Alaska Beacon

COMMENTARY: The abolitionist and writer Frederick Douglass is known for many things, but perhaps among the most significant is his views on education’s relationship to slavery, writes Rodney Coates in. commentary republished from The Conversation. Douglass himself was born into slavery in Maryland in 1818.

Douglass described in his 1845 autobiography how one of his enslavers, Mrs. Auld, began teaching him to read when he was a child. Mrs. Auld’s husband ordered her to stop giving Douglass lessons.

“Just at this point of my progress, Mr. Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs. Auld to instruct me further, telling her, among other things, that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read,” Douglass writes. “To use his own words, further, he said, ‘If you give a n— an inch, he will take an ell. A n— should know nothing but to obey his master.’”

Congress enacted the 13th Amendment on Jan. 31, 1865, abolishing slavery. It was not until June 19, 1865, that word of the amendment reached enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, marking the origin of the Juneteenth holiday.

Juneteenth reminds us of Black Americans’ long struggle for education following end of slavery | Alaska Beacon Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. The story for formerly enslaved people continued to unfold when it came to education.

The proposed trans-Alaska natural gas pipeline project would generate an average of almost $800 million per year for the state treasury for 30 years starting in 2033, according to a new estimate from the Alaska Department of Revenue that includes a proposed tax break approved by the state House, writes James Brooks for the Alaska Beacon.

Dan Stickel, the department’s chief economist, presented the estimate to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, days after the Alaska House of Representatives approved that significant property tax break for the project.

The Senate committee is now considering House Bill 381, containing the tax break.

According to the DOR estimate, the state stands to collect $23.4 billion through 2062 if the tax break becomes law and the pipeline is built as expected. Borough governments would share $7.8 billion during the same period.

Gas pipeline would be worth almost $800 million annually to Alaska treasury, new estimate says | Alaska Beacon Even with a proposed tax break, it isn't clear whether the pipeline project makes economic sense and would be built.

Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings, writes Jacob Fischler and Justin Shorman for States Newsroom's D.C. bureau.

But they still need nearly everything to break their way against a map that put them at a starting disadvantage, analysts and campaign officials say.

At the outset of this election cycle, Republicans appeared highly likely to hold their majority. Democrats would need to flip four seats, and competitive races this year are in states that are more Republican than average.

But as election watchers increasingly expect a blue tint to the November midterms, the question is now whether it will be blue enough to put Democrats back in the Senate majority, where they are now at a 53-47 disadvantage.

Mildly blue or a blue tsunami? Alaska among 9 states to decide if Dems flip U.S. Senate | Alaska Beacon Democrats are growing hopeful they can recapture the U.S. Senate in this fall’s midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval ratings.