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National: Wrong-runway accidents happen with some regularity By MICHAEL COLLINS - The small private plane was about halfway down the runway in northern Ohio last month when the student pilot at the controls got an urgent radio call from her instructor.

The plane was taxiing down the wrong runway.

Panicked, the pilot tried to abort the takeoff, but the Cessna 172N ran off the end of the landing strip, struck a guardrail, nosed over and rolled 25 feet down an embankment. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

National: Baghdad Security Plan Progressing, Says Coalition Spokesman By By David McKeeby - Violence in Baghdad, Iraq, has been cut in half in the past month, thanks to "Operation Together Forward," the Iraqi-planned and led initiative to target security threats to the city, says coalition forces spokesman Army Major General William Caldwell.

"We're seeing progress toward reducing the number of kidnappings, murders and sectarian violence in areas in which we're operating," Caldwell told journalists at an August 28 briefing in Baghdad. Iraqi army and police units, supported by U.S.-led coalition forces, he said, "have reduced the amount of violence, and we're working to set the conditions so the Iraqi leadership and local citizens can revitalize their communities." - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

Alaska: Unusual grizzly sightings in polar-bear country By ALEX deMARBAN - Shotgun-toting guards who scan the Arctic Ocean for white polar bears spent last week looking for a brown mass of fur on the reddening tundra surrounding this Inupiat village.

The grizzly, a threat to anglers and backcountry hikers across much of Alaska, isn't a problem here. Usually.

They're rarely spotted this far north.

But two brown-bear sightings recently put some residents on edge and prompted managers at a research area east of the village to evacuate scientists doing fieldwork on the tundra. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

National: Happy Labor Day: For most, wages fall behind inflation By H.J. CUMMINS - If you feel like you're working harder but earning less, you may be right.

An assortment of data the U.S. government collects indicates that productivity is up among U.S. workers, but wages are losing ground to inflation - especially among the better-educated.

Take Mark Kath, for example. At the ripe old age of 32, Kath longs for the gravy days he has only heard about.

In the eight years since graduating from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., Kath joined and left one insurance company, exhausted by workdays of 12 to 15 hours. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

Alaska: NOAA Scientists Use New Device to Improve Salmon Research - NOAA Fisheries scientists are using a gentler and more efficient way to capture salmon at sea for tagging and release - a live box. Scientists from NOAA Fisheries' Alaska Fisheries Science Center's Auke Bay Laboratory tried the new gear on the NOAA ship Miller Freeman in July while tagging fish for the Bering-Aleutian Salmon International Survey (BASIS).

Before using a live-box, BASIS researchers caught salmon with sport fish or other surface gear, slowly, one fish at a time. "We designed the live-box large enough to easily capture a hundred salmon at a time," said NOAA Fisheries research biologist Jim Murphy. The live-box is Murphy's modification of smaller live boxes used with trawls in juvenile Atlantic salmon research in the eastern United States and Norway. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

Fish Factor: Frozen seafoods becoming a popular favorite By LAINE WELCH - Frozen seafoods are becoming a popular favorite for America's health conscious, time crunched families. According to the market research publication Packaged Facts, nearly half of the nation's 110 million households now eat frozen fish and shellfish, and frozen has become the fastest growing industry sector since 2000.

"It's exciting," said Ray Riutta, director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. "There was a stigma a few years ago that seafood had to be fresh. We've done a good job of changing that perception."

ASMI has seen steady sales growth in its national Cook It Frozen campaign, which for three years has targeted customers directly at retail stores. Riutta is quick to credit U.S. chefs for building consumer confidence in frozen fish. "Nearly 60 percent of Americans eat seafood at restaurants. When they see top notch chefs using frozen Alaska seafood, they're setting a standard that everyone is emulating. And that's translating into acceptance of frozen seafood," Riutta said.

It's also translating into huge transportation savings for Alaska. "Sending fish out frozen equates to pennies or nickels per pound in transportation costs instead of dimes and quarters for fresh," said market analyst Chris McDowell. It also reduces risk in terms of shelf life. "That is a really important value component among big buyers," McDowell added. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

1st Annual GCI KAYHI KINGS PEP RALLY The winner of the 27" HDTV is . . . Dustin Dale (Also pictured Miguel Torres of GCI) 1st Annual GCI KAYHI KINGS PEP RALLY The winner of 40,000 Alaska Airline Miles is . . . Cheryl Macasaet (Also pictured Miguel Torres of GCI)

Ketchikan: Body found in Tongass Narrows - Alaska State Troopers in Ketchikan were contacted Monday morning by the US Coast Guard reporting that a Baranoff Excursions skiff operator had located a body floating in Tongass Narrows near the Coast Guard base.

Coast Guard personnel retrieved and transported the body to Station Ketchikan. Troopers responded to the Coast Guard base.

The body is that of a white male between 50 and 60 years old. There was no identification on the body. The cause of death is unknown. The body has been transported to the State Medical Examiner's office in Anchorage for autopsy. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

Ketchikan: Arts This Week - This week in Ketchikan the Opening reception for Re-Find, an open call show featuring found art, or pieces made from found objects, is from 5-7pm on Friday, September 1st at the Mainstay Gallery. The Mainstay Gallery is sponsored by the Arts Council, 225-2211, 716 Totem Way. Refreshments will be served.

