Two years after the Supreme Court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby that closely held for-profit companies do not have to comply with the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive coverage requirement if the company’s owners have moral or religious objections, this important health benefit is going back to the High Court.
Gov. Jay Hammond fought hard to create the Permanent Fund dividend program in order that a portion of one-time oil wealth will be shared equally with all future Alaskans. He specifically stated that earnings from the fund belong “to the people, not the government.”
People have been asking me, what’s this cannabis culture you write about? What is a culture? Culture is the way of life of a particular group of people, the customs, traditions and values of a society. In a wider sense of the word, as in agriculture or tissue culture, culture is alive.
Norse Flight Inc., an Anchorage-based company, has applied for a permit for an unspecified (unlimited) number of landings at 11 different sites in Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park from May through September.
Allowing more permits for commercial helicopter landings in the Kachemak Bay State Park and Kachemak Bay State Wilderness Park (The Park) is a bad idea. Period. The Park is a unique and magnificent place. The Alaska Division of Natural Resources website describes the Park as follows:
H
ere I go, writing about something I never imagined I would write about: the legalization of cannabis, marijuana, weed, pot. It’s something I haven’t cared much about in the past, but I care about it now for a number of reasons.
Editor’s Note: MAPP, Mobilizing for Action through Planning & Partnerships, is a local coalition that aims to use and build upon our strengths to improve our individual, family and community health. Health is defined broadly to include cultural, economic, educational, environmental, mental, physical and spiritual health.
I usually don’t like using strong words like “always” and “never” and “everything” or “nothing,” but sometimes I just can’t help it. Like right now.
We Alaskans have statutory and constitutional language available to determine whether cannabis social clubs are lawful. The “Act to tax and regulate the production, sale and use of marijuana” begins: “In the interest of allowing law enforcement to focus on violent and property crimes, and to enhance individual freedom, the people of the state of Alaska find and declare that the use of marijuana should be legal for persons 21 years of age or older.”
February, the shortest month of the year, follows January, and has 95 holidays, some bizarre and others we hold dear. Groundhog Day (in Alaska marmots are the substitute), President’s Day, Valentine’s Day when love gets honored with everything from flowers to far away trips. Super Bowl Sunday happened Feb. 7, Mardi Gras/ Fat was Tuesday, Feb. 9. Ash Wednesday and Chinese New Year dates vary. These are the more common holidays.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District and the two education associations have been bargaining for over a year. The associations have made numerous attempts to compromise and meet the district’s demands and we look forward to the district meeting us in the middle, where we have already moved in good faith.
Over the past 25 years the Homer Community Food Pantry has provided food to those in need. Only with Homer’s generous donations of food, money and volunteer hours can we help those seeking our services. Together, we are a bridge, sharing resources to address hunger and basic needs as we form a local helping network. Meeting these needs can be consuming in time and personnel but our efforts are very practical and concrete.
Shall Homer City Council ban commercial cannabis cultivation, testing, processing, and sales from Homer?
City council members Heath Smith, Bryan Zak, Donna Aderhold and Gus Van Dyke voted to introduce Ordinance 16-06 to ban commercial cannabis. As a director of the Kachemak Cannabis Coalition, I interviewed these councilors, looking for common ground. We did find common ground: We agree (1) that Homer is fundamentally divided about cannabis and (2) that the two sides are working from two different sets of facts.
Someone once noted “a man is like a novel: until the very last page, you don’t know how it will end. Otherwise it wouldn’t be worth reading.”
Speaking of which, President Obama will go a long way in redeeming his performance as resident if he picks former Harvard law professor Sen. Elizabeth Warren as his nominee for the Supreme Court. She’s from the hard scrabble side of the tracks.
Myself, I’m all up for an American Jewish socialist as president. It’d be a second crack at making America exceptional again. President Barack Hussein Obama had his crack at American Exceptionalism and blew it. Unfortunately, he never realized the significance, the power of his moment.
The Homer Playground Project got started when a group of people — mostly mothers (some with children in tow), a couple of city staff people, and a few folks dedicated to recreation in the Homer community — met at the playground in Karen Hornaday Park in late spring 2011. At the time, yellow CAUTION tape surrounded a number of pieces of play equipment. The tire swing — made out of a steel-belted radial — was so worn it could draw blood.
And other parts of the playground looked like a mess.
Not a day goes by without Alaska’s fiscal problems making the news. Whether cuts to public services, talk of new revenues, or a downgrade of the state’s creditworthiness, it’s hard to escape the numbers.
With 737,000 people spread over 663,000 square miles, sub-$30 oil, and a pipeline that is 75 percent empty, the numbers just don’t add up like they used to do.
The Council on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault supports the work of Alaska’s domestic violence and sexual assault shelters and violence prevention efforts statewide. To do that, the council has engaged a wide range of programs to make a difference, from sponsoring the Green Dot Alaska program to teaching effective violence intervention techniques, to supporting Coaching Boys Into Men and our Girls on the Run programs, to sponsorship of The Fourth R curriculum in schools, and more.
Editor’s Note: MAPP, Mobilizing for Action through Planning & Partnerships, is a local coalition that aims to use and build upon our strengths to improve our individual, family and community health. Health is defined broadly to include cultural, economic, educational, environmental, mental, physical and spiritual health.
As I reflect on my first 120 days serving as president of the University of Alaska, and look toward the days and years ahead, I see three important realities:
• The university — like our state — faces very serious organizational and budget challenges that we must confront head on;
• Our vision and the tough choices we make for moving the university forward must be clear and focus on meeting the state’s short- and-long term needs; and,
By now, most of you know we have a budget challenge: Over the past two years, Alaska’s oil revenue has plummeted by 88 percent, mainly due to a sharp drop in oil prices.
We’ve cut the budget from $8 billion in 2012 to $4.8 billion. Despite these reductions, our deficit amounts to more than half our annual budget.
It is amazing how quickly fall slides into the end of the year. And what a year we’ve had. We want to mention as many contributors as possible.
In September, the Alaska USA Federal Credit Union members and staff teamed up with the Alaska USA Foundation to conduct the “Cash for Cans” fundraiser. The Alaska USA Foundation supports local Community Food Pantry’s and we were blessed with their generous $2,000 contribution.
