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Dear Jonathan: My wife and I have a living trust and recently after consulting with our attorney, we transferred our home, as well as our family cottage to our trust for probate avoidance. Last week as I was writing out a check for our homeowners insurance premium, it occurred to me that my wife and I are the insureds on the policy, but our trust isn’t. Is that the way it should be, or now that the trust owns the home and cottage, should the trust now be the insured on the policy? I just want to make sure that we are properly covered. J...
Q. I went to delete a file and it just deleted without asking for confirmation. I intended to delete it, so the lack of a confirmation wasn’t a big deal, but I prefer having a “safety net” requiring me to confirm any deletions. Do you know why it would do this? A. Did you perhaps speak to it harshly? It sounds like your Recycle Bin settings may have changed, but it’s easy to get them back on track: Right-click your Recycle Bin and select Properties. Select the Global tab, which will encompass all hard drives. (In Windows 7, select the General T...
Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC) is offering free Landlord/Tenant legal clinics in Anchorage on the first Thursday of every month from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Fairview Rec Center, 1121 E. 10th Avenue. There is no fee or pre-registration required, and anyone having a problem with their rental property, landlord, or tenant may attend. The next Landlord/Tenant legal clinics are April 3 and May 1. A local volunteer attorney will facilitate these clinics and will also answer general questions from attendees about their particular situations. Both...
The calendar says that it is spring but my calendar says , “Where?” Well soon, maybe. I can’t stress this enough, because I have had so many questions about it: If you are on Medicare, you do not have to buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act. You already have insurance. However if you are not on Medicare and do not have health insurance, you cannot get any through the ACA until November 15, 2014, unless you have a qualifying life event such as moving to a new state, have a change in in...
Have you ever wondered what it was like living in "the good old days" and wished you could step back in time? One Anchorage home listed on the National Register of Historic Places offers visitors that opportunity and showcases the furniture, appliances and gadgets from days gone by. The Oscar Anderson House Museum, located at 420 M Street, is filled with memorabilia from the turn-of-the-last century. Built in 1915, it's the first frame house constructed in Anchorage and belonged to the...
Despite a leg infection that sidelined him earlier in the year, Don Rickles is as feisty as ever. In March, the 87-year-old comedian began a spring tour of theaters and casinos across the country with stops in California, Nevada, Michigan, Connecticut and Wisconsin.\ But be warned! If you're in the audience and sporting a bad hairpiece, have an unusually curved nose, or are a little on the chubby side, Rickles could be waiting for you. That's because just about everyone "annoys" Don in his act,...
According to Better Business Bureau reports, consumers across Alaska are being scammed out of hundreds of dollars with prepaid money cards. These cards offer many conveniences, but create easy opportunities for scammers; consumers should be aware of the dangers associated with prepaid cards. In February 2014, BBB serving Alaska, Oregon and Western Washington received information from a woman who claims to have been ripped off by an elaborate Green Dot MoneyPak scheme. The woman reports that a person called her home stating that her son was...
Q. When I go to Google and search for items to buy, later on I see those same or related items as ads at the top of other pages I visit. It sure seems like I’m being tracked and then being solicited soon thereafter. Is that what is happening or do you think it is just a coincidence? A. It is definitely not a coincidence. Tracking (also called search profiling) is an inherent part of life online today. Everything we do online leaves a trail, and in your situation, Google (and other search engines) do indeed monitor searches and use that data t...
Older Persons Action Group exists to serve all Alaska, with a special emphasis upon the senior community. Our mission is to reach out and advocate regarding senior issues. We do that by providing relevant information to seniors and advocating for their collective benefit through our publication, Senior Voice This has been a year of retrenchment. OPAG’s executive directory, Gary Wells, and assistant, Maggie Zabinko, have done well in stabilizing the internal working of OPAG. David Washburn, as editor of Senior Voice, assures that relevant i...
For those of my readers who are on the Senior Benefit Program, there is some bad news. The Senior Benefits Program was established on August 1, 2007, and was the program we were given when the Longevity Bonus was taken. To be eligible for this program you must be an Alaskan on a permanent basis, 65 years of age, have a Social Security number and have countable income that does not exceed the income limits of the program. Resources (assets) do not count in this program. The cash benefits are...
This is the second of a two-part series. Part one appeared in the February 2014 Senior Voice. Thanks to all the veterans who took the time to comment on last month’s column. This is your column and the Senior Voice will try to address any matters important to you. To recap Part One, many of our senior Alaska veterans were exposed to mesothelioma while serving our country and may just now be showing symptoms. Some veterans who have been diagnosed with lung cancer may in fact have this disease. This month’s follow-up addresses some avenues for...
"Standing here and looking far off into the northwest, I see the Russian as he busily occupies himself in establishing seaports and towns and fortifications on the verge of the continent...and I can say, 'Go on and build up your outposts all along the coast, up even to the Arctic Ocean; they will yet become the outposts of my own country – monuments of the civilization of the United States in the northwest.' " So predicted U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward in a speech many years b...
As Star Trek's Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy created one of the most iconic characters in television history. But for the past two decades, Nimoy has transported his career to the other side of the camera and is now regarded as a leading contemporary American photographer. Early in his acting career, he recognized photography could be more than just snapshots on location. "I carried a camera with me wherever I went and began to realize I was missing the place I was in because my eye was behind the...
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 (March 11 and 25), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (March 5 and 19), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, Thursdays (March 6, 13, 20 and 27), 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 Juneau Soc...
Dear Jonathan: My husband died six months ago. We didn’t have much but everything we had we held in joint names. Consequently, upon the advice of a family member some time ago, we never bothered to prepare wills because we were told that the survivor of the two of us would own everything so there was no need to have a will. Now that my husband has passed away, do you recommend that I now have a will? Also, I have received several telephone calls and letters from two different credit card companies threatening to turn me over to collection if I...
Q. I’m dithering between purchasing an SD card and a thumb drive for the storage of photos and documents. Is one better than the other or should I get an external hard drive? A. SD cards and thumb drives basically use the same technology. A thumb or flash drive plugs into a USB port and it is quickly removed so you can take it with you. Its small size also makes it easy to misplace so if your life is lacking drama and you enjoy a good adrenaline surge periodically, thumb drives are the way to go. In your situation, you can’t go wrong with eit...
Medical alert devices are a beneficial life saving tool that can assist seniors in the event of a fall, and/or medical emergency. With a properly set up system, assistance can be dispatched within minutes. Most seniors want to live at home and keep their independence as long as possible. Medical alert systems are generally easy to activate and provide peace of mind both for seniors and their families. Recently, a long-term friend contacted me about problems she was having with her medical device company. My friend told me that a...
A little history today. In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that he was starting a “War on Poverty.” Several of the most forward thinking citizens of Anchorage decided that they would join that war. They got together and formed the Older Persons Action Group, to have an entity to receive help from the Office of Economic Opportunity, to achieve the goal of helping seniors and others in Anchorage, who were foundering in need. Although the “war” did not last long, due to the change...
Let me begin by thanking the readers who contacted the Senior Voice concerning last month’s article. I hope our senior veterans will find this month’s topic on mesothelioma in the 60-plus year old age group useful to themselves or a loved one. If you worked in areas of high exposure while on active duty for even one day, that brief exposure could lead to this deadly form of cancer in you and your family (via secondary exposure). This discussion will be in two parts. I will cover the disease, its causes, areas of service in the military most vul...
Judging by the complaints to the Long Term Care Ombudsman, many Medicare beneficiaries and their families do not realize they have rights during the hospital discharge process. These rights are meant to protect seniors from being discharged from the hospital too soon and from being placed in a facility that cannot meet their care needs. Maybe you don’t need to know your rights as a Medicare beneficiary today, but file this column away for later. It may come in handy. When you are admitted to t...
Cordova's Iceworm, the brain child of Ohmer Waer in 1960, was a gallant effort to attract tourists to Cordova and combat midwinter doldrums. Waer, manager of the historic old Windsor Hotel, looked around the empty lobby one fall morning as he drank a cup of coffee. "What this town needs is an iceworm," he told his wife. Of course, Waer didn't mean a real iceworm. Discovered in 1887 on the Muir Glacier, that annelid worm spends its entire life in glacial ice in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and...
How much mileage could a studio expect from a 1950s film starring a biologist with a fascination for a secluded fishpond? Quite a bit, when the scientist is beautiful Julie Adams wrapped in a skin-tight white latex bathing suit and the fish turns out to be an angry piscine amphibious humanoid – aka "Creature from the Black Lagoon." Premiering 60 years ago this month, the success of the now cult film continues to astound Julie who, at age 87, remains a popular guest at fan conventions and film fe...
Dear Jonathan: I am naming my sister as one of my beneficiaries in my last will and testament. I am signing the will at my home since it is hard for me to get out. I know I need to have two witnesses. My question is whether my sister can act as one of those witnesses. Jonathan Says: It depends upon the law of the state in which you live. Some states allow interested parties, i.e., someone who is named as a beneficiary in the will, to also act as a witness without invalidating the gift to that individual; some states do not. You need to check wi...
Q. Whenever I open Internet Explorer, it asks me if I want it to be my default. Does that mean that it will be my start page? A. If a program is your default, it means when an action is initiated that requires the use of a third-party application (program), your default program will be the one selected. So if you click a link to a Web site in an email message, for example, if Internet Explorer is your default Web browser, it will open automatically to display the linked Web page. Your Start page, which is whatever page is displayed when you lau...
Prior to construction of the Alaska oil pipeline, Alaska’s economy was principally financed with federal monies. The federal government still provides substantial funding to the state in the form of federal land control, military personnel and facilities. The federal government also funds veterans health care, Indian health care, Social Security benefits, Medicaid, Medicare benefits, not to mention the Housing and Urban Development agency, environmental protection and other federal agencies. Alaska has always received more federal monies than A...
