Anchorage Daily News Announces Hearings - After the Fact for Anchorage and Wasilla

There's a brief rewrite of the Alaska Redistricting Board's press release under Legislative Briefs in the Anchorage Daily News today:

The Alaska Redistricting Board is holding statewide hearings as it gets ready to draw new boundaries for the state's legislative districts based on the 2010 census. The board held public hearings in Anchorage and Wasilla this week and has six more planned before the end of the month. All are scheduled to begin at noon and last until 7 p.m. except the Kotzebue hearing from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

It goes on to give details of where the rest of the meetings will be held.  

But this is the ANCHORAGE Daily News - basically the local paper for Anchorage and the Matsu Valley.  It didn't have an announcement for the Anchorage and Wasilla hearings until after they were over.  

If I were really cynical I'd wonder if they had held back hoping to get a good sized ad from the Board alerting people to the meeting, but the video I posted with chair John Torgerson shows that was never even considered.  (I don't really think the ADN was holding out for an ad - after all, they could cover this as a news piece and/or community announcement AND have an ad.)

UPDATE 12 noon:  I should have added the last paragraph of the brief announcement which a) includes a second Anchorage hearing, but b) that isn't mentioned because the ADN person who handled this doesn't seem to realize that the teleconference at the end will be held in the Anchorage LIO office and will act as a second chance for Anchorage (and presumably Matsu) folks to participate in person.  It is also the deadline for proposed plans to be presented orally by the public though the Board will accept written submissions at any time.  Though there's no guarantee they will be read once they are busily trying to get the lines drawn on the draft plan by April 14.  From the people participating so far we can expect such plans to be presented by, at least, the Democratic Party, I'm guessing the Republican Party, and a group called Alaskans for Fair Redistricting.  The First Alaskans Institute is also working on this issue. 

There will also be a statewide teleconference on March 31. Alaskans can go to their local Legislative Information Office to participate There will also be a limited number of toll-free lines available to make comments at (855) 463-5009 and an audio stream at http://alaskalegislature.tv.