to one — the system that historically has been the norm.

Proponents of allowing a lone lawmaker to file the motion said it promotes accountability, noting its long history in the House. The last use of the motion was in 2015, when then-Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, a Republican who later became President Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff, introduced a resolution to declare the speaker’s office vacant. Two months later, Boehner, R-Ohio, said he would be stepping down.

Associated Press staff writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters after a news conference in front of the U.S. Capitol on March 22, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images/TNS) (Alex Wong/)

WASHINGTON — Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised punishment for New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman on Saturday and called his alleged tactic to delay a House vote by pulling an office building fire alarm “a new low.”

Following House passage of a 47-day continuing resolution that would keep the government open through mid-November, McCarthy told reporters he intended to speak with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Bowman denied the alarm was a delaying tactic, but McCarthy compared it to the actions of Jan. 6 rioters, remarking on how “other people were treated” when they’ve attempted to delay the legislative process.

“This should not go without punishment. This is embarrassing,” McCarthy said. “You’re elected to be a member of Congress — you pull a fire alarm in the minutes and hours before the government being shut down, trying to dictate the government would shut down?”

House Administration Committee Republicans tweeted Saturday afternoon that an investigation into why the alarm was pulled was underway. The Capitol Police said they were investigating the incident. A fire alarm was pulled just after noon Saturday on the second floor of the Cannon House Office Building, prompting its evacuation.

Bowman, a progressive former middle school principal with a penchant for getting in viral shouting matches with his conservative colleagues, said the incident was a mistake.

“I was rushing to make a vote, I was trying to get through a door. I thought the alarm would open the door,” Bowman told reporters. “I didn’t mean to cause confusion… I didn’t know it was going to trip the whole building.”

Bowman pulled the fire alarm as Democrats were reviewing the text of a surprise continuing resolution that had just been shared by Republicans. The stopgap funding bill, which would keep the government open through Nov. 17, but without aid for Ukraine, ultimately passed the House 335-91. Every Democrat except Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, the co-chair of the House Ukraine Caucus, supported the measure. But before that happened, Democrats employed delay tactics, including a roll call vote on a motion to adjourn the chamber and Jeffries using his privilege as party leader to deliver a lengthy speech.

Other Republicans also called for punishment for Bowman, ranging from censure to expulsion.

“This is the United States Congress, not a New York City high school,” New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “This action warrants expulsion & I’m introducing a resolution to do just that.”

Bowman was elected in New York’s 16th District in 2020 after defeating Rep. Eliot Engel in the Democratic primary. He was recruited to politics by the Justice Democrats, and like other candidates favored by that political action committee — most notably New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — Bowman is outspoken and willing to aggressively expand the government’s reach in pursuit of social justice.

[Threat of government shutdown ends as Congress passes a temporary funding plan and sends it to Biden]

[Alarm grows in Kyiv, Washington as GOP House blocks Ukraine aid]