Life

MARKET FRESH

Plenty of options for farmers markets this weekend

The sun is shining in Anchorage, and that's good news for farmers market fans.

Millennium's first central eclipse visible in Alaska on Sunday

A partial eclipse of the sun will darken Anchorage from 3:17 to 5:54 p.m. Sunday. At its height, around 4:38 p.m., the sun will appear to local viewers as a crescent with the moon obscuring about half of the solar disk.

More information on eclipse from NASA

Alaskan Brewing a winner at competition

Alaskan Brewing Co. received three medals at this year's World Beer Cup competition in San Diego.

HOLLYWOOD ALASKA

'Twilight: Eclipse' director tapped for Alaska-based thriller

A $10 million psychological thriller Wayfare Entertainment hopes to film in Alaska now has a title -- "Villain" -- and a director -- David Slade of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse."

Homer writer finds success with 'sexy, sassy' romance novels

Most new writers would count themselves lucky to publish a novel with a small publisher. Homer writer Jennifer Bernard hit a trifecta with not one but three novels, all published in mass-market paperback by Avon Romance.

Anchorage-based chorus, quartet win regional competitions

The Anchorage-based Alaska Sound Celebration swept awards at the regional Sweet Adelines competition in Spokane, Wash., April 27-29.

AROUND ALASKA

Climbing Denali in the tracks of Belmore Browne

This winter on the lagoon ice behind Kotzebue and in the hills and mountains, local residents may have witnessed a bizarre sight: a white guy on snowshoes, dressed in bright orange bibs and a blue Gore-Tex jacket, carrying a heavy pack and dragging a log lashed in an orange plastic kiddie sled.

NED ROZELL

Magpies are now more common throughout Alaska

A while back, Ron Koczaja was walking a riverbank in Kasigluk with a village elder when a large, striking bird perched on a powerline.

Reading the North

New books of interest to Alaskans

Music pioneer with fond memories of Alaska dies

Violinist Roman Totenberg died of kidney failure on Tuesday at his home in Newton, Mass. The Polish-born virtuoso, a contemporary of classical music giants like Rachmaninoff, Toscanini and Heifetz, performed before kings and presidents -- and Alaskans.

GARDENING ANCHORAGE

Alaska-hardy vines are magical, practical

There are sensible reasons to plant vines in your garden. If you don't have much space, they grow up, not out. But the main reason to have vines is the magic. There's something mysterious, even enchanting, about how they climb fences and trellises -- grasping, twisting and twining over and around everything in their way, including other plants, reaching for -- what? It's all very Zen.

Orangutans at Miami zoo use iPads to communicate

The 8-year-old twins love their iPad. They draw, play games and expand their vocabulary. Their family's teenagers also like the hand-held computer tablets, too, but the clan's elders show no interest.

Alaska chefs to compete in seafood cook-off

The Great Alaska Seafood Cook-Off will take place Monday in the train depot at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport. Organizers say the winner will represent Alaska at the Great American Cook-Off in New Orleans in August.

Anchorage man plans year on uninhabited island

Charles Baird is going off the grid for a year. The 40-year-old oil company employee and filmmaker from Anchorage will move to the mostly uninhabited Latouche Island in Prince William Sound at the end of May, completing a dream he's been contemplating for 17 years.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Gardening: Time to target dandelions is now

Dandelions are among the first plants to green up in spring. This is significant because the lawns and gardens they invade have not. They are easy to spot, and we have a terrific window of opportunity to work on these invasive weeds.

MARKET FRESH

Farmers markets are ready to move outdoors

It's still early in the growing season, but that won't deter the Anchorage farmers markets. By Saturday, four outdoor farmers markets will be open.

HOLLYWOOD ALASKA

National Geographic TV unveils new reality show 'Goldfathers'

Reality TV's love affair with Alaska gold mining continues with "Goldfathers," a modern-day gold rush story following the exploits of three Alaska families.

COMMENCEMENT 2012

UAA student overcomes brain injury to get his degree

Nearly three years after Conor Daugharty suffered a devastating brain injury in a car accident, watching the 25-year-old from Eagle River walk up to get his college diploma was something family and friends considered a sweet gift.

List of 2012 UAA graduates

Sample the winning entries in the creative writing contest

Winning entries in the 2012 Statewide Creative Writing Contest sponsored by the Anchorage Daily News and the University of Alaska Anchorage in partnership with the Alaska Center for the Book.

Creative Writing Contest winners

GRAND PRIZE and First Place, fiction grades 7-12

First Place, poetry grades 7-12

First Place, poetry grades K-3

First Place, nonfiction open to the public

First Place, fiction open to the public

First Place, poetry open to the public

First Place, poetry grades 4-6

NED ROZELL

Lone wolf's days of wandering in Alaska are over

Thanks to information from a collar that communicated with satellites, a biologist has closed the book on the long journey of a male wolf that left its pack one year ago and wandered thousands of miles through northern Alaska.

GARDENING ANCHORAGE

Poenies were made for Alaska

They're badly designed -- over-long stems, way too skinny to hold up the huge blossoms -- and a bit pricey, but for glorious beauty and infinite variety, every garden needs peonies.