Alaska
Alaska is a U. S. state in the northwest extremity of North America, just across the Bering Strait from Asia. The Canadian province of British Columbia and territory of Yukon border the state to the east and southeast, its most extreme western part is Attu Island, it has a maritime border with Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. To the north are the Chukchi and Beaufort seas—southern parts of the Arctic Ocean; the Pacific Ocean lies to southwest. It is the largest U. S. state by the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States. Half of Alaska's residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska's economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. Military bases and tourism are a significant part of the economy; the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, for 7.2 million U. S. dollars at two cents per acre. The area went through several administrative changes before becoming organized as a territory on May 11, 1912.
It was admitted as the 49th state of the U. S. on January 3, 1959. The name "Alaska" was introduced in the Russian colonial period when it was used to refer to the Alaska Peninsula, it was derived from an Aleut-language idiom. It means object to which the action of the sea is directed. Alaska is the northernmost and westernmost state in the United States and has the most easterly longitude in the United States because the Aleutian Islands extend into the Eastern Hemisphere. Alaska is the only non-contiguous U. S. state on continental North America. It is technically part of the continental U. S. but is sometimes not included in colloquial use. S. called "the Lower 48". The capital city, Juneau, is situated on the mainland of the North American continent but is not connected by road to the rest of the North American highway system; the state is bordered by Yukon and British Columbia in Canada, to the east, the Gulf of Alaska and the Pacific Ocean to the south and southwest, the Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Chukchi Sea to the west and the Arctic Ocean to the north.
Alaska's territorial waters touch Russia's territorial waters in the Bering Strait, as the Russian Big Diomede Island and Alaskan Little Diomede Island are only 3 miles apart. Alaska has a longer coastline than all the other U. S. states combined. Alaska is the largest state in the United States by total area at 663,268 square miles, over twice the size of Texas, the next largest state. Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries. Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the combined area of the next three largest states: Texas and Montana, it is larger than the combined area of the 22 smallest U. S. states. There are no defined borders demarcating the various regions of Alaska, but there are six accepted regions: The most populous region of Alaska, containing Anchorage, the Matanuska-Susitna Valley and the Kenai Peninsula. Rural unpopulated areas south of the Alaska Range and west of the Wrangell Mountains fall within the definition of South Central, as do the Prince William Sound area and the communities of Cordova and Valdez.
Referred to as the Panhandle or Inside Passage, this is the region of Alaska closest to the rest of the United States. As such, this was where most of the initial non-indigenous settlement occurred in the years following the Alaska Purchase; the region is dominated by the Alexander Archipelago as well as the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the United States. It contains the state capital Juneau, the former capital Sitka, Ketchikan, at one time Alaska's largest city; the Alaska Marine Highway provides a vital surface transportation link throughout the area, as only three communities enjoy direct connections to the contiguous North American road system. Designated in 1963; the Interior is the largest region of Alaska. Fairbanks is the only large city in the region. Denali National Park and Preserve is located here. Denali is the highest mountain in North America. Southwest Alaska is a sparsely inhabited region stretching some 500 miles inland from the Bering Sea. Most of the population lives along the coast.
Kodiak Island is located in Southwest. The massive Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta, one of the largest river deltas in the world, is here. Portions of the Alaska Peninsula are considered part of Southwest, with the remaining portions included with the Aleutian Islands; the North Slope is tundra peppered with small villages. The area is known for its massive reserves of crude oil, contains both the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska and the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field; the city of Utqiagvik known as Barrow, is the northernmost city in the United States and is located here. The Northwest Arctic area, anchored by Kotzebue and containing the Kobuk River valley, is regarded as being part of this region. However, the respective Inupiat of the No
Area code 907
Area code 907 covers the state of Alaska, except for the small southeastern community of Hyder, which uses area codes 236, 250 and 778 of neighboring Stewart, British Columbia. Despite having telephone service to the contiguous US via a terrestrial line from Juneau since 1937, Alaska was not included in the North American Numbering Plan until after the Alaska submarine cable was opened for traffic in 1956; the Alaska numbering plan area was assigned the area code 907, entered service in 1957. The Alaska numbering plan area is geographically the largest of any in the United States, it is the second-largest on the NANP and on the entire North American continent behind 867, which serves Canada's northern territories. Because the Aleutian Islands of Alaska cross longitude 180, the Anti-Meridian, 907 may be considered to be both the farthest west and the farthest east of all area codes in the NANP. Due to Alaska's low population, 907 is one of only 12 remaining area codes serving an entire state.
