28 June 2013

Friday Wrap-Up

As summer progresses, it's lush & green here, although the grass & trees are starting to show signs of the mini-drought we're having. It hasn't rained in well over three weeks, and the wildfire danger has moved into the "extreme" category over much of the state. What you won't hear on the national news is that there are over 100 wildfires burning up here, mostly (if not all) started by lightning strikes. The highway west of Fairbanks was closed for a time yesterday, as northerly winds pushed smoke across the road.

Given the lack of alternatives, DOT started ferrying people through the smoky zone, so the closure didn't last more than a few hours. Drivers are warned to expect delays, though.

A ban on open fires, fire pits, etc remains in effect through much of the state.

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Here's a sample:

Matthew Cahill fillets Copper River red salmon at home as a yearling moose strolls down Hillcrest Drive on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Cahill caught 25 sockeyes while dipnetting at Chitina on Tuesday. (BILL ROTH — Anchorage Daily News)

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/06/26/2925821/best-of-june-2013.html#storylink=cpy
Doesn't get much more Alaskan than that. :)

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Some battles never seem to end. The legislative redistricting mandated by the 2010 Census has been going on for several years now. The State adopted news lines a couple of years ago, and was dragged immediately into court and ordered to try again.
A dizzying number of redistricting maps will make their first official appearances at a public hearing Friday in Anchorage, with the Alaska Redistricting Board suggesting it would entertain even more options on how to split the state into legislative districts.

The board plans to present its own seven drafts at the hearing along with five others submitted by individuals and groups, including a plan and a revision supplied by an organization affiliated with Republican Party officials. State Democrats have not produced their own map, but they've analyzed how the board plans would affect current officeholders and found that most tend to hurt incumbent Republicans more than Democrats.
We figure they'll get this one ironed out just in time to be taken to court after the 2020 Census.

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The mayor of Anchorage thinks we should try to host the 2026 Olympics. I have no idea how we'd afford such a thing.

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It was nearly dark when at 5 a.m., a rather surprising event only a week after the summer solstice. It's heavily overcast this morning, although there's not much chance of any rain. Doesn't matter; we'll take the forecast high of 69 over the low 80s like last week, any day.

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That's about it for now; thanks for stopping by, folks, and have a great Friday!

10 comments:

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev. Paul,

I haven't heard one word about fires in Alaska for our national news cronies. Like usual they only want you to hear what they want you to hear. Their focus is on that Zimmerman trial in Florida.

It very expensive to host the Olympics, where would all the people stay? I didn't think there were enough hotels for all the guests and athletes. On top of having enough security. Someone obviously wasn't thinking things through.

Rev. Paul said...

Sandy, we have lots of hotels; this is a popular tourist spot, after all. But those hotels tend to run at 80% capacity or greater year-round. They'd have to turn "regular" tourists away during the event. Granted, 13 years' lead-time is sufficient, but ...

PioneerPreppy said...

Why is he wearing a net veil over his head? Flies?

And is that the Summer or Winter Olympics?

Rev. Paul said...

Preppy, mosquitoes. Big ones. And the Winter Olympics.

Stephen said...

Me and the polar bear in your header picture....same position today. I understand Alaskan mosquitoes require saddles.

Rev. Paul said...

Maybe not saddles, but a harness is recommended. :)

Bob said...

Yah, I was guessing it was skeeter season there. LOL.

Rev. Paul said...

Yep. And they're bad this year.

joated said...

In 2010 our caravan of RVs could not got to Dawson City because the road got washed out. We then couldn't take Highway 37 from BC to the coast because of wildfires of which there were plenty. And, no, none of the news stations were reporting that in the lower 48 back then either.

That photo (almost) has it all! Salmon, bug net hat, moose walking down the street. All that's missing is the grizzly looking over the guy's shoulder.

Rev. Paul said...

joated, the bear was probably behind the photographer. :)