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What does Alaska have to do with bullfighting? Only that a Spanish singer who calls herself Alaska (red hair), from Spanish electro-pop band Fangoria, launched an anti-bullfighting campaign Monday. See story below. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)

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Mechele Linehan has a new Web site. The Olympian reports today that the former exotic dancer sentenced to 99 years in prison for the 1996 murder of fisherman Kent Lippink now has a Web site proclaiming her innocence. The site opened Monday and is about supporting her appeal through shopping. Products include "T-shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, mugs, stickers, pins, magnets, mousepads and more!"

The site offers links of interest -- to her appeal timeline, the statement of 38 points on appeal and her husband Colin's letter to Judge Volland. There's also an address to write to Mechele, her Amazon wishlist and details on how to transfer you Alaska Airlines mileage to the Linehan family.

The ADN coverage of Linehan is organized here.

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Abramoff scandal snares another Congressional staffer. Roll Call (subscription required) says John Albaugh, the former chief of staff to ex-Rep. Ernest Istook (R-Okla.) pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of conspiracy to defraud the House of Representatives.

The Abramoff scandal has also touched Rep. Don Young. One of his key aides, Mark Zachares, pleaded guilty last year and is cooperating with the continuing federal investigation. Read the Anchorage Daily News April 20 story here.

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Gas pipeline session considers competition. KTUU and the Associated Press both set up the 30-day session in which legislators will try and figure out how a gas pipeline happens in Alaska.

The governor says TransCanada is the only proposal that suits her, while some legislators hope to consider the independent BP and ConocoPhillips plan that doesn't ask for the $500 million state subsidy and still others are in favor of the all-Alaska liquefied gas pipeline from the North Slope to Prudhoe Bay.

Les Gara, a Democrat from Anchorage, told the Calgary Herald that he expects a hot discussion around the fact that TransCanada represents a non-U.S. company taking a lead role in getting U.S. gas to market. He said he supports TransCanada but wants to see whether a viable liquefied gas pipeline to Valdez might surface during the session.

Gara said he expects legislators aligned with the BP-ConocoPhillips proposal to do some intense lobbying around the state against TransCanada.

"They'll show up at public hearings and say ‘you don't want a Canadian company to build this, do you?' Then they'll come back and say ‘my constituents do not want me to vote for this' "

Legislators aligned around TransCanada have a fear that big oil will hold the state "hostage" until they get financial terms they like, Gara said.

Keeping competition alive is a sensitive issue, Dan Dickinson, a consultant hired by legislators, told the AP. "What I'm concerned about is if you treat the awarding of the license as though the competition is over, as if we are crowning a winner, that's not good."

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Spanish singer named "Alaska" strips to protest bullfighting. If you've ever searched You Tube for Alaska videos, you've come upon Spanish-language music videos attributed to a singer named Alaska. She made news today, far far away from our own home state of Alaska, so now we know a little more about her.

Monday she launched a campaign against bullfighting by presenting a poster of herself nude with three spears stuck in her back. Her campaign is called "The Naked Truth: Bullfighting is Cruel."

"We need to stick some little banderillas (spears used in bullfighting) in the backs of those who think that the bull does not suffer," she told news site AFP.

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Alaska's two senators targeted in climage-change debate. Both APRN and NPR set up the debate today in the Senate over the Climate Security Act, which would set up a cap and trade system for carbon emissions. The legislation would reduce U.S. emissions by 19 percent by 2020 and 71 percent by 2050.

A Compass piece in Monday's Anchorage Daily News makes the case for the CSA. Also to the point, the Fairbanks News-Miner updated a weekend background piece Monday evening about the Bush Administration's just-released climate change report. It indicates North America will experience significant warming in the next 25-50 years, with the largest increases expected in northern Alaska during the winter.

Earth News, a blog on environmental issues, says lots of compromise among senators will be required to pass a bill that some worry has too high a price tag. Alaska's two senators will be in the crosshairs.

"To get to 60, their primary focus will be on a bipartisan collection of senators from states with heavy industrial bases, from Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) to Alaska Republicans Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Ted Stevens."

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'Alcohol impact zone' studied in downtown Fairbanks. Mayor Terry Strle has formed a committee to study an alcohol-impact zone that would restrict sale of cheap alcoholic beverages such as malt liquor and single cans of beer in certain areas of Fairbanks.

Police Chief Dan Hoffman is part of the committee, reports the Fairbanks News-Miner.

"Fairbanks has a very significant problem," Hoffman said. "Not only are they at high risk of health and injury to themselves, but they are a drain in the social service agencies that work with them."

***

Filing deadline passes, state and national races shape up. The Fairbanks News-Miner and the Anchorage Daily News both tallied up competitors for fall political races. The ADN names a couple of state races to watch, among them the Lyda Green/Linda Menard battle in the Valley, the Joe Paskvan/Cynthia Henry fight in Fairbanks and the Kevin Meyer/Doug Van Etten and Joseph Douglas race in South Anchorage.

The News-Miner gives the full list of opponents to Rep. Don Young and to Sen. Ted Stevens. Stevens faces a total of 12 challengers, six of them Republicans. Young faces six challengers, including two Republicans.

Stevens got mentioned, because of his age, in an Associated Press story about a New Jersey senate race between incumbent Frank Lautenberg and challengers Robert Andrews. Andrews says Lautenberger, at 84, is too old to hold office.

Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia is 90, and Stevens is two months older than Lautenberg.

***

Exxon Valdez ruling could make history. The Web site Legal News.com says the Supreme Court decision in the 20-year old lawsuit centered on the $2.5 billion in punitive damages will be significant. A ruling is expected before the court's session ends June 23.

Ted Frank, director of the American Enterprise Institute's Legal Center for the Public Interest, says the high court has the potential to redefine the role of punitive damages. The Supremes could go narrow, deciding just on a point of admiralty law, or they could decide to affect how state courts award damages.

"The court could remove strictures on punitive damages and leave it to the discretion of the lower courts and juries, and if that happens that obviously gives free rein for gigantic punitive damage," Frank said.

The "more likely scenario," he said, is that they'll just affect the punitive damages verdict against Exxon.

Jennifer Gibbins, executive director of the clean water group Prince William Soundkeeper, said the case is a test of the government's treatment of its citizens "It sure would be nice to know that the government of the United States will stand up to corporations and protect the rights of its citizens," Gibbins.

The ADN set-up coverage to the decision is here.

***

Former Alaskan found dead in San Diego. Ginger Bass, 51, was the victim of a murder/attempted suicide at the hands of her former husband, Frank Bass. She was found dead in the bedroom of her Lakeside, Calif., home, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Bass had worked as a real estate broker there since 1996. But prior to her time in San Diego, a bio on her Web site said she had spent 20 years in Alaska, where she worked as a truck driver, initially on the Alaska Pipeline. After retiring from the Teamsters union, she owned and operated a stained glass store in Fairbanks and designed custom glass windows for homes, businesses and churches. She also said she designed and built two log homes.

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Quote of the day. Now that Juneau has cheap hydroelectric power back after repairs from the April 16 avalanches that wiped out transmission towers, it's OK to breathe a sigh of relief. The repair took six weeks, cost $6 million and Juneau managed to lower its energy use 27 percent over last May.

"We're kind of used to living in the dark," Juneau resident Heidi Graves told the Associated Press. "It'll be a luxury to vacuum again."

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