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National: Bush urges 'civil debate' on immigration By MICHAEL DOYLE - President Bush moved off the sidelines Thursday, rejoining an immigration debate he helped kick off two years ago but which has since bedeviled his fellow Republicans.

Using the bully pulpit and the power of a White House invitation, Bush convened more than a dozen immigration reform advocates to spotlight his support for a comprehensive immigration package. That means a combination of fences and doors.

"Our government must enforce our borders; we've got plans in place to do so," Bush said. "But part of enforcing our borders is to have a guest-worker program that encourages people to register their presence ... and says to them, if you're doing a job an American won't do, you're welcome here for a period of time to do that job." - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

International: Canada joins with Denmark to map depths of the Arctic By JEFF SALLOT - As daylight returns to the High Arctic, Canadian and Danish scientists are about to begin an expedition to map an underwater mountain ridge that may stretch beyond the North Pole, a geological survey that could help both countries prove their legal claims to vast spans of seabed.

At stake are the rights to unknown, but potentially rich, deposits of minerals, oil and gas, and control over navigation in some of the most environmentally sensitive regions of the Arctic.

"We're making a claim for posterity," said Ruth Jackson, Canada's chief scientist on the project. "This is a one-chance opportunity." - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

International: The rescue at Hartley Bay By MARK HUME AND ROBERT MATAS - Moments after the marine radio crackled to life with a distress call announcing that a British Columbia ferry was on the rocks, the village of Hartley Bay sprang into action.

People tumbled out of their beds, pulled on their clothes and raced through a lashing rain squall for the small dock in the isolated community on British Columbia's rugged Central Coast.

The men who had boats went to sea, in pitch blackness and not knowing exactly where they were headed, while those who remained behind were organized by women at the Hartley Bay native band community center to get ready for survivors. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

National: Ban of Easter Bunny draws unwanted attention to St. Paul By JACKIE CROSBY - he Easter Bunny's gigantic ears must be burning now that he's gotten the boot from St. Paul's City Hall.

The story of the bunny's eviction from the lobby of the City Council offices is the talk of the town on public airwaves, in skyways and on Web sites throughout the country. Even Fox's Bill O'Reilly asked about it. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

National: Stanford fetes computer-science pioneers By TOM ABATE - A little over 40 years ago, Stanford University recognized computer science as a new academic discipline. Since then, its scientists have spawned companies like Yahoo! and Google and helped create futuristic fields like artificial intelligence.

On Tuesday, Stanford will fete the field that has been one of the spark plugs of Silicon Valley. The daylong event will honor academic pioneers like artificial-intelligence guru John McCarthy and look ahead at technologies that are still in the dreaming stages. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Washington Calling: 'Restraint' on earmarks ... Stars ... Firefighters ... More By LANCE GAY - After the furor last year over the excesses of 26,954 "earmarks" - special-interest pork projects that members of Congress stuff in spending bills - embarrassed congressional leaders vowed there'd be a new era of restraint and reform. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Week in review By THOMAS HARGROVE - U.S. marks third year of military operations in Iraq

Monday marked the third anniversary of the U.S. war in Iraq, with peace demonstrations scattered around the world, a renewed campaign by President Bush to convince an increasingly disenchanted public to stay the course, and debate over whether the conflict had devolved into civil war. "If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is," former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi told the BBC. The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, shot back: "We're a long way from civil war." Pentagon officials released statistics showing that U.S. casualties are on the decline as Iraqi forces assume greater authority. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

NASCAR SALMON UPDATE by LAINE WELCH The Porsche-powered prototype race car emblazoned with Wild Alaska salmon is featured again at the Grand Prix of Miami on March 28. Co-sponsored by Emory Motor sports and 10th & M Seafoods of Anchorage, the car most recently finished third at the 24 Hours at Daytona race. Along with promoting wild salmon, the racing effort is also a fund raising and awareness campaign for the Limbs for Life Foundation, which provides prosthetics to those who could not otherwise afford it.  PHOTO CREDIT: Chris Greenwood - Emory Motorsports

Fish Factor: Alaska economy sees more than $5 billion return on ADFG's budget By Laine Welch - Anyone interested in the values of some of Alaska's most important industries will find answers from a snazzy presentation that's making the rounds in Juneau.

