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The section of Anchorage called Spenard was referred to as the "Miracle Mile" not so long ago. As part of the Chugach National Forest created by U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt in 1907, the land was locked in a government deep freeze for several years. When the residents of the Alaska Railroad camp asked that the land surrounding the new town be unshackled in 1919, the government lifted its restrictions on the property. The growth of Anchorage to the south could not have happened if this...
Staff from Alaska’s Social Security office will be available for questions via videoconferencing at the following locations and times: Kodiak Job Center, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (Aug. 12 and 26), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (Aug. 6 and 20), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, every Thursday (Aug. 7, 14, 21 and 28), noon to 3 p.m. Social Security provides toll-free telephone service to all of Alaska. Residents in Alaska’s southeast communities can call the Jun...
Dear Jonathan: What does it mean to have died intestate? Jonathan says: This simply means that a person died without making a last will and testament. If a person makes a last will and testament, then they will be deemed as having died testate. Dear Jonathan: What happens if the person appointed as agent under a power of attorney refuses to act and the person who made out the power of attorney now has dementia? Jonathan says: If there is no alternate agent named, the power of attorney will be ineffective and cannot be used. Consequently,...
Q. When I try to print certain photos, I get an error message that tells me that Windows cannot connect with my printer and that I need to restart the spooler. What the heck is a spooler and how do I restart it? A. Spooler alert! A print spooler is software that temporarily stores print jobs on your computer’s hard drive or in memory (RAM) until the printer is ready to print them. Think of it as a print queue. The way a print spooler is typically restarted is to restart the computer. That clears the queue and resets it. To manually restart t...
If your spouse has a retirement plan of his or her own, are you the beneficiary? Are you sure? Federal law requires that for 401(k) plans and most types of retirement accounts, the spouse must be the beneficiary. But this is not true of all types of retirement plans. And depending on where you live, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise someday, especially if your spouse was previously married. If you live in a community property state (Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin, and if the...
During the past few years I have limited my Senior Voice commentary to non-controversial matters; however, I want to take this opportunity to expand the dialogue regarding further American military involvement in the Middle East. After 9/11, the USA went to war in Iraq to eliminate weapons of mass destruction and contain Al-Qaida, a radical Sunni Islamist organization originally nurtured in Saudi Arabia, a USA friend. The Saudi are a theocracy and adhere to the conservative Wahhabi sect of Islam. In fact, most of the 9/11 attackers were Sunni...
Effective July 21 this year, under a new law, an owner will be able to sign a transfer on death (TOD) deed transferring real property to a person or organization (including a charity) upon death. The TOD deed must provide a few simple facts, including a legal description of the property and the names and addresses of the persons transferring and receiving the property. It must be signed before a notary public. Most importantly, it must state that it will become effective upon the transferor’s death. The deed must be recorded prior to the transf...
Just when you thought the VA couldn’t be more offensive, we find out they are denying veterans with traumatic brain injuries and/or post traumatic stress disorders (TBI/PTSD) of their Second Amendment rights. Yes, you read this correctly, veterans asking for help to recover from service connected injuries are being deemed a danger to themselves and others and unable to handle their affairs by an unelected, appointed VA bureaucrat working for the very government agency founded to help them “re-integrate” back into peacetime civilian life. While...
A gambler's hunch compelled California mining magnate John Treadwell to purchase a claim from "French Pete" for $400. That decision turned into the discovery of the famed "Glory Hole" on Douglas Island in Southeastern Alaska in 1881. Gold had been discovered in the Silver Bow Basin near Juneau in October 1880. Joe Juneau and Richard Harris, along with Sitka chief Kowee, had trekked through moss, slippery rocks and devil's club to get to a place the Tlingits called Bear's Nest. "It was a...
Eighty years ago, 16-year-old Marsha Hunt began her professional career with a prominent New York City modeling agency. But her real love since the age of four was acting. So, the following year, in May 1935, she headed to Hollywood. Within weeks of arriving on the West Coast her dream was realized with a Paramount contract. "It wasn't about becoming a famous star," said Ms. Hunt from her home in Los Angeles. "I just wanted the joy of pretending to be interesting characters and convincing audien...
Why some older people are sitting ducks for con artists Sad but true, seniors are often targeted by scam artists because they make good victims. Reader’s Digest asked one former con artist, Jim, what it is about some seniors that make them the focus of thieves. Here’s a summary of what Jim said: • Senior citizens generally have money. Many are “sitting on fat nest eggs.” • Their emotional needs are easy to read. They volunteer information about how they love their kids and grandkids, and they share their fears about the global economy and...
Dear Jonathan: I am an elderly gentleman who is not married and has no children. Because I have become increasingly aware of my own mortality, I have decided to engage in estate planning for the first time in my life. Interestingly, I am more concerned with those documents whose purpose is to protect me during my lifetime, i.e., financial and health care durable power of attorneys, than I am with those documents that direct where my estate goes when I die, i.e., a will and trust. More specifically, I understand the importance and the need of ha...
Q. Can you recommend a simple program to move pictures from my Android phone to my Windows 7 computer? A. You really don’t need a program or an app to do that. Instead, follow these steps and you should be all set: First, connect your smartphone to your computer using the USB sync cable that came with your phone or is available at any Radio Shack. Once connected, a USB icon will appear in the Noti...
