Free Republic

While little Mosca the Jack Russell terrier was being noisily killed by wolves earlier this month in Chugach State Park just above Anchorage, the dog's owner was hiking along a trail to Wolverine Peak unaware of what was going on because he was wearing headphones.

A black bear crashed a toddler's birthday party in Juneau on Saturday after it climbed onto the roof of a house, then burst through a skylight and landed in the living room.

Apparently this wasn’t just an isolated innocent: a second federal agency is also having trouble finding emails that a congressional committee is demanding in order to fulfill its oversight responsibilities: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the IRS share a problem: officials say they cannot provide the emails a congressional committee has requested because an employee’s hard drive crashed. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy confirmed to the House Oversight Committee Wednesday that her staff is unable to provide lawmakers all of the documents they have requested on the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, because of a 2010 computer crash. “We’re having...

A tsunami warning in effect for the coastal areas of Alaska after a 7.9 magnitude earthquake was downgraded to an advisory and then canceled altogether Monday afternoon. Tsunami waves in the Alaskan cities of Unalaska and Saint Paul were expected to be less than a foot tall, the the National Weather Service advisory said. Small waves have already reached other locations in Alaska and none were higher than 0.6 feet, it said. 8.0 Alaska earthquake in Alaska poses no threat for Pacific Coast Soon after the warning was issued, people headed for higher ground in Adak, Alaska, because water was...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A local tsunami warning was issued after an 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific Ocean west of Alaska's Aleutian Islands on Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Tsunami Warning Center said. The warning covered coastal areas of Alaska from Nikolski to Attu, the center said, adding the level of tsunami danger was being evaluated for other U.S. and Canadian Pacific coasts....

TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT NUMBER 2 NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI 1127 AM HST MON JUN 23 2014 THE EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDE IS INCREASED FROM 7.1 TO 8.0 IN THIS STATEMENT. DUE THE THE DEPTH OF THE EARTHQUAKE THERE CONTINUES TO BE NO TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII. TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII SUBJECT - TSUNAMI INFORMATION STATEMENT THIS STATEMENT IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY. NO ACTION REQUIRED. AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS ORIGIN TIME - 1053 AM HST 23 JUN 2014 COORDINATES - 51.8 NORTH 178.8 EAST LOCATION - RAT ISLANDS ALEUTIAN ISLANDS...

On Tuesday, The Daily Caller‘s Mirror blog reported that Alaskan Republican Rep. Don Young was clowning around on the House floor during the naming of a post office. He stuck his fingers in his ears and made funny faces, much like Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble on The Flintstones. Post office namings, as you might imagine, are not terribly exciting legislative moments in Washington. But this one actually meant something. Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) sponsored the bill to honor a fallen solder.

Before you sigh and repeat the worn old mantra that Alaska’s lone Congressman Don Young, its longest serving republican is unbeatable in this state, don’t discount the potential power of this energetic, smart, savvy young man with considerable Alaska credentials going for him. Forrest Dunbar, a 29-year-old attorney who calls Cordova home, is running as on the democratic ticket to unseat longtime U.S. Rep. Don Young (R) in the November 4th General Election. Dunbar, who has the endorsement of the state’s Democratic Party, introduced himself to local residents at the Resurrect Arts Coffee Shop and Gallery in Seward Thursday, June...

In the face of the relentless dillydallying on the part of the Obama administration on the Keystone XL pipeline, Canada went ahead and starting exploring the potential of cutting deals with other markets in Asia — and yesterday, the Canadian government approved their own Northern Gateway pipeline to carry crude from the Alberta oil sands out to the Pacific Ocean for shipment via tankers. There has been some speculation about the possibility of the Obama administration approving the Keystone XL pipeline now that Iraq’s oil output is on seriously unstable footing (although, reality check: The Keystone XL pipeline by...

Eni has achieved the important production goal of 25,000 barrels of oil per day at the Nikaitchuq field, in which the company is operator with a 100% interest. The field, located offshore the North Slope of Alaska in a water depth of 3 meters, holds reserves estimated at 200 million barrels of crude oil. Nikaitchuq production, which began in January 2011, is the first operated by Eni in the Arctic. Development of Nikaitchuq includes the drilling of wells and the construction of facilities both on land and on an artificial island built by Eni in the Beaufort Sea. The location's...

