PERMANENT FUND QUIETLY SHIFTS STRATEGY (Juneau Empire): Fund managers told the board in Anchorage this week that holdings were not always invested as the board's asset allocation policies called for.
CELL PHONES ALL THE RAGE IN BUSH ALASKA (Alaska Newspapers Inc.): GCI launched cellular service in dozens of Western Alaska communities in recent weeks, and villagers are signing up in droves, praising benefits they say will range from quicker backcountry rescues to staying in touch with far-flung family members.
REPUBLICANS PAID ALMOST $55,000 FOR PALIN FASHION CONSULTANT (NY Times' politics blog): A woman who appears from campaign finance records to have been Gov. Sarah Palin's fashion stylist was paid $54,900 by the Republican National Committee.
Also: Additional $110,000 to makeup, hair stylists (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
OIL'S SLIDE SET TO LEAVE DARK TRAIL (Wall Street Journal): Energy-driven economies from Texas and Alaska to Venezuela and Russia are facing huge busts.
Also: Are dark days ahead for The Last Frontier? (Alaska Dispatch)
ALASKA'S NEW SENATOR SEES CHANGE AT WORK (The New York Times): To get elected in Alaska to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat sometimes requires not acting like one. Talk up drilling for oil in wildlife refuges. Talk up gun rights. Insist that those liberals who control Congress will never push you around. And when your Republican rival is convicted in federal court shortly before Election Day, do not gloat.
GHOST BIKE OF C STREET (Anchorage Press): Sometime in mid-November someone chained an all-white bicycle to a signpost in the median at C Street and 40th Avenue, near where Jonathan Johnson was fatally struck by an SUV. The bicycle is a memorial for Johnson, a gesture from other cyclists and part of a trend that began in the Lower 48 about five years ago.
See also:
Ghost riders in NewYork (New York magazine)
Strike by SUV leaves bicyclist in critical condition (ADN, Oct. 20)
BURYING THE BIKE TRAILS: STUPIDITY RULES (Bicycles and Icicles blog): "An imaginary conversation between two Anchorage snowplow drivers: ‘Hey, uh, boss? Where do you want me to shove all this snow?' ‘Ah hell, just push it over there on that bike path." The blog post includes photos that may cause cyclists some worry.
PALIN AS A CHARACTER FOR THE STAGE (Green Room blog): Playwrights have always cooked up material out of historical ingredients - emperors, queens, presidents, judges, scientists. So what about Gov. Sarah Palin, who, in the briefest time, became one of the most talked-about, and ridiculed, political figures in American history?
Also:
An unequivocally comic figure (Performance Monkey arts blog)
Sexy Sarah snubs Oprah (PerezHilton)
ALASKA'S OLDEST BUILDING TO GET MAKEOVER (KMXT, Kodiak): The earliest documented log structure on the U.S. West Coast is about to get makeover, thanks in part to a federal grant. The 200-year-old Baranov Museum will be closed in January and February for upgrade of its electrical and fire suppression systems
SITKA PAINTING DISCOVERY PROVOKES HISTORIC PRESERVATION PUSH (KCAW, Sitka): A painting dating back to 1879 has caused a stir at the Sitka Historical Society and Museum. The painting of the USS Jamestown, with Sitka in the background, may potentially be one of the first oil paintings of Sitka from the post-Russian-transfer era.
MEN'S SOCIAL CLUB OUT OF ASSEMBLY CROSS HAIRS (Juneau Empire): Eight days after formally directing Mayor Bruce Botelho to condemn "Men's Crisis Center" participation in an Adopt-a-Highway program, the Juneau Assembly rescinded its order.
GAS SHORTAGES MAY POWER DOWN SEWARD (Seward Phoenix Log): Restrictions of natural gas supplies could impact Chugach Electric's ability to fulfill electrical needs during extreme cold weather, according to a city news release.
SURVEY DETAILS FUEL-SAVING STRATEGIES OF FISHERMEN (Dutch Harbor Fisherman): When Alaska diesel prices surged passed $5 a gallon this summer, commercial fishermen fished less, skipped openings, fished closer to home and, in some cases, quit fishing before the season ended.
KAKTOVIK MAN RECEIVES NATIONAL NATIVE ELDER HERO AWARD (The Arctic Sounder): On a Friday last month, Isaac Kupaaq Akootchook woke up a hero. There was not one event that made him a hero; it was the way he lives his life.
LORD OF THE WRITTEN WORD WRITES NEW CHAPTER IN HER LIFE (Alaska Newspapers): Reading a book by Homer writer Nancy Lord is like curling up and watching a documentary with an old friend. Her voice is steady, her words lyrical, her images so real you can almost hear the splash of beluga whales as you read. Lord, who has published six books, was recently named state writer laureate.
KATHERINE GOTTLIEB: SOUTHCENTRAL VISIONARY (Alaska Magazine): The CEO of the state's largest Native health care organization is one of the most influential - and least-known - people in Alaska.
Return to Alaska Newsreader through the day for new links.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:
Reason for Fairbanks man's Colorado killing spree unknown (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Polar dinosaurs didn't flee cold, dark winters (LiveScience)
Wide-awake grizzlies spook Bettles (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Rescued Brooks Range hiker criticized (Daily News, Fairbanks News-Miner)
Game board gets subsistence perspective (Alaska Newspapers)
Bear naked: Polar puzzle (Slate)
Photo: Eagle dogfight over Homer Spit (National Geographic)
Papa Pilgrim's Alaska: The darkest place (Outside)
