National: Medicare drug plan signups begin Tuesday By VICTORIA COLLIVER - Tuesday marks an important milestone for Medicare's new prescription drug plan.

That's the day when more than 40 million Medicare beneficiaries can begin enrolling for the program, officially called Part D.

But, if the weeks leading up to the signup are any indication, picking the right plan won't be easy. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

National: Thousands pay tribute to veterans at Vietnam Wall By MARA LEE - They came from all over the country, their patches and ball caps revealing how far they'd traveled. Montana. Arizona. Tennessee. Connecticut. Pennsylvania. New York. New Jersey. Florida. Texas.

Some still had military haircuts. Some wore their hair long, or had full gray beards. Many had jackets with their regiments or battalions and years of service in country. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

National: Americans battening the hatches against utility bills By MARY DEIBEL - It's not every day you find a Cabinet secretary wedged between a storm-window display and stack of space heaters at a local home-improvement store - unless it's Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.

He's barnstorming the country these days with tips on how to cut home-heating bills, which his department expects to soar as much as 70 percent this winter. "As a longtime Boston resident, I know how tough New England winters can be," he recently told a sympathetic audience at Lowe's in Dedham, Mass. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

National: Tips for saving energy By MARY DEIBEL - Make dollars and sense by taking steps to lower home-heating bills this winter, when the federal government forecasts the average household will see its $1,500-a-year utility bill soar 50 percent.

Replacement windows and doors, new energy-efficient furnaces and other appliances, and whole-house insulation may make sense as part of a major remodeling, but you'll spend thousands of dollars that may take more than 15 years to recoup - longer than most people stay put in a house. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

National: Families hope 63-year mystery finally solved By SUZANNE HEREL - As World War II loomed, William Gamber was growing up in Fayette, Ohio, the tall, dark, athletic son of the town barber. On the other end of the state, blond, blue-eyed Ernest Munn was living on a small farm with hay fields, pigs and a horse, the big brother of three sisters.

Meanwhile, slender, fastidious Leo Mustonen was being raised by Finnish immigrant parents in Brainerd, Minn., and John Mortenson was a young man in Moscow, Idaho. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Science: 'Godzilla' fossil discovered in Patagonia By PAM FROST GORDER - Researchers have discovered evidence of an ancient sea creature that would have made Tyrannosaurus rex, think twice before stepping into the ocean.

At the southern tip of South America , they found fossils of an entirely new species of ancient crocodile ­ one whose massive jaws and jagged teeth would have made it the most fearsome predator in the sea. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Health/Fitness: Exercise adds years to life and improves quality, researchers say - Exercise is a lot like spinach everybody knows it's good for you; yet many people still avoid it, forgoing its potential health benefits.

But researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who study the effects of exercise on aging point to new findings that may inspire people to get up, get out and get moving on a regular basis. The research team, led by kinesiology professor Edward McAuley, found that previously sedentary seniors who incorporated exercise into their lifestyles not only improved physical function, but experienced psychological benefits as well. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Thinking about the old boys marching... By Kelli Carlin-Auger - Sunday am Teen Blogging in Schools By Kathi Collum - Sunday am Ketchikan Borough Water By Robert McRoberts - Sunday am Alaska's Governor Gets Sleek Jet By Don Hoff Jr. - Sunday am THE AMERICAN REPORT CARD: ARE WE REALLY BETTER OFF? By René Ryman - Sunday am VETERANS DAY By June Allen - Friday In Honor of Veterans By U.S. Senator Ted Stevens - Friday am We Owe Our Veterans Immeasurable Thanks By U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski - Friday am War on Veterans By Arthur H. Wilson - Friday am Assembly Passed The Buck Again By Patrick Bethel - Thursday pm Pipe Dreams for Economic Growth in Alaska By Don Hoff Jr - Thursday pm Golden Fleece Bridge By Charlotte Tanner - Thursday pm Halloween on Jackson Street By Jacquie Meck - Thursday pm Gas Prices By Frances C. Natkong - Thursday pm Principles and Legalized Torture By Mark O'Brien - Wednesday pm Future job prospects for Alaska's youth By Blain Anderson - Wednesday pm Alcohol Problem in Alaska By Morgan Doubleday - Wednesday pm Blogging Worries Parents By Christopher Davin - Wednesday pm Missing the point By Danielle Groghan - Wednesday pm We do have humor... By David Anderson - Wednesday pm More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Veterans Day Salute RJ Matson, The St. Louis Post Dispatch Distributed exclusively to subscribers by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Today's Political Cartoons E-mail Political Cartoons Ketchikan November 17, 2005: The Ketchikan City Council will hold a regular meeting in the City Council Chambers. Agenda & Information Packets (pdf) November Calendar Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements November 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S     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

Laine Welch: Americans Eating More Seafood - Americans are eating more seafood than ever before - and they want more seafood choices at their favorite fast food restaurants.

According to the annual "Fisheries of the United States" report by NOAA Fisheries, each American ate a record 16.6 pounds of seafood last year, up from 16.3 pounds in 2003. (That compares to 14.8 pounds in 2001.) Each person enjoyed nearly 12 pounds of fresh and/or frozen seafood (another record), reflecting a continuing trend towards those products, while consumption of canned seafood dropped slightly to 4.5 pounds per person. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Jason Love: Liability - At the beach I found a sign that reads, Warning: Ocean hazardous. City not responsible for damage or injury.

And at that moment I turned to the sky and cried, "Scotty, beam me up. I can't take it anymore."

This country is divided into Haves and Have-Nots: Those who have a lawsuit and those who have not found theirs. Welcome to the United Suits of America. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eye on Blue 'n Gold - "My ???? girl. Hey my ???? girl."

So repeats the chorus of a new, techno-pop tune - "Girl" - by Beck Hansen, or simply Beck. If you've heard it, and couldn't understand what kind of girl, then join the club. Lately, it has been getting lots of play on a radio station that my children and I, their chauffeur, can agree on. It always starts a debate.

To me, the romantic in the family, it sounds like "summer girl". To my son, the linguist and budding writer, it must be "sun-eyed girl" because he hears an n sound in the middle. My daughter, who is a pop and hip-hop aficionado, says she can't make it out, but likes the song anyway. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Bob Ciminel: Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? - As I was running around setting the clocks back one hour when we changed to standard time, which is no mean feat when you consider there are 27 clocks in our house, a thought occurred to me. I couldn't help it; I have thoughts all the time. Sometimes they just pop in there like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man in the first "Ghost Busters" movie. At work, my co-workers accuse me of "thinking off." I tell them I'm an intellectual and thinking is what intellectuals do, so leave me alone and let me think. It's a lie. I'm not an intellectual by any stretch of the imagination. I was lucky to graduate from high school. However, the folks at work haven't figured that out yet, so they think I'm an intellectual and they leave me alone. Most of my co-workers are engineers, and that explains a lot, if you know what I mean. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

Sue Vorenberg: Google eyes world control - A new digital gadget has convinced me of the true nature of Google.

Innocently hidden under its convenient, free assortment of products lurks the company's real intent - to take over the world.

Just take a gander at Google Earth.

The software, which you can download from the company's Web site, literally puts the whole Earth under the click of your mouse. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005

James Derk: What, when and how to backup computer data - I've received a lot of questions lately about hard drive backup and disaster recovery and, alas, the tornado in my adoptive hometown in Southern Indiana has brought all that to a head.

As people try to rebuild their lives from this devastating event it gives an exclamation point to the importance of family memories. In my case, my main personal computer contains hundreds of e-mails from my late mother, thousands of photographs of my children and my family and a couple of drafts of a book I am completing. - More...
Monday - November 14, 2005