By Erin Pohland Hello from Kinshasa, or should I say Hell’s Waiting Room…. Seriously, it seems like all I do here is wait.  Wait at the hospital, wait for the power, wait for my laundry (it took 4 days for 2 baby blankets and a sleeper), and wait at the Embassy.  Poor Andrew is going [...]

By Erin Pohland Good evening from Kinshasa! As I write, there is a dance party happening on the street in front of my hotel.  Luckily, Andrew is a good sleeper — too bad his mama is not. Today was relatively uneventful, as far as things go.  We had no appointments and nowhere to be.  Instead, [...]

~Andrew and Rev. Bashaka By Erin Pohland It’s night in Kinshasa.  I know I live in Alaska, so I’m not a good judge of darkness, but it gets dark so early here!  By 5:30, it seems to be pretty dark.  It doesn’t help that there aren’t any street lights or very many buildings with electricity, [...]

By Erin Pohland On October 15, 2010, my world changed forever:  it’s a boy!!  I listened with wonder to the news of my little one:  10 months old and healthy.  Due to lack of medical care and extreme, crushing poverty, his mother had died as a result of childbirth, just 8 days after giving birth [...]

By Erin Pohland [Read Part One HERE] After choosing to join a pilot program and adopt from the Congo rather than Ethiopia, I broke the news somewhat gingerly, aware that such news might not be welcome. The reaction was mixed. Friends and family members who were more savvy about world affairs were immediately worried; the [...]

By Erin Pohland “We’re opening a pilot program in the Congo.  Would you consider being one of our first families?” With those words, my life changed.  The Congo — the so-called “heart of darkness,” the rape capital of the world, and one of the most dangerous and impoverished countries in the world. I said yes. [...]

By Zach Roberts As I write this the 102nd Annual NAACP convention is going on in Los Angeles. Right now in fact they’re having their late night Worship service. It’s a quiet year for the convention – so far no controversial resolutions, no Presidential visits, just business as usual. Last year was a different story. [...]

By Rep. Les Gara I’m not a big fan of failure, and not a big fan of spending money on wasted Special Sessions. I’ve now voted three times, including yesterday, to pass the Coastal Zone Management bill that passed the Bi-Partisan Senate Monday, but surprisingly failed by three votes in the House yesterday. Failure to [...]

More audio at MyNorthwest.com Check out Jeanne’s interview on The Ron & Don Show on KIRO in Seattle. She talks about Blind Allegiance, and the Palin email dump. Her segment goes from 1:30 to 17:00.

By Ryan Marquis (Kenai, AK) Ryan Marquis (at right below) serves on the Kenai City Council and as a local Vice-President of the Alaska Public Employees Association. Ryan and several of his fellow APEA activists were on the ground in Wisconsin last month to help organize against the attacks on collective bargaining rights in that [...]

By John Aronno (Alaska Commons) There’s a truck that’s been driving around town. I saw it sputtering down Northern Lights Blvd last week as I gazed out the window at the Spenard Roadhouse. The four-wheeled apocalypse barker is touting the message that a massive, worldwide earthquake is going to hit us, giving way to the [...]

~Ruth Sheridan and Tom Macchia   By Ruth Sheridan, Alaskans for Peace and Justice On Thursday, May 5, three activists from Alaskans for Peace and Justice were in the Federal Courtroom in Anchorage where a panel of three judges of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals were holding hearings. One of those three judges was [...]

By Rep. Les Gara The debate on the Governor’s proposal to roll back the state’s share of oil revenue by nearly $8 billion over the next five years has been political, not factual. It’s time we shared what we’ve learned in committee testimony so people can hear the facts. There are smart ways to require [...]

  By Patrick DePula A press conference will be held today at 2pm CDT by the Government Accountability Board and the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office, to provide more information about the felony charges that were filed today against William Gardner, the president and CEO of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co, who illegally contributed thousands of [...]

By Patrick DePula Kathy Nickolaus is the Waukesha County Clerk. She’s also either completely incompetent, or a criminal. Either way, she should seriously consider resigning in light of her recent stellar performance as the county elected official directly responsible for elections. On April 5th, Clerk Kathy “lost” the Supreme Court election returns for the entire [...]