Auditions for fall musical Oliver! The First City Players will be holding auditions for the fall musical Oliver, running November 3, 4, 10, 11, and 12 at Kayhi. Auditions will be held August 28, 29, and 30. Roles are available for 19 men and boys, 8 women, and large chorus of men, women, and children. Interested actors must call the First City Players to arrange an audition date and time, 225-4792.

Call to artists to submit found and readymade art for Re-Find, an open-call exhibit at The Mainstay Gallery throughout the month of September 2006. Artists 16 years an older working in all media are encouraged to submit a maximum of 2 pieces. The complete call with guidelines is available at www.ketchikanarts.org as well as a registration form. Deadline for submissions is by 5pm, Tuesday, August 29th. Call 225-2211 for more info. - More...
Wednesday - August 30, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters WHITE CLIFF DEMOLITION? By Pete Ellis - Wednesday DAHL AND NEEDHAM KUDOS By Pete Ellis - Wednesday Last Visit To Alaska By Neil Gray - Wednesday Responsibility falls on owner By Kelly Needham - Wednesday Last Visit to Alaska By ML Dahl - Tuesday Pit Bulls By Michael Moyer - Tuesday Gatorade is not the problem By Al Johnson - Tuesday Forced Conversion Frees Hostages? By Mark Neckameyer - Tuesday Last visit By Kelly Needham - Tuesday Elkins has earned his place in Ketchikan's roster By June Allen - Saturday Grounded Vessel By Jennifer Brewer - Saturday My last trip to Alaska By Peter James - Saturday Bully breeds By Kelly Needham - Friday Support Your Locally-Owned Businesses By Mark O'Brien - Wednesday Medical Costs By Pat Long - Wednesday Pleased with vote By Douglas J. Thompson - Wednesday Living in a vacuum? By Vicki Harsha - Wednesday Eye of the Beholder Letter By Rob Glenn - Wednesday This Will Only Take A Minute! By Marcia Hilley - Tuesday Gaming? By Lonnie Guthrie - Tuesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map Classifieds & Announcements August 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S   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 31     Front Page Archives

Dave Kiffer: Studies Are Hazardous To My Health - I read last week that being just a "little obese" can be hazardous to your health.

Never mind the fact that a "little" obese is somewhat of an oxymoron. Like "kinda" pregnant or "sorta" dead.

The Associated Press story noted that being a little obese - one to 29 pounds overweight - can be nearly as hazardous to your health as being truly obese - more than 30 pounds overweight.

For those of you playing along at home, this concerns me because by all the well-regarded bench marks (the size of the mark your bottom makes on a bench) I am "slightly obese." - More...
Monday - August 28, 2006

Michael Reagan: English - The Vanishing Language - All across the U.S., hordes of immigrants - legal and illegal - are chattering away in their native language and have no intention of learning English ­ the all-but-official language of the United States where they now live.

Can you blame them? They are being enabled by all those diversity fanatics to defy the age-old custom of immigrants to our shores who made it one of their first priorities to learn to speak English and to teach their offspring to do likewise.

It was a case of sink or swim. If you couldn't speak English you couldn't get by, go to school, get a job, or become a citizen and vote. - More...
Monday - August 28, 2006

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on Gold Medals and Rubber Doughnuts - According to The New Yorker, "seventy is the new fifty", so I still have a ways to go before I'm "over the hill". But back in the day, when I was learning bits of machine language for my senior thesis in computational chemistry, 10 was the new 16.

If you are wondering why the geek sitting next to you is laughing, you have to understand hexadecimal numbers to get the joke. You see, unlike the decimal system, which uses 10 digits (0 thru 9) to represent numbers, the hexadecimal system that is used in machine language represents numbers with the 16 digits 0 thru F. - More...
Monday - August 28, 2006

Bob Ciminel: The Unreality of Reality - I hate to admit it, but I have not watched a single episode of "Survivor," nor any other reality-based program. I guess that's what happens when you live in the eddy and not the mainstream of life. Truth be told, I don't watch any of the major network prime time shows. Lately however, and much to my wife's displeasure, I have been watching reruns of "CSI - Las Vegas." The computer graphics showing bullets and blunt objects destroying brains and vital organs has got to be the ultimate in voyeurism. CSI is not reality television.

This morning there was a feature on National Public Radio about CBS airing the documentary film "9/11" by the Naudet brothers. This would be the third showing of the film. Of course, the film is being shown now to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 unprovoked killing of over 3,000 civilians by an organization that has declared war on the United States. (Has Amnesty International ever accused Al Qaeda of war crimes?) - More...
Monday - August 28, 2006

Bill Steigerwald: America in Peril - In his latest best-seller, for "State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America," Pat Buchanan makes his case that we must move quickly to erect a stronger, more restrictive immigration policy to stop and reverse the invasion of millions of illegal Mexican immigrants across our southwestern border. If we fail to do so, says the conservative populist, the United States as we know it will disappear in 50 years. I reached the former presidential candidate, political pundit and syndicated columnist by phone on Thursday, Aug. 24 in New York City, where he was in mid-book tour.

Q: You have concerns about the harmful impact of on our economy, our culture and our politics from illegal immigration. What is the most serious problem that needs to be addressed first?

A: The first one -- as in New Orleans, when the 17th Street levee broke ­ is before you do anything, fix the levee and stop flood. Even before you start pumping out the water, even before you start bringing folks back to their homes ­ fix the levee, stop the flood. We need to stop the invasion of this country with a 2,000 mile security border fence, all the way from Brownsville to San Diego. - More...
August 28, 2006