East Anchorage Book Club with Andrew Gray

<p>The East Anchorage Book Club is an interview podcast where Alaskan leaders discuss politics and community issues. </p>

Lawrence Weiss: founder of the Masters of Public Health program at the University of Alaska Anchorage

Dr. Lawrence Weiss founded the Masters in Public Health program and was instrumental in starting the Alaska Native Studies program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He has a PhD in Sociology from SUNY Binghamton, but it was his postdoctoral Masters degree from Harvard in Occupational Health that moved him to Anchorage in the early 80s and led to a 35 year career in public health as a researcher, educator, writer, program evaluator and policy analyst. For Dr. Weiss's article on Medic...

09-13
39:23

Dr. Anne Zink: Chief Medical Officer of Alaska (2019-2024)

Dr. Anne Zink served as the Chief Medical Officer for the state of Alaska in Governor Dunleavy’s administration from 2019 until the Spring of 2024. She is a practicing emergency room physician who served as the emergency department medical director of the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center from 2010 to 2018. She received her medical degree from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her emergency medicine residency at the the University of Utah.Watch the full clip of Dr. Zink's gran...

09-06
01:00:18

Rep. Jennie Armstrong (D-Anchorage): How to be a good boss

Rep. Jennie Armstrong of West Anchorage was first elected to the Alaska State House in 2022 but is not running for re-election. Instead, she will continue running the two companies that she founded and dedicate more time to her young family. In this Labor Day episode, she shares insights into managing staff that she has gleaned from years of first-hand experience and thoughtful exploration. Many new legislators are caught by surprise suddenly having employees who answer to them; this conversa...

09-02
38:23

Tom Begich: former Alaska State Senate Minority Leader

Tom Begich is a former Alaska State Senate Minority Leader. After a life-long career as a singer-songwriter and political advisor, he first ran for office in 2016 to for the state senate seat held by Johnny Ellis representing downtown Anchorage. Tom did not run for re-election in 2022, but instead set up his staffer Löki Tobin to take his seat. We also discuss his childhood as the son of Congressman Nick Begich whose plane disappeared in 1972 in Southeast Alaska. We end with a contemplation o...

08-30
01:11:11

2024 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION: the Alaska Delegation

The Alaska Delegation to the 2024 Democratic National Convention consisted of 19 voting delegates, but also party officials, pages, and others, who all traveled to Chicago last week. This episode is an attempt to capture their impressions of the convention immediately upon their return to Alaska.The guests (in order of their appearance)Jessica CookRep. Andy JosephsonBrenda KnappRep. Genevieve MinaRozlyn Grady WycheSen. Bill WielechowskiVeronica SlajerSen. Elvi Gray-JacksonMike WenstrupKimberl...

08-26
01:01:38

Rep. Zack Fields (D-Anchorage): a Virginia childhood, unions, & bipartisanship

Representative Zack Fields has represented downtown Anchorage in the Alaska state house for the past 6 years. He began his work in Alaska in 2012 doing political work first through the AFL/CIO and later as communications director for the Alaska Democratic Party. In Governor Bill Walker's administration, he served as Workforce Development Coordinator for the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. He is currently a union organizer for the Laborers Union Local 341. We discuss his ...

08-15
42:00

Jenna Wright: President of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation discusses a sales tax & property tax relief

Jenna Wright is the president and CEO of the Anchorage Economic Development Corporation. AEDC exists for three reasons: to encourage economic growth and diversity in Anchorageto promote a favorable business climateto raise Anchorage residents’ standard of living. The corporation is funded through private contributions, municipal & state grants, and contracts. Jenna took over AEDC last year from recent mayoral candidate Bill Popp who had been the President for the previous ...

08-09
50:14

Erin Baldwin Day: founder of the Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) & an organizer of the Anchorage Housing Club

Erin Baldwin Day is the founder of the Mutual Aid Network of Anchorage (MANA) and an organizer of the Anchorage Housing Club. Mutual aid is collective coordination to ensure that the basic needs of all of our neighbors are met, acknowledging that our existing social support systems are not enough to meet those needs. MANA works with local partners to tackle big issues that affect the health and well-being of our network neighbors, including capping interest rates on payday loans, developing a...

07-30
48:03

Arianna Bellizzi: Director of Anchorage's Federation of Community Councils

Arianna Bellizzi is the new Executive Director of Anchorage’s Federation of Community Councils. We talk about her background, how she came to this job, and the history of Anchorage’s community council system. We also discuss the current state of community councils in our city and potential ways for improving them. Find your community council by clicking here.

07-26
48:55

Lisa Parker: Anchorage Charter Commissioner & Soldotna City Council Member

Soldotna City Council member Lisa Parker became at the age of 19 the youngest person in Alaska to achieve elected office when she won her election to the Anchorage Charter Commission. In 1975 that commission unified the City of Anchorage with the Borough of Anchorage into the municipality that it is today. Like our guest last week, Jane Angvik who also served on the Charter Commission, Lisa Parker was a borough representative because where she was living at the time, near Baxter and Tudor in ...

07-22
49:38

THE UNIFICATION OF ANCHORAGE 1975: Jane Angvik, Charter Commission Member

Anchorage Charter Commission member Jane Angvik ran for the Anchorage Charter Commission not too long after she had moved to Anchorage in 1973. What she had learned during her time working for the Greater Anchorage Borough Planning Department was that the City of Anchorage and the Borough of Anchorage hated each other – they couldn’t stop suing each other, and the State of Alaska had grown weary of the drama. The ridiculous conflict even resulted in the loss of life. This is Jane Angvik’s rec...

