The Alaska Redistricting Board on Tuesday decided on a partial appeal of a judge's decision that they redraw four House districts.

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The debate over the sole source contracting privileges that Alaska Native corporations have used to make billions of dollars is flaring in Congress with a new government audit that found…

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The reward for information leading to the resolution of the case of missing Anchorage barista Samantha Koenig has been increased to $41,000, and a Facebook page has been launched to facilitate her recovery. Here's the latest flyer:

Click to enlarge or visit the Facebook page
-- http://www.facebook.com/help.find.samantha?sk=wall

Samantha Koenig suddenly disappeared from her job at Common Grounds Espresso located at 630 E. Tudor Road around 8 P.M. on Wednesday February 1st. Video from the scene, which has not yet been publicly released by police, shows a man wearing a dark hoodie and possibly a baseball cap entering the shop, then prodding her towards the Old Seward Highway. Based upon Samantha's demeanor and the man's actions, police have concluded a high likelihood of a kidnapping. APD spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said releasing the video wouldn't help solve the case, noting "There's nothing in there that will help us identify the perpetrator. We've already told people it's a male wearing a hoodie and that's about all we can tell." Apprehension of the suspect could be delayed by the fact that the coffee stand didn't report Samantha as missing about noon on Thursday February 2nd because it normally closes down at night. By the time police suspected an abduction, snow had covered up tracks and scents.

When Common Grounds re-opened on February 2nd, owner Michelle Duncan said the door was locked and the windows boarded and locked, but the security alarm hadn't been set and nothing was cleaned. In addition, all the cash was missing.

Samantha's father James Koenig has launched an all-out effort to find Samantha. Due to an outburst of local generosity, he was able to increase the reward figure from an initial $10,000 to $41,000. Flyers like the one posted here are being distributed, and collection buckets have been set up at some local businesses. Even Fairbanks is getting involved; Interior Graphics & Printing are doing flyers for free.

Samantha Koenig has has three sisters and two brothers, all of whom are assisting in the search.

President Obama is signaling to wealthy Democratic donors that he wants them to start contributing to an outside group supporting his re-election, reversing a long-held position as he confronts a…

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Thirty-three members of Congress have steered more than $300 million in earmarks and other spending provisions to dozens of public projects that are next to or within about two miles…

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--- by Sherri Burkhart Reddick

6th grade Band and Orchestra programs may be cut from elementary schools in the Anchorage School District.   A vote will take place this Thursday Feb 9.  If you believe as I do that these programs must remain in our elementary schools, then please join me in taking action in the next few days to communicate with the School Board.

Here is some background information:

We learned that last week the ASD Music Supervisor received a request for information from a school board member about the potential cost savings if 6th grade band and orchestra were to be eliminated. 

The school board will have its final reading of and will be voting on the ASD budget on Thursday, Feb. 9, starting at 5:00 p.m. in the ASD Education Center Board room.

We can express our opinions regarding the importance of 6th Grade Band and Orchestra in the following ways:
1. Call or email the school board.  To email the school board, send one message to SchoolBoard@asdk12.org  and all seven members will receive it.

2. Testify at the Feb. 9 meeting.  People can sign up to testify via the same email address or can call 742-4312. Testimony is taken in the order received.
 3. Attend the meeting to show support for music education. Please wear concert dress or all black. The most important message is children must start an instrument early in life; middle school is too late. Personal stories have a big impact, especially from young people. This program has been cut over the years.  Students used to start instrumental music in 4th grade, then the program was cut to starting in 5th grade and several years ago the program was cut to a 6th grade start.  This year, 91% of ASD 6th graders are taking band and orchestra! School Districts across the country have come to realize that cutting their music programs was short-sighted and detrimental to their students' overall education.  The problem is once you cut a program like this...it is VERY hard to get it back into a budget and it is VERY difficult to get the program to the caliber needed.

Numerous studies have shown that there is a correlation between brain development and the study of music.  In addition, we know that social skills, listening skills, team building and creative expression are developed through the study of music and other artistic disciplines.   We know that students who study music tend to have greater success in school, score higher test scores, and a greater percentage of them attend college than those who do not study music. 

For me this is not about our need for future audiences or even future musicians - it is about our responsibility as a community to give our young people the best education we possibly can. 

Eliminating instrumental music in elementary schools will not enhance our education system.  It will be detrimental.  We will not be giving our students a full education nor will we engage them in the study of an artform that can enhance their studies of other curriculum (math, history, social studies, etc.)  If these programs are eliminated at 6th grade...fewer students will participate in middle and high school programs, and in the coming years these programs will be seriously weakened and potentially eliminated.

If you value Instrumental Music Education for the young people in our community, then please join me in contacting the Anchorage School Board to urge them to keep instrumental music in the curriculum at the elementary school level.

Thank you,

Sherri Burkhart Reddick
Executive Director
Anchorage Symphony Orchestra

--- by Jamey Duhamel

Like any mother, I want my children to grow up in a healthy, safe and economically vibrant community. As a lifelong resident of the Matanuska Valley, seeing my family experience the rare and spectacular beauty of Southcentral Alaska is something I have always envisioned for their future. That is why my husband and I purchased our dream home in Sutton -- the perfect place to raise our four boys.

Unfortunately, we soon became painfully aware of the different vision our governor and special interests have for the region. Astonishingly, three different large-scale coal mines are currently being proposed for the Mat-Su. While small, underground coal mining is a historical part of the Valley, Wishbone Hill is an industrial-sized project, the likes of which has never been experienced there before. These projects threaten to completely shatter our dreams of raising a family in this remarkable valley. That is why I started to ask some tough questions.
• How far away from private property do mines have to be? Turns out, it's completely legal for coal mines to be within 300 feet of homes. In fact, the mining site at Wishbone Hill in Palmer is within one mile of hundreds of families. Mining there will include large-scale explosive blasting twice a day, 360 days per year.
• Do I have rights to the water in my well? Not exactly. I can claim rights with the state of Alaska to ensure a certain amount of water per day but I have no control over the quality of that water. Big coal companies like Rio Tinto -- a company with stake in the Chickaloon Coal Mine -- have a long history of polluting water in communities unfortunate enough to border one of their operations.
• Don't we have a rigorous permitting system? While there are state and federal regulations that coal mine developers must comply with, those regulations are not designed to adequately protect nearby communities. Large coal mines like the projects proposed in the Mat-Su have historically been far away from population centers so the rules aren't in place to mitigate the impacts on people who live and recreate in the area. The violation records of all three mining companies with leases in the Mat-Su are a matter of public record and paint a dismal picture of their ability to keep employees and the environment safe. What will happen when these violations occur near large population centers?
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/02/06/2303600/mat-su-coal-mines-ould-be-bad.html#storylink=cpy
• Can we still recreate in the Moose Range? All of these proposed mines would cut off access to hiking, snowmachine, ski and climbing trails that have been used by Southcentral residents for decades.

And there are questions that have yet to be answered. Who will pay for the road upgrades and damages? Should the Mat-Su serve as a resource colony for China, Japan and other Asian superpowers? Is this in our national best interest? In our local best interest?
I began to realize that proposed coal developments in the neighborhoods of the Mat-Su were setting a bad precedent for mining in the entire state. That's when I decided enough was enough. After 17 years as a community social worker working with people who experience disabilities and children who are abused, I changed career directions last October to take this matter on full time. Now as the coordinator of the Mat Valley Coalition, I have joined thousands of residents working hard to protect our families and the future of our community.
Working with supporters from all across the state has given me greater insight on the dangerous effects coal will have on our communities. The extra noise, traffic delays and toxic dust will require most Alaskans to live with the consequences of coal development in our state, without any direct economic benefit to show for it.
We must realize that the fight to protect a Matanuska Valley resident's backyard is actually a fight to protect Alaska's backyard. We all have a vested interest in making sure the Mat-Su does not become an economically depressed and poisoned Alaska version of Appalachia.
Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/02/06/2303600/mat-su-coal-mines-would-be-bad.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/02/06/2303600/mat-su-coal-mines-would-be-bad.html#storylink=cpy  

Healy "Clean Coal" Plant - image: PAFrom Fairbanks via APRN:
The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating a coal-fired power plant in downtown Fairbanks to determine whether it’s the source of a messy and possibly hazardous dust that blankets the area.  The investigation could lead to a designation as a federal Superfund cleanup site.From Healy via The Alaska Dispatch:

Alaska has issued a key air quality control permit needed to restart the long-dormant Healy Clean Coal Plant, a 50-megawatt power plant about 90 miles south of Fairbanks that has sat idle more than a decade and been called one of Alaska's most conspicuous boondoggles.

