Regular Election October 02, 2018 Absentee in-person voting begins on Sept. 17, 2018. Questions for the Candidates: Click Here to Participate in the SitNews Online Forum. Ketchikan City Council Candidates 3-Year Term, 2 Seats to Fill Janalee L. Gage Filed 08/01/18 Candidate's Statement 09/03/18 Sam Bergeron Filed 08/23/18 Candidate's Statement 09/13/18 Dragon London Filed 08/24/18 Candidate's Statement   Spencer Strassburg Filed 08/27/18 Ketchikan City Mayor 3-Year Term, 1 Seat to Fill   Robert (Bob) Sivertsen Filed 08/01/18 Ketchikan Assembly Candidates 3-Year Term, 2 Seats to Fill Watch the Chamber's Borough Assembly Forum 09/05/18 YouTube Courtesy KPU TV Dan Bockhorst Filed 08/01/18 Candidate's Statement 09/11/18 Austin Otos Filed 08/02/18 Candidate's Statement 09/09/18 Danielle "Dani" Pratt Filed 08/22/18 Candidate's Statement 09/19/18   Sven Westergard Filed 08/24/18   James Montgomery Filed 08/24/18 Felix Wong Filed 08/27/18 Candidate's Statement 09/17/18 Ketchikan School Board 3-Year Term, 3 Seats to Fill Matt Eisenhower Filed 08/10/18 Candidate's Statement 09/13/18 Sonya Skan Filed 08/13/18 Candidate's Statement 09/11/18 Rachel Breithaupt Filed 08/17/18 Candidate's Statement 09/07/18 Bridget Mattson Filed 08/20/18 Candidate's Statement 09/20/18   Lana Boler Filed 08/21/18 Candidate's Statement 09/20/18 Edited 09/17/18: Invitation to Local Candidates: As in the past, SitNews invites all local candidates to provide a candidate's statement and include the reason you are running, experience, and issues you would like to address. Photographs are also requested. No word limits. (First Published: 09/02/18) SitNews deadline to recieve statements will also be Sept. 17, 2018 - the date voting begins. A FREE service to local candidates. Late statements will be accepted for publication.

Historical Feature: Remembering the 'Queens' of the Alaska and BC Ferry Systems; Sister ferries went from Europe to the Northwest Coast By DAVE KIFFER - Fifty years ago, the Stena Danica and the Stena Brittanica were the newest ships in the Swedish ferry giant Stena Lines fleet. But both proved to have short lives in that busy fleet and both eventually would make their way to the Alaska/Canada northwest coast, where under different names they would make their marks.

The Stena Brittanica would be rebadged the Wickersham and become, at least briefly, the "queen" of the Alaska Marine Highway System.

The Stena Danica would also become a queen. She would sail for three decades as the BC Ferries "Queen of the North."

The Stena Line is one of the largest ferry companies in the world with more than 30 ships, operating 20 different ferry routes between Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom.

It was formed in 1962 and by the late 1960s the Stena Line already had 12 ferries serving a variety of Northwest European cities.

The Stena Brittanica came on line in 1967. It served the rapidly expanding Stena Line for two years before it was sold for just under $7 million to the State of Alaska which was looking for an "ocean going" ferry to make runs between Southeast Alaska and Seattle.

The ship would be renamed the Wickersham - and despite trouble with the Jones Act, a US law allowing only US built and flagged ships to carry passengers and cargo between US ports, served the state for the next five years before being replaced by the American built MV Columbia. ( See "The Wickersham sailed on after leaving Alaska, SITNEWS, October 11, 2006)

The Stena Danica came on line in 1969 and was the second ship to be named Stena Danica. it would spend five years in Europe  before making a permanent trip across the Atlantic.

The Stena Brittanic was originally built by AG Weser I Bremerhaven, Germany in 1969 at a cost of $11.3 million. It operated on the route between Gothenburg, Sweden and Frederikshavn, Denmark. In 1974, BC Ferries purchased the vessel for $13.8 million.

The Stena Danica was then renamed the Queen of Surrey and began operating between Horseshoe Bay near Vancouver and Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. But soon it became apparent the ship was not well designed for the short haul run that involved four daily roundtrips. In 1976, the ship was taken out of service.

The Queen of Surrey would remain at the dock in Vancouver for nearly four years as BC Ferries decided between selling the ship or refitting it for a different route.

