alaska pfd

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Governor Palin plans to announce the amount of the 2007 Alaska Permanent Fund dividend checks this afternoon in Valdez.

The Alaska Permanent Fund collects royalties earned through oil and gas development in the state.

The annual dividend is calculated on a five year average of fund earnings.

Last year, every eligible Alaskan who applied received a check for more than $1,100.

The Alaska Permanent Fund, created in 1976, began issuing annual dividends starting in 1982.

Dividends are scheduled to be paid in October and November.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed
What does your self-esteem, motivation and happiness have to do with successful weight loss and dieting? A lot, as it turns out. A person� state of mind and personal growth directly impacts their decisions about food choices. People may eat more when stressed, or eat "comfort" foods that hamper their weight loss efforts. There are lots of great self-help and self-growth books, tapes and programs out there to chose from. And, many people need that motivation and a jump start.

The psychological component of the weight loss formula is just as important as the nutrition and exercise. That� the whole basis behind Dr. Phil� diet book and weight loss program. Tackle your inner self before beginning a weight loss diet. Personal coaching or life coaching is hot now, and there is a deep interest in new age, spirituality and assertiveness topics, empowerment, and career development. America� hunger for �sychological sustenance?and self-growth continues. Popular �urus?such as Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, Carleton Sheets, Deepak Chopra, John Gray, Dr. Phil McGraw, Dr. Laura, Suze Orman and many more promise to improve our relationships, marriages, intimacy, finances, physical well-being, weight loss, memory, business communications and leadership skills by helping us get in touch with and explore ourselves and heal our addictions (recovery).

The big gurus realize the dollar potential of weight loss and so they've added a weight loss spin or developed a special book or workshop around it.
PFD amount announcement today

Gov. Sarah Palin is set to announce the amount of this year's Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend checks at 2 p.m. today at the Valdez Civic Center.

The governor chose Valdez partly to commemorate the 30th anniversary of oil from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope reaching the Valdez Marine Terminal through the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, and partly to bring the annual event to one of Alaska's smaller communities, spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said.

Last year, every eligible Alaskan who applied received a check for $1,106.96.

Fire education

donation

Alaska USA Insurance Brokers and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company are donating $15,000 to the Fairbanks Fire Department's safety education program.

The department will use $6,500 of the money for new fire safety material to be handed out to local school children.

The remaining $8,500 will go toward a new trailer to transport the equipment. The trailer will replace the pick up truck firefighters are using, which is not large enough for their needs.

The grant is part of a nationwide program to provide equipment and educational materials to fire departments nationwide.

Record Moose

Nugget dump

The Rotary Club of Fairbanks' third annual moose nugget drop set several new records Saturday afternoon.

More than 2,000 moose nuggets were dropped from the fire department's newest ladder onto bull's-eye 100 feet below at the football field behind the Big Dipper Recreation Area.

The winner of the $2,000 grand prize was Kelley Rivers, whose nugget was only 3 1/4 inches from the center of the bull's eye. That was the closest anyone has come to the center in the event's three year history.

Kyong Hollen's second place nugget worth $1,000 was 8 3/8 inches from the center, and Steve Adamczak's third place nugget worth $500 was 9 inches from the center.

The Rotary Club sold about 1,500 of the 2,000 tickets they hoped to sell for the event, and no one actually bought the ticket for the nugget that landed closest to dead center.

�Staff reports

Talk about racking up the miles. National Geographic reports on a female shorebird that recently flew nonstop for 7,145 miles from Alaska to New Zealand. The nine-day trip by the bar-tailed godwit without a break for food or water is the equivalent of a human running 43.5 mph for more than seven days and is the longest such migration ever recorded, according to biologists who tracked the bird using satellite tags. Among the tidbits from the story is this revelation: "Along the way, the bird 'slept' by shutting down one side of her brain at a time."

