FLOOD-PRONE VILLAGE TO GET ESCAPE SHELTER WITH SWEAT BATHS (The Tundra Drums): A flood-imperiled Southwest Alaska village will get an evacuation shelter with wood-heated steam baths, a gravity-fed sewer system and a permafrost-chilled cellar. If floodwaters engulf Newtok, all 350 residents could escape by boat and live in the shelter for a week.

SPORTSMEN'S ALLIANCE BACKS PALIN IN WOLF FIGHT (L.A. Times): The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance, along with eight other organizations including the Archery Trade Association and Bowhunting Preservation Alliance, has pledged its support for Alaska's wolf management program. ALSO:

> Letterman notes Palin birthday in monologue

PALMER AGRICULTURE CONFERENCE MAY BEAR FRUIT (Alaska Public Radio Network): Alaska apples, blueberries and even cherries may someday be available in your local grocery store -- if Valley growers can learn to cope with strong winds and moose. The annual Palmer agriculture conference this year included fruit growers for the first time. ALSO:

> Garden blogger reports on Palmer conference "buzz" and potatoes (Talk Dirt To Me, Daily News blog)

> Q&A: Wasilla's "apple guy" (Anchorage Daily News)

> Alaska Pioneers Fruit Growers Association

> Cooperative Extension Service homepage (UAF)

HAUL ROAD DRIVERS MEMORIALIZED ON TRUCK STOP PLAQUE (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): The Dalton Highway, which links Fairbanks to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields, holds a rugged, remote mystique. The men who drive it, not so much. So this week, a driver's widow unveiled a plaque at the Hilltop Truck Stop that memorializes many haul road truckers.

AT LAST, BASKETBALL TOURNEY TIPS OFF IN NAMESAKE'S VILLAGE (Capital City Weekly): Klukwan has waited for this weekend for 28 years. The village has a brand-new gym, and for the first time, the annual Dick Hotch Basketball Tournament is being held in Hotch's hometown.

ARTIST RAY TROLL SPAWNS MURAL AT UA SOUTHEAST (Juneau Empire): The highlight of the mural will be a large oil painting by Ketchikan artist Ray Troll of fish swimming through a forest, but he wanted to paint an entire room so he got students involved in the process. With photos.

JAMAICAN MUSHER PREPARES FOR YUKON QUEST (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): In 2005, Newton Marshall was working as a horseback-riding guide in Jamaica when a phone call changed his life. "Newton, can you look after some dogs?" the caller asked. ALSO:

> Jamaica Dogsled Team homepage

SCIENTISTS, FISHERMEN WORRIED ABOUT DEPLETED SOUTHEAST HERRING STOCKS (Juneau Empire): Alaska lawmakers were told this week the state isn't doing enough to help Southeast herring recover from overfishing and predation.

PALIN IGNORES AYERS JOKE (New York magazine, N.Y. Times): Sixties radical Bill Ayers, targeted by Gov. Palin during the presidential campaign as someone Barack Obama shouldn't have been associated with, says he sent Palin a note after the election. "I suggested that we have a talk show together called ‘Pallin' Around With Sarah and Bill.' "

PALIN AND THE RISE OF THE PLAYBOY ELECTORATE? (AlterNet): What is the enduring legacy of Sarah Palin for men after the 2008 presidential elections? Their reactions to her signal important demographic and cultural changes occurring in men's lives.

‘WAY OUT WOMEN' RIDE FOR LIFE (The Redoubt Reporter): The "out" in the Way Out Women annual fundraiser to benefit cancer patients on the central Kenai Peninsula has several meanings. There's the literal, in that women spend a day riding snowmachines way out into the Caribou Hills. Then there's the more figurative meaning: The women are a bit "out there" in how they approach the event.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

Elmendorf pilots worry U.S. is losing its air warfare edge (The Atlantic, with video)

Anchorage dog honored in Westminster Kennel Club show (USA Today, with video)

Army's last draftee retiring to Alaska (Time)

How to manage an outhouse in midwinter (Mother Earth News)

Unalaska police blotter read around the world (Los Angeles Times)

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