Alaska

NEW YORK - Carnival Cruise Lines prices have taken a dip this spring, according to pricing data, and some industry observers blame headlines about problems on several Carnival ships. Todd Elliott, owner of Cruise Vacation Outlet, said his agents had seen a drop in price of 20 percent or more for equivalent cruises. "Rates are far lower than I have seen in a while; for example, the Carnival Dream, seven nights, Eastern Caribbean out of Port Canaveral, May 4 is $299 per person," he said.

EAGLE RIVER, Alaska - For 26 miles of continuous hiking, no CamelBak water pack is big enough. And a flashlight will emit only a weak beam in mile after mile of rain. Flat land would be one thing, but we were on the ups and downs of the Crow Pass National Historic Trail, which follows the historic Iditarod supply route. The "we" were my stepson, Craig Feigenbaum; his longtime hiking partner, Copper, a distinguished pit-bull/boxer mix; and me. Craig would be hiking his age: a mile for every year.

Six days, three wins and all kinds of great memories later, Simon Gratz High's basketball team returned from Alaska early last evening. Presumably, every member of the 15-person traveling party pretty much went straight to sleep upon arriving home. "As soon as we're finished talking, that's what I'm going to do," coach Bill Ellerbee said. "Our flight left Alaska at 4:55 a.m., Philadelphia time, and got in at about 6:40. We're bushed, man. " Gratz was in Anchorage for the Great Alaska High School Classic.

The face of Marilyn Monroe - without her famous beauty mark - is being used to persuade would-be visitors to Alaska that the worst oil spill in U.S. history has not changed the state's astonishingly beautiful land. A print ad by Rod Bradley Advertising Inc. of Anchorage shows a photo of Monroe sans beauty mark, and says: "We changed this picture to make a point about a legendary beauty. Unless you look long and hard, you probably won't notice her beauty mark is missing. Without it, the picture may have changed but her beauty hasn't.

Producers of a new reality TV show based on the notion that Alaska has plenty of bachelors looking for marriage had hoped for a taste of winter. They got it. October dumped snow and drove temperatures to 10 below, turning the Kenai River Valley into a land of snow-flocked mountains towering over Kenai Lake. "We were shooting outdoors in Alaska, which is not exactly the smartest thing," said Eric Schotz, chief executive of LMNO Productions and executive producer of what is to be called "I Want A Husband: Alaska.

If you're already jaded by the avalanche of action and the nonstop explosions of the big summer pictures, try something truly awesome. The thunderous power and majesty of a school of humpback whales rising from the sea in Alaska: Spirit of the Wild simply dwarfs any spectacle that Hollywood's magicians can concoct. The latest Imax offering at the Franklin Institute's Tuttleman Omniverse Theater, Alaska exploits the imposing grandeur of desolate ice-bound landscapes and the teeming wildlife that manages to survive the region's merciless winters.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A large floating drill rig that ran aground a week ago on a remote Alaska island arrived as planned Monday in the shelter of a Kodiak Island bay after being towed about 45 miles through swells as high as 15 feet, officials said. The Royal Dutch Shell P.L.C. vessel was lifted off rocks late Sunday and towed away from the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, where it sat exposed to the full-on fury of Gulf of Alaska winter storms since grounding near the beach there on New Year's Eve. The Kulluk - a circular barge with a diameter as long as nearly three basketball courts - was towed for about 12 hours to the protected waters in Kiliuda Bay, where it will undergo further inspection, including an underwater look at its hull.

Luminous streams of the aurora borealis splash across the blue-black sky. "Wow, the northern lights!" gushes Jessie Barnes to her brother, Sean. "Aren't they awesome?" They are indeed, even if the dialogue isn't. But no matter: In Alaska, a widescreen wilderness adventure starring a charismatic, creamy-white polar bear and two teenagers searching for their dad, it's the great outdoors that matters. And it really is great. An old-fashioned family drama in the vintage Disney tradition, Alaska pairs Thora Birch, as 13-year-old Jessie, with Vincent Kartheiser, as 15-year-old Sean, on a quest through magnificent and treacherous terrain.

A commuter plane with 10 people aboard crashed in the tundra shortly after takeoff yesterday, killing nine people and critically injuring one, state police said. A single-engine Cessna 208 Caravan operated by PenAir, Alaska's biggest commuter airline, went down in calm, clear weather about two miles from the end of the runway, authorities said. The plane had been en route to King Salmon, a town about 75 miles away, with nine passengers and a pilot. The cause of the crash was not immediately known.

