Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Donna Mears
OPINION: Rising home prices squeeze Alaska seniors
As recent data has highlighted, Alaska faces an intensifying housing crisis. The average price of a house in Anchorage is up 26% in the last 5 years, rents are up by similar margins, and interest rates remain high. Wages have not kept pace. There’s been lots of discussion of how that dynamic squeezes renters, young families, and those looking to buy their first home. But there’s another group facing a financial pressure but getting less attention—seniors. As home values rise, so do property taxes.
OPINION: When it comes to trans kids and sports, what’s our problem?
When I was raising my kids, they played a lot of sports. In conversation with other parents, we would often refer to these activities collectively as “sportsball.” Not that we didn’t know which specific practice they were at or didn’t care, but which uniform they put on or the outcome of the game was never the point.
OPINION: Putting Anchorage above politics
The Municipality of Anchorage faces serious challenges: education, housing, energy and transportation infrastructure, just to name a few. Solutions to these big issues are often nonpartisan, but progress can stall if there is not a strong bipartisan effort to move forward. The Anchorage bowl sends more legislators to Juneau than any other region, and yet, a united approach to advocating for core municipal issues has been limited, or nonexistent, for a long time.
OPINION: We need diverse energy solutions for the Railbelt
Anchorage and the rest of the Railbelt rely heavily on natural gas from Cook Inlet for heating and electricity. Cook Inlet natural gas production is dropping as wells age, and gas producers are not drilling enough replacement wells to keep up. Meanwhile, the largest gas producer in Cook Inlet is not renewing its contracts to supply Anchorage natural gas and electric utilities.
OPINION: Medicaid cuts threaten the broader economy
As government pandemic programs wind down, tens of thousands of Alaskans have lost Medicaid health insurance as the Alaska Department of Health has struggled to adjust to new federal program requirements. Losing medical coverage can have devastating consequences for an individual, but these disenrollments also hurt the broader Alaskan economy.
OPINION: Carbon discredit: Alaska should demand a fair return for our resources
When Gov. Mike Dunleavy released his proposed budget in December, I was glad to see a budget balanced in both the short and long term. His 10-year plan showed $300 million of “new revenue” starting this coming fiscal year, growing to $900 million per year by 2027. On Jan. 12, the governor announced Alaska’s newest revenue source: carbon, or rather the ability to store it, either by injecting it deep underground or by absorbing it in our forests and selling carbon credits on the global market.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Donna
Contact Donna, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack