Anchorage Daily News

Alaska's village schools fight off extinction

Link: The New York Times Schools in the Aleutians village of Nikolski and four other Alaska communities closed this fall because enrollments didn't reach the minimum required for state funding. "As Alaska celebrates its 50th anniversary of statehood amid new political prominence and urban aspirations, it is confronting a legacy of loss in rural communities that are unlike any others in the United States," writes The Times' William Yardley. Former Alaska legislator Gary Wilken tells Yardley that Internet classes, home schooling and regional boarding schools may be the only way to educate children in some villages. "Schools may close, but the fact of the matter is, we're in the education business," said Wilken. "Our state has to provide a quality education to all." The article includes a slide show, "Inside Nikolski," and video, "An Alaska Village in Crisis."

A memorial tribute to Inupiat Ph.D. Kenneth Toovak

Link: Wasilla Alaska By 300 blog Arctic research pioneer Kenneth Toovak of Barrow died last week at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. He was 86. His friend Bill Hess, a Wasilla blogger and photographer, has posted a long tribute with many photos. Hess writes: "Kenneth was there from the very beginning of the modern Arctic science movement in Alaska. He employed his knowledge of the Arctic to enable the scientists to survive in an environment that will quickly kill the unsavvy. They relied on his powers of observation to enhance their own skills, for he could look at the ice and the sea and see things that neither they nor their instruments could detect. When they built the Naval Arctic Research Laboratory, just north of Barrow, they relied on Kenneth's knowledge of the permafrost, carpentry skills and Arctic constructions to help them design a building that would stand up to the harsh conditions that would batter it."

Troopers hunt for Native, rural recruits

Link: The Tundra Drums The Alaska State Troopers are sending Native members of the force to Alaska towns and villages in hopes of improving their image and recruiting rural Alaskans. "The troopers enforcing laws when I was a kid were a part of our community, and it seems we don't have that touch with the community anymore," said wildlife trooper Jon Simeon, 40.

Research aims to boost oyster shelf life

Link: Ketchikan Daily News (via Capital City Weekly) - Students and faculty at the Ketchikan campus of the University of Alaska Southeast are experimenting with quick-cooled oysters in a search for ways to reduce shipping costs for Southeast oyster growers. The study relies on volunteers' impressions of the smell and look of the oysters, but not their taste; they aren't permitted to eat them.

State, wildlife refuge battle over Sterling Highway

Link: The Redoubt Reporter Everyone agrees that a 7-mile stretch of the Sterling Highway through the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge needs enhancements that would reduce collisions between vehicles and moose, caribou and bears. But refuge officials say they can't agree to a state plan that would put fences along the highway and include just one underpass for wildlife to cross. The refuge wants eight underpasses. "[The plan would] cut the refuge into two smaller pieces. And whether bears or caribou or moose can survive as well is questionable, so we're trying to maintain the habitat connect between the north and south halves of the refuge," said Rick Ernst, a refuge biologist.

Palin to Canadians: Dump public health coverage

Link: The Canadian Press A popular Canadian TV comedian went rogue at a Sarah Palin book-signing in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, confronting Palin with a tongue-in-cheek question about the Canadian health system. "We told her we're from Canada, and we're just looking for a few words of encouragement for the Canadian conservatives who have worked so tirelessly to destroy the socialized medicare that we have," recalled Mary Walsh of the CBC show "This Hour Has 22 Minutes." Security guards removed Walsh from the area, but she was able to confront Palin again after the signing. Palin told Walsh and her crew that "Canada needs to reform its public health care system and let the private sector take over." Watch video of the exchange here. Canada has a broadly popular single-payer health care system, under which all residents are covered and the government reimburses doctors for almost all medical services they provide. Palin has regularly voiced opposition to health care bills before Congress that would expand insurance coverage for Americans.

Slate.com "Write Like Palin" contest deadline today

Pew poll: Less public interest in Palin, strong interest in health care

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24

Police blotter: Drunken fisherman demands comfort

Link: Unalaska Advertiser Sgt. Jennifer Shockley of the Unalaska Police Department shares this entry from the weekend police blotter: "Welfare Check -- Officers contacted two drunks who had recently been barred from virtually all hotels in the community, and informed them they were not allowed to sleep in the airport either. One of the drunks readily agreed to leave while the other provided a civics lesson on taxpayer dollars, police salaries and the obligations of cities to provide lodging to drunken, unemployed fishermen."