On Friday, Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation issued what is basically a renewal for a previously issued air quality permit for the Healy Clean Coal Project. The permit also covers the Healy No. 1 plant, which is adjacent to the Healy Clean Coal Plant and had been operating without updated permits. It will be the first time since 2009 since the facilities have operated under an updated permit.

A variety of government entities, both state and federal, and Usibelli Coal Co. have chipped in more than $300 million in grants, bonds, loans and in-kind donations to build the plant and explore experimental combustion and emissions-control technology. But when the plant was completed, lackluster performance tests and hesitation from its main customer, Fairbanks utility Golden Valley Electrical Association (GVEA), led to the plant's closing in late 1999.

Critics at the time said that the plant would cost too much to run, was unsafe and unreliable. Perhaps most important, it wasn't shown to pollute the air any less than conventional coal-fired equipment. From Palmer via  Friends of MatSu (disclaimer - I am Secretary of the organization's board):
Please join Alaska Community Action on Toxics for a discussion with Alan H. Lockwood, MD on the growing body of medical evidence linking coal development to human health risks.

At every stage – from mining,transportation, storage, combustion, and disposal of post-combustion wastes – coal development threatens human and environmental health. Pollutants from coal damage all major organ systems in the human body and contribute to four of the five leading causes of death in the United States. 

Dr. Lockwood, Professor of Neurology at the University of Buffalo, is a member of Physicians for Social Responsiblity and is principal author of the PSR medical report “Coal’s Assault on Human Health” which takes a new look at the devastating impacts of coal on the human body. Coal combustion releases mercury, particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and dozens of other substances known to be hazardous to human health. This report looks at the cumulative harm inflicted by those pollutants on three major body organ systems: the respiratory system, the cardiovascular system, and the nervous system.

To join this free call and receive the dial-up instructions, please RSVP to Alaska Community Action on Toxics at heather@akaction.org or (907) 222-7714.

Dead Seabird on Kelp - Peter Bevis, 1990The recent upsurge in moose roadkill along roadways and railways in Alaska have spurred me to recount a story from almost 20 years ago. Part I today:

I.  One of my most longstanding unfinished music projects dates back to 1993.  Seattle bronze sculptor Peter Bevis and I had been putting together what we called the Knik Philharmonic's Second Winter Tour.

In 1992 he had gotten the keys to the freezer vans in the Mountainview neighborhood of Anchorage in which the scores of thousands of carcasses of animals killed and recovered in the Exxon Valdez.  Along with writer Philip Schuyler and nuclear sculptor James Acord, we retrieved a number of the dead animals from the semi trailers, took them to the brand new UAA sculpture studios, and under the watchful eyes of Ken Gray and Jeff Patrick, made plaster, rubber and fiberglass molds of them and returned the carcasses to the trailers.  Later, after Exxon settled with the Federal government on liability, the carcasses were burnt as toxic waste in an incinerator off of Klatt Road.

Bevis crated and shipped the molds to his foundry in Seattle, where he cast them into bronzes.  In early 1993, he shipped the finished sculptures and other road kill art he had created back north.

The Anchorage Daily News' Arts Editor, Thomas Harrison, wrote a long article on the resulting Anchorage exhibit of the bronzes in February 1993, called Road Kills - Spill Kills.  The article included color photos for the Sunday Arts section of the paper.  Apparently, it isn't available on the web.  I wrote music and commissioned Alaska poet Ann Chandonnet to write a poem to accompany the gallery show.  The music and poetry were called Shadows.

