PFD news! PFD news! Thought that might get your attention. For those Alaskans interested in sharing a portion of the state's oil wealth welfare check, a.k.a. the Permanent Fund Dividend check, the Alaska PFD Pick! Click! Give! program allows for donating a portion of your annual check to your nonprofit of choice. The deadline for spreading some love -- nonprofits are listed at the PFD portal of the MyAlaska.gov website -- is Saturday, Aug. 31, and the checks begin to hit bank accounts Oct. 3 Oct. 5. (read our forecast for this year's check here). Update, Sept. 18, 11 a.m.: The 2013 PFD amount has been announced. Click here to learn how much it'll be.
(Toe)nailed it!: Proof that a young man did indeed consume the infamous Dawson City sourtoe emerged Friday with video obtained by CBC News (be warned: you will likely gag). The video shows the man, identified as "Josh Clark" getting the sourtoe cocktail spiel at Dawson's Downtown Hotel before gulping down the necrotic toe. The stomach-churning gag -- generally patrons only let the toe touch their lips -- cost the man $500. The bar estimates that 60,000 people have taken part in the Dawson institution. The hotel is currently advertising for replacement toes.
Powerful quake in the Aleutians: The Alaska Earthquake Information Center reported Friday that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake had struck 67 miles southwest of the community of Atka in Alaska's Aleutian Islands chain. The AEIC said that powerful shaking was felt in Atka and the nearby community of Adak, and the earthquake originated at a relatively shallow depth of only 11 miles. The earthquake did not trigger a tsunami warning, at least initially, the National Weather Service Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported. The area around the big temblor was seeing numerous aftershocks on Friday morning.
Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre moves out: After years in the historic downtown Empress Theatre, the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre is looking for a new home. Managing Director Rebecca George said Friday that the space -- originally built in 1927 -- no longer works for the 22-year-old theater company. High rent, low ceilings, carrying sets up and down two flights of stairs, and sweltering heat in the summer has left the company looking for other options. While this season is set to go in various venues around Fairbanks, George said the hope is moving out of the Empress will free up the theater company to build its own space in downtown Fairbanks in the near future. The company plans to be out of the Empress by the end of September.
Confusing cartography: It's hard to believe Alaska is still debating its voting boundaries after years and years of mapmaking, litigating and adjudicating. But that's the case and Alaska's judiciary -- final arbiter (we think), is still mulling whether the latest 2010 redistricting map is fair, proportional and conforms to precedent. The AP reports via ktuu.com that 2014 voting will commence under a new map that must be finalized before June 2, candidate filing deadline for a real slugfest over oil taxes and gold mines and marijuana, to say nothing of Republican ideology.