White House budget spikes climate change, other spending; GOP blasts defense proposal
April 12 By Casey Harper President Joe Biden released top-level numbers for his proposed 2022 budget Friday. The $1.5 trillion plan includes major spending increases for domestic projects while keeping defense spending essentially steady with inflation. Biden’s budget proposes a 15.9% increase in non-defense discretionary…
Biden is securing America’s place in the world and challenging China with his bold domestic agenda
April 12 By Frederick Kempe It is hard to overstate the audaciousness of President Joe Biden’s first 100 days in office, which will be marked April 30. Behind it lies a presidential ambition to recharge America while at the same time improving U.S. odds in…
Democrats and Republicans stay quiet as lone legal challenge advances against Alaska’s new ranked-choice voting system
April 11 By James Brooks When Maine’s pioneering attempt to install ranked-choice voting was met with a flurry of lawsuits, Alaskans expected the same thing after voters here approved a sweeping election-reform law in November. So far, that hasn’t happened. Only a single lawsuit has…
Business Faces Tricky Path Navigating Post-Trump Politics
April 11 By Brain Slodysko For more than a half-century, the voice emerging from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s monolithic, Beaux Arts-styled building near the White House was predictable: It was the embodiment of American business and, more specifically, a shared set of interests with…
China has three ‘weapons’ to deal with US provocation
April 10 By Warren Beatty A number of US senators on Thursday introduced a draft measure, titled the Strategic Competition Act of 2021, which is to be reviewed by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week. The act proposes sanctions on more Chinese officials…
Extra marks on ballots held up tabulating on Anchorage’s Election Night
April 10 By Kavitha George With more than 50,000 votes counted by Thursday, a runoff election for Anchorage mayor between Assembly member Forrest Dunbar and former Air Force and commercial pilot Dave Bronson is likely. Progressive school board candidates have maintained a lead over their…
Biden’s big fiscal gamble on America’s future
April 9 By Edward Luce The last time the US budget deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product was in double digits for more than a year was during the second world war. Joe Biden was just an infant. Few had heard of Harry…
Biden admin nixes plan to sell National Archives building in Seattle
April 9 By Liz Ruskin In a win for Alaska tribes, the Biden Administration has cancelled the sale of a National Archives building in Seattle, citing lack of tribal consultation. Alaska Native and Pacific Northwest tribes opposed the sale when it was revealed during the…
Competing with China a farfetched guise for US’ infrastructure plan
April 8 By Michael Stewart As the US government unveils a $2 trillion infrastructure plan, President Joe Biden said that the US must put itself “in a position to win the global competition with China.” At a press briefing on Sunday, a White House spokesperson…
THE POLITICS OF BIGOTRY: WHY REPUBLICANS STILL FABRICATE CONFLICTS WITHOUT PROOF IN ORDER TO STOKE FEAR
April 8 By Robert Reich There is no ‘surge’ of migrants at the border and there is no huge voter fraud problem, there is only an attack from the Republican hard-right. Republicans are outraged – outraged! – at the surge of migrants at the southern…
Alaska Supreme Court restores access to public employee and teacher retirement benefits
April 8 By Matt Miller The Alaska Supreme Court says the Legislature violated the state constitution when it arbitrarily limited when some public employees could return to work and resume making retirement contributions. The decision provides a second chance for many as 78,000 Alaskans to…
Will the world boycott China’s Winter Olympics?
April 8 By Kelly Brown The US says China has committed genocide in Xinjiang. Its human rights report says the Uighurs are on target. More than one million of them were randomly put in jail. They were tortured, men faced forced sterilisation, women were raped,…