Along with the bronzes, Peter shipped up about two tons of special casting material for outdoor cold weather winter casting.  Our goal was to bring attention to the locally fairly widely-known fact that even though the Alaska Railroad had agreed with the state back in 1991 to begin reporting how many moose it killed along its lines back to state agencies, it had been seriously under-reporting the numbers.

Peter found out through ARR workers I got him in touch with that there were a few places where the ARR was caching unreported carcasses, and that in some places they had just left dozens of dead or dying animals alongside the track close enough to each other that you could see at least ten or so from one place.  At the same time, they were hauling back dead animals to Talkeetna or Chase, and claiming those were the total.

We wanted to bust them and publicize it.

The action we pulled off was well done.  We had even gotten a letter of permission from the Alaska State Troopers to cast bronzes of dead moose alongside roads and tracks, to raise public safety consciousness.  We had further gotten the ARR's head of public relations, Vivian Hamilton, to go along with cooperating with us.  We didn't tell her what our bottom line was, though.

In late February 1993, Peter, author Schuyler and Pete's "rapid response roadkill team" descended on the ARR's main illegal carcass cache alongside the tracks about 12 miles outside of Chase.  They had chartered several large snowmobiles with trailer sleds to hold the casting materials. 

Earlier in the month, Peter had spent time with some of Alaska's top forensic crime investigators, sharing notes on cold weather in situ casting.  He had developed a very fast setting, yet durable formula that we had tried outside my house near Wasilla.

He was ready.

The snowmobiles, along with a disaffected ARR worker as guide, descended on the sad scene of about fifteen dead moose discarded in three piles only a couple yards from the railside.  After scanning the scene, Pete gave orders and the rapid response team went to work.  I couldn't be there, as the Anchorage Symphony's dress rehearsal of my newest work, Fanfare and Capriccio (dedicated to Joe Redington, Sr.) was scheduled for that evening.

About an hour into their work, a train drove by, and the crew could see the engineer on a radio as he passed.  In another hour, a bud car came up from Talkeetna, and told them to stop work immediately and leave the scene.  Bevis showed them correspondence from ARR publicity flack Hamilton.  The ARR crew was befuddled.  Eventually, they decided it was too risky to get in trouble by crossing a bigger boss than the one who had sent them there, so they watched in amazement as Bevis and crew hustled along in the deep snow, finished casting, put the molds into prepared plywood boxes, and loaded them onto the equipment.

Bevis asked if the ARR crew wanted to join the rapid response team in Talkeetna for a beer in 90 minutes.

As I wrote here Thursday: Bad Handel!

Update:  It looks like Karen Handel is getting too hot for Komen to, uh, Handle:
Looks like Karen Handel will be packing up her desk (novelty coffee mug, Jesus riding a dinosaur Precious Moments statue, stolen office supplies emblazoned with pink ribbons) because a job may be opening at the Komen Foundation very soon.
Hers:
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves — Karen Handel hasn’t resigned (yet), but as pressure for her to quit grows, it seems like odd timing for the organization to post an ad that looks a lot like it’s an ad to fill the embattled Senior Vice President of Public Policy’s shoes. The ad is for a Director of Public Policy — are we just mincing labels here? Director, Senior Vice President — tomato, tomahto.
The ad seeks a candidate with a “health care policy background and existing relationships with Members of Congress and their staff.” The position is DC-based, and requires “7+ years of experience on Capitol Hill and/or in government affairs or nonprofit advocacy.”
Lingering baggage and public relations headache from previous Public Policy jobholder(s) is included as part of compensation package.This is all the fault of those breast cancer surviving thugs, you know.
Now Handel will have to wrestle with nutbar Jill Stanek for the title of Most Glorious Martyr of The Great Baby Jesus Fetus Holocaust. They could use somebody with Karen Handle's PR skills at SarahPAC.  She'd be an improvememt.

As I wrote here Thursday: Bad Handel!

--- by Rick Zelinski

I thought you might be interested to know that Anchorage School Board member Jeff Friedman has inquired about the cost savings if elementary 6th-grade band and orchestra were eliminated. Currently, over 90%, or 2300 students, participate in the program.

