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A bill passed and signed in 2012 was touted as a milestone in protecting victims of sex trafficking.  But those who work in the sex industry in Alaska say it isn’t having the effect lawmakers expected when they voted for it. The Atlantic magazine brought the law’s failures to national attention in December.

Now, with the goal of giving shelter and alternatives to sex workers who need help or want to get away from the industry, Community United for Safety and Protection  is trying to raise money to send a representative to this year’s session to lobby for better conditions and to try to correct the 2012 law.

With the title “Nothing About Us Without Us”  the community has raised about half the amount needed to send someone – a victim — to help their cause.

With advocates echoing the Alaska idea of having someone who knows what conditions are like – and what needs to be done – a similar attempt is already underway in the Oregon legislature that was reported today here.

The Alaska group has 35 days left in its online fundraising campaign.

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I used to enjoy tracking where the votes and money were represented when committees met on high-profile bills. It was fun to see how much money committee members got in contributions from industries showing interest in the subjects up for discussion.

I noticed a variation of that with the Marijuana bill (SB30) that was up Monday and will be back tomorrow (Wednesday) in a meeting of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.

Money would be hard to track here, but it’s interesting to see how the votes fell for the committee members. If people are truly listening to the voters, they will closely follow the structure of the initiative that passed in November.

Of the committee members, five of the seven House members were elected from districts where the proposition passed. Four of the five Senators are in the same position. To do anything negative on such a volatile and tight subject would risk the member’s future in the lawmaking business.

Here are the votes for Prop 2:

House      For    Against      Senate            For    Against

LeDoux      2225   1860            McGuire              7508    7397

Keller         3866   3737            Coghill                 8252     6406

Millett       3621     3626           Costello              8191       7686

Lynn         3661      4479            Micciche            7387       8339

Foster       3293      2490           Wielechowski    5769       4890

Gruenberg 3544   3030                                        37107   34618

Claman     4391   3699

24607 22921

This is no more than something to make watching a committee a little more interesting. Seeing people who are following the will of their voters by voting against their own preferences is good democracy. Of course, this presumes that no one would ever try to water down the proposition that voters passed.

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In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama introduced a plan that would provide two free years of education at Community Colleges. Using systems already working in Chicago and the State of Tennessee as examples of success, his plan proposes paying three-quarters of the cost of educating someone who maintains a 2.5 GPA and makes progress toward completing the program. Basically, colleges have to offer the programs, and be involved in arrangements for the other 25% of the cost.

In his speech the President said that forty percent of U.S. students choose community colleges.

“By the end of this decade two of three jobs will require some higher education. And yet we live in a country where too many bright, striving Americans are priced out of the education they need. It’s not fair to them, and it’s sure not smart for our future”

He described the plan as providing a debt-free way for someone to become ready for the new economy in fields such as coding, nursing and robotics.

The idea isn’t new. And we don’t have to wait for the federal or state governments to do anything to make it work.   Here’s a piece I saw more than a year ago on the effects that free higher education made on a city in Michigan. The Kalamazoo Promise offers 100% of the cost of education to 100% of the graduates of the school system there.

As the TV story says, the idea is spreading – it mentions Pittsburgh, which has made its own Pittsburgh Promise. It has also spread throughout Michigan to other colleges.

It works for the cities, the colleges,  the local businesses and the people.

The programs don’t pass along government grants, so there’s no need for politicians to get their fingers on it. There’s no political influence since all school graduates qualify.  Instead, it’s about money and workforce development – in most places, that’s a private sector duty. It’s about getting a workers who can go beyond the occupations available to those who have less education, smaller dreams, or fewer opportunities. It’s good for the town to be known as a place where people are ready for better lives. It’s good to be able to bring in new businesses looking for people to work for them. It’s good for the people who will actually have those newly available jobs .

The President’s approach has drawn criticism from the usual sources, of course. However, it’s worth asking those critics whether they would prefer to search for employees from a local, educated community or to import enough job-qualified people who can run their business. The answer would indicate the quality of the business as well as the position of that town on a colonial scale.

