Alaska

Alaska’s largest provider of abortions will be selling holiday gift certificates good for services including abortion in a fundraising effort during a Jewish bazaar on Sunday.

The certificates are being sold in Anchorage as part of Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest’s effort to raise funds for their organization.

Alaska Family Council President Jim Minnery said PPGNW’s efforts are meant to mock those whose faith dictates that abortion is morally wrong. more >>

An Alaskan Planned Parenthood operator has filed a lawsuit against the parental notification law, alleging it will force scared pregnant youths to take on abuse from parents and total strangers.

Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest is suing the state of Alaska over the recently passed law. Clover Simon, vice president of the operating agency, says the law is an invasion of privacy and violates the equal protection clause.

“We're asking them to go before strangers and defend why they're choosing to terminate a pregnancy. For any woman that would be a horrifying experience and then imagine if you're a scared, pregnant teen,” Simon told Alaska’s NBC affiliate KTUU. more >>

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 >>