It is not projected to be exhausted until 2029. Many calls within Alaska are long-distance calls and must be dialed with the leading 1-907, except for cellphone services. Local calls and cellphone calls for long-distance service within Alaska, only require seven-digit dialing. At the time of its creation, area code 907 was one of the two longest area codes to dial on a rotary phone, taking 26 pulses to dial out in an era before the first touch tone phones; this is the same number of pulses as Hawaii's area code 808, introduced the same year. List of NANP area codes NANPA Area Code Map of Alaska List of exchanges from AreaCodeDownload.com, 907 Area Code
Yukon–Koyukuk School District
Yukon–Koyukuk School District is a school district headquartered in College, a census-designated place in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska. It serves the Yukon–Koyukuk area. Allakaket School Gladys Dart School Andrew K. Demoski School Jimmy Huntington School Kaltag School Merreline A. Kangas School Minto School Johnny Oldman School Ella B. Vernetti School Students may receive services from the Raven Homeschool statewide homeschooling program. Closed schools: Bettles - Bettles Field School Coldfoot Wiseman Yukon–Koyukuk School District website
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States. The GOP was founded in 1854 by opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which had expanded slavery into U. S. territories. The party subscribed to classical liberalism and took ideological stands that were anti-slavery and pro-economic reform. Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president in the history of the United States; the Party was dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System and Fourth Party System. In 1912, Theodore Roosevelt formed the Progressive Party after being rejected by the GOP and ran unsuccessfully as a third-party presidential candidate calling for social reforms. After the 1912 election, many Roosevelt supporters left the Party, the Party underwent an ideological shift to the right; the liberal Republican element in the GOP was overwhelmed by a conservative surge begun by Barry Goldwater in 1964 that continued during the Reagan Era in the 1980s. After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the party's core base shifted, with the Southern states becoming more reliably Republican in presidential politics and the Northeastern states becoming more reliably Democratic.
White voters identified with the Republican Party after the 1960s. Following the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, the Republican Party made opposition to abortion a key plank of its national party platform and grew its support among evangelicals. By 2000, the Republican Party was aligned with Christian conservatism; the Party's core support since the 1990s comes chiefly from the South, the Great Plains, the Mountain States and rural areas in the North. The 21st century Republican Party ideology is American conservatism, which contrasts with the Democrats' liberal platform and progressive wing; the GOP supports lower taxes, free market capitalism, a strong national defense, gun rights and restrictions on labor unions. The GOP was committed to protectionism and tariffs from its founding until the 1930s when it was based in the industrial Northeast and Midwest, but has grown more supportive of free trade since 1952. In addition to advocating for conservative economic policies, the Republican Party is conservative.
Founded in the Northern states in 1854 by abolitionists, modernizers, ex-Whigs and ex-Free Soilers, the Republican Party became the principal opposition to the dominant Democratic Party and the popular Know Nothing Party. The party grew out of opposition to the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and opened Kansas Territory and Nebraska Territory to slavery and future admission as slave states; the Northern Republicans saw the expansion of slavery as a great evil. The first public meeting of the general anti-Nebraska movement, at which the name Republican was suggested for a new anti-slavery party, was held on March 20, 1854 in a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin; the name was chosen to pay homage to Thomas Jefferson's Republican Party. The first official party convention was held on July 1854 in Jackson, Michigan. At the 1856 Republican National Convention, the party adopted a national platform emphasizing opposition to the expansion of slavery into U. S. territories. While Republican candidate John C.
