The Anchorage Daily News has become a go-to source for the latest corruption in Alaska. The state's ethics woes made national news last week with the indictment of Senator Ted Stevens.  But, the scandal goes much deeper:

A broad federal investigation of public corruption has been under way in Alaska for more than four years, although it didn’t become widely known until Aug. 31, 2006. That’s when teams of federal agents executed search warrants at the offices of six state legislators, as well as others, in Anchorage, Juneau and elsewhere around the state.

(Find all ADN coverage of the investigation here.)

The government has brought indictments against five state legislators. Three have been convicted by juries and two are awaiting trial. Four others - two former top officials with Veco Corp., the former chief of staff of Gov. Frank Murkowski and a private-prison lobbyist - have entered guilty pleas and are cooperating with the government.

By far the most far-reaching charges came on July 29, 2008, when U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens was indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. on seven counts of filing false financial disclosure forms and hiding "things of value" he received from one of the Veco officials. Alaska's sole congressman, Don Young, is also under investigation and has reported spending more than $1.2 million on unspecified legal fees since early 2007.