Arctic Temperatures Reach Highest Levels in 44,000 Years, Study Finds. Plenty of studies have shown that the Arctic is warming and that the ice caps are melting, but how does it compare to the past, and how serious is it? New research shows that average summer temperatures in the Canadian Arctic over the last century are the highest in the last 44,000 years, and perhaps the highest in 120,000 years. Huffington Post 

Parnell Suggests Tribal Courts Handle Some Domestic Violence, Alcohol Cases; Critics Skeptical. Gov. Sean Parnell told the Alaska Federation of Natives Thursday he is considering a plan that would allow tribal courts -- rather than state judges -- to preside over cases involving certain domestic violence and alcohol-related crimes. The village-based courts would hand out punishments and, if the offender complied, the case would not become part of his or her state criminal record, according to the Department of Law. Anchorage Daily News 

AFN President, Candidate for Governor Address Convention. Several 2013 national laws were detrimental to Alaska Natives, AFN president Julie Kitka said Thursday. In her remarks at the opening of the annual convention, Kitka said a Supreme Court decision that overturned parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act was inappropriate because it ignores Alaska's history of voter discrimination. She also criticized this year's Violence Against Women Act for leaving Alaska out of an expanded jurisdiction for tribal courts. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 

Governor, TCC President Address AFN Convention. Gov. Sean Parnell spoke about domestic violence, subsistence and distance education during his brief address at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention. Parnell, in his Thursday remarks, renewed his commitment to providing a village public safety officer for every village that wants one as part of his "Choose Respect" campaign against domestic violence. He spoke in support of using tribal courts instead of state courts in domestic violence cases if the parties prefer. Fairbanks Daily News-Miner 

Inuit Group Calls on Canada to Fund Arctic Research More Vigorously. Inuit leaders say they want to see more long-term government support for Arctic research into issues affecting the North. Senior officials of the Arctic Council wrapped up three days of closed-door meetings here on Wednesday. "The unfortunate part is a lot of Canada's world-renowned scientists have to go to other forums to continue their work because there isn't the same commitment and dedication to continue that work to the same degree the ICC thinks there should be," said Duane Smith, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Council for Canada. Alaska Dispatch 

Cool Summer Slowed Arctic Melt. This year has seen a notable slowdown in the rate at which the Arctic sea ice cover has shrunk during the summer, compared with recent years, although this year's Arctic sea-ice extent minimum remains consistent with a continuing decline rate of about 14 percent per decade. At 2.07 million square miles, this year's ice extent minimum was 664,000 square miles more than the record minimum set in 2012, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, or NSIDC. The melt of the onshore Greenland ice sheet also slowed this year, NSIDC said. Petroleum News 

Greenland Votes to Allow Uranium, Rare Earths Mining. Greenland's parliament voted on Thursday to end a decades-long prohibition on mining for radioactive materials like uranium, further opening up the country to investors from Australia to China eager to tap its vast mineral resources. The move will not only allow the mining of uranium deposits, but also of rare earths, minerals used in 21st century products from wind turbines to hybrid cars and smart phones and that are currently mostly extracted by China. The Globe and Mail 

Alaska Science Forum: Biologist Sees Value in Unchanged Landscape. George Schaller has studied gorillas in Rwanda, lions on the Serengeti, pandas in China, antelope in Tibet, and many other animals in wild places around the planet, but he thinks the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is unique among them. He visited there in 2006 for the first time in half a century. "On the Sheenjek (River), we climbed the same cliff I climbed in 1956, and looking out there was no difference-no roads, no buildings, no garbage dumps." Juneau Empire