Frémont lost the 1856 United States presidential election to James Buchanan, he did win 11 of the 16 northern states. The Republican Party first came to power in the elections of 1860 when it won control of both houses of Congress and its candidate, former congressman Abraham Lincoln, was elected President. In the election of 1864, it united with War Democrats to nominate Lincoln on the National Union Party ticket. Under Republican congressional leadership, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution—which banned slavery in the United States—passed the Senate in 1864 and the House in 1865; the party's success created factionalism within the party in the 1870s. Those who felt that Reconstruction had been accomplished, was continued to promote the large-scale corruption tolerated by President Ulysses S. Grant, ran Horace Greeley for the presidency; the Stalwart faction defended Grant and the spoils system, whereas the Half-Breeds pushed for reform of the civil service. The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed in 1883.
The Republican Party supported hard money, high tariffs to promote economic growth, high wages and high profits, generous pensions for Union veterans, the annexation of Hawaii. The Republicans had strong support from pietistic Protestants, but they resisted demands for Prohibition; as the Northern postwar economy boomed with heavy and light industry, mines, fast-growing cities, prosperous agriculture, the Republicans took credit and promoted policies to sustain the fast growth. The GOP was dominant over the Democrats during the Third Party System. However, by 1890 the Republicans had agreed to the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Interstate Commerce Commission in response to complaints from owners of small businesses and farmers; the high McKinley Tariff of 1890 hurt the party and the Democrats swept to a landslide in the off-year elections defeating McKinley himself. The Democrats elected Grover Cleveland in 1884 and 1892; the election of William McKinley in 1896 was marked by a resurgence of Republican dominance that lasted until 1932.
McKinley promised that high tariffs would end the severe hardship caused by the Pa
Alaska Senate
The Alaska Senate is the upper house in the Alaska Legislature, the state legislature of the U. S. state of Alaska. It convenes in the Alaska State Capitol in Juneau, Alaska and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gubernatorial appointments to the state cabinet and boards. With just twenty members, the Alaska Senate is the smallest state upper house legislative chamber in the United States, its members serve four-year terms and each represent an equal number of districts with populations of 35,512 people, per 2010 Census figures. They are not subject to term limits; the Alaska Senate shares the responsibility for making laws in the state of Alaska. Bills are developed by staff from information from the bill's sponsor. Bills undergo four readings during the legislative process. After the first reading, they are assigned to committee. Committees can hold legislation and prevent it from reaching the Senate floor. Once a committee has weighed in on a piece of legislation, the bill returns to the floor for second hearing and a third hearing, which happens just before the floor vote on it.
Once passed by the Senate, a bill is sent to the opposite legislative house for consideration. If approved, without amendment, it is sent to the governor. If there is amendment, the Senate may either reconsider the bill with amendments or ask for the establishment of a conference committee to work out differences in the versions of the bill passed by each chamber. Once a piece of legislation approved by both houses is forwarded to the governor, it may either be signed or vetoed. If it is signed, it takes effect on the effective date of the legislation. If it is vetoed, lawmakers in a joint session may override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote; the Alaska Senate has the sole responsibility in the state's legislative branch for confirming gubernatorial appointees to positions that require confirmation. Current committees include: Past partisan compositions can be found on Political party strength in Alaska. Senators must be a qualified voter and resident of Alaska for no less than three years, a resident of the district from which elected for one year preceding filing for office.
A senator must be at least 25 years old at the time. Senators may expel a member with the concurrence of two-thirds of the membership of the body; this has happened only once in Senate history. On February 5, 1982, the Senate of the 12th Legislature expelled Bethel senator George Hohman from the body. Hohman was convicted of bribery in conjunction with his legislative duties on December 24, 1981, had defiantly refused to resign from his seat. Expulsion was not a consideration during the 2003–2010 Alaska political corruption probe, as Ben Stevens and John Cowdery were the only Senators who were subjects of the probe and neither sought reelection in 2008. Legislative terms begin on the second Monday in January following a presidential election year and on the third Tuesday in January following a gubernatorial election; the term of senators is four years and half of the senators are up for election every two years. The President of the Senate presides over the body, appointing members to all of the Senate's committees and joint committees, may create other committees and subcommittees if desired.
