Alaska: Staph infection overblown, officials say By MEGAN HOLLAND - Prisoners are wiping down doorknobs with bleach. Guards are wearing plastic gloves whenever they touch anything inside a cell. And inmates are telling other inmates to go see a doctor when a rash shows up on their skin.

Within the walls of Alaska prisons rumors are rampant about the dangers of a drug-resistant bacteria that can cause painful and potentially dangerous skin infections. But medical staff in the facilities say worries about the staph infection MRSA are overblown and want prisoners and guards to halt what they call misinformation.

"This is a mirror image of society's response to HIV when it first came into existence," said Roger Hale, a physician's assistant at Palmer Correctional Facility for more than 20 years. "Ignorance causes a lot of confusion and fear."

The state Department of Corrections says there have been no documented cases of deaths from MRSA, the acronym for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus. Cases of infections occur, but that is to be expected in a population generally weakened by illness as most prisoners are, said Dr. Henry Luban, the department's medical director. Only one prison guard reported it, and that was in 2006, said deputy director of institutions Bryan Brandenburg.

The correction officers' union, though, says the infection is growing among inmates, spreading to guards, and has even killed two prisoners. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Southeast Alaska: COAST GUARD INVESTIGATING FATALITY AT SEA - The Coast Guard is currently investigating a fatality at sea, which occurred yesterday onboard the fishing vessel (F/V) Zenith approximately 72 miles southeast of False Pass.

A 39-year-old man was repairing an apparent gas leak when fellow crew members found him unconscious.  After finding the man unconscious the vessel contacted the Coast Guard at approximately 8 p.m. yesterday evening.  Attempts to resuscitate the man failed and he was pronounced deceased by Coast Guard flight surgeon sometime after notification. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Alaska: Are Ice Age relics the next casualty of climate change? - The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) recently launched a four-year study to determine if climate change is affecting populations of a quintessential Arctic denizen: the rare musk ox. Along with collaborators from the National Park Service, U. S. Geological Survey, and Alaska Fish and Game, Wildlife Conservation Society researchers have already equipped six musk ox with GPS collars to better understand how climate change may affect these relics of the Pleistocene.

The research team will be assessing how musk ox are faring in areas along the Chukchi and northern Bering Seas, and the extent to which snow and icing events, disease, and possibly predation may be driving populations. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Business - Economy: Stop overspending By PETER MORICI - The recession is a wake-up call. Americans need to confront some false gods -- free trade, gas guzzlers and Wall Street.

In the 1990s, the United States launched the World Trade Organization and opened trade with China. Americans were to import more T-shirts and TVs and sell more software and sophisticated services to a world hungry for U.S. know-how.

That would move Americans into better-paying jobs. Unfortunately, the United States welcomed imports with more enthusiasm than China and other developing countries, which kept high tariffs and notorious regulatory barriers to purchases of Western products.

America's CEOs and bankers learned how to outsource just about everyone's job but their own -- radiologists and computer engineers joined textile workers among trade-displaced workers.

Since the last recession, imports have jumped nearly $1 trillion, while exports are up only about $650 billion. The trade deficit now exceeds $700 billion.

For most Americans, inflation-adjusted wages have stagnated or fallen, while corporate CEOs and bankers get fat on bonuses and can't-lose stock options. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Health - Fitness: Studies show air pollution's health toll By LEE BOWMAN - Never mind the air quality in Beijing for the Olympics.

There's plenty of polluted air to create some dangerous health consequences for people of all ages right in our own backyards.

A steady stream of research sounds the alarms. Just this month, scientists have linked air pollution levels to asthma symptoms and school absences among inner-city kids, increased the number of deaths from pneumonia and premature death from even short-term exposure to ozone pollution, the major component of smog. Bad air even robs people of the pleasure of flowers and honey.

Many other studies have shown a connection between short and long-term exposure to air pollution and the risk of heart attack, abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure and stroke. The danger is present not only for people already suffering from heart disease, but also even for young fit people with no heart problems. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