2 wilderness rescues for family not ready for cold

Link: KTNA A family that planned to spend winter in a woodstove-heated wall tent in the Susitna Valley wilderness near Talkeetna with a dozen dogs gave up over the weekend, a few days after the mother was evacuated with severely frostbitten hands. The father and a teenager walked 7 miles out to civilization on Saturday, the son also suffering from frostbite. Then, authorities had to mount another difficult operation to rescue a dozen dogs the family left behind at the campsite. "We do have some problems at the start of winter with people who may go to remote sites to live and not really be prepared," said Mat-Su Borough animal care officer Bob Haskell.

Wind turbines OK, Kenai says, but no ads please

Link: Peninsula Clarion Kenai has become just the second community in Alaska to adopt guidelines for construction of electricity-generating wind turbines, and proponents say the rules are better than those of Homer, the only other city to address the issue. The Kenai City Council says owners of a 20,000-square-foot lot in residential districts can build a turbine up to 80 feet high. In Homer, residents need a full acre. But Kenai residents can forget about selling advertising rights to their towers: The council prohibited billboards as well as bright colors.

Juneau homeless call for 'peace talks'

Link: Juneau Empire Four homeless Juneau residents on Monday asked the city Assembly to hold "peace talks" with the homeless to help change misperceptions about them in the community. "I'm a vet. I'm homeless. There's a lot of folks out there that disrespect us," Paul W. Shangin said in his public comments. "It does hurt our heart when folks disrespect us because we're homeless." Assembly members expressed appreciation for the speakers' comments but didn't commit to further meetings.

Palin calls for surge in Afghanistan, criticizes Obama

Link: Politico, Fox News Pressed by "On the Record" host Greta Van Susteren for specifics as she criticized President Obama's Afghanistan strategy in an interview Monday, Sarah Palin called for a troop surge there, "so that [troops] know that they're there for victory, they're not there just biding their time as lives are being lost." Watch the full Van Susteren interview here.

Video: KTUU interviews Palin on tour bus

Palin, Graham, Israel and end times (Rod Dreher, Beliefnet.com)

Palin to Van Susteren: A lot of Alaskans "smell like salmon"

Palin returns to big Florida campaign stop

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23

Sunken Gold Rush ship discovered in Yukon (updated)

Link: Canada.com (UPDATED: See new photos of the shipwreck at CBC.ca.) A team of Canadian and U.S. marine archaeologists has discovered a long-lost shipwreck in the depths of the Yukon's legendary Lake Laberge that is being hailed as a "time capsule" from the Klondike. The "perfectly preserved" 19th-century sternwheeler A.J. Goddard -- named for a U.S. shipping merchant who pioneered Yukon River transport during the wild race for Canadian gold in the 1890s -- went down in a storm more than a century ago.

Magazine puts cell phones to extreme-cold test

Link: Popular Mechanics Cell phones are hardier than you might think, at least when it comes to extreme cold. The magazine staff tested six typical phones down to minus 40 and didn't find any evidence of permanent damage, though most were rendered inoperable at that temperature. Then, just for fun, the testers dunked the phones in liquid nitrogen for a minus-315-degree bath.

Hopes for heating with wood in treeless territory

Link: The Tundra Drums Businesses and government offices as well as homeowners in the Bethel region are looking to wood burning as a way of saving money on heating costs. Swanson's grocery store is using a Turbo Burn incinerator that generates heat from discarded pallets, cardboard and just about anything else that's combustible. The city would like to get a Turbo Burn unit too, Meanwhile, the Association of Village Council Presidents is hoping to get a federal grant to import wood from Tongass National Forest for use in homes in the Y-K Delta.

Critics rate Levi's 'northern exposure' in Playgirl

Link: US Magazine Some of Levi Johnston's much-anticipated Playgirl photos made their debut on the Web Saturday -- and critics were split when asked by Usmagazine.com to weigh in on the 19-year-old's PG-13 poses.

Overloaded meat processor swamped by complaints

Link: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Tanana Valley Meats, a newly USDA-certified slaughterhouse in Fairbanks, was overwhelmed by the number of moose carcasses brought in by Interior hunters this fall. The result: Delays of months in meat processing and delivery of rancid meat back to some customers. "I know we have unhappy people," plant manager Scott Miller said. "... For the most part, people have been nice about it. People don't seem to want to drive us out of business or bankrupt us." Troopers say they are conferring with the state to determine whether charges will be filed, but there are few or no laws regulating game meat processing.

Searching for stimulus projects near Sitka

Link: KCAW, Sitka A KCAW reporter recently visited Recovery.gov to learn where federal economic stimulus money was being spent in the Sitka area and how accurate it was. He found some good information but also encountered some of the accuracy problems reported elsewhere in the U.S.

Frozen salmon have smaller carbon fin-print

Link: The Oregonian Frozen salmon is better for the planet than fresh, because it takes so much less energy to make it safely to your dinner plate. That's the finding of Portland-based Ecotrust, which studied how sustainable it really is to catch fish, keep them cold and fly them to markets around the world -- instead of flash-freezing at sea and then shipping to market later, by truck or rail. "There's something wrong about catching an Alaska salmon, putting it on a helicopter, and then putting it on a jet to Moscow and then to New York so someone can eat their $50 dinner of fresh Copper River salmon," said Astrid Scholz of Ecotrust.

Palin is tweeting again

Sarah Palin began tweeting again last week at her new Twitter site, SarahPalinUSA, after going silent on the networking site after she resigned as Alaska governor. She wrote that had planned to use the new site to promote her memoir, "Going Rogue," and her current promotional tour for the book. But by Saturday she couldn't contain herself anymore let fly with a couple partisan tweets. Today she's signing books in Fort Bragg, N.C., where she has agreed to a request by the Army not to make any partisan comments or speeches. She'll be in Alabama later today and in Florida before taking a Thanksgiving break.

5 more tidbits from "Going Rogue" (Christian Science Monitor)

Alyeska: Pipeline seismic monitoring improves

Link: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner After the 7.9 Denali Fault earthquake in 2002, Alyeska Pipeline crews had to walk 400 miles of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline looking for leaks. Their earthquake monitors were too imprecise to tell them where the worst shaking occurred. But now, Alyeska says, a year-old collaboration with the Alaska Earthquake Information Center at UAF has left the company better-prepared than ever to respond to earthquakes.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20

Mystery fish stumps Barrow elders, biologists

Link: The Arctic Sounder The hottest roadside attraction in Barrow these days is a frozen fish on display beside Charles Maasak Brower's house. It's not just any fish, locals say, and biologists agree. Brower found the footlong, eel-like creature dead on the beach being gnawed by a fox. He brought it back to town and asked elders and biologists whether they'd ever seen anything like it. They hadn't, but biologists speculate it's a species of wolffish that lives in the Arctic but hasn't shown up in Barrow before.

Bookstores try to make most of Palin visits

Link: Politico Each of the stores that Sarah Palin has lined up for her book tour has just three hours with the former Alaska governor in-store to try and move the minimum 2,500 copies of "Going Rogue" publisher HarperCollins mandates they must order in exchange for her visit. So far, that hasn't proven difficult.

Alaska No. 2 in 'failure to properly feed people'

Link: The Huffington Post The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently ranked Alaska in roughly the middle of the pack for "food security," the ability of residents to rely on a regular, affordable supply of food. But the Huffington Post has put the USDA numbers up against census statistics for median family income to determine which states have the most hunger when compared to wealth. "More than states that are merely poor," the Post writes, "these are the states with clear policy issues that render them unable to translate resources into full bellies." Alaska comes in No. 2, after Colorado. Merri Mike Adams, managing director of the Food Bank of Alaska, points out that Alaska is the only state without a USDA warehouse, making it difficult to stockpile food in case of emergencies. High shipping costs and other actors also give Alaska unique challenges, she says.

Noorvik overturns ban on Native dance

Link: Arctic Sounder Inupiaq elders and the Christian church congregation in Noorvik, near Kotzebue, have voted to overturn a century-old ban on traditional dancing in the village. Missionaries instituted the ban because they associated dancing with shamanism, and generations of villagers have grown up without learning the moves. Motivation for the vote was Noovik's selection as the first U.S. community to be counted in the 2010 census. Villagers want dancing to be part of the celebration and have brought dancers from other communities to hold classes. "It's a long story of how Eskimo dancing was taken away from our culture," said Hendy Ballot Sr., Noorvik tribal administrator. "We're a generation that is pretty much losing all our Native culture, language, lifestyle and traditions, like dancing."

Fantasy sno-go would cruise Alaska in style

Link: Wired Alaskans who already have everything can start dreaming about the ultimate snowmachine. The i-Scoob (a play on, yes, "ice cube"), a concept by Diseno Art, is a two-passenger, dual-track gas-electric hybrid with solar-rechargeable batteries (admittedly worthless in the Arctic winter) as well as joystick operation, climate control and an awesome sound system. Coolest feature: It would float if it broke through the ice on a lake or river.

Zoo replaces dead polar bears with electric ones

Link: Riverfront Times, St. Louis The St. Louis Zoo has had trouble keeping polar bears in recent years; several have died, from both natural and unnatural causes. But the zoo still has an empty polar bear exhibit -- a perfect place to install electronic polar bears for the holiday season.

