Juneau Independent

The surging price of gas caused by the war with Iran has become an inextricable problem for President Donald Trump. On Wednesday he reverted to insults. “Iran can’t get their act together,” he wrote in a social media post. “They don’t know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!”

A new effort to force states to affirm the Trump administration’s views on DEI, transgender athletes and immigration when signing contracts with the U.S. Forest Service is threatening millions of dollars in wildfire grant funding and fire reduction projects on federal lands.

What is the point of local government? It's the government we see most in our day-to-day lives and the government we turn to first when things go wrong. The current estimated $12 million shortfall, while not insignificant, does not warrant panicked reactions. Erratic changes in baseline city services are bad for everyone and should be the last, not the first option.

A recent opinion article by Scott Spickler highlights the hypocrisy and disingenuousness of the Affordable Juneau Coalition. Mr. Spickler wrote that he wants “to help young people starting out in life”…but then goes on to say that the financial break he’s giving them is “small.”

I was surprised to read recent social posts claiming that the effort to remove sales tax on food and lower the cap on property taxes came from a group of “old, wealthy, white men” meeting behind closed doors in Juneau. That characterization isn’t just inaccurate — it distracts from the real conversation our community should be having.

As of this week, the state treasury already can bank on depositing about $200 million more in oil revenue than it would have received at prices before the president started a war against Iran, driving up the value of oil.

State’s gas shortage is hitting electricity consumers in Fairbanks and the Mat-Su, and will likely affect home heating prices, as well.

The recent passage of ballot measures to improve affordability in Juneau demonstrates a majority perspective that the CBJ must reduce the tax burden it places on residents.

Several years ago while living in Fairbanks, a group at the University of Alaska Fairbanks decided that some of the city's historic buildings should be restored and preserved. Motivated primarily by a knee-jerk opposition to anything coming from the university, another group made up mostly of downtown businessmen was formed — to destroy the buildings rather than see the preservationists get their way.

The Assembly should slow its budget-cutting exercise and let more facts roll in before proceeding with cuts or increasing revenue.

I was one of roughly two dozen-plus volunteers who collected signatures last summer on behalf of the Affordable Juneau Coalition. Our goal was to place three propositions on the ballot that we believed would help address the high cost of living in Juneau by: removing tax on food for all residents, capping property taxes at nine mills, and returning to the more efficient and less expensive in‑person voting method Juneau used prior to the COVID era.

In an uncharacteristic break from his party, Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, voted for an election reform bill he believes “improves the system, strengthens transparency and puts Alaska in a better position for the fights ahead.” Now he’s concerned Gov. Mike Dunleavy will listen to the bill’s “loudest” critics and veto it.