Minus 40 and below. Brookelyn Belinger writes from Big Delta in today’s Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, giving something of a taste of what it’s like at minus 40 degrees and colder, which has been the case in the area for better than a week now. (She says it was minus 58 at her place Tuesday.) Among other things, outhouse visits have been “brutal,” she writes.

Then there’s this: “To my amazement, we’ve got two squirrels that seem to only come out if it’s minus 40 or colder. Don’t these guys hibernate?”

The Interior’s cold came close to doing in Pauly, an Australian shepherd, who was rescued from a ditch along Chena Ridge Road, according to another News-Miner story. Frozen and “one of the skinniest dogs I’ve seen that’s not dead yet,” according to a vet who treated him, Pauly has apparently been on the loose since August, when he ran away from his adoptive family.

Pauly, despite his suffering, didn’t take kindly to the initial rescue, biting the man who lifted him out of the ditch three or four times through his gloves, according to the story. The man persisted, loading Pauly in his pickup and getting him help.

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Claim filed in Homer shooting. The Homer News reports in its coverage of the shootout two years ago at the Homer airport that left a fugitive dead and his 2-year-old son severely wounded that a claim has been filed against the federal government in the case. Attorneys representing the boy, Jason Anderson II, say his injuries resulted from negligence on the part of marshals and the Homer police officers who were trying to apprehend his father, Jason Alexander Sr.

The medical examiner concluded the elder Anderson shot himself and shot his son in the face, but the new filing disputes that, saying the infant was shot “from the area of the firing police officers,” according to the story: “The marshals and officers’ initial plan, which was defective in its own right, was botched in its execution and went astray, but the heavily armed officers still precipitated a gunfight, with the infants and bystanders in harm’s way,” the claim argues.

An investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Seattle concluded U.S. marshals committed no crime during the episode.

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Attorney general opinion backs McGuire. An APRN story reports on an attorney general’s opinion that backs state Sen. Lesil McGuire in her contention she did nothing wrong in doing consulting work for Providence hospital. The Alaska Public Offices Commission had earlier rejected a complaint from U.S. Senate candidate Ray Metcalfe that she had violated financial disclosure laws, and the AG opinion says she didn’t go astray of any ethics or lobbying laws either, according to the APRN story.

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“Hear our voices, hear our stories.” A new web site, launched by victims of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, bills itself as being committed to the “whole truth” of the spill, its damage and the pursuit of justice by those still hurting from the 1989 event. The site — the work of Cordova District Fishermen United and Prince William Sound Soundkeeper, both of them long involved in spill issues — includes audio of the voices of those who have stories to tell of the spill’s affects.

A statement of the campaign supported by the web site asserts: “Exxon is hedging its bets and hoping that concerned citizens have forgotten the events that led to the United States’ worst oil spill. It is time to consider “The Whole Truth,” get involved and end Exxon’s quest to escape responsibility. Together, we can stand against a giant.”

Meanwhile, the state of Maryland has joined with the plaintiffs in the civil suit over the spill, according to a statement from the state’s attorney general posted on South Maryland Online web site. Attorney general Douglas Gansler's position supports the claims of Alaska fishermen and others who have sued to collect damages.

“Exxon has the obligation to step up and ensure that every business, landowner and family that was directly impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill is made whole again,” Gansler’s statement says.

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TransCanada makes its case. A Juneau Empire story has the details of TransCanada Corp.’s appearance before a Senate committee this week, during which the company said it was confident it could build a gas line, despite the doubts of lawmakers and others. A TransCanada official told the committee it could do the job even though it doesn’t control any rights to the state’s gas.

TransCanada vice president Tony Palmer said oil and gas producers in Canada and the United States often rely on companies like his to move their product. “We are an independent pipeline company,” TransCanada vice president Tony Palmer said. “We do not own any of the gas we move across North America.”

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Roads are good, but ferries are now. A Capital City Weekly opinion piece written by the newspaper’s general manager notes that Southeast communities depend on the state’s ferries and we shouldn’t neglect the transportation alternative we have while waiting on the possibility of roads.

It's unlikely ferries will ever pay for themselves, writes Lee Leschper. Still, “while waiting for roads, we need to maintain the alternative we have and will need for many years to come. Regardless of the future of new highways, Southeast Alaska needs a viable marine ferry system now and for the foreseeable future.”

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Chief justice talks of crime. APRN has a story on Alaska Supreme Court Justice Dana Fabe’s address to the Legislature this week, during which Fabe told lawmakers Alaska courts are trying “to do things better. With Alaskans facing a 12 percent statewide increase in felony case files in the past two years – a 33 percent increase in Anchorage – and a swelling recidivist rate, Fabe said, “many of us in the criminal justice community have come to realize that our traditional ways of doing things may not be as effective as they should be.”

She urged the Legislature to consider support services for those just released from prison. “Re-entry can be a frightening and daunting process. Yet by offering appropriate support services through steps as simple as providing mentors or assistance with employment and housing, we can help offenders in re-entry gain greater confidence in their ability to succeed.”

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“My guv’s prettier than your guv.” Another blogger commits substantial wordage in homage to Gov. Sarah Palin’s looks, attitude and politics, this one apparently stirred by Vogue magazine’s February piece and pictures on Alaska’s chief executive. The blog entry — signed by “Blackfoot” (apparently an Alaskan) and posted on Tammy Swofford's blog — finds that Palin “represents the true spirit of Alaska. … Let me tell you, there are many Alaskan women who enjoy hunting, fishing (including commercial fishing) and winter sports, but few who enjoy these activities with the gusto and good style that our Sarah models.”

The piece doesn’t begin to stop there in its tribute, but goes on to refer to her as “Mama Bear Sarah,” to review some of her political moves, and to beat up some on “despot” former Gov. Frank Murkowski. Then the writer sums up with a tribute for the poets: “Sarah Palin is honestly beautiful and, more importantly, beautifully honest.”

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Some do better than others in hard times. A brief U.S. News & World Report item takes note of what many in Alaska have long since recognized: While the rest of the country might suffer under the weight of high oil prices, some states — Alaska prominent among them — do well in such circumstances.

“Up north, the debate in the state Legislature isn't about what to cut but what to spend it on: A massive new hydroelectric dam near Anchorage is being discussed, as is an "energy rebate" that would hand out between $500 and $1,000 to every resident.”

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Homer group presses impeachment case. The Citizens for Impeachment group in Homer plans to take its case against George Bush and Dick Cheney to the Homer City Council, hoping the local governing body will help get the ball rolling and stir federal lawmakers to action, according to a Homer Tribune story. The organizations will present a petition, with more than 800 signatures, to the council and ask for its backing in hopes a favorable response “will be part of the momentum to pressure the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives to begin impeachment hearings.”

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