Video: The cooler adventures of the 'Ice Bloggers'

Link: Snow Covered Hills blog, Canada First there was "Ice Road Truckers." Now it's "Ice Pilots NWT." What's next? It's "Ice Bloggers," of course.

Economy bleeds the blood-donation business

Link: Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman Statewide demand for donated blood has dropped 10 percent in recent months, leading to the closure of Blood Bank of Alaska donation centers in Wasilla and Soldotna at the end of the year. "With the increase in people losing their jobs, and with it their insurance, people are doing less elective surgeries," said BBA spokesman David Large. The Blood Bank will still send its mobile units to the Kenai and Mat-Su, and hospitals say the closures won't affect blood supply.

Palin tells Ohio crowd she'll 'speak truth'

Link: WCPO, Cincinnati Sarah Palin told a crowd at a mall in suburban Cincinnati this morning she'd continue to "speak the truth" about politics. Then she sat down in a bookstore to begin signing copies of her memoir, "Going Rogue," for hundreds of people waiting in line. (Video clip included)

Palin concedes 'mistakes' during 2008 campaign

Link: Politico Sarah Palin said Thursday that she "made mistakes" while campaigning for vice president in 2008, and acknowledged some culpability for her damaging interview with CBS's Katie Couric. "There were mistakes being made in the campaign. I made mistakes in the campaign," Palin said during the first part of an interview that aired Thursday evening with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly.

Mat-Su: A place in time, not all frozen

Link: The New York Times A travel correspondent focuses on Matanuska Glacier, Hatcher Pass and the Valley's Colony history in the latest entry in the Times' "American Journeys" series. (Slide show included.)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19

Fashion consultant to Palin campaign comes out of the closet

Link: The New York Times Lisa A. Kline, the wardrobe consultant who did Sarah Palin's fashion makeover for the Republican National Convention in September 2008 and in the process set off the "Wardrobegate" scandal, has come out of the closet to back Palin's assertion in her memoir, "Going Rogue," that it was a "trumped up controversy." The clothes were foisted on the Palin family at the last minute by the McCain campaign, Kline says, and many were never worn. "The campaign advisers realized the kids, everybody, needed to be dressed," Kline said. "This was a family that was about to stand before the world, and they just came with their everyday-life clothes."

Hundreds line up in Indiana for Day 2 of 'Rogue' book tour (FortWayne.com)

Palin and the media: Co-dependency in action

Link: Politico "Sarah Palin talked on the campaign trail about trying to get around the elite media filter, but this week she's pushed her way straight through it," Politico's Michael Calderone writes. "And the media - liberal and conservative, bloggers and network anchors - have responded by dedicating magazine covers, air time and online real estate to everything related to the book-promoting, media-bashing former governor of Alaska."

Media has reached "Peak Palin" point in coverage (Gawker.com)

'Going Rogue': the quiz

Link: The Atlantic "You've seen the interviews. You've read the instant reviews. You know everything about Sarah Palin's new book. Or do you? Test your Palin-tology."

Canada's parliamentary restaurant to serve seal meat

Link: Toronto Star A committee of Canadian politicians has decided to add seal meat to the menu of the posh restaurant inside Canada's Parliament Building in Ottawa. The Canadian government has been blasted by Europeans and wildlife groups for allowing the seal hunt but has remained steadfast in support of it. It is not, however, primarily a meat hunt; it's an income-producer that relies on sales of fur to Russia and China and seal oil to medical researchers. Not all Parliamentarians support the new menu choice."The harp seal that they are talking about and are so excited about, it tastes horrible," said Liberal Senator Mac Harb. "[The menu committee should] have a feast first before any other members of Parliament so they can see firsthand how tasty it is. I'm sure they'll conclude quite quickly it's not edible."

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18

Live blog, video: Palin greets crowd in Grand Rapids

Link: Detroit Free Press "Alaska and Michigan have so much in common, with the huntin' and the fishin' and the hockey moms," Sarah Palin told a Grand Rapids crowd as she emerged from her tour bus for the first stop on her "Going Rogue" book-signing tour.

