Alaska volcano continues to erupt, with lava, ash

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A remote Alaska volcano continues to erupt, spewing lava and ash clouds.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory said Thursday a continuous cloud of ash, steam and gas from Pavlof Volcano has been seen 20,000 feet above sea level. The cloud was moving to the southeast Thursday.

John Power, the U.S. Geological Survey scientist in charge at the observatory, estimates the lava fountain rose several hundred feet into the air.

Onsite seismic instruments are picking up constant tremors from the eruption at Pavlof, located about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Residents of Cold Bay, 37 miles away, have reported seeing a glow from the summit.

Pavlof is among the most active volcanoes in the Aleutian arc, with nearly 40 known eruptions, according to the observatory.

Via Yahoo News!

Tsunami warning is canceled following Alaska quake

(CNN) -- A tsunami warning has been canceled for a number of coastal communities in Alaska following a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Thursday near the Aleutian Islands, officials said.

The strength of the earthquake, which was initially reported with a magnitude of 7.4, was revised to a magnitude 7.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"No destructive tsunami has been recorded, and no tsunami danger exists along the coast of the U.S," the Tsunami Warning Center said.

The warning, which was issued for a 250-kilometer (155 mile) radius from the epicenter, covered the coastal communities from Unimak Pass, located about 80 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor, to Amchitka Pass, about 125 miles west of Adak.

CNN

Tsunami warning is canceled following Alaska quake

NEW: Tsunami warning is canceled, center says U.S. Geological Survey downgrades quake off coast of Alaska to 7.2Official: "We have told folks in the effected area to get to higher ground"

(CNN) -- A tsunami warning has been canceled for a number of coastal communities in Alaska following a magnitude 7.2 earthquake that struck Thursday near the Aleutian Islands, officials said.

The strength of the earthquake, which was initially reported with a magnitude of 7.4, was revised to a magnitude 7.2, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

"No destructive tsunami has been recorded, and no tsunami danger exists along the coast of the U.S," the Tsunami Warning Center said.

The warning, which was issued for a 250-kilometer (155 mile) radius from the epicenter, covered the coastal communities from Unimak Pass, located about 80 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor, to Amchitka Pass, about 125 miles west of Adak.

CNN

Alaska governor's office to release Palin e-mails

NEW: Palin, aides express frustration with questions about children's travelPalin wanted to know about "past administration's dealing" with scandal figureThe 24,000 pages of records include e-mails include both official, personal accountsRelease of e-mails is in response to a 2008 Freedom of Information requestEditor's note: CNN is in Juneau, Alaska, to examine the more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails being released by the Alaska governor's office. They will be available over the weekend on CNNPolitics.com and we invite our readers to examine them and contribute to the discussion.

Juneau, Alaska (CNN) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin moved quickly to link a key figure in a 2007 corruption scandal that rocked the state's political establishment to her defeated predecessor, newly released documents show.

"FYI -- I've asked Frank Bailey to help me track down soem [sic] evidence of past administration's dealing with Bill Allen," Palin wrote on May 8, 2007, a day after Allen pleaded guilty to bribery, extortion and conspiracy.

The document is one of the roughly 24,000 pages of records from Palin's administration released by Alaska state officials on Friday in response to requests from reporters dating to her 2008 entry into the national spotlight. The release follows Freedom of Information Act requests filed by CNN and five other news agencies made shortly after Palin was tapped to be Sen. John McCain's GOP vice presidential running mate.

Allen had been the CEO of the Alaska oilfield services company VECO, and federal prosecutors accused him of leading a scheme to bribe top lawmakers in exchange for favorable state action.

The day after Allen's guilty plea, Palin sent e-mails to staffers asking for information on his ties to her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. Palin had beaten Murkowski in 2006 in a primary battle in which she campaigned as a reformer, and backed an unsuccessful 2010 challenge to Murkowski's daughter, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Aides soon replied that VECO had paid $15,000 to fly Frank Murkowski and Allen to a Council of State Governments meeting in Thailand in 2004. Palin aides also asked Allen to resign from a seat on a state board that cultivated ties with the Canadian province of Alberta, a request to which Allen -- who was later sentenced to three years in prison -- quickly agreed.

Palin is now seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. A spokesman for her political action committee said the documents released Friday will show "a governor hard at work."

"The thousands upon thousands of e-mails released today show a very engaged Governor Sarah Palin being the CEO of her state," said Tim Crawford, treasurer of Sarah PAC, Palin's political action committee.

The messages detail the back-and-forth between Palin and her top aides as she pushed state support for a massive natural gas pipeline and new taxes on the oil and gas industry that supports the state's economy. It also gives a glimpse of the feedback that Palin was receiving when leading conservatives first began talking her up as a possible running mate for McCain, in the middle of 2008.

