Anchorage Daily News

LAWYER IN PALIN E-MAIL CASE ASKS THAT CHARGES BE DROPPED (Knoxville News Sentinel)

David C. Kernell may be the most high-profile guesser in America. He may be an immature prankster. He may even be a low-level criminal. But the defense attorney for a 20-year-old University of Tennessee student who allegedly accessed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's e-mail account after figuring out the vice presidential candidate's password contends that Kernell is neither a federal felon nor a hacker.

MY YEARS WITH BILL WEIMAR: Progressive Alaska blogger Philip Munger writes about his years working for private-prison advocate Bill Weimar, who was sentenced today on bribery and conspiracy charges.

Early in Allvest's history, Bill actually was seriously interested in trying to create some model programs that sought to make rehabilitation meaningful and sought to seriously reduce criminal recidivism. But as time went by, and politicians showed little interest in making rehab work (it costs money), Weimar went with the flow.

POLITICS PROMPTED ASSAULT, STUDENT SAYS (Star-Tribune, Minneapolis)

An Augsburg College student and Sarah Palin supporter from Alaska was beaten on election night while walking to her dorm and was called a racist by a group of four young women because she had on a McCain/Palin presidential campaign button, authorities and the victim said. (WITH PHOTO)

The victim, Annie Grossman of Delta Junction, plays on the hockey team at the downtown Minneapolis college.

TERRITORIAL GUARD MEMBERS STILL DON'T GET VETERANS BENEFITS (KTVA)

They served our state and our country. Thousands of Alaska Territorial Guard members protected millions of Americans against the Japanese during World War II. But those veterans have not been properly recognized for their services. (WITH VIDEO REPORT)

STUDY: HUGE DEPOSITS OF FROZEN NATURAL GAS IN ALASKA (The Washington Post)

Federal scientists have concluded that Alaska's North Slope holds one of the nation's largest deposits of recoverable natural gas in the form of gas hydrates, a finding that could open a major new front in domestic energy exploration.

Find a technical report at the U.S. Geological Survey Web site.

BEAR CUB HIGH AND DRY: The photo in the Juneau Empire says it all: A motherless black bear cub spent a full day on a dock near downtown Juneau, shivering and lethargic, before walking back into the woods.

McCAIN, ON "LENO," DOESN'T LAY BLAME: Unlike some of his campaign advisers, defeated presidential candidate John McCain, in an appearance Tuesday on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," wouldn't speculate on why he lost the election. He said he "couldn't be happier with Sarah Palin" as a running mate and "I think she will play a big role in the future of this country." Video: NBC.com. Stories: The Washington Post, The Associated Press

MORE PALIN INTERVIEWS: Gov. Palin remains in demand for interviews by the national media. Today, she tells Matt Lauer on NBC's "Today" show that she's conditionally "comfortable" with having Barack Obama as commander in chief over her son, who is stationed in Iraq. Here are links to the latest:

CNN.com today: Story, video, poll results.

NBC's "Today" show Tuesday-Wednesday with Matt Lauer: Story, video and slide shows.

Fox News "On the Record" Monday with Greta van Susteren: Transcript, video, photos.

Palin reflects on her run (ADN): Article, video, photos

On TV tonight: CNN's "Larry King Live"

Further commentary on Palin's media blitz:

What Sarah Palin didn't say: "She could play a valuable leadership role - right now - by being honest about and sharing what she really does know about: combining healthy ambition with mothering five kids. Confronting the pain she must have felt - and, even I dare to suggest, the guilt she won't allow is there - at her own parental oversight when her teenage daughter got pregnant. Struggling with that other decision she has also blown off as an easy call: to continue with her own late-in-life pregnancy when she found she would give birth to a Down syndrome baby. ... If Palin would address these things honestly with American women and tell it like it really is, she might not redeem the intellectual blunders of the trail. But she might redeem herself, and - who knows? - maybe, someday, win herself national office." - Tina Brown, The Daily Beast

Rehashing '08 and rehearsing, perhaps, for '12: "Palin could be turning to television to restore her tarnished image, jumpstart a 2012 presidential bid, or both. But so far, viewers have mostly witnessed some of the very traits - disarming candor and staggering presumption - that drove some McCain campaign aides to leak damaging accusations about her." - N.Y. Times

Palin and the mainstream media: "A post-election goodwill tour might be Palin's best chance for a while to change the ‘Palin Rules' that have governed her media coverage since August - rules which state, so far as I can tell, that almost any negative claim made about the Alaska governor is to be published first and double-checked later." - Russ Douthat, The Atlantic

Boxers, briefs or silks?: "After her brutal transformation by the McCain campaign into a shopaholic, whack-job diva, Palin is now trying to unmake that makeover and morph from uptown cloistered girl back to down-home accessible girl." - Maureen Dowd, N.Y. Times

A little humility, Governor: "Jesus took care of the poor and spiritually disenfranchised; Moses lifted a people from slavery to dignity. Sarah Palin might think about her deep faith and refocus now on the people in Alaska who elected her to govern them, not to use them." - Rabbi Ben Kamin, Examiner.com

VILLAGE MOMS ON PATROL: Akiachak mothers and other volunteers are patrolling the village streets and telling kids who are out too late to go home, reports Delta Discovery.

"We get together wherever we can meet, then we walk the village in groups. If we are lucky, we'll have three groups. It varies, it depends on who is free," said volunteer Olinka Evon. The village police officers are also thankful for the extra help, said Evon. Some of the kids tend to run from the police, so the community effort is helpful.

Return to Alaska Newsreader through the day for new links.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

The future of the poles: Northwest Passage (Scientific American)

Targeting ‘scofflaw' drivers (KSKA)

UAF unmanned-aircraft program soars (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Matanuska Creamery ready to churn out ice cream (Alaska Journal of Commerce)

Interior veterans cemetery idea grows in popularity (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

Proposed Izembek refuge road raises drilling fears (Washington Post)

36 Crazyfists plans Anchorage concert DVD (Roadrunner Records)

Homer saloon braves winter for a change (Homer Tribune)

Find previous Newsreader columns here.

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