Alaska: Reports of Potentially Damaging Frankenfish and GMO Wheat Disturbing - U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) reacted with strong concern yesterday to two troubling news items highlighting the immediate threat of genetically modified foods spreading into Americans’ food supply - one demonstrating the ability of Frankenfish to breed with wild fish and the other reporting on discovery of an un-approved strain of GMO wheat in Oregon.

A study conducted by Memorial University in Newfoundland, Canada, and released Wednesday found that genetically modified (GMO) salmon has the capacity to breed with wild trout and pass their engineered genes along to their offspring. The Frankenfish-trout hybrids proved even more voracious than either their genetically modified or natural parents, amplifying the threat to ocean ecosystems.

 “It is clear GMO products pose a widespread and unmanageable threat to our wild fish supply and today’s reports indicate that developers of these Frankenfish havenot presented us with the basic facts,” said Begich. “We can’t let these GMO promoters play Russian roulette with our food supply.” - More...
Thursday - May 30, 2013

Alaska: Senators Bullish on Alaska Economy & Small Businesses Statewide - U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) and U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) used their trips home to Alaska during the Senate recess this week to check in with companies around the state. Begich was pleased with the diversity of businesses, the enthusiasm of owners, and the strong demand for goods and services.

“As a small business owner, I know firsthand the pressures of making payroll, the importance of business credit and the frustration of regulatory burdens,” said Begich.  “I like to check in with Alaska small businesses whenever I have a chance to make sure that my work in the Senate is helping Alaska small business owners.”

Begich noted positive economic indicators such as the recent measurement by the University of Michigan that indicates consumer confidence is as high as any time since July 2007. News reports indicate that the U.S. Consumer Sentiment Index rose in May and the Wall Street Journal reported in May that retails sales increased faster than expected. - More...
Thursday - May 30, 2013

Alaska: What was Parnell/Treadwell Administration’s role in Pozonsky hire? - In July 2012, 57-year-old Paul Pozonsky abruptly quit his job as a Common Pleas Court judge in Pennsylvania and moved 4,000 miles to Alaska to join his wife Sara, a politically connected native of Alaska.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, with his departure, Pozonsky left behind a storied, 14-year judicial career, a $169,541 salary and lingering questions about his tenure after he unilaterally ordered evidence destroyed in 17 mostly drug-related cases without consulting the district attorney's office.

The hiring of Paul Pozonsky was the subject of intense criticism because he was hired by the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development as a Workforce Compensation Hearing Officer II position paying around $80,000 yearly even while his record as a judge in Pennsylvania was under investigation.  One of the subjects of investigation was the disappearance of illegal drugs while in his custody, which recently was revealed to be part of a broader pattern of Pozonsky’s alleged theft of cocaine which was supposed to be used as evidence in cases over which Pozonsky was presiding in PA.  Moreover, the Alaska Democratic Party said yesterday that Pozonsky was hired in violation of a requirement on the Workforce Compensation Hearing Officer II hire form, which required hiring an Alaska resident. 

When Pozonsky's hiring in Alaska first came under scrutiny, he resigned his position in December 2012 after less than two months on the job. Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell ordered an internal investigation into how Pozonsky got the job. - More...
Thursday - May 30, 2013

Alaska: Governor Signs Bill To Help Small & Medium Businesses Grow - Wednesday, Governor Sean Parnell signed a bill into law providing tax relief to small and medium size businesses in Alaska.   Senate Bill 7, sponsored by Senator Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage Hillside/Turnagain Arm/North Kenai) helps businesses keep more of their earnings so they can grow.

"Today [Wednesday] we take another step in ensuring Alaskan families' security... security in good paying jobs and economic growth.  Our job market and economy are driven by businesses, large and small, whose hard work and ingenuity create economic success. SB 7 allows businesses to keep more of their profits, enabling reinvestment and healthy growth.”- More...
Thursday - May 30, 2013

Viewpoints
Commentary
Opinions/Letters
Basic Rules &
Freedom of Speech

RE: Taxes & the Local Government By John Harrington - I appreciate the role Mr. Dial fulfills with his letters regarding fiscal restraint, and living within our means. He provides an excellent balance for the ‘Tax and Spend’ faction in our community. However sometimes he neglects to provide all the information. That is, of course, a strategy that is useful when trying to make a point emphatically. So even though I value his point of view, and acknowledge the need for more restraint on government, I am going to provide a little more of the information that Mr. Dial left out. - More...
Thursday PM - May 30, 2013

Post Graduation Party 2013 By Joey Tillson - Four years of hard work and preparedness for our graduates of 2013 have come to another chapter closed in this book of life. Each of these students have come so far and plan to succeed even further in their endeavors. Over 100 businesses in Ketchikan have donated to our graduates. From gift certificates to whole building spaces, fine jewelry to barge line tickets, the vendors and community members have donated precious time and valuables for our kids. I would like to extend a sincere thanks to the community and businesses who continue to support our children. And of course a few words of wisdom to our graduates as they head off to their futures. - More...
Thursday PM - May 30, 2013

A solution to present woes with the IRS and taxation By Glen E. Terrell - The income tax code is complicated beyond comprehension. An institution like the IRS has no place in a society of free people. The power that came to congress with the income tax and 16th amendment has so corrupted our Congress and the IRS that we must start over. - More...
Thursday PM - May 30, 2013

Thank You Ketchikan By Peggy Pollen - Dear People of Ketchikan, You have an amazing group of citizens in your community. They are called Rotarians. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