Unlike many other states, the Lieutenant Governor of Alaska does not preside over the Senate. Instead, the Lieutenant Governor oversees the Alaska Division of Elections, fulfilling the role of Secretary of State. Only two other states and Utah, have similar constitutional arrangements for their lieutenant governors; the other partisan Senate leadership positions, such as the Majority and Minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses to head their parties in the chamber. ↑: Senator was appointed^a: Caucuses with the Republican-led majority Alaska House of Representatives Alaska State Capitol List of Alaska State Legislatures Alaska State Senate official government website Project Vote Smart – State Senate of Alaska
Tanana Chiefs Conference
Tanana Chiefs Conference, the traditional tribal consortium of the 42 villages of Interior Alaska, is based on a belief in tribal self-determination and the need for regional Native unity. TCC is a non-profit organization that works toward meeting the needs and challenges for more than 10,000 Alaska Natives in Interior Alaska; the Tanana Chiefs Conference is a non-profit organization with a membership of Native governments from 42 Interior Alaska communities. The full Board of Directors are 42 representatives selected by the village councils of member communities; the board meets each March in Fairbanks. The nine-member Executive Board is elected by the Board of Directors; the president of the Board of Directors is elected by the full board and serves as the chief executive officer of the corporation. Programs funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Department of Labor and the Alaska Native Health Services are available to tribal governments, eligible Alaska Native and American Indians. Services financed by the state of Alaska are provided for all residents of the region.
In 2006 Tanana Chiefs Conference had seven hundred full-time employees and numerous part-time and seasonal positions. About two-thirds of the staff members work in village positions, about two-thirds of the employees are Alaska Native; the history of the Tanana Chiefs Conference reflects the importance of balancing the traditional Native values with the modern demands facing us as indigenous peoples. TCC works toward meeting the health and social service challenges for more than 10,000 Alaska Natives spread across a region of 235,000 square miles in Interior Alaska. TCC's movement into the modern era began with the advancement of non-Natives into the Interior. Tribal leaders strengthened their loose confederation to protect traditional rights; the first land dispute came in 1915 when the chiefs organized to protect a burial ground in Nenana from the Alaska Railroad. As a result, the railroad avoided the cemetery. Conflicts became an increasing problem; the Alaska Statehood Act recognized Native land rights, yet the state administration began planning as though it did not.
It had two plans. One was to build a road to the Minto Lakes area northwest of the Rampart Dam project; that project and another ill-conceived idea - creating a harbor at Point Hope on the Northwest coast with nuclear blast - contributed to the rise of the land claims movement. A remarkable array of young, educated Native leaders began pushing the land claims toward a suitable outcome. One of the first was Al Sr. of Nenana. He helped organize a meeting of 32 villages at Tanana in June 1962. Out of this meeting the Tanana Chiefs Conference was incorporated. Acting as the conference's first president, Ketzler contacted national Indian organizations and met with the Alaska Native Brotherhood, an organization formed in Sitka by Tlingits and Haidas of southeastern Alaska in the early part of the 20th century, he met with the Barrow-based Inupiat Paitot, the forerunner of the Arctic Slope Native Association, with the Association of Village Council Presidents in the Lower Kuskokwim area. In 1963, Ketzler flew to Washington, D.
C. to present a petition from 24 villages asking Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall to freeze state land selections until the Native land claims were settled. Ketzler left TCC from 1964 until 1969 to go back to Nenana, but other young leaders - Ralph Purdue, John Sackett and Tim Wallis - took over. In October 1966, TCC met in Anchorage with other Native leaders from around the state, including the active and vocal delegations from ANB and ASNA, formed the Alaska Federation of Natives. In 1968, Alaska Natives were ready; the first land settlement bill had been introduced in the United States Congress, claims had been registered for most of the land in question. Secretary Udall, acting on Ketzler's petition, had frozen the status of land titles in the absence of a Native land claims settlement in late 1966; the land freeze sharpened the interest of the state and the oil companies to settle the land disputes. After a historic struggle in which Ketzler and dozens of other Alaska Natives lived in Washington, D.
