Anchorage Daily News

WAITING FOR VALLEY ICE CREAM: The new Matanuska Creamery in the Valley is selling enough milk and cheese to keep four farms in business, reports the Alaska Journal of Commerce. The milk is available in local supermarkets, including the new Target store. The dairy is producing half-and-half for Kaladi Brothers Coffee Co. Next up: ice cream.

"By mid-November, we should be able to sell six to eight flavors of ice cream, and they will vary," spokeswoman Karen Olson said. "Chocolate and vanilla, and Alaska blueberry and Alaska birch syrup will be among the standards."

The creamery has about 18 full- and part-time employees. It opened with help from a $643,000 federal grant after the closure of the Matanuska Maid dairy in Anchorage left farmers without anywhere to sell their milk.

THREE-PEAT FOR MILLER: Former Anchorage Christian Schools cross-country running star Michael Miller won his third state championship Saturday - but this time in Washington. Now attending Mount Rainier High School in suburban Seattle, Miller won the Class 3A finals in Pasco, Wash., and helped his team earn the state championship as well. In 2006 and 2007, Miller won the Alaska 1-2-3A championship. "It's my senior year and I three-peated, which was a really big goal of mine," Miller told The Seattle Times.

PALIN'S EVERYWHERE: The national media isn't forgetting about Gov. Sarah Palin. She'll be interviewed by CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday when she's in Miami for the Republican Governors Association conference. The interview will air on CNN's "The Situation Room" that evening. CNN is inviting viewers to submit questions for the governor at iReport.com. Palin's weekend interview in Wasilla with Fox News' Greta van Susteren will air tonight on "On the Record," 6 and 9 p.m. on cable Channel 67. And NBC's Matt Lauer is interviewing Palin today, with segments to air on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday and Wednesday. Palin's weekend interview with the Anchorage Daily News is here.

Late addition: Fox News is online with a story and video clips from the Palin interview in Wasilla.

INTERIOR VETERANS WANT OWN CEMETERY: Some of the thousands of retired veterans living in Interior Alaska are reviving a push for a new military cemetery in the area, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska now has just two dedicated veterans cemeteries, in Anchorage and Sitka.

The idea has circled among politicians and retired military personnel from the Fairbanks area for a few years. Now, with troops stationed at the Fairbanks area's two military posts regularly returning from the Middle East, some say the idea is warm enough to merit a continued effort. "A place of honor is what we're looking at for our veterans," said Richard Clark, a retired Marine sergeant who fought in the Vietnam War.

State Rep. David Guttenberg of Fairbanks said his office has submitted a federal grant application to Gov. Palin's office for her approval.

ANCHORAGE COUPLE GETS DOG BACK: A dog that escaped its kennel at Portland International Airport in Oregon on Thursday was reunited today with Jason Doogan and his fiancée, Janel Kosten. The 6-year-old blue heeler, named Bear, escaped when a Horizon Airlines employee inexplicably opened its kennel on the tarmac. KPTV in Portland has video.

IZEMBEK ROAD: AIRPORT ACCESS OR OIL PROJECT? The Washington Post reported this weekend on fears that the proposed road through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is more than just an "escape route" by which King Cove residents could access the airport in Cold Bay during stormy weather. Commercial traffic would initially be banned from the road, but environmentalists fear an energy industry plan to eventually use it to haul people and gear from the Cold Bay airport to the deep harbor at King Cove, and from there access new offshore drilling. They cite an expensive, high-powered lobbying effort to push the road in Washington, D.C., and King Cove's proximity to the North Aleutian Basin, one of the nation's last untapped petroleum reservoirs.

Local officials strongly deny having a hidden agenda but acknowledge that economic development is a top local priority. Aleutians East Borough Administrator Robert S. Juettner said the road could one day be a catalyst for change.

"Everyone agrees that's the deal," he said of current plans to keep the Izembek road modest and restricted. "In five, seven years, I don't think people will challenge it. If there's a generational shift, anything is possible."

36 CRAZYFISTS ON THE ROAD: Roadrunner Records reports that Anchorage rock band 36 Crazyfists will film its Jan. 9 Anchorage show for a DVD release. Roadrunner has also posted a 10-minute video of an interview with vocalist Brock Lindow by the HardTimes music Web site in Montreal, where the band had a gig on Thursday.

HOW MANY WORDS WAS THE WHOLE THING WORTH? The Wikipedia editing community is debating whether to trim Gov. Palin's entry in the online encyclopedia since her ticket lost the election, writes The New York Times in an article about how Wikipedia entries are sometimes re-edited as quickly as breaking news happens.

"I hope so," says Wikipedia community member Coemgenus. "It's probably better for the article that she lost. Extremists of both stripes might move on to more relevant targets for their hate/love."

Currently, the Palin entry lists more than 200 references. Her husband, Todd, has his own extensive Wikipedia entry with dozens of references.

GROOMING TRAILS FOR PENINSULA MOOSE: "Moose Force One" is the name given a Tucker Sno-Cat that the Alaska Moose Federation will use to try to keep moose off Kenai Peninsula highways this winter, reports the Peninsula Clarion. Members of the group will plow trails away from roads and also cut down trees to create "diversionary browse." The Sno-Cat was purchased with a state grant -- see a picture here. The group also has a Bombardier trail groomer donated by Alyeska Resort.

LEARNING TO BUILD A PIPELINE: The new site of the Fairbanks Pipeline Training Center was dedicated last week, reports the Daily News-Miner. And graduating were 120 students in the nonprofit Alaska Pipeline Academy, the 10th class to complete the program.

The Fairbanks field site offers real experience in an environment that replicates an actual pipeline right-of-way, complete with cold temperatures, ice and trees. Students - some of whom are already union apprentices - train in each stage of pipeline construction, an elaborate dance of specially trained crews precisely orchestrated to make work flow efficiently and safely.

PROUD PARENTS GLAD TO BE HOME: Chuck and Sally Heath, parents of Gov. Sarah Palin, are off the campaign trail, back home and trying to answer some of the letters in the boxes of mail they've received from Palin supporters across the U.S., writes the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman. The couple say the harsh level of debate about Palin in the national campaign shocked them.

Chuck said the liquor store clerk at Fred Meyer told him some reporters had stopped by to ask what kind of alcohol, and how much of it, Palin buys. Even with the tug-o'-war between the candidates and the press, Sally said, the good trumped the bad during the past two months. Both said they cherish many of the people they met along the way. The Heaths even had positive reviews for "Saturday Night Live" actor Tina Fey's portrayal of Palin and said much of the imitation was done in good fun.

Return to Alaska Newsreader through the day for new links.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

Homer saloon braves winter for a change (Homer Tribune)

Shopping at Sarah Palin's favorite 'thrift store' (L.A. Times)

Sarah Palin as gay icon (Black Book)

Juror No. 11 in Stevens trial blogs (Legal Times)

What in the hell happened in Alaska? (FiveThirtyEight)

Find previous Newsreader columns here.

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