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You like potato, I like potahto You like tomato, I like tomahto Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto Let’s call the whole thing off! The point the Gershwin brothers were making, I take it, was that slight differences in semantics shouldn’t make any difference in reality. Okay, maybe it’s more complicated than that, but I didn’t write this column to talk about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Sometimes, slight wording differences matter tremendously. Take Medicare and Medicaid, for example. They so...
Q. A couple of times when I answered my phone the first voice I heard asked if I could hear them. It seemed harmless, but I wonder. Is it harmless? A. No, it is likely a scam. There is a similar technique that has been making the rounds recently. It involves a friendly voice apologizing for having problems with her headset, then attempting to engage in conversation. The effect is disarming, and it took a few seconds to realize that I was listening to a recording. As consumers become more savvy about ignoring unwanted solicitations, callers try...
We most often hear the phrase "Until Death Do Us Part" at weddings, when a couple commits to fidelity and love for one another until one of them dies. The traditional wedding vows say nothing about what accompanying someone to death involves. And most of us have no training in what the dying process involves and what is required to sit with a loved one as they are dying. My mom died in December at age 95. In reflecting on the end of her life, "until death do us part" is the phrase that keeps...
The discovery of rich gold deposits in the upper Yukon River in the late 1890s brought a massive rise in the number of ships plying Alaska waters. Especially in Lynn Canal, a part of the Inside Passage. It was a safer route for ships to travel than the open ocean route to the west through the eastern Gulf of Alaska. But once the ships passed British Columbia, they had few guides through the Inside Passage. Weather and terrain in Southeast Alaska made traveling perilous – fog, rain, strong t...
Don't expect Ed Asner's name to fade from casting lists anytime soon. With a variety of current and upcoming projects, 87-year-old Asner remains as busy and versatile as ever. It's a trend that follows a lifetime of dedication to his craft, playing bishops, doctors, judges, cops, cowboys, professors, villains and hundreds more film, television and stage characters and voice roles. "When I came out to Hollywood in 1961, I was determined not to be typecast," said Asner from his office in Los...
New research from the Employment Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) updates previous estimates of how much money Medicare beneficiaries are projected to need to cover health expenses in retirement, including premiums for Medicare Parts B and D, premiums for Medigap Plan F, and out-of-pocket spending for outpatient prescription drugs. The analysis shows that retiree health savings targets increased from 2014 to 2016, but that 2016 savings targets continue to be lower than they were in 2012 almost across the board. Specifically: • In 2016, a 65-ye...
Here’s another question I am asked regularly: how small does an estate have to be before it does not have to go through probate? Back when I was starting out, and in fact for quite a few years after that, the answer was easy. If it was less than $15,000 and there was no real estate, it did not have to go through probate. Anything above that, and it did. That was it, plain and simple. It was easy to figure out, although it was an awfully low amount, and that meant that a lot of cases had to go th...
Q. My daughter is upset with me because I get news from Facebook. I don’t understand why that is such a big problem. A. Social networks like Facebook and Pinterest get most of the information they present from users. Conventions vary, but generally sites only filter extreme material like pornography. There is nothing to remove inaccurate information. To make the matter worse, financial incentives exist to create and distribute false information. In the race for attention, quality is overwhelmed by spectacle. Rumors and facts become indistinguis...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles from the Diverse Elders Coalition, looking at different segments of the senior population. The importance of friends and family to our health is well understood by American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Though the specific traditions of tribes, pueblos, nations and bands can differ quite a bit between one another, we as AI/AN share our respect for, inclusion of, and focus on elders as a common link between our communities. In today’s culture, many elders are separated from their co...
As an older veteran, the last thing on your mind might be a home refinancing plan. You may have paid off your house and are basking in the lifelong dream of finally having no mortgage payment. Spending money on house payments are for the younger folks, right. Well, I want you to consider some salient points for pulling some cash out of the old homestead. First, interest rates are at an all-time low. With a little shopping, you should be able to find a VA lender offering rates on a 30-year fixed...
Sweaters, strollers, pet pouches - the accoutrements of the small dog may make us giggle but they serve a valuable purpose for the less-than-20 pound citizens of the canine world. Small dogs are popular companions for people living in smaller homes or apartments. It's important to select the right dog for you and know how to provide for their special needs. Depending on their breed (or predominant mix of breeds) the exercise requirements of small dogs can vary greatly. A 15-pound West Highland T...
"Russia has sold us a sucked orange," the New York World proclaimed after the U.S. government announced it was to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in the spring of 1867. And most Americans agreed with this opinion 150 years ago this month. The historic decision was greeted with derision and a multitude of catcalls aimed at then Secretary of State William H. Seward. Terms bandied about for the tract of land that was one-fifth the size of the Continental United States included...
A couple of years ago, visitors to Carol Burnett's home might have observed the comedy legend glued to the TV set, binge-watching every episode of her old variety show. But it wasn't a case of extreme celebrity vanity sweeping through the Burnett household. "I'd been getting calls from writers wanting to interview me about the show," said Ms. Burnett from Los Angeles. "So I thought, maybe I should write a definitive history of the 11 years I worked on 'The Carol Burnett Show' because, after all,...
