Video Clips
Quoted moments from Alaska public meetings, hearings, and press conferences.
Austin Esterbrooks
“we had 13 different Chinook bycatch avoidance areas that were identified across the 2025 fishing year.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Austin Esterbrooks
“this is typically due to temperature regimes in the Bering Sea. We typically see a lot more Chinook move up onto the shelf and overlap with the pollock distributions when temperatures are warmer. And this held true in 2025, particularly in the A season. There were a lot more Chinook up on the shelf overlapping with the fishery.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Austin Esterbrooks
“there were no violations of any of the IPA bycatch avoidance rules or fishing prohibitions in 2025.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Austin Esterbrooks
“Giving you a brief look at the halibut performance of the fleet last year relative to the longer-term trends, again, it was the, the third best year and I attribute this mostly to, again, the health of the pollock stock and reduced time fishing generally equates to lower bycatch.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Austin Esterbrooks
“In terms of the historical Chinook salmon bycatch, 2025 wasn't as good as 2024.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Austin Esterbrooks
“obviously 2018-19 were some of the lower, lower sea ice years on record in the Bering Sea. So, um, 2018, you don't see the effect yet, but 2019 and 2020, there was definitely sort of a lagged effect there in terms of the bycatch.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Austin Esterbrooks
“we had 9 chum bycatch avoidance areas that were identified in 2025 across the B season.”NPFMC 279 Day 2 - June 5, 2026 · Jun 5, 2026
Anita Kroska
“Option 2 was chosen, that was put forward by the Kodiak Crab Alliance Cooperative, KCAC Group, in the April 2025 council meeting during their testimony as an option for consideration. And their— I think their intention was to draw a boundary option centered around some Tanner crab abundance densities using heat maps provided by Alaska Department of Fish and Game them during that meeting.”NPFMC 279 Day 3 - June 6, 2026 · Jun 6, 2026
Anita Kroska
“this stock since the year 2000 is that they undergo a really cyclical recruitment cycle where a lot of crab move through the system every few years, every 3 to 5 or 6 years.”NPFMC 279 Day 3 - June 6, 2026 · Jun 6, 2026
Blake Gettys
“The result of that being my left quadricep was severed down to the femur, my right fibula was fractured, significant wounds in my face, my nose was almost removed and hanging by the right nostril, and then other scars just throughout my body. I had to walk out of that with the help of my friend and was— made it to an ambulance and then was life-flighted from Central Peninsula Hospital up to Anchorage.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“And it kept working on me, and I'm getting lower and lower until I'm all the way on my back. The bear bites my left— or my right knee, so much pressure that it shattered my fibula. And then it just explodes off the ground and gives me a double chest bump on my sternum.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“I had set up my snares in this area, and I was just walking back and I got to right about here and I hear the, a brown bear wolfed at me. And I turned and the bear was on the other side of this stuff. I could see the toe profile and it looked like a great big male. So I got squared up with it, got my arms up and I just yelled, yelled at it so it knew I was human. And it paused.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“The whole ordeal lasted not more than probably 2 minutes.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“2012, A friend of mine came down just to get stuff ready for the trapping season, opens up November, and we took the boat upriver and to an area that we had planned on trapping, and that's when I had my accident.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“So I sat up right into the mouth of bear, and my entire head in its mouth. The top canines were on the back of my head and the bottom teeth had me hooked underneath the jaw and I couldn't get my head out of the mouth. Finally, it relaxed the bite enough that I was able to pull my head out. Just as I did that, the canines came down and cut through my forehead and took my nose off and ripped this open. And I thought I lost that eye because when that flap came down, it filled that eye with blood.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“As it went by, the bear rotated and reached behind with its far arm and hooked my left thigh. But what doesn't make any sense was the claw, it started from the front and ripped back. It came out and jumped over top of my artery and vein, reinserted, and finished cutting around the back. Had it gone right through, I would have been dead probably in 15 seconds. And then I was on the ground.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Blake Gettys
“And then it faced me, and then it came up off the ground on its hind legs, put its head back and gave a big roar. And then it hit the ground and started coming. The bear turned that corner, came off the ground. I jumped and came off my left foot and stepped inside. A big brown blur shot past me.”Shelley Hughes campaign: Lieutenant Governor Candidate Blake Gettys' Testimony and Story · Jul 3, 2026
Jared Griffin
“Even more significant is, I think, is we continue to see fewer young children entering the population. In April of 2020, we had 970 residents aged 5 to 9. That number last year was 800. 802, Um, actually.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“procurement processes, when following best practices, which I am confident that Director Allen and his staff did, along with Madam Manager, they are very rigid and prescribed in process. And certainly, in respect to anyone highlighting a potential conflict of interest. There's very prescriptive ways that you capture the process to make sure that people who should not have access to information or the process do not have it, and you actually capture that. Who was involved, time/date stamps on processes, all the way including when you open the the bids and how those bids are tabulated is all captured throughout the process.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“Motion passes 6-0.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“Male adults are leaving the island at a faster pace than adult women are, 2 to 1, actually. So those are pretty big, I think, demographic shifts just in the last 5 years. And they're going to affect everything from school enrollment to workforce availability, housing demand, and the services that we provide.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“Mr. Gardner. That was eloquently put, both of you. I think you just changed my vote.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“I do have copies of the— because I thought this might come up, of my reply to the contractor, if you want to see that. I can distribute that now or later or whenever, but that's been issued and the protest was denied.