Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott

The Permanent Fund Protection Act is the biggest single step Alaska has taken to fix the deficit that has eaten away at our savings and services since the price of oil crashed in 2014.

OPINION: Let's make tough budget decisions now, while we still have time and choices, for Alaska's future.

OPINION: A vital key to prosperity and all the other elements of a rich life in Alaska can be found in our public school classrooms.

OPINION: Alaska's Medicaid payment system is a mess and it is affecting everyone from large hospitals and medical practices to self-employed Alaskans. And it's time to make fixing the problem a priority.

OPINION: Education budgets should not be subject to the customary last-minute legislative horse-trading. Young people are Alaska's future, and providing for their schooling should not be constantly in jeopardy.

OPINION: Alaska has come a long way in the 15 years since John Hope Jr.'s funeral -- and we have a long way to go to end the scourge of abuse afflicting our communities.

We now can believe, as a result of her write-in general election victory, that Sen. Lisa Murkowski's primary election loss caused many Alaskans to pause and examine their innate moral values in addition to their political instincts.

Steve Haycox is both right and wrong in his Aug. 5 column ("Debate has long focused on Tongass"). I respect Steve Haycox as a fair recorder and interpreter of Alaska history. Thus I was taken aback by his recent column on the Tongass.

It is time for an Alaska Marshall Plan to transform rural Alaska.