Alaska

(Newser) - The cold, snowy tundras of Alaska may transform into a battleground this November as Barack Obama and John McCain vie for the Land of the Midnight Sun's three electoral votes. Alaska hasn't gone blue since 1964, when LBJ won in a landslide, but an Anchorage-based poll currently has Obama leading McCain by 5 percentage points. More »

(Newser) - Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty today in federal court in Washington to seven counts of corruption, the Anchorage Daily News reports. At his lawyers' request, the judge set a tentative trial date of Sept. 24, more than 5 weeks before the Nov. 4 general election. He'll rule on the defense team's request to move the trial to Alaska on Aug. 19. More »

(Newser) - Newly indicted Ted Stevens should resign as soon as possible, write the editors of the National Review . The Alaskan senator, who is accused of seven counts of making false statements, legally “deserves the benefit of the doubt—but not from an ethical standpoint,” they note. “The facts that have emerged over the course of the federal investigation into his personal finances are damning enough on their own.” More »

(Newser) - Few tears were shed on Capital Hill when Ted Stevens was indicted yesterday. Alaska’s celebrated senator spent 4 decades bullying Congress, writes Michael Crowley in the Washington Post, rising ever higher in the ranks by making politics personal. “I'm a mean, miserable SOB,” he’d boast, sporting his trademark Incredible Hulk tie. The message was clear: You wouldn’t like Stevens when he's angry. More »

(Newser) - Ted Stevens’ indictment radically changes the landscape in Alaska’s US Senate race, Chris Cillizza writes in the Washington Post . The octogenarian is one of six candidates in the Aug. 26 GOP primary, and it's too late to remove him from the running. The party's best-case scenario would be for Stevens to win and then step aside. More »

(Newser) - A federal grand jury in Washington has indicted Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens on 7 felony counts of making false statements in connection with a 4-year-long corruption probe, the Anchorage Daily News reports. The 84-year-old Republican is charged with failing to report on Senate financial disclosure forms gifts of more than $250,000 from Veco Corp., an Alaska oil services company, and its CEO. Stevens will be allowed to turn himself in, a Justice official said at a press conference this afternoon. More »

(Newser) - Alaska's governor, a longshot possibility as John McCain's running mate, is under scrutiny in the wake of allegations she had the state's public-safety commissioner fired as part of a personal vendetta, the Anchorage Daily News reports. Walt Monegan says Sarah Palin pressured him to fire her sister’s state trooper ex-husband, and thinks his refusal led to his own dismissal. More »

(Newser) - Think you’re paying a lot for gas? Try telling that to the people in Lime Village, Alaska, an isolated outpost where prices have hit $8.55 a gallon. Alaska is a major crude supplier, but its residents, paradoxically, face the highest average gas prices in the nation, Reuters reports, because the economies of scale don’t work in the sparsely populated state. More »

(Newser) - You might be well acquainted with the Colonel and his famous fried chicken, but beneath the crunchy skin lie some lesser-known facts. The Daily Green sides its poultry with a six-pack of trivia. It's a place: After toying around with the name "Ptarmigan," one town's handful of residents settled on Chicken, Alaska. Where to get it: If you follow Bon Appetit's advice, you'll take your chicken craving to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, Price's Chicken Coup in North Carolina, or Willa Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans. More »

(Newser) - Just as residents of Healy, Alaska feared, more men have come looking for the bus—the old jalopy where Christopher McCandless died on his famous quest, the AP reports. Portrayed in the book and film, Into the Wild , his trip to Alaska has inspired dozens to trek through dicey weather and mosquito clouds to the bus. "I don't want people to go out there and die," a former official said. "It's that simple." More »

(AP) - A 14-year-old girl riding in a mountain bike race in Alaska was severely injured when she was attacked last night by a bear. She was able to make a brief emergency cell phone call and whisper the word "bear" that triggered an emergency search. The girl suffered head, neck, torso and leg wounds and was protected from even more serious wounds by her bike helmet. She underwent surgery and was in critical condition, police said. More »

(Newser) - Bob Barr’s former GOP colleagues have been beseeching the Libertarian Party presidential nominee not to run against John McCain. “Please don’t do it,” Barr happily recounts being told. They fear he could do to McCain what Nader did to Gore in states such as Georgia, Alaska, and Colorado, the New York Times reports. But those prospects are anything but certain. More »

(Newser) - Today's Supreme Court decision to drastically shrink the punitive damages that Exxon must pay Alaskan fishermen over the Valdez spill has left plaintiffs enraged, cynical, and forced to rethink retirement in some cases, the Anchorage Daily News reports. "This is a total slap in the face," said one of his payout. "This won't even pay off a credit card." More »

(Newser) - In a post-Hillary age, a female candidate comes as less of a surprise on the national stage. Here are three women who could stand for John McCain’s vice-presidential slot, per Politico: Carly Fiorina: The former Hewlett-Packard exec is already a trusted adviser and constant McCain surrogate, but she’s no social conservative and has no foreign-policy expertise. CEOs aren’t too popular during recessions, either. More »

(Newser) - Sick of the bland beer everyone else is drinking? As summer officially kicks off, William Brand pours a frosty glass of small-but-mighty suds suggestions in the San Jose Mercury News : Alaskan Summer Ale (Alaskan Brewing): This gold-medal-winning Juneau native makes an excellent thirst-quencher, in the Kolsch style you might've savored in Cologne. More »

(Newser) - The American thirst for oil is like a drug addiction, and George Bush wants another hit, writes Thomas Friedman in the New York Times . Bush’s irresponsible energy plan involves getting a little more oil from Saudi Arabia to keep prices low, and then drilling in Alaska—simply prolonging our addiction instead of allowing high fuel prices to push us toward better sources of energy, adds Friedman. More »

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