UP -- Holly Brooks and Matt Novakovich: Actually, these two are up AND down, at radical speed in Seward's Mount Marathon races. Congratulations.
EVEN -- Mayor Dan Sullivan: Oath of office in Hawaii has a few residents grumbling but Mayor Dan will take the heat. And the beaches. And the blue water.
DOWN -- King salmon lovers: Too few of the big fish have come back to Cook Inlet, so even the accidental Kenai dipnet catch can't be a keeper. Better years ahead.
UP -- Wounded veteran climbers: Five good men -- including four amputees -- tackle Mount McKinley. The mountain's forces keep them from the summit but they never flinch. They just run out of time.
EVEN -- Juneau: Turns out the capital tops Alaska's list of expensive cities. But that's just one more thing to blame on the Legislature, eh? And the fishing is still good.
DOWN -- Musher Matt Giblin: Positive marijuana test strikes his 2012 finish from the Iditarod record. You'd think the race itself is a sufficiently mind-altering activity.
UP -- Karissa Amrhein: Accomplished young woman returns to Sitka to see the sink where she was found as an abandoned newborn -- and to reunite with some of those who cared for her in 1994. Need a story to lift your heart? This is it.
UP -- Bethel: After cruel Taco Bell hoax, restaurant chain flies out the real thing and 6,000 tacos make a merry meal on the Kuskokwim. Yeah, that's a little outside the bun.
EVEN -- Kodiak Launch Complex: Rocket center has state seed money to get back in the 21st century space race, still working with Lockheed on liftoff -- or maybe one of Lockheed's competitors?
Alaska Dispatch Publishing