Friday's Follow-Up

Too Busy Licking Their Wounds? Dept:  "U.S. Sen. Mark Begich bid his colleagues farewell Thursday, touting his legislative accomplishments and telling a few wry anecdotes during a lengthy floor speech to an audience of staffers, a handful of Democratic senators, and his wife."

A "handful of senators"? Is one supposed to speculate that a) he's not as big a deal as he kept telling us he was; b) the Dems are demoralized after losing the Senate; or c) that those remaining are doing this:

Bridge(s) Over Troubled Water Dept:  Rotted wood arising from an engineering flaw caused the collapse of a footbridge north of Westchester Lagoon this summer, and an analysis of four other bridges on Anchorage’s Tony Knowles Coastal Trail revealed similar signs of decay, according to two reports released this week by the Anchorage Department of Parks and Recreation.

... More broadly, the reports shed light on a looming multimillion-dollar Anchorage infrastructure problem. Parks officials, previously focused on a trail repaving project, have swung their attention to more than 30 footbridges along the trail system.

The general conclusion is this: Anchorage’s greenbelt bridges are rotting away. The design flaw in some bridges, dating back to the 1980s, is allowing water to seep into the wood.

There is no long-term replacement strategy. And if a bridge falls, there is no money to fix it.

Not the bridge in the story; used for illustrative purposes only

Editor's note: I should probably mention here that Alaska's state budget was based on predictions that the price of oil would remain at $112/bbl for the foreseeable future - as if we can foresee the future at all, but I digress. The point is that oil is now below $60/bbl for the first time in five years, as the Saudis attempt to deprive ISIS of their black market income. The State of Alaska, having nearly all their budget eggs in one barrel basket, is hurting already, and faces a huge deficit next year.

No solutions in sight; after all, we couldn't cut spending. That's too radical.


 
Any Landing You Can Dribble Away From Dept:



ANCHORAGE - Watching the Koliganek Huskies warm up inside Dimond High School for their first game Thursday night, you'd never guess the anxiety and fear they faced just one day earlier.

"We took off from Koliganek and right when we lifted into the air, one of the wheels hit the berm or mud thing from our airport," [Anastasia] Ishnook said.

... After identifying a problem with the landing gear, Ishnook said the pilot circled a nearby village before eventually making the call to make an emergency landing in King Salmon.

... Despite the damage to the landing gear, no one was injured as their plane slid to a stop in King Salmon. 

Seriously, we're glad everyone is okay.

And finally, there's this ...

It Means Whatever I Say It Means Dept: