Dillon reports Jake Metcalfe bailing out of race
Robert Dillon reports on his blog that Jake Metcalfe is bailing from the U.S. House of Representatives race.

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Quote of the Week
Regardless of political labels, for any radio announcer to wish a riot on a city so his party could win, that's disgraceful and it's absurd
Denver City Councilman Charles Brown on Rush Limbaugh trying to incite riots at the Democrat's convention in the fall.

By Steve
Which Senator has the Hummer?
Dr. Charles Kenny, a psychologist and president of consumer psychology firm Kenny & Associates, has interpreted consumer buying behavior for GM, Toyota and Nissan. He notes that on its face, the purchase of a new car is almost always designed to fulfill emotional needs because, as a pure economic purchase, it's a bad investment...


By Philip Munger
The Conference to Nowhere....?
From the Department of You Can't Make This Kind of S%#* Up comes the proposal by Sen. John Harris (R. Lysenko City) and Sen. Lyda Green (R. Flat Earth Borough) to shell out $2,000,000 to get the worst scientists money can buy to come up with a pre-determined result, at the end of a so-called "science" conference.


By Terry Haines
The Green Party
A recent e-mail from Lyda Green, Alaska's Senate President warned legislators they would have to use their own Visas to go to Anchorage for the Governor's info presentation on the historic gas pipeline deal...

Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman
By Michael Rovito
Myrl Thompson joins Valley board of education
Big Lake resident Myrl Thompson is the newest member of the Mat-Su Borough School Board after a 4-2 decision appointed the long-time Valley resident Wednesday evening. Thompson's appointment fills Seat G, which was left vacant after Sandra White resigned April 3 for family reasons.

By Alex Strachan
Crab fishing series unlikely hit; Deadliest Catch returns for 4th season
Once again, the crab-fishing boats turn into the stiff headwinds of the Bering Sea, battered by waves the size of four-storey buildings while, on deck, deckhands take time out from trolling for crabs to smash away the ice with sledgehammers so the boats don't become too heavy and capsize in the roiling grey seas.

It's a new season of Deadliest Catch, Discovery Channel's unlikely hit documentary series, and this time the crab-fishing boat crews of the Time Bandit, Cornelia Marie and other vessels will experience serious injuries in their day-to-day battle against 100 km/h winds, subzero temperatures and vicious squalls.


By Brent Batten
Brent Batten: Young's speech, investigative debate
Two points about U.S. Rep. Don Young’s defense last week of the Coconut Road earmark.

Point One: It provides fertile ground for federal investigators.

Point Two: Point One may not matter.

As to the first point: The defense offered by Young, an Alaska Republican who in 2005 chaired the House Transportation Committee, was confused and scattered. He on one hand argued that $10 million to study an interchange at I-75 and Coconut Road was a good project with local support and on the other hand claimed not to know exactly how it got into the 2005 highway appropriations bill.


By The Editorial Board
Congress Ventures Down the 'Slippery, Slippery Road'
Congress is in the business of making rules to live by, but things always get tense when it has to start applying rules to itself. Congress's usual response to an ethical scandal has been to hope that it blows over.

Right now, Congress is engaged in a low-level civil war over ethics. The House resents the fact that the Senate has intruded into what it regards as a House ethics matter. Nevertheless, it has approved a Senate-originated proposal for the Justice Department to investigate the House’s latest embarrassment, dubbed the Mystery of Coconut Road.