If you want to come to the most dangerous city and state in the United States, well it turns out I live there.

Courtesy of KTVA: 

Based on 2016 stats, Alaska has been named the most dangerous state in the country. 

24/7 Wall Street released its annual report on the "Most Dangerous States in America" on Friday. 

By examining the FBI's 2016 Uniform Crime Report, which was released this week, the report found that Alaska is the most dangerous state in America, and concluded that Anchorage is the state's most dangerous city. 

The report states that in 2016, there were 804 violent crimes per 100,000 Alaskan citizens, 52 murders and 409 adults per 100,000 residents were imprisoned. 

Louisiana, Tennessee, Nevada and New Mexico rounded out the top five. 

Nationwide, of the 10 most violent states, nine are either in the South or the West, while New England states made up half of the country's 10 safest states. 

Overall, the violent crime rate rose in 38 states from 2015 to 2016. In 2016, the national rate was 397 violent crimes per 100,000 citizens, shy of the national violent crime rate at its peak in 1991, which was 758 violent crimes for every 100,000.

This report is actually a few months old, but I only saw it last night when my daughter sent it to me. 

For the record Alaska has been in the top ten most dangerous states for about as long as I can remember.

However being number one is still a little unsettling.

When you grow up here, you just know to follow certain rules.

In the wilderness you make lots of noise and hang your food from a tree when you camp.

In the city you avoid certain areas, keep your neck on a swivel, and keep a dog in your home.

I have had more than my fair share of violent interactions, but virtually all of those occurred when I was a kid and sought out dangerous situations.

As an adult most of my scrapes with the criminal element come from working with people suffering with mental illness or behavioral problems. 

I still think this is a beautiful place to live and visit, but I would caution that if you do keep your eyes open. Wide open.

The Children Shall Lead Them. #MarchForOurLives. Update!

The March For Our Lives takes over DC.

I have been around for some time now, and I have participated in more than a few protests, starting with anti-Vietnam war protests in the early seventies.

This..this...was like nothing I had ever seen before.

Now don't get me wrong, I was blown away by the Women's March right after Trump's inauguration.

But this protest, led by these children, was fucking amazing!

Before I left to join protesters here in town..

Anchorage #walkforourlives pic.twitter.com/UfEPU2qVeK

— Gryphen 2009 (@Gryphen2009) March 24, 2018

(Here is one of my tweets)

...I watched in awe as these young people around the country, and the world, put my intermittent activism to shame.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Delaney Tarr at #MarchForOurLives rally: "We are here to call out every single politician...they know that if there is no assault weapons ban passed then we will vote them out." https://t.co/rFLdpVwg4i pic.twitter.com/0P2SJK912m

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) March 24, 2018

It seemed as if every one of these students was born to change our world, and I was blown away by their passion, their determination, and their grace in the face of ugly adversity.

I can’t wait to vote today’s students into office and vote out yesterday’s dinosaurs. #yourtimeisup #Resisters #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/MPE62fqKyS

— Kelly Mantle (@thekellymantle) March 24, 2018

And I am not just talking about the teenagers.

11-year old Naomi Wadler: "I am here to acknowledge and represent the African-American girls whose stories don't make the front page of every national newspaper, whose stories don't lead on the evening news." #MarchForOurLives  (via @CBSNews) pic.twitter.com/1JIGsj0VJ1

— HĪP MAGAZINE (@hipmagazines) March 24, 2018

There was this eleven year old girl, who quite frankly took my breath away.

Yes the students had some very talented, and charismatic back up.

VIDEO- Miley performing The Climb at #MarchForOurLives today pic.twitter.com/YuUcvFHyKQ

— MileyCyrus Updates (@CyrusIsMyVirus) March 24, 2018

(Damn, I love that song now.)

But in the end this was the student's march, and it was they who stole the show.

And for my money this incredible moment from Emma Gonzalez was the most powerful of all. (Wait for it.)

Emma Gonzalez stayed on stage at the D.C. #MarchForOurLives rally for 6 minutes and 20 seconds - the duration of the Parkland shooting. https://t.co/B7yFTn23Nz pic.twitter.com/jdyYagtZCO

— ABC News (@ABC) March 24, 2018

Watching this damn near broke my heart.

