There is a new Music and Art Studio in the Valley, and the only one of its kind in Alaska! Musician and Visual Artist Tina Larkin moved back to the Valley this past November, after 14 years outside. 

The Larkin Music and Art Studio is unique in that it not only gives equal time to both disciplines, but emphasizes the connections between visual art and music. 

The Alaskan Scottish Club will host the 35th Annual Alaska Scottish Highland Games; featuring the World Championship Heavy Events June 25th and 26th at the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer. The new two-day format will allow the club to still host the Alaska Championship Amateur Competition as well as the featured Professional World Championships without overlapping the events. 

Five Alaska high school students will head off to college this fall with some extra funds in their bank accounts, thanks to the Alaska State Fair scholarship fund. The students, who are from across Alaska, received scholarship awards totaling $4,250 this spring. 

Better Business Bureau is encouraging everyone to participate in National Small Business Week May 1-7.

This year’s theme, “Dream Big, Start Small,” highlights the impact of outstanding entrepreneurs, business owners and small business employees. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports there are more than 28 million small businesses operating in the United States. 

In Alaska, there are 69,251 small businesses and 138,378 workers employed by small business. 

On Tuesday, May 17th, Alaska Family Services (AFS) will host a free estate planning seminar for Valley residents. The seminar will take place at the agency’s corporate office at 1825 South Chugach St. in Palmer from 4 to 6 p.m.

I’d like to thank the Matanuska Susitna Borough Assembly and the Houston City Council for your resolutions in support of legislative action this year to bring the state’s budget into balance. Thank you for your leadership in these challenging times. 

I also appreciate the dozens of letters and comments I’ve received from Mat-Su residents supporting such action or suggesting constructive alternatives. 

Being a visionary, leader and innovator takes extreme guts. I am not talking about people who necessarily are in leadership roles in organizations, following a template created by someone else. 

Some people are born to lead, but being a leader is a practice that starts with a deep and profound relationship with yourself. 

 “As a supporter of an all-of-the-above strategy to rebuild America’s icebreaking capacity, I thank my colleagues on the Commerce Committee for passing this critical piece of legislation out of committee, and I am hopeful it will be considered by the full Senate in the near future.”

As this publication enters year 10, I consider the work that went into this business to keep it going these last 9 years. I can't help but consider the hard work of a man I never knew, Vaughn Fryfogle, Sr., who passed away on February 13, 1975 - over 40 years ago, before I was born.  

If your toes are not stretched out in your shoes, chances are, you need bigger shoes. Often, folks go wider, but usually that is not the right answer. If your foot is "slopping" over the sole of the shoe, longer shoes will work better.  

Remember: Movement = Key Purpose of Feet

I have had hundreds of patients with this same "8th Grade Shoes" Syndrome.  

The possibilities are truly endless! We have brought on an airbrush artist, face painters, and balloon twisting specialists that can entertain for family fun, or for the more bachelorette party themes. We also love to do baby belly painting for photo shoots.    

Encaustic painting fell into obscurity by the seventh century and was forgotten with the invention of more practical methods such as oil and tempura. 

Now in the 21st century encaustic is back in a big way!

The Mat-Su Health Foundation (MSHF) recently welcomed Kathleen McConnell to its team as a program officer leading the Healthy Foundations for Families focus area.  

Studies have shown a correlation between lawn chemicals and certain cancers found in dogs.

Chemical applications for lawn care are dangerous to your pets and to humans as well. Go natural!

It’s time for another hot, hot, hot Iron Pour! Yes, for the 9th consecutive year, the Valley Arts Alliance Art on Fire Iron Pour Art Fest will be held on Saturday, June 25, 2016 in Wasilla. 

 Spirited, bouncing shoes seems like such an innocent, whimsical fun. But are they?

The Bride’s shoes were once symbolic of the possession of authority; not the Bride’s, but of her father’s...

For the last eight years, we have been struggling to keep my son, an otherwise happy and healthy young man, in school and out of hospital emergency rooms due to one harmful word in this product: “Fragrance.”

Join me in writing Unilever to demand full fragrance disclosure of these secret and harmful chemicals so that Brandon, and so many others like him, need not live in fear for their lives.

I believe God’s plan to use me now is to witness unto others who may not know him and others who are falling off of his word and way. I love to share God’s word with people and pray for all people in need.

I believe God’s plan to use me now is to witness unto others who may not know him and others who are falling off of his word and way. I love to share God’s word with people and pray for all people in need.

At just one year of age, Olaf is still very much a puppy.

This sweet, playful, goofy, and very energetic Rottie Mix is a very fun character. 

"We are being jammed up" What has been an epidemic is fast becoming a pandemic against the working professional musician, and the jam sessions roll along with an ever gaining frequency and intensity.