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This polar bear showed up near a scientists' camp in northern Alaska, forcing the five experts to flee. (Mark Maftei / Wildlife Conservation Society)

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"Unprecedented" ice melt in Arctic Ocean likely to top 2007's. The Canadian Ice Service is reporting open water in the Beaufort Sea north of the Yukon-Alaska border, OttawaCitizen.com reports.

It's now a "neck-and-neck race between 2007 and this year over the issue of ice loss," Mark Serreze, a senior climate researcher at the U.S. ice data center said Sunday. "We thought Arctic ice cover might recover after last year's unprecedented melting - and indeed the picture didn't look too bad last month."

But recent storms in the Beaufort region triggered steep ice losses. The Guardian is also reporting on the meltdown, and you can follow the scientists as they measure the ice at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski keeps pushing for the U.S. to sign on to the Law of the Sea treaty to claim energy resources in the rapidly accessible Arctic, reports the Alaska Journal of Commerce.

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Sen. John Cowdery arraigned on corruption charges in federal court today. KTUU reports that the state senator will appear in court on allegations he schemed with Veco Corp. executive Bill Allen and Rick Smith to funnel $25,000 to state Sen. Donnie Olson in an attempt to influence his vote on the oil tax and gasoline legislation that Veco supported.

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Stranded polar bear forces scientists to flee. Five scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society were studying coastline erosion and its impact on migrating birds at Teshekpuk Lake on the Beaufort Sea when a polar bear got too close, MSNBC.com reported. They spotted it Tuesday and left Wednesday.

"Polar bears have been trapped on land in Arctic Alaska all spring and summer, unable to swim out to sea ice and pursue seals," the society said. "Their condition and how dangerous they might be is unknown."

"It is ironic that our efforts to understand how climate change is affecting wildlife were disrupted by the top Arctic predator displaced by climate," Steve Zack, one of the evacuated experts, said in the statement.

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Former NFL players coach the Whalers, take a dip in the Chukchi Sea. Andre Rison, Perry Williams, Blair Thomas, Irv Eatman, Chris Miller and former NFL assistant John Fontes, all instructors for Football University, surprised the Barrow Whalers high school football team with a recent 3-day free football clinic, USA Today reports. The Whalers are starting their third season, and according to borough school superintendent Trent Blankenship, the program has improved the high school's graduation rate.

The players joined the polar bear club by dashing to the shore of the Chukchi Sea and jumping in. Watch the video. But they didn't consider themselves brave for doing it. They commented, instead, on the quality of the kids they coached.

"These guys could live anywhere," said Rison." ... These kids have a lot of guts."

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Twitterer "Janet at ExxonMobil" doesn't really work for us, company says. Computerworld.com reports that the oil company giant had to issue a press release that Janet "is not an authorized person to speak on behalf of the company."

The tenor of the posts seems to be positive toward Exxon Mobil. But some have been political, and others controversial, such as one that seemed to minimize the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Oil company officials said the messages also contained "several inaccuracies," from the company's standpoint.

Web consultants advise corporations to monitor Twitter so they don't get "brand-jacked." Too many companies shrug off emerging social media, they said.

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Alaskan arrested in pro-Tibet demonstration in Hong Kong. The Associated Press reports that Matthew Browner-Hamlin, 26, of Anchorage was arrested after he and another protester unfurled the Tibetan flag among spectators at the equestrian stadium in Hong Kong's suburban Sha Tin district.

You can read a column by Browner-Hamlin on his free-Tibet views that appeared in the Huffington Post last week.

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Windfall profits tax analysts look to Alaska's experience. In an overview story on the presidential race and Barack Obama's proposed windfall profits tax on oil companies, the Seattle Times illustrates how the tax works by reporting on Alaska's windfall of $6 billion after it adjusted taxes on oil revenue in the state.

Opponents say the taxes discourage exploration. But proponents say the diminishing resource needs to be taxed while you have it.

"You don't get to grow another oil barrel," said state Sen. Hollis French. "You sell that barrel once, and it's gone forever."

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Kodiak voters got a Tagalog version of their primary election pamphlet. State election officials say it was all a mistake the printer made, reports the Kodiak Daily Mirror. Alerted to the error by a Kodiak resident who called and asked about the non-English ballot, the state quickly moved to resend English ballots.

The state does provide language assistance to the 14 percent of Kodiak's residents who are Filipino, but the Tagalog version typically follows the English version by several days.

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Other headlines of interest to Alaskans:

> Mitsubishi drops California LNG, eyes Alaska prospects (Oil & Gas Journal)

> Mackey and Buser sign up to run the Yukon Quest (Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

> Bernie Karl of Chena Hot Springs joins two-year geothermal test ((Fairbanks Daily News-Miner)

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