I am not going to lie, I was choked up and leaky eyed for most of the day today.

But I was also incredibly reassured that the future of this country is in some of the most capable hands imaginable.

And even some of our leaders from the past recognize that.

Michelle and I are so inspired by all the young people who made today’s marches happen. Keep at it. You’re leading us forward. Nothing can stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 24, 2018

Listening to the students from Parkland and across the country today is a reminder of what is possible when our future is in the right hands, and when we match inspiration with determination. https://t.co/fhiEBIw15B

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) March 24, 2018

However our current leader remained unimpressed.

Courtesy of The Hill:  

President Trump arrived at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida as hundreds of thousands of students gathered in Washington, D.C., to call on him and Congress to act on gun control.

Still hiding out from the truth, huh Mr. Trump?

Update: Oh yeah, there was also this.

March for Our Lives draws bigger crowd than Trump inauguration, organizers say https://t.co/q6eQuw5yFI pic.twitter.com/1Vk5DYK8T1

— The Hill (@thehill) March 25, 2018

So what are your plans for today? #MarchForOurLives

Courtesy of March for Our Lives:  

March For Our Lives Anchorage students advocate for a number of solutions, which include: 

• Reclassification of the AR-15 and other military pattern semi-automatic rifles as Class III, Title II under the NFA. Semi-automatic rifles are only fractionally different than fully-automatic rifles, and are just as lethal. Military grade weaponry deserves to be regulated as such. 
• Reclassification of magazines over 10 rounds of ammunition as Class III, Title II under the NFA. According to a 2013 study on active shooters done by the FBI, active shooting incidents take place over a matter of minutes. Being limited to 10 rounds per magazine, as opposed to 20, 30, or 40 can save potentially dozens of lives within a mass-shooting timeframe. 
• Repeal of the Dickey Amendment, a 1996 measure which effectively bans the CDC from researching preventative measures for gun violence. 
• Purchase age increase to 21 years. 
• Mandate for gun show and private sale background checks. 
• Mandatory gun safety training accompanying first legal purchase. 

All of these measures comply with the modern understanding of the 2nd Amendment, and in no way infringe on the right of Americans to bear arms. Furthermore, each one individually, and certainly all of them together, show real promise in reducing the risk posed by mass shooters.

Here in Anchorage this march will take place on the Delaney Park Strip starting at 12:00 PM.

I am hoping to get there, but unfortunately I am actually working today so I am trying to move some things around.

But if I can swing it I will see you there.

If you are planning to come to Alaska in the winter, you might want to pack your shorts.

Courtesy of USA Today: 

If you want to escape the cold, should you head to ... Alaska? 

While most of the lower 48 states continue to endure a hideous deep freeze, Alaska has had an unusually warm start to winter. 

In fact, several locations in northern and central Alaska — such as Utqiaġvik (Barrow), Bettles, Kotzebue and McGrath — all had their warmest December on record, according to climatologist Brian Brettschneider. Fairbanks had its 2nd-warmest December. Over the first three weeks of the month, the city was a whopping 20 degrees above average. 

And midday Tuesday, at 48 degrees, Anchorage's Merrill Field Airport was warmer than almost the entire Lower 48 states, including cities such as Jacksonville, Houston, Atlanta and New Orleans. 

Anchorage had its fifth-warmest December: an average temperature more than 7 degrees above average.

Alaska wasn't just warm in December: Utqiaġvik (Barrow) had its second-warmest year on record. In fact, the tiny city on the state's north coast warmed so fast in 2017, the weather data from the city were automatically flagged as unreal and removed from the climate database, the Capital Weather Gang said. 

The weather up here is warming so rapidly that the permafrost is melting and whole towns are in danger of collapsing.

In Anchorage, where I live, I have only had to shovel my driveway about four times this winter and honestly the snow was so minimal that I probably could have skipped one of those.

Typically I would have shoveled more than a dozen times by now, and have snowdrifts five feet high along my driveway.

