EDITORIAL: ALASKA'S REFUSAL TO USE DNA TEST FOR JUSTICE IS SHAMEFUL (N.Y. Daily News): "The story is told that when Galileo offered to let clerics determine with their own eyes that the moons of Jupiter circled that planet, they 'knew' he must be wrong. And so they refused even to look through his telescope. Alaska's prosecutors are heirs to that not-so-proud tradition." Read more about the William Osborne case in the U.S. Supreme court here.
GUARDING JUNEAU'S NO-FLY ZONE (Juneau Empire): Garrett Savory has a mischievous child's dream job. The 26-year-old U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife specialist spends six months a year at Juneau's only landfill, firing, whistling and banging pyrotechnics and generally doing whatever he can to harass thousands of gulls, ravens and eagles looking for an easy meal. With photos.
TRADITIONS OLD AND NEW PART OF FAIRBANKS WINTER CARNIVAL (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): Ice. Art. Dogs. Think these things have nothing in common? They do in the Interior. The annual Fairbanks Winter Carnival is a broadly based tradition full of unique Fairbanks heritage, with events such as a poetry contest, skijoring and ice carving. All are related to the return of bright sunshine to the Interior.
CUSTOMERS CHERISH MEMORIES OF VALDEZ BAR FORCED TO RELOCATE (Valdez Star): Customers gathered last weekend to say goodbye to Club Valdez, the iconic sea-front bar with a history intrinsically linked to the city -- perhaps most notably, where Capt. Joe Hazelwood had his last drink before getting back on the Exxon Valdez. A bullet hole near the doorway tells of a gunfight during pipeline days, back when the bar advertised for a bouncer in national newspapers. Owner Roberta Swenson Steele is planning to reopen at a new location on the Richardson Highway. With photos.
McBRIDE TELLS WHY SHE QUIT STATE RURAL ADVISER JOB (Alaska Dispatch): When Rhonda McBride quit the job, she said it was better suited to an Alaska Native. "My defining moment came last summer while on a boat trip down the Koyukuk. One of my fellow travelers, who is an Alaska Native, asked me if I had ever cut fish. And I said, ‘No. When I lived in Bethel, people always shared their fish with me. They were so kind and generous. So I never learned to put up fish.' She laughed and said, ‘Imagine that. A rural adviser who doesn't know how to subsist.' " ALSO:
> New rural affairs adviser has lengthy resume in fisheries (Anchorage Daily News)
HEY, FIRST LADY, WHAT'S WRONG WITH 'MOOSE' FOR A DOG NAME? (The Mudflats blog): "While not nearly so offensive to our four-legged friend as the 'harvesting and consumption' of his kind, he nonetheless suffered a surprising and stinging insult recently at the hands of Michelle Obama. The insult came during an interview with CNN about the Obama family dog."
JAMAICAN MUSHER PLACES 13TH IN YUKON QUEST (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): Not only did Newton Marshall finish the thousand-mile race (something 10 mushers who have scratched can't say), he brought 10 dogs to the finish and will earn $3,000. "This is definitely tough, and you have to have a really strong heart to want to do it," he said, sporting a black spot of frostbite on his nose as evidence. ALSO:
> Mistakes costly on Quest trail this year (KUAC, Fairbanks)
RUSSIAN RIVER 'STOP, CHOP AND THROW' FISHING RULE COULD BE GUTTED (Peninsula Clarion): A rule that encouraged anglers at the Russian-Kenai rivers confluence to chop up the remains of their salmon and throw them into the current has been ineffectual and is getting the ax, managers say. Negative encounters between people and bears have been fueled by easy access to unnatural food sources including filleted carcasses, they say.
MINING COMPANY COMPLAINS, STATE REVISES HABITAT DESIGNATION (Juneau Empire): Challenged by a mine company, the state Department of Natural Resources says it was wrong to call the whole Taku River near Juneau "important habitat." The plan is to haul ore and supplies to the Tulsequah Chief mine in Canada on an air cushion barge year-round.
INKED: SOLDOTNA WOMAN LIVES NEWSPAPER DREAM (Anchorage Press): Jenny Neyman, raised in Wrangell and a former reporter for the Peninsula Clarion, started the free weekly Redoubt Reporter in August of last year. It's a labor of love. At a time when the newspaper industry is floundering, Neyman's endeavor has been a success by her measure. "I didn't start this to make money," she says. With photos.
ACES HOCKEY REACHES INTO RURAL ALASKA -- HERE AND THERE (Alaska Newspapers Inc.): When the Anchorage-based semipro hockey team changed its name to the Alaska Aces, a spokesman said he wanted the whole state to "identify with the team." But it's still hard to quantify the team's presence outside Anchorage.
FILTERING INUPIAQ THROUGH A SCREEN FOR VILLAGE KIDS (The Arctic Sounder): Until now, the North Slope Borough School District hasn't taught the Inupiaq language and culture in a systematic way. That is changing thanks in part to a Barrow filmmaker. "The Duck-In," Rachel Naninaaq Edwardson's pilot educational film, and her newest, "Nipaa Ilitqusipta - The Voice of Our Spirit," are part of an Inupiaq history series that will be included in the curriculum and used in classes across the North Slope. A third film is on its way.
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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:
"Jewskimos" gather in New York to honor WWII "spy" (Forward.com)
Cabin fever: fact or fiction? (Capital City Weekly)
Homer outlaws eagle feeding (Homer Tribune)
Where's the aurora this winter? (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)
Alaska moose hunt an inch short of perfect (Wahpeton Daily News, N.D.)
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