GCI celebrated the launch of 3G data service in Bethel by flying in 6,000 McDonald’s cheeseburgers. The Friday lunchtime crowd stretched out and around the parking lot of the Long House Hotel. Standing over 100 people in line for burgers, GCI’s Vice President for Wireless Services, Dan Boyette, says crews are continuing to tweak the network, but it appears to be functioning as intended. “All of those things that people really had trouble doing before like browsing the internet or sending pictures..that sort of thing will work fine now with the 3G speed, while it’s tough with the 2G or...

A moderate earthquake shook northwest Alaska on Monday, the fifth temblor of the same magnitude since April in an area with otherwise little activity, seismologists said. The magnitude-5.7 quake struck at 4:01 a.m. Monday northeast of the village of Noatak, the Alaska Earthquake Center reported. As with other temblors in the earthquake swarm, the quake was felt in Noatak, an Inupiat Eskimo community of 560 people. […] The series of earthquakes has scientists puzzled about activity that is considered very unusual in the area. “At this point, we don’t really understand the nature of these earthquakes,” (earthquake center seismologist Natasha)...

Power Players He once worked for Sarah Palin and has been dubbed a “protégé” of Condoleezza Rice. Now Dan Sullivan is fighting to become a high-profile conservative brand name of his own, trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska in one of the most closely watched political races of the year. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appointed Sullivan attorney general in 2009. Before that he worked within President George W. Bush’s inner circle as a senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Now, Sullivan has the task of convincing GOP primary voters that he is Alaskan enough,...

This isn't related to the core enumerated powers questions in Bond but struck me as sufficiently interesting that it was worth posting about separately. In his post about Bond, Mark Tushnet writes: This isn't Justice Thomas's problem but James Madison's [but] Justice Thomas quotes Madison to the effect that treaty cannot "dismember the empire." Really? Suppose Vladimir Putin lets the United States know that he's going to bomb the bejeezus out of the "red" states of the United States unless we negotiate a treaty returning Alaska to Russia. Work out the scenario as you wish, but I doubt that it's...

ANCHORAGE — A big part of being an Alaskan is harboring a suspicion of all things Lower 48. It’s an inclination that runs so deep that locals have a proper noun to describe everywhere else — Outside. So, naturally, there is quite a bit of alarm here over the state’s newest political distinction. Alaska has unwillingly become a giant receptacle for money from “super PACs” and other out-of-state groups fighting over control of the United States Senate. In no other state have so many ads about a Senate race run so far; in no place else has more money been...

This speech was presented by Willes K. Lee, Vice President Western Region, National Federation of Republican Assemblies at the Alaska Republican Assembly State Convention and Straw Poll on May 24, 2014, in Menard Sports Center, Wasilla, Alaska.Aloha. Good morning. Thank you for that generous introduction. Thank you [organizers, hosts, officials], President Angle, conservatives. Thank you, Adele. We are blessed with your music. I am having so much fun being with Alaska conservatives. Are we among friends? Are there any liberals here? It is Memorial Day weekend. We’ve already met our veterans who are present. I suggest that sometime this weekend,...

A young California mother attacked by a grizzly bear while running along a remote road through the woods at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson says she was at one point sure she was going to die. In a video interview with military officials 12 days after the attack, Jessica Gamboa, wife of a soldier on the base and mother of a 4-year-old son, said she thought her life was over after the bear knocked her to the ground, picked her up by her backside, carried her across the road, dropped her to the ground, and worked her over twice more before finally...

It’s only a small matter of time until the Obama administration finally, rapturously releases what its hopes will be the crown jewel of its rise-of-the-oceans-slowing climate-change agenda: Regulations capping the emissions from existing power plants, a.k.a., stamping out coal plants across the country. This set of regs is going to be even more complicated and controversial than the regulations for only new power plants the administration released last year, and as the AP obliquely explains, we’re likely to start seeing those “necessarily skyrocketing” energy prices Obama once mentioned pretty quickly here: Electricity prices are probably on their way up...

Challengers see themselves in the Texas senator, even in races where their odds of an upset are considered steeper than Cruz’s surprise victory over a GOP establishment figure two years ago. He’s made endorsements in the Oklahoma and Nebraska Senate races, plus the Nebraska gubernatorial race, and sent almost $26,000 to federal candidates through his leadership PAC. “Ted Cruz would be extremely helpful as an endorser and a fundraiser,” said C. Edmund Wright, a consultant to longshot South Carolina Senate hopeful Lee Bright, in an email. “Rand Paul and Mike Lee would be great also.” But, he said, “the reason...