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Competitors ready for Iron Dog start on dark, cold morning

Two hours before the 11 a.m. start of the 2,000-mile Tesoro Iron Dog snowmobile race, the sun wasn't up and it was 30 below.

Spill response crews fear their jobs on cutting-room floor

Workers trained to control oil spills are watching closely as Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. negotiates a new contract with the company they work for. Alyeska has been streamlining operations throughout the state, and the spill responders are wondering if their jobs are on the line.

TUESDAY

Trekkers head to Aleutians to complete 4,000-mile trip

While most of Anchorage was hunkered down waiting out the meanest cold snap in years, Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman were scouting for a way to paddle their packrafts through the shifting pack ice of Knik Arm. They're in the middle of a 4,000 mile human-powered journey that started in Seattle and has taken them up the wild North Pacific coastline.

Polar cap may shrink to new record, surpassing '07 losses

New data on Arctic winds and currents indicates that next summer's ice loss at the North Pole may be even greater than 2007's record-shattering shrinkage.

Moose falls from sky as trooper patrols McHugh Creek area

Swing-shift Alaska state trooper Howard Peterson was cruising the Seward Highway north of McHugh Creek one night this month when something big fell from the sky, nearly on top of his patrol car. He thought it was a falling rock. Turned out to be a falling moose.

WEDNESDAY

Exxon gas will head south thanks to North Slope deal

Exxon Mobil Corp. has agreed to build a liquification plant on the North Slope and truck natural gas down the Dalton Highway to a Fairbanks distributor.

Jewelers say no to 'dirty gold' from prospective Pebble mine

Tiffany Corp. and several other national jewelry retailers say they won't use "dirty gold" from Pebble, the large and controversial copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska. The reason? Possible risks to Bristol Bay's bountiful salmon fisheries.

THURSDAY

Lawmaker says energy rebates should come from PFD

A Haines Republican lawmaker wants the state to cut a $500 check to Alaskans hard-hit by high energy costs. There's a hitch. Rep. Bill Thomas wants to finance the give-away with Permanent Fund earnings.

Fairbanks diocese hopes cases will settle faster in bankruptcy

Negotiations to settle scores of sexual abuse claims have broken down, and the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks says it plans to file for bankruptcy reorganization. Putting the claims in the hands of a bankruptcy judge might be the quickest way to get money to those injured by priests from the 1950s to the 1980s, the diocese says.

Fuel shortage in Nikolski threatens everyday life

Classes are held in the teacher's house. Laundry is done on a schedule, the village store is only open a couple days a week, and snowplows are parked. Five months of stormy weather has kept Nikolski's fuel barge at bay, and flying the precious stuff in at $11 a gallon is just too expensive. The village council wants the governor to declare an emergency.

FRIDAY

Superdelegates getting lots of attention from top Democrats

Bill Clinton called Cindy Spanyers at work the other day. A former congressman and member of the 9/11 commission left a message. Those aren't the kinds of calls Spanyers is used to getting. But as one of Alaska's Democratic Party "superdelegates," she could help decide whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama wins the party's presidential nomination.

State senator challenges feds over Real ID privacy issues

An Anchorage state senator wants the state to defy a federal mandate to issue so-called Real ID driver's licenses. Sen. Bill Wielechowski, a Democrat, says the cards would invade privacy, allow the government to track movements and block travel for Alaskans who don't have one. "It's the beginning of a surveillance society," he said.

SATURDAY

Lawson sentenced to 99 years for Bethany Correira murder

Michael Lawson is "a walking time bomb" with a "pathological sexual problem." That's according to Judge John Suddock, who sentenced Lawson to 99 years in prison for the 2003 murder of Bethany Correira.

Two snowmachiners killed in avalanche near Turnagain Pass

Hours after avalanche experts issued an urgent warning about risky snow conditions in Southcentral's backcountry, a 500- to 700-foot slab broke loose under a half-dozen snowmachiners on a mountain above Seattle Creek near Turnagain Pass. Christoph Vonalvensleben and Jeremy Stark of Anchorage died.

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