Ketchikan: Ketchikan's First Baby of 2006 - Emma Victoria Marie Boyd was Ketchikan's first baby of 2006. Emma's parents, Brittany Maxwell and Robert Boyd of Ketchikan, welcomed her into the world on January 1st at 4:37pm.  - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

National: Jubilation, then horror After being told 12 miners safe, families learn only 1 survived By Rick Klein and Susan Milligan, Boston Globe Wednesday AM - January 04, 2005 Ketchikan: Body of missing Ketchikan man found, search for missing Angoon man suspended - The Coast Guard has ended its search for a missing Ketchikan man after his body was found Monday. The search for a missing Angoon man has been suspended. - More... Tuesday AM - January 03, 2005 Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: 2006 round of tax cuts aimed at affluent Americans By DAVID WESTPHAL - More than four years after Congress passed President Bush's centerpiece tax-cut legislation, economists are still arguing over who has benefited the most - the poor, the middle class, or America's most affluent.

But there isn't any doubt about who will be smiling most from the 2006 round of tax cutting: It's the rich, and they're about to get richer.

Starting Jan. 1, two new pieces of Bush's original 2001 tax cut will kick in, both overwhelmingly aimed at households well into six figures of income. One provision would ease restrictions on high wage-earners' ability to fully itemize their tax deductions; the other would relax limits on the value of personal exemptions. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

National: Another year, another tax season By MARY DEIBEL - The Internal Revenue Service is banking on breaking last tax season's record that saw more than half the nation's 135 million taxpayers file electronically with electronic deposit of tax refunds likely to be the next goal.

In announcing that the agency this week will send out 17.7 million tax packages to people who previously filed paper returns, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson said he expects the electronic filing program known as e-file "will continue to grow this year."

He added that taxpayers who use IRS e-file and have tax returns deposited directly to their bank accounts typically get their tax refunds in two weeks tops, less than half the time required to process paper returns. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

National: 'Everybody knows somebody who's in that mine' By PAUL REED WARD AND CINDI LASH - After hearing the news of the mine explosion, at least 30 members of the Bennett family kept vigil at Sago Baptist Church.

With red-rimmed eyes, Bobby Bennett stood close to her family. Her father-in-law, Marty Bennett, was trapped in the Sago mine, where he worked operating a piece of equipment grinding out the coal.

A miner for 30 years, Bennett, 50, of Buckhannon, W.Va., was in the first crew to enter the mine around 6 a.m. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

Science: New study sheds light on what makes hearts stop By LEE BOWMAN - When it comes to heart-stopping events in hospitals, not every patient responds to rescue efforts in the same way, largely because the underlying causes of cardiac arrest vary from patient to patient, researchers report Wednesday.

New insights into patient survival are coming from the findings of the largest study yet to track what happens when a person goes into cardiac arrest in a hospital and undergoes resuscitation. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

National: Washington state high court set to rule on gay rights By WYATT BUCHANAN - When San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom ordered city officials to marry same-sex couples - a defiant act two years ago that soon was emulated in Portland, Ore., and New Paltz, N.Y. - gay rights supporters in Seattle demanded that their elected officials do the same.

Instead, King County Executive Ron Sims placed an unusual phone call.

"He said, 'I don't want to break the law. Will you please sue me to strike down the law?' " said Lisa M. Stone, executive director of the Northwest Women's Law Center. "That's not a call we get very often." - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

Alaska: Research tracks whales by listening to sounds- Researchers have developed a new tool to help them study endangered whales - autonomous hydrophones that can be deployed in the ocean to record the unique clicks, pulses and calls of different whale species.

Those efforts are leading to some surprising findings, including the discovery by a team of researchers of rare right whales swimming in the Gulf of Alaska. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters A New Year's letter to my sisters By Angela Salazar - Tuesday PM Lake Harriet Hunt Trash By Jerry Cegelske - Tuesday PM Trash By Steve Smeltzer - Tuesday PM A Newspaper's responsibility to Protect Its Readers By Mark Neckameyer - Tuesday PM PBS' biased, inaccurate portrayal of people and events By Iliya Pavlovich - Tuesday PM Guard rails and trees falling from the hills By Rhiann Golder - Tuesday PM A Ketchikan 'Auld Lange Syne' By Tori Jackson - Tuesday PM Would enjoy better maintained roads By Caroline Luckey - Monday Faculty vs. Staff in Education By Robert D. Warner - Monday Stimulating the economy By Jay Jones - Monday Dangerfield Earned Respect By Al Johnson - Monday We profess; we teach. We are faculty. By Rod Landis - Friday A Ketchikan 'Auld Lange Syne' By Colleen Scanlon - Friday Native or Indigenous By Don Hoff Jr. - Friday Ketchikan 'Auld Lange Syne' Article By Melissa Miller - Friday First Place Winner By Darlene Guzman - Friday How about an alternative? By Rick Grams - Tuesday PM Portal to somewhere! By David Hull - Tuesday PM RE: Unanswered Questions By Peg Travis - Tuesday PM Vote for Rob Sanderson Jr. - Where experience counts!! By Kevin Kristovich - Tuesday PM "Indigenous" By Janelle Hamilton - Tuesday PM Vote for Rob, He's the man for the job!! By Kevin Kristovich - Monday PM Unanswered Questions By Jay Jones - Monday PM Remember the men and women in uniform By David M. Korkowski - Monday PM Letter To Santa By Jerry Cegelske - Friday PM Holiday Blues & Networking By George Miller - Friday PM Town Tree is Beautiful By Al Johnson - Friday PM Holiday Wishes By Karen & Charlie Jones - Friday PM Heartfelt Thanks for Those who Supported the Toy Drive! By Tyla Williams - Friday PM Thanks to KTGW/KTKN - Gateway 106.7 By Samantha Kuzakin - Friday PM 2005 By Joseph Branco - Friday PM Ketchikan Youth Court By Karen Lybrand - Friday PM Guard Rails & Free Speech By Penny Eubanks - Friday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Tuesday, January 03, 2006 5:30 pm - The Ketchikan Borough Assembly will hold a regular meeting in the City Council Chambers. Agenda & Information Packets Wednesday, January 4, 2006, at noon - The Ketchikan Legislative Liaison CPL Committee will meet in the City Council Chambers to discuss the priority of community projects for submittal to the Legislature. - The meeting is open to the public. Saturday, January 21, 2006, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. - Public Hearing - Petition by the Ketchikan Gateway Borough for Legislative Review - annexation of approximately 4,701 square miles to the Ketchikan Gateway Borough. City Council Chambers, 334 Front Street, Ketchikan, AK Summary & Annexation Petition & Exhibits December Calendar Ketchikan Arts This Week Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report 12/30/05 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements Dec. - Jan. 2006 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S   28 29 30 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 01 02 03         Front Page Archives

