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National: United States Condemns North Korea's Missile Launches By SUSAN KRAUSE -  The United States strongly condemns North Korea's decision to defy international calls for restraint and proceed with the test launch of a series of ballistic missiles, the White House said in a July 4 statement.

"This provocative act violates a standing moratorium on missile tests to which the North had previously committed," the statement said. "Regardless of whether the series of launches occurred as North Korea planned, they nevertheless demonstrate North Korea's intent to intimidate other states by developing missiles of increasingly longer ranges."

Speaking to reporters the evening of July 4, White House press secretary Tony Snow and National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley said North Korea had fired six missiles, including Scud-type and Nodong short- to medium-range missiles capable of reaching Japan and a Taepodong-2 long-range missile capable of reaching the United States. The launches took place between about 2:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. EDT time (1830 and 2230 GMT) on July 4.

A seventh midrange missile was fired 12 hours later, according to press reports.

The Taepodong long-range missile failed less than a minute after launch, Snow said. All of the missiles landed in the sea between Korea and Japan. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Politics: Is Gore warming up for another presidential run? By STEVEN THOMMA - Al Gore faced an unwelcome choice when a fan pushed a copy of his new book at him for his autograph.

Inside the cover she wrote, "Plan to run for president in 2008?," with boxes marked "yes" or "no." Gore paused, then scribbled one word - "plans"- next to the "no" box and checked it. No plans, but not a firm "no."

His artfully qualified answer underscored the fact that, despite his protests, Gore refuses to rule out another run for president. He's keeping his options open.

"If he is running, he's doing all the right things," said Brian Melendez, chair of Minnesota's Democratic Party. "He tried it the traditional way the last time and look what it got him. This time, he's a passionate man indulging his passion. If it happens to take off for him in the next year, he would be very well-positioned."

His crusade to curb global warming by staging an award-winning movie and writing a best-selling book is pushing him back into the spotlight - and into the hearts of rank-and-file Democrats in ways that more conventional politicians can only envy. In the process, he's invented a deceptively clever path back into presidential politics, should he decide to take it. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

18th Annual Rubber Duck Race: And the Grand Prize winner is... Judge Henry Keene prepares to net the winning rubber duck during the annual First City Rotary's Rubber Duck Race held on the 4th of July. Front Page Photo by Carl Thompson

Business - Economy: Contest seeks out the worst bosses in America By ANYA SOSTEK - Think your boss is bad?

Bad, as in: "I don't know why she had to take the day off. People commit suicide everyday?"

We didn't think so.

Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is holding a national contest to determine the world's worst boss.

The idea for the contest grew out of the group's regular door-to-door canvassing. "The stories we were hearing when we went door to door were just jaw-dropping," said Karen Nussbaum, executive director of Working America. "We felt like we had to get these out in the open." - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Ketchikan's 4th of July Fireworks A Photo Gallery by Jim Lewis Front Page Photo by Jim Lewis Ketchikan's 4th of July Fireworks Movie A movie by Dan Hart

Business - Economy: Fuel-heavy industries are turning to an alternative By DAVID R. BAKER - Two years ago, Phil Foster decided to try using biodiesel on his farm in San Benito County, Calif.

He liked the idea of it, at least. The fuel comes from domestically produced, renewable sources such as vegetable oil, animal fat or used restaurant grease. It pollutes less than regular diesel and gives off fewer greenhouse gases. It can be used on its own or blended with regular diesel as a relatively cheap way to cut emissions. And it works in ordinary diesel engines like those in his 14 tractors and four trucks.

Now, after trying it, Foster wouldn't go back. He's burning roughly 15,000 gallons of biodiesel per year, using it to till 250 acres of land and haul organic lettuce, leeks and cabbage to market. - More....
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Technology: Click fraud a huge problem, study finds By VERNE KOPYTOFF - Internet advertisers paid $800 million for bogus clicks on their marketing messages last year, shaking confidence in the industry and prompting many to reduce spending with Google, Yahoo and other Web sites, according to a study released Wednesday.

The survey, by Outsell Inc., a market researcher in Burlingame, Calif., is one of the most detailed looks at the nagging, high-profile problem known as click fraud. Advertisers have long complained that major Internet sites don't do enough to combat the practice or, at least, disclose the extent of it.

Internet advertisers pay companies like Google and Yahoo every time someone clicks on their ads. The advertisers also share revenue with Internet companies based on how many advertising clicks their Web sites generate. Click fraud occurs when scammers repeatedly click on ads to cause a rival company to be overcharged. In another incarnation, fraudsters place the ads on their own Web sites and then click on the links to get a piece of the shared revenue they've agreed to with Google or Yahoo.

In the report, advertisers say that 14.6 percent of all clicks are bogus. Moreover, three-quarters of advertisers said they had been victims at least once. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Technology: Newer laptops can explode into flames By ALEX DOBROTA - Cindy Brown wrapped an Apple laptop and put it under the Christmas tree last year, thinking about the future of her 11-year-old son in an increasingly digitalized world.

