 Contact 
Call 617-9696
Webmail
Letters
News Tips
Copyright Info
Archives
Quick News
Search
Alaska
Ketchikan
SE Alaska
Alaska News Links
Columns
- Articles
Dave Kiffer
Fish
Factor
Historical
Ketchikan
June Allen
Dave
Kiffer
Louise
B. Harrington
Ketchikan
Arts & Events
Ketchikan
Arts
Ketchikan
Museums
KTN Public
Library
Sports
Ketchikan Links
Public Records
FAA Accident Reports
NTSB
Accident Reports
Court Calendar
Court Records Search
Wanted:
Absconders
Sex Offender Reg.
Public Notices
Weather,
Webcams
Today's
Forecast
KTN
Weather Data
AK
Weather Map
AK Weathercams
AK Earthquakes
TV Guide
Ketchikan
Ketchikan
Phone Book
Yellow
Pages
White
Pages
Government
Links
Local Government
State & National
|
Monday
February 27, 2012
Deer Mountain Fireworks 2012
Deer Mountain & Ketchikan as viewed from Gravina Island.
Ken Arriola is the founder and has been the director of the annual Deer Mountain Winter Fireworks display since it began in 2001.
Front Page Photo By MIKE SMITH
Ketchikan: Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Health Clinic Achieves AAAHC Accreditation - Ketchikan Indian Community Tribal Health Clinic has achieved accreditation by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC). Accreditation distinguishes this outpatient tribal health clinic from many other outpatient facilities by providing the highest quality of care to its patients as determined by an independent, external process of evaluation.
Debbie Patton, General Manager of Ketchikan Indian Community
Photo by Steven L. Rhyner
Status as an accredited organization means KIC Tribal Health Clinic has met nationally recognized standards for the provision of quality health care set by AAAHC. More than 5,000 ambulatory health care organizations across the United States are accredited by AAAHC. Not all ambulatory health care organizations seek accreditation; not all that undergo the rigorous on-site survey process are granted accreditation.
“We believe our patients deserve the best,” stated Debbie Patton, General Manager of Ketchikan Indian Community. “When you see our certificate of accreditation, you will know that AAAHC, an independent, not-for-profit organization, has closely examined our facility and procedures. It means we as an organization care enough about our patients to strive for the highest level of care possible.”
Ambulatory health care organizations seeking accreditation by AAAHC undergo an extensive self-assessment and on-site survey by AAAHC expert surveyors – physicians, nurses, and administrators who are actively involved in ambulatory health care. The survey is consultative and educational, presenting best practices to help an organization improve its care and services.
“Going through the process challenged us to find better ways to serve our patients, and it is a constant reminder that our responsibility is to strive to continuously improve the quality of care we provide,” said Patton. - More....
Monday - February 27, 2012
|
|
Alaska: Even in Winter, Life Persists in Arctic Seas; Results of research cruise to Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas surprise scientists and may have implications for climate modeling - Despite brutal cold and lingering darkness, life in the frigid waters off Alaska does not grind to a halt in the winter as scientists previously suspected. According to preliminary results from a National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded research cruise, microscopic creatures at the base of the Arctic food chain are not dormant as expected.
USCGC Healy breaking through the Bering Sea waves.
Credit: Chantelle Rose/NSF
After working aboard the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy for six weeks in waters where winds sometimes topped 70 knots, wind chills fell to -40 degrees and samples often had to be hustled safely inside before seawater froze to the deck, researchers are back in their labs, assembling for the first time a somewhat unexpected picture of how microscopic creatures survive winter in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
Although they have much more work to do before publishing their results, they say they are surprised on a number of fronts, including the discovery of active zooplankton--microscopic organisms that drift or wander in ocean, seas or bodies of fresh water.
"The zooplankton community seemed to be quite active, said Carin Ashjian of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the chief scientist on the expedition. "They were feeding at low rates. That was a surprise."
Ashjian was scheduled to discuss the preliminary results from the cruise during a session at the American Geophysical Union's 2012 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah last week.
Although perhaps arcane to non-scientists, the kinds of information gathered by the researchers previously was unattainable and is vital if scientists are to understand how a changing climate in the Arctic might affect the food chain, which extends upward from zooplankton through marine mammals to, eventually, subsistence hunters. - More...
Monday - February 27, 2012
|
|
Alaska: Glaciers: A window into human impact on the global carbon cycle;
Fossil fuel signature found in Alaskan ice - New clues as to how the Earth’s remote ecosystems have been influenced by the industrial revolution are locked, frozen in the ice of glaciers. That is the finding of a group of scientists, including Robert Spencer of the Woods Hole Research Center. The research will be published in the March 2012 issue of Nature Geoscience.
The Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska and scientists at work on or near the glacier.
Photo courtesy Woods Hole Research Center
Globally, glacier ice loss is accelerating, driven in part by the deposition of carbon in the form of soot or “black carbon,” which darkens glacier surfaces and increases their absorption of light and heat. The burning of biomass – trees, leaves and other vegetation around the globe, often in fires associated with deforestation – and fossil fuel combustion, are the major sources of black carbon.
Spencer and his fellow scientists have conducted much of their research at the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, Alaska. Mendenhall and other glaciers that end their journey in the Gulf of Alaska receive a high rate of precipitation, which exacerbates the deposition of soot, but also makes for a good research site.
