Anchorage Daily News

Denali pipeline opens Tok office, starts data collection. The other pipeline project opened a field office Thursday, and president Bud Fackrell said workers collecting data would be critical to a successful "open season" in three years.

A successful open season could mean green lights on financing and regulatory approval from the Federal Energy Regulation Commission. If all goes well, Fackrell said, gas could be moving through a pipeline within 10 years, reported the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.

Grill cooks from Fast Eddy's catered the event with burgers. Locals said they spotted few neighbors in the crowd of mostly Denali staffers, who donned ball caps with the Denali logo on them.

A downturn in tourism made the hotel bookings and catering jobs attractive to local businesses.

Crews will begin considering soils, water, wetlands, wildlife habitat and archaeological resources along the proposed route. The field will fill data gaps along the 200-mile corridor between Delta and the Canadian border.

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Fire extinguished on container ship 700 miles off Dutch Harbor. The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Coast Guard was on its way with a C-130 plane from Kodiak and the USS Mellon, 700 miles away in the Bering Sea when it got word of the extinguished blaze.

The vessel is the 781-foot India Lotus with a Malta flag. Thirty-two were onboard; no injuries were reported.

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Obama airs first general election ad in Alaska. Rolling Stone magazine can't get over the fact that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's ad, "a very clean, affecting bio piece," will run first today in Alaska - of all places - where only three electoral votes are at stake in this perpetually red state.

You can watch the ad here.

Among the states also getting it today are Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota and Virginia, offering a total of 72 electoral votes.

"That's 72 electoral votes that they're daring John McCain to defend."

Others weighing in on this include the Los Angeles Times Top of the Ticket, Newsweek's Ad Hawker, Washington Post's The Fix, and the Wall Street Journal.

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Is McCain rethinking his no-drilling position in ANWR? A news account of a town hall meeting at Missouri State University on Thursday, local newspaper the News-Leader noted that McCain showed flexibility on the issue.

For years, McCain has opposed drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But during the town hall meeting, McCain said he'd be willing to reconsider that stance. "I would be more than happy to examine it again," McCain said.

Asked later if he was really changing his position, McCain said he hasn't changed his no-drilling position yet, but "people have said to me, ‘I'm going to bring you new information about ANWR, how environmentally we can make it safe.' I'll be glad to accept new information, but my position has not changed," reports the Wall Street Journal.

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It's the water, stupid. Reid Brewer, a marine biologist with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Marine Advisory Program, has a sobering discussion of the effects of a warming climate on Alaska's hydrology in The Cordova Times.

Changes in precipitation, the timing of breakup and freezeup, fire regime and hydrological changes individually and collectively create terrestrial changes that impact both the food harvest and the viability of the overall community.

As permafrost degrades, lakes and ponds may begin to drain. As this happens, many groundwater systems that Alaskans and Alaska wildlife depend on may come into jeopardy.

He urges communities to innovate and adapt to these changes by sharing climate change information with institutions and coastal communities.

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Fairbanks residents want to shut off fluoride in their public water. Some borough residents, whose water supplier merged with another, requiring them to receive fluoridated water, are joining a city debate of public water, the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reports.

The City Council voted to continue the fluoride in March.

The American Dental Association says fluoridation decreases cavities, and the amount in public water systems is well below toxicity levels.

But dissenters say the debate is not about the data.

"It's basically government-mandated medication, and there are many of us who don't agree with that," Ronald Warner said.

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Alaska Men magazine turns to the Bush for a few good guys. The Tundra Drums reports that editor Susie Carter is skipping urban Alaska in her search to find more rugged men from outlying areas for her 2009 issue. She's calling for nominations from Dutch Harbor, Barrow, Bethel and Dillingham.

She says 75 percent of her featured men have come from Anchorage, but now women are looking for something more rugged, inspired by shows like the "Deadliest Catch."

Mothers nominate most of her hunks. "...Mothers are the ones who can tell you everything you need to know about a man," Carter said.

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Cordova asks Sen. Lisa Murkowski for $8.5 million toward its new civic center. Town leaders see this community center as key to an economic resurgence after the lingering effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, reports the Cordova Times. They recently won $7 million from the Denali Commission, but the total cost is estimated at $29 million. The community center would link the town center with First Street via covered walkways.

A decision on the Exxon case is expected Monday, according to ADN and APRN reports.

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University program seeks to create Native biologists. The Dutch Harbor Fisherman carries a story about a 2-year-old effort to mentor Alaska Native students toward careers in biology so they can become land managers of Alaska public lands.

The new biology track is part of the 13-year-old Alaska Native and Science Engineering Program. ANSEP is open to Native and non-Native students, and they can join as early as their freshman year in high school. It's aimed at changing a statistic, that only 10 percent of Native students attain their college degree in six years.

Read a recent ADN story on high dropout rates at the University of Alaska based on numbers from the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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State props up pension funds with bonds. Alaska faces an unfunded liability of $7.4 billion for public employee and teacher retirement systems over the next 25 years, reports the Juneau Empire.

The Legislature has authorized issuing up to $5 billion in pension obligation bonds in an effort to reduce that liability. The success of the deal for the state hinges upon getting better returns on its investments, which may be tricky in a year when the stock market has dipped 10 percent.

Department of Revenue Deputy Commissioner Brian Andrews says that's a good thing before the transaction. Afterward, he hopes the market changes direction.

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Neighbors worry over Homer subdivision with airstrip. The builders are Louise and Charles Tulin of Anchorage; the 58-tract property will be called Skyline Heights Estates with the Diamond Creek Air Park as an amenity, the Homer News and Homer Tribune report.

The Kachemak Bay Conservation Society is negotiating with the Tulins to buy 115 acres of the subdivision to preserve as open space. But not everybody is happy.

"Most people thought we were talking about a private owner wanting to land their Super Cub on their small strip," said nearby homeowner Stephanie Zuniga. "Once the snow melted and people were able to get down there and check it out, they realized this thing was huge. It cut a swath that looks more like a commercial airstrip."

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Other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

< Gary Stevens discussed as Senate president (KMXT)

< Chena Hot Springs to get a multimillion dollar face-lift (KUAC)

< Turning methane seeps into useable energy source (APRN)

< Catastrophic oil spill less likely now, advisory group says (Peninsula Clarion)

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