Anchorage Daily News

VILLAGES STRIPPED OF CASH TO FIGHT EROSION (The Tundra Drums): State and federal lawmakers have scaled back support for Alaska's eroding villages, a move that threatens projects designed to help a handful of communities across Western Alaska. At the federal level, Congress in March repealed a 4-year-old provision that allowed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to fully pay for erosion-related projects. And in late April, the state Legislature approved only $2 million - it will go to help Newtok - in this year's capital budget. That's down from the $11 million the Legislature provided last year to help three communities with erosion-related capital projects.

PALIN PHONES PREJEAN WITH WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT (Us Magazine): Former Mat-Su beauty queen Sarah Palin is defending embattled California beauty queen Carrie Prejean. Prejean has been getting a lot of media attention since her comments in opposition to same-sex marriage at the Miss USA pageant, the revelation that the Miss California pageant paid for her breast implants and the subsequent news that as a teen she posed topless for photos. Gov. Palin called Prejean in support; ADN's politics blog has her complete statement to the media, which said, in part, "I can relate as a liberal target myself. What I find so remarkable is that these politically motivated attacks fail to show that what Carrie and I believe is also what President Obama and Secretary Clinton believe - marriage is between a man and a woman."

FUEL LEAKS, CONTAMINATION A PART OF FLOODING AFTERMATH (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): Officials say it could be months before they know roughly how many hundreds of gallons of fuel might have receded with floodwaters from communities along the Yukon River - and what, if any, lasting effects that might have. Example: Bulk fuel tanks in Eagle were undamaged, although most of the flooded and ice-damaged homes and businesses had 500- to 1,000-gallon fuel tanks.

NO ROOM FOR DERELICT BOATS (Homer Tribune): The Homer City Council introduced an ordinance this week that would require vessels moored in the harbor to leave twice a year or face substantial rate increases. It's an effort to curtail boat abandonment as well as limit the number of boats in the harbor that are not functioning.

STERLING HIGHWAY BRIDGE WORK SQUEEZES BOAT OWNERS (Homer News via Peninsula Clarion): Sterling Highway bridge projects causing one-lane openings, traffic delays and width-restrictions have sparked panic among Ninilchik and Deep Creek residents worried about the summer tourist and construction season. Barricades are making lanes too narrow for larger boats on trailers. People say they got no advance warning from the state. The Homer News has an article with a video of a trip through the Ninilchik construction zone.

GOV. PALIN'S BOOK DEAL: A sampling of pundit reaction:

David Letterman's "Top 10 Surprises in the Palin Memoir"

Andrew Malcolm, L.A. Times: HarperCollins, BTW, is owned by Rupert Murdoch. So which TV network named Fox do you think gets first crack at next year's interviews?

David Stieren, The Alaska Standard: "Go. Pose for your book jacket cover. Lay out your blueprint for an America under a Palin administration. Set aside the concerns of AGIA, ACES, TC Alaska, and "Big Oil." Your ideas must be bigger, your grasp broader. The horizon can no longer limit you; you must look past it."

Shannyn Moore, Homer blogger: How in the ham and cheese can Sarah Palin know what "Alaska is all about"? No one can sum this place up; that's what I love about it. We are too mavericky to have one voice define us.

Andromeda Romano-Lax, 49 Writers: You can point out she'll be leaning heavily on a ghostwriter, but she'll still be logging a lot of hours -- all off the gubernatorial clock, she claims. And then there's the promotion, which in this humble writer's opinion will take more time than the authoring.

Sarah Erkmann, The Alaska Standard: Everyone, including Gov. Palin, is entitled to a couple of weeks off a year. If she wants to spend that time visiting the various Barnes & Nobles of this great country, more power to her.

Tina Molly Lang, Associated Content: Publishing a memoir is a wise move for Sarah Palin as it allows both supporters and critics to see her as a multifaceted figure rather than a mere polarizing political puppet.

Hillel Italie, The Associated Press: Two years ago, Palin told PBS' Charlie Rose that her favorite writers were C.S. Lewis ("very, very deep") and a Runner's World columnist, Dr. George Sheehan. Asked Tuesday about her reading, Palin mentioned that she "really enjoyed" Katharine Graham's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Personal History" and cited works by Obama, McCain and Bill Clinton, whose "My Life" she read "just recently."

SHERRY JOHNSTON: WE'RE NOT FEUDING WITH THE PALINS (MomLogic.com): In a Q&A interview, Levi Johnston's mother says her family is not at war with the Palins and that the Palins are not preventing them from taking Levi and Bristol's son Tripp out of the Palin house. "When Bristol came to pick up Tripp this week, she said if we want him more often, all I have to do is call. She said if I want to come to their house, I can come over and see him all the time. I am hopeful we'll be able to work together to raise Tripp," Sherry said. She'd like to see him even more, though, and be able to offer the kids more parenting advice.

TEN COMMANDMENTS OF FISHING (Mark Conway, Redoubt Reporter): No. 1 - Thou shalt not go fishing without sleeping the night before. That should make the next nine commandments easier to obey.

Return to Alaska Newsreader later in the day for new links.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

Eagle attack on crane disrupts shorebird fest breakfast (Homer Tribune)

Daredevil crippled in Anchorage stunt still dreams of extremes (Innisfil Journal)

Fish feel - and anticipate - pain, study shows (Science Daily)

Video: truck-surfing raven (Agmates)

Mother lode of potholes (Homer News)

Bearded Aussie rockers dream of Anchorage gig (The Australian)

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