Designed to impress decision makers working on next year's budget that the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game is a state "profit center," Commissioner McKie Campbell is personally showing off a colorful 150 page power point report to anyone who will watch. The message reveals contributions made to the state's general fund by commercial fishing, sport fishing, hunting, subsistence and other divisions under the ADF&G umbrella.

Earlier this month, Rep. Jim Holm (R-Fairbanks) rejected more than $6 million of a $10 million budget increase for ADF&G in the Governor's FY 07 budget proposal, including $1.4 million from commercial fishing spending. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Southeast Alaska: Coast Guard Extends LeConte Operating Deadline - The U.S. Coast Guard has extended the deadline for the M/V LeConte to resolve crewing issues until April 4, which will allow the ship to continue serving the outlying villages of the northern Panhandle during the popular Gold Medal basketball tournament.

The Coast Guard had issued an "835 directive" to the LeConte to not allow any crewmember to work longer than 12 hours in a 24-hour period. The LeConte was previously given until March 31 to comply. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Scientists sample water from a lake on Alaska's North Slope, where they recently found that the sun converts mercury into a form that fish don't pick up. Photo by William Fitzgerald.

Alaska: Sunlight cleans mercury from arctic lakes By NED ROZELL- Each spring, when sunlight returns to the Arctic in a blinding burst, it also triggers chemical reactions that release mercury from the atmosphere. A group of scientists is finding that this mercury is falling into arctic lakes but the sun also changes the mercury into a form that fish don't pick up.

Mercury enters the atmosphere in natural ways as Earth's crust degasses, and from the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal. The toxic element often swirls in the air for about a year until it falls out with the help of rain, snow, or dust particles. Mercury can find its way to the Arctic from across the globe; a coal fire in Ireland may release mercury that ends up in Toolik Lake on Alaska's north slope. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Alaska: Five Alaskans chosen for solo museum shows - The Alaska State Museum in Juneau has selected five Alaska artists to present solo exhibitions over the next two years: Beverly Cover, Don Decker, Gary Kaulitz and Fran Reed all of Anchorage, and Evon Zerbetz of Ketchikan. They were chosen from a field of 29 artists who applied for a one-person showing at the museum.

Art lovers may have seen some of Reed's popular fish skin basketry in group exhibits at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau before, but this will be Reed's first solo exhibition in Juneau. Zerbetz is a familiar name to some due to her children's book illustrations. Her exhibit will combine both art and science in a tribute to ravens. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Annual launch fee increase By Ty Walker - Saturday PM Time for a draft By Patrick Jirschele - Saturday PM Support the Ketchikan Kanayama Student Exchange program please! By David Bergeron - Saturday PM Our School by Emily and Paul - Saturday PM City Park Needs Attention By Pat Sunde - Saturday PM Last thoughts on the Perm Fund By Alan R. McGillvray - Saturday PM A plethora of confusion By Kevin Mackey - Saturday PM Take pride in KETCHIKAN By Jerry Cegelske  - Saturday PM  Ghosts? By Jennifer Brewer - Saturday PM Cost of expansion? By Robert McRoberts - Saturday PM After living in Ketchikan... By Rob Glenn - Saturday PM Support port improvement project with a Yes vote By Chris Herby - Thursday A CERTAIN BRAND OF SELFISHNESS By David G. Hanger- Thursday State Must Focus on Oil Tax By Rep. Kurt Olson- Thursday Spraying on Long Island will be a violation of our Human Rights By Carrie James- Thursday ALTERNATE ENERGY SOURCES. NOW! By Peter Stanton - Thursday Scope of the destuction By Dr. Jolie Harris- Thursday GOVERNMENT PANDEMIC PLAN WON'T FLY By Jack Saporito- Thursday KAYHI Football By Richard Cropp - Thursday Enough Government Regulation By Janice Norman - Thursday Looking for information By Laureen Curtner - Thursday Waterfront Storage Development By Neil Gray - Tuesday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan April 11, 2006 Special Election Port of Ketchikan Improvements Project - Detailed Project Description; Ask A Question, Get an Answer; Special Election Information; and much more... Alaska Permanent Fund filing deadline is midnight (Alaska Standard Time) on Friday, March 31, 2006. Constituent meeting Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 6:00pm.  This is an informal teleconference for members of the community to discuss issues or concerns with Senator Stedman, Rep. Elkins and  Rep. Wilson. For more information, call 225-9675.  March Calendar Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements March 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S 26  27 28 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   Front Page Archives

