The surprising friendship of Don Young and Anh Cao

Alaska Rep. Don Young and Louisiana Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao have struck up what colleagues are calling an unlikely friendship in the U.S. House. Jackie Kucinich of the Roll Call newspaper (daughter of Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio) reports that the crusty veteran Young and the freshman Cao, a Vietnamese-American and a Republican whose Louisiana district is heavily Democratic, can frequently be found seated together in the House chamber during votes. One clue to the glue of their friendship: Both are considered GOP outsiders. Continued on jump

Alaska's civilian militia at odds with state

A change in mission for the little-known Alaska State Defense Force is angering members and causing many to quit, Maj. Timothy Flannery tells KSKA. Many in the civilian militia say the change is in effect an order to stand down, even though the organization was mandated by the Alaska Constitution. Continued on jump

Lawmakers say they'll share in travel budget cuts

The state operating budget passed last week in the House includes a blanket 10 percent cut in travel spending for most agencies. The University of Alaska and the Department of Public Safety escaped the cuts, but lawmakers say they'll suffer along with everyone else, reports the Juneau Empire. Continued on jump

Juneau's renovated skate park vandalized again

Juneau's skateboarding park, recently reopened after weeks of repairs partly due to vandalism, was hit again over the weekend, reports the Juneau Empire. Someone spray-painted fresh graffiti throughout the park. Continued on jump

Tanana Chiefs keep eye on energy at conference

The annual Tanana Chiefs Conference is under way in Fairbanks, and leaders are telling the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that alternative energy and subsistence hunting and fishing are among the main issues. Continued on jump

MONDAY, MARCH 15

Iditarod satire: A team dog's daily journal

Tuffy the Snow Prince, a perhaps overweight Siberian husky in the team of Spoons Grabilovitch, is keeping a daily journal for The Washington Post. He has a lot of time to ponder the meaning of life during long miles between checkpoints. "Would it have killed them to put one stinkin' husky in 'Avatar?' he writes. Continued on jump

Handguns on display at Fairbanks public meetings

Openly displayed firearms are apparently becoming commonplace at public meetings in the Fairbanks area. Some members of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly say they were concerned about the presence of firearms at an especially heated meeting in late February, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Continued on jump

Sorry, no penguins up here -- but nice sculpture

Amateurs and rookies had their day at the World Ice Art Championships last week, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, but a Utah couple got their polar wildlife mixed up when they chose a theme for their carving. Continued on jump

Geico 'caveman' gets key to city in Homer

Geico insurance commercials being filmed on the Homer Spit last week gave city officials a chance to honor celebrities in their midst. As the Homer News reports, one unidentified but hirsute star may have stolen the show from two well-known "Deadliest Catch" captains. Continued on jump

FRIDAY, MARCH 12

Entire Nome school board may face recall vote

The Nome school board's Jan. 12 decision not to renew the contracts of a principal and assistant principal has deeply divided the community and appears to be heading toward a springtime recall vote for the entire five-member board, reports the Nome Nugget. Continued on jump

Unalaska police blotter: Battle for the bucket

The Bering Sea fishing life isn't always fit for prime-time TV. Here are a few recent highlights from the Unalaska police blotter, as always written up in wry fashion by Sgt. Jennifer Shockley. "Assault - Two processors engaged in a battle for control of a yellow bucket full of soapy water. One processor conceded the sudsy bucket after his supervisor bade him yield, but later confronted the victor in a dark alley and allegedly slapped him across the face. There were no witnesses to the misdeed." Continued on jump

THURSDAY, MARCH 11

A license plate sna ... er, mistake ... in the Yukon

When the U.S. military finished building the Alaska Highway through Canada during World War II, it left behind mementoes, including a variety of place names. But a couple names sometimes credited to the U.S. Army are not fit for vehicle license plates, says the Yukon government. The Whitehorse Daily Star reports on the attempt by the territory to recall Douglas Potter's recently acquired license plate. Potter won't give it up without a fight. Continued on jump

Dead moose in the yard? Don't freak

The McCartys of Fairbanks recently discovered they had help when they returned from vacation to find a dead moose calf in their back yard, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Fish and Game and the troopers wouldn't help, but others were willing. Continued on jump

Storms give Homer surfers a chance to chill

Last weekend, during a breather between blizzards, Homer's low-key surfing community got an opportunity to test the water when waves from the storms hit hard on Kachemak Bay beaches. The Homer News says surfing there isn't about fashion and crowds. Continued on jump

Palin expected to testify in e-mail hijacking trial

Sarah Palin is expected to testify in April in the trial of a Tennessee college student who accessed her Yahoo e-mail account while she was running for vice president in 2008, reports the Knoxville News Sentinel. University of Tennessee student David C. Kernell posted Palin e-mails online at a time when controversy was arising over her use of private e-mail accounts to conduct Alaska government business. Continued on jump

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10

Cyrano the bald eagle gets a working beak

It won't get him released back into the wild, but the new beak prosthesis recently attached to Cyrano the injured bald eagle will help him eat easily and make him an ideal "ambassador" for the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, reports the Seward Phoenix Log. Continued on jump

Hanging out with 'the most remote Americans'

Filmmaker David Feinberg recently released his documentary about the Korth family, the last homesteaders -- perhaps the last humans -- living in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge year-round. In an interview with Treehugger.com, Feinberg talks about what it was like spending 10 days with the Korths, hunting with Heimo Korth and eating their "free range meat." Continued on jump

Powder hounds hop over avalanche by chopper

The avalanche that closed the Seward Highway to Girdwood on Tuesday left a jam of impatient skiers waiting at a gas station in Bird for crews to open the road. But a few skiers, reports KTUU, took advantage of an impromptu chopper charter to jump the queue and get dibs on a reported 50 inches of fresh powder at Alyeska. Continued on jump

Canadian view: Critics, not Palin, ignorant in health care ruckus

Journalists and bloggers this week were quick to label Sarah Palin a hypocrite for admitting that -- when she was a child living in Skagway -- her family sought health care in Canada, a land of socialized medicine. But this time it's the Palin critics who are ignorant, writes Kevin Libin in Canada's National Post. Continued on jump

Remembering Edgar Wayburn, famed advocate for Alaska wilderness

Edgar Wayburn, the longtime Sierra Club president who played a key role in the 1980 federal legislation that protected millions of acres of Alaska wilderness, has died at age 103 at home in San Francisco. In a 1988 interview with Daily News outdoors editor Craig Medred, Wayburn called himself an eternal optimist -- even though, as Medred points out, he "lost more acres than he won" in his 70 years of conservation battles. Continued on jump

Fairbanks wood stove debate burns into the night

The Fairbanks borough's air pollution control commission heard so much public testimony at Tuesday evening's meeting, it didn't start debating a proposed chimney smoke ordinance until 11 p.m. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the debate pits people concerned with public health against those opposed to regulations on how they can heat their homes. Nobody disputes that Fairbanks air can be seriously smoggy. Continued on jump

Lawmaker seeks state aid to ease Fairbanks air pollution

TUESDAY, MARCH 9

Juneau courts Google for superfast Internet

The Juneau Economic Development Council is hoping the city's unusual isolation and geography will give it an edge when Google selects "a small number" of trial locations for an experimental broadband network said to be 100 times faster than the average current Web connection, reports the Juneau Empire. Continued on jump

Iron Dog, Palin team have sponsorship tie to Venezuelan oil company

Mystik Lubricants, a brand for products of the state-owned Venezuelan oil company Citgo, was a sponsor of the Todd Palin/Scott Davis team in this year's Iron Dog snowmachine race. The company also supplied all competitors with engine oil and volunteers with safety vests, reports a Washington Post politics blog. Continued on jump

March 27, 1964: Memories of the great Alaska quake

Motivated by the recent gargantuan earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, Anchorage blogger Michelle Mitton decided it was time to record her parents' memories of the 1964 Alaska earthquake, still the third largest ever documented. She has posted the 30-minute podcast on her blog, Scribbit: Motherhood in Alaska. Continued on jump

MONDAY, MARCH 8

Southeast residents fight university lands bill

An old Murkowski administration plan to sell state land in Southeast to raise cash for the University of Alaska has been revived by the Parnell administration in slightly different form, but it's drawing the same objections it did in 2005, says the Juneau Empire. Continued on jump

Match the Iditarod musher to the playlist

A little quiz from the Alaska Public Radio Network: Match the musher to his or her mp3 playlist. Find the answers in the accompanying video. And then learn the main reason Jeff King brings an iPod on the trail.

