• Rep. Don Young has once again opened his mouth and something less than optimal has come out, this time in front of a captive group of school kids. The media is abuzz. The Dispatch first reported it, and others followed, including The Hill, Politico, MSNBC, the New York Daily News, Huffington Post, the Washington Post, to name a few.

• What does Young’s recent gaffe mean for Democratic challenger Forrest Dunbar? Could he have been a contender? Read my take on that here.

• Sen. Mark Begich is now not the only one to receive direct contributions from the Koch brothers. At long last, candidate Dan Sullivan got him some of that.

• The Fairbanks News-Miner has a nifty online candidates Q&A site that you have to search the site to find. But once you do, it’s worth it, if nothing else to read how Bill Walker answers the abortion question and what Alaska Constitution Party candidate J.R. Myers and Libertarian candidate ‘Care’ Clift think of subsidies for refineries.

• The Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District has joined with the Anchorage School District in suspending military recruiters access to students while on school property. Both school districts have chosen this step as a temporary measure to protect students from further abuse like the alleged cases mentioned in recently leaked Alaska Army National Guard files, per the Dispatch. The Fairbanks News Miner reports that the Fairbanks School District has “no plans to ban recruiters” on their school grounds.

• Who will get AFN’s endorsement? APRN’s Jenny Canfield is on the case.

• The Hill names the Hill’s unelected powerbrokers, or its Top Lobbyists of 2014 in the following categories: Hired Guns, Grassroots, Corporate and Associations.

• Good News regarding the Alaska National Guard, 27 people applied for the adjutant general position. That means that the selection team will have a wide field from which to pick the new head and fixer of a poorly perceived National Guard unit. The Fairbanks News Miner reports that Gov. Sean Parnell’s spokesperson, Sharon Leighow, shared that the selection committee will be conducting interviews this week.

• Nathaniel Herz has an article comparing the policy details outlined by Sen. Mark Begich to those proposed by GOP challenger Dan Sullivan. The upshot: Begich is all about details, and Sullivan is all about generalities.

• In today’s Influence Explorer, most of the PAC filings show how much they are spending on salaries and benefits to pay for all those hard working people clogging up our mailboxes, Internet bandwidth and ruin our TV time.

• The Dispatch covered last night’s Anchorage Assembly hearing about Uber where more than 150 people showed up to voice their opinions. There was heated testimonies from both sides of the issue, though the anti-Uber crowd was larger and more vocal. In the end, the Assembly decided to continue public testimony for November 18.

• The Juneau School Board had decided for the first time in many years to dissolve the citizen advisory committee and balance the district’s school budget alone. The Juneau Empire reports that this move has outraged many parents who feel the committee offered the public an opportunity to express their views on potential funding cuts.

• The Mudflats has a call to action for female voters regarding the U.S. Senate race, “Time to Decide.” By time to decide, Shannyn Moore means decide on Sen. Mark Begich, as if the women who read Moore were just wringing their hands, so unsure. 

• Get your math hat on because the Alaska Commons has drilled down the statistics to uncover exactly what is Gov. Sean Parnell’s job record in reaction to recent PeopleMover signs that boast of 16,000 new jobs added in Alaska during Parnell’s tenure.

• Juneau area state office candidates took part in a candidate forum at Floyd Dryden Middle School before about 130 students. According to the Juneau Empire, the candidates were asked pre-arranged questions as part of a “Your Voice Counts” program at the school. Too bad Rep. Don Young wasn’t there to liven things up.

• SitNews has a letter to the editor from Bill Williams, former Republican legislator of Ketchikan and Saxman, explaining why he is voting for U.S. Senator Mark Begich. Given Williams’ status in the Alaska Native Brotherhood, it’s a big get.
• Meantime, former Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Ron Somerville comes out in defense of Senate candidate Dan Sullivan’s decision to appeal Katie John in the Juneau Empire. 

• The CDC has tightened the guidelines for U.S. Healthcare workers helping patients recovering from Ebola. To put a fun spin on Ebola, remember this factoid.

Contact Amanda Coyne at amandamcoyne@yahoo.com