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Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) introduced a bill last week to expand and overhaul the Last Frontier’s Medicaid program. Under the proposal, the state health department would seek out a federal waiver that would allow it to expand services provided to Indian Health Service beneficiaries through tribal...

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (R) said last week that Medicaid reform without expanding the joint state-federal program to cover more low income residents would be unacceptable to him. His comments came as leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature showed no sign they would let an expansion bill come...

Ks and TX Friends of the Court In Florida Support Governors in KANSAS and TEXAS said they would file amicus briefs in support of FLORIDA Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) lawsuit against the Obama administration alleging the government is illegally coercing the state to expand Medicaid (FLORIDA TIMES-UNION...

Rebuffed by lawmakers in his effort to expand Medicaid in the Last Frontier, Gov. Bill Walker (I) on Thursday announced he would do so without them. At a press conference last Thursday, Walker told reporters he had sent a letter to the state Legislative Budget and Audit Committee giving lawmakers the...

In the wake of a string of recent prison deaths and suicides, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) has ordered a review of inmate safety policies at Last Frontier State prisons. Walker named Dean Williams, who serves as a special assistant to the governor, and a former FBI special agent to head the investigation...

Alaska lawmakers voted last week to sue Gov. Bill Walker (I) over his plans to go around the Legislature to expand Medicaid eligibility in the Last Frontier. The joint House and Senate Legislative Council voted 10-1 last Tuesday to spend as much as $450,000 on legal fees to pursue the case. Walker...

Unlike some of his gubernatorial counterparts around the country, Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) is a believer in climate change, saying it is having a devastating impact on numerous Last Frontier communities. But Walker says the cost of dealing with it is also too much for his state to manage, so he is...

AK Lawmakers Dodge Walker Call for Action On Appointments Saying it was “time to bring [them] to a close,” ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) issued a proclamation last week calling for a joint session of the Last Frontier Legislature to force lawmakers to act on his appointments to boards, commissions...

President Donald Trump said his administration is preparing to declare a federal emergency aimed at addressing the national opioid abuse crisis, but what that means to beleaguered governors seeking to quell the crisis remains unclear. The president made his remarks on Aug. 10 during a self-described...

Calling his state “ground zero for the impacts of climate change,” Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) signed off last Tuesday on a two-pronged state action plan aimed at addressing the issue. Walker inked his name to Administrative Order 289 , which creates both the Alaska Climate Change Strategy...

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker (I) said he plans to sign legislation ( SB 54 ) that rolls back several parts of a comprehensive criminal justice reform measure (SB 91 2016) that lawmakers adopted just last year. The legislation reverses major components of SB 91, a bipartisan effort designed to reduce the Last...

WALKER SIGNS AK RAPE KIT BILL Saying the Last Frontier has over 3,500 untested rape kits awaiting processing, ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) signed a bill that requires local police to report to the state annually the number of untested sexual assault kits that remain pending. The new law also requires...

WALKER DECLARES NATIVE LANGUAGE EMERGENCY Saying the government must support the “revitalization” of native languages, ALASKA Gov. Bill Walker (I) issued Administrative Order 300 last week calling for indigenous place names to be shown on public signs and directing the state Department...

INSLEE ISSUES WA HEP C DIRECTIVE : WASHINGTON Gov. Jay Inslee (D) issued a directive that orders state agencies, tribal governments and other local public-health officials to coordinate a strategy to eradicate the hepatitis C virus (HCV) by 2030. State health officials estimate there are as many as...

For the seventh quarter in a row, polling by Morning Consult shows that the ten most popular governors in America are all Republicans. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker topped the list with a 70 percent approval rating, followed closely by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, at 67 percent. That pair has topped...

A recall effort against Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) got off to a huge start, garnering over 18,000 signatures in the first week. That is more than two-thirds of the number needed for the initial round of a recall campaign in the Last Frontier. Much of the criticism of Dunleavy is centered on...