Instead, her gift turned into a flaming nightmare.

It started as a quiet April evening. Brown and her husband had set the table of their second-floor dining room in Solon, Iowa. One story below, their son Nick left his laptop idling on the living-room carpet and headed into the basement to play an Xbox video game.

About 30 minutes later, a popping sound rattled the house. Brown dropped her fork and knife and rushed down the stairs to find the carpet already melted around the laptop.

"Smoke filled the house and we got it outside kind of staring at it (thinking): 'Okay, computers don't smoke, what in the world?' " Brown, a stay-at-home mother, said.

Seconds later, the laptop erupted in a ball of flames. The family watched in disbelief as the computer flared up several times on the flagstone walkway. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Consolidation / Round Two by Rodney Dial - Wednesday Deterioration of South Tongass Highway By Walt & Carol Hoefer - Wednesday The Rumors Are True By Rhonda Bolling - Tuesday So Cindy Sheehan is going on a "hunger strike for peace"? By Mark Neckameyer - Tuesday The Global Warming theory and what-ifs! By Marvin Seibert - Tuesday Perspectives on Global Warming By Anne Mareck - Tuesday Consolidation By Richard L. Burton - Monday Putting Global Climate Change in Perspective By Jessica Price - Monday Climate Hype By Jay Jones - Monday Ready to get out of Iraq By Max Michels - Monday The rumors are true By Rebecca Brown - Saturday Taking Back Our Town By Anita Hales - Friday KIC Tribal Directive to Re-Instate "477" Program By Lisa M. Lang - Friday What are the priorities of the Native Corporations here?? By Carrie L. James - Friday Global Warming - Oh the misspent emotion out there! By Marvin Seibert - Friday Rebuttal To Consolidation: What they don't want you to know By Glen Thompson - Thursday Global Warming's Affect In Alaska By Carrie L. James - Thursday Honor for "Family Day Celebration" By George Miller - Thursday Global Warming Jihadists By Alan Miller - Thursday Global Warming Questions By John Harrington - Thursday Global Warming Letters By Tori Jackson - Thursday LET'S TAKE BACK OUR TOWN By Janice Williams - Thursday Global Warming: Where is the evidence? By Anne Mareck - Thursday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Ketchikan Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements June - July 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 01 02  03 04 05       Front Page Archives

Bill Steigerwald: Debriefing Ollie North - Oliver North spends so much time on patrol with or interviewing the troops in Iraq, you'd think he is still an active colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps.

North, who has been to Iraq seven times and Afghanistan once and fought in Vietnam, is a conservative commentator for Fox News, where he hosts "War Stories" at 8 p.m. Sunday nights. July 9th's episode on the role of baseball in wartime, "From the Ballpark to the Battlefield: Baseball and WWII," will air the night before the All-Star game. I talked to North on Tuesday, June 27, by telephone:

Q: What is your assessment of the condition of the U.S. military today?

A: There has never been a brighter, better-educated, better-equipped, led or more combat-experienced military than the one we have today. And I can say that having spent 25 years in uniform. A lot of it has to do with the fact that it is all volunteer. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Dick Morris: Republican Voters Back Senate's Immigration Bill By Dick Morris - Now that Felipe Calderón seems to have won and the threat that was embodied by Chavista Andrés Manuel López Obrador has been defeated, it is time for the Republicans in the House to look beyond their own noses and deal generously with our neighbor to the south.

The Mexican people have just rejected a leftist anti-American alternative and embraced free-market capitalism in a dramatic vote. It is one thing for middle-class Americans to do so, but for Mexicans, many of whom are impoverished, to turn away from a candidate who promises a 20 percent pay increase and free gas and electricity and embrace a free-market alternative is a testament to the sense, perspective, balance, wisdom and maturity of the Mexican electorate.

Would that our own political leaders had such gifts. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Jay Ambrose: Flying burros - A new book about the late Cleveland Amory reminds us that one way we define our humanity is how we treat creatures that are not human. But before we get there, let's talk about a black, wavy-coated, brown-eyed Portuguese Water Dog named Queen Isabella.

My wife and I named this pet of ours after Queen Isabella of Portugal, the mother of the queen who financed Christopher Columbus's trips to America. For short, we call her Bella, which is Italian for beautiful. It is, in my biased opinion, a more imaginative name than Splash, which is what Sen. Edward Kennedy calls his Portuguese Water Dog. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006

Steve Brewer: Furniture guide for guys - During the recent real estate boom many of us played residential musical chairs, "flipping" houses for profit, parlaying the winnings into ever bigger McMansions, movin' on up.

Now the music's stopped and we're all stuck with our current houses, hunkering down until the signs of a market boom resume.

While we catch our breaths, it's a good time to inventory the furnishings in the risky investments we call home. Maybe it's time to retrench, to pour some of our hard-earned money into new furniture.

Move every few years and you regularly face the need to adapt furniture to new spaces. You end up with strange combinations, or matching pieces in different rooms or stuff stacked in the garage, awaiting use in future homes. - More...
Wednesday - July 05, 2006