Opinion

A Memorial Day observance: The destruction that is war

Memorial Day began as a consecration of war dead following our Civil War, by recently freed people honoring their comrades who fought and died with… Continue reading

  • May 30, 2017
  • By Matthew Burgoon

Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend: The world watches anxiously

Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend and the central idea that minerals are a shared inheritance have inspired numerous social &political movements across the globe. The Goenchi… Continue reading

  • May 29, 2017
  • By Rahul Basu

Health care bill threatens Alaskans

Sometimes legislation in Congress has unintended consequences. This is one of those times. The American Health Care Act (AHCA) that recently passed in the U.S.… Continue reading

  • May 29, 2017
  • By Terry Snyder

Alaska Legislature needs to adopt broad-based and balanced approach

We recognize and appreciate the hard work of the Legislature in reviewing a wide range of proposals to address the State’s fiscal gap. However, to… Continue reading

  • May 28, 2017
  • By Cliff Groh

Why wasn’t Juneau a WWII refuge for the Aleuts?

Why weren’t the people sent to Juneau, asked Carl Stepetin, following a ceremony at Funter Bay honoring the 32 Native Alaskans who died while interned… Continue reading

  • May 28, 2017
  • By Rich Moniak

REAL ID concerns wildly exaggerated

In the waning hours of the 30th Legislature, House Bill 16 was passed allowing Alaska’s participation in the Federal REAL ID program. This action reversed… Continue reading

  • May 26, 2017
  • By WIN GRUENING

Cutting public health nursing jeopardizes all Alaskans

In the smallest and most remote communities across Alaska, public health nurses (PHNs) serve in incredibly significant roles: they are advocates for the health of… Continue reading

  • May 26, 2017
  • By ANDREA NUTTY

Revenue needed to keep Alaska competitive

As a lifelong Alaskan, mother of two small children, small business owner and as someone whose day job consists of promoting business growth in Southeast… Continue reading

  • May 25, 2017
  • By Alana Peterson

Listening to elected officials

A most interesting “Talk of Alaska” was recently broadcast on KTOO Public Radio. U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, was invited to hear from Alaskans, take… Continue reading

  • May 25, 2017
  • By Carolyn Brown

Pebble Mine should be stopped in its tracks

Alaska Seafood is a brand. The people of Alaska own the brand and the state government protects the brand through strict regulation and oversight. Millions… Continue reading

  • May 24, 2017
  • By BARBARA BELKNAP
The AJ Mine in 1958. (Caroline Jensen| Alaska State Library Historical Collections, ASL-PCA-417)

AJ Mine proposal premature, needlessly divisive

The recent proposal by a small group of mining advocates to largely eliminate Juneau’s existing mine review ordinance is premature and needlessly divisive. The City… Continue reading

  • May 23, 2017
The AJ Mine in 1958. (Caroline Jensen| Alaska State Library Historical Collections, ASL-PCA-417)

Truth, fiction and the certainty in between

“These are clothes that absolutely refuse to flatter you,” David Sedaris wrote in the New Yorker last year. He referred to that article when he… Continue reading

  • May 21, 2017
  • By Rich Moniak

Raiding energy industry to solve budget crisis will create more problems

Alaska is in a budget crisis. The “gravest fiscal crisis in state history,” according to Gov. Bill Walker. But the crisis wasn’t caused by a… Continue reading

  • May 23, 2017
  • By DAVID WILLIAMS

Tolerance is becoming intolerable

The state Legislature proved that, despite the ridiculous and unjustified censure of David Eastman, they had not quite lost their minds, nor bought into every… Continue reading

  • May 22, 2017
  • By BOB BIRD

A state income tax would not help

There is no nonviolent way more certain to destroy Alaska society and culture than an income tax concurrent with the Permanent Fund Dividend. Taxing Alaskans… Continue reading

  • May 22, 2017
  • By TOMAS BOUTIN

It’s time for solutions, not politics

For the last four months, the new Majority Coalition in the Alaska House of Representatives have worked on a responsible solution to Alaska’s fiscal crisis.… Continue reading

  • May 21, 2017
  • By REP. DAVID GUTTENBERG

A right and a wrong way to reform tax policy

No matter who you are or what you do, tax laws affect your life every day. And no matter where elected officials are discussing those… Continue reading

  • May 20, 2017
  • By PETER SEPP

If at first you don’t succeed …

This is the first in a series of monthly columns about STEM in Juneau: what it is, why it’s important, and what it looks like… Continue reading

  • May 20, 2017
  • By Brenda Taylor

The Alaska Senate’s ‘Big Lie’

Alaska’s oil companies display the situational ethics of a band of rich, randy frat boys with pockets full of roofies. Though nothing compares with the… Continue reading

  • May 18, 2017
  • By Eric Treider

Time to choose between taxes and giveaways

I’m writing to support and second the comments on Wedneday’s editorial page by Rich Seifert, a longtime friend of mine from Fairbanks. For several months… Continue reading

  • May 18, 2017
  • By JERRY SMETZER