Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: Terrorist Leader Zarqawi's Death Called "Severe Blow" to al-Qaida - President Bush announced this morning that Jordanian-born terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been killed June 7 in a precision air strike by U.S. special operations forces in Iraq, in what he described as a "severe blow to al-Qaida and a significant victory in the War on Terror."

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Bush described Zarqawi as "the operational commander of the terrorist movement in Iraq," who led a campaign of car bombings, assassinations, and suicide attacks against Iraqi civilians and coalition forces in Iraq.

Zarqawi also personally beheaded American hostages and other civilians in Iraq, and was responsible for violence in Jordan such as the assassination of an American diplomat and the bombing of three Amman hotels.

According to news reports, U.S. forces were acting on tips and intelligence from sources close to Zarqawi when they struck the terrorist leader and several close associates at a rural house near the city of Baqubah using two 500-pound precision-guided bombs.

Bush said the persistence and determination of coalition and Iraqi forces had been rewarded after a year of near misses and false leads. "Now Zarqawi has met his end, and this violent man will never murder again," Bush said. - More...
Thursday - June 8, 2006

Northwest: Poor salmon runs feared due to warming Pacific By MARK HUME - The Pacific Ocean off British Columbia's coast was warmer and drier than normal last year, leading to an increased number of exotic species such as tropical squid, and a reduced growth rate in salmon, according to a new study.

The seventh annual State of the Pacific Ocean report, which was compiled by more than 30 scientists from Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans, predicts poor salmon runs this summer and fall because of poor ocean conditions dating back three years.

The document holds out a glimmer of hope that the warm-water cycle - which is bad for salmon and herring - might be ending, although it is too early to tell.

"Warm oceanic waters appeared to be cooling to normal temperatures at the end of 2005, but it is unclear if this represents a break in the warm conditions that have persisted since 2003 or a temporary event," the document states.

Among the key findings are that the warm ocean temperatures led to a reduced upwelling of cold water that normally carries a rich supply of microscopic plants (phytoplankton) to the surface, where juvenile salmon feed. - More...
Thursday - June 08, 2006

Ketchikan Yacht Club's June Series Races Underway S/V Kermit Front Page Photo By Carl Thompson

National: Marine Commandant Says Marines in Iraq Know Right from Wrong; Iraqi Civilian Deaths at Hadithah Subject of Two U.S. Probes - The commandant of the Marine Corps says the Marines to whom he has spoken in Iraq "absolutely know right from wrong."

Marine General Michael Hagee briefed reporters at the Pentagon June 7 after returning from Iraq, where he met and talked with as many as 20,000 Marines. He made the trip in the wake of allegations that Marines had killed several Iraqi civilians during an incident near Hadithah, Iraq, in November 2005.

Hagee flew to Iraq May 25 to express his concern about serious allegations against some Marines and to reinforce Marines' understanding of the kind of ethical behavior he expects from those under his command. His goal was to travel around the country and talk about rules of engagement, the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Armed Conflict. - More...
Thursday - June 08, 2006

Ketchikan: Amendment Blocks Use of Federal Funds for Construction of Bridges - Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL) praised the House Appropriations Committee decision Tuesday to approve his amendment that would block federal funding and prohibit federal officials from spending federal funds for the construction of the Knik and Gravina bridge projects.

In a news release Kirk said, "Passage of my amendment sends a strong signal to the American people that the time for this expensive style of federal spending has passed. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, 34 percent of our roads and over 100,000 bridges in America are in need of repair. Far fewer of these bridges and roads would be fixed if we allowed this project to move forward."

Ketchikan's proposed Gravina bridge project would connect the Alaska city of Ketchikan to Gravina Island where the Ketchikan International Airport is located. In a news release Tuesday, Congressman Kirk primarily criticized the Ketchikan bridge and made no mention of the Knik bridge.

Kirk said, "The $320 million Bridge would replace a $6.00, 30 minute ferry ride with a structure nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge and standing 80 feet higher than the Brooklyn Bridge. It would connect Ketchikan with an island that has no stores, restaurants or paved roads."

Last November, action was taken to remove the mandate from Congress to build the bridge. But Alaskan officials announced that Alaska would use some of its transportation money to fund some of the construction costs of the bridge.

In a written statement, Congressman Don Young (R-AK) criticized Kirk's amendment. Young stated that he plans to vote to remove the provision from the bill when it comes to the House floor for a vote. Congressman Young said the bridge projects are well needed and the federal funds should not be taken away from the people of Alaska. - More...
Thursday - June 08, 2006

Science - Technology: First Images From NASA's CloudSat Have Scientists Sky High - The first images from NASA's new CloudSat satellite, launched April 28 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, already are revealing never-before-seen three-dimensional details of clouds.

Mission managers tested the flight and ground system performance of the satellite's Cloud-Profiling Radar in late May, and found it to be working perfectly, according to a June 6 press release from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California.

