Alaska: Erika Bolstad

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. –

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is calling for a hearing to look into how the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force developed recommendations that calling for pushing back the age and frequency at which women get screened for breast cancer.

Murkowski, along with 21 other senators from both parties, asked the Democratic chairman and the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to conduct the hearing.

"These recommendations, which have been widely criticized by patients and doctors alike, could prove devastating for women at risk for breast cancer," Murkowski wrote in a letter to the two committee leaders. "The American people deserve to know more about how this task force came to its controversial findings."

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. --

Don't expect Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski to cross party lines to vote for the health care bill released this week by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.

Murkowski calls it "deeply disappointing and in many ways is even worse than the Senate Finance Committee-passed proposal."

"First and foremost, the American people have said, and both parties have agreed, that health care reform must reduce health care costs," she said. "But this bill doesn’t do that. In fact, it’s laden with budgetary gimmicks that would massively increase the size and reach of government and send federal spending into the stratosphere."

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From Erika Bolstad in Washington and Sean Cockerham in Anchorage --

Sarah Palin's book is out this morning and available at booksellers throughout Anchorage and nationwide. Friends and foes are busy scrutinizing every word of the 413-page HarperCollins book, a compilation af anecdotes, political prescriptions and score settling.

We're going through the book and will be posting excerpts of it throughout the day on the blog.

Are you reading it? Join in. But keep it on-point and keep it civil.

Our Alaska Newsreader has a roundup of Palin-related news today.

Page 18

Palin describes her diet: “I love meat. I eat pork chops, thick bacon burgers, and the seared fatty edges of a medium-well-done steak.

From Erika Bolstad in Washington D.C. –

The Republican who heads up the federal agency overseeing the construction of Alaska's proposed natural gas pipeline is stepping down.

Drue Pearce, a former Alaska Senate president, was asked by President Barack Obama to step down from the small agency, known as the Office of the Federal Coordinator. Here’s a statement from her:

"It has been an honor to stand up a new federal agency and to serve as the first Federal Coordinator. I am a passionate supporter of the agency’s mission to bring Alaska natural gas to North American markets. I leave an effective and efficient agency with a highly skilled team of professionals actively pursuing our mission.