Ketchikan: Governor Praises Passage of Transportation Bill; Bill Includes Approximately $223 Million for Ketchikan's Bridge - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski today praised congressional passage of a landmark transportation bill and thanked the Alaska Congressional Delegation for their hard work on the measure.

In his remarks the governor noted the increase in overall transportation funding for Alaska and the funding for Alaska specific projects long advocated by the Murkowski administration such as the Gravina bridge in Ketchikan and the Knik Arm crossing in Anchorage. - More...
Friday - May 29, 2005

Ketchikan: Listen to this KRBD story... With approximately $223 million for the Gravina Access Project included in a massive Highway Transportation Bill, state officials say construction on the bridge could begin within a few years. However, President Bush must first sign the bill and the State Legislature must approve about $65 million in state matching funds. Deanna Garrison reports.
KRBD - Ketchikan Public Radio www.krbd.org - Friday - July 29, 2005

Ketchikan: Listen to this KRBD story... A Gig Harbor, Washington businessman has offered to purchase Ketchikan Gateway Borough property in Ward Cove for $9 million. Deanna Garrison has the story.
KRBD - Ketchikan Public Radio www.krbd.org - Friday - July 29, 2005

Alaska: Governor Talks About Passage of Energy Bill & Importance to Alaska - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski Friday hailed the passage of a comprehensive energy bill in Congress and thanked the Alaska Congressional Delegation for their work on the measure. The bill establishes a national energy policy that will aid the nation in working toward greater energy independence.

"This bill has been a long time in coming," said the governor. "Clearly, this legislation is good for the nation and good for Alaska. Not only does the bill contain provisions specific to Alaska, but it reinforces my belief in Alaska's critical role as a safe, domestic supplier of energy for the nation." - More...
Friday - May 29, 2005

National: Energy bill: What's in it for you By MARY DEIBEL - You won't feel it when you fill up at the pump or when you pay the power bill for air-conditioning, but after five years' work, Congress has cleared an energy policy that tucks consumer incentives in between big energy-industry write-offs.

The biggest consumer impact may be the provision that adds a month to daylight-saving time starting in 2007. Sponsors say extending daylight time from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November will make people feel "sunnier" and save 1 percent on household energy bills. But airlines warn that travelers will pay through higher ticket prices and schedule problems. - More...
Friday - May 29, 2005

Washington Calling: Bridge to nowhere ... Jarheads with diamond earrings ... Other items By LANCE GAY - Congressional watchdog groups have ferreted out a record 5,696 local road projects buried in the new highway bill. These little twinkles in the eyes of incumbents and gifts to local construction companies are going to cost taxpayers at least $21 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. - More...
Friday - May 29, 2005

Week in Review: On the first space shuttle flight since Columbia disintegrated during re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003, Discovery blasted off with seven astronauts on a 12-day mission to resupply the International Space Station. "Good luck, Godspeed, and have a little fun up there," NASA's Michael D. Leinbach told the crew. Pieces of insulating foam fell off Discovery's fuel tank during liftoff - as it did in Columbia's disastrous mission. NASA said it believes the foam did not cause serious damage to Discovery, but NASA grounded future shuttle flights until the problem is solved. - More...
Friday - May 29, 2005

National: Controversy brews over remains of Kennewick Man By LES BLUMENTHAL - Though his 9,300-year-old remains lay in a Seattle museum, Kennewick Man is at the center of a debate over a two-word amendment to a Senate bill that has sparked sharp controversy between the nation's Indian tribes and parts of the scientific community. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

National: NASA chiefs baffled and bedeviled By KEAY DAVIDSON - The suspected No. 1 villain in the current saga of the U.S. space shuttle is one that was already well known to NASA - a villain that the agency mistakenly believed it had licked.

In the wake of the shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003, NASA officials redesigned parts of the external tank to minimize the risk of falling foam or ice on future flights. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Under-ice diver Shawn Harper (University of Alaska Faibanks) collecting under-water video in the high Arctic Canada Basin. Photo by Katrin Iken, NOAA.

Alaska: UAF scientists discover new species in Arctic Ocean; Diversity of species 'much higher' than expected By DOUG SCHNEIDER - University of Alaska Fairbanks scientists returning from a month-long exploration of the deep sea beneath the Arctic ice pack say the region is teaming with marine life, and have found species previously unknown to science.

"We believe we have found perhaps seven new species," said Rolf Gradinger, a marine scientist at the UAF School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and the expedition's chief scientist. "Not just species new to us, but new to science. We found more species than we expected and different species than we expected." - More & photos...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Alaska: Hired guns to guide Alaska gas talks By SEAN COCKERHAM - The Alaska Department of Revenue is hiring three international financial firms to guide the state about being part owner of the proposed natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.

