July 21: Relocating polar bears

New idea: Move polar bears to Antarctica. They aren't the only species under consideration for a move, called "assisted colonization." Wired.com reports that species are going extinct 100 times faster than at any time in human history. At least one scientist thinks the figure is closer to 1,000 times faster.

So what about moving polar bears to Antarctica, where the ice is more stable?

Well-known U.S. Geological Survey polar bear researcher Steven Amstrup isn't quick to embrace this notion.

"Antarctic penguins and seals aren't adapted to surface predators. The bears would have a field day for a while because they could walk right up to them and eat them. For a short period of time, it would be great, but in the end the whole system would probably collapse," he said.

ABC News takes a look at the same story. And in a scene you've never witnessed before, three polar bears sniff around the USS Honolulu, breaking through Arctic ice on a July day in a U.S. Navy photo appearing on the blog Island Comfort.

The submarine, commanded by Cmdr. Charles Harris, was in the Arctic to collect water samples and scientific data for U.S. and Canadian universities under an agreement with the National Scientific Foundation. Normally based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the USS Honolulu is the first submarine of its type to visit the Arctic. The three polar bears, spotted by a lookout on the bridge, investigated the submarine for two hours before moving on their way.

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"Building a box around Ben Stevens." That's how Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Mark Begich described the ongoing political corruption investigation in Alaska in an interview with Talking Points Memo done at the Netroots Nation convention in Austin, Texas. Catch the interview here.

A relatively new (since May, 2008) right-slanting blog called The Next Right looks at the Begich/Stevens battle for the U.S. Senate.

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Young opens his campaign office in Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner showed up as Rep. Don Young spoke to supporters in his new office Saturday standing next to his wife, Lu. He made it sound as if she were on the ticket with him.

"This year is a tough year, and we all know that. We both believe if we weren't the best for the job, we would not be running. With the experience I have, with the connections I have, with the understanding I have on both sides of the aisle for this state, it is crucially important."

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Palin: "Not exactly prepared to be president." That's how The New York Times, in a roundup of vice presidential candidates for Barack Obama and John McCain, characterized Gov. Sarah Palin's chances of being picked.

Or he could pick Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. Putting a woman on the ticket would certainly qualify as shaking things up, with the added incentive of allowing him to make a play for Democratic and independent women who supported Mrs. Clinton in the Democratic primary and are unwilling to shift allegiance to Mr. Obama.

That said, Ms. Palin is not exactly a household name, Alaska is not a state a Republican presidential candidate needs to worry about, and even some of Mr. McCain's associates said she might not exactly be prepared to be president.

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Alaska's unemployment is creeping up steadily. The Peninsula Clarion took a look at unemployment figures produced by the state's labor department. It showed a one-tenth percent decline in June, but analysts say it's too soon to tell if this will break the yearlong increase in unemployment in the state.

A national slowdown in job growth is behind the state's slump, analysts say. When the national economy weakens, Alaskans don't look for work Outside, and Outsiders head to Alaska looking for greener job prospects.

Read the state Department of Labor report here.

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New bill includes $125 million for "essential air service" for Alaskans. The money is identified in a bill approved by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee for fiscal year 2009, reports the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

Sen. Ted Stevens is a backer. "Congress must ensure that these communities, which are reliant on air travel for their livelihoods, have access to safe and reliable transportation. In rural Alaska, essential air service is truly our lifeline," Stevens said.

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"Government failure" for Democrats and Republicans. The Crypt blog at Politico.com points out an interesting twist as House Republicans come north to view ANWR and House Democrats go south to tour New Orleans and post-Katrina repair.

Both party leaderships, in a sense, are highlighting government's failures under Democratic and Republican presidents. Boehner and the Republicans want to drill in ANWR because the United States needs the oil and has never developed a comprehensive energy policy under Presidents Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Pelosi and the Democrats, for their part, want to keep the Bush administration's debacle in New Orleans - and its dreadful human cost - on everyone's mind.

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Our pipeline proposal as the Canadians see it. The Globe and Mail offered a thorough look at AGIA and TransCanada's chances in a long Sunday piece.

A new natural-gas pipeline from Alaska throws together a state hungry for revenues, a Canadian carrier hungry for volumes and producers who don't want to get left out.

The Kodiak Daily Mirror reports that Sen. Gary Stevens is solidly behind AGIA.

"Alaska wants to allow any explorer or developer to go up there and develop their wells and be able to get their gas in the line," Stevens said. "Rolled-in rates allow that to happen. Otherwise the owners of the pipeline, if it were the big three, they could pretty much control things and not allow outsiders to come into the pipeline."

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Eklutna Inc. set to develop a 100-acre industrial park in Birchwood. The main attraction for this parcel of land isn't proximity to roads or the nearby Birchwood airfield. It's its proximity to the Alaska Railroad, according to a report in the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

As industrial space gets tighter in Anchorage, the Eklutna property gets more attractive. Eklutna Inc is also pursuing a "foreign trade zone" designation for the industrial park, allowing firms to store imported materials or equipment temporarily without paying customs duties.

The 102-acre industrial park is just a part of a 700-acre parcel owned by Eklutna.

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ANWR debate continues in Washington. The Homer Tribune editorialized recently that the pressure on the state to open ANWR is real, but the state should never be bullied by the rest of the nation into drilling there.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and Bloomberg.com give updates on where the debate is nationally as we start this week.

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How does alcohol affect speech? Scientists study the Exxon Valdez recordings. This book review is technical and aimed at speech pathologists quantifying how alcohol affects speech, but of note to Alaskans are the recordings from the Exxon Valdez grounding and oil spill was a significant part of the research.

Studies of both alcohol and speech have been rare because each field has its own experimental protocols, methodologies and research agendas. This book fills a long-standing gap and is unique in providing both breadth of coverage and depth of analysis. A case study involving the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound develops some of the implications of this research.

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In other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> Critics of Young's gas tax should find an answer for highway fund (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

> "Boycott Alaska salmon" author gets a critique (Crosscut.com)

> Parker Drilling makes a comeback in Alaska (Petroleum news)

> Microwave network to improve bandwidth in Southeast is half done (Marketplace.com)

> Texas cyclists plan Aug. 14 arrival in Sutton (PGCitzen.Ca)

> Palingate? (Progressive Alaska)

> Sen. Ted Stevens defends not naming presidential library donors (Houston Chronicle)

> Palin asks for road upgrades for gas pipeline (Alaska Journal of Commerce)

> California salmon pits farmers against fishermen over water (Water Sisweb)

> Sen. Ted Stevens' wife, Cat Stevens, sometimes has TSA trouble (tcpalm.com)

> Former Petroleum Club manager publishes Alaska thriller (Petroleum News)