Eventually, it was decided to spend $10 million and turn the Queen of Surrey into long haul ferry that would operate between Port Hardy and Prince Rupert in Northern BC. The ship would also service smaller communities like Bella Bella and the Queen Charlotte Islands.

In May of 1980, the newly renamed Queen of the North (with added staterooms, restaurants and expanded cargo capacity) went into service. In 1985, she was designated as the "flagship" of the BC Ferries fleet and served for more than two additional decades.

In 1994, the Queen's three decade old design was questioned when a similar ferry - the MS Estonia - sank with great loss of life in the Baltic Sea. Both ships were so called Ro-Ro ships in which vehicles entered from one end and exited at the other. The bows of the ships lifted up for access to the car deck, but that very feature on the Estonia caused the bow to come loose during a storm and more than 850 people drowned.

BC Ferries spent several hundred thousand dollars to add a second set of welded doors in the bow to prevent flooding in high seas. Then in 2001, the ship was given another major refit, even though it was announced that a replacement ferry was being planned and the Queen of the North would be permanently replaced in 2009.

The main problem with the Queen of the North's original design was that it was not designed to withstand significant flooding like newer ships were.

But before it could be replaced, the Queen of the North would suffer the worst accident to ever happen to the British Columbia ferry system.

At 8 pm on March 21, 2006, it left Prince Rupert on its regular 274-mile, 20-hour run to Port Hardy. But a little more than 70 miles south of  Prince Rupert, near midnight, the ship failed to make a course change entering Wright Sound and ran into Gil Island at 17 knots. The wreck damaged the ship's hull and it began to fill with water. Ninety minutes after grounding it sank in more than 1,400 feet of water in Wright Sound.

Initially, it appeared that all the passengers and crew had been safely  evacuated, many by residents of the nearby Native village of Hartley Bay. But eventually it was determined that two passengers, Shirley Rosette and Gerald Foisy of 100 Mile House, were missing and believed to have not left the ship before it went down. Their bodies were never recovered. - More....
Monday PM - September 17, 2018

Alaska: Kotzebue Man Charged in Connection with the Investigation into Ashley Johnson-Barr’s Death – U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced today that Peter Wilson, 41, of Kotzebue, Alaska, has been charged with making false statements to a federal agent, in connection with the investigation into the disappearance and death of 10-year-old Ashley Johnson-Barr.  Wilson was arrested on Friday, Sept. 14, 2018, and is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 18, 2018, at 1:30 p.m.   

The child was reported missing onSeptember 06, 2018. After days of searching, young Johnson-Barr's body was found September 14th. The Alaska State Troopers (AST), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the Kotzebue Police Department conducted the investigation leading to the charges. 

According to the complaint affidavit, during the course of the investigation, “JJ” was interviewed and advised law enforcement that, on the night of Sept. 6, 2018, she found Johnson-Barr’s cell phone in the pocket of a jacket belonging to Wilson, who occasionally stays with her.  She found the cell phone after hearing it repeatedly ring from Wilson’s jacket.  When she picked the phone up, she saw Johnson-Barr’s name displayed on the screen.  JJ called Johnson-Barr’s mother, who advised that Johnson-Barr was missing.  Johnson-Barr’s father retrieved the phone from JJ’s residence and turned it over to the Kotzebue Police Department.  When asked by Johnson-Barr’s father and JJ where he found the phone, Wilson stated he found it near the NANA building, which is at the intersection of 2nd and 3rd Avenue in Kotzebue.  - More...
Monday PM - September 17, 2018

Photo of the Month Ketchikan: Cruise Ship Schedule 2018(pdf) Courtesy Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska - claalaska.com Ketchikan: Public Meetings Ketchikan: Upcoming Events Historical Ketchikan June Allen Dave Kiffer Louise B. Harrington Ketchikan Weather Ketchikan's Forecast Weather History Sept. 2018 August: Precip Stats:  Actual Month Total: 2.16 in Average Month Total: 9.91 in Ketchikan's Historic Weather Nat Weather Service KTN Ketchikan Tides & Currents Sunrise - Sunset Ketchikan Search the News Ketchikan Alaska

Fish Factor: Southeast is One of Alaska’s Busiest Regions for Fall Fishing By LAINE WELCH - As Alaska’s salmon season draws to a close, lots of fall fisheries are just getting underway from Ketchikan to the Bering Sea.  