The other day somebody asked me if this was how winters usually are up here, and I replied with "They are now."

I don't know what this means long term, but we could see a say when people flock to Alaska to escape the freezing temperatures in the lower 48.

Won't that be a kick in the ass?

Anchorage broke another record. A really bad one.

Courtesy of the ADN: 

The death of a man whose body was found in Butte is now being investigated as a homicide in Anchorage, Alaska State Troopers said Monday. That would bring the city to a record number of homicides in a calendar year. 

The body of Anchorage man Weston Gladney, 36, was found in the Jim Creek recreation area of Butte, in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, on Dec. 2. 

"Investigation by troopers has determined that the homicide occurred in Anchorage," Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said. "At this time there is no additional information available for release in regards to this ongoing investigation."

Gladney's killing was the 35th homicide in Anchorage in 2017, police said – a new record. In 2016, there were a total of 34 homicides in the city, which also set a record.

Of course these statistics may seem minor when compared to big cities, but keep in mind that Anchorage has less than 300,000 people living there.

And yet Forbes Magazine once ranked us the tenth most dangerous city.

It should come as some comfort that most of those murdered knew their killers, or were involved in criminal activity.

In other words every day citizens of the city should feel relatively safe. (Or as safe as you can feel when every other asshole is probably carrying a gun.)

Alaskans are rarely on the cutting edge of anything, except coffee consumption apparently.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

You think your Starbucks cold-brew coffee is trendy? People in Anchorage were buying bottled cold brew five years ago. As for your pour-over black cup made with single-origin beans from a small farm in Africa? Yawn. Fairbanks has been doing that since the 1990s. 

Little-known fact: Alaska is among the most coffee-obsessed states in the nation. Some years, the coffee-shop-to-human ratio in Anchorage has been higher than Seattle, making it the most caffeinated place in the America (at last count, in 2011, it dropped to number two, with about one coffee shop for every 2,000 souls.) 

You cannot escape the coffee carts here, common as roadside moose, each with its unique brand: The Sugar Shack, Java the Hut, Fred’s Bail Bonding and Coffee Cabana. And then, there are the local coffee shops.

Anchorage-based Kaladi Brothers Coffee, the largest among half a dozen serious coffee roasters in the state, roasts 1.2m pounds of beans per year, enough for every man, woman and child in the state to brew at least five pots of strong coffee each. One of the biggest share goes to the oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope, where workers are on 24 hours a day, says Dale Tran, the company’s chief operating officer. Kaladi has 15 stores in Alaska and one in Seattle.

You know I am just happy with any story about Alaska that does not involve a gun death, a serial killer, or somebody being killed and eaten by a bear.

But I am especially happy to read that we were on the cutting edge of something.

And yes the coffee shops in Anchorage started popping up about 40 years ago, and these days you literally cannot travel half a mile in the city without passing at least half a dozen.

Sometimes in the winter the lines outside a coffee hut can be seven to ten cars deep, with another down the road with a line just as long.

Of course what can you expect in state where the winter nights are long and cold?

I am a little sad to say that I personally am not one of the Alaska coffee connoisseurs.

I am just a little too cheap to buy my coffee in a fancy shop, or kiosk along the road.

No I am a home brew man, who typically drinks about two to three cups of regular Folgers blend with a little Truvia and vanilla flavored non-dairy creamer added to fancy it up a bit.

But once in a while I do splurge and treat myself to a large Cafe Mocha.

Because after all, the winter nights are long and cold.

First bear fatality of the year in Anchorage. Let's hope it's also the last.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch: 

A 16-year-old runner in a Bird Ridge mountain race was killed by a black bear he apparently encountered while descending the trail Sunday, Alaska State Troopers and the race director said. 

A Chugach State Park ranger shot the bear in the face, but it ran away. Rangers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were still looking for the animal Sunday night on the slopeduring overlooking Turnagain Arm southeast of Anchorage. 

The teenager, who has not been identified, was a participant in the juniors division of the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb, said race director Brad Precosky. The close-knit Alaska mountain running community is in shock at the fatal mauling, he said. 

"This is the worst thing that could happen," he said.

