Archive for the ‘Issues’ Category

Do AWWU Plumbers Deserve a Pay Raise?

The Anchorage Assembly voted down the three year nearly 15% increase in wages for plumbers (most at AWWU). Was this the right decision? The average AWWU plumber receives about $109,000 annually in pay and benefits; the average Anchorage non-AWWU plumber gets about $68,000 annually(not including benefits,...
August 31st, 2011 | Collective Bargaining Agreements, Fiscal Policy, Recent News | Read More

Medicare Actuary: Obamacare will triple the net growth rate of health care costs

From the Apothecary blog over at Forbes.com: The Office of the Actuary in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently put out its annual projections of national health care spending. And, contrary to the President, the actuaries find that Obamacare will dramatically increase the near-term...
August 10th, 2011 | Health Care, Recent News | Read More

Rethinking the dogma of Electronic Health Records

Alaska has made significant investments in the infrastructure needed for Electronic Health Records, but will EHR’s deliver on the grand promises made? From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: For an industry that relies on data and evidence-based measurements to make decisions on the clinical and pharmaceutical...
August 9th, 2011 | Health Care | Read More

State of Alaska Payroll Database Launched

Executive Director Jeremy Thompson explains Why Alaska Government Transparency is a Worthy Cause Here at the Alaska Policy Forum we believe that transparency is always the best public policy. As the state’s only free-market think tank, we believe transparency is the key to a more educated, involved,...
July 14th, 2011 | Recent News, Transparency | Read More

Fairbanks Borough Takes a Mulligan on Redistricting

By: Lance Roberts On June 23rd the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, with a large audience attending, voted 8-1 for Resolution 2011-26, which would protest the State of Alaska’s Redistricting Board’s final redistricting map. That night the audience was heavily favored by those who support a...
July 5th, 2011 | Policy, Recent News | Read More

Everyday Math Explained

Everyday Math Explained
June 29th, 2011 | Featured | Read More

Anchorage School District Struggles with Math Curriculum, Just Like Students Do

The Anchorage School District commissioned The Council of the Great City Schools to evaluate why the Every Day Math program is not fulfilling ASD’s dreams. In a voluminous report, the CGCS concluded that the school district has made some strides in Standards Based Assessment scores following...
June 27th, 2011 | Education, Recent News | Read More

Cadillac Benefits For Me, But Not For Thee

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PL111-148), perhaps the most far reaching social and economic legislation since the 1930s. There are many unintended consequences resulting from this 2,400 page document which will impact most Americans....
June 1st, 2011 | Fiscal Policy, Health Care, Recent News | Read More

Port of Anchorage Continues to have Problems-Is it Design After all?

We posted an original story on June 7, 2010 on serious problems with the Port of Anchorage expansion project. Problems continue to plague the project. Maybe the design is the root cause of the problem. (Read more…)
May 17th, 2011 | Recent News | Read More

Will Fire Island Wind Farm Provide Reliable Energy?

(BBC News) The John Muir Trust Fund, a conservation charity, has conclude that UK wind farms operate well below capacity more than half the time. During the highest peak demand time, the farms operate at less than five percent of capacity. So, when you need energy most, it will most likely not be available....
May 5th, 2011 | Energy | Read More

Congress May Remove Whistleblower from Endangered Species List

A bipartisan contingent of senators has reintroduced legislation to provide better protections for federal whistleblowers. The 2011 Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act is virtually identical to the legislation that narrowly missed passage last December, when an anonymous senator blocked it on the...
April 25th, 2011 | Accountability | Read More

Anchorage School District Needs to Implement a Fraud, Waste & Abuse Program

In December of 2009 the Alaska Policy Forum recommended that the ASD implement a program to identify fraud, waste & abuse in the District. Unfortunately, our recommendation went unheeded. In light of the recent discovery of alleged fraud by District employees maybe ASD leadership should reconsider...
April 21st, 2011 | Accountability, Education | Read More

U.S. Loans Green $$ to Germany to go Green in California

(Forbes)The United States Department of Energy on Monday offered a conditional $2.1 billion loan guarantee to German developer Solar Millennium to finance the first half of a 1,000 megawatt solar thermal power plant to be built in the Southern California desert.The Blythe Solar Power Project is the largest...
April 20th, 2011 | Energy | Read More

Building the Federal Obamacare Exchange: Should Alaska Do It?

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is unpopular, unwieldy, expensive, likely unconstitutional, and will shortly be a prime target for repeal. The dilemma for Governor Parnell is that the law is written with the assumption that the state will be burdened with the execution of many of its worst ideas. ACA...
April 8th, 2011 | Health Care, Recent News | Read More

Mat-Su Payroll Portal Launched

Mat-Su Payroll Portal Launched
Anchorage, Alaska – Continuing with its efforts to advance government transparency, the Alaska Policy Forum has launched a new portal which allows citizens in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough to view the salaries of its public employees. Like the previously launched website, the data can be navigated...
March 8th, 2011 | Featured, Fiscal Policy, Recent News, Transparency | Read More

Will Compulsory Education Until Age 18 Lower Alaska’s Dropout Rate?

Would raising the legal mandatory school attendance age to 18 improve graduation rates and reduce truancy, juvenile crime, pregnancy and other at-risk behaviors? State Senator Bettye Davis (D-Anchorage)  thinks so. She recently filed SB 9, which proposes to compel school attendance from age 6 to age...
March 2nd, 2011 | Education, Recent News | Read More
Page 2 of 151234510...Last »