"As a life long Republican, I, along with many others, hope that you will come to the aid of your party and our great country and serve as our next Vice-President. Our party and our country need you," Georgia resident Douglas Brooks wrote. "As you can see, I am not a resident of the great State of Alaska, but even here in Georgia, we have heard about you and the great things you have done there."

And it shows her frustration with questions about her family's state-paid travel even before she entered the national spotlight, instructing an aide to remind a reporter "of the family travels w (with) me that I have personally pd (paid) for."

"Hopefully our records very clearly show that," Palin wrote in July 10, 2008. "Also, my return of every per diem offer for everything related to the kids ... and we need to be proactive in this issue with reminding him of all the steps taken to save state monies like no Anchorage apartment ... no chef ... security down from 7 to 2, whatever."

And longtime aide Kris Perry called the travel issue "ridiculous."

"We're talking about a Governor who had the state buy tickets on Hotwire saving the state hundreds of dollars rather than just going w/ the norm (much more expensive) or the fact that she often drives to the peninsula or Fairbanks or the fact that her family rarely travels w/her when most of the invitations are for first family."

Palin eventually paid back about $7,000 for travel expenses for her children after an ethics investigator determined nine trips were questionable. The settlement stated that Palin did not violate Alaska's ethics law or commit any wrongdoing, and that she followed the advice of experienced staff.

The documents released Friday include messages from both her official account as well as private accounts, according to Linda Perez, the administrative director for current Gov. Sean Parnell. A search was done "in an effort to capture everything in the state e-mail system" that would comply with the request, Perez said.

Some of the documents were redacted to remove names and others were withheld due to legal privileges. Perez said 2,275 pages are not being released.

E-mails for the remaining 10 months of Palin's tenure, before her resignation, are not yet being released. As early as last week, Palin said she was not worried about what was in the e-mails.

"I think every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it's already been kicked over," Palin told Fox News Sunday.

Palin told Fox News Sunday that "those e-mails obviously weren't meant for public consumption," saying she was sure the material would be taken out of context.

And Alaska Dispatch political columnist Amanda Coyne says all the attention is "for what I'm betting won't be much."

"There will be tidbits, but nothing that a few local reporters and bloggers couldn't cover quite nicely," Coyne wrote in a recent column.

CNN's Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Katie Glaeser and Steve Brusk contributed to this report.

CNN

Alaska releases Sarah Palin e-mails

NEW: Palin, aides express frustration with questions about children's travelPalin wanted to know about "past administration's dealing" with scandal figureThe 24,000 pages of records include e-mails include both official, personal accountsRelease of e-mails is in response to a 2008 Freedom of Information requestEditor's note: CNN is in Juneau, Alaska, to examine the more than 24,000 pages of Sarah Palin's emails being released by the Alaska governor's office. They will be available over the weekend on CNNPolitics.com and we invite our readers to examine them and contribute to the discussion.

Juneau, Alaska (CNN) -- Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin moved quickly to link a key figure in a 2007 corruption scandal that rocked the state's political establishment to her defeated predecessor, newly released documents show.

"FYI -- I've asked Frank Bailey to help me track down soem [sic] evidence of past administration's dealing with Bill Allen," Palin wrote on May 8, 2007, a day after Allen pleaded guilty to bribery, extortion and conspiracy.

The document is one of the roughly 24,000 pages of records from Palin's administration released by Alaska state officials on Friday in response to requests from reporters dating to her 2008 entry into the national spotlight. The release follows Freedom of Information Act requests filed by CNN and five other news agencies made shortly after Palin was tapped to be Sen. John McCain's GOP vice presidential running mate.

Allen had been the CEO of the Alaska oilfield services company VECO, and federal prosecutors accused him of leading a scheme to bribe top lawmakers in exchange for favorable state action.

The day after Allen's guilty plea, Palin sent e-mails to staffers asking for information on his ties to her predecessor, Frank Murkowski. Palin had beaten Murkowski in 2006 in a primary battle in which she campaigned as a reformer, and backed an unsuccessful 2010 challenge to Murkowski's daughter, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Aides soon replied that VECO had paid $15,000 to fly Frank Murkowski and Allen to a Council of State Governments meeting in Thailand in 2004. Palin aides also asked Allen to resign from a seat on a state board that cultivated ties with the Canadian province of Alberta, a request to which Allen -- who was later sentenced to three years in prison -- quickly agreed.

Palin is now seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2012. A spokesman for her political action committee said the documents released Friday will show "a governor hard at work."

"The thousands upon thousands of e-mails released today show a very engaged Governor Sarah Palin being the CEO of her state," said Tim Crawford, treasurer of Sarah PAC, Palin's political action committee.

The messages detail the back-and-forth between Palin and her top aides as she pushed state support for a massive natural gas pipeline and new taxes on the oil and gas industry that supports the state's economy. It also gives a glimpse of the feedback that Palin was receiving when leading conservatives first began talking her up as a possible running mate for McCain, in the middle of 2008.