I feel so bad for this young man, that is a terrible way to go.

And I feel just as bad for his parents, this must have just devastated them.

As Alaskans we learn to coexist with our ursine neighbors, but we also learn to take great precautions to keep ourselves safe if ever we encounter one.

This young man was alone and unprepared which made him especially vulnerable.

I would urge all of my fellow Alaskans to walk the trails in groups, make plenty of noise, and perhaps even carry a can of bear spray just as a little added precaution.

Fortunately my handful of bear encounters have been relatively peaceful, but I still remember the feeling of spine tingling fear that accompanied each of them.

I have taken to hiking early in the morning up around Glen Alps, and though I have not seen a bear there in over twenty years, I am still constantly on alert.

I think now for my next hikes that will shift to high alert.

In May eight people learned the hard way that Alaskan moose are dangerous.

Big nope right here.

Courtesy of ADN: 

A moose attack in an Eagle River neighborhood, which sent a woman to the hospital with serious injuries, was just one of eight run-ins with Anchorage's most visible urban animal resulting in injuries in May, officials said. 

The woman was either jogging with or walking her dogs in the Eaglewood subdivision on May 22 when she got too close to a cow moose and its two calves, said Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Dave Battle. 

"She didn't have time. … The moose attacked her, and came back twice, which is why she was injured so badly," said Eaglewood operations manager Mark McAllister. 

Anecdotally, eight moose encounters resulting in injuries is a lot, said Fish and Game public information officer Ken Marsh. There may have been more encounters, but many go unreported, as is often the case with wildlife incidents, Marsh said.

Eight does seem a little high, though aggressive moose encounters are certainly not rare in Anchorage. 

I have lived here for 57 years, and thankfully my few run ins with our giant ungulates have been relatively minor.

I was once chased back to my car after accidentally walking through an open gate which panicked the ungodly large bull moose chewing on leaves from a tree in back yard and sent it hurtling in my direction with antlers set on "skewer."

Another close call was during my paper route days when I accidentally hit a newborn calf with a carelessly tossed rolled up newspaper while distracted by its large and intimidating mother.

Fortunately she accepted my profuse apology which was delivered in hushed tones as I slowly backed away from the yard.

There have been a few others on bike trails, hiking trips, and once even on horseback, but they were less urine inducing, and not really worth mentioning.

However in Anchorage there have been some really unfortunate encounters, some quite fatal, which should serve to remind us all that just because they appear tame and even check both ways before crossing the highway, does NOT mean they are even remotely domesticated. 

My reaction after my internet suddenly popped back on after being down or molasses slow all day yesterday.

That feeling when you're caught daydreaming at work :) (via @UmmRKSZ ) #mediawatch pic.twitter.com/lRkTbpygfo

— Media Watch (@ABCmediawatch) April 9, 2017

GCI was a total bitch yesterday, and my internet access was either nonexistent or reminiscent of the old dial up days.

Fortunately I managed to finish and file my taxes right before everything went to shit.

Anchorage School board passes budget that dramatically cuts back on classroom teachers and support staff.

Courtesy of ADN:

The Anchorage School Board on Tuesday unanimously passed a budget for next school year that cuts dozens of classroom teaching positions to partially close a $15.3 million budget gap. 

The seven-member board voted on the budget after about 30 minutes of discussion at its evening meeting, leaving the document crafted by the district administration largely unchanged. 

Assuming the state Legislature doesn't decrease or increase per-pupil state funding, the $563.6 million general fund budget for the 2017-18 school year results in the net loss of about 123 "full-time equivalent" positions, including 99 teachers, to save about $7.2 million total. 

"This budget document is not as rosy as I would like it to be, but it's the circumstances that we are in — when you have flat revenue and increasing expenditures," said Anchorage School Board member Kathleen Plunkett. "We're not going to be able to do everything that I know we would all love to do."

As I think I have made abundantly clear over the years I am a huge advocate for spending on public education, so I find this very troubling. 

When I graduated from high school, Alaska's schools were some of the best in the nation.

Since that time I have watched our schools suffer from budget deficits, diminishing support for our teachers, and of course the implementation of NCLB.

