Sean Parnell

Oil executives with several firms operating in Alaska met with Gov. Sean Parnell at the Dena'ina Center in Downtown Anchorage Thursday for a noon luncheon hosted by Exxon Mobil Corp. Chief executives at the high-security, invitation-only event included Exxon Mobil's Rex Tillerson, ConocoPhillips' Jim Mulva and BP Exploration's Bob Dudley. All three were scheduled to speak briefly at the luncheon, as well as Parnell. Though the lunch was closed to the media and the public, Exxon called it purely a social luncheon, a meet-and-greet for lawmakers and producers.

Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson held a deployment ceremony Tuesday morning for Army soldiers ready to head to Afghanistan. The mood at the Sullivan Arena, where the deployment ceremony was held, was upbeat as thousands of families prepare for a yearlong deployment of 3,500 members of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division. Families, though, were still anxious about the deployment. “Very nervous, very nervous.” Rita Smith said as her husband held their 3-month-old son Elijah.

Alaska Attorney General John Burns is resigning, after only 11 months as head of the state's Department of Law. Gov. Sean Parnell's office made the announcement Friday morning. “My resignation is based solely on personal reasons," Burns wrote in a letter to Parnell dated Nov. 19. "Although I have come to realize that it is possible to live out of a suitcase, doing so is neither fair to family nor particularly conducive to one's health. Family and balance in one's life should always be one's first priority and everything else secondary.

Gov. Sean Parnell addressed the Resource Development Council on Thursday, touting the need for the United States to sway away from what he calls an "addiction to foreign oil. " Parnell gave the RDC an overview of his recent trip overseas to Europe and the Middle East where he visited with leaders of three energy companies that do business in Alaska, and met with the Israeli president. The governor called the trip an "international investment mission" and says the message he took with him overseas is that Alaska is open for business.

Two Fort Wainwright Strykers died in Afghanistan Wednesday when their unit was hit by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan's Kandahar Province, according to Gov. Sean Parnell's office. U.S. ArmyAlaska spokesperson Lt. Col. Bill Coppernoll says Spc. James R. Burnett Jr., 21, and Pfc. Matthew C. Colin, 32, both served as infantrymen with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division at Fort Wainwright. Burnett, a native of Wichita, Kan., joined the Army in April 2008, completed basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. and arrived at Fort Wainwright in August 2010.

State lawmakers and many in the state's oil and gas industry are still dissecting a speech Governor Sean Parnell gave to the Alaska Oil and Gas Association on Thursday in Anchorage. The governor told industry leaders that a gas line to the Lower 48 is stalled, and it's time to consider an in-state line that would ship liquefied natural gas to Asia. This announcement marks a big change for the state of Alaska, going all the way back to Governor Tony Knowles, who declared in 2000, “My way is the highway,” signaling his support for a line that would follow the Alaska Highway.  Then came AGIA, which gave TransCanada a license to build a pipeline across Canada to what then-Governor Sarah Palin called “hungry” markets in the Midwest.

Gov. Sean Parnell announced the amount of the 2011 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend at the Atwood Building in Downtown Anchorage Tuesday, which will be paid to eligible recipients starting Oct. 6: $1,174. The amount represented a drop from 2010's $1,281 dividend, which was just below the $1,305 each eligible Alaskan received in 2009. Dividends are based on an average of the Alaska Permanent Fund's performance over the previous five years, and change as older years are pushed out of those averaged.

While the East Coast evaluates the damage from a rattling 5.8 magnitude quake that struck Tuesday, Alaska's leaders are discussing disaster preparedness on both the state and local level. Gov. Sean Parnell said it's not a matter of if a disaster will strike Alaska, but a matter of when. The message Wednesday at a joint press conference with Parnell and Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan called for all Alaskans as individuals to be prepared. At the state level, Parnell said Alaska has secured $5 million during the last legislative session to purchase electrical generators and water purification systems that can be used during an emergency.

Some Alaska Democrats are questioning whether they were unfairly targeted by Gov. Sean Parnell's budget cuts. One of the districts hit hardest by the vetoes is the community of Turnagain, in Anchorage, where Sen. Hollis French (D-Anchorage) and Rep. Lindsey Holmes (D-Anchorage) are in office. They saw roughly 70 percent of their projects get vetoed, including about $900,000 for a sidewalk along Northern Light Boulevard, funds for a trail along Ship Creek, and millions to renovate West High School.

Among the items that did not make the cut in the State's budget is a piece of land the Boys and Girls Clubs of Alaska says has been open to the community for decades. Local lawmakers secured $4 million for Waldron Lake in Midtown Anchorage, but it did not survive a veto. Supporters of Waldron Lake said they need to look at other options before it's too late. The private property is owned by Boys and Girls Club but has been open to the public since it was donated by Marci Waldron-Trent in 1972, but the organization said although it wants to keep the land open to the public; it needs to sell the land to keep its operations going.