JEREMY PETERS

Sen. Marco Rubio moved quickly Thursday to capitalize on a self-assured and quick-footed debate performance as he prepared to collide head on with Jeb Bush, his friend, neighbor and onetime political partner in Florida.

To listen to the way some Republicans tell it, America is a pretty awful place these days.

When Republicans take over the Senate in January, the 11 men and women of the party’s freshman class will be, with a lone exception, people whose careers blossomed inside the government bureaucracy that some politicians love to loathe.

With four weeks to go before the midterm elections, Republicans have made questions of how safe we are - from disease, terrorism or something unspoken and perhaps more ominous - central in their attacks against Democrats.

The Senate gave overwhelming approval on Thursday to the training and arming of Syrian rebels, then fled the Capitol with the House for the fall campaign, sidestepping the debate over the extent of American military action until the lame-duck session of Congress later this year.

A research team has performed the first rigorous genetic analysis of three dozen hair samples that their collectors claimed came from Bigfoot, Yeti and other supposed living humanoids.

Alaska has unwillingly become a giant receptacle for money from super PACs and other out-of-state interest groups fighting over control of the U.S. Senate.

After months of wincing in the face of negative ads funded by the industrialists David and Charles Koch, Democrats believe they have finally found a way to fight back: attacking the brothers' sprawling business conglomerate as callous and indifferent to the lives of ordinary people while pursuing profit and power.

Kraig Hammond will wrap up a stellar wrestling career for South High this week at the Alaska state wrestling championships, but a scare last summer put his career -- and his life -- in jeopardy.

“They deserve to win that game. We've got a lot of learning to do,” said UAA coach Ryan McCarthy after the women's basketball team lost 85-78 to Saint Martin's on Saturday.

After two close games last week, the UAA women's basketball team won big on Thursday, beating Western Oregon 97-71.

Who's Alaska's best high school basketball team? Evidence points to the Monroe boys, the No. 1 team in Class 3A and big winners over Colony, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, in tournament play Thursday at Dimond High.

Alaska drops the final game of an eight-game homestand.

The Alaska Aces beat Idaho 4-3 Friday for their first home win over the Steelheads in two ECHL hockey season.

Whatever the UAA men's basketball team threw at Western Washington on Thursday, the Vikings had a good answer.