"As a life long Republican, I, along with many others, hope that you will come to the aid of your party and our great country and serve as our next Vice-President. Our party and our country need you," Georgia resident Douglas Brooks wrote. "As you can see, I am not a resident of the great State of Alaska, but even here in Georgia, we have heard about you and the great things you have done there."

And it shows her frustration with questions about her family's state-paid travel even before she entered the national spotlight, instructing an aide to remind a reporter "of the family travels w (with) me that I have personally pd (paid) for."

"Hopefully our records very clearly show that," Palin wrote in July 10, 2008. "Also, my return of every per diem offer for everything related to the kids ... and we need to be proactive in this issue with reminding him of all the steps taken to save state monies like no Anchorage apartment ... no chef ... security down from 7 to 2, whatever."

And longtime aide Kris Perry called the travel issue "ridiculous."

"We're talking about a Governor who had the state buy tickets on Hotwire saving the state hundreds of dollars rather than just going w/ the norm (much more expensive) or the fact that she often drives to the peninsula or Fairbanks or the fact that her family rarely travels w/her when most of the invitations are for first family."

Palin eventually paid back about $7,000 for travel expenses for her children after an ethics investigator determined nine trips were questionable. The settlement stated that Palin did not violate Alaska's ethics law or commit any wrongdoing, and that she followed the advice of experienced staff.

The documents released Friday include messages from both her official account as well as private accounts, according to Linda Perez, the administrative director for current Gov. Sean Parnell. A search was done "in an effort to capture everything in the state e-mail system" that would comply with the request, Perez said.

Some of the documents were redacted to remove names and others were withheld due to legal privileges. Perez said 2,275 pages are not being released.

E-mails for the remaining 10 months of Palin's tenure, before her resignation, are not yet being released. As early as last week, Palin said she was not worried about what was in the e-mails.

"I think every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it's already been kicked over," Palin told Fox News Sunday.

Palin told Fox News Sunday that "those e-mails obviously weren't meant for public consumption," saying she was sure the material would be taken out of context.

And Alaska Dispatch political columnist Amanda Coyne says all the attention is "for what I'm betting won't be much."

"There will be tidbits, but nothing that a few local reporters and bloggers couldn't cover quite nicely," Coyne wrote in a recent column.

CNN's Drew Griffin, Kathleen Johnston, Katie Glaeser and Steve Brusk contributed to this report.

CNN

High Gas Prices a Boon for Alaska Budget

AP

Shown here are oil and gas pipelines running into Alyeska's trans-Alaska oil pipeline pump station in Deadhorse, Alaska.

While most Americans are cursing the high price of gas, residents in one state have reason to celebrate. 

Alaska gets 90 percent of its state revenue from oil production taxes. When the price of oil goes up, so does the amount paid to the state. Bryan Butcher, Alaska's Revenue Commissioner, said he's anticipating a tax windfall of $3.4 billion this year, adding to a healthy reserve fund. 

"We're looking at a surplus of approximately $15 billion in reserve that the governor and Legislature could tap if need be," he said.  

That's a far cry from what's happening in other states around the country. Most governors are being forced to slash spending to fill huge budget deficits. In Alaska, in addition to the reserve fund, the state has a Permanent Fund currently worth $40 billion. Established by the Legislature when oil started flowing down the Trans Alaska Pipeline, the Permanent Fund pays out dividends to Alaskans annually. Last year each man, woman and child received $1,300. 

Oil revenue also allows Alaska to build roads, educate kids and provide health care without collecting a state sales tax or income tax. 

"Any time (the price of oil) gets up high, my first thought is what's being paid out in rural Alaska, and my second thought is we'll be able to fund state government this year," Butcher said. 

Despite sitting on top of so much oil, Alaskans still pay among the highest gas prices in the nation. The statewide average is currently $4.17 which is 24 cents higher than the national average. That's the part Alaska residents don't like. 

"Everything is rising," Anchorage resident Rebecca Williams said. "You've got your groceries and all your other bills, and we're not getting any raises." 

Other state residents admit they're still way ahead with the dividend checks and miniscule tax burden. Alaska's Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan said the prices are high because the local gas market is small and remote. 

"We have one refinery in the state," he said "And the economies of scale are such that large-scale production of gasoline does not happen here, so a lot of it has to come back." 

Officials still know they are in an enviable budget position. Lawmakers are in Juneau figuring what to do with all the oil revenue. They're considering massive projects such as a natural gas pipeline and hydroelectric dam. 

Most of the surplus, however, will go into a rainy day fund. Alaskans know every boom is followed by a bust. They remember oil plummeting to $9 per barrel in the late '80s and a decade later. The most recent swing took place in 2008. Alaska crude oil reached a record price of $147 per barrel. Within three months, the price had plunged to $30 a barrel.

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