Alaska: Bill White

From Bill White in Anchorage --

John Keatley, whose photograph of Sarah Palin will adorn the cover of her memoir "Going Rogue," has blogged about all the attention the photo is getting.

Here's a sample:

The photo shoot only happened three weeks ago, so this is all still very new and exciting for me. After much planning and scheduling, I put together a crew and flew up to Alaska for six days to photograph the former governor. It was supposed to rain the entire week we were there, but we ended up getting blue skies and puffy white clouds the entire time. After a few days of scouting and prepping, I shot for three days straight. The last day we went to Hatcher Pass which holds a lot of meaning for Sarah.

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From Bill White in Anchorage --

The Associated Press just moved this article by Anchorage reporter Rachel D'Oro:

Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against Gov. Sarah Palin asked a judge Friday to declare that she broke state law two years ago when she failed to issue a proclamation for a celebration commemorating the freeing of U.S. slaves.

Plaintiffs also sought a retroactive proclamation for the 2007 Juneteenth celebration from Palin, or — with her July 26 resignation looming — from the governor's office, said Gregory Charles Royal, a Washington, D.C., musician, who filed the suit in March.

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From Bill White in Anchroage --

Anchorage Mayor-elect has named Sarah Erkmann as his chief spokeswoman and Dennis Wheeler as the city attorney for his three-year term that starts Wednesday.

Erkmann has been a columnist for The Alaska Standard Web site, a public relations executive and a drug sales person. She worked for the former Anchorage PR firm Bernholz & Graham for many years and earlier had been a weekend producer at KTUU-TV. She is a lifelong Alaskan who graduated from Service High School and has a history degree from the University of Oregon.

Wheeler has been an attorney for the Regulatory Commission of Alaska with responsibility for utility and pipeline regulation. He previously worked in the city’s law department and served two years as deputy municipal attorney. He graduated from Chugiak High School, also has a history degree from the University of Oregon and earned his law degree from Willamette Law School.

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From Bill White in Anchorage –

Amid a stir over Anchorage’s Acting Mayor Matt Claman deciding to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Rhode Island this month just before he leaves office, Claman today decided to pay his own way rather than travel on the city’s dime.

Since becoming acting mayor in January, Claman has been busy slashing $17 million from this year’s city budget to address an unexpected revenue shortfall.

Claman said today: “Anchorage has much to gain from participating in these conferences. At the same time, I recognize that some people don’t believe that in these economic times the city should pay for me to travel to the conference.”

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