It would be interesting to see the results of just asking businesses if they would take part in such a program — outside of the government.

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— This is not meant to alarm anyone, but please keep this photo in mind. It was taken by the Washington National Guard last year and shows the mudslide that hit Oso, Washington, in March 2014. The earth simply collapsed over a width of one mile, and forty three people died that Saturday morning. For comparison, the slide was more than double the width of the Mendenhall Glacier.

Afterwards, a Washington state commission made several recommendations to increase public awareness and warnings of landslide risk, to discourage building in potential landslide zones, and to do more surveys to identify where those risks are located. Here’s a summary.

KUOW reported on the recommendations:

A KUOW/Earthfix investigation in September found that most Washington counties routinely allow homes to be built 50 feet or less from known landslide zones, although landslides often travel hundreds of feet. The extremely large Oso slide traveled more than 3,000 feet from the base of the well-known landslide slope along the North Fork Stillaguamish River.

With that in mind, consider the weather reports from just one day in Southeast Alaska. And especially notice the dates of the records that are falling.

…Record daily maximum temperatures on Thursday…

…Record daily high minimum temperatures on Thursday…

Rainfall records are breaking all over Southeast this month, too, so I won’t try to keep up with the numbers. Records in that category are just like the temperatures. This year, communities are breaking records from last year. And we don’t see an immediate break on the way.

Special Statement

Statement as of 3:33 PM AKST on January 23, 2015

The active weather pattern will continue through Saturday. The next storm system is projected to impact northern and central Panhandle with heavy rain and windy conditions. 2 to 3 inches are expected through Saturday night…with locally higher amounts. Wind gusts of 40 mph or higher are expected.

Impacts – expect small streams to rise and approach bank full Friday night. Windy conditions may interrupt power and uproot trees. Mudslides and landslides are likely.

Please stay tuned to your favorite weather information sources for updates on the progress of the heavy rain and wind.

One conclusion is that we are beginning to see a trend in Alaska. Temperatures and rainfall are increasing every year. From national statistics that trend has grown for more than a decade and by every outlook I have seen, it will continue. I have my ideas on what’s causing it, you have yours. I don’t care about passing the buck, I want solutions.

We, as a society, need to look at how we are dealing with it. How about local governments – or volunteers — doing some surveys to give a hint at where there are risks. I know of a small landslide some years back uphill from my house, another two closer to the Gastineau Channel. I bet there are others just in Juneau. I bought insurance that should protect the investment in my house. I sleep with my boots by the bed.

If I were a leader, I would encourage some organization to come up with preparing for a disaster. There are lessons from Oso, Washington, that we need to take the time to learn.

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Bob Tkacz’s brothers arrived in Juneau over the weekend and will spend the week closing Bob’s office and sending his things to where they need to be.  Juneau memorial events are still planned for Thursday.

The Capitol reception is set for Thursday (7/10) at 3:pm in the Speaker’s office on the second floor.  There’s no agenda that I know about except an open forum for us to share memories of working with Bob.

That reception is not limited to Capitol People, but the time is awkward for some people.  A second event is planned for 6:pm at the St. Anne’s community room on Fifth Street (that’s about three blocks down the street from the Capitol’s back door, next to the cathedral).  Last week I gave a few people another time, but this came directly from the family today.

A few other Bob Things will remain in Juneau.  The family has donated Bob’s extensive work-related files and photos to the state archives.  They are still trying to complete the donation of his library to an appropriate place,  and are planning to find new places for the rest of his things next weekend.

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Bob Tkacz’s family will take part in two public memorial events when his brothers come to Juneau to close up Bob’s office and affairs next month.

The first will be at the Capitol on July 10th at 3:pm.  It is planned to last an hour or two and will give the family the chance to see the respect that we had for him.  No alcohol is allowed in view of security guards.  The event’s details are available from Senator Egan’s office.

The second will be at one of the churches within a couple of blocks of the capitol and will begin that same date in the early evening.  I don’t have any details on that one and am not certain at this point whether there will be a service along with it.  I’ll update you as the information comes together.