Southeast is one of Alaska’s busiest regions for fall fishing, especially for various kinds of shellfish. Nearly 400,000 pounds of sidestripe and pink shrimp are being hauled in by a few beam trawlers, and the season for spot shrimp opens October 1. Usually about half a million pounds of the popular big spots are hauled up in local pots over several months.

Dungeness crab fishing also will reopen in Southeast in October, and up to 200 Southeast divers will head down for more than 1.7 million pounds of sea cucumbers starting October 1.   A 140,000 pound sea cucumber fishery at Kodiak attracts around 20 divers, and smaller cuke catches in the 5,000 to 20,000-pound range also occur along the Alaska Peninsula, the Aleutians and Bering Sea.

Divers, who received about $4 per pound for their sea cucumber catches last year, are likely to get even higher prices. The cukes are considered a delicacy in Asian countries where they are served in many fresh, frozen and powered forms. (See more about the amazing health properties of sea cucumbers below.)

A decrease in supply due to a heat wave this summer in China killed most of that country’s production and market reports show that dried sea cucumbers from Japan were recently selling for $126.50 per pound. 

Alaska longliners have taken 78 percent of the nearly 20 million pound catch limit since the fishery began in mid-March, with less than four million pounds remaining. Seward, Homer and Kodiak were the top ports for halibut landings.  For sablefish, fishermen have taken 61 percent of the nearly 26 million pound quota with Seward, Sitka and Kodiak receiving the most deliveries.  Both fisheries end on November 7. 

Fishing for cod, rockfish, flounders, pollock and other whitefish continues in the Bering Sea. Pollock reopens in the Gulf of Alaska October 1.

Bering Sea crabbers will find out any day the fate of a red king crab fishery at Bristol Bay as well as the catches for snow crab and Tanners.  Those fisheries open October 15. 

Fall also marks the time for some of Alaska’s most important fish meetings. The industry will get a first peek at possible fish catches for next year when the North Pacific Fishery Management Council meets October 1- 9 in Anchorage. Comments on all agenda items are open through September 28. 

Finally, the state Board of Fisheries will meet October 15-19 at the Egan Center with an unusual lineup that includes a work session, Pacific cod issues and an open town hall meeting on Alaska hatcheries. 

In its regular meeting cycle that begins in November, the board will address regulatory issues focused on state managed fisheries at Bristol Bay, the Alaska Peninsula, Chignik, the Aleutians and Bering Sea.  - More...
Monday PM - September 17, 2018

The Salmon State: “Surfing the salmon wave” in Bristol Bay; Habitat diversity produces salmon diversity — and well-nourished predators By MARY CATHARINE MARTIN - By mid-August Bristol Bay’s river systems are choked with fish, but early July, when most of the bay’s sockeye salmon are fighting their way in from the sea, is another story. What’s a bear — or a grayling, trout or gull — to do?

The short answer is: start surfing.

The diversity within Bristol Bay’s landscapes and rivers means two salmon that arrive at the mouth of the same river system at roughly the same time might spawn weeks apart, depending on their ultimate destination. It’s a phenomenon researchers call the salmon wave — and the predators that follow the salmon are its surfers.

Colder streams’ salmon spawn first. Often, those streams are smaller. They hold relatively few fish, but, because of when those fish are available, are “disproportionately important” to the ecosystem as a whole, said University of Washington Professor of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences Daniel Schindler, who’s been studying salmon in Bristol Bay’s Wood River watershed for two decades through the university’s Alaska Salmon Program.

“A single salmon to a predator in the middle of July is way more important than a single salmon to that predator in the middle of August,” Schindler said. It can be easy to overlook the importance of tiny streams when developing, he said, but “it’s the network of sites that’s important for ecological function.”

After the colder streams, salmon whose natal streams are warmer spawn mid-August to September. Last of all in the Wood River system, salmon spawn on lake beaches starting in September. All of those spots have genetically distinct salmon populations. And throughout it all, bears and other predators “surf the salmon wave,” moving from creek to creek to get salmon protein for the longest span of time possible — and bettering their chances of surviving to the next year.

High-grading

In times and places bears can find lots of salmon — like August in Bristol Bay — they tend to high-grade for the most nutritious parts, frequently eating just the brains of the males (which are big and fatty) and the eggs from the females.

“Out here, in a typical small stream, (predators) aren’t limited by how much salmon is available — they’re limited by their ability to process it,” Schindler said. - More...
Monday PM - September 17, 2018

Alaska Science: Alaska beetles survive unearthly temperatures By NED ROZELL - As we pull on our winter coats to shield our tropical bodies from the cold, there is a creature in our midst that survives Alaska’s coldest temperatures bare-naked.

