Charitable giving opportunity: The Facebook page of Joe Miller, who is seeking the GOP nomination for Senate after a failed 2010 Senate run as the Republican nominee, has shared a plea for financial help from his daughter, Kelsey Meza, and her husband. The couple works in Mexico for Youth with a Mission -- a Christian charitable organization -- and they draw no salary, instead relying "on God's provision and generosity of our support team for our income." Miller, who campaigned on a theme of smaller government and greater personal responsibility, shared the money request on Thursday. According to the couple's blog, which features instructions about how to help, the goal is to raise $10,000 by December -- to pay for the birth of a baby and for a new truck or SUV capable of carrying the family, its dog and surfboards.

Good samaritans leave a mess: Despite the good intentions of a few people, things are turning into a mess in the Eagle River Carrs/Safeway parking lot. Couches, clothes and other left-behind goods have morphed into a mess in the parking lot after Big Brothers, Big Sisters pulled its donation bin. The Chugiak-Eagle River Star reports the non-profit's bin was only designed to collect clothes, but that hasn't stopped people from leaving behind everything from mattresses to books and stuffed animals. When the costs of transporting the goods to the dump became too much, the non-profit pulled the bins. Two other donation bins in Anchorage were removed for similar reasons, but some Eagle River residents say the closure of several second-hand shops has exacerbated the problem.

A bear walks into a bar in Juneau: There's no punchline here -- that's exactly what happened recently at the Alaskan Bar in Alaska's capital city of Juneau: A bear briefly wandered in, then went right back out after the bartender shouted at it, according to the Associated Press (via the Kansas City Star). A number of other security camera videos captured the bear's stroll through downtown Juneau, all of which can be seen at the Alaskan Bar's Facebook page.

Dead man found in Mountain View neighborhood: Police found a man dead behind the Boys and Girls Club in Anchorage's Mountain View neighborhood Thursday morning. Someone called firefighters to the building at 315 Price Street, thinking the man was lying down, perhaps in need in medical attention, police spokeswoman Jennifer Castro said. But the man was dead, and the firefighters called police a little after 8:50 a.m., Castro said. "There was no sign of apparent injury," she said. "Nothing seems suspicious about it at this time." A medical examiner is conducting an autopsy to determine what caused the man's death, and while police think they know who the man is, they're not revealing his identity publicly until his next of kin is notified, Castro said.