Photo of the Month Ketchikan: Public Meetings Ketchikan: Upcoming Events Historical Ketchikan June Allen Dave Kiffer Louise B. Harrington Ketchikan Weather Ketchikan's Forecast Weather History for Oct. 2017 Ketchikan's Historic Weather Nat Weather Service KTN Ketchikan Tides & Currents Search the News Ketchikan Alaska RSS widget

Alaska: Survey finds most Alaska high school students underestimate the risk of prescription opioids   - The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services recently released its 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) results, and finds teens’ opinions around prescription and illicit drug use concerning.

Less than half of Alaska high school students report they think taking prescription drugs, including opioid pain medications, without a doctor’s prescription or using the medication differently than prescribed is a serious risk. Seven percent of high school students report use of prescription drugs, including opioids like Vicodin and OxyContin, without a doctor’s prescription or differently than prescribed during the past month. Nearly two percent of Alaska teens currently use heroin.

“The more we know about the opinions and behaviors of Alaska teens, the better we can respond with relevant information about prescription opioid use,” said Dr. Jay Butler, Chief Medical Officer for the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. “Using pain medication like Vicodin or OxyContin without a prescription can be extremely dangerous. Our department is working diligently with local agencies and schools to provide teens and their families with accurate information about the safe use and disposal of prescription opioids.”

In addition to prescription opioid use, preliminary YRBS results show that Alaska high school students see low risk in using marijuana. Most high school students (66 percent) believe there is minimal or no risk in using marijuana weekly. Among students who drive, 16 percent admitted to driving after using marijuana. 

The YRBS survey results showed some positive behavior changes among Alaska teens, including decreases in cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and sexual activity during the past decade. When comparing survey findings from 2007 and 2017, a greater percentage of high school students in 2017 feel that their teachers care about and encourage them. - More...
Tuesday PM - November 14, 2017

Alaska: 44 Attorneys General Seeking Repeal of Dangerous Federal Opioid Law - Alaska Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth was one of 44 state and territorial Attorneys General to send a letter Monday to congressional leaders urging them to repeal a 2016 federal law that took away an important tool in fighting the opioid crisis. The law, known as the “Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act of 2016” (P.L. 114-145), prohibited the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) from immediately suspending a drug manufacturer or distributor that poses an immediate danger to public health or safety. 

“The federal and state governments need all the tools we can get to help fight the opioid crisis,” said Attorney General Lindemuth. “What the 2016 law effectively did was remove the ability to hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable for their actions. I join my fellow attorneys general in urging Congress to repeal this dangerous law.”

Nationally, more than two million people in the United States had an addiction to prescription or illicit opioids in 2016. Between 2009 and 2015 in Alaska, 774 drug overdose deaths were recorded according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. Of those deaths, 512 had a prescription drug noted as either the primary or contributing cause of death.  - More...
Tuesday PM - November 14, 2017

Alaska: Biographer profiles scientist-explorer of northeast Alaska By NED ROZELL - In the early 1990s, Janet Collins was hiking in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge when she saw “Camp 163” labeled on her map. Intrigued, she later looked up Camp 163 in Donald Orth’s Dictionary of Alaska Place Names. Her curiosity led her to Ernest Leffingwell, the subject of a biography she has written and Washington State University Press recently published.

In the early 1900s, Ernest Leffingwell lived for nine summers and six winters in a cabin on Flaxman Island, a wedge of sand off Alaska’s northern coast 58 miles west of Kaktovik. He mapped the coastline there, as well as inland spots like his Camp 163. He was the first person to describe and sketch underground ice wedges. He named the Sadlerochit oil formation that is the reservoir of the Prudhoe Bay oilfield. And he wrote about oil seeps that led government officials to create what is now the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Not many people knew who Ernest Leffingwell was, but a few Alaska scientists appreciate what Leffingwell left behind, most of it written up in a 250-page report for the U.S. Geological Survey in which he described how to live and work in the Arctic.

Collins, a former director of the Huxley Map Library at Western Washington University, has now assured a few more people will know the scientist who absorbed the Arctic by living there in the early 1900s. Her book is “On the Arctic Frontier: Ernest Leffingwell’s Polar Explorations and Legacy.”

In the detailed, 300-page work, Collins focuses on Leffingwell’s time in extreme northeast Alaska. For him, it was a busy, rewarding decade in a life that spanned 96 years.

He sailed north 111 years ago on an expedition to the northern coast of Alaska as part of a group of men who were trying to find evidence of a land mass in the Arctic Ocean. They found none. Everyone left except Leffingwell, who was a geologist, teacher and veteran of the Spanish-American War. He built a cabin on treeless Flaxman Island in 1906 using wood from the ship that brought him there and had run aground. - More...
Tuesday PM - November 14, 2017

JEFF LUND: Protect the pancreas this time of year - Halloween marked the official beginning of over-indulgence season which lasts until the weekend in January that ends up being the death-knell for the Resolution. It’s ridiculous to assume that after two entire months of treats which have been validated under the guise of celebration, that one would be able to successfully kick it all the morning of the new year. 

For teachers, the new year really starts in August, so life resolutions are made then. At least I do and I feel I am operating at a great level. It’s a good thing too, because I have to be on my game for the holidays.

In addition to ensuring eight hours of sleep each night, I switched my morning intellectual intake from ESPN to a couple of podcasts that deal with health and fitness. They aren’t boring self-help nonsense, but almost like some morning bro-time with dudes who enjoy crushing life and optimizing their existence. How do you not have a good day after ingesting an hour of motivation with your eggs and coffee? - More...
Tuesday PM - November 14, 2017

ARTHUR MARTIN: Taking Care of Our Own…. Stop Giving Money to Foreign or Out of State Organizations! By ARTHUR MARTIN - I was watching a You Tube video recently and an ad for one of those animal support campaigns came on. You know the one that pulls on your heartstrings and messes with your emotions by showing clips of dogs and cats in cages while simultaneously playing Sarah Mclachlan’s “In the arms of an angel” in the background?

I’ve seen enough of these types of commercials now that they actually make me temporarily angry. To the point that I have to either quickly turn off the commercial or leave the room. Now, before you judge me as neurotic let me explain.

The reason why these types of ads upset me is because they are the epitome of virtue signaling (a term I have used in the past).  - More...
Tuesday PM - November 14, 2017