Mid-Week Alaskan Digest

What Were Those 4 Rules Again? Dept: One man is dead & another man was treated for gunshot wounds after a single bullet was fired in an apparently accidental shooting last night, according to Anchorage police ... One of them was handling a handgun when it discharged, sending a round through his own hand and into his friend's lower abdomen, he said. The man struck in the stomach was rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery, though police thought he would survive. They were wrong.

Why Don't We Do It in the Road Dept: Alaska's most famous wildlife residents can pop-up around town at any moment. If you're driving along the road be aware of the large but often times near-invisible animals making their way across.








It Didn't Get There By Itself Dept: Heavy rain that washed out parts of the Taylor Highway over the weekend and led to record flooding has stranded up to 30 people at different spots, and a vehicle found submerged in a river had authorities searching Tuesday for people who might have been in it, according to Alaska State Troopers. The Alaska National Guard sent para-rescuers to the scene Tuesday afternoon to see if there was anyone in the submerged vehicle or stranded nearby, but they didn't find anyone, said Maj. Guy Hayes, Guard spokesman.

The Family That Rides Together Dept: A Kentucky family is about to wrap up a 7,000-mile ride from home to Fairbanks -- the long way -- on a $17,000 custom-made five-seat bicycle. Three of the seats are occupied by Bill and Amarins Harrison's young daughters, ages 3, 5 and 7. The Harrisons left Kentucky in August 2009 and went to Florida first, then across the South and Southwest to California before heading north.

Taste Buds Out of Luck Dept: Fresh caribou meat is next to impossible to find for northern Canadian restaurants that serve it to locals and tourists. Biologists tell CBC News that the decline in barrenland caribou numbers is the cause of the shortage, but Native hunters who supply the main meat plant say the animals are just moving out of their usual feeding range and are harder to get.

From the CBC: The main supplier of caribou to northern restaurants, Kivalliq Foods in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, has run out of the northern meat in recent months. That has trickled down to establishments that have served caribou to locals and tourists craving a true taste of Canada's North.

"It's very limited," chef Pierre Lepage told CBC News.