07-15
41:30

Jane Angvik: Founding Mother of Anchorage

Jane Angvik was an Anchorage Charter Commission member who drafted the founding document that unified the city and borough of Anchorage in 1975. On July 1, 2024, she administered the oath of office at the inauguration of Anchorage Mayor Suzanne LaFrance. Jane has spent her life in service to Alaska whether at her first job for the Anchorage borough as a planner upon her arrival in 1973, working for the Alaska Federation of Natives, serving on the Anchorage Assembly, or training the next gener...

07-08
57:22

JULY 4: Dr. Cal Williams, African American History Keeper and Alaskan Grio

Community activist Dr. Cal Williams was born on November 30, 1941, in Monroe, Louisiana. A college graduate, Williams served in the United States Air Force during the early 1960s and participated in the Civil Rights Movement through his affiliation with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). In 1965, following the advice of Charles and John LeViege, two high school friends who were enrolled at Alaska Methodist University (now Alaska Pacific University), Williams came to Anchorage seeking a c...

07-04
53:39

PRIDE: Tafilisaunoa Toleafoa, Director of the Pacific Community of Alaska

Tafilisaunoa Toleafoa was born and raised in the islands of Samoa in the the South Pacific. She moved to Anchorage 20 years ago to join the rest of her family who were already here. Ms. Toleafoa serves as Executive Director at the Pacific Community of Alaska. She serves as co-chair for the board of directors for the National Association of Pasifika Organizations (NAOPO) and member of the board of directors for the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA); she ...

06-27
58:27

Kevin Berry: UAA Economics Professor on private vs. public sector growth, Assembly-proposed zoning changes, and Anchorage community councils

University of Alaska Anchorage Economics Professor Kevin Berry returns to the podcast to discuss the Alaska economy. For a deeper dive into his personal story, listen to his episode from November 2022 (click here). Today we talk about the way the private sector and the public sector economies interact with each other in typical states and how Alaska is different; the need for zoning change in Anchorage; and ways that Anchorage's current community councils might be improved. To read Dan Robins...

06-25
52:22

JUNETEENTH: Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson (D-Anchorage)

In honor of Juneteenth 2024, I am airing an interview I conducted with Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson from 2023 for my previous podcast, "East Anchorage Matters." Last month the Alaska State House and Senate passed Sen. Gray-Jackson's bill making Juneteenth an Alaska State Holiday. Juneteenth commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States and began in Galveston, Texas, where the freed slaves there didn’t learn of their freedom until June 19, 1865, over two years after President Abraham Linco...

06-19
25:01

ALASKA WORKERS' RIGHTS (SPANISH): Conoce tus derechos como trabajador en Alaska

intérprete: Israel Portilla Gomez La información de este episodio se basa en una entrevista que realizó en 2024 con Jeremy Applegate, jefe de la división de Salarios y Horas del Departamento de Trabajo del Estado de Alaska. Todos los trabajadores en Alaska tienen derecho a un salario y un trato justos según la ley. Muchos trabajadores desconocen sus derechos, lo que permite al empleador aprovecharlos. El propósito de este podcast es educar a los trabajadores de Alaska sobre sus derechos para ...

06-18
12:56

ALASKA WORKERS' RIGHTS (UKRAINIAN): Знайте свої права як працівника на Алясці

Перекладач: Катерина КлименченкоІнформація в цьому епізоді базується на інтерв’ю, яке він провів у 2024 році з Джеремі Епплгейтом, керівником відділу оплати праці та робочих годин Департаменту праці штату Аляска. Відповідно до закону, усі працівники на Алясці мають право на справедливу оплату праці та ставлення. Багато працівників не знають своїх прав, і це дає змогу роботодавцю нажитися на ниx. Мета цього подкасту – розповісти працівникам Аляски про їхні права, щоб переконатися, що вони отри...

06-18
11:43

ALASKA WORKERS' RIGHTS (ESTONIAN): teie õigused töötajana

See on eestikeelne versioon taskuhäälingusaate intervjuust Jeremy Applegate’iga – Alaska tööministeeriumi palga ja tunni osakonna juhatajaga. Kui arvate, et teie õigusi on rikutud, helistage numbril 907-269-4900. Te ei pea inglise keelt rääkima. Interpreter assistance: Leino Mandre.

06-16
07:57

ALASKA WORKERS' RIGHTS (HMONG): Koj txoj cai ua haujlwm

Zoo siab txais tos txhua tus los rau Tsab Ntawv East Anchorage; Hnub no lub xov tooj cua luv luv no yuav piav qhia txog Alaska cov neeg ua haujlwm txoj cai hauv lus Hmoob. Kuv lub npe yog Emery Yaj , kuv yog tus txhais lus Hmoob rau tus tuav thiab coj xov tooj cua Andrew Gray. Andrew Gray yog tus sawv cev rau East Anchorage hauv Alaska State House. Cov ntaub ntawv thiab lus tham hauv ntu no yog raws li kev xam phaj xyoo 2024 los ntawm tus thawj coj Jeremy Applegate hauv lub ...

06-15
17:28

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