Re: Taxes & Local Government by Ken Bylund - Ketchikan, and government in general, caving to special interest groups? Isn't as simple as bending to the will of the majority; government is clearly "the special interest group." ... is the obvious really that hard to understand? To look, to see that we have been asleep as an overweighted minority of power claims the apportionment of taxes as their own; thousands of specific descriptions of property sinking in the quicksand of [fill in the blank] self proclaimed predominant party; reasons this Republic was assembled in the way it was; now orchestrated ignorance proclaims The Constitution is a "living document" obsolete, needing change, to be discarded, for the social benefit of the children... Pathos trumps Logos. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

Hummingbirds By Fred Bassett - I am a hummingbird bander who will be doing migration research on hummingbirds in Ketchikan from 2 to 5 June.  I am looking for hummingbird hosts with good numbers of hummers who will allow me to band at their homes. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013 

Wage Reduction vs. Change Tax System By Anthony Gasbarro - Jobs have been lost in this country for over 30 years due to our lack of competitiveness. It's cheaper to go out of the country for most manufacturers than to make products here. People who haven't lost their jobs are squeezed to do more with less. Sound familiar? - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

Enough! By Tilli Abbott - I was raised in Hoonah, graduating from high school the same year ANSCA passed Congress. Never paid attention to the corporations until I was 40. Ran for the board, made it and continue to battle "them" as I observe reverse discrimination. That's what I see... racism and discrimination hidden within the walls of the Native Corporations. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

Fair Tax By Patrick R. Burkett - Recent news regarding the IRS targeting certain political groups and their members for harassment via tax exempt applications and tax return audits provides further reason why we the people should vote to disband the IRS. Legislation in the form of HR25 and S122, titled The Fair Tax Act, does just that and awaits hearings in the U.S. House of Representative's Ways and Means Committee and the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee respectively. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

Filipinos in Ketchikan By Joey Garcia - This topic is my concern after the recently concluded elections in the Philippines that make concern to the Filipinos in Ketchikan, Alaska, in my personal opinion. This commentary is based on pronouncements of the scenario to clarify who, where, when, and how, for understanding comprehensively and in comparison to where the real Filipino roots are. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

RE: Taxes & Local Government By Suzan Thompson - In response to Rodney Dial's recent letter, wherein he makes a number of valid points, I'd like to point out that the photos at the conclusion of his letter may be misleading for some people. The photo of the Juneau library is actually that of a branch library located in a mall; their main library is much larger. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 28, 2013

Taxes & the Local Government By Rodney Dial - If you read the newspaper on May 21st, you are aware that Ketchikan Borough Leadership caved to special interests and passed a property tax increase.  If you are keeping track, this is the third property tax increase (City and Borough) in the last two years.  The latest tax increase was done to appease those asking for yet another education increase… after years… and years… of large increases. - More...
Thursday - May 23, 2013

RE: The Whisper App and Your Kids By Dawn Luna - First off I want to say to Jessica Travis, I commend you on your letter, and I could not agree with you more. I am not a parent, but I am an Aunt, and I am an Aunt who is very concerned with the bullying that goes on in our community amongst our youth. Not a day has gone by in the last month that I have not heard a youth talking about being bullied and/or a parent talking about their child being bullied. WHEN, WHERE, and HOW does it STOP I ask you??? - More...
Thursday - May 23, 2013

No Peace for Israel By Donald A. Moskowitz - I take exception to the two state solution proposed for Israel and Palestine. Some people, including world leaders, are proposing setting borders for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, a conditional Israeli settlement building freeze, a Jerusalem agreement and a Palestinian relinquishment of the claim for the right of return for millions of Arabs. - More...
Thursday - May 23, 2013

Open Letter: Eliminate the IRS By A. M. Johnson - Now is the opportune time to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service. A service that was created by Congress, oversighted by the President and corrupted many times by both parties by many many members of Congress, and lobbies who have had rules bent and made illegal in so very many incidents. Always at the expense of the common man. - More...
Monday - May 20, 2013

Sealaska Nobility & Decreased Dividend & By Andre LeCornu - To say that these Sealaska people are actually avaricious and elitist is a gross understatement. The current lands bill is under fire throughout the state. This corporation has wrought more divisiveness and disunity than unity. It is a corporation and will not and cannot meet our needs as tribal people. It is farcical to think for a moment that the corporate goals are even compatible with our tribal needs. The philosophies of these organized entities are at opposite ends of the spectrum. To have a Sealaska board member as President of the tribe clearly defines contradiction. Even the use of the term"tribal member shareholder" is a cruel joke and nonsensical in the real world. - More...
Monday PM - May 20, 2013

Time for a FairTax By Roy Newsom - The FairTax Plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue replacement, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment. This nonpartisan legislation (HR 25/S122) abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax - administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities. The IRS is disbanded and defunded. The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system. - More...
Monday PM - May 20, 2013

VOTE FOR MYRNA GARDNER By Martha Gallagher - I urge all family, family & shareholders to vote directed and give your votes to Myrna Gardner. - More...
Monday PM - May 20, 2013

SEAPA Study – Waste of Ratepayers’ Money By Bob Sivertsen - The Southeast Alaska Power Agency (SEAPA) is a nonprofit wholesale power provider, not a monopoly as recently alleged. As a nonprofit, revenues are invested back into the Agency's operations and maintenance, and most years, rebates are given back to the member communities, all of which benefit our communities. Revenues are not pocketed by owners or stockholders. Working through contracts with the member communities, including the Power Sales Agreement, is a standard part of a sound business plan, which is evidenced by the Agency’s delivery of reliable wholesale power to the communities of Ketchikan, Petersburg, and Wrangell at the low rate of 6.8 cents/kWh for over 15 years. Our stable wholesale power rate is the lowest in the State of Alaska and has significantly benefited this region. This is "unique" considering costs for almost everything else have gone up significantly over the same period of time. - More...
Thursday PM - May 16, 2013

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