If you know anyone who might be concerned about this potential cut, I'd appreciate it if you would pass along this information. The school board will be hearing public testimony on the budget this Thursday, Feb. 9, at 5:00 in the ASD Education Center board room. Music supporters are planning on wearing concert dress, or all black. Alternatively, the school board may be reached at the following email: SchoolBoard@asdk12.org

Travel and Leisure Magazine's annual poll of the 35 best and worst U.S. Cities just came out.  Overall, Anchorage managed to be rated pretty badly, but it scored the worst of the 35 in 17 out of 57 categories:
Attractive city
Stylish
Classical Music
Theater/Performance Art
Antique Stores
Home Decor and Design Stores
Luxury Stores
Barbecued food
Fine-Dining Restaurants
Hamburgers
Architecture/Cool looking buildings
Lots of Hotel Options
Wireless Coverage
Visit at Christmas
Visit at Fall
Visit at New Year's Eve
Visit at Valentine's DayAnchorage scored 34th out of 35 in:
Live Music/concerts/bands
Singles/bar scene
Cocktail Hour
Independent Boutiques
Ethnic Food
Visit at Spring BreakIt scored 30th through 33rd out of 35 in:
Sports-Crazed
Tech Savvy
Museums/Galleries
Flea Markets
Cafes
Street Food
People-watching
Weather
WinterThat is 32 out of 57 categories, in the bottom 30 of 35.

Glad they didn't measure Wasilla in those categories.

hat tip - Wickersham's Conscience

Our big vegetable seed order came in a couple of weeks ago, from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  Here's a link to their web site, where you can order their catalog, which is huge, and packed full of incredibly vivid images of some of the vegetables, fruits, herbs and other stuff they offer.



Among the new seeds we ordered that we haven't grown before are:

Extra Precoce A Grano Violetta Fava Beans:
Chinese Red Noodle Beans:
Poona Kheera Cucumber (from India):
Bennings Green Tint Scallop Squash:
Mini Orange Tomato:
Violet Jasper Tomato:

I'll be starting the tomatoes during the last week of February.  Can't wait.  You can see the end of winter from my greenhouse - it got up to over 50 degrees F in there today.

From last year's garden, we managed to save seeds for:
Arugula (9th generation)
Dill
Cilantro (16th generation)
Stupice Tomato (7th generation)
Black from Tula Tomato (3rd generation)
Black Cherry Tomato
Green Zebra Tomato (3rd generation)

--- by HarpboyAK

[note:  Buddy Tabor passed away Sunday.  HarpboyAK sent this article to me late Saturday, and I failed to get it up on time.  AlaskaPI now notes in the comments that Buddy is gone.  Please DO watch and listen to his songs posted here.]

Hidden away here in Juneau, we have one of America's finest songwriters.  Alaskans and others who attended the Alaska Folk Festival over the past 35 years eagerly awaited Buddy's performance, because he always had a new song or two that would grab you in some way.

Now we're about to lose him, and you need to send him a card.

Buddy has recorded 5 albums and last fall, released a 3 CD anthology of most of his songs.  Here are a couple of songs that show the wide range of topics he covers...


A love song from his album Meadowlark:


When Buddy gets political, he's as his best, as in the title song from Blinding Flash Of Light.


And last year, as the Occupy movement grew, he wrote Corporate Domination:


I wish Carla Wolf, who produced the previous slideshow videos of Buddy's songs, had also done one for his song about sport shoe sweatshops, Mr. Basketball Shoes, guaranteed to make you never want to wear Nike shoes again.

A year ago, Buddy and Riley Woodford produced a prophetic video, Black Crow Night:


At the time, Buddy didn't know that a year later he would be wasting away from stage 4 lung cancer.

In November, when Buddy's cancer was diagnosed, he decided to do enough chemo to give him a few more months, so that he could travel to say goodbye to some friends, including some of the lifers that he has performed for several times at Folsom Prison.  In early November, his Juneau friends turned out for a potluck dinner, auction, and concert fundraiser, and raised $10,000.  Friends in Anchorage and Fairbanks also put on fundraisers, which really helped his family, since Buddy was a self-employed house painter until he had to quit working several years ago because of his back injuries.

