Dear Neighbors,
In most cities and towns you can walk downstairs and there’s a coffee shop, restaurant, day care, or other things we like nearby. I don’t know about you, but I love shoving a donut into a cup of coffee, and, frankly, downing a few (cups of coffee!) in the morning.
Read More →Dear Neighbors,
Difficult times sometimes have a way of improving life for all of us. That’s the case of Dr. Matt Dudley, a very well-liked doctor who for a long time needed a bone marrow transplant to help him fight leukemia. It used to be that people didn’t want to go through a painful procedure to donate marrow to help people like Matt. But now you can be a chicken, I mean, “pain adverse”, and donate.
Read More →Dear Neighbors,
I think winter might be over. I flinched when I said that, but I think it’s true. It must be, because I’m off to take a few days to go fishing. But before I leave, I wanted to give you a few updates – one for your heart, and one for your wallet.
Read More →Okay, it’s time I walked the talk. Do politicians ever do that? Are we allowed? Um. Yes.
This week I gave away my favorite laptop to the Laptops for Foster Youth program we started with Facing Foster Care in Alaska a few years ago. They will work with the State to match that laptop with a foster youth or recent alumni pursuing college or success in the job market. Foster youth will do, well, what kids do with laptops.
Read More →Dear Neighbors,
It didn’t take long for silly season to start after the Legislative Session ended April 14. Expect a few years of “abracadabra” claims that oil projects, already being developed under ACES (the oil tax law that has been in place since 2007) are now magically the result of the massive rollback of Alaska’s share of oil revenue (an approximate $1.5 billion per year revenue reduction at $120 per barrel at a time when Alaska is already facing deficit spending). Senate Bill 21 is the oil tax bill that the oil companies, Governor, and his allies succeeded in pushing through the Legislature in April. The claims are, politely put, “flawed” in most cases.
Read More →Dear Neighbors,
When I come down to Juneau I look forward to making progress, and working across party lines. And, in Juneau, to a lot of rain. And planes that can’t land because of fog. But also usually to a lot of friendly folks. Well, that was like looking forward to a good movie and ending up going into the wrong theater where Gigli was playing. Too obscure a reference? Forgot the box office disaster that threatened to force Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez to leave Hollywood to look for real jobs? Look it up on Wikipedia.
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