ADN politics blog: Odds and ends from Palinpalooza

ABC: Palin backs Israeli settlement expansion

HuffPo: Unofficial index to 'Going Rogue'

HuffPo: Palin tells Fox's Hannity her news sources

People: Levi says no to Palin Thanksgiving

CNN: No time to read 'Rogue,' Obama says

Reuters: McCain defends campaign team against Palin

Sitka bookseller donates proceeds from 'Rogue' sales to anti-Palin wildlife group

A sampling of reactions to Palin's 'Going Rogue'

Sally Quinn, The Washington Post: Sarah Palin writes that one summer at Bible camp she "put my life in my creator's hands and trust him as I sought my life's path." ... Perhaps God wants more out of Palin. You would think that God would ask of her to live her life as an example to others of a compassionate loving, caring person. One of the most powerful examples of God's love in the Bible is that of forgiveness. Turning the other cheek. But Palin's book is a screed against everyone who ever done her wrong. (More after the jump)

Fairbanks woman wins 'Survivor Philippines'

Link: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Amanda Coolley, a 25-year-old construction worker from Fairbanks, has outlasted 15 other contestants to claim victory in "Survivor Philippines," a franchise of the popular U.S. reality show. Coolley won 3 million pesos - the equivalent of about $64,000.

Fairbanks ravens seem to mourn electrocuted birds

Link: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner Minutes after two ravens were electrocuted on a Fairbanks transformer on Tuesday, hundreds of their comrades arrived at the scene in what seemed to some witnesses to be a sort of mourning ritual. The ravens hung around for just a few minutes before dispersing. “I’ve never heard of ravens holding funerals,” said a Fish and Game biologist. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the birds that got zapped were still alive and were acting erratically. That would attract the attention of other ravens.” The News-Miner includes three photos from the scene with the story.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17

Food fight: 'Rogue' ticks off vegetarians

"If any vegans came over for dinner," Palin writes in her memoir, "I could whip them up a salad, then explain my philosophy on being a carnivore: If God had not intended for us to eat animals, how come He made them out of meat?" The L.A. Times likes Fark.com's response: "In other news, Sarah Palin endorses cannibalism."

Palin thinks she inspired Obama's 'change' theme

Palin implies in "Going Rogue" that Pete Rouse, a former Juneau resident who is a longtime Obama adviser, was inspired by her successful run for Alaska governor and applied her campaign tricks to the Obama presidential campaign. She also blames Rouse connections for her Troopergate woes.

Are you in 'Rogue'? Guide to an index-less memoir

Politico has created a reader’s guide to Sarah Palin's “Going Rogue,” grouping the many characters into three categories -- friends, foes and "in between" -- to help answer the question insiders are already whispering to those who managed to snag a copy: How did I come out?

Sarah Palin: American Evita

"No force on Earth can stop Sarah Palin from becoming our very own 'lite' version of Eva Perón -- a glamorous and tragic legend, minus the tragedy," writes Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post. "Eventually, some clever composer will write a blockbuster musical about her life and times."

Palin on Limbaugh show: 'Snake oil science' on global warming

Sarah Palin was a guest on Rush Limbaugh's radio show today as part of her "Going Rogue" media blitz. She declared that Democrats are sheep, people aren't responsible for climate change, and that the GOP civil war in the NY-23 congressional election was good for the Republican Party, reports Talking Points Memo.

Newsweek defends provocative Palin cover

Responding to criticism from Sarah Palin that her depiction on the cover of the current Newsweek is "sexist and oh-so-expected," editor Jon Meacham insists that there is nothing derogatory nor nefarious about the image. "We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover," Meacham said in a statement.

Truth-o-meter: Palin on Obama and ACORN

In "Going Rogue," Sarah Palin says she wishes the campaign had talked more about "Obama's close relationship with ACORN. ... But we did not elaborate on any of that during the campaign." But PolitiFact reporters recall a lot of "elaborating" on ACORN from the McCain campaign.

Playgirl releases Levi Johnston promo photo

More photos from the Levi Johnston shoot that Sarah Palin is calling pornography are due to be released next week.

Reporters dispute Palin version of Piper incident

In "Going Rogue," Palin accuses two national reporters of trying to corner her young daughter Piper on the street in Juneau for an interview several months after the presidential campaign ended -- a charge both the journalists and a former Palin campaign aide reject, reports CNN.

McCain: Palin legal bill was related to Troopergate

Sen. John McCain has denied Sarah Palin's allegation that his campaign stuck her with a $50,000 legal bill to pay for the cost of vetting her as a potential vice presidential candidate. He said the bill was related to the Troopergate allegations against her.

Op-ed: Don't blame Alaskans for Palin fame

"As the country continues to be fascinated with Sarah Palin," writes Anchorage journalist Michael Carey in the New York Times, "here is what continues to fascinate Alaskans: how a woman who takes pride in calling herself a homemaker from Wasilla brought celebrity culture to the Last Frontier."