Anchorage Daily News

How high-tech cowboys saved a ship. Wired magazine has a lengthy, detailed story about how a team of divers, engineers and other specialists from around the world managed to save the 654-foot Cougar Ace, the freighter packed with 4,700 Mazdas that almost tipped over south of the Aleutians in 2006. The dramatic salvaging effort involved putting men on the badly listing vessel, then rolling it upright. (There are pictures, diagrams and video with the story.)

“Salvage work has long been viewed as a form of legal piracy,” the story says. “The insurers of a disabled ship with valuable cargo will offer from 10 to 70 percent of the value of the ship and its cargo to anyone who can save it. If the salvage effort fails, they don't pay a dime.”

The team that took on the Cougar Ace job made $10 million for its effort.

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Guilty, your honor. Jim Clark’s guilty plea in court Tuesday to a federal felony conspiracy charge — see today’s ADN story here — continues to gain a good share of ink and air time in Alaska and elsewhere. Here’s some of what people are saying in the aftermath of Tuesday’s court appearance by former Gov. Frank Murkowski’s chief of staff:

> Going back to early 2004, I've suspected Clark of being loyal to a fault to Murkowski, who on numerous occasions made Clark take the heat for him privately and publicly. But to knowingly take a fall like this for a man as arrogant as Murkowski, who expects undying loyalty but doesn't give it, is far beyond fault. (Robert Hale, publisher of the Juneau Empire, in an opinion piece today)

> We got a bunch of sudden converts when people started going off to jail. (Sen. Hollis French, D-Anchorage, commenting in a Juneau Empire story on the prospects of state ethics legislation.)

So I would have to say the governor wouldn't have known about it because Jim wouldn't take on that risk but there's always a "but," I do think. It would be hard to believe that the governor — that (Clark) wouldn't at least clear it with him. … But he's making it pretty clear that he didn't so you have to believe him. (Pollster Dave Dittman, quoted in a KTUU Channel 2 story on whether Murkowski knew of Clark’s actions.)

> It unfortunately proves what many had speculated was true. This reinforces our commitment to ensure that we serve Alaskans in a manner that's expected of state leaders. (Gov. Sarah Palin, quoted in an Associated Press story)

> I think a candidate should have known about a $20,000 poll on their behalf. And it seems unusual to me that information or that poll would not have been shared with the candidate or given to the candidate to review. (Brooke Miles of the Alaska Public Offices Commission, quoted in a KTVA Channel 11 story)

> Jim Clark told the Legislature what was what; the level of arrogance was astounding. … They were out of touch with the whole machinery of government. (Ethan Berkowtiz, former state lawmaker and now a congressional candidate, quoted in a Juneau Empire story)

> It probably would have helped me out if something like this had happened to someone else five years ago. I just would have sent a message. We all need a wake-up call from time to time. We drift into activities that don't necessarily advance the public interest. I would hope that this would help others think about this more than I did. (Jim Clark in an interview with KTUU Channel 2)

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Setting a rugged pace. Most of the frontrunners in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog race this morning were in Takotna, a spot favored by mushers for their required 24-hour layover. Mitch Seavey, however, wanted nothing to do with sticking around and was the first out, leaving only a few minutes after he got there. (See ADN’s package of stories, photographs and video here, and check the up-to-the-minute standings here.) Here’s some of how others are covering the race:

> The How Stuff Works web site, of all places, looks in depth at the Iditarod after posing the question “Why do groups like PETA oppose the Iditarod?” The web site looks at how the race works, the life of a sled dog and the effects that complaints from animal rights groups have had on the race.

> The Associated Press has a feature on Corvallis, Ore., neurosurgeon Cliff Roberson, who is running his fourth Iditarod and the one he says will be his last. Roberson, who last ran 13 years ago, was struggling early this time. He was in Rohn in 86th place this morning and had earlier told the AP his dogs were behaving like “a runaway train.”