If you go to the movies very often, you might have heard of an actor named Philip Seymour Hoffman. He was quite a talented character actor, he even won an Oscar for portraying Truman Capote, and he was nominated for a number of other Oscars and Tonys as well. Don’t worry, I’m not about to turn this into a movie review column. My interest in the talented Mr. Hoffman is not that he was a good actor, but that he was a bad estate planner. When Philip Seymour Hoffman died in 2014, he left behind a s...
Q. Is it possible to talk with Siri on non-Apple devices? A. The short answer is no, Siri is a feature only available from Apple. For readers who may not be familiar with that name, Siri is the voice-controlled Intelligent Personal Assistant installed on Apple devices. Controlling devices with voice commands is hot right now, and Apple Siri has plenty of company. Microsoft has Cortana. Google has Google Voice. Samsung has Viv. Amazon has Alexa. There are many others. Each of them has a common set of abilities, along with capabilities unique to...
Naw Gay Lay is a 77-year-old Karen refugee from Myanmar (Burma). The Karen people are an ethnic and religious minority group that has been persecuted throughout much of Burma's history. As a young woman, Naw Gay Lay worked in a rice field and began raising her family in a rural village in central Burma. When she reached her mid-30s, the whole village had to flee from Burmese military insurgents. She lost her husband in this brutal civil conflict and was forced to live in the jungle with her six...
Since the Yukon gold rush days, a road from the lower 48 states (outside) to Alaska had been discussed but it took WWll to jump start the project. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941, which authorized the transfer of military equipment to our allies before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, necessitated the construction of a land link between airstrips in western Canada and Alaska. These airfields were for refueling and maintenance points for aircraft being ferried to Ladd Field (now Fort Wainwright)...
When Archbishop of Vancouver Island Charles John Seghers journeyed down the Yukon River in November 1886, he had no way of knowing he would never return to civilization. The Catholic priest, who originally came from Belgium, had spent many years doing missionary work in Canada and Alaska. Seghers first came to Alaska in 1873, as it was included in his diocese. He made five visits to the Great Land and set up a temporary headquarters in Nulato. In 1878, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of...
On screen, she amused TV audiences as feisty nurse Maj. Margaret Houlihan for 11 seasons in the highly acclaimed late 70s/early 80s comedy war drama, M*A*S*H. But away from the cameras, Loretta Swit surrounded herself with paintbrushes and watercolors instead of scalpels and plasma. A collection of her paintings appears in "SWITHEART – The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit" (see www.SwitHeart.com). Published in January, SWITHEART is written by Mies Hora with the full s...
Throughout the month of February, we honor African Americans by celebrating Black History Month. Created in 1926, this event coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12 and Frederick Douglass on Feb. 14. African American communities have celebrated these birthdays together for over a century. Honoring our shared history and reflecting on the past is one way we can remember that in America, we believe in freedom and democracy for all. Another shared belief is that we all deserve a comfortable retirement, free of economic...
When I first discovered the estate tax (or if you like, “death tax”), way back in the 1980s, the rate could be as high as 55 percent. That’s right, once you got above a certain level, Uncle Sam was taking more than half of what you saved. Nowadays the rate is down to 40 percent, which is still pretty high, but the estate tax doesn’t kick in until you are around $5.5 million, so it doesn’t affect very many people. There is another tax, though, which can affect even fairly small estates,...
Q. My daughter keeps encouraging me to get a smartphone, but I fail to see any need. I don’t need the Internet on my phone. Are there other reasons? A. Information can save your life. And the smartphone can be an essential tool for recording information about your health. A smartphone can log medications and remind you when it is time to administer the next dose. It can record vital statistics, sometimes in concert with external devices like bathroom scales and blood pressure monitors. And it can also provide emergency responders with a p...
I was recently asked, “How do you deal with all the hatred that is in the world?” The woman who asked me this question has a transgender son, and so I knew she was looking for support from me because I, too, have a transgender son, and there are so many states trying to implement laws against our children. I gave her a concise answer about looking for the blessings around me and focusing on what is positive in my life rather than focusing on the negativity that often consumes the news, but her question caused me to reflect even further. I am...
United States military involvement in the Vietnam War officially began on August 5, 1964; however, the first U.S. casualty in Vietnam occurred on July 8, 1959. Approximately 2.7 million American men and women served in Vietnam. During the war, over 58,000 U.S. military members lost their lives and 153,000 were wounded. There were 766 prisoners of war of which 114 died in captivity. The war was officially ended by Presidential Proclamation on May 7, 1975. Following is the latest updates from the...
While many Alaskans celebrated Christmas on December 25, others from the Pribilof Islands to Nikiski to Sitka observe Christmas in January. That's because they observe the Russian Orthodox Church calendar. The Russian Orthodox Church still uses the Julian calendar, where each day occurs 13 days after the corresponding day on the modern Gregorian calendar. So January 7 is their day of rejoicing the birth of Christ. The Alaska Native people's relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church dates...
