Former vice presidential contender Sarah Palin will publish a memoir to come out in the United States in Spring 2010, the year she is up for re-election as Alaska’s governor.

Federal officials say the owners and operators of the Rock Creek Mine in Nome have agreed to pay more than $880,000 in a civil penalty to resolve violations of a storm water discharge permit.

In a region where the rains seem to reign supreme, biking enthusiasts may seem few and far between. But this week the Juneau Freewheelers, a local cycling group, is making an effort through the annual “Bike to Work Week” and “Bike to Work and School Day” to raise awareness and enthusiasm for alternative means of transportation.

City officials in Fairbanks plan to draft an ordinance that would require removal of all outdoor wood and coal furnaces within about five years.

City officials shouldn’t be making decisions about expanded recycling programs, Juneau’s privately owned landfill or major investments in incinerators and waste-to-energy plants until the city lawfully controls the trash stream, the city’s public works director said Monday.

It’s widely acknowledged that Sealaska Corp. is owed some land. “It’s time that we resolve the entitlement issue to Sealaska,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who introduced the Senate version of a new bill that settles its four-decade-long land entitlement.

Last Friday, the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services assured Alaska residents there was “no probable or confirmed cases” of the H1N1 swine flu virus in the state in its daily public update of the virus’s spread.

A friend of mine recently told me that he participated in protests during the Vietnam War. When the war ended, he and his peers were milling around their college campus asking each other, “What are we going to do now?” They eventually settled on an issue and found something else to protest.

Why does cruise reporting so often miss the boat? I was disappointed to see yet another article in the Empire (Monday, May 11 edition) citing cruise lobbyist insinuations (without refutation) regarding the impact of the Alaska head tax on visitor numbers. There is no verifiable data to support this claim. The only independent assessment of this question was conducted by the McDowell Group after the 2007 season, which found the number of ships, the number of passengers, and the spending per passenger did not decline as a result of the initiative.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – From his travel schedule, you’d never know that an arrest warrant has been issued for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Even as the violence in Darfur continues, he continues to be welcome in nations across Africa and the Middle East.