Sorted by date Results 692 - 716 of 1155
Who in Alaska is glad to hear that Medicare is not going bankrupt? Certainly the 84,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Alaska are glad to hear that Medicare is not going bankrupt. And by the way, not all those beneficiaries are elders. Medicare beneficiaries in Alaska include about 13,000 people who are younger but disabled. In 2014, the most recent year for which this information is available, total Medicare spending in Alaska was $741 million. That contributes to the incomes of thousands of healthcare providers and other health care workers in...
Whenever I tell people that I work in the field of aging, it raises more than a few eyebrows. I started working with the Diverse Elders Coalition before my 30th birthday, and even though I'm a few years older and wiser now, it still feels like few of my peers are thinking about aging, much less how they can support the generations who have come before them. And yet, it feels like all of us, regardless of age, should be thinking about aging and elders all the time. There seem to be silos that...
One evening last winter while searching my TV recordings for a certain movie I wanted to watch, the words "Bus Life Ever" caught my eye. Curious, I clicked to learn more and soon was intrigued. It was a show out of Denver, Colorado, from the Home Improvement channel featuring three bus rebuilds. For the first one, the guy was going to raise the roof with a budget of $45,000 to $55,000. The second project was to remove the complete interior and start from scratch with a budget of $100,000 to $150...
U.S. Revenue Cutter Service captains saw a need for supplemental food for Alaska's Native people in the Last Frontier during the late 1880s, as whale and seal populations had diminished. And since marine mammals were among the Natives' primary food sources, the captains became concerned for the well being of Natives living in Bering Sea villages. Capt. Michael A. Healy remembered seeing something in 1881 that might answer the problem of sustaining Alaska's Native people. While serving as...
A supporting actor for much of his film career, Richard Herd has worked with actors such as Jack Lemmon, Rod Steiger, Robert Redford, Sylvester Stallone and Robert Duvall. He has also been a frequent guest star on TV series since the early 1970s and is probably best recognized as a cast member on several TV shows such as "T.J. Hooker," "Seaquest DSV," "Star Trek: Voyager," and "Seinfeld" – for his reoccurring role of 'Mr. Wilhelm.' "'Seinfeld' was one of the best jobs I ever had," said Herd from...
True story: My husband and I are walking our two dogs on leash. Another couple is walking towards us with an unleashed dog. We step off the trail, heading slightly uphill. I place my dog in a sit and have treats to keep her occupied as the loose dog walks by. I turn to my husband to see if he has treats too and at that moment the loose dog runs toward us. I don't see it because I have taken my eyes off my dog so I also don't see her sudden movement forward which pulls me downhill and I fall....
I liked Max Gruenberg. Max was a lawyer, and a long-time legislator. I did battle with him in both venues; as a trial lawyer, when we had cases against each other; and when he was in the State House of Representatives, and I was nominated to sit on a commission (Max grilled me for 45 minutes in committee, to the point that other committee members were asking him to hurry it up and finish, but then when my nomination came to the floor, he spoke in favor of it). Max was a sincere guy. Even though...
Q. I like to look at weather radar online but when I click on the radar site I get a message saying that Adobe Flash Player is blocked. What do I do? A. There are several possibilities behind why an application is blocked. Adobe is a reputable company, and Flash is a useful product. However, there are counterfeit versions of Flash online that Windows Defender might recognize and consequently block. Perhaps the version of Flash you have installed is not the latest version, which could trigger the block. Also note that some ad blockers will...
Editor's note: This article is part of an ongoing series provided by the Diverse Elders Coalition, focusing on different senior populations. I would have never believed there would ever come a time when my Mom – whom I've always described, whenever asked, as my best friend, No. 1 fan, personal "shero" and one who's loved me unconditionally without hesitation or regret for my entire life – would look upon my face and require a few minutes before recognizing who I am. But as her 90th birthday app...
My first experience at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer was back in the mid-1960s as part of a group of young 4-H girls from Glennallen. A couple mothers drove us in to Palmer to see our projects on display and pick them up the next day when the fair was over. I was too young to know how sleeping arrangements were made for the group, but I do remember we all spent the night at Janet Kincaid's home. Current owner of the Valley Hotel and Café and the Colony House Inn, Janet was in the hospitality...
Water in the Chena River inched up ever higher during July 1967 when 3.34 inches of rain, instead of the normal 1.84 inches, fell on Fairbanks. The city's 30,000 residents weren't too worried, though. Most were in the midst of the Alaska Purchase Centennial, celebrating the U.S. purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. But when 6 inches of rain fell during a period of five days, the river did crest. And on the evening of August 14, it spilled over its banks at 18.6 feet. The massive amount of wat...
Beginning her career as a talented child actress, Beverly Washburn worked alongside Hollywood's most popular actors and her list of favorites is long (see www.beverlywashburn.com). While she appeared in several "Wagon Train" episodes, her favorite was The Tobias Jones Story where Lou Costello plays a drunk accused of murder – a rare dramatic role for the comedian and one of his final acting appearances. "I was a big Abbott and Costello fan, so it was a thrill to work with Lou," said Washburn f...