KPU SALE AND LIQUIDATION By Pete Ellis - So who owns KPU? City residents? KPU rate payers? Local government bureaucracies? How much money are we talking about? -More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Gateway By Elisa Rossi Max - After reading a recent article about Gateway Center for Human Services in which the clinicians were described as people not doing their job, I feel compelled to respond. I worked at Gateway from June 19, 2006 to April 4, 2008 as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist. During that period, I was on-call at least one week per month. The on-call days were not as the newspaper indicated ( a full eight hour shift ), but instead were full twenty-four hour shifts, beginning Friday at 5:00pm and ending the following Friday at 5:00 pm for a total of one hundred sixty eight hours. As clinical staff vanished, the on-call responsibilities increased. In March 2008, I was on-call for fifteen days or three hundred sixty hours due to clinician shortage! While on-call, I could be awakened in the middle of the night and required to go to the hospital to see a patient. I could not go out of cell phone range since I had to be able to receive calls and go to the hospital immediately. I could not go boating, fishing, or hiking if it meant going out of phone range. I could not relax when at a restaurant since I might have to leave suddenly. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Gateway Board Plans Next Steps by Mike Youngblood - I read with disappointment and dismay the article in the April 16th Ketchikan Daily News concerning the status of and plans for Gateway Center for Human Services. I feel I must respond to some of the points noted in that article. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Where are the energy answers By Mike Isaac - Thank you Mark Neckameyer for pointing out what everyone else in the TV and print media has not asked? What are their answers to the energy problems??? Not only is it affecting the price of food but the travel industry is starting to take a big hit with airlines workers getting laid off due to less people are traveling and rising fuel cost.The cruise ship and hotel industry is also taking a hit. With all that bad news I have heard very little about energy except for John McCain on Sean Hannity's show state that drilling in ANWR won't happen on his watch and the need to move away from oil and invest in things like solar and wind power. The other two people in the race have said little on this most important issue but are big on change - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

RE: Bridge By Miles Kaste - Regarding Jerilyn Lester's letter, can you give us some details about the "bridge maybe two" that the "mainland is getting"? - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Thank you! By Stephanie Sherva - I want to say thank you to the Walmart employees that spent Earth Day cleaning the road along mile 4 on North Tongass highway. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

Thank you Schoenbar students! By Courtney Watts - I'd like to thank all the Schoenbar students who helped clean up the garbage from around the school, fields, city park, Park Avenue, bike path, and along the creek. Your hard work on Earth Day really improved the appearance and health of our area. We can now take pride in our beautiful town especially along Ketchikan Creek. - More...
Friday - April 25, 2008

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Special Meetings??? By Robert D. Warner - Have any of you folks been noticing how many "Special Meetings" have been called recently by the Ketchikan City Council and the Gateway Borough Assembly? It is my understanding that these "Special Meetings" are held on the public dime and taxpayers pick up the tab. - More...
Wednesday - April 23, 2008

Bridge By Jerilyn Lester - Regarding Stephanie Scott's letter, here is a really good reason. When the Airport was built on Gravina Island instead of Revillagagedo Island we were promised a bridge to get there and that was 30 years ago. The money was here for the bridge until the down-southers and some from up here got wind of it and the earmarks were taken off and Palin took it and spent 199 million before the ink was dry to take the earmarks off. How about the fact that the remaining 34 million was spent on the mainland and didn't even fill a pothole here. - More...
Wednesday - April 23, 2008

I agree By Patsy Stokkeland - I agree 100% with Ken Lewis only I would have put that news in big bold letters and published said perps Picture on the front page. You better wake up and realize that people who do these things usually escalate to something worse as time goes by and I sure as heck don't want this person around my grand children, or my animals. - More...
Wednesday - April 23, 2008

Why won't candidates debate energy issues? By Mark Neckameyer - Seems like every day crude oil prices hit another record. Every day airfares go up due to fuel costs along with the price of everything that has to be shipped. Food prices are soaring as grains are being used to make ethanol ... A lot of good that seems to do ... And there is no end in sight. The bad actors in the Middle East and in Venezuela control crude oil supplies and cutting consumption here in the US won't help as demand is growing so fast in Russia, India and especially China. Combined, the puplulations of those nations are eight or nine times our population and they are busily industrializing and buying cars. For all the talk the presidential candidates hammer away on in ads and debates, with all their arcane, indistinguishable plans for problems like health care, they don't touch the oil crisis except to somehow blame the current administration. The solution to all this seems so simple too. - More...
Wednesday - April 23, 2008

Shoencliff #2 By Charles Edwardson - Whoever coined that phrase should be commended for their astute observations. Most of us can just about bet a six-pack that this coined phrase will come true. The public expressed much of this same doubtful sentiment with the other, less than successful endeavors the borough has undertaken in the past six or seven years. The public expresses their concerns and the assembly just goes about their business any way regardless of public opinion. Their record should speak for itself. - More...
Monday PM - April 21, 2008