C. for weeks, Congress authorized a settlement of more than 40 million acres and nearly $1 billion to Alaska Natives through a corporate structure. The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of December 1971 set up 13 regional for-profit corporations for Alaska Natives - 12 in the state and one based in the Lower 48 for Alaska Natives living in the continental United States and nearly 200 village corporations; the act created the regional corporations for the management of land and financial assets, overseeing the development of natural resources. Village corporations, representing individual Native communities, have their own natural and financial resources to maintain. TCC incorporated Doyon Limited as the regional for-profit corporation for the specific purpose of making a profit for their stockholders; the act left a place for non-profit corporations to administer health and social service programs for the people. The Tanana Chiefs Conference became the non-profit corporation for the TCC region.
With the land claims settlement, a major goal had been accomplished. But other pressing needs remained. Under the leadership of Mitch Demientieff, a 20-year-old University of Alaska student when elected TCC president in 1973, TCC developed a regional health authority for tribal health programs; the organization acted when the Indian Self Determination and Education Act of 1975 allowed it to become the responsible provider for dozens of pro
Manley Hot Springs, Alaska
Manley Hot Springs is a census-designated place in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 89, up from 72 in 2000. Manley Hot Springs is located at 65°0′28″N 150°37′36″W. Manley Hot Springs is located about 8 km north of the Tanana River on Hot Springs Slough, at the end of the Elliott Highway, 260 km west of Fairbanks; the CDP has a total area of 54.3 square miles according to the United States Census Bureau. All of it is land. Manley Hot Springs has a continental subarctic climate. Manley Hot Springs first reported on the 1910 U. S. Census as "Hot Springs", an unincorporated village, it was formally changed to Manley Hot Springs in 1957. It became a census-designated place in 1980; as of the census of 2000, there were 72 people, 36 households, 19 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1.3 people per square mile. There were 105 housing units at an average density of 1.9/sq mi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 73.61% White, 23.61% Native American, 2.78% from other races.
There were 36 households out of which 19.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.2% were married couples living together, 5.6% had a female householder with no husband present, 47.2% were non-families. 38.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 2.8% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.00 and the average family size was 2.58. In the CDP, the population was spread out with 15.3% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 30.6% from 25 to 44, 37.5% from 45 to 64, 12.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 125.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.3 males. The median income for a household in the CDP was $29,000, the median income for a family was $59,583. Males had a median income of $36,250 versus $16,250 for females; the per capita income for the CDP was $21,751. There were no families and 9.7% of the population living below the poverty line, including no under eighteens and none of those over 64.
In 1902 a prospector, John Karshner, discovered several hot springs in the area. He began a vegetable farm. In the same year, the United States Army built a telegraph station; the area became a supply point for miners in the Tofty and Eureka mining districts. It was known after nearby Baker Creek. Farming and livestock operations in the area produced fresh meat and produce for sale. In 1903, Sam's Rooms and Meals, now called the Manley Roadhouse, opened; the Manley Roadhouse was owned by Robert E. Lee, the town's postmaster until his death in 2010. In 1907 a miner named; the resort was a four-story building with 45 guest rooms, steam heat, electric lights, hot baths, a bar, a restaurant, a billiard room, a bowling alley, a barber shop, an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool which used heated water from the hot springs. During the summer, the hotel's private boat transported guests from steamers on the Tanana River. In the winter, an overland stagecoach trip from Fairbanks took two days; the town was renamed Hot Springs.
The resort and the mining in the area caused the town to prosper. It had a newspaper, a bakery, clothing stores and other businesses; the population of the area in 1910 was more than 500. In 1913 the resort burned to the ground. Mining activity was in decline and by 1920 only 29 residents lived in Hot Springs; the town's name was changed to Manley Hot Springs in 1957. In May 1984, a newcomer to the town, Michael Silka, killed nine people in the area. Since 1950, the population of Manley Hot Springs has increased. In the 2010 census, the population of Manley Hot Springs was 89, up 24 percent from 72 in 2000 census; the Yukon–Koyukuk School District operates the Gladys Dart School in Manley Hot Springs. The Elliott Highway, completed in 1959, gives Manley Hot Springs road access from Fairbanks year-round. Before 1982 it was not closed during the winter; the Manley Hot Springs Airport has scheduled flights to Fairbanks International Airport aboard Warbelow's Air Ventures. Manley Roadhouse Media related to Manley Hot Springs, Alaska at Wikimedia Commons