These budget cuts leave already overworked teachers with less support and even less of the time and resources they need to do their jobs effectively.

Ultimately all of this hurts the kids.

Trust me if these people REALLY believed that children were our future, public school teachers would be the LAST jobs they would look to cut from the budget.

You mark my words, the state income tax is coming.

It has been 37 years since Governor Hammond signed that bill back in 1980 to eliminate our state income tax but I think with the oil revenue drying up that the writing is on the wall.

And I have to say that if it helps to keep teachers on the job, I would have no problem paying a little more in taxes. 

I think the Trump team has been trying to keep coverage of the Women's March off of the front pages. So here is more about the brave Alaskan women who participated on Saturday.

Courtesy of ADN: 

Snow, frigid temperatures and harrowing driving conditions weren't enough to keep thousands of Alaskans from participating in Women's March events across the state Saturday. 

Organizers reported hundreds of people in cities like Palmer, Homer and Juneau. Even remote communities like Adak, located in the Aleutian Islands, reported 10 people in attendance. At least 38 marched in Unalakleet, a Northwest Alaska village of 700 people.

Anchorage and Fairbanks both estimated march attendance in the thousands.

Some estimate that around 3,500 showed up in Anchorage while another 2,000 participated in Fairbanks.

Worth noting that Anchorage was in the middle of a snow storm and Fairbanks had temperatures around 30 below zero.

And just check out these women marching in Haines.

The March in Haines, Alaska. Respect. pic.twitter.com/ezKpFmnT9C

— Patti Digh (@pattidigh) January 22, 2017

Yet another reminder that Sarah Palin by no means represents real women in Alaska.

This movement is only going to grow and by the time we get to 2018 it will be a political force that nothing is going to be able to stand against.

And don't bother trying to compare this to the Tea Party.

These ladies would squeeze their teabags until they crumpled to the ground in agony.

First legal marijuana store opens in Anchorage.

Courtesy of ADN: 

Arctic Herbery's opening Thursday afternoon marked the beginning of marijuana retail sales in Alaska's largest city, about six weeks after the state's first store opened in Valdez. 

Last week, Arctic Herbery opened with only "clones" — immature marijuana plants — in stock.

By 11:40 a.m., about 50 people waited in a line that curved around the perimeter of the property. 

Bryant Thorp, owner of Arctic Herbery, had set up a shuttle service, as he has only a handful of parking spots at the store, and the shuttle brought a steady flow of customers to the shop.

I actually think that this might be a future source of cash for Alaska now that the oil is no longer as reliable a source of revenue as it was once upon time.

It certainly has been a boon to the economy in Colorado.

I don't see how it would be any different here.

Personally I am still not terribly interested in firing up a doobie (As the young kids say today.), but I am a little curious about the edibles.

A little good news for those of us living in Anchorage, it looks like our serial killer may have been neutralized.

On the left, sketch of the killer, on the right, James Earl Ritchie.

Courtesy of ADN: 

A gun used to shoot a police officer Saturday morning was the same weapon used in at least five homicides in the city so far this year, including two unsolved double homicides, Anchorage police said Tuesday. 

The Anchorage Police Department officer who was wounded, Arn Salao, was shot four times and underwent two surgeries after the confrontation, but was recovering and expected to survive. The suspect, 40-year-old James Dale Ritchie, was killed after Salao and Sgt. Marc Patzke — who arrived during the shootout — returned fire, police said. 

"We know from our investigation in the last 78 hours that the gun used to attempt to kill officer Salao was the same gun used in five other homicides here in Anchorage in 2016," APD Chief Chris Tolley said at a news conference Tuesday.

The police are not yet closing the investigation, as there are still a few threads to tie up, but it appears that Anchorage residents can relax a little. 

For now at least.

First Day of Early Voting in Alaska!

Well you know what I'M doing this morning.

I am going to stop by 2525 Gambell St. Suite 100 in Anchorage this morning on the way to my workout, to cast my vote for Hillary Clinton as well as all of the Democrats down ballot.

I have been looking forward to this day for over a year now, and it will feel really great to finally get a chance to do my small part for the good of the country.

