Ketchikan: Chamber Clarifies Position Regarding Member's Remarks - Friday the Board President of the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce clarified the Chamber's position regarding inappropriate statements made by one of its members, J.C. Conley, at the organization's luncheon meeting Wednesday. Board President Joe Johnston said, "We understand that some comments made at the meeting this week regarding Newtown development were of concern to some of our members and members of the general public." - More... Friday PM - January 20, 2006 Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

Ketchikan: Residents' Input In Newtown Development Plan Too Hot For Some; However, Hope Shown for Opening Dialog By MARIE L. MONYAK - Invited guests wouldn't typically expect to be treated in an ornery or inhospitable manner, however two guests speaking before the Greater Ketchikan Chamber of Commerce Wednesday faced a scorching verbal crossfire from a chamber member interrupting their presentation.

Bobbie McCreary, speaking before the Chamber regarding potential development plans for Newtown if the proposed IV Berth Dock is built, was at first mistakenly introduced as being with the Newtown Historical Neighborhood Association - a group that she and Dave Rubin are currently working to help organize to help give Newtown property owners input into how the area is developed. - More...
Friday - January 20, 2006

Alaska: Web post urges jihadists to attack Alaska pipeline By WESLEY LOY - A recent posting on a Web site purportedly affiliated with al Qaeda urges attacks against the trans-Alaska oil pipeline and Valdez tanker dock, calling on jihadists to either shower the pipe with bullets or hide and detonate explosives along its length.

The unknown author encourages small cells of four or five mujahedeen, or Muslim guerrillas, living in the United States or in Canada or Mexico to mount the attacks.

The 10-page posting includes numerous links to Web sites providing maps and other basic information about the pipeline. - More...
Friday - January 20, 2006

National: Congress intensifies attack on budget earmarks By LIZ RUSKIN - Earmarks, those special sentences Sen. Ted Stevens has slipped into spending bills to steer billions of dollars to Alaska, are under attack.

"It's got to be stopped. It's completely out of control," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said of the widespread practice this week. McCain has railed against earmarks for years, saying these line-item additions to appropriations bills - inserted by the thousands, often late in a bill's journey - allow individual lawmakers to waste taxpayer dollars on pork-barrel projects.

But in recent days several prominent Republicans have joined McCain. They are calling for earmark reform as part of the remedy for the ills revealed by the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

"The earmark procedure allows powerful leaders to put provisions in, quite frankly, in secret, in backroom deals, that most members don't even know about. And we need to clean that up and end that practice," said Arizona Rep. John Shadegg, who is campaigning to be the next House Republican leader. - More...
Friday - January 20, 2006

Science: Digging up clues in fight against antiobiotic-resistant germs By LEE BOWMAN - Heard the latest dirt?

A new study suggests that the average shovel full of soil has bacteria with the potential to make the most potent antibiotic drugs worthless. But the microbes also may be key to finding new ways to avoid the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant germs.

Soil bacteria, and particularly strains called actinomycetes, living in close contact with many other bacteria, develop their own natural antibiotics to survive. - More...
Friday - January 20, 2006

Science: Now pay attention By LEE BOWMAN - A new study of owls' eyes and ears is helping to explain how animals focus on the noise from what they're looking at amidst a cacophony of sounds.

"What our experiment demonstrates is a fundamental principle of how the brain pays attention," said Eric Knudsen, a professor of neurobiology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and lead author of the study published Thursday in the journal Nature.

The study showed that the brain circuits that process auditory information are influenced powerfully by circuits that control where the animal is looking. The researchers also found that a brain mechanism used to prioritize information - previously documented only in primates - is also found in birds. - More...
Friday - January 20, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters STIP & Bridges to the Future By Mike Barton - Friday PM We need to work together By Bobbie McCreary - Friday PM Chamber guests deserve a public apology By Joann Flora  - Friday PM Emerald Bay timber sale By Tom and Jackie Timm - Friday PM The being "uncompassionate" issue By Theresa Cullen - Friday PM Antifreeze, batteries, shot gun shells... By Jerry Cegelske - Friday AM Intoxicated driver = Possible tragedy By John Maki - Friday AM Re: "Uncompassionate towards suffering" By Mark Neckameyer - Friday AM KIC election rules By Elroy C. Edenshaw, Jr. - Friday AM American Pit Bull Terrier Misunderstood By Tina Greenup - Friday AM RAUWOLF COMMENDATION FOR HERRING ARTICLE By Pete Ellis - Thursday Let's Save for a Rainy Day! By Robert D. Warner - Thursday PRIVILAGE OR RIGHT? By Tony Alenskis - Thursday Uncompassionate towards suffering By Tommy D. Bergeron - Thursday Ye Olde "Anti-Bridge" By Kevin Mackey - Thursday Throwing rocks from a distance By Rick Watson - Thursday