Dave Kiffer: For Once, Four Wheeled Was Fore Armed - Last week was the one week out of the year where I could feel an "eensy-weensy-teensy" bit smug about owning an urban assault vehicle.

No, I don't drive a Hummer or a Bradley fighting vehicle. I do, however, have a garden variety SUV, which is frequently lumped in with the aforementioned turret-less tanks by those who feel that I am somehow compromising the future of life as we know it by driving one of those "beasts." (not that they'd really want to live in a "future" in which everyone drives Yugos and Le Cars, but as usual I digress)

I won't say which brand of SUV I own. Let's just say it was once credited with "winning World War II" but now is owned by a German company. Go figure. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on a Sweet Thang - "How sweet it is?"

No, that's not a mispunctuated Jackie Gleason catchphrase. It is a question that one might hear from a flavor chemist with street cred.

For instance, the sweetness index of aspartame is cited as 160. This means that, compared to an equally concentrated mixture of sucrose (the chemical name of plain sugar) and water, the aspartame solution will taste 160 times as sweet.

This is presumably the average result of many taste tests, where the taster's choice is between a standard sugar solution and a greatly diluted aspartame concoction. And instead of your optometrist repeatedly asking "better or worse?", the flavor chemist would ask "sweeter or not?". Knowing how my own tastes have changed over the years, I imagine that there is quite a range in these results. Recently, there have been great advances in the molecular understanding of taste, but there is still no accounting for it. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Marsha Mercer: U.S. not fighting for right to execute converts - The case of Abdul Rahman, on trial for his life in Afghanistan for the crime of converting to Christianity, couldn't have come at a worse time for President Bush.

The president went on the campaign trail last week, trying to convince people that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are worth the cost in American lives and dollars. The United States is fostering the "universal thought" of liberty, Bush insisted, and people everywhere are desperate for freedom.

But the headlines indicated that freedom is a surprisingly hard sell. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Bob Ciminel: Memories - As we age, we often spend more time reminiscing about the "good old days," which weren't that good, just different. I find the one thing today's environment lacks are the smells I remember from my days growing up in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. They weren't all good smells, particularly the odors wafting from the stockyards and meat processing plants on Herr's Island on the west bank of the Allegheny River just upstream from downtown Pittsburgh. Today, Herr's Island is prime real estate, but when we drove past it on the way to visit family, Herr's Island emitted a sickeningly sweet smell of burnt pork. I still remember that smell. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

Rob Holston: Side Effects are killing me! - Do you suffer from muscle weakness or pain? How about nausea, vomiting or stomach pain? Is your urine brown or dark-colored? Do you have unexplained muscle weakness, fever or fatigue? Does your skin or the whites of your eyes turn yellow? Do you have a headache, a rash, diarrhea or joint pain? Not to worry, you don't have a disease, you are simply experiencing the side effects of the popular medication, Lipitor. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006

James Derk: Apple hardware can run Windows - Well, that didn't take long.

It's only been a couple of months since Apple released its new line of computers running on Intel processors, the same processors that run many Windows-based computers. At that time, pundits said, it would be only a matter of time before Apple hardware would run Windows.

Well, the time has come.

Thanks to an ad-hoc contest, a guy named Jesus Lopez is $13,854 richer. After the contest to hack the Mac to run Windows was announced in January, Lopez bought a Mac (his first!) and enlisted the help of a Mac expert (Eric Wasserman) to get his Imac to dual boot to Windows XP. - More...
Saturday - March 25, 2006