He's now at home with home hospice care, and tires too easily to have many visitors or deal with many phone calls.  If you appreciate his music, let him know that you care.  Send a card to him:
Buddy Tabor
PO Box 21273
Juneau, AK 99802-1273 Do it soon.

HarpboyAK
P.S.  This is not a plea for funds, but a request for cards.  If you feel moved to make a donation, checks should be made out to Jeannette Tabor at the above address,.

--- by HarpboyAK



Hidden away here in Juneau, we have one of America's finest songwriters.  Alaskans and others who attended the Alaska Folk Festival over the past 35 years eagerly awaited Buddy's performance, because he always had a new song or two that would grab you in some way.

Now we're about to lose him, and you need to send him a card.

Buddy has recorded 5 albums and last fall, released a 3 CD anthology of most of his songs.  Here are a couple of songs that show the wide range of topics he covers...


A love song from his album Meadowlark:


When Buddy gets political, he's as his best, as in the title song from Blinding Flash Of Light.


And last year, as the Occupy movement grew, he wrote Corporate Domination:


I wish Carla Wolf, who produced the previous slideshow videos of Buddy's songs, had also done one for his song about sport shoe sweatshops, Mr. Basketball Shoes, guaranteed to make you never want to wear Nike shoes again.

A year ago, Buddy and Riley Woodford produced a prophetic video, Black Crow Night:


At the time, Buddy didn't know that a year later he would be wasting away from stage 4 lung cancer.

In November, when Buddy's cancer was diagnosed, he decided to do enough chemo to give him a few more months, so that he could travel to say goodbye to some friends, including some of the lifers that he has performed for several times at Folsom Prison.  In early November, his Juneau friends turned out for a potluck dinner, auction, and concert fundraiser, and raised $10,000.  Friends in Anchorage and Fairbanks also put on fundraisers, which really helped his family, since Buddy was a self-employed house painter until he had to quit working several years ago because of his back injuries.

He's now at home with home hospice care, and tires too easily to have many visitors or deal with many phone calls.  If you appreciate his music, let him know that you care.  Send a card to him:
Buddy Tabor
PO Box 21273
Juneau, AK 99802-1273 Do it soon.

HarpboyAK
P.S.  This is not a plea for funds, but a request for cards.  If you feel moved to make a donation, checks should be made out to Jeannette Tabor at the above address,.

              

The Daily Mail calls our attention to a Newsweek article entitled "Life With Trig: Sarah Palin on Raising a Special-Needs Child", in which she discusses the joys and challenges of caring for a special needs child. Trig is almost four years old now, and Palin says that when he wakes up each morning, he welcomes each day with applause and laughter.

Summary: Palin notes that the presence of Trig in her life does complicate many everyday activities like doctor’s appointments, social gatherings, travel accommodations, mealtimes, and even a night of uninterrupted sleep more difficult. Indeed, this may have been the one factor causing her to pass up running for President. But in the final analysis, Palin says she wouldn’t trade those difficulties for any convenience or absence of fear, proclaiming that God knew what He was doing when he blessed her family with Trig. Of course, it helps that she has a network of loving friends and a big, supportive family to call upon to help, including a husband who spends many sleepless nights with Trig when he becomes restless.

Not mentioned is the fact that Sarah Palin has become financially prosperous, which certainly confers upon her much more flexibility in meeting Trig's needs. Two and a half years ago, she was living on a governor's salary, Todd's earnings, and facing a legal debt approaching $500,000 due to the ethics jihad being waged against her. Today, because of free market demand for Palin's worldview, she's a millionaire. In contrast, the chief ethics jihadi, Andree McLeod, became a virtual pauper because of her OCD-style obsession with Palin's ethics, unable to afford the $725 for a box of long-sought Palin e-mails. Amazing how karma swings back and forth. But Palin says she has become more thankful and more compassionate toward others who have less as a result of having Trig in her life.

Trig's lucky that his mother is pro-life. Additional discussion on Conservatives4Palin.