Palin in Canada: God supports 'hand writing'

Sarah Palin is citing God in a lighthearted defense of writing crib notes on her palm for an interview at last month's tea party convention, reports the New York Daily News. She told an Ohio audience last week and in Canada on Saturday that she struggled to find a good comeback for ridicule she suffered over the incident, but now she has one. Continued on jump

Tripod is ready for annual Nenana Ice Classic

The tripod is up on the Tanana River for the Nenana Ice Classic, Alaska's annual springtime betting game, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Continued on jump

FRIDAY, MARCH 5

Nome region begins e-waste 'backhaul' effort

"Stuff" is piling up in rural Alaska villages, and most troublesome are obsolete electronics -- old TVs, computers and batteries that contain hazardous metals and chemicals. The Nome Nugget reports on a new business and community effort to get unwanted electronics out of the villages and back to Anchorage, where they can be properly handled. Continued on jump

Bethel taxi fare war comes to an end

That fare war in cab-crazy Bethel appears to be over, reports The Tundra Drums. The major cab companies agreed to return some permits to the city and reduce the number of drivers. Fares had dropped as low as $2. Continued on jump

Explaining Alaska's 'Iditarod fever' to the nation

San Francisco-based freelance sports journalist Douglas Robson, who has covered the Iditarod for the past three years, takes a stab at analyzing Alaskans' emotional attachment to the race in an article for The Atlantic's Web site. Continued on jump

Nunam Iqua hopes to have a grocery store soon

Two men are hoping to open a grocery store in Nunam Iqua within a few months, more than a year after a previous store closed its doors. The Tundra Drums says the men want to partner with the local tribe in a share-the-profits arrangement. Continued on jump

Palin, family get Oscar swag in swap for donation

Sarah Palin showed up at a Hollywood celebrity gift suite with two daughters, her brother and a small entourage and loaded up with free cosmetic and fashion items being given away in connection with Oscar-week festivities. But she also left a check for charity, organizers tell The Associated Press. Continued on jump

Palin 'grabby' at Oscar suite? Not really (Los Angeles Times)

Palin, producer try to sell TV series about Alaska (AP)

THURSDAY, MARCH 4

Baby woolly mammoth is a picture of prehistory

A tragedy 42,000 years ago is making for excitement in Chicago this week, reports the Chicago Tribune. The incredibly well-preserved remains of a baby mammoth that fell into a Siberian mud hole and suffocated will go on display for the public Friday at the Field Museum. (The exhibit will be at the Anchorage Museum March 4 to Oct. 9, 2011.) Continued on jump

Lieberman to Murkowski: Forget ANWR drilling

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Wednesday that opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling might be the price of her swing vote in favor of energy and climate legislation. But The Hill reports today that Sen. Joe Lieberman -- a longtime opponent of ANWR drilling -- says ANWR drilling would be a "deal breaker" in his attempt to craft a bipartisan climate bill. Continued on jump

Traveling activist visits Anchorage homeless

A formerly homeless Los Angeles man who beat his addictions and became an activist for street people recently visited them in Anchorage and is calling attention to them in various online social media -- with corporate support. The Anchorage Press interviewed Mark Horvath and followed his local activities. Continued on jump

Mark Horvath: profiling life on the street (National Public Radio)

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3

Salmon complicate wolf-moose relations in Denali

Salmon may be a bigger factor in the relationship between wolves and moose than biologists have realized, reports the Alaska Public Radio Network. A study of wolf bones collected in Denali National Park indicates that while wolves prefer to eat ungulates, they won't turn up their noses at fish. Continued on jump

Sterling homebrewer is 'Beerdrinker of the Year'

Bill Howell, the Sterling blogger determined to convince America that Alaska is home to a serious "beer culture," was named Beerdrinker of the Year on Saturday in a colorful competition at Wynkoop Brewing Co. in Denver. Soldotna's Redoubt Reporter has been all over this story since last week. Continued on jump

