The race for Alaska's congressional seat is so packed, even Santa Claus is running
Four dozen candidates are battling in this weekend’s special primary election to fill Alaska’s only seat in the House.
Sixteen Republicans and six Democrats make up less than half of the all-party ballot that will decide the finalists to replace GOP Rep. Don Young, who died in March after serving 49 years in Congress.
Former Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican scion of the prominent Democratic Begich family and North Pole Council member Santa Claus are among the notable names vying to finish in the top four and advance to the special general election.
“Forty-eight names — when you look at them, your eyes cross,” GOP media consultant Art Hackney said. “I expect most Alaskans’ eyes will cross.” Hackney worked with Young on more than 20 campaigns. He’ll work for software executive Nick Begich III’s campaign after the primary.
Alaska insiders say Republicans Palin and Begich and 2020 independent Senate contender Al Gross — who raised by far the most money through May 22 — are well positioned to advance thanks to their name recognition.
—Bloomberg News
Eva, the California dog that saved its owner from mountain lion attack, dies unexpectedly
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eva, the dog credited for saving her owner’s life after she was attacked last month by a mountain lion in rural Northern California, died unexpectedly Wednesday morning.
In a brief interview by phone, Eva’s owner, Erin Wilson, said Eva, a 2 1/2-year-old Belgian Malinois, started getting wobbly and having seizures over the weekend at their home in Trinity County.
Wilson was told Eva needed special emergency care after rushing her to a Redding veterinarian. Wilson took her to the animal hospital at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. There, Eva’s condition deteriorated to the point her veterinarians attempted to put her on a ventilator Wednesday morning.
“She just never woke up,” Wilson told The Sacramento Bee as she started to sob. “She never woke up.”
—The Sacramento Bee
Why flooding could be more common in Colorado this summer
DENVER — When rain falls, if it does, Colorado faces a rising risk of flooding, mudslides and rockfalls — like those that closed Interstate 70 last year — due to an “expanding bull's-eye” of barren, scorched and less-stable terrain.
And Colorado officials say everybody will need flood insurance and other protection — not just residents living in federally designated hazard zones.
The “bull's-eye” concept describes the growing area in Colorado where hard rain and hail pack more punch — caused by a shift to aridity amid a 22-year severe drought and wildfires burning more land, state climatologist Russ Schumacher said. Some 36 burn scars from fires cover more than 700 square miles.
“If burn scars are larger, the rainstorms that happen every summer are going to be more likely to hit a burn scar,” Schumacher said.
—The Denver Post
‘They are not going to shut us up.’ Cuban exiles vow to boycott if Radio Mambí is ‘silenced’
MIAMI — Promising boycotts, protests and strikes, Cuban exile leaders expressed their fear that two Miami stations, Radio Mambí and WQBA — which have traditionally advocated for Cuba’s freedom — would be silenced after being bought by Latino Media Network, a media company run by “social activists with a left-wing progressive political agenda.”
TelevisaUnivision, Inc. reached an agreement to sell 18 stations, including Radio Mambí and WQBA, in different cities, to Latino Media Network (LMN), founded by Stephanie Valencia, who worked in the White House as a special assistant to the president and as director of public engagement under the Barack Obama administration, and Jess Morales Rocketto, who worked in the Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns.
The newly created LMN, which has managed to raise $80 million for its startup, also has funds from the investment firm Lakestar Finance LLC, associated with liberal-leaning billionaire George Soros.
The Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, on behalf of 35 exile organizations, called a meeting on Wednesday at the Bay of Pigs Museum and headquarters of Brigade 2506, in Little Havana, to express its concern about the “silencing and the marginalization of radio stations that have historically been the voices of support for Cuba’s freedom,” according to a letter delivered to the media.
—Miami Herald