You can’t believe everything you read online. You knew that already, right? For instance, I don’t know how many times I have seen a list online, showing all the community property states, and Alaska is included on the list. ALASKA IS NOT A COMMUNITY PROPERTY STATE! Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. But Alaska is not a community property state. We do have a statute which allows a married couple to opt into community property, by including certain provisions in a living trust or a specific agreement....
Q. I’m thinking I can rid my life of big, bulky speakers and use my iPhone to replace a skipping CD player. What would you recommend for listening to the radio in my house? A. Chances are excellent that you can find the stations you prefer streaming online. That is where apps like TuneIn Radio Pro and iHeartRadio can help. But do not overlook Google. Often simply searching a station’s call sign in, Google will answer the “how to find this station online” part of the question. But do not stop there. Beyond the stations you know, there is an enti...
On February 15, the Blood Bank of Alaska (BBA) celebrated its second anniversary in the new facility it developed to serve Alaska’s patients in need. It has been a robust two years, and we continue to meet our primary objective of service to patients by virtue of the state’s medical community. On July 25, the BBA will celebrate its 56th anniversary. Being Alaska’s only blood gathering and processing non-profit entity, the BBA has consistently served with distinction, and plans to continue doing so for many years to come. In view of Alask...
Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing series provided by the Diverse Elders Coalition, focusing on different senior populations. The cost of aging in America is exorbitant, which my siblings and I are finding out firsthand through our struggles over the past three years to take care of our parents. My mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s, spends her remaining days mostly in a hospital bed in hospice care, but mercifully next to my father. Both live in an apartment in a high-end assisted living compound in Fremont, California. It had...
Congress managed to pass well-intentioned legislation recently allowing people with life-threatening illnesses to bypass the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to obtain experimental medications. Unfortunately, it won’t do much to help the people who need the unapproved therapies the most. The “right to try” legislation, pushed by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., which Congress passed and President Donald J. Trump signed into law in May, gives terminally ill patients the right to seek drug...
While looking for something else, I recently came across a photo that instantly brought back many good memories. In the photo, my Dad, my three siblings and I are standing by the Resurrection Pass signpost during the last family hike I participated in. In July 1972 we hiked the Resurrection Trail along with family friends Charles and Jimmie King. The trail was 36 or 38 miles long, depending on which sign post you believed. We started in Hope on a Friday evening and ended near Cooper Landing on Sunday at noon. We couldn’t dawdle because one o...
During July 1791, Alexander Baranof arrived at Kodiak Island to manage the fur exporting operation of Grigorri Ivanovich Shelikhov, who formed the North American Company. When he received orders to build a sea-going vessel, Baranof remembered a sheltered bay he had seen that was a welcome refuge from Pacific storms. Baranof had named it Resurrection Bay, where Seward now exists, as he had found it during the Easter season. Baranof knew he would have access to timber suitable for shipbuilding,...
"The Young and the Restless" star Eric Braeden has been playing character Victor Newman for 38 years and says it's been an amazing run. But he doesn't believe daytime drama actors always receive the recognition of their nighttime TV counterparts. "We shoot 100 to 120 pages a day," said Braeden, from Los Angeles. "Imagine what that means in terms of memorization. Actors in a weekly nighttime series would crap their pants if they had to do that! The most I ever learned was 62 pages of dialogue in...
One of the biggest problems with DIY estate planning (where you get a kit, or a program, or a form, and “do it yourself”) is that the stuff you don’t understand can ruin everything. But then, this happens even with estate planning you get from a lawyer. Sometimes. Case in point: up until 2011, there was some very complicated language, which was inserted into a lot of living trusts, splitting the trust when the first spouse died. It was a necessity in certain situations, but that language is st...
Dear Savvy Senior: Can my Social Security benefits be garnished if I have some outstanding debts? I just turned 62 and would like to start collecting my retirement benefits, but want to find this out before I apply. - Worried Retiree Dear Worried: Whether your Social Security benefits are garnishable or not depends on whom you owe. Banks and other financial creditors, for example, can’t touch your Social Security checks. But if Uncle Sam is collecting on a debt, some of your benefits are fair game. Here’s what you should know. Creditor pro...
Q. What is the single most important piece of advice every smartphone owner should know? A. Back up your phone, especially photos. Your smartphone will eventually become the most important tech device in your life. All the gear that a generation ago filled a Radio Shack catalog is now contained in that single, slim, pocket-sized device. The longer you have it, the more the vital bits of your life will collect there. Once-in-a-lifetime photos, family snapshots, messages from loved ones. The smartphone has become the center of the technology...
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of Fair Housing Act, a pivotal piece of legislation that laid the groundwork for housing protections for marginalized populations in the United States. They say those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, so it's worth a look back at how things have and have not changed in terms of fair housing since 1968-and just how the legislation was passed in the first place. In 1968, America was an extremely segregated society with distinct white and black neighborhoods. Racial and...
"Honey, did you walk the cat?" What? Walk the cat? Yes, you heard that right. Cats have spent too much time lying around inside, bored and under-stimulated while dogs are treated to walks, play dates and time in the yard. But wait...is it safe to let your cat outside? And what about birds and other wildlife they may kill? There are many safe ways to get your cat outside while also keeping birds and wildlife safe from them (remember, cats are small but fierce predators). Let's start with catios....