The red flat bark beetle lives as far north as there are balsam poplar trees in Alaska, hunkering down for the winter in the moist area between dead bark and tree. Scientists like Todd Sformo have found most of them in the larval stage, where they resemble segmented worms a bit longer than a grain of rice. He found a smaller number of adults that have handsome segmented bodies the color of teak.

The beetles are special among living things in Alaska because they have the ability to spend the winter above the snow, exposed to the coldest air of winter.

Sformo, a biologist with the North Slope Borough in Barrow, was a graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks when he cooled the beetles in a lab to minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit), and they did not die. Yellowjackets, stinkbugs and other insects that survive winter using the same strategy (known as supercooling) perish at about minus 25 C (minus 13 F).

“They really have to be under that leaf litter and under the snow (for insulation from the cold air),” Sformo said.

How cold can the bark beetles get? Sformo shipped a few of the beetles to a lab in California to find out. The owner of the lab lowered the beetles to a temperature of about minus 150 C (minus 238 F), and they didn’t freeze. The lowest temperature recorded on Earth was minus 129 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in Antarctica in 1983. Alaska’s all-time low is minus 80 degrees Fahrenheit at Prospect Creek off the Dalton Highway in 1971.

“Under the right conditions, these things don’t freeze, even when you get down to unearthly temperatures,” Sformo said.

The beetles survive by being one of the most successful northern practitioners of supercooling, where they are able to resist freezing by combining a few unique talents. Beginning in August, they begin to produce antifreeze proteins that bind to sites where ice might form. Later in the fall, they produce glycerol that drives their freezing point down as antifreeze does in a car, and, finally, they begin to lose water in their bodies. - More...
Monday PM - September 17, 2018

TOM PURCELL: Government Grounds for Gobbledygook By TOM PURCELL - Despite a 2010 law that requires federal agencies to describe rules and regulations in plain language, most government writing is STILL unintelligible. I met with my federal-bureaucrat mole, Deep Gibberish - and his interpreter - for answers.

"When President Obama signed the Plain Writing Act of 2010 into law," I said to Deep Gibberish, "all federal agencies were required to use 'clear government communication that the public can understand and use.' Why do so few do so?"

"Your query poses prospective considerations," said the bureaucrat, "that rise beyond the level of considerations that the voter-taxpayer base may be prepared to ascertain."

"Huh?" I said to his interpreter.

"He said you wouldn't believe him if he told you," the interpreter said.

"Look, content-analysis company Visible Thread found in 2017 that most federal-government websites were in defiance of the Plain Writing Act - still using language that is abstract and unclear," I said.

"Though we comprehend and find favor with those considerations," Deep Gibberish said, "we nonetheless understand that there are arguments in favor of providing the voter-taxpayer base with the previous methods."

"Huh?" I said. - More...
Monday PM - September 17, 2018

BLAIR BESS: Kavanaugh Deserved Better... and So Do We - Judge Brett Kavanaugh was never going to get a fair break during his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The fault lies not with obstructionist Democrats, however, but with Republican leadership and members of the committee.

By not turning over all documents in their possession, Republican members of the committee did the judge and the American people a disservice. And dumping hundreds of thousands of selected pages of documents, emails, and other correspondence on Democrats the night before hearings were scheduled to begin wasn't a solution.

Releasing all relevant material would have provided a fuller picture of Kavanaugh's legal philosophy and writings for both the majority and minority. Not doing so only further riled Democrats still fuming over Republican obstruction of Judge Merrick Garland's Supreme Court nomination in the waning days of the Obama administration. It succeeded in provoking confrontation and partisan conflict. Whether or not Judge Kavanaugh escapes the wrath of Democratic committee members, the real losers are the American people.

Questions have arisen based on actions Kavanaugh took during time spent in the George W. Bush White House, including discussions about detainee torture during the early years of the war on terror, as well as a breach of secret Democratic files on judicial nominations. His writings have advocated broad presidential powers that have implications on ongoing investigations into Russian election meddling and questionable actions on the part of the president. Kavanaugh equivocated when asked whether he would uphold long-standing legal precedents, including those related to Roe v. Wade, LGBTQ rights, and affirmative action.  - More...
Monday PM - September 17, 2018