Kirk_Wickersham

Treadwell has been on the front lines, fighting for Alaska, since he came here more than 40 years ago.

OPINION: The University of Alaska has its priorities out of whack for the communities it serves and the century we live in.

Joe Miller would cut the deficit by applying 18th Century needs and technology to determine 21st Century funding priorities.

I do not have a position on the Pebble gold and copper prospect in Southwest Alaska, but I do have a position on the seemingly endless advertising and political campaign in opposition to Pebble. It is not "OK to just oppose the Pebble mine."

I have read about it, walked around it, considered it from up close and from far away, and I have come to one overwhelming conclusion: Our new "Habitat" statue expresses the artist's contempt for Anchorage. We have been set up, and the joke is on us.

Recent media coverage of the sentencing of the principals in the mortgage fraud case did not tell the whole story. When the story broke, over a year and a half ago, it was the lead story. Photos of the accused were plastered all over the front page.

Many years ago, when my son was about 8, we were driving through Soldotna and stopped to gas up. He had 50 cents, and went in to buy a 49 cent candy bar. The cashier rang it up and said, "51 cents." He was dumbfounded. She explained the local sales tax.

Do you expect your kids to graduate from college? Not like, "Gee, that would be nice," but an actual commitment: "Son, you and I are going to do whatever is necessary for you to graduate from college."

I was listening to a couple of Native leaders the other day. (I won't refer to them as elders because, hey, they are my contemporaries).

I took a walk around Westchester Lagoon on the one sunny afternoon we've had this fall. The parking lot by the duck pond was full of young Frisbee golfers waiting to use the course or discussing their just-completed game. It was the same good- natured banter that you might hear from the old duffers at the 19th hole at O'Malley.