“We are finding this human derived signature in a corner of the U.S. that is traditionally viewed as being exceptionally pristine,” Spencer notes. “The burning of biomass and fossil fuels has an impact we can witness in these glacier systems although they are distant from industrial centers, and it highlights that the surface biogeochemical cycles of today are universally post-industrial in a way we do not fully appreciate.” - More...
Monday - February 27, 2012
|
|
Viewpoints
Commentary
Opinions/Letters
Basic
Rules &
Freedom of Speech
Questions, please contact
the editor at editor@sitnews.us or call 617-9696
Sitnews reserves the right to edit.
 Conservation Is the Answer to Our Short Term Hydro Energy Needs By Samuel Bergeron -
The Ketchikan City Council is considering the problem of dwindling electric hydro-electric capacity; a problem largely driven by the use of electric heat. Some of their proposed solutions are troubling to me as it will penalize residents who rely in part or in whole for electricity for their heating needs. - More...
Monday PM - February 27, 2012
Postal budget fix By
A. M. Johnson - Reading news articles relating to the pending increase in first class postage to $.50 per stamp. This news along with awareness of the huge budget deficit, billions of dollars, the Post Office is experiencing year after year, some outside of the box thinking is in order. - More...
Monday PM - February 27, 2012
FIREWORKS: THANKS KEN ARRIOLLA AND CREW By
Katy Taylor -
The light show at 6:00pm Saturday night was outstanding. The effort Ken Arriolla and his crew gave to get up to the tops of two mountains for the dramatic display for all of Ketchikan to enjoy was amazing. - More...
Monday PM - February 27, 2012
Fireworks By
Judith Green - Thank you to Ken and crew for climbing to the tippee top in the cold and through the snow to give Ketchikan the wonderful show of fireworks - giving us the thrill of just watching in awe on a cold and wintry night! - More...
Monday PM - February 27, 2012
RE" A future disappointment By
Scott Cragun -
I have personally stopped twice in the last two years at the Mountain Point Boat launch when I noticed 2 different individuals towing derelict boats with the intention of parking them at the far end of the parking lot and leaving them. Both times I informed them that if the boat was left there I would pass along their license plate numbers to the troopers, neither vessel was there later in the day. - More...
Friday PM - February 24, 2012
Defense Cuts Endanger Our National Security By
Donald A. Moskowitz -
The 2013 Defense Department budget cuts military spending by $487 billion over 10 years, which translates into eliminating six Air Force fighter squadrons, cutting 16 ships from the Navy, and reducing the Army and Marine Corps by 80,000 to 100,000 troops over five years. Our thinking is that future wars will be fought with more high technology weapons and fewer troops. The problem is we could lose highly qualified military personnel because of the cutbacks. The end result could mean we will have a plethora of high technology weapon systems available, but lack the quantity and quality of non-commissioned and commissioned military leaders to employ the equipment. - More...
Friday PM - February 24, 2012
Freedom By
Linda Bell -
There is a former Sheriff... Sheriff Richard Mack who has been traveling all over America for several years giving talks on the importance of law enforcement to understand and obey the oath they took to protect individual Rights. (He throws in corruption from D.C. that has been going on for decades also.) - More...
Friday PM - February 24, 2012
A FUTURE DISAPPOINTMENT AVERTED By
Jerry Cegelske -
A woman who just recently moved to Ketchikan stopped by the office and asked about volunteering to help clean up trash in our community. I told her about some of the past projects that have been done on Revilla road, North and South Tongass, and within the City with the High School. After talking for awhile, she left her name and a phone number after I explained that much of the work would start in April before the leaves were on the trees and brush. - More...
Monday PM - February 20, 2012
'Just Another Routine Fright North' By
Marshall H. Massengale -
Although I'm a lower 48er, I always enjoy reading Dave Kiffer's columns his frequent digressions and occasional misspellings and other grammatical faux pas notwithstanding. But it seems every so often, hizzoner the author takes a cut or two at the "hometown airline." - More...
Monday PM - February 20, 2012
Old grunt squashing By David G. Hanger -
In general terms, Mr. Bylund, you are correct. It is considered bad form to compare anybody to Hitler. But if someone is acting like a damned Hitlerian, I am not going to hesitate to point that out very succinctly. About monsters I do not think one should be polite for even a nanosecond. Depriving U.S. citizens of 1.5 billion man years of life I consider absolutely monstrous and insane. Doing that by manipulating governmental policy is evil. Congressman Paul Ryan wants to destroy the safety net completely, on the essential premise of Ayn Rand’s philosophy that those in need should perish out of hand as an inconvenience to the rest of us. “Let parasites perish as they should.” - More...
Monday PM - February 20, 2012
The End of Liberty Is Here By
Katheryn Burson -
The NDAA passed without hearings, thereby cementing the U.S. as a police state giving law enforcement the right to detain and imprison us WITHOUT charges or due process. Police brutality is being covered up by grabbing of citizen’s cell phones & cameras to prevent filming. - More.....
Monday PM - February 20, 2012
Webmail your letter or
Email Your Letter To: editor@sitnews.us
|
Articles &
photographs that appear in SitNews may be protected by copyright
and may not be reprinted or redistributed without written permission
from and payment of required fees to the proper sources.
|
|
Sneak Peek This Week:
Valentine's Surprise
|
|
|
