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STEVE HAYCOX

Alaska's the better for having had Gruening

Last Monday was the birth date of Ernest Gruening, one of the most significant figures in Alaska's history, a history rich in larger-than-life characters. Gruening was territorial governor here from 1939 to 1953 and U.S. senator from Alaska 1958 to 1968.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Rugged week for Alaskans, big and little

When I saw the story, I felt such an overwhelming sense of sadness. Little tykes shouldn't be lying in a hospital bed or morgue from a beating. But that's exactly what two little kids from Barrow were doing.

SHANNYN MOORE

'Pro-life' means more than 'pro-birth'

When I was 33, Mom and Pop Moore were staying with me. Mom was undergoing radiation and chemotherapy for breast cancer. For those of you who have been around a loved one with cancer, I don't have to explain. For those of you who haven't, nothing can prepare you for it.

PAUL JENKINS

Senate has the ACES ball -- now, what will happen next?

It appears something is happening in the endless, grinding effort to amend the Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share oil tax abomination. Or not.

JOHN HAVELOCK

US has own version of 'Downton Abbey'

Aren't we all having fun watching "Downton Abbey," the English soap that traces the squiggles of English class structure in the early 20th century? Well, study it well because an American version of the same is in the making as real life.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Airline did right by its prayer cards

Since some segments of our community are already sure I'm from the dark side, or heading there soon after my demise, I might as well explain my take on the Alaska Airlines' prayer card issue.

SHANNYN MOORE

Seeing past party labels puts Alaska first

I posted two updates on Facebook. They seemed simple. One: My baby-blue beaver fur coat keeps me warm. It was on sale at Second Run and I love it. The other? That I'm furious with the pathetic state of our Board of Game and the dastardly policies of snaring bears, gassing wolf pups and shooting both bears and wolves from airplanes. De-friended with explanations -- so seventh grade.

PAUL JENKINS

Backing Newt guarantees another term for Obama

It is my sad duty to report that Republicans -- even ultra-conservative tea party loons and people who should know better -- are lost. In a desperate bid to dodge Mitt Romney as their presidential candidate, many are embracing, unbelievably, Newt Gingrich.

STEVE HAYCOX

Inhumanity of 70 years ago lingers today

A week ago today was the 70th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, which took place at a large, spacious villa on a lake in a suburb of Berlin. What happened at Wannsee concerns us all and at many levels.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Prevo, Gingrich cross the 'sleaze' line

Whether or not Jerry Prevo broke the law with his church's property tax exemptions is perhaps not as important as the fact that it all just feels sleazy. Churches shouldn't feel sleazy. Given what most churches preach, they should be so far from the line separating legal from illegal that there is no doubt whatsoever that they are upright and honorable.

JUDITH KLEINFELD

Find a way to reward yourself for exercising

One of our most common New Year's resolutions is to get more exercise. Exercise ranks second in New Year's resolutions, right after our first goal of spending more time with friends and family.

SHANNYN MOORE

State is playing an unscientific game

The war on science is winning. And I'm not talking about those who confuse weather and climate.

PAUL JENKINS

President blundered in blocking Keystone XL

When you consider President Barack Obama is in the re-election scrap of his life, with polls showing a chihuahua named Muffy could beat him later this year, it is almost enough to make you laugh that he sacked the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

ALAN BORAAS

Dec. 21 end of a cycle, not end of time

As popularly portrayed, the end of the world will occur on Dec. 21, 2012, when the Mayan calendar stops. To late-night comedians and other sophisticates, the Mayan calendar is just another unscientific superstition by an indigenous group.

MICHAEL CAREY

Poor begin to raise voices in outrage

Peter De Vries, who wrote for The New Yorker, said reality is what won't go away no matter how hard you try to make it go away. For Americans in 2012, what won't go away is the growing income disparity between rich and poor and the decline in American social mobility.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Age has a way of making cold feel colder

I love snow and cold more than I ever loved sun and sand. This makes me a bit of an oddball in a family where temperatures dipping below 60 are considered a sign of the apocalypse.

SHANNYN MOORE

If you want to push bigotry, leave God out

I don't know how many hours I've spent in church, but it's a lot. I guess it doesn't matter since they're not counted as frequent flier miles for admission into heaven. Some of my greatest life lessons were learned at the foot of a pulpit. Some I missed, and had to learn the hard way.

PAUL JENKINS

Capitalism, like Twinkies, allows room for failure

Republicans who skedaddled out of New Hampshire, dragging their dead and wounded behind them into South Carolina for the Jan. 21 GOP primary, could find themselves facing a test of bedrock capitalist principles.

JOHN HAVELOCK

Top attorney in state works for office, not for governor

The appointment of a new Alaska attorney general is now imminent, if it has not happened between the writing of this article and the printing of it. So, welcome to the new state legal chief while wishing well to his precursor returned to private practice in Fairbanks.

STEVE HAYCOX

Pioneering Gruber left mark on state

A book can be a very powerful agent; and where it may lead is unpredictable. Consider the case of Ruth Gruber, a remarkable woman who had an impact on post-WWII Alaska.

ELISE PATKOTAK

Wealthy taking over our government

The House of Representatives is traditionally considered the people's house. If our representatives have incomes most of us can only dream about, while our own incomes continue to stagnate or fall, the question must invariably arise as to how much they are really looking out for us and not just themselves and their wealthy sponsors.