Seniors must be diligent and not give out Social Security numbers or credit card information to telephone or email inquiries. Here are some of the latest scams. Medicine/service scam Scammers are looking to steal Medicare numbers and financial information from unsuspecting consumers. The victim receives an unsolicited telephone call or email offering free diabetes testing or other medical supplies. The scammer then asks for the victim’s Medicare number and address. Once the scammers have the Medicare number they can steal the victim’s ide...
Our state is home to more than 64,000 State of Alaska retirees. We appreciate their service to our great state. From teachers to troopers, many retirees receive a state pension, one that was promised by the state in the past. We have taken a big step in securing those pension promises. This session, my administration proposed, and the Legislature unanimously passed, the largest pay down of pension debt in Alaska history, fixing our unfunded liability that had threatened the state’s retirement plans. In paying down $3 billion of Alaska’s pen...
I’ve been exchanging emails and phone calls with a woman who is taking care of her husband at home. As his Alzheimer’s progresses, her days and nights become more and more challenging. She never knows when he is going to wake up and need her. She can’t always anticipate what he might do next, like lock himself in the bathroom. Hardest of all, she knows she can’t give in to her grief and cry because it scares him. He needs to see a smiling face. There are a lot of brave, committed family caregiv...
Long before the Matanuska Valley became one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation, Russians tried to establish agricultural settlements on its fertile soil. They taught the Tanaina how to grow crops like potatoes, carrots, radishes and turnips. In 1844, Russians founded settlements at Matanuska and Knik, as well as Kachemak, Kasilof and Kenai. "A handful of Cossacks and a few hundred homeless mujiks [peasants] crossed oceans of ice at their own risk, and wherever timeworn groups of th...
Norman Lloyd admits he's taking things a bit easy these days. This year, he currently has only one film waiting for release and he now plays just two tennis matches a week. Still, that's not bad, considering the veteran actor, producer, and director turns 100 later this year. "People are always asking me for the secret of long life," said Mr. Lloyd from his home in Los Angeles. "Well, I have no secret and I suspect it's partly luck. But I do know one thing. You've got to stay active as you get...
Dear Jonathan: I have a question about my grandson who is going off to college in the fall. A close friend of mine told me about something that happened to his granddaughter who started college a few months ago, and it really has me concerned. Apparently, she ended up being hospitalized for a period of time, and initially was in a coma – she is doing fine now. When her parents, who live a thousand miles away from her college campus, tried to get information about her illness, they were denied because their daughter was over age 18 and b...
Q. I want to create a new folder in my Documents folder so I can consolidate several folders into one. The problem is, when I create a new folder, it appears at the top of the list of folders, and the ones I need to move into this new folder start with a “W.” I cannot drag the “W” folders to the top of the list to get them into the new folder. Do you have a solution for me, Mr. M? A. Folders will appear alphabetically, so click the column heading and it will sort A to Z. Click the heading again and it will sort from Z to A. You cannot, however...
Alaska’s senior population has grown 7 percent since 2000. The publication Alaska Economic Trends states the number of Alaskans over the age of 70 will grow 60 percent in the next several years. More than 130,000 baby boomers will reach retirement age (65) in Alaska over the next 16 years. (Alaska Economic Trends, 2014). In fact, Alaska ranks first in the nation on a per-capita basis of states with a resident population 65 years or older, according to the Alaska Commission on Aging. As seniors age they become increasingly susceptible to c...
It was in 1945 that the Raytheon Company’s Percy Spencer stood in front of a magnetron (the power tube of radar). He felt a candy bar melt in his pocket. When he put popcorn kernels in front of the magnetron, the kernels exploded all over the laboratory. Ten years later, Spencer patented a “radar range” that cooked with high-frequency radio waves. That same year, the Tappan Stove Co. introduced the first home microwave model. Now millions of meals come quickly from the nation’s microwaves every day. In 1957, Enovid, a drug the FDA approve...
At 4 a.m. on May 2, 1963, Cordovans awoke to the sounds of fire sirens wailing through their streets. Then came a bombardment of ammunition as shells exploded in the basement of the Cordova Commercial Co., the town's largest store. Six charges of dynamite, set off in an attempt to check the fire, broke windows all over town. But the fire did not stop until 14 buildings had been destroyed and more than 125 men, women and children were left homeless. At the height of the excitement, everyone was t...
Multitalented actress Jane Powell celebrated her 85th birthday in April. She and husband Dick Moore purchased a home in Wilton, Conn., about 30 years ago, dividing their time between Connecticut and New York. "We found this perfect house which was built in 1875 and didn't have to do much remodeling," said Ms. Powell from Wilton. "I love to cook, so we added a new kitchen, built an office in the back and put a gazebo in the garden." And at 85, she could be considered a role model for seniors heal...
When it comes time to replace the windows in your home, who are you going to call? Hiring a window installer is similar to hiring other professionals in the building industry – you should do a good amount of research on the person(s) you trust to install your windows beforehand to assure a successful outcome. Once you’ve identified several potential window installers, it’s time to dig deeper. The experts at Simonton Windows have created the following checklist to help you hire the best window installer for your project. • Seek out written...
