Anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alberta, Canada, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

Opinion.: Reflections on the Juneau protest convoy

Although not perfect, vaccines have helped save countless lives.

  • Feb 1, 2022
  • By Mark S. Johnson
Anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate demonstrators gather as a truck convoy blocks the highway at the busy U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alberta, Canada, Monday, Jan. 31, 2022. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
The Capitol building in Juneau is seen here on Jan. 10, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

Mediation process betrays state employees

The people of Alaska constitutionally mandated the retirement and medical coverage for retirees.

The Capitol building in Juneau is seen here on Jan. 10, 2022. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)
The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation building in Juneau, Alaska, in October 2020. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)

Legislators must guard our fund: Pass a constitutional PFD now

The failure to pay the dividend according to statute has created political chaos.

The Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation building in Juneau, Alaska, in October 2020. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire file)
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Opinion: It is time to save the port

The PoA is the single most important piece of infrastructure in our state.

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Shown is a primary demonstration ballot at the Alaska Division of Elections office in Anchorage, Alaska on Jan. 21, 2022. Alaska elections will be held for the first time this year under a voter-backed system that scraps party primaries and sends the top four vote-getters regardless of party to the general election, where ranked choice voting will be used to determine a winner. No other state conducts its elections with that same combination. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Opinion: The opportunity of Alaska’s open primary

How voters in Alaska, and elsewhere, retook control of primary elections from political parties.

Shown is a primary demonstration ballot at the Alaska Division of Elections office in Anchorage, Alaska on Jan. 21, 2022. Alaska elections will be held for the first time this year under a voter-backed system that scraps party primaries and sends the top four vote-getters regardless of party to the general election, where ranked choice voting will be used to determine a winner. No other state conducts its elections with that same combination. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)
William Marley’s proposal for a bayfront park on the Sterling Highway. (Illustration provided)

Point of View: Some alternatives for a community center

Entering the City of Homer from Bluff Point has to be one of the most pristine view experiences of geography and nature, ever.

William Marley’s proposal for a bayfront park on the Sterling Highway. (Illustration provided)
Alan Parks is a Homer resident and commercial fisher. (Courtesy photo)

Voices of the Peninsula: HB 52 would hurt commercial fishing and community

Upper Cook Inlet fishing families have been hit hard by ongoing politics

Alan Parks is a Homer resident and commercial fisher. (Courtesy photo)
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Opinion: The buck stops at the top

Shared mistakes of Dunleavy and Biden.

  • Jan 24, 2022
  • By Rich Moniak
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A sign welcomes people to Kenai United Methodist Church on Monday, Sept. 6, 2021 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

It’s time for a federal law against LGBTQ discrimination

When my wife and I decided to move to Alaska, we wondered if we would be welcome in our new neighborhood.

A sign welcomes people to Kenai United Methodist Church on Monday, Sept. 6, 2021 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Terri Spigelmyer. (Photo provided)

Pay It Forward: Instilling volunteerism in the next generation

We hope to have instilled in our children empathy, cultural awareness, long-term planning and the selflessness of helping others

Terri Spigelmyer. (Photo provided)
Hal Shepherd in an undated photo taken near Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Hal Shepherd.)

Point of View: Election integrity or right-wing power grab?

Dr. King would be appalled at what is happening today

Hal Shepherd in an undated photo taken near Homer, Alaska. (Photo courtesy of Hal Shepherd.)
A map of Kachemak Bay State Park shows proposed land additions A, B and C in House Bill 52 and the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery. (Map courtesy of Alaska State Parks)

Opinion: Rep. Vance’s bill is anti-fishermen

House Bill 52 burdens 98.5% of Cook Inlet fishermen.

A map of Kachemak Bay State Park shows proposed land additions A, B and C in House Bill 52 and the Tutka Bay Lagoon Hatchery. (Map courtesy of Alaska State Parks)
Nancy HIllstrand. (Photo provided)

Point of View: Trail Lakes is the sockeye salmon hero, not Tutka Bay

Tutka hatchery produces a pink salmon monoculture desecrating Kachemak Bay State Park and Critical Habitat Area as a feed lot

Nancy HIllstrand. (Photo provided)
A resident casts their vote in the regular municipal election Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)

Alaska Voices: Break the cycle of failure, debt in 2022

Today, all Americans are coerced, embarrassed or otherwise influenced into one of two old political parties

A resident casts their vote in the regular municipal election Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik, Alaska. (Photo by Megan Pacer/Homer News)
A sign designates a vote center during the recent municipal election. The center offered a spot for voters to drop off ballots or fill a ballot out in person. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

Opinion: The failure of mail-in voting

The argument that mail-in balloting increases voter participation never impressed me

A sign designates a vote center during the recent municipal election. The center offered a spot for voters to drop off ballots or fill a ballot out in person. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)
Charlie Franz.

Point of View: Election integrity is not anti-democratic

The federalization of elections by the Freedom to Vote Act infringes on the constitutional right of states to regulate elections.

Charlie Franz.
Snow blows off Mt. Roberts high above the Thane avalanche chute, where an avalanche blew across the road during a major snowstorm. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)

An Alaska winter of discontent

It’s been a hard winter throughout the state.

Snow blows off Mt. Roberts high above the Thane avalanche chute, where an avalanche blew across the road during a major snowstorm. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire)
A Uncruise Adventures cruise ship, with a fleet of kayaks in the water behind it, in the Tongass National Forest. Uncruise, a boutique local cruise ship operator, has been vocal about the importance of the intact Tongass National Forest, or SeaBank, to its business. (Photo by Ben Hamilton/courtesy Salmon State)

Alaska Voices: The dividends paid by Southeast Alaska’s ‘Seabank’ are the state’s untold secrets

Southeast Alaska’s natural capital produces economic outputs from the seafood and visitor products industries worth several billion dollars a year

A Uncruise Adventures cruise ship, with a fleet of kayaks in the water behind it, in the Tongass National Forest. Uncruise, a boutique local cruise ship operator, has been vocal about the importance of the intact Tongass National Forest, or SeaBank, to its business. (Photo by Ben Hamilton/courtesy Salmon State)
The Juneau Pioneer Home is seen in this undated photo. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

Opinion: Seniors find fault with DHSS split proposal

There are better answers.

  • Jan 11, 2022
  • By Peter Zuyus
The Juneau Pioneer Home is seen in this undated photo. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)
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Opinion: The pulse of fealty

Let’s be honest. Trump’s demands go beyond his one stated condition.

  • Jan 10, 2022
  • By Rich Moniak
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