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Corruption trial. What new bombshells will drop in the corruption trial of former state House speaker Pete Kott? It continues today in Anchorage. With the prosecution expected to wrap up its case this week, news outlets turned to the challenges facing defense attorney James Wendt. The AP summed it up this way: "Wendt contends there was nothing illegal about Kott planning strategy with the VECO officials on legislation important to most Alaskans. But his first obstacle in defending Kott may be the recorded conversations, salted with profanity, sometimes fueled by booze and interspersed by the occasional crude reference to women."


The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner editorializes there's plenty to be upset about so far from the trial, but what should really concern people are comments like these: "When Bill Allen tells me he's ready to vote it out, then I'll vote it out," Kott said to Veco executive Rick Smith in one recorded conversation, referring to a bill he was sitting on in a legislative committee.


Meanwhile, Retired UAA professor Steve Aufrecht reflects in his What Do I Know blog about what the trial tells us about Bill Allen's moral compass. "In Bill Allen's world, as I tease it out of his words and behaviors, power and family are the main values. Loyalty is a second, but lower value. The law, the government, the Legislature in particular, are seen as either obstacles to be overcome or tools to get what you want."

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Speaking of corruption trials. Two new developments appeared this weekend in the case against former Rep. Vic Kohring, who faces charges of extortion and bribery. KTUU reports that Kohring's attorney is asking a federal judge to look into whether the U.S. Department of Justice inappropriately pressured his client to plead guilty in the case. Meanwhile, KTUU also reports that a Department of Justice letter sent to Kohring's defense attorney this July reveals former Rep. Tom Anderson and former state corrections commissioner Frank Prewitt, while cooperating with the government, also made recordings of their interactions with Kohring.

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It's a long way between Fort Yukon, Alaska, and Estero, Fla.The Naples Daily News, which started asking questions early on about a $10 million earmark Rep. Don Young helped land for the Coconut Road interchange in Florida, says the story isn't going away. It notes the respected publication Transportation Weekly has featured the story twice recently.


"The fact that Transportation Weekly has showcased Coconut Road in two straight editions (the previous week's edition carried a front-page story about the controversy) means that this is no longer about a measly $10 million for an interchange in southwest Florida. It's about the Constitution, how sausage is made in Washington and Young's future. It's getting bigger and bigger. It won't go away."

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And this year's number is… Gov. Sarah Palin is expected to announce the exact amount of this year's Permanent Fund divident check on Wednesday in Valdez, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports.

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That's enough already. The Peninsula Clarion reports on a proposal by the state Board of Fisheries and the Board of Game to limit the volume of public comment from a single group or individual to 100 pages or its electronic equivalent after a wildlife advocacy organization sent in more than 28,500 letters on a single topic.

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But where would you put all the RVs? Denali National Park officials are asking for input on remodeling their headquarters, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports. Apparently they think among the eyesores are the parking lots, which don't fit in with the surrounding wilderness.

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Mine payoffs? KTUU reports on allegations that Northern Dynasty -- which wants to develop a gold mine near Bristol Bay -- is paying leaders of local villages to publicly support the project. Rep. Jay Ramras claims Northern Dynasty has more than once paid leaders of Native corporations as much as $300,000 per year to encourage locals to take a pro-mine stance, the story reports. One resident also says the company gave her $600 cash in a plain white envelope at a community meeting in 2005.

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Now that's what we call some really hot water. University of Alaska Fairbanks researcher Katey Walter recently led an NPR crew to a North Slope lake that boils with methane. The report includes video of the bubbling water.

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A quick trip on a famed route. The Wall Street Journal picks up on reports of satellite images showing the fabled Northwest Passage as being ice-free this year with a story of a pig-farmer-turned-yachtsman's third attempt at the crossing. The European Space Agency reported the route as ice-free after piecing together nearly 200 satellite images.

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Hunting editor on the loose in Alaska. Predator Xtreme has loosed Xtreme editor Ralph Lermayer on Alaska, where he is filing online reports of his hunt for wolves, bears and foxes that match his hyperbolic title. His tagline from day one: "Hunt hard, shoot straight, kill clean, apologize to no one."