The Weekend Off: News You Missed

Alaska

NYTimes- Polar Bears’ Path to Decline Runs Through Alaskan Village

KAKTOVIK, Alaska — Come fall, polar bears are everywhere around this Arctic village, dozing on sand spits, roughhousing in the shallows, padding down the beach with cubs in tow and attracting hundreds of tourists who travel long distances to see them.

ADN – Fire destroys building at Ice Alaska park in Fairbanks

A large Fairbanks building was destroyed by an hourslong fire Friday morning, drawing dozens of firefighters but no reports of any injuries.

Alaska Public Media – Fracking in Alaska: Who should weigh in?

The state agency that oversees oil and gas drilling held a hearing Thursday, Dec. 15 on whether more public input is needed when a company wants to start hydraulic fracturing in Alaska. Environmental groups say this would allow more transparency, while the industry argues there are already enough rules to make sure hydraulic fracturing is safe. It’s up to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) to decide who is right.

National

NY Times – A Pro Bono Dream Team Takes On the N.R.A.

A promising new force in the fight for gun control has arrived on the scene. A coalition that includes corporate litigators from seven of the nation’s leading law firms is taking aim at some of the most glaring flaws in gun safety.

SFist – Facebook Asks Users To Tell It What Is And Is Not ‘Fake News’

Did Facebook and so-called “fake news” give us president-elect Donald Trump? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t think so, and called any suggestion to the contrary “a pretty crazy idea.” However, facing a chorus of criticism following revelations that false pro-Trump stories masquerading as news were shared millions of times across his social network, the tech titan has slowly begun to admit that the widespread dissemination of bullshit may not be good for anything other than his company’s bottom line. As such, Facebook today announced a series of technical changes in the hope of keeping the site’s content mostly based in reality. Chief among them is the ability for users to mark posts as “a fake news story.”

The Guardian – Leak reveals Rex Tillerson was director of Bahamas-based US-Russian oil firm

Rex Tillerson, the businessman nominated by Donald Trump to be the next US secretary of state, was the long-time director of a US-Russian oil firm based in the tax haven of the Bahamas, leaked documents show.

International

BBC – Joseph Kabila party in deal to delay DR Congo presidential vote

The ruling party in the Democratic Republic of Congo and one opposition faction have proposed delaying the presidential election until April 2018. The vote was due in November but electoral officials say more time is needed to register voters.

Snopes – White Helmet Hearsay

A nongovernmental search-and-rescue organization on the ground in Syria has drawn a lot of attention, but claims they are linked to terrorists are unfounded.

Al Jazeera – Thousands protest new media restrictions in Poland

Thousands of Warsaw residents joined a spontaneous demonstration in front of Poland’s parliament to protest against a plan by the conservative ruling party to limit journalists’ access to legislators.

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