PALIN MAKES LOW-KEY RETURN TO THE ROAD (Ben Smith, Politico): AUBURN, N.Y. - Gov. Sarah Palin paused Friday afternoon in front of a monument bearing the Declaration of Sentiments, an early feminist touchstone. "We anticipate no small amount of ridicule," she read, and remarked: "Some things never change." America's most famous Republican elected official quietly took a commercial flight into sleepy central New York Thursday and spent Friday on a private tour of landmarks of early feminism -- the Harriet Tubman Home, the Women's Rights National Historic Park and the National Women's Hall of Fame -- for the low-key beginning of a weeklong return to the Lower 48 states and another step in the attempt to recalibrate her public image.

The governor is in Auburn for a Saturday event commemorating William Seward, the U.S. secretary of state who negotiated the purchase of Alaska from Russia, and the 50th anniversary of Alaska statehood. The Syracuse Post-Standard also reports on Palin's unannounced stop at the Tubman Home (Tubman helped blacks escape slavery on the Underground Railroad) and has a photo. Also covering Palin's visit to Auburn are the Auburn Citizen and WSYR-TV in Syracuse. On Sunday, Palin will be honored at a Long Island event by the nonprofit Independent Group Home Living, for her support of people with developmental disabilities (her son Trig has Down syndrome). Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic is classifying the trip as part of the ongoing "invisible" Republican primary for 2012. ALSO:

> Palin visit has 200 years of political precedent (Syracuse Post-Standard)

TALES FROM BASE CAMP: TRACKING DENALI CLIMBERS (Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman): The people who supervise the Kahiltna Glacier base camp for Mount McKinley climbers say you've got to have a sense of humor to get through the climbing season -- and they have a lot of funny stories to share (there was the time a clueless Daily News telemarketer tried to sell them a home-delivery subscription). But it's getting harder to stay positive, they say: Climber self-sufficiency is decreasing, more are arriving out of shape and having heart attacks, and the so-called "solo" climbers are deluding themselves about their safety and their achievements. ALSO:

> High-tech gear doesn't prevent mental lapses (Craig Medred, ADN)

TO MARKET ON THE KENAI (Peninsula Clarion): Besides salmon, perhaps the most anticipated summer return on the Kenai Peninsula is that of the outdoor markets. The Kenai Saturday Market leads the way with up to about 50 booths with Alaska-made crafts and Alaska-grown produce (no flea-market-type used goods permitted). Soldotna has a market on Wednesdays, and Kasilof has a flea market on Sundays.

SHELLFISH SCIENTISTS STUDY NEW WAYS TO DETECT POISON (Juneau Empire): For 60 years we have had generations of laboratory mice to thank for shellfish that don't kill us. The basic recipe: Clean and shuck one oyster, mussel, geoduck or clam. Weigh out 100 grams. Purée into a paste. Boil in diluted hydrochloric acid, like a soup with a particularly pungent broth. Inject into a mouse. Watch. If the sample is tainted, the mouse dies. The feds require this test for shellfish that's headed to market, to ensure it doesn't have the tiny toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP. ... But there are better methods on the way, and Alaska scientists at a state laboratory are some of the front-runners in evaluating them.

VANDALS DAMAGE CREAMER'S FIELD BIRD BANDING STATION (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): Normally, when Sue Guers walks to the Alaska Bird Observatory's banding station in the woods behind Creamer's Field Migratory Waterfowl Refuge, there's not much stirring at 5:30 a.m. except for the birds she studies. So when Guers heard the sound of metal striking metal as she and Tim Walker made their way to the station on Wednesday morning, she thought it was odd enough that she and Walker stopped to listen. "All of a sudden we hear this vroom and this truck came down the trail and drove right by us," said Guers, the banding station manager. ... They're hoping Alaska State Troopers can use the plate number to catch the miscreants who evidently slashed a custom-made vinyl tent at the banding station, causing upward of $4,000 in damage. Includes photos

FROM SEWARD TO HOMER, THE SHORT WAY (Daniel Schieffelin, Seward Phoenix Log): The road from Seward to Homer is filled with 168 miles of beautiful vistas, some overlooking Cook Inlet and views of volcanoes in the distance. The more direct route, however, is across America's largest ice field. ... After eight days of travel and reveling in each other's boisterous company, we were sun-burnt, blistered, swollen and stiff.

SEASON OF SNARING BEARS BEGINS (Alaska Dispatch): In order to cull the bear population in the region and increase the number of moose, the first black bear snares have been set in what Alaska Fish and Game call game unit 16B. The highly controversial program entails luring black bears to the snares using bait in a bucket and then catching their foot when they reach into the bucket. The bears will then be shot. ... Such snares have been used for research purposes, but never for capturing bears for predator control. ALSO:

> Bear snaring program begins (KTUU, includes photos)

> Game Board allows bear snares (Anchorage Daily News, 3/1/2009)

ALASKA-BASED RADAR SYSTEM DETECTS ATMOSPHERIC WAVE PATTERN (Discovery Channel): Researchers have detected giant, fast-moving waves of air, caused by thunderstorms and other disturbances, above Poker Flat, where a new radar is churning out the first three-dimensional images of upper atmospheric phenomena in the polar region.

LETTER TO EDITOR: SOMEONE GOT THEIR GIFT GOAT (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner): A couple who live far outside Fairbanks decided to take in a movie during a trip to town. They arranged for a babysitter for their kids, but they figured their new goat would be safe in his crate in the truck bed. Bad decision - but a happy ending.

WOOD-POWERED VILLAGES ON THE HORIZON? (The Tundra Drums): Villages surrounded with black spruce could save tens of thousands of dollars a year by investing in wood-fired boilers that generate electricity, according to a UAF analysis. ... There's one big barrier. Wood-fired boilers that can work on a village-sized scale haven't yet come to Alaska, said an expert with the Cold Climate Housing Research Center.

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

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM RECENT NEWSREADERS:

Fisheries officials to increase subsistence patrols on Yukon (The Tundra Drums)

Southcentral's natural gas dilemma (Anchorage Press)

Murkowski knee injury boosts bipartisan spirit in D.C. (Politico)

He shall be Levi (GQ)

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