Alaska Legislature Soupline

This year it could he hard to tell the difference between the normal parade of legislative requests and the average soupline.  Some of the askers will be more needy, and the legislature will obviously have less to hand out.  Stay tuned for an interesting legislative session. Published 1/24/2009.

Happy New Year, Alaska

A new year is a new beginning, yet it always comes with baggage from the previous year. Immediately after submitting this cartoon, I wished I had included some of the other baggage that will affect our economy this year: poor income from last year’s lower-Yukon fishing seasons and some new endangered species listings,  for instance. [...]

The Domino Effect Reaches Alaska

Over the past few months we’ve read a few articles explaining why Alaskans won’t be hit as hard by the present recession as other states.  They may be right, but we’re not going to come out of this unscathed. Click on the image to view the full cartoon…

Oil Prices and Alaska’s Budget

With the 2009 legislative session approaching, we’re looking at falling oil revenues and a declining balance in the Alaska Permanent fund — a result of stock market declines during the past two quarters.  The Alaska Legislature will be required to show more restraint in its spending than usual, and this will be the supreme challenge [...]

Governor Palin takes her AGIA plan on the road

As Governor Palin recently learned, the oil producers have beat the state to the draw by first notifying the Federal Energy Regulatory Agency that they will be submitting an application for approval of their own pipeline plan. Meanwhile, Alaska’s pipeline plan is still being discussed in the legislature. Click on the image to view the [...]

Alaska’s Budget: Entertainment for All

Just because hockey season is ending doesn’t mean we can’t still watch a good fight. As usual, it’s the end of the legislative session and the climax will be the budget circus. First the Legislature takes out all the Governor’s favorite stuff. Then the governor vetoes the legislature’s favorite stuff. Then they each hold press [...]

KDN Cartoon: February 23, 2008

This week’s cartoon in the Ketchikan Daily News addresses the Alaskan voters initiatives (and one bill in the legislature) that address “clean water.” Or do they? This is where you can comment on this week’s Ketchikan Daily News cartoon. Click on the image to see the full cartoon.