Remember voting fraud may be a figment of the Republican's imagination, but voter suppression is a real and present danger to our democracy, so if you have the opportunity to vote early take it and send a message that NOBODY takes away your right to participate in our democracy.

Who knows, perhaps if enough progressives get out and vote in red states like Alaska, Texas, and Georgia we might be able to hand our first female President the largest electoral map victory in decades.

And wouldn't it be great to see Donald Trump trying to accept a defeat of that magnitude?

Comedian Joe Rogan thinks that Alaskans are "gangster as shit."

I just stumbled across this audio of Joe Rogan telling another comedian about his visits to Anchorage, and thought that his description of my state and my city were just about the best ones I had ever heard.

It is a little under a minute and a half long so give it as listen and tell me if that does not sound like a place you would want to visit.

You know I usually think that the FBI in Alaska is a little more competent than our police force in Anchorage. May have to rethink that.

Courtesy of the YouTube site: 

This is the FBI Alaska field office SWAT team responding to a domestic disturbance call where the suspect was armed. I know everyone can be a critic after the fact but this is definitely something comedic.

I like how they just leave their weapons leaning on the neighbors garage door while they attempt to enter a home in which they believe an armed  suspect is waiting for them.

I don't know where those folks bought their door, but I need to get me one of those bad boys.

Black bear visits downtown Anchorage. Sure why not?

Believe it or not this happens with some frequency.

Not typically downtown, but all around Anchorage proper.

Quite a few years back we had an unfortunate incident where a local radio station was giving updates on a visiting bear's location.

People started showing up to get a look at the bear and things got so dicey that the cops had to shoot the bear.

Huge public outcry, and ever since then folks have shown a little more restraint.

I have to admit that I found this video over on Palin's Facebook page, which I think marks the very first time I have borrowed anything from there without mocking it or making fun of her for posting it.

Good chance it will be the last time too.

Well at least they know it.

Courtesy of the Queen of Deplorables' Facebook page:

Dad & other family members brought friends to hear Ann Coulter in Anchorage tonight - their shirts say it.

I am not sure I was even aware that Ann Coulter was coming up here to spew her venom onto the people of Alaska. Though to be fair I might have known and simply blocked it in order to sleep through the night without fear of waking up screaming into the darkness.

And of course there is not enough alcohol in the state to have convinced me to attend in person.

I have paid my dues in the past by attending Joe Miller rallies and Sarah Palin speeches, so I have no intention of subjecting my now fragile mental health to the likes of Ann "I have an Adam's Apple" Coulter.

It does not appear that Palin herself attended either, but that could be because Anchorage has a roadblock to keep her out since her family mauled some of our citizens a few years back.

Oh well, once the exorcists have finished driving the Coulter demons out of the Egan Center things should quickly return to normal around here.

Or what passes for normal here in Alaska.

Is it the two year anniversary of the great Palin brawl? Why yes I do believe it is.

Ah it just seem like yesterday when we were talking about this incredibly embarrassing episode of the Palin family drama.

Before there were custody battles with Dakota, or Track's domestic abuse arrest, or snowmachine "accidents" for Todd in the news, there was the brawl.

If you remember it seemed to take forever for the events of September 6, 2014 to finally completely bubble to the surface. Oh sure we had anonymous tips and intriguing comments to follow, but it was not until October the 21st, that we finally got pictures.

And not until the next day that all of that great audio was finally released by the APD:

Through sobs, Bristol Palin, described as "heavily intoxicated" in the police report, tells police she was pushed to the ground and dragged across the grass while Klingenmeyer called her names. “They took my $300 sunglasses, they took my f**king shoes and I’m f**king just left here?” 

The officer asks where she’s injured. “My f**king knees, my face, where’s my sh*t? I have a 5-year-old in the car,” she replies.

Such a great day.

Of course from there the whole thing took off, and was covered by all kinds of news outlets.

One of my favorite parts was when poor Nancy French was tasked with telling Bristol's side of the story:

After I got out of the car, I didn’t get far. I never even got to talk to his mom, because a guy in his late thirties or early forties got in my face. He was towering over me – probably at 6 foot something and over 200 pounds. He puffed his chest out and started yelling. 

