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Ketchikan: 2017 Summer of Heroes Honorees Announced; In seventh year of program, six Alaska youth awarded $1,500 scholarships for heroic acts- The six 2017 Summer of Heroes youth heroes were announced Sunday, at the Alaska State Fair. This year’s Summer of Heroes honorees hail from Ketchikan, Anchorage, and Toksook Bay and range from 7 to 18 years old. Now in its seventh year, the Summer of Heroes program promotes awareness and support for youth development programs throughout the state and recognizes Alaska's youth who make significant contributions to his or her community through acts of charity, bravery or achievement.

At the ceremony, Diedre Williams, vice president, human resources, at Alaska Communications, joined Alana Humphrey, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs – Alaska, to recognize this year’s honorees for their community service efforts and present each youth with a $1,500 scholarship check.

“This year, we are honored to meet and recognize outstanding young people from communities including Ketchikan, Toksook Bay and Anchorage, who have dedicated a great deal of their time and energy to helping others,” Alaska Communications President & CEO Anand Vadapalli said. “We’re proud to join Boys & Girls Clubs – Alaska to celebrate the accomplishments of the 2017 Summer of Heroes honorees, and look forward to continue learning about their community-minded initiatives.”

“This year’s heroes have donated their time to others in their communities, helped people and animals in need and boldly stood up for what they believe in,” said Alana Humphrey, CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs – Alaska. “These six young people inspire Alaskans of all ages through their acts of valor and we’re pleased to join Alaska Communications to recognize them.”

The 2017 Summer of Heroes are:

Addie Epler, age 7, Ketchikan: For being only seven years old, Addie Epler has already had a big impact in her community. Addie’s spirited and altruistic personality is well known in Ketchikan, and her community service projects set a positive example for those around her. - More...
Tuesday PM - August 29, 2017

Ketchikan: All campgrounds opened in Ward Lake Recreation Area - The Ketchikan Misty Fiords District Ranger, Susan Howle, has re-opened the Signal Creek Campground in the Ward Lake Recreation Area after a recent inspection. Since the rain has subsided, the lake levels have returned to normal at Ward Lake. The announcement was made Monday.

The inspection revealed minimal erosion damage to trails in the Ward Lake area and the footbridge near the day-use area shelters was lifted off of its foundation. While the bridge is misaligned, it appears stable and the District is planning to repair it later this week. - More...
Tuesday PM - August 29, 2017

Alaska: New bulletin for Alaska beachcombers on rights to marine mammal parts - Beachcombers are drawn to items they find on the shore, and often can’t resist taking home a souvenir.

On Alaska beaches, marine mammal remains are often a prized target. Alaska Sea Grant’s Gay Sheffield knows first hand that people are unaware of their rights to beached animal parts.

“People don’t understand the legalities. It is so complex — it is very difficult to find an answer,” said Sheffield, Marine Advisory agent in Nome.

Sheffield researched the topic and created a two-page reference for Alaska residents, agencies and visitors - Collecting Dead Marine Mammal Parts While Beachcombing.

What matters are ethnicity, land ownership and the animal’s status under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Native Alaskans can salvage all parts of all dead marine mammals for subsistence purposes. Non-Native people can take only hard parts, such as bones, teeth, and ivory, and only from some animals—it depends on the different federal agencies authorized for each marine mammal species. In many cases, the takers must report their find within 30 days to the appropriate federal agency. - More...
Tuesday PM - August 29, 2017

Alaska Science: Hike across Alaska ends with after-dinner bear By NED ROZELL - A few days ago, Cora the dog and I walked across a footbridge spanning a natural moat flowing through northern tundra plants. There, we reached Mile 0 of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and the finish of a south-to-north walk across Alaska, most of it on the service road that parallels the pipeline.

Though the orange-and-black mile markers along the pipe read 800 in Valdez and 0 near Prudhoe Bay, due to our diversions my GPS tracker recorded more than 850 miles walked from April 30 to mid-August. Cora, of course, probably logged 100 extra miles though the boreal brush that wore out one dog pack and did a pretty good job on the second.

Since late April, those chestnut-backed chickadees we saw mating in the Valdez rainforest have raised at least one brood of chicks. The migrant birds, including the millions of ducks and geese on Alaska’s North Slope, will lift from northern lakes for the final time soon, to spend winter far away.

Cora and I are home in Fairbanks now, appreciating chairs and dog beds, getting back to the busyness of real life and missing the daily charge of the first few steps. Before I get back to some real science writing (and thanks to my boss Sue Mitchell for accepting a summer of semi-science writing), here are some closing thoughts about the trip.

Our final evening of camping was on cobbles underneath the Mile 10 sign of the pipeline. There, Cora and I were on the coastal plain of the Arctic Ocean — wet tundra and big rectangular lakes a few feet above sea level.

We had just diverged from the Sagavanirktok River and nearby Dalton Highway, which is loud with the beeps and groans of graders and compactors. Heading north toward Pump Station 1, the pipeline bends a few miles away from Alaska’s farthest-north highway. The scenery changes from river gravel to green tundra grasses and plants. The dominant sounds are the laughter of white-fronted geese and the croaks of sandhill cranes.

That final night, I camped in the exact spot I had 20 years ago, my tent footprint covering the same gravel. The evening was stunning and unlikely: warm, with no breeze and, somehow, no mosquitoes. - More...
Tuesday PM - August 29, 2017

JOE GUZZARDI: Missing the Point By Focusing on Arpaio - President Trump's pardon of former Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio has set off a firestorm of criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. At the core of the Arpaio controversy, both during his six terms in office from 1993 to 2016, and after his 2017 criminal contempt of court conviction, has been immigration law enforcement.

Taking no position on the validity of the claims and counter-claims on behalf of or against Arpaio, the merits or folly of his conviction and ultimate pardon, the crux of the matter is that while in office Arpaio enforced immigration law. During eight of his 24 years as sheriff, 2009-2016, President Obama looked askance at immigration laws both at the border and in the interior. The longer Arpaio remained as Maricopa County's sheriff and defied President Obama, the more determined the White House, the American Civil Liberties Union, and other pro-immigration advocacy groups became to unseat him.

President Obama's open borders world view has had dramatic national consequences. Through social media, the word went out across the globe ---- get to the United States, and the chance of removal is slim or none. In 2016, illegal immigrant border crossings were nearly 40 percent higher than the record year of 2014, and double the 2015 pace. Much of the increase came after then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced new, more relaxed rules for detaining illegal immigrants which became known as catch-and-release. - More...
Tuesday PM - August 29, 2017

SUSAN STAMPER BROWN: Leftists' Goal Is To Wear Us Down - They are trying to wear us down. 

Although they don't understand anything about those with whom they are dealing.

Regular folks who love God, their family and their country aren't the fascists or racists the left makes them out to be, with the daily barrage of propaganda designed to take good people down.

Normal folks don't have time to entertain the darkness the left promotes. They are too busy working or going to church or tending gardens or splitting wood at night to keep their families warm. Then they go to bed and get up the next day and do it all again.

There is no time for the nonsense littering the internet and television intended to cast guilt over their values and votes. The more insane the left and their propaganda becomes, the more confident they are about the choices they will make in 2018 and 2020.

They have zero interest in protests across the country about which the media incessantly reports. They have no patience for the violence and chaos and destruction. They interpret it as something city folks do when they have too much time on their hands and too much money they didn't earn in their pockets. - More...
Tuesday PM - August 29, 2017