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Alaska Dispatch's Best of the Week: Aug. 26-31

Alaska Dispatch staff
August 31, 2012

Alaska news was dominated by politics in the lead-up to Tuesday's primary elections, the same week that Republicans descended on Florida for their national convention. Primaries settled the landscape for some very interesting contests across the state this fall, which no doubt will be influenced by massive spending by special interest groups intent on shaping public policy. We've got the rundown on primary winners and losers and what's next.

It was also a big week for the Arctic: Shell Oil finally received federal blessing for exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea, just days after emissaries from across the circumpolar north gathered to discuss Arctic investment and conservation at the Arctic Imperative Summit in Girdwood, Alaska. And all of that took place against the backdrop of further proof that a warming climate led to a record recession of Arctic Sea ice this summer.

Read all about these issues and more here.

  1. 1 Shell gets OK to start Arctic drilling as Alaskans ready for risks, riches

    As Shell takes another step Thursday toward drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean, residents of Wainwright and Barrow wonder how their communities and lives might change.
  2. 2 Lost, then found: An old dog's misadventure in Alaska's bear country

    The story of a beloved old, deaf and three-legged Canadian husky that wandered off from a bear-infested Alaska campground and was left for dead, only to reappear after nearly a week in the wilderness.
  3. 3 Winners and losers in Alaska's primary election

    Voters were in no mood to revive a coastal management program that lawmakers allowed to lapse. But the stage was set for a very interesting battle this fall for the Alaska Legislature. 
  4. 4 An urban Alaskan approach to traditional Native mask-making (+VIDEO)

    Drew Michael, a 28-year-old Native artist who brings an urban Alaskan perspective to traditional mask-making, recently caught the eye of hipster documentary makers.
  5. 5 Alaska sprints to build up Arctic infrastructure as development looms

    With Arctic riches beckoning as the ice cap crumbles, world and local leaders at the Arctic Imperative Summit eye the risks and rewards of development in the fragile high north.
  6. 6 Coastal Management: Prop 2 a fight for local control of Alaska's natural resources

    OPINION: Alaskans have fought long and hard for the right to manage the state's abundant natural resources. If Proposition 2 is voted down Tuesday, Alaskans will be ceding sovereignty to big-monied, Outside corporate interests.
  7. 7 Grizzly kills San Diego backpacker in Alaska's Denali National Park

    A grizzly bear believed to have killed and partially eaten a hiker in Denali National Park and Preserve was Saturday shot dead by an Alaska Wildlife Trooper hovering in a helicopter.
  8. 8 Alaskans: Prepare for advertising blitz by 'meaningful' oil tax reform supporters

    Heading into the general election, candidates who support oil tax reform can expect assistance from pro-industry business groups that are fundraising to blanket the Alaska airwaves.
  9. 9 On remote Alaska island, artifacts reveal signs of human life

    Among the finds on St. Matthew Island: a fox tooth in a decaying jaw, chips of rock where someone made tools, pottery, and a yellowed walrus tusk cut with deep grooves.
  10. 10 McCandless and Palin, the woodsman and the politician

    There's something wrong when imagined caricatures of people who don't accomplish much become icons for so many Americans.

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