“You c-nt!” he looked right in my eyes and said. “Get the f-ck out of here, you slut!” 

 I was alarmed that things had gotten so bad so fast. But it got even worse when this guy started pushing me. He had his hands on me, pushing me down. That’s when I swung and hit his face. 

 Some would say I should’ve never retaliated in defense against him, but certainly he should never have pushed a girl. It didn’t phase him. He pushed me down to the ground and kept me there. 

It was scary and awful. He held me down until someone got me out of the situation. 

That’s it – that’s the story.

Yeah great story, except it did not match ANY other person's version of events, and in fact did not even match what Bristol told the cops on the released audio.

So here's a little something that I was not able to share before.

Do you remember this guy?

He's the guy who got fired by Todd's pals the McKenna brothers for talking to the press.

Well do you know who else he is?

He's the brother of Levi and Sunny's attorney Darryl Thompson. Oh yeah, that's right.

And they had an appointment before the judge on the Monday following the brawl. So their attorney came armed with this incredible tale to discuss with the judge concerning Bristol's parenting skills.

So yes that means I also knew all about the brawl only a few days after it happened, because part of my deal about lending the Johnstons the money was that they keep me updated on the progress of the custody case

However they told it to me in my capacity as a friend, and not as a blogger, so I was unable to share it with ANYONE until I started getting information from other sources.

Do you have any idea how hard that was for me?

Here was one of the BIGGEST Palin stories to ever come out, and my hands were literally tied by the promises I made. (The custody case is over now so I am not longer bound by that promise.)

Fortunately for all of us the information finally came out in a rather spectacular fashion, so even though I did not get the scoop, it was still great to cover this story.

And since it was still popping up in the news even several months later it just made the whole thing worth it.

Okay so right now might not be the best time to visit Anchorage.

Courtesy of ADN: 

In an unusual advisory, the Anchorage Police Department on Tuesday warned residents of the city not to travel alone at night in "isolated areas," days after an as-yet-unsolved double homicide occurred in a park along a popular trail. 

In the statement, police asked citizens "to be cautious" late at night, "especially if they are in isolated areas like our parks, bike trails or unoccupied streets." 

"If you do plan to be out late at night, make sure you travel with several friends and not alone," the statement said. 

Police did not offer a specific reason why people should not travel late at night alone, other than saying that "criminal activity often increases late at night." The caution came after a wave of homicides in the city, including several unsolved killings. The FBI confirmed Tuesday that they were assisting APD in investigating some of those cases.

I am not going to lie to you, there has always been an element of danger in this city even back when I was a kid.

For a relatively small population in the state we have had far more than our fair share of serial killers:

No state in the country has a higher rate of serial murders than Alaska. As was the case in most other states, serial killers in Alaska claimed more victims in the 1980s than in any other decade. Robert Hansen, perhaps the most prolific serial killer in the state’s history, was sentenced to 461 years of prison in 1984 after confessing to the particularly gruesome murders 17 women. More than half of the 51 serial murders that occurred in Alaska took place between 1980 and 1990. Not only does Alaska have a higher incidence of serial killings than any other state, it also has the highest violent crime rate in the country.

And of course the majority of them lived in or around Anchorage. 

We also have an extreme number of regular homicides, rapes, and assaults, many of them related to alcohol abuse.

This year alone we have already had over twenty murders, with four months left to go. 

Yes the state is gorgeous, but it can also be deadly. And despite what you might hear the grizzly bears are NOT the most dangerous predators.

When you grow up here you quickly learn the rules. When and where you will be the most safe, where you should avoid going alone, and at what times of the night the city becomes the least safe.

Now I would not suggest that tourists need to stay away completely.

Most of the city is quite safe and right now breathtakingly beautiful.

However if I were a tourist I would ask about any dangerous places to avoid (Fairview, Mountain View, and Spenard, for a start.) and at what times it is best to avoid going on walks along the bike paths or in the parks.

Now you know why I tell people that this is the best place in the world to live, IF you can survive.