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Add another Anchorage hockey player to the list of those gaining international experience -- forward Austin Wuthrich is playing for Team USA in the 2009 Under-17 Four Nations Cup in Slovakia.

Wuthrich, 16, also represented the U.S. in the Five Nations Cup in August.

Wuthrich racked an assist today in a 7-6 win over Slovakia. The Americans (2-0-0) on Thursday beat Russia, 5-2. They close the tournament Saturday with a game against Switzerland.

Aside from this international gig, Wuthrich plays for the Team Illinois Midget Major squd in the Tier I Elite League. In 16 games on that circui

Annie Bill, principal at Larson Elementary School, called Friday to share the news that her school had won a pretty prestigious national award. Bill, who had just returned from Washington D.C. to pick up the honor in person, said Larson was recognized as a “No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.”

That’s a mouthful, but what it means is that Larson, because of high scores on national tests, was nominated as a “Blue Ribbon” school four years ago. But then the real work began, Bill said.

“We had to maintain and continue to do good in the three years since,” Bill said.

The Mat-Su Ski and Snowboard program, run through Wasilla Middle School, is lining up passengers for its 2010 season.

The bus carries children age 12 and older to and from Alyeska Resort for eight skiing days between January and April. Four 50-passenger buses will depart Wasilla and Palmer Carrs parking lots at 8 a.m. on two Saturdays each month. After a full day of skiing, the children return to the Valley at 6:45 p.m.

A place on the bus costs $375, which includes transportation, lift tickets for a full day’s skiing and two skiing or snowboarding lessons. Add $100 more for rental equipment. The price covers the cost of tickets, rentals and transportation.

Diomede, circa 1999: A Little Diomede Island resident pulls a polar bear hide from the frozen Bering Sea to check if the sea lice have cleaned the hide enough for drying, in this file photo, date unknown. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)

A doctor and nurse were distributing swine flu vaccine past 2 a.m. last night in Diomede in an effort to keep the disease from spreading in the hard-to-reach Bering Strait village, state officials said today.

“We’ve got everybody on the island vaccinated except for four people," said Health Department spokesman Greg Wilkinson.

A 1-year-old girl in the village was showing signs of respiratory problems, but when the Alaska Army National Guard flew her and her mother to Nome yesterday the child tested negative for swine flu, said Jeremy Zidek, spokesman for the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

Diomede is 135 miles northwest of Nome, on Little Diomede Island. It’s about 2.5 miles across the Bering Strait from Russia and is one of the most remote communities in Alaska. You can only get there this time of year by helicopter and sometimes boat. The village lost passenger air service months ago. (Though food and mail still arrive on a regular basis.)

Responding to a request from the Diomede mayor, the state teamed up with the Guard and the regional health corporation this week, taking the unusual step of sending a civilian medical team and swine flu vaccines to protect the village.

“There were some sick people (there) and I think that these were just prudent actions to take to make sure that the disease wouldn’t spread through the isolated community where we wouldn’t be able to, perhaps, reach people at a later date,” Zidek said.

Some villagers are showing flu-like symptoms, but only people who are medivaced to Nome are actually tested for swine flu.

So far, at least three people from the village have been tested. One, a woman the Guard flew from the community on Wednesday, tested positive, the state says.

The doctor and nurse are expected to fly out of Little Diomede tonight, Zidek said. Two medics deployed to the village left last night with the 1-year-old girl.

As I was wrapping stuff up for the day Thursday afternoon, a colleague said that he had already heard from a student that the Fort Hood shooting was to blame on Muslims. Well, it looks like it's to blame on one Muslim, according to news reports.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves about what this means about Islam or American Muslims, though it certainly sets back their full acceptance into U.S. society.
The Council on American-Muslim Relations (CAIR) issued a statement yesterday condemning the attack on Fort Hood soldiers.

KYUK has more details this week on the feds’ move to dismiss charges against a Marshall police officer who was ticketed in September for an illegal subsistence fishing trip.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ticketed Jason Isaac, 32, $275 for his role in a king salmon fishing trip made in protest of summer subsistence restrictions. Isaac was the only person to admit to taking part in the trip, according to the Tundra Drums.

Heather Kendall-Miller, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, followed the story and met with a regional Fish and Wildlife director to ask that the charges be dropped, KYUK reports.

What happened to the comments section under the story about Sarah Palin's book tour?

I made the decision to turn off comments on this story. We offer comments on stories in the hope of some reasonable discussion of the topic being covered, or the handling of the story by the newspaper. Unfortunately, comments on stories about our former governor invariably seem to devolve into little more than food fights between people who like her and those who don't.