Knowledge Is A Good Thing By Terri-Lee Gould - I have to disagree with Mr. Johnson and Ms. Ortiz about the Ketchikan Daily News story printed earlier last week on the front page of said newspaper. In my opinion the Daily News provided a valuable community service by alerting the community about this dangerous person. - More...
Monday - April 21, 2008

Empathy and a referral is in order By Cecelia Johnson - In regard to the offensive "front page article" in KTN Daily News. Although offensive, more importantly, is getting proper help for this individual who has been identified as having a medical problem in the weekend newspaper. - More..
Monday - April 21, 2008

Thank You By Melissa Jourdain - I just wanted to thank your for publishing such a beautiful article about the four men who lost their lives in the helicopter crash on Tuesday, April 15th. Michael Seward was part of our family; he was my husband Darin's best friend of nearly 30 years and Michael was a part of every milestone in our lives. - More...
Monday - April 21, 2008

Bestiality By Teri Holderman - I want to say how appalled and embarrassed I am. The decision to publish the article on bestiality on the front page of the paper was an extreme lack in judgment. - More...
Monday - April 21, 2008

Don't need to air such dirty laundry By Michael Patrick Moyer - Give us a break! I don't care how much anyone thinks it's needed that we publicize decadent behavior in order to alert others to its existence. When I went to pick up my daughters from ballet they immediately asked me if I had read the paper that day. How much crap are you willing to print in order to sell a paper? - More...
Monday - April 21, 2008

Real ID Act By Frank W. Turney - When it comes the the Senate Bill (202) not to fund any money towards the so-called Real ID Act of 2005 in Congress with no debate on our 4th amendment rights and HJR19 resolution that passed the house 33-1 and SB 202 17-3, the real KUDOS goes to the Ron Paul Coalition, Fairbanks/Northpole and Delta. They really made the difference. Over 98 percent of testimony, e-mails, phone calls POM came from Fairbanks. - More...
Monday - April 21, 2008

New attitude and positive philosophy needed By Billy Johnson - Instead of building million dollar soccer fields and dreams of moving to lower level competition . . . . maybe it's time to bring in a younger, more hungry coaching staff and philosophy to the Kayhi soccer program. - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Schoencliff Debacle #2 By Jackie Williams - Once again, we are being offered the Schoencliff Center, or that is my opinion after reading the Introduction in the proposal from Dawson Construction to remodel the more than 75-year-old building. The mention of tenants; of other groups or agencies that have invested much time and energy, sounds just like Schoencliff Center. The collection of property tax that makes it seem like KGB will have an offset in costs, I believe will be paid by the KGB through rental fees - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Covenant Players By George R. Pasley - A small troupe from Covenant Players has been in Ketchikan this week and will be performing at the Presbyterian Church on Sunday. - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Attitude makes a big difference By Jerry Cegelske - "Attitude Makes The Difference!" I recently read a bumper sticker on the side of a van that had that statement on it. - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Shocking News By Ken Lewis - Being 8-year college credits short of having a Masters Degree in aberrant behavior will not prevent me from chiming in on the recent front page article regarding animal husbandry? Or what ever higher educated folks call it! - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Bestiality By A. M. Johnson - How often would it be that Al Johnson would agree with Ms. Ortiz (Ketchikan Daily News, Lt to the editor-Bestiality 4/16/08)? My wife and I too, were dumbfounded that a family newspaper would print tabloid crap at best, on not only the front page, but continue the detail for several columns on interior pages. This from a paper that proclaims anonymity for local police reports involving charges far less than those on this case. Yet here every available detail including the perp's name on such a distasteful subject. - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Gravina Island Bridge By Stephanie Scott - I travel to Ketchikan from time to time, so I was surprised to hear Mayor Weinstein complain on the radio recently about how difficult it is for elders and those with physical disabilities (he mentioned crutches ) to get to and from the airport in Ketchikan. I am surprised that he doesn't know that you can drive your car to the airport on Gravina Island, or that you can be picked up and driven - thus avoiding lugging luggage and oneself up or down all those airport ramps and steps. Ketchikan has good cab, bus, and airport shuttle service. It has an excellent airport ferry. It has a superb water taxi. Gosh, if you are a passenger, and if you do not live on one of those Ketchikan "roads" that are really walkways, you can actually board a vehicle at your home and stay seated until it's time to step into the lobby of the airport. - More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

Thank You By Shannon Nelson - I would also like to thank Angie Olson for the Easter Egg Hunt at Ward Lake. I am sorry I missed it but saw the pictures and I am looking forward to next year's hunt with my grandson. -- More...
Thursday PM - April 17, 2008

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