The Alaskan Hotel & Bar in downtown Juneau was named one of the "Best Bars in America" in the June 2008 issue of Esquire magazine.

NOAA's Fisheries Service released a final environmental impact statement for the management of Alaska native subsistence hunting for beluga whales in Cook Inlet.

I hope you're sitting down. According to an annual study by the USDA, the average cost for a middle-income family to raise a child born in 2007 until age 18 is estimated at a staggering $204,060. And that doesn't even include college costs.

A new Filipino restaurant named Turo-Turo Lutong Pinoy opened June 23 at 116 Franklin St. in downtown Juneau. By the next day at lunch, the restaurant was packed with locals, cruise ship workers and tourists lining up to "turo-turo," or point, at the dishes like pancit, chicken adobo and talapia.

ANCHORAGE - Alaskans Against the Mining Shutdown (AAMS) has produced a new documentary, Faces of Alaska Mining: 2008. The documentary, which begins airing this week, shows the positive impacts that the mining industry has on Alaska, and the negative effects that a mining shutdown would have on communities across the state.

ANCHORAGE - Governor Sarah Palin responded today to the announcement that the U.S. Supreme Court has handed down its decision in the Exxon Valdez case. The Court awarded no more than $507.5 million in punitive damages to the plaintiffs, or about 10 percent of the jury's original award.

Veteran Alaska BP manager Bud Fackrell was named to head the new Denali gas pipeline project. Parent companies BP and ConocoPhillips named Fackrell as president June 12.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service today announced an increase in the optional standard mileage rates for the final six months of 2008.