The Daily Radio Show for Wed. Jan. 11, 2012.

Click link below to download today’s show.  ((Note: We are still testing this system, so let us know what you think or if you have problems. yomaggie@leghead.com))

http://www.leghead.com/test-page-download-daily-radio-shows-here/

Alaska’s first territorial legislature gaveled in March 3, 1913—the day before Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as the 27^th president of the United States.

It’s been said the biggest challenge that faced that first Alaska Legislature was physically getting to Juneau. Many had to cobble the cross-territory trek together by walking, dogsledding, riding horse-drawn coaches and take a boat or ferry at least part of the way to get there.

So who where these hardy men who made up the first Alaska Territorial Legislature?  And I do mean men. It would be nearly 25 years later before Nell Scott of Seldovia would be the first woman elected to the Alaska Legislature.

Thanks to the AK History Course dot org website, we have this quick summary of the first territorial legislature.

Here’s a quick list of the first Territorial Legislature courtesy of Alaska history course dot org…

•  The Legislature was made up of five lawyers, one doctor, five businessmen, one fisherman and eleven miners.
•  They ranged in ages from 33 to 63.
•  They were paid $15 per day and had a travel allowance of 15 cents per mile.

And there’s no mention of hazardous duty pay.

 STING (Short music break)

Thanks to AK History Course dot org for today’s information. It’s a great site to visit, with lots of interesting bits of Alaska trivia. We’ve made it easy for you to find by putting a link on our site which is leghead.com.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Resources:

Alaska History and Cultural Studies (akhistorycourse.org) has scads of interesting information about Alaska’s history and early days of state government.

http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=135

VILDA is the repository for the Alaska’s digital archives. If you go to the site, plan to be there a long time, as there are countless interesting photos, videos and mp3 audio selections.

http://vilda.alaska.edu/

Click on Link below to DOWNLOAD  The Daily Radio Show for Tues. Jan. 10, 2012.

TLHR Jan 10 Tues First Legislators Trek to Juneau 1 of 2

Alaska legislators and staff often brag about their trip to Juneau. You know, driving at 20 below and not seeing another car all day. Or running into a stretch of whiteout where they don’t see anything past the windshield wipers.

Alaska's First Territorial Legislature 1913. Photo courtesy Alaska Digital Archives.

But that’s nothing compared to what Alaska’s first territorial legislators went through to get to Juneau.

The first territorial legislature met in 1913. It’s said that the hardest part of the session was the trek from outlying areas to Juneau. The average lawmaker traveling more than 2500 miles round trip. While in 1913 EVERYONE would have had trouble getting into Juneau, think of the poor guys from, say, Nome who had to first get to Fairbanks, then to Anchorage, then on to Juneau.

The website akhistorycourse.org, which is a site owned by the Alaska Humanities Forum, explains it this way…

Three of the legislators-to-be left Nome by dog team in early January. They crossed Norton Sound to Unalakleet and traveled the Yukon River and then the Tanana River to Fairbanks. They covered 700 to 900 miles just to reach Fairbanks. One senator walked from roadhouse to roadhouse along the winter trail to Fairbanks. From there they went 360 miles by horse-drawn sleigh to Valdez, a journey that took a week, and caught a steamer to Juneau. They arrived the day before the Legislature began.

As you can imagine, the first legislative session didn’t begin in mid-January as it does now.

They began their work on March 3, 1913, meeting in the Elks Building. The next day, 3,000 miles away in Washington, D.C., Woodrow Wilson was sworn in as the 27th president of the United States.

Thanks to akhistorycourse.org for today’s information. It’s a great site to visit, with lots of interesting bits of Alaska trivia.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Resources:

Alaska History and Cultural Studies (akhistorycourse.org) has scads of interesting information about Alaska's history and early days of state government.

http://www.akhistorycourse.org/articles/article.php?artID=135

VILDA is the repository for the Alaska's digital archives. If you go to the site, plan to be there a long time, as there are countless interesting photos, videos and mp3 audio selections.

http://vilda.alaska.edu/

Click on link below to play the Daily Radio Show for Mon. Jan. 9, 2012

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

A measure which prohibits texting while driving is one of 29 bills released last Friday as the first of two batches of prefiled bills prior to the start of the upcoming legislative session.

Another proposed bill clarifies that businesses and organizations are not people when it comes to influencing the outcomes of elections or other election related issues.

In all 29 bills –  15 from the house and 14 from senate  – were posted on the legislature’s website on Friday along with 1 senate resolution. The resolution would require surplus oil revenues be deposited into the state’s budget reserve fund.

Included in the house package are a bill to prohibit certain automatic telephone solicitations, another exempting certain small businesses from the corporate income tax, and another which classifies certain controlled substances.

Proposed senate measures include one which gives tax credits to employers who hire Alaska veterans, another which increases the base student allocation for public schools, and a measure to create the Alaska pension trust reserve fund.

Here’s a short list of some of the other proposals for lawmakers to consider during the coming legislative session:

• A credit against the oil and gas production tax costs incurred in drilling in the Nenana Basin;
• Requiring suicide awareness and prevention training for certain school personnel.
• An adjustment to the laws dealing with charges by telecommunication carriers;
• The naming of several bridges and the airport at Minto.
• And finally, establishing a new game of chance based on the amount of snow that falls.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

References:

Click on link below to see prefiled bills released Fri. Jan. 6.

The link will open a PDF file which originates on the legislature’s official website.

http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/docs/pdf/2012_1stPrefiles.pdf