In addition, these stories, for whatever reason, particularly seem to attract individuals who are unable or unwilling to adhere to our commenting guidelines, and that consumes my time or that of other staff here that could be better used for other work.

UAA Dance Ensemble: Old publicity photo. This particular pose wasn't part of the opening night show.
Two complex and contrasting pieces bookend the showcase of new choreography presented by the University of Alaska Anchorage Dance Ensemble this month.

Leslie Kimiko Ward’s “iTouch, 5 meditations on interdependence” suggested narratives on how contemporary America keeps up a guard regarding physical contact. It opened with the company walking and talking on beeping cell phones then cut to a scene where a man and two women flirted, clung or dismissed one another as a fourth dancer flitted behind them delivering distracting taps on the back — I thought of Cupid — while others sat on the sides with laptop computers.

The first time I realized how real the uniform I wore in the Air Force was was back in 1997. I was at a training course designed to help health care professionals understand how to operate in war zones. A fellow physician, a colleague of mine from an officer indoctrination course, gave a presentation on what happened after the bombing of the Khobar Towers. He had gone the route of being a flight surgeon and two years out of medical school was one of the first physicians on that horrific scene.

Most people remember where they were on 9/11/2001. The news hit me while I was on my way to Elmendorf AFB for work. It was a day that changed life in the Air Force.

Winger Moises Gutierrez of Anchorage, released by the ECHL's Alaska Aces earlier this week after a short stint with the club, debuted with the league's Johnstown Chiefs tonight in their 4-3 win at Cincinnati.

Gutierrez was even with three shots on goal.

Since we're referencing former Aces, former Alaska blueliner Peter Metcalf racked two assists and was +2 with, get this, a fighting major, for Florida tonight in a 7-0 ECHL win at Charlotte. Former Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu bagged a 28-save shutout. (And Florida's Jacob Micflikier, no real Aces connection, furnished three goals and three assists to give him ridonkulous 6-8--14 and +10 totals in a mere six games).

MUSIC/THEATER/DANCE

Auditions: World Premiere of “Wind Blown & Dripping” By Peter Porco. 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 14 at Cyrano’s Off Center Playhouse, 413 D St. (cyranos.org)

Auditions: “Caroline or Change” Bring a song of your choice, blues, pop, gospel, opera. Performances in May 2010. 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10. at the Opera Center, 1507 Spar Ave. in Ship Creek (Next to Alaska Mill & Feed). (cyranos.org, anchorageopera.org)

Auditions: Alaska Sound Celebration invitation for Women to visit us during our Membership Drive. Learn holiday music and join us on stage to perform as guest artists on the Midnight Son’s Holiday show. 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, Wayland Baptist University, 7801 E. 32nd Ave. (566-3987, alaskasoundcelebration.org)

The state Health Department just sent the following announcement:

(To be clear, this is a village of about 130 people that's only accessible by helicopter and, sometimes, by boat. I wrote about this a couple weeks ago but should note that there are a lot of unanswered questions about exactly how & why the village lost passenger service, not to mention about what happens next. )

Two Little Diomede residents medevaced to Nome with possible H1N1
Other residents of the remote island village experiencing flu-like symptoms

Two Little Diomede residents with severe H1N1 symptoms were medevaced to Nome through a coordinated effort by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), Alaska Army National Guard, Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, and the Norton Sound Health Corporation. The remote island community is being provided medical support to help prevent and treat additional people with suspected H1N1 infection and to help prevent further transmission.

On Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2009, the Alaska Army National Guard flew both individuals from Little Diomede to Norton Sound Regional Hospital in Nome. One patient tested positive for H1N1 during an initial rapid test.

Diomede Mayor Andrew Miligrock requested that a medical team and medication be sent to the island to treat an increasing number of people with flu-like symptoms.

In response, a civilian medical team consisting of one doctor, one public health nurse, and two medics are being transported to Little Diomede on Thursday, Nov. 5, with transportation support from the Alaska Army National Guard.

“One of the most remote communities in Alaska, the village of Diomede does not have village-wide water or sewer systems,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Joe McLaughlin. “Due to frequent adverse weather conditions, it is not uncommon for this community to be inaccessible by air for long periods of time, which further limits emergency health care opportunities for villagers. For these reasons, the DHSS Section of Epidemiology fully supports this medical mission to interrupt the spread of influenza in this hard-hit and geographically remote Alaska village.”

DHSS has arranged for 130 doses of inactivated H1N1 vaccine, dedicated to Nome, to be redirected to Diomede, along with antivirals used in the treatment of H1N1. Nome supplies are being immediately restocked.

The traditional commercial means of air evacuations from Little Diomede to Nome is not available at this time. In the interim, Alaska Army National Guard stands by to respond to true emergencies.

