Only Tuesday?

I'd swear that yesterday was at least two days long.

 

It was 1 degree above on the drive in, this morning. Temps rocketed up to 2° by the time I got to work. And AccuHunch guesses that cold weather will move in by the end of the week, with lows in double-digits below zero ... again. But it's okay; we haven't put away our parkas. That doesn't usually happen until around the end of March.

 

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A number of us have been discussing the sudden uptick in violent crimes around the city of Anchorage in the last year or two. Yesterday, two men held up a Denny's Restaurant at 8 am, while the place was full of diners. They robbed the store, four customers, and fired a shot into an empty seat before escaping in a stolen car. And there have been several other violent situations in the last few days.

 

When I started carrying a .45 again, several years ago, my wife asked why. Nobody asks why, these days.

 

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The Anchorage School District has begun its annual song-and-dance about their budget. (They have the highest-paid teachers in the U.S., just for the record.) This year, they report a $15 Million shortfall for the coming year, and propose eliminating 99 full-time teaching positions - notice how they never say "eliminate teachers" - to reach the goal.

 

The next step in this dog and pony show, however, will be within a couple of weeks, when they announce that they've found money somewhere else, and will simply transfer the funds from one account or another into the operating budget.

 

Happens every year. Yawn.

 

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Do you remember that I wrote about the UAA faculty voting "no confidence" in the University's president, a few weeks ago?

 

Now, the UAF (Fairbanks) faculty has repeated that performance. One wonders what's going on behind closed doors when the Boards of Regents meet. And what their criteria for selecting presidents. And exactly how far out of touch those criteria are ...

 

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Alaska's junior Senator, Dan Sullivan (R) is taking another shot at breaking up the 9th District Court of Appeals, long known as one of the most liberal benches in all Christendom ... or something like that. The decisions that proceed from those judges have so little to do with morals and opinions in Alaska that it makes us wonder what color the skies are, on their planet.

 

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That's all I can find, this morning. Have a wonderful, blessed day out there - and thanks for stopping by, friends.