Alaska

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin teamed up with Franklin Graham and faith-based Samaritan’s Purse last week to deliver food to hundreds of families along the frozen Yukon River that have been hit hard by an unusually harsh winter.

“There are huge needs out here in these villages, great needs,” Graham told Alaskan media during the Feb. 20 distribution.

According to Graham’s organization, many along the Yukon say they’ve been eating only once a day after running short on the fish and berries they stored away last year. Others are so impoverished they have had to choose between heat and food in an area where a gallon of fuel can cost $8 and a gallon of milk can run as high as $10. more >>

After becoming a young mother in December, Bristol Palin, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, wants to be an advocate to prevent teen pregnancy.

During her first interview since giving birth to her son Tripp, Bristol Palin said having a child is not “glamorous” and repeatedly advised teens to “just wait 10 years” to have a baby because it is “so much easier.”

“I wish I had the baby in 10 years so I could have had an education, job, time to prepare and my own house,” Palin said to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “It is so much easier if you are married, have a house, a career. It is just so much easier.” more >>

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin's home church was badly damaged by arson, leading the governor to apologize if the fire was connected to "undeserved negative attention" from her failed campaign as the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, which was set Friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele.

He said the blaze was being investigated as an arson but didn't know of any recent threats to the church. Authorities didn't know whether Palin's connection to the church was relevant to the fire, Steele said. more >>

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Gov. Sarah Palin violated no ethics laws when she fired her public safety commissioner, the state personnel board concluded in a report released Monday. "There is no probable cause to believe that the governor, or any other state official, violated the Alaska Executive Ethics Act in connection with these matters," the report says.

"Gov. Palin is pleased that the independent investigator for the Personnel Board has concluded that she acted properly in the reassignment of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan," her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said in a statement.

An earlier, separate investigation by the Legislature found that Palin had abused her office. more >>

WASILLA, Alaska (AP) - The mother kneels in the snow, cheerfully posing beside her bundled up daughter, behind the bloody, dead caribou the mom just shot.

Maybe not your typical family photo. But that's Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the disarming mom who's not afraid to carry arms or use them.

Palin would be a heartbeat away from the presidency if she and Republican nominee John McCain win in November. She was introduced to the country by McCain as very much the woman in that photo: tough and loving. She's the ethics-protecting, belt-tightening mom, who easily juggles family and her government job. more >>