— Dave

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I once used a quote from Thomas Jefferson as the inspiration for a website I once put together. “Whenever people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government.”

During a long career in journalism, I saw my job as one of education – not uncovering a major or minor scandal or quoting those who are more loud than they are intelligent. I never was breathless.  I always said I could live comfortably among people who made informed decisions, even though we disagree.

When I finally retired a few years ago, I knew my purpose was fading. I was confused, though. I noticed that facts do not change votes. This week I read the best explanation yet of what has happened.

Here it is. 

Now I understand that public life will not change.  I still haven’t figured out what to do, but at least I am no longer burdened with Hope.

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Am I the only person to have trouble with this? The Alaska House today passed a resolution with the short title “Protection of Christian Syrians.”  Anchorage’s Andy Josephson voiced a little caution about the measure, saying it reminded him of where America’s mind was in 2003. However, he voted for it.

HJR 32 brings up a list of evil things that the Syrian regime has done to its Christian citizens – the massacre of Christians in Jihad attacks, burning Christian churches, kidnapping Orthodox Bishops and a Nun.  Agreed, that those were horrible things for a government to have done to its people. But if you look beyond what you see in conservative U.S. publications and churches you will also see a government that uses interfaith chemical weapons against people regardless of their beliefs.  It destroys huge parts of very large cities where there were lots of Korans and mosques.  Syria has a secular, conservative government fighting to hold on to its political and economic power.  It is not trying to spread religion. Only American conservatives see it as a religious government.

We who sometimes watch American politics also see this subject could become a possible rock the Republicans would throw at Democrats in this fall’s elections.  It would unabashedly be shouted as “Obama didn’t intervene.”

I hope the House soon becomes embarrassed by its willing extension of loopy thinking.  There’s no excuse for it.

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Alaska House Democrats today told reporters that they will not support HB 384 that would increase the state’s minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour to $8.75 and then to $9.75 per hour in 2016. It would then remove the subject from legislative action with an annual recalculation of the numbers based on the cost of living.

If you think you’ve heard of that before, you have. It’s the same as a citizen’s initiative set to appear on this year’s ballots. It will likely win by a really large majority.

The House Republicans decided they needed to pass their own bill to take the question off the ballot. Especially since so many non-GOP people like it. Getting it off the ballot will remove the incentive for a lot of voters to go to the polls in August – leaving at home also their non-GOP votes on other issues and candidates. Based on legislative action, it will then allow the legislature to re-open the subject during next year’s session. If it’s on the ballot it must remain untouched for two years.

R’s are biting the bullet here for what they see as a payoff later.

Democrats think it’s better to have the question on the ballot, and they aren’t behind the GOP plan. If the legislation has any value, they’re right; but how can they vote – or act – against it? I doubt if any of those precious few politicians would get re-elected after being associated with this headline: “Democrats Turn Down Income Hike For the Working Poor.” It’s regrettable D’s,   but that’s what’s on the way. If you have to write a press release to explain your goofy vote, you better have the bumper stickers already printed. The R’s have done that by getting behind it.

It’s far better to support the bill you hate so that you can claim credit for passing it, save the cost of an advertising campaign and do away with the outside risk of  its losing at the polls.

The Senate R’s didn’t sound too excited about considering the question, so there’s a chance it won’t pass.

But that headline will remain.

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I think some of us have read enough about Alaska’s flimsy education reform jabber going on at the Capitol. There’s not much hope for serious improvement for a system that sees student loans as a profit center instead of a tool to improve lives and society.

Maybe it’s time to look for a new trick. Maybe it’s time to ask why the legislature and the governor can’t make a serious commitment to something fresh.  They could start with this:

The Students Go To College For Free.

This Al Jazeera TV (not available on cable in Alaska) report shows economic, personal, life-changing benefits for the people and the community. It’s not a partisan or religious thing.  It’s working in Michigan.  Other places are trying to put it together.

The Kalamazoo Promise is about making society a lot better. And no one has ever shown me anything wrong with that.

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