Monday Morning - Iditarod Update - Alaska News

Haven't we done "Monday morning" already? Oh, well...

We tried a new place for dinner last night: O'Brady's Burgers and Brew. Great googly moogly, why didn't we try this place before? The food was to die for ... I had beef braised in Guiness with Guinness gravy, potatoes, and carrots in a house-made sourdough bowl. That flavor ... omigosh, the flavor. I'm still thinking about it. The girls had charbroiled burgers, and exclaimed over the taste with each bite.

And crème brulée for dessert. Oh, yes, We. Will. Go. Back.

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Iditarod update:

Mushing into a biting Arctic headwind, the top three teams in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race crossed the Norton Sound ice in the dark early this morning.

Little changed as the they reached the twinkling lights of Koyuk, just 170 miles from the finish line in Nome.

• Three-time defending champion Lance Mackey of Fairbanks made the 50-mile crossing from Shaktoolik 14 minutes faster than Jeff King of Denali Park, extending his lead to 74 minutes. Mackey left Koyuk at 5:58 a.m. after a 3 hour, 10 minute rest.

Click to read the rest.

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Our Governor has some words about federal regulation and environmental groups:

FAIRBANKS -- Gov. Sean Parnell said miners face an uphill battle against federal regulators, and his office is "fighting with everything we've got" against the feds and "overzealous" environmental groups.

Federal regulations have been a frequent Parnell target during his first year in office. In a speech before the Alaska Miners Association on Wednesday, Parnell expressed disdain for regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Click for the rest.

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The Anchorage 2nd Amendment Task Force is backing a local student in his attempt to force the University of Alaska at Anchorage (UAA) to allow firearms on campus. They have invited several candidates for the Anchorage Assembly to take questions at tonight's meeting. There will also be an update on H.B. 186, the Alaska Firearms Freedom Act. Click here for details.

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It looks like we're in for some warm weather this week, with highs in the mid- to upper-30s. All that snow has to go, eventually, but since it's only March 15, I'm guessing we'll have at least one more heavy snow before break-up.