Alaska: Rescued Alaska Cub Now 850 Pounds and Living at the Saint Louis Zoo - A 2 ½-year-old, 850-pound male polar bear that was orphaned in Alaska as a cub, is now resting comfortably in the Saint Louis Zoo's new McDonnell Polar Bear Point exhibit, which is set to open June 6. In March 2013, the orphaned bear Kali (pronounced "Cully") was turned over to U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service by an Alaskan hunter who unknowingly killed Kali's mother in a subsistence hunt.

Polar bear "Kali" at Buffalo Zoo on April 30, 2015.
Photo Credit: Kelly Ann Brown, Buffalo Zoo

On March 12, 2013, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service received word that a female polar bear had been shot near Point Lay, Alaska. The adult female was accompanied by a cub, which was transferred first to the community of Point Lay, and then to the North Slope Borough’s Department of Wildlife Management in Barrow, Alaska. After the cub was examined and observed to be in good condition, the Service asked the Alaska Zoo to temporarily care for it. Alaska Airlines flew the cub to Anchorage where it was met by Service and Alaska Zoo staff.

Kali, the polar bear cub rescued in March from the Point Lay area of Alaska, left the Alaska Zoo on May 14, 2013, arriving at New York’s Buffalo Zoo on May 15. Kali (pronounced Cully, the Inupiat name for Point Lay), was a 65-pound cub when he was transferred to the Buffalo Zoo. Dubbed “Operation Kali,” Kali’s trip from Anchorage to Buffalo was arranged and funded by M&T Bank, one of the Buffalo Zoo’s long-standing corporate sponsors. Kali join a young female cub Luna so both cubs would benefit from each other’s company. While under the care of the Alaska Zoo staff, Kali had more than tripled in size and weight. - More...
Monday PM - May 11, 2015

Alaska: Personal Care Attendant and Two Recipients Get Jail Time for Fraudulently Billing Medicaid - The State of Alaska, Department of Law, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit announced the successful prosecution of 31 year old Miki Kim for falsely billing Medicaid over $44,000 over a three year period for personal care attendant (PCA) services that she never actually provided.

The Alaska Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigators initiated an investigation in April 2012 into Medicaid fraud being conducted by employees, management and owners of the Anchorage-based Good Faith Services, LLC (Good Faith). Since the investigation was initiated, the State has filed criminal charges, civil sanctions, or both on 58 individuals associated with Good Faith, including the corporation, all three owners, both office billers and 10 of 13 client managers. Miki Kim worked for Good Faith as both a client manager and a PCA. As a client manager, Kim was responsible for advocating on behalf of Medicaid recipients to ensure they were receiving necessary services from their PCA. - More....
Monday PM - May 11, 2015

Southeast Alaska: GRAND OPENING OF WALTER SOBOLEFF BUILDING TO KICK OFF May 15th; Event to be broadcast, streamed online live - Sealaska Heritage Institute will have a Grand Opening Ceremony for the Walter Soboleff Building located in Juneau on May 15, 2015.

It will kick off at 8:30 AM in front of the building on Seward St. with a formal ceremony, which will be followed by a canoe welcome immediately following the morning ceremony, then a traditional ceremony, scheduled to begin at 2pm. The Sealaska parking lot will be set aside for spectators, and the event will be broadcast live on 360North and will be streamed live online.

SHI’s Council of Traditional Scholars, which guides the SHI on programs, has been meeting since 2014 to help plan the Grand Opening Ceremony. The day will mark years of planning, fundraising and finally the completion of the new building, said SHI President Rosita Worl.

“I am profoundly grateful to the many donors and old friends who helped us on this journey and to the new friends we made along the way,” Worl said. “The building has surpassed my dreams. It is more than a building. It is itself a work of art and testimony to our cultural survival.” - More...
Monday PM - May 11, 2015

Columns - Commentary

DAVE KIFFER: Alaska Caught Red (Facebook) Handed? - I am always amused by people who are worried about the “guvrrrment” spying on them.

You know the type.

They are concerned about the “black helicopters.”

They are paranoid enough to shred everything in their houses, including their used toilet paper.

They are absolutely convinced that “spies” are keeping track of their every movement.

Well, I think they are barking up the wrong cell phone tower.

They really ought to be concerned about Facebook.

Yes, Facebook that seemingly harmless little web diversion that reports on what we eat, where we have been and every little thought that we have ever had.

Sure, you say, it’s not actually Facebook that is the problem, it’s our obsession with “oversharing” all those details of our lives. - More...
Monday PM - May 11, 2015

The body stays the course, and a year later Facebook tells all of your friends its your birthday. Then you’re faced with the question of either “like” every post, or do one of those, “Thanks for the birthday wishes, you’re all swell” posts. Or you can do both, then make sure you reciprocate on the anniversary of their birth.

They are certainly more special if you endured circumstances, in which case you are thankful just to be around.

Assuming it’s normal, when it comes to what to do, that’s hard. Birthdays don’t really mean what they did when you were 13, 16, 21, or whatever age it was in the 20s made you think, “what is going on here?” (I hear that happens a few times per decade after 33 or so).

Before I hit 30, a couple buddies and I went camping on the Russian River in California. We walked into town and were poisoned by the dinner special which A. was at a tiny establishment on the edge of town, B. was mussels, C. was made of mussels which weren’t local, D. didn’t taste right, but there was so much butter we went for it anyway. - More...
Monday PM - May 11, 2015