Ray Troll: Ray Troll's Top CDs from 2005 - I am sitting at my little desk here in the kitchen on New Years morning at the Troll house, coffee cup in hand, ruminating on last year's music while nursing the throbbing pain in my head with a stiff cup o joe, and slowly plunking away at the keyboard. Never ever mix martinis with red wine in the same evening, but that's another story and a lesson I'm destined to learn over and over again. Oh well. If I was still smoking I'd light up right about now, take a deep drag, look out my window at the little town of Ketchikan down the hill, turn to the imaginary camera documenting my life, squint just a bit, exhale thoughtfully, slowly, and say:

2005, a helluva year for great music. As usual the mainstream airwaves were clogged with pretty innocuous stuff, but if you live in a houseful of music nuts like I do (three of us now do radio shows on our local public radio station KRBD), there's plenty to choose from that's extraordinary, remarkable, refreshing and just plain fun. I continue to be amazed at the number of CDs clogging our shelves here in the house. We seem to get a box every other day from Amazon.com. Were definitely doing our bit to support the flagging music industry. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2006

Martin Schram: Let's play 'Political Jeopardy' - Let's start 2006 with a Washington version of everyone's favorite TV game show: Welcome to "Political Jeopardy."

You know the rules: I read the answer. You, as our contestants, provide the correct question.

Here's the Answer: This U.S. senator is a 2008 presidential hopeful who became famous as the leader of the party's left-most fringe, but is now moving right and fashioning a new image as a "more electable" party mainstreamer.

We'll listen to our monotonous "Political Jeopardy" theme music while you write down your answer. OK, time's up. Let's see what you have written. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2006

Dale McFeatters: They can hear you now - Now that the secret is out about warrantless wiretapping by the National Security Agency, President Bush has been defending its use, but his defense has been so disingenuous as to inspire little confidence.

"If somebody from al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why," said Bush. Fair enough, but the president decided to bypass the legal mechanism to do that - the 11-judge Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Obtaining a warrant from the court is hardly a cumbersome hurdle. Whole years go by without the court denying a warrant. Most warrants are granted within 24 hours. And if agents have to act immediately, they can do so as long as they retroactively apply for the warrant within the next three days. Bush's decision to short-circuit that court has caused one justice to resign.

Bush insists that NSA eavesdropping is confined to only "a few numbers," but published accounts put the number at more than 500 a day. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2006

Jay Ambrose: Terrorist threat not tiny - The terrorist threat? Ha, ha, ha. Why, it amounts to nothing much, posing just a "microscopic risk," says Paul Campos, a law professor, in a column for Scripps Howard News Service. His concern, instead, is over domestic spying - a heinous attack on our civil liberties, he seems to feel - and of getting us out of Iraq quickly.

I myself think any domestic wiretapping should absolutely rely on court orders as the law sensibly requires, but what is really microscopic is the percentage of Americans who chat with overseas terrorists and are therefore subject to this federal eavesdropping.

The terrorist threat, on the other hand, is real and could destroy American civilization, as we are taught by focused, studious, empirically based investigation - by the kinds of hard facts and expert analyses shrugged off by people like Campos. - More...
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2006

Paul Campos: An unsustainable double standard - "Give me liberty or give me death," Patrick Henry defiantly declared at the dawn of the American republic. In the light of recent comments from some of America's present-day leaders, it appears that Henry was laboring under a misapprehension. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, responding to critics of President Bush's apparently illegal domestic spying program, has reminded us that "none of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead," while Sen. Trent Lott answered criticisms of the program from fellow Republicans by declaring, "I want my security first. I'll deal with all the details after that."

Updated for contemporary use, Henry's quote would read, "Give me liberty, or give me a slight theoretical decrease in the already microscopic risk I face from terrorism. On second thought, forget about liberty." While this revised version does not roll trippingly off the tongue, it captures the logic of the Bush administration's foreign policy.

This policy features a fundamental contradiction. On the one hand, hundreds of thousands of American soldiers are being ordered to risk their lives in Iraq, while their families shoulder enormous emotional and economic hardships. On the other, they're required to do this while the leaders of a nation made up of what our government seems to assume are hedonistic cowards emit squeaks of fear such as those that escaped Sens. Cornyn and Lott last week. - More....
Tuesday PM - January 03, 2006