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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...
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...
