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Opinion

Point of View: :Pay it Forward — It’s time to ‘lean in’ through volunteer efforts

‘Lean in’ experience from Zoom talk can be expanded as community support during pandemic.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy holds a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. (Juneau Empire file photo)

Opinion

Dunleavy: A path forward

I want to be clear that a bond package is not something I suggest lightly.

Edward Eagerton / U.S. Army National Guard via AP Residents of the village of Nanwalek greet guardsmen who delivered presents in a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment during Operation Santa on Dec. 11. The Alaska National Guard and the Salvation Army were able to provide and deliver gifts for the program’s 65th year, but had to scale back distribution parties that are normally held in the villages because of COVID-19.

News

Pandemic prompts scaled back Christmas tradition in Alaska

This year’s edition of Operation Santa Claus didn’t have the pomp and grandeur of previous incarnations.

Dr. David Zielke, left, a pulmonary critical care physician, receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine from Emily Schubert, the employee health nurse at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage, Alaska, on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020. Front-line health care workers are among the first in Alaska to receive the vaccine. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

News

State front-line health care workers get 1st vaccinations

The state began receiving more than 35,000 doses of the vaccine late Sunday, with distribution planned across Alaska.

Packing the dough in a bread pan gives the cookie a thin, rectangular shape, photographed on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Life

Kalifornsky Kitchen: Festive without the fuss

Now that I’m an adult, I’ve realized I hate decorating cookies and I’m not good at it either.

Cathy Sandeen, UAA chancellor, photographed outside the Administration and Humanities Building at the University of Alaska Anchorage. (Photo courtesy University of Alaska Anchorage)

Opinion

Opinion: More respect for Your Hometown University, please

Although UAA has had its challenges, we remain remarkably strong and resilient.

(Courtesy Photo / Randall Davis, Alaska Department of Fish & Game)

Opinion

Opinion: Sea otters are the defenders of kelp forests, ecosystems

We recognize the important ecological roles they play.

In this May 19, 2020, file photo, Alaska House Speaker Bryce Edgmon, left, presides over the House floor in Juneau, Alaska. Alaska lawmakers who each year relocate to a capital city accessible only by plane or boat are facing challenges in getting settled ahead of what is expected to be a difficult legislative session overshadowed by COVID-19. Speaker Edgmon, an independent from Dillingham, about 860 miles from Juneau, said pandemic concerns come at a time when lawmakers will need to make tough budget decisions. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)

News

Virus causes session housing headaches for lawmakers

With just over a month before session is set to begin, some lawmakers are waiting to lock down…

A truck backs up onto a Haines-bound boat on Dec. 3, 2020, as part of an effort to send supplies and people to the landslide-afflicted community. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Opinion

Opinion: It’s important to prepare for the unpredictable

It is often easy to be distracted from the lessons we learn when disaster strikes.

Four-year-old Lowell Fair indicates the backseat of the Fair family stationwagon during a 1972 photo-op set up by his father. (Photo courtesy of the Fair Family Collection)

Life

Sometimes you just gotta laugh

This is the story of one of my favorite family photographs.

The Peninsula Oilers play the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks on Sunday, June 16, 2019, at Coral Seymour Memorial Park in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

News

From Cape Cod to Alaska, college leagues eye MLB changes

Collegiate summer leagues like the ABL were hit by another potential obstacle recently.

An SUV hits the ditch. (Contributed photo)

Sports

Tangled Up in Blue: Doing doughnuts

I went on a first date to a pizza parlor. He drove us, newly licensed, in his Toyota…

Wyatt, at age 4, helping dad harvest crawfish at White River NWR in Arkansas. (Photo by Matt Conner/USFWS)

Sports

Refuge Notebook: Crawfish to Christmas trees

My rubber knee boots provided little traction as I slowly slid down the mucky side of the bank…

File

Life

Minister’s Message: It’s all in the waiting

By Frank Alioto

Gov. Mike Dunleavy holds a press conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, April 9, 2019. (Juneau Empire file photo)

News

Alaska joins Texas lawsuit as governor gives Biden a chance

Dunleavy previously said that a shortage of time prevented Alaska from joining in the lawsuit.

Soldotna High School English teacher Nicole Hewitt teaches her students remotely from her empty classroom at Soldotna High School on Monday, April 6, 2020 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Opinion

Perspective of an educator in a ‘high-risk group’

“Schools were built for students. Anyone who thinks they were built for the staff, or the teachers or…

My family gathers on Zoom to discuss our foraged finds at Forage Fest 2020, on Dec. 3 2020, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo by Victoria Petersen/Peninsula Clarion)

Life

Foraging for gifts

Bringing a personal twist to holiday giving

In this July 24, 2017 file photo, an iceberg floats past Bylot Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s annual Arctic Report Card, released on Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, shows how warming temperatures in the Arctic are transforming the region’s geography and ecosystems. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

News

Vast wildfires in Siberia linked to warming Arctic

Recent wildfires were exacerbated by elevated air temperatures and decreased snow cover on the ground in the Arctic…

Lt. Erick Oredson / U.S. Coast Guard via AP This photo from the U.S. Coast Guard shows where a rainstorm caused landslides in Haines on Thursday. This photo from the U.S. Coast Guard shows where a rainstorm caused landslides in Haines, Alaska, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020. Authorities have identified the two people missing after a landslide the width of two football fields slammed into the southeast Alaska community. The Coast Guard remains engaged with the Alaska State Troopers and the city of Haines while responding to this event. (Lt. Erick Oredson/U.S. Coast Guard via AP)

News

Officials say landslide danger remains after storm

Torrential rains prompted several landslides in the community last Wednesday.

Julie Anderson, commissioner of the Department of Commerce, Community & Economic Development, speaks to the Alaska Chamber of Commerce at Centennial Hall on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019. With Anderson on stage Curtis Thayer, president and CEO of the Alaska Chamber. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Opinion

Alaska Voices: More important than ever to have insurance coverage

Individual insurance market open enrollment closes Dec. 15