AndrewHalcro.com - Education and Health Issues

Health Care: Alaska's Challenge

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 20:57:34 -0800

Today one of the most critical issues facing both citizens and CEOs alike can be summed up in three words; health care costs.

In 2005, an estimated $1.9 trillion will be spent on health care in the United States, consuming a staggering 15.7% of gross domestic product. With trends showing a population that is growing both older and sicker, that figure is projected to be 17.4% by 2010.

Don't Slap the Hands that Hold Our Future

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:15:45 -0800

With every syllable the halls of Lake Otis Elementary School seemed to close in around my nine year-old psyche. “Of all the kids in this school I expected better from you Andrew”, the teacher said sternly. But this wasn’t just any teacher; it was Mr. Caputo, my idol.

His disappointment was justified.

Family Violence Issues Need Attention

Sun, 06 Nov 2005 23:37:31 -0800

October is domestic violence awareness month in Alaska.

Cynthia Maughs, strangled. Rachel Peace strangled and burned. Mona Edwards, shot. Maela Crabtree, shot. Susan Bailey, beaten to death. And the list goes on and on.

Education key to success in real world

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:06:22 -0700

Two weeks ago, meeting with state legislators, Anchorage School Superintendent Carol Comeau outlined the financial challenges she faces in delivering an education that will allow students to compete in the twenty first century.

Education is the key to outsourcing

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 13:03:39 -0700

In the next few months you’ll hear continued debate about the No Child Left Behind Act and the movement of jobs overseas otherwise known as outsourcing. Although these issues will be spoken as two separate challenges facing America, the reality is that one provides the solution for the other.

Embryonic Stem Cell Research is a Must

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 22:24:10 -0700

It’s a growing political discussion in America. It’s an opportunity that might provide cures for millions of Americans suffering from the most crippling diseases and conditions known. It’s embryonic stem cell research.

What are embryonic stem cells? Stem cells are the basis for every organ, tissue and cell in your body. In the first days after fertilization, the dividing egg sets aside cells so small they’d fit on a pinhead. These cells can be programmed to perform many tasks like becoming body tissue, nerves, cardiac tissue and even blood.

Social Security

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 22:22:10 -0700

The crisis of weapons of mass destruction surprised all Americans when it turned out to be a crisis of bad intelligence. So it begs pause today, as the impending challenge in paying Social Security benefits is labeled an immediate crisis.

In fact, before considering changes to America’s oldest social safety net, we should consider the words of another George. In 1905 philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”.

Meth Solutions

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 21:51:09 -0700

Its 5am in a quiet South Anchorage neighborhood and Gary Zimmerman waits a short distance from a suspected meth house for Anchorage Police Officers to arrive. For the third time in less than a week, he is recovering a company vehicle that was stolen and sold for meth. Items recovered inside the vehicles included loaded weapons, drugs and even a family photo album.

Were not in Kansas anymore Toto.

Meth is Corroding Alaska

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 21:48:13 -0700

The history of methamphetamine is long and winding. During World War II, it was used to keep soldiers alert. In the 1950’s it was taken by a variety of users from truck drivers to college students who thrived off the boost they received from the drug. By the 1960’s as the federal government began placing tighter restrictions on the availability of the drug, the production and distribution went underground.

Cutting school funds a bad idea

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 20:54:23 -0700

The year was 1974, nine years before the first dividend fund checks found their way into Alaskan mailboxes.

I can still remember watching from my classroom window, the Anchorage School Districts old green pickup with the crudely manufactured hot mop circling the ice rink at Lake Otis Elementary School. And at 3:30, most school day afternoons, you could find me sitting on the school bench with several buddies, lacing up our skates to play hockey.

Political ideology trumps science

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:05:23 -0700

Closer to Nikita Khrushchev’s brutal honesty than to Rudy Giuliani’s brilliant pragmatism rests Gov. Murkowski’s latest broken campaign promise. Kruschev believed politicians were the same all over, “they’ll promise you a bridge even where there is no river”. Giuliani believed that ideology was incapable of solving public policy challenges.