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“I think a conflict exists when someone has the ability to improperly influence influence the outcome. And I don't think that appearance alone is not enough evidence to show that an influence has occurred. And we have to ask, you know, which decision in the procurement process was improperly influenced? And we can't point. There is nothing there.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“the state released new demographic estimates yesterday. So I took a look at them, and there's a really— there's some really interesting things in there that I think will help guide what we do.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“as soon as we identified that there was going to be a potential conflict at that pre-bid meeting, every step that could be taken to separate the two was already done. But given the staff members job here in their normal course of work. They would have nothing to do with anything on the creation of or tabulation of or opening of, or just— that's just not their job here. She does work here, but that's the end of the, the correlation.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“In April 2020, we had roughly 700 residents in their 70s. Now we have 900. That's a huge jump in just 5 years. The median age in Kodiak went from 35 to 36 in that period. That's a whole— that's a really significant shift in just a 5-year period.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“The pace of outmigration appears to be slowing, but over the past 5 years, our borough saw nearly 1,000 residents leave. And it was a net loss of about 650 residents when you consider births and, you know, people moving in.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“that long-awaited strategic planning process, which hopefully will get started pretty soon.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“They're not destiny, right? They're signals. But I think if we pay attention to them, we'll be better positioned when we go through strategic planning.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“The pace of outmigration appears to be slowing, but over the past 5 years, our borough saw nearly 1,000 residents leave. And it was a net loss of about 650 residents when you consider births and, you know, people moving in.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“we have in our code Chapter 2.35010, Section E, it says municipal officer, appointed official, or employee may not use his official position for the primary purpose of obtaining financial gain for himself or his spouse, child, mother, father, or business. Um, not that it is, uh, the primary financial gain in this situation, but the optics of this look a little bad to certain people in the community. I think it would be wise to extend the current contract for one month and talk about how we want to approach this situation and basically put this back out to bid so that we can clean up the optics on it. So I will be voting no on this one.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“I deeply appreciate what Mr. Mayor and Mr. Whiteside said about the cleaning contract. You made me immediately think that I do really trust the staff here. And no, the optics aren't perfect, but you were exactly right. I'm glad you were able to change my vote. I do think we need to take a look back at that code and clean that up just a little bit to avoid the presence of poor optics, because it's still poor optics.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“In April 2020, we had roughly 700 residents in their 70s. Now we have 900. That's a huge jump in just 5 years. The median age in Kodiak went from 35 to 36 in that period. That's a whole— that's a really significant shift in just a 5-year”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Bo Whiteside
“procurement processes, when following best practices, which I am confident that Director Allen and his staff did, along with the Meta Manager, they are very rigid and prescribed in process. And certainly, in respect to anyone highlighting a potential conflict of interest, there is very prescriptive ways that you capture the process.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“Even more significant is, I think, is we continue to see fewer young children entering the population. In April of 2020, we had 970 residents aged 5 to 9. That number last year was 800. 802, Um, actually. We have a rapidly aging community.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“the public's confidence doesn't come from us avoiding difficult appearances. It comes from knowing that we apply the same rules to everyone.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jeremiah Gardner
“It was brought to my attention that I believe there was sort of an informal protest letter written on this.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“we did— we got a letter from the other contractor. They named bid protest/formal complaint.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“As we do when we get any kind of a protest, it goes to the manager, and the manager has a certain amount of time to answer it. We answered it right away, sent that reply back to the other bidder. They have it, and I got an email back that said thank you, and that's the only thing that we've heard. I have shared that response with both your Deputy Prime presiding officer and the mayor, just so they were included on what was going on.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“we also talked about looking at possible code changes to make that section more clear in the conflict of interest section at agenda setting this week. So I think we've done some work around making sure that those optics aren't something that we have to worry about in the future. I do have copies of the— because I thought this might come up— of my reply to the contractor if you want to see that. I can distribute that now or later or whenever, but that's been issued and the protest was denied.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Jared Griffin
“A conflict exists when someone has the ability to improperly influence the outcome. And I don't— I don't think that appearance alone is not enough evidence to show that an influence has occurred., and we have to ask, you know, which decision in the procurement process was improperly influenced? And we can't point— there is nothing there. So if we can't identify one, then we're objecting to who won and not how the contract was awarded. So I would strongly urge you to pass this contract.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Amy Williams
“as soon as we identified that there was going to be a potential conflict at that pre-bid meeting, every step that could be taken to separate the two was already done. But given the staff member's job here, in their normal course of work, they would have nothing to do with anything on the creation of or tabulation of or opening of or just— that's just not their job here. She does work here, but that's the end of the, the correlation.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026
Cody Allen
“the contract actually already expired June 30th, and so I'm not really sure how that process would work, potentially extending and things. So that contract is completely expired at this time.”Kodiak Borough: Assembly Regular Meeting of July 2, 2026 · Jul 2, 2026