The Senate will consider a judicial nomination.  The Senate Armed Services Committee continues to consider the defense authorization bill. The House is in recess.

Is the Scramble Over the North Pole Back On? For all its remoteness, the North Pole generates a lot of controversy. In 1909, the American admiral Robert Peary reported that he successfully reached the geographic North Pole, a feat of navigation that is now widely disputed. Nearly a century later, another expedition to the remote top of the globe caused a stir when Russian submarines planted a three-foot tall titanium flag on the sea bed miles beneath the pole, going outside the global bodies that oversee the region to stake a claim to the unowned spot on the planet.Time

Lichens May Aid in Combating Deadly Chronic Wasting Disease in Wildlife. Certain lichens can break down the infectious proteins responsible for chronic wasting disease (CWD), a troubling neurological disease fatal to wild deer and elk and spreading throughout the United States and Canada, according to U.S. Geological Survey research published in the journal PLoS ONE. Science Daily

Coastal Senators Prepare Push to Increase Offshore Oil Revenue for States. Senators backing an expansion of offshore drilling are hoping to take advantage of last year's Republican electoral gains to advance legislation that would allow coastal states to share more revenue from oil and gas production in federal waters. While states already share some of the royalties from offshore energy production, some coastal lawmakers argue they should receive as much as one-third of the total payments to offset erosion and other environmental effects of drilling. States get about half of the federal revenue for oil and gas produced on federal lands within their borders. Congressional Quarterly

Russia Removes Toxic Wastes From Arctic. A leader of the Russian Arctic national parks says that Russia should be able to remove all the polluting waste material within 15 years. Barents Observer 

GOP Oil Production Bill Rebuffed in Senate. The Senate on Wednesday rebuffed a Republican bill that would boost offshore oil production, the latest sign that lawmakers will be hard-pressed to reach any bipartisan deal on energy legislation. The motion to consider the bill, which needed 60 votes to advance, was rejected 42-57, with five Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition. The Republicans voting against advancing to the bill were Senator DeMint of South Carolina, Senator Lee of Utah, Senator Shelby of Alabama, Senator Vitter of Louisiana and Senator Snowe of Maine. Congressional Quarterly

The 13 Most Vulnerable Arctic Treasures.  At the top of the world, industrial activities are closing in on the last refuges of rare marine mammals and seabirds. As the Arctic warms, shipping and fishing as well as oil and gas exploration are expanding into ocean places that once were inaccessible, frozen under year-round ice. In a new report by scientists and indigenous peoples, 13 unique and fragile areas in the Arctic Ocean are identified for protection against these emerging threats as well as the continual stressors of climate change, loss of sea ice and ocean acidification. Environment News Service 

Alaska's Subsistence Whaling Catch Below Average. Towering pressure ridges off the coast of Barrow have reduced access to open-water leads where subsistence whaling happens, leaving crews far below their usual catch at this time, an official with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission said. In a normal year, the community's whalers would have used up about three-quarters of their annual quota, which sits at 22 this year, said Johnny Aiken, the commission's executive director. But instead of using up 16 or 17 strikes, whalers have used only six strikes. Alaska Dispatch

Beaufort Sea Ice Rot and Retreat Continues. In what surely adds another dismal harbinger to the summer fate of the Beaufort Sea's ice pack and long-term prospects for Alaska's endangered polar bears, an international research team has discovered that sea ice didn't rebound all that much during the past winter. A six-week scientific mission to gauge the status of the frozen pack and atmospheric conditions across uninhabited regions of the Arctic Ocean reported significantly thinner ice in the Beaufort Sea than in the past two springs. Alaska Dispatch

From Sea to Shining Sea-to Brand New Arctic Ocean. [Commentary] Old-school thinking sees America as a nation bounded by two great oceans. Yet the world has changed. The Arctic Ocean is no longer optional. In fact, it has become our nation's third great ocean border -- and the opportunity of a lifetime. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's recent visit to Greenland on May 12 confirmed that realization. She became the first U.S. secretary of state to attend the Arctic Council. Alaska Dispatch 

UAF Researchers Eye Sikuliaq Possibilities. Sam VanLaningham can't wait to take the Sikuliaq for a spin. When it's ready for science operations in 2014, the 261-foot research vessel will be capable of drilling Bering Strait seafloor cores in any season. VanLaningham hopes those cores will uncover mysteries about the history of climate change in Alaska. Last week, VanLaningham and several UAF scientists met with other researchers and agency representatives at the first Sikuliaq Science Workshop at Marinette Marine Corporation in Marinette, Wis. At the workshop, scientists presented and discussed some of the many scientific projects possible on the R/V Sikuliaq. The scientists also toured full-scale mock-ups of the vessel's laboratories and bridge. Arctic Sounder 

Alaska Science Forum: NASA Campaign Launches New Era of Rocket Recovery in the Far North. Brian Lawson, who has found many rocket parts over the years during his work for Poker Flat Research Range, looks out his window and sees an orange and white parachute draped over black spruce trees near a small arctic creek. He also catches a glint of silver from a metal cylinder near the parachute. It's the brains of a rocket, also known as a payload, which launched just after midnight on an engineering test mission from Chatanika, about 170 miles south. The pilot banks the plane and circles the chute. His seven passengers (including NASA engineer Brodell, the lead scientist on the rocket mission) lean toward the windows with their cameras. Capital City Weekly

American Meteorological Society Summer Policy Colloquium, June 5-14, 2011. This policy colloquium brings together a group to consider atmospheric policy. The colloquium will cover policy creation basics, interactions with congressional staff, and information on the current atmospheric policy issues. 

The Tenth International Conference on Permafrost, June 2012. The conference will be held in Tyumen, Russia, and is organized and hosted by Russia. The last conference was held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in 2008. Details to follow. 

Arctic/Inuit/Connections: Learning from the Top of the World, October 24-28, 2012.  The 18th Inuit Studies Conference, hosted by the Smithsonian Institution, will be held in Washington, DC. The conference will consider heritage museums and the North; globalization: an Arctic story; power, governance and politics in the North; the '"new" Arctic: social, cultural and climate change; and Inuit education, health, language, and literature. For more information, please email Lauren Marr.