The companies - Credit Suisse First Boston, Challenger Capital Group of Dallas and UBS Investment Bank - will advise the state during the current negotiations over a gas pipeline contract, and beyond if the state has an ownership stake. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Alaska: Alaska restricts bear expert over remarks By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA - The Alaska Department of Fish and Game will quit responding to most nighttime calls about bears in Anchorage neighborhoods. And state biologist Rick Sinnott, until now the main guy dealing with bear-human conflicts, has been ordered not to talk to the press about bears anymore, because of some forceful remarks of his in a newspaper story, the state Fish and Game commissioner said Wednesday. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

National: Grizzly bear may lose protection By GARY GERHARDT - The grizzly bear, considered by many as a totem of the American West, may soon lose protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Positioned as the "summit" species in the North American food chain, grizzlies fear no other animal. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Vote no on $70 million dollar loan By Robert K. Rice - Saturday Cruise Ship Docks and Ugly Bridge by Roberta McCreary - Saturday What's Wrong with the Dock Extension? By Rick Watson - Saturday Powerful words that strike home Submitted By Walt Bolling - Saturday Expect High Taxes By Rob Glenn - Saturday Sick of Government By Robert McRoberts - Saturday Burial grounds By Linda Hansen - Saturday What was the good cause? By James Llanos Jr. - Saturday The Slobs are at it again! By Jerry Cegelske - Saturday Bridge is to the future of Ketchikan By Charles J. Reynolds - Saturday You deserve a raise! By Mark Skidmore - Saturday The enemy is not a religion By Paul Rinderle - Saturday Looking for relatives By Sarah Rogers - Saturday CONGRATULATIONS By Melissa Ausman - Saturday Naha Bay Preservation Coalition - needs YOU! By Lisa Grogan - Saturday Iran: the land of political midgets in training By Bahman Aghai Diba - Saturday Cruise Ship Dock Extension By Suzan Thompson - Friday am Congratulations By Tyrell Rettke - Friday am More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Handwriting on the wall By: Larry Wright The Detroit News Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists Ketchikan Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements July 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 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

Laine Welch: Video cameras new addition to monitoring catches - Video cameras are a new addition to Kodiak's trawl fleet. It is one part of an experiment to see how well the cameras can monitor their catches, and perhaps help relieve some of the high costs the fishermen must pay for observer coverage.  

Trawl boats over 60 feet are required by law to carry onboard observers who record catches of groundfish, such as pollock, cod, rockfish and flounders. They also track accidental takes of fish like halibut that trawlers are not allowed to catch. Observers do their best, but their coverage can often be sketchy. And the cost for observers in the Gulf fisheries can top $700 a day. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Dave Kiffer: "Halibut Be Thy Name" - I've always been amused by parents who tell me their toddlers are religious.

Sure, First Communions are very important in some families as are declarations of faith (such as being "born again.") But those are for older children, not three and four year olds, no matter what their parents might think. For the average four-year-old, "Sleeping Beauty " or "Power Rangers" is about as close to deity worship as they come.  - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Bill Steigerwald: The State of our Cities - Joel Kotkin, an internationally recognized expert on the economic, social and political trends of cities, knows what makes cities grow, what makes them die, and what it takes to make them worth living in.

In his latest book, "The City: A Global History," he shows that throughout time all successful cities have thrived only by doing three basic things -- staying sacred, staying safe, and staying busy. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

John F. Rohe: Jobs Americans Will Not Do - Vicente Fox has been scolded for declaring that Mexicans do jobs that "even blacks won't do." Curiously, nary a whimper is heard when President Bush insults all citizens by referring to "Jobs Americans Won't Do."

Before the Civil War, John C. Calhoun's views on the equality of human beings were nurtured with a mint julep on the veranda of a southern plantation. This leading South Carolina Senator, and Presidential hopeful, had a splendid panoramic view of the jobs that Americans wouldn't do. In spirited debates, Senator Calhoun became a voice for the South in perpetuating slavery. - More...

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on Gates of Learning - For John Q. Public, when it comes to making sausage or legislation, ignorance may be bliss. But in the new global marketplace, with its churning information economy, ignorance is a bitch.

If not in so many words, expressions of concern over the efficacy of education in the nation's public high schools are increasingly being heard, and often from surprising sources. It isn't news to read of such finger-pointing on the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. But, when that editorial (March 1, 2005) is quoting excerpts from an impassioned speech given during a convening of the nation's business leaders and state governors, by the wealthiest man in the world - Bill Gates - news it is. Money talks. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Dick Morris: Judicial Jujitsu - Who says President Bush isn't brilliant? His maneuver in appointing Judge John Roberts has completely throttled the Democrats in the highest-stakes game of his second term.

The key is that Bush has used the Democrats' opposition to his district and circuit-court judicial appointments against them and made it a ratification of the Roberts candidacy. Simply put, by choosing a judge whom the Democrats confirmed unanimously when he was nominated for the D.C. Circuit Court - and whom they did not filibuster - Bush has made the Democrats impotent. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005

Michael Reagan: ACLU vs. America - If you are wondering where the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is standing in the war on terror, contemplate the following: the ACLU wants U.S. courts to allow the Quran to be used instead of the Bible when administering the oath to Muslims in court.

According to the Associated Press, denying the use of other religious texts would violate the Constitution by favoring Christianity over other religions, the ACLU of North Carolina said in a lawsuit. State law currently allows witnesses preparing to testify in court to take their oath either by laying a hand over a "Holy Scripture," by saying "so help me God" without the use of a religious book, or by using no religious symbols. - More...
Friday - July 29, 2005