Photo courtesy IGN.com
Borderlands, the latest in a line of video games to mix role playing elements with traditional first person shooter controls in a sci-fi setting, isn’t groundbreaking, but with a stylized presentation, thousands of items to collect, co-op and multiplayer options, it presents one of the more addicting gaming experiences in recent memory.

An 81-year-old Hydaburg man has been charged in federal court with possessing child pornography, according to the U.S. attorney.

Robert Armour Sanderson, Sr. has pleaded not guilty to one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, Sanderson ordered two pornographic videos containing images of prepubescent children engaging in sexual acts.

Prosecutors say he will face between five and 20 years for receiving the porn and up to 10 years for possessing it if convicted.

Sanderson is being held in custody until trial, which is set for Jan. 11.

(Knock knock)

Pelosi: Come in.

Aide: He-hello?

Pelosi: What is it?

Aide: Um, Good morning, Madam Speaker. The, um, election results have come in.

Pelosi: And?

Aide: And… well, Madam, it’s not good.

Pelosi: Not good?

Aide: We lost, Madam. Big time. Virginia and New Jersey both went to the Republicans.

Pelosi: Hhmm… What about New York?

Aide: Good news! We won -- by 4%.

Pelosi: Yes! What a great night! Dems won, they lost!

Aide: Um… really? Madam, we lost two governorships in states that voted for Obama. How is that a win?

Pelosi: Young man, did we win New York?

By Mike Dunham
Joan Kane
Fresh back from picking up her Whiting Writers' Award and launching her first book in New York, poet Joan Kane will read from her work at the first Friday opening at the Alaska Native Arts Foundation gallery, 500 W. 6th Ave., at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6. The visual art will feature guest curator Holly Nordlum's "Sharing the Spirit" group exhibition of new work by Ed Mighell, Aakatchaq, Francine Chiklak, Moses Wassilie and others. Hot tip: for the first time in my recollection, the gallery will have a pre-holiday 25 percent off sale through this weekend. The gallery handles both top-quality traditional work as well as contemporary art.

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The moose pawed down the barrier to get to the cotoneasters. Fran Durner/ADNMy nose is running like a river and glowing as red as Rudolph's as I write. What is it about freeze-up and the end of outdoor gardening that lets one's immune system and defense mechanisms down?

Update: Click here to read a White House transcript of Obama's remarks, and the following question-and-answer session.

Meeting with tribal leaders from across the country this morning in D.C., President Barack Obama heard calls from Alaska Natives for help combating suicide, erosion and mining impacts.

He also got an invitation to the 49th state.

“If you ever decide you want to get away from it all come see one of us,” Bill Martin, an Alaska Federation of Natives board member from Southeast, told the president.

“I often want to get away from it all. So I'm very much looking forward to visiting Alaska,” Obama replied.

The White House expected hundreds of tribal leaders at the Interior Department today for the meeting, which began at 5 a.m. Alaska time. During a brief question-and-answer period in which at least three Alaskans called on the president, Martin asked for more funding to battle the state’s staggering suicide rate and warned some villages are ready to slip into the ocean because of coastal erosion.

One speaker warned the Red Dog mine could hurt food gathering. A woman from Kodiak Island said an elder named Erlinda, who works at the local Safeway, wanted to tell Obama she loved him.

“You tell Linda I love her back,” the president said.

Obama said tribal leaders would get a chance to talk issues with federal department heads and members of Congress later in the day, then added: “The only thing I do want to make sure you understand is that when I do visit Alaska, it’s going to be during the summer.

"So, just wanted to be clear about that.”

Tlingit elder Clarence Jackson gave the invocation at the meeting, followed by a short speech by the president who called the event “the largest and most widely attended gathering of tribal leaders in our history.”

Of the 387 tribes that planned to attend the conference 87 are from Alaska -- the most from any state, according to the White House.

Obama talked about a proposal to boost Indian Health Service funding, the value of tribal colleges and the need for stronger law enforcement in Native American and Alaska Native communities.

"On some reservations, violent crime is more than 20 times the national average. The shocking and contemptible fact that one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes is an assault on our national conscience that we can no longer ignore," he said.

As he began taking questions, the president reacted to something someone yelled from the crowd.

“No shouting now," Obama said. "But I would love to come to Alaska."

(Note: I watched the opening of the meeting streaming on the White House Web site. It's still being broadcast online as I write this, but be warned. The quality this morning was very poor. Long freezes & gaps in the feed. Hard to hear many of Obama's remarks on policy and the feds' relationship with American Indian/Alaska Native people. Meantime, read the agenda here.)