> Calling the Iditarod a “barbaric race,” the Sled Dog Action Committee web site is pushing a campaign of pressuring race sponsors to end their support. The web site has a list of sponsors and a sample letter. “What happens to the dogs during the Iditarod includes death, paralysis, penile frostbite, bleeding ulcers, bloody diarrhea, lung damage, pneumonia, ruptured discs, viral diseases, broken bones, torn muscles and tendons, sprains, torn footpads and anemia,” the site says.

> When they emulate the Iditarod in Cincinnati, they call it the Cinciditarod and it involves hitching people to imaginatively decorated shopping carts and running through the streets of the city, according to The Enquirer in Cincinnati. “Any time adults get a chance to act like kids, that is...a good thing,” said one of the racers in the event, which was held to correspond with the start of the race with dogs.

> Port Gamble, Wash., has a favorite: 25-year-old Laura Daugerau, who was featured in a story in the Kitsap Sun. Participation for Daugerau, a rookie, is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream and marks the first time a woman from Washington has qualified for the race, according to the story. Daugerau was in Rohn in 84th place this morning.

> Radio Icebox, a Fairbanks radio reporter’s blog on the race, notes that the use of GPS trackers to keep up with some of the mushers didn’t eliminate the uncertainty in the wait for the leaders to arrive in McGrath. Rumors flew. Still, in the end, the information from the gadgets was correct: “Technology rules.”

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Plane problems. Two more Alaska Airlines flights experienced wing-flap problems while landing in Seattle this week, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer story says. Both flights — a 737-800 from Orlando, Fla., and a 737-700 from Los Angeles — landed safely, though the one from Orlando made a “precautionary emergency landing,” according to the story.

Four flap malfunctions occurred on 737-400s landing in Alaska in January, each leading to a “precautionary emergency landing.”

“Late last month, the FAA absolved Alaska Airlines of any blame in maintenance or operation in the four 737-400 incidents. The airline said it is continuing to work with The Boeing Co. to understand what caused them. It also said no similar 737-400 incidents have occurred since them,” the story says.

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Bowhunters get boost. A Fairbanks Daily News-Miner story reports that the Alaska Board of Game has increased the number of caribou bowhunters can take along the Dalton Highway. The new bag limit will be two — up from one — and will take effect in July.

“Despite the 400-mile drive north, the Dalton Highway hunt is popular because it is one of the few road-accessible caribou hunts in Alaska that doesn’t require a special permit, though bowhunters must pass a shooting test to be eligible for the hunt,” according to the story.

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Hard times for states … except Alaska and a few others. States from coast to coast are looking at drastic cuts in spending as revenues aren’t living up to expectations, according to a story in The Philadelphia Inquirer. New Jersey, for one, is looking at closing three entire departments and cutting 3,000 jobs.

No so Alaska. The story puts the state in with New Mexico and Montana as those that have been helped by increases in oil prices. (A recent Associated Press story, for one, has put Alaska’s anticipated surplus at $5 billion or more.)

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Aleutian geese on the move. A Times-Standard story from Eureka, Calif., takes note of the local appeal of the gathering of Aleutian geese that stop in Northern California on their way north from their winter territory in the state to the Aleutians. Calling it “one of the most spectacular shows available here on the North Coast,” the gathering features at this moment between 40,000 and 60,000 birds.

“Each morning from late January to late March, early risers can watch them take wing in massive waves, obscuring the dawn horizon with their sheer numbers and filling the air with a deafening chorus,” the story says.

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Altitude record in her sights. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner columnist Dermot Cole writes today of an Irish balloonist who is in Fairbanks this month with her eye on a new altitude record for women. Pauline Baker is aiming to get to 35,000 feet, which, she says, would “wipe out every female record that’s there.”

Ideally, she told Cole, a temperature between 5 below and 5 above and no wind would give her the best chance. She flies buckled into a harness suspended under her balloon, according to the column.

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