PFD CHECKS COULD DIP TO NEAR NOTHING (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. director Mike Burns told the Senate finance committee today PFD checks this year could top $1,500 but may drop to as low as $68 in 2013 unless there are changes in the way dividends are managed.

OH-MEGA! YUKON SALMON SHINE (All You Can Eat blog, Seattle Times): Yukon River king and chum (keta) salmon have "astonishingly high" levels of beneficial omega-3 fatty acids, according to recent testing. The fish set a record high for omega-3 content, says the testing firm.

CHEVAK SAYS GOODBYE TO SHINING ‘COMET' (The Tundra Drums): Lena Ferguson, a longtime Chevak educator and coach, died March 3 in Anchorage after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. About an hour after word of her death reached the Chevak School, members of the Comets' girls basketball team gathered in a conference room with village elders and school administrators.

ALTERNATIVE FUELS: CONQUERING THE COLD WITH BIODIESEL (Green Inc. blog, N.Y. Times): Researchers from Purdue University and UAF have successfully driven soybean-fueled vehicles from Anchorage to the Arctic Circle to prove that biofuels can be formulated to withstand extreme cold. The researchers reported no fuel problems even as the temperature dropped to minus 24 along the way. The Indiana Soybean Alliance is helping fund the research.

THE ‘FIRST DUDE' UNLEASHED (Sports Illustrated): "The Dude is in his element here at the (Iron Dog snowmachine race). Forget the campaign trail, the whole black-suit and sound-bite thing. ... But then there's a political resonance to the whole scene. On two race sleds are bumper stickers reading AMERICA. LOVE IT, DEFEND IT, OR GET THE HELL OUT. On another there's a mock ALASKA TERRORIST HUNTING PERMIT, good through 2050, with the license number 9-11-01. Tina Fey is not here amid the wafting aroma of two-stroke motor oil. Neither is Michelle Obama. And so Todd Palin is free to be ... the Dude." With photos

EARMARK "HYPOCRISY" FROM PALIN? (Mother Jones): "On the [vice-presidential] campaign trail last year, Sarah Palin sold herself as a crusading reformer who despised earmarks -- those federal spending projects that Capitol Hill legislators of both parties slip into appropriations bills. That was then. The omnibus spending bill that President Obama signed on Wednesday includes earmarks that Palin sought." ALSO:

> List of Alaska earmarks in federal omnibus bill (Sen. Murkowski press release)

GENTLE HINT: SHOVEL YOUR SIDEWALK (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): Unusually heavy snowfall has left Fairbanks street-clearing crews with plenty of work, but some able-bodied homeowners are not meeting their own snow-removal responsibilities, the News-Miner notes in an editorial. "Many property owners have surrendered their sidewalks to whatever winter might deliver. ... Here's a way that homeowners can remind them: Next time it snows, we can shovel not only our own sidewalks but also those of our able-bodied but delinquent neighbors. Maybe they'll catch the hint."

BRISTOL AND LEVI: DOOMED TO FAIL? (The Chicago Tribune): From a statistical standpoint, the outcome of Bristol's relationship with Levi seemed pre-determined. "Despite high expectations, less than 8 percent of teen mothers marry the baby's father within one year of the birth," said Bill Albert of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. "That is magical thinking."

VOLCANO MONITORS GET NEW TOOL (Peninsula Clarion): If Mount Redoubt ever does blow, the Alaska Volcano Observatory will have a new tool in place to measure the amount of ash emitted and the velocity and direction of the plume. A volcanic ash radar dish was delivered last week to Kenai Municipal Airport, across Cook Inlet from Redoubt.

STUDY: NORTHWEST COAST WOLVES MERIT SPECIAL PROTECTION (Victoria Times-Colonist, Canada): They have red-tinted hair instead of gray, eat fish along with meat and love to island-hop. That makes coastal wolves, found from Vancouver Island to southern Alaska, unique in behavior, looks, diet and genetic makeup, an international study has found. With photo.

Return to Alaska Newsreader through the day for new links.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

Out in the cold: Native corporation contracting under fire (Government Executive; Pt. 2)

Man photographs moose of a different color (Peninsula Clarion)

Are sled dogs the planet's best athletes? (The Wall Street Journal)

Native charter school enjoys more room for learning (Alaska Newspapers)

Fishermen measure their haul in verse (The New York Times)

For conservatives, Palin still a symbol of media bias (Washington Independent)

Smithsonian shakes dust off 600 Alaska artifacts (First Alaskans)

Very small dog is prey for hungry eagle (Homer Tribune)

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