Columns/Commentary Martin Schram: Islam vs. Islam - When we look back, one year from now, we will see that the big story of 2005 was nothing like the mild, myopic goulash that the print pundits and TV chattering heads just dished us as New Year's predictions about Bush-this, Hillary-that, Iraq-this, Social Security-that. - More... Wednesday - January 05, 2005 Dale McFeatters: Is poker harmful and should we care? - Thanks to the improbable popularity of televised poker tournaments and the ready availability of poker online, that fine old American card game has made a booming comeback, especially with teenage males who presumably should be off playing Grand Theft Auto. - More... Wednesday - January 05, 2005 Michael Fumento: The lives we can still save - You've seen the horrific images of walls of water rushing up beaches, sweeping away everything - and everyone - in its path. You've seen the dead piled up like cordwood, wounded survivors and persons collapsing upon hearing their entire family has vanished. Alas, you may not have seen the worst. - More... Wednesday - January 05, 2005 Confidentially Yours: Don't keep guy hanging ... Great expectations - Dear Jewel:I got a new boyfriend last week. But he keeps following me, and then stops when he sees me. My mom says I'm weird because most girls want their boyfriends to hang on their every word, but I don't like it at all. What should I do? - More... Wednesday - January 05, 2005 Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Galileo the heretic by Ken Lewis - Wednesday Where to Put Students Next Year by Dave Lieben - Wednesday For Our Viewing Pleasure by Jerry Cegelske - Wednesday A MESSAGE TO GRAVINA'S WILDLIFE by Mike Sallee - Wednesday From Thailand by Duane King - Wednesday Lack of recreation for the young adults 18+ by Archie Inoncillo - Wednesday Ketchikan Dance Club by Joseph Branco - Wednesday YOUTH IN OUR COMMUNITY... by Bobbie McCreary - Wednesday Entertainment by Charlotte Glover - Wednesday Nothing, Oh Nothing, to do by Peter Bolling - Wednesday Harsh words in support of Milosevic by Emily Katz - Wednesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter January 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S 26 27 28 29 30 31 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31            Today's Front Page Front Page Archives

It was big news in little Ketchikan recently when giant Alaska Communications System (ACS) expressed interest in buying the citizen-owned KPU Telecom division. Because the Ketchikan's utility systems are owned by the municipality, such a sale would require a vote of the residents of the isolated island town of 8,000 located on the shores of Southeastern Alaska's Inside Passage.

It was not the first such offer. In 1996 the city's voters turned down a similar bid, a $30.2 million offer for the phone company, from PTI Communications, which later became part of ACS. So it appears that KPU Telecom is a money-maker, and would the voters approve such a deal?  Have the people given up enough of their habitual mistrust of the city fathers to trust them to negotiate the deal? Are the people interested enough and savvy enough to vote on such an offer? - Read the rest of this story by June Allen...
Wednesday - January 05, 2005

National: Congress set to consider a variety of immigration reforms - Striking early in the new Congress, the influential chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is introducing a package of immigration reforms that includes stronger national standards for driver's licenses and stricter rules for granting asylum. It's a measure with some high-level support.

"We need to strengthen our borders, reform our asylum laws, and improve national standards for drivers licenses," House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tuesday in his inaugural speech of the 109th Congress. "The terrorists who attacked us did so by exploiting gaps in our border security system (and) by abusing our immigration laws. ... We must fill those gaps."

Upward of 100 lawmakers already have signed on to the legislation set for formal introduction Wednesday. The package fulfills a promise Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., made last month after his preferred policies were dropped from an intelligence agency reform bill. - More...
Wednesday - January 05, 2005

Careers: Where to find new jobs in 2004 - During the last two years, the United States experienced some of the strongest economic growth in its history. Unfortunately, the increase in employment was not as robust as many economists predicted.- More...
Wednesday - January 05, 2005

Alaska: State To File Suit Against Federal Government Over Federal Reserved Water Rights - The State of Alaska will sue the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture challenging the application of regulations implementing the Katie John decision dealing with subsistence management and asserting federal jurisdiction over certain waterways. The suit will be filed in U.S. District Court on Friday.

"Every governor since statehood has recognized the need to protect the state's control of its navigable waters. I promised the Alaskan people that I would defend the state's right to manage its own resources, whether fish or game, riverbed or seabed. That duty transcends personality and politics," said Governor Frank H. Murkowski.

"This case does not challenge Title VIII's subsistence provisions or the Katie John decision. It simply represents my commitment to vigorously defend Alaskans against an over-reaching federal government."

The statute of limitations requires that the regulations be challenged before January 9, 2005, or they will be immune to legal challenge. - More...
Wednesday - January 05, 2005

Alaska: Murkowski Sworn In To U.S. Senate - Senator Lisa Murkowski began her first full term in the United States Senate Tuesday. At a ceremony on the Senate Floor, Vice President Dick Cheney administered the Oath of Office and swore in Sen. Murkowski, the first individual born in Alaska to represent the state in the Senate, and the first woman elected in her own right to Alaska statewide office. - More...
Wednesday - January 05, 2005

Alaska: Young Sworn In For 17th Term In House of Representatives - Alaska Congressman Don Young was sworn in Tuesday for his 17th term as Alaska's only Congressman. In a ceremony Tuesday afternoon, Congressman Young took an oath administered by Speaker of the House Dennis J. Hastert to begin the 109th Congress. - More...
Wednesday - January 05, 2005