Anchorage Daily News

Monegan firing fires up the blogosphere. Followers of a state personnel brush fire that seems to be gaining heat can follow the ongoing discussion at the links below. The issues popping up on blogs, talk radio and news reports surround a concern that a divorce in Gov. Sarah Palin's family has influenced her decision to replace Walt Monegan as public safety commissioner, an allegation she denied at a press conference Thursday.

The links:

> KUDO's morning discussion has been all about the Monegan firing and Palin's press conference.

> KTVA coverage includes posted documents from Alaska State Trooper investigations into complaints about Trooper Michael Wooten's behavior.

> Andrew Halcro's blog included new content late Thursday about another Department of Public Safety employee, Lauren Rice, and departing liaison for the public safety commissioner. Her note to friends and colleagues urges them to read a study on sexual assault in the Bush.

> Others weighing in include local bloggers Celtic Diva and Mudflats.

> ADN's coverage of the governor's Thursday press conference, and ongoing discussion at Alaska Politics blog.

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Americans are eating less fish. The Associated Press says even though we know fish is good for us, we are eating less of it, according to a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

One of the biggest pieces of evidence comes from Alaska. Dutch Harbor-Unalaska remains the nation's top fishing port for the 19th year with landings of 777.2 million pounds of fish. The total was down from 911.3 million in 2006.

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NASA updates status of pollution drifting to Alaska from China. The Age.com, a news Web site out of Australia, talks about pollution photographed by NASA satellites over Asia. Images show a blanket of "soot, sulfur, nitric oxide, ozone and dust" stretching from Beijing in the north to Xian in the west and south past the Yangtze River.

In spring and autumn, "prevailing winds bow the cloud east across Korea, Japan and even Alaska." NASA says that 15 percent of air pollution particles in the western parts of the United States originated in China.

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Chain saw carvers are going at it on the Kenai. Nine carvers, all local except one from Washington state and one from Wasilla, are competing in the second annual competition in Soldotna, dubbed "Sawdust '08," reports the Peninsula Clarion.

The event takes four days, and winners will varnish their pieces Saturday before the winner is named. The Clarion's Web site had attracted an ad from eBay listing 65 chain-sawed items currently for sale on the Web site. Who knew?

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Just how much does it cost to live in Fairbanks? Well, more than it does in Anchorage. That was the point of comparative figures posted by Dermot Cole on his blog at the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

One example: Downtown Anchorage customers pay $77 for 700-kilowatt hours of power. In Fairbanks, that'll run you $157.

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Political analyst notes the flavor of Alaska on Obama's Web site here. A Washington Times blogger has been checking the Alaska Obama page for news that the candidate is headed north. No news on that front so far, but she specifically notes the kind of outreach documented on the Obama site, including Obama volunteers appearing at and sharing photos from the Moose Dropping Festival in Talkeetna and the Bear Paw Festival in Eagle River.

She contrasts that with the McCain Alaska page, which has a welcoming note and a list of press releases and upcoming events, none of them in Alaska.

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Bethel, city of cabs, gets two buses. The Delta Discovery broke the news. The new city buses will have disabled access and fare boxes and will run between housing, the post office and the hospital, among other places. Rates will be $2 a ride, $1 for seniors and students, children under 5 free. The grant providing for the buses will fund them for two years.

Reactions vary, notes Bethel city grant developer John Sargent. There's the issue of cabbies and their income. "Some cabdrivers want to apply to drive for 40-hour weeks and benefits and are looking forward to it. Other drivers show complete opposition. They say, ‘I'll quit, I'll leave town, you'll put me out of business, I'm ruined....' It's completely mixed."

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Cruise ship tax brings $350,000 to Seward this year. The Seward Phoenix Log reports that the cruise ship head tax of $50 per passenger approved by Alaska voters in 2006 netted Seward $17,000 last year and a whopping $350,000 this year.

According to Seward City Manager Phillip Oates, $25 of the $50 is allotted to the first five ports that don't have an existing head tax; $4 goes to the Ocean Ranger environmental monitoring program and $21 goes for projects related to cruise ship impact. Oates said Seward got $5 a head for every cruise ship passenger. It's going to spend $12,770 for a new motor for the Seward Fire Department.

Discussions are under way on how to spend the rest of the money on port improvements.

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NTSB to release findings on Empress of the North grounding Tuesday. KINY and USA Today say the National Transportation Board will hold a hearing in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, July 22, on the cause of the vessel's grounding on a charted rock in May 2007 on a cruise near Juneau.

The hearing will be webcast here starting at 9:30 a.m. Alaska time.

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"I/M for dummies" prompted by Assembly action on the emissions program. Own the Sidewalk blog has some fun and makes comment on clean air following the Assembly's decision Tuesday to reinstate the program.

Blogger Maia Nolan, amazed that so many residents would be angry over paying $60 every two years for clean air, does a homespun show-and-tell on what good, clean air will do for you. Lots of illustrations!

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Safe Harbor to double housing service with help from grant. APRN reports that the nonprofit hotel for homeless families and disabled individuals got a boost toward expanding when the Assembly approved a pass-through community development grant of $450,000. This along with other funds will help the program buy the 10-year-old Ramada Inn in Muldoon to provide more temporary housing for people getting back on their feet.

The How How Restaurant, attached to the inn, will shut down and an adjacent bar will be converted into a playroom for resident children. If fundraising efforts are successful, the expanded housing could be open this fall. Total cost is $3.6 million.

ADN featured the program director, Lynne Ballew, in a spring series on activists who make successful changes in communities.

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In other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> The two sides to Ballot Measure 4 (KBBI)

> Staff changes at the News-Miner (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

> Greenhouse gas studies are next step in Interior coal plant (Fairbanks Daily News Miner)

> Judith Kleinfeld's critique of MIT gender study is cited (The New York Times blog Tierney Lab)

> Ham radio in the age of the Internet (Dutch Harbor Fisherman)

> Begich gets a bouncy ride in the Y-K Delta (The Tundra Drums)

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