Palin flexes comedy muscles on 'Tonight Show'

Sarah Palin had a little well-scripted fun at her own expense on "The Tonight Show" on Tuesday (video clips here), but host Jay Leno also gave her plenty of opportunity to take political shots at familiar targets. Continued on jump

Palin on Leno outdraws Romney on Letterman (NY Times)

Palin at work on book celebrating 'American virtues'

Discovery Channel revisits Ranger sinking tonight

Tonight, the Discovery Channel revisits the 2008 sinking of the Alaska Ranger in a 60-minute documentary, "Mayday! Bering Sea." Watching the show will be tough for Karen Jacobsen of Weymouth, Mass., daughter of Capt. Eric Peter Jacobsen, who went down with the ship. "One of the survivors (told me) don't watch it alone," Karen told the Patriot Ledger newspaper. Continued on jump

Busy season, big payout for Interior firefighters

The 2009 forest fire season ranked ninth worst in Alaska since the state began keeping records in 1939, and that translated into a lucrative summer for Interior fire crews, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Continued on jump

TUESDAY, MARCH 2

Respiratory virus wallops Bethel region

It's been a decade or longer since the Bethel hospital has seen such a widespread outbreak of respiratory syncytial virus, whose symptoms at first appear to be those of a common cold. More than 100 children went to the emergency room with symptoms just during February, reports The Tundra Drums. Continued on jump

Video: Tired Iron resurrects ancient snowmachines

The same weekend Iron Dog speedsters finish their 2,000-mile snowmachine marathon in Fairbanks, there's an event that caters to riders who appreciate a more "classic" event. Welcome to the Tired Iron, a vintage snowmachine showcase. Catch video of last weekend's Jurassic Classic event on YouTube (be sure to turn up the sound so you can hear those prehistoric power plants sputter), then click over to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner to read about the Radar Run for somewhat more modern machines. Continued on jump

Ailing village boy gets an extra Christmas

Here's a heart-tugging story from KTUU: Jacob Takak, a 4-year-old Shaktoolik boy who is battling leukemia and living with a lot of pain, wished for one last Christmas with his family, and the Norton Sound village came through with help from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Continued on jump

Begich: I drove my Toyota from Alaska to D.C.

Alaska Sen. Mark Begich had a kind word for Toyota today during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on the Toyota vehicle recalls, reports The Hill. Continued on jump

Park Service seeks bigger wolf-protection zone

The National Park Service has officially joined the debate over the no-trapping buffer zones on state land outside Denali National Park. It has asked the Game Board to expand one of the two zones "to enhance or protect wolf-viewing opportunities in the park," reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Trapping is illegal on 122 square miles of state land, giving some protection to Denali wolves that wander outside the park. Continued on jump

Palin vs. Romney, Leno vs. Letterman

Ratings and money -- those are the stakes tonight in both GOP presidential politics and late-night TV, says Capitol Hill Blue. Sarah Palin will appear on Jay Leno's "Tonight Show," while Mitt Romney -- whose book "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness" was released today -- will appear on rival David Letterman's "Late Show." Continued on jump

MONDAY, MARCH 1

Fossil indicates polar bears evolved recently

A jawbone found six years ago buried in Norway's Svalbard islands has been DNA-identified as coming from a polar bear that lived about 120,000 years ago, reports Science magazine. Continued on jump

Review: Crime writer has Alaska down cold

Mystery-thriller critic Patrick Anderson gives Dana Stabenow's latest Kate Shugak novel, "A Night To Dark," a positive review in The Washington Post, especially for its "vivid portrayal of the Alaskan culture." Continued on jump

Russian villagers deliver tips on walrus, polar bears

Some Russian scientists and indigenous peoples gave a knowing nod when they heard of last fall's unusual haulout of walrus on the shore of Northwest Alaska. The phenomenon has been noted in the Russian Far East for the past decade, except the haulouts are much larger. The Arctic Sounder reports on a recent visit to Point Hope by scientist Anatoly Kochnev and three members of a Russian village "polar bear patrol." Continued on jump