Longtime East Anchorage resident Donna Mears recently announced her candidacy for the new senate seat which pairs East Anchorage with South Eagle River. The incumbent senator is far right Republican Lora Reinbold, and Ms. Mears, a progressive Democrat, provides a dramatically different alternative to Senator Reinbold. Ms. Mears is a civil engineer for a local construction and demolition company. She has a long history of public service to the municipality and currently serves as Vice-Chair of Anchorage’s Health & Human Services Commission. She is a board member on the Northeast Community council and vice-president of the Alaska chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America. We discuss recycling challenges, our landfill's expiration date, her role in organizing Providence physicians to testify at the Anchorage Assembly about Covid-19, and her nascent senate run.