Ketchikan: BLACK FRIDAY By MARIE L MONYAK - Retailers have dubbed the busiest shopping day of the year as Black Friday.  You would think they could have selected a more cheerful, uplifting moniker considering that they'll be counting their profits well into the wee hours.  Black Friday sounds like a stock market crash, a funeral, the end of the world, or a war; however, it is a postive day for retail businesses as reportedly many will make 40% of their profits between now and the end of the year.

Of course for some, it was a black day.  Outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan a woman fell to the floor of a WalMart as shoppers pushed their way in at 5:00am.  She was trampled and sustained minor injuries.  In Orlando Florida, a man allegedly cut in line to purchase a computer and was wrestled to the ground.  There was a report from Texas where shoppers were maced as a form of crowd control when they became unruly in an electronics department.

If anyone is still compiling a list of things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend, they may want to add, living in Ketchikan.  There were no overnight campers in sleeping bags waiting to get into WalMart.  No one lined up outside of Tongass Dock Store at 4:00 am.  Not one person was maced at the Plaza Mall.  Black Friday was just a busy shopping day in Ketchikan.  At worst, parking lots were crowded, lines were long, items were sold out.  - More..
Saturday - November 26, 2005

KGB Assembly Will Hold Public Hearing On Annexation

Ketchikan Gateway Borough officials are holding a public hearing in January on a proposed annexation of surrounding land.

The proposed annexation land includes the tiny community of Meyers Chuck. Critics of the plan include Greg Rice, chairman of the Meyers Chuck Community Association. Rice says the community has closer ties to Wrangell. Ketchikan officials have not yet set a date for the public hearing.

Several factors combine to cost Alaska federal money

United States Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) says a combination of factors are costing Alaska federal money.

Among those are the fact that Stevens no longer is chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Stevens also tells the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner that the enormous federal deficit and recent negative publicity about his spending choices in Alaska both have also cost the state. He says while Alaska still does well in getting federal money, it's not as good at could be.

Backers to fight for Alaska bridges

Ketchikan leaders didn't worry much about the national criticism of their bridge because they figured Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young had it locked in. Now they are launching a "Save Our Bridge" public relations blitz.

Anchorage and Ketchikan bridges should both be built Says Governor

Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski said both the Ketchikan and Knik Arm bridge projects should be built if Congress gives the state the money and flexibility to do it.

But the governor says a lot won't be known until the final federal transportation appropriations bill is released, such as how much money is coming to the state or how the state will be able to use that money. A congressional conference committee stripped the earmarks of the Ketchikan and Anchorage bridges, but will send the money - now authorized at more than 450 million dollars - to the state.

That means the future of the Ketchikan and Anchorage bridge projects that have stirred public protest nationwide will be left to the governor and the Alaska State Legislature to decide. Murkowski acknowledges there would be a shortfall ranging in the hundreds of millions of dollars if both projects were to go ahead. He says it is too early to speculate where the money would come from. The state is expected to have a 1.25 billion dollar surplus this year if the average price of crude oil holds.

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters KYFL Raffle By Bob Fultz- Sunday Governor faces his greatest challenge By Walter J. Hickel - Sunday Bridge Critics '1' - Democracy '0' by Jim Dornblaser - Saturday Trimming the fat? By Don Hoff Jr. - Saturday No Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge By Erica Hoff - Saturday Bridges to our future By Robin Craviotto - Thursday Opportunity presented By John Stewart - Thursday Slanted picture of Alaska painted By Carl Thompson - Thursday Free and open expression of opinions By Walt Bolling - Thursday The earmarks for the bridge are gone By Patrick Jirschele - Tuesday PM Americans coming into Canada for All Native Tournament By Roberta Aiken - Tuesday PM Criticizing our commanders... OH, YAWN! By David Hanger - Tuesday PM Those who criticize our commanders By Erin Bellon - Tuesday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan November Calendar Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report 11/26/05 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

Federal report lists Alaska cities as major fishery ports

New federal reports says Alaska ports led the nation last year in the volume and dock value of their commercial fishery landings.

Alaska landings comprised nearly five-and-a-half billion pounds. The Fisheries of the United States report says that had a value of more than one billion dollars. Unalaska's Dutch Harbor was the single leading U.S. port by quantity. Petersburg ranked 12th on the top 50 list of ports by volume, landing 103 million pounds of fish in 2004. Also making the list were Sitka, Ketchikan and Juneau.

GM ending 30,000 jobs

After absorbing nearly $4 billion in losses this year, General Motors Corp. said it will end 30,000 jobs and close nine North American factories by 2008. United Auto Workers union leaders called the cuts "extremely disappointing, unfair and unfortunate." GM previously had indicated it would eliminate 25,000 jobs. The 30,000 job cuts represent about 9 percent of GM's global work force of about 325,000 people.

Three years later, Padilla is indicted

Three years after he was jailed, "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla was indicted on charges he plotted to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas. Padilla is a U.S. citizen who has been held as an "enemy combatant." A federal grand jury in Miami returned the indictment against Padilla and four others. Previously, the government contended that he was plotting a so-called dirty bomb attack in this country.

Germany picks first woman chancellor

Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany's first woman chancellor at a ceremony in the country's parliament. Merkel, leader of the Christian Democrats, will head a coalition with the center-left Social Democrats, who ruled before. She is the first chancellor to have grown up in the former communist eastern part of the country.

Cheney steps up attacks on critics

Vice President Dick Cheney accused Iraq war critics of engaging in "revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety." Cheney intensified White House attacks against war critics in a speech at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "The flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight, but any suggestion that prewar information was distorted, hyped or fabricated by the leader of the nation is utterly false," Cheney said. "Senator John McCain put it best: 'It is a lie to say that the president lied to the American people.' "

Brown back in disaster business

Former FEMA Director Michael Brown, vilified for his agency's sluggish response to Hurricane Katrina, is starting a disaster preparedness consulting firm in Colorado. "If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses - because that goes straight to the bottom line - then I hope I can help the country in some way," Brown told the Rocky Mountain News.

Texas tackles Sony

The state of Texas sued Sony BMG, accusing the Japanese giant of secretly installing spyware on personal computers through music CDs. "Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said. "Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime." - Page...
Saturday - November 26, 2005