The Future of Alaska Food Security Rayna Reynolds, 9, is a farm girl in the Matanuska Valley. (2020©donnliston.co) When 200 farm families were selected from three mid-western states to be moved to Alaska’s Matanuska Valley for a farming experiment in 1935, nobody was certain what would happen. During the early 1930s Alaska agriculture was in […]
Who Dares to Farm in Alaska? Read More »
A challenge for Alaska Parents
Who Cares about YOUR Kid’s Education? Read More »
The Long View of Crime in Alaska (2020©donnliston.co) During the 1970s construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline we saw our state transformed by crime; as also happened in previous fur and gold rushes. It happened simultaneous to the influx of people flooding here to build that engineering marvel, while some others arrived for diabolical
We Don’t have to be Victims: Read More »
Who does the Alaska Legislature Really Represent? The Alaska Economy is staggering like a weakened 11th round boxer, from a half-year Coronavirus Pandemic bout, but the Alaska Legislature made no attempt in Juneau to stop the move of $4 Billion from the Permanent Fund Earning Reserve Account (ERA) to the untouchable principal of the fund
Sen. Shelley Hughes Speaks Out (2020 Interview) Read More »
(2020©donnliston.co) The latest financial study is in. It brings good news to the communities of Chugiak, Birchwood, Eagle River, Eklutna and Hiland Road in the goal to form their own local government. The study, conducted by Northern Economics, shows there is more than adequate tax base for a new city to be born. Old timers
Eaglexit’s New Validation: Financial Study by Northern Economics Read More »
Who Can Afford to Live in Alaska? Alaska has always had a tenuous economy, buffeted by winds of boom and bust. Most economic winds are generated by capacity for natural resource extraction. And, for more than 40 years, income from any other industry has been a bonus. This fragile economic reality means government sector employees
Alaska’s Economy Down from China Virus Read More »
Alaskans in confinement due to the Corona virus may take this chance to reflect on more than day-to-day minutia of chores related to winter becoming spring, perhaps even considering the reality of Henry David Thoreau’s (1817-1862) statement that the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation.1 Another classic American author, Albert Camus (1913-1960) expanded
Alaska Reflections on The Plague: The Contagious Disease of some Elected Officials Read More »
Muni Election Hopes and Fears (2020©donnliston.com) The Municipality of Anchorage is going to have another election on April 7, 2020 which will be determined by a mail-in ballot. This is depressing on many levels; 1) the low caliber of people currently holding a majority of Muni Assembly seats, 2) the need to again hold the
Alaska Recall Madness (2020©donnliston.com) Mike Dunleavy spoke to Alaskans in Eagle River during his campaign for governor. Children often must be taught the disgrace of a sore loser. I have done it on the playground, helping the crying child know that losing is part of the fun of playing competitive sports. In most games somebody
Recall for Dummies: Read More »
The Failed Impeachment of Gov. Bill Sheffield (2019©donnliston.co) Governor Bill Sheffield grins as he walks back to the Capitol building in Juneau flanked by his attorneys John Conway and Philip Lacovara in 1985. (MICHAEL PENN / Anchorage Daily News) William Jefferson Sheffield was another father figure governor of Alaska. Elected in 1982, he was the
Old Time Alaska Corruption Read More »