Arms-control fever, a malady that often causes summit dementia, is raging in the nation's capital. So, in an attempt to lower the temperature, the Reagan administration should think about Alaska. The reason for doing so takes us back to last October's outbreak of the malady and the dementia. James Schlesinger's scathing assessment of the Reykjavik summit (as ill- conceived as the 1961 Vienna summit; the worst outcome since the blow-up of the 1960 Paris summit; the most utopian expectations since Yalta, 1945)

JUNEAU, Alaska - Alaska, known for its live-and-let-live lifestyle, is poised to become the next battleground in the push to legalize the recreational use of marijuana. The state has a complicated history with the drug, with its top court ruling nearly 40 years ago that adults have a constitutional right to possess and smoke marijuana for personal use in their own homes. In the late 1990s, Alaska became one of the first states to allow the use of pot for medicinal reasons. Then the pendulum swung the other direction, with residents in 2004 rejecting a ballot effort to legalize recreational marijuana.

Airport-tower closings delayed WASHINGTON - The Obama administration is delaying the closing of 149 airport control towers until mid-June, to deal with legal challenges. The first 24 closures, to accommodate automatic spending cuts, had been scheduled for Sunday. The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that the closures would be delayed until June 15. Trade groups representing companies that operate the towers under FAA contract filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Washington.

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon announced Friday that it would strengthen the country's defenses against a possible attack by nuclear-equipped North Korea, fielding additional missile systems to protect the West Coast at a time of growing concern about the Stalinist regime. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he would add 14 missile interceptors in Alaska, a roughly 50 percent increase over the current number there and in California. The estimated $1 billion expansion represents a policy shift for the Obama administration, which had shelved earlier plans to expand the mainland defense system.

A 53-year-old former champion won the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race to become the oldest winner of Alaska's grueling test of endurance. Mitch Seavey and 10 dogs crossed the Nome finish line to cheering crowds at 10:39 p.m. Alaska time Tuesday. "This is for all of the gentlemen of a certain age," he said after completing the race in temperatures just above zero. His time in the 1,000-mile race was 9 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes.   SOCCER: The United States women's team won the Algarve Cup for the ninth time, beating Germany, 2-0, in the final Wednesday in Faro, Portugal.

HAINES, Alaska - Almost every click of the TV remote control brings someone's perception of Alaska into your living room. For some, it's digging for gold. For others, state troopers snowmobiling through the winter's long nights to crime scenes, or crab fishermen on stormy seas. No matter how many times you click the remote, however, you'll never see anything about Dave Pahl and his hammer collection. For that experience, you'll have to travel by ship north from Juneau along the Inside Passage to the upper Lynn Canal to Haines, population 1,800.

Unlikely Liberal Sarah Palin's Curious Record as Alaska's Governor By Matthew Zencey Potomac Books. 209 pp. $24.95 Reviewed by Steve Weinberg   The word liberal carries lots of meanings in the realm of electoral politics. But none of those meanings would seem to apply to Sarah Palin, who during 2008 rocketed to renown as the Republican Party vice presidential candidate. Palin and presidential candidate John McCain positioned themselves as "conservatives," which carried the connotation of "anti-liberal.

Hello there Kristina and Mark met in May 2012, after a Heretic Foundation show in Anchorage, Alaska. The after-party was at a mutual friend's house. Kristina, who grew up in West Chester and moved to Alaska in 2011 to intern with the National Park Service, asked Mark about his Earth First T-shirt. "I used to live in a redwood tree to keep loggers from cutting it down," said Mark, who is from New Castle, Del. Mark, now 37 and once the head of a commodities brokerage, had moved to Alaska in 2011 to work for a bank.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A large floating drill rig that ran aground a week ago on a remote Alaska island arrived as planned Monday in the shelter of a Kodiak Island bay after being towed about 45 miles through swells as high as 15 feet, officials said. The Royal Dutch Shell P.L.C. vessel was lifted off rocks late Sunday and towed away from the southeast side of Sitkalidak Island, where it sat exposed to the full-on fury of Gulf of Alaska winter storms since grounding near the beach there on New Year's Eve. The Kulluk - a circular barge with a diameter as long as nearly three basketball courts - was towed for about 12 hours to the protected waters in Kiliuda Bay, where it will undergo further inspection, including an underwater look at its hull.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - High seas and strong winds prevented crews from boarding an oil drilling ship to check for any damage after the large vessel went aground off an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Alaska. A Coast Guard plane and a helicopter flew over the Kulluk on Tuesday, but severe weather did not permit putting marine experts on board the drilling rig, which had grounded on a sand and gravel beach in stormy seas. Federal on-scene response coordinator Capt. Paul Mehler said the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig is carrying about 143,000 gallons of diesel and about 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid, and appeared stable.

RUGGED INDIVIDUALISTS are from Alaska. Wusses - and whiners - are from New Jersey. Or so says "reality" television, which - ignoring the famed bridge sign, "Trenton Makes, the World Takes" and Bruce Springsteen - has painted the Garden State as a place of tacky, conspicuous consumption while making the 49th state look like the coolest place on earth. And for that I blame Richard Proenneke. And Snooki. And, of course, "The Real Housewives of New Jersey. " The late Proenneke - focus of a documentary, "Alone in the Wilderness," a PBS pledge-break staple that's launched untold numbers of middle-aged men on to Alaskan cruises - is the granddaddy of Alaskan "reality.