"CloudSat's radar performed flawlessly, and although the data are still very preliminary, it provided breathtaking new views of the weather on our planet," said Graeme Stephens, CloudSat principal investigator and a professor at Colorado State University. - More...
Thursday - June 08, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Process is crucial By Mike Harpold - Friday Confidentiality. Privacy. Ring a bell? By Chris Elliott - Friday Principal's demotion By Karen Pitcher - Friday RE: What are they thinking? By Dave Kiffer - Friday Options for Gravina By Rob Holston - Friday Action against Principal unwarranted By Charlotte L. Glover - Friday Ketchikan Politics By Greg Harris  - Friday Adults need to set the good example for sportsmanship and decorum By Neil Gray - Friday Instead of ranting... By Dinah Pearson - Friday Ketchikan has produced some incredible young athletes By Gabe Easterly - Friday Demotion of Principal By Susan Doherty - Thursday am Thank you Ketchikan By Doyle Cowart - Thursday am Admit mistakes, apologize and move on By Sharyl Whitesides - Thursday am Open letter to Officer Maki By Patti Fay Hickox - Wednesday Baseball By Ken Lewis - Wednesday Softball team fundraiser By Mykayla Martin - Wednesday Follow the rules... everyone By Sharyl Whitesides - Wednesday Guardian Flight By Marie L Monyak - Wednesday WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? By John Goucher - Tuesday An Open Letter to the Citizens of Ketchikan By John Maki - Tuesday Queen of the Fleet By Captain William M. Hopkins - Tuesday PLEASE DO NOT PASS ANY LEGISLATION THAT DOESN'T SERVE ALASKANS' BEST INTEREST By Kay Rollison - Tuesday RE: Battle Field By Susan Marks - Tuesday Landslide for the Democrats this November By Tom Proebsting - Tuesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan May Calendar Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements June 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S 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   Front Page Archives

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on June Bustin' Out - In like a lion, out like a lamb. That's March for you, weather-wise. Botanically speaking, April showers bring May flowers. What about June?

The aphorisms describing March, April and May seem more applicable to Western Europe and the Northeastern United States than California or Australia, but thanks to Rodgers and Hammerstein, June is bustin' out all over!

This most rousing of Broadway musical numbers has caused global excitement through the widespread popularity of the 1956 movie version of Carousel. Amazingly, the more sentimental song - "You'll never walk alone" - has even become a standard anthem sung by the notoriously rowdy supporters of the Liverpool Football Club (which would be called a soccer team over here). - More...
Wednesday pm - June 07, 2006

Dale McFeatters: If Iran gets the bomb - Iran is being far too casual about acquiring nuclear weapons. Its mullahs and nutty president don't seem to have really thought about what it means to have a nuclear arsenal in an environment where those weapons could conceivably be used.

Tehran acts as if the principal benefit of a nuclear weapon is to annoy the United States. Long term, the U.S. is not the problem; Iran's neighbors are.

If Iran gets the bomb, everybody else in the region is going to want one - Egypt, Turkey, Syria, maybe Saudi Arabia and the smaller Gulf states, and, after we leave, even Iraq. That's in addition to its two already nuclear-armed immediate neighbors, Russia and Pakistan. And not so far away is nuclear-armed Israel, whom Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has already threatened. - More...
Wednesday pm - June 07, 2006

Clifford May: What did Canadians do to deserve this? - Are you surprised that terrorists appear to have set their sights on such unlikely targets as the Parliament building in Ottawa and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in Toronto? Astonished that anyone would even consider sawing off the head of a Canadian prime minister? Are you thinking: What could anyone have against free, democratic, liberal, multicultural, diverse and tolerant Canada?

The question answers itself. Freedom, democracy, liberalism, multiculturalism, diversity and tolerance - these are precisely the attributes that militant Islamists find most offensive.

This reality is difficult for some people to fathom. It shouldn't be. Nazis disdained liberal societies as decadent. Communists rejected democratic values as bourgeois. Now militant Islamists regard Western nations as blasphemous. This is old totalitarian wine in new bottles. - More...
Wednesday pm - June 07, 2006

John Crisp: The War on Terror: Are we destroying what we're fighting for? - I like to keep old books around the house, even though many of them sit on shelves unopened for decades. Occasionally, though, they provide remarkable insights into the past and perspectives on the present.

For example, recently I pulled from a shelf a heavy bound volume of The Educational Record for 1950, a quarterly publication of The American Council on Education. A year's subscription was $3, and each issue contained serious scholarly articles like "Higher Education in Postwar Austria." The theme of the July 1950 issue was "The World Crisis," referring to the incipient standoff between the two powers that emerged from World War II, the United States and the U.S.S.R. The articles are by historians and university presidents, and they consider the ways various scholarly disciplines might respond to what would soon become the Cold War.

One of the articles, however, is by Edward R. Murrow, who is described as a news analyst and a war correspondent from 1939 to 1945. "The World Crisis - Our Way Out," is the text of an address Murrow made before the annual meeting of the American Council on Education on May 6, 1950, several years before the events depicted in the recent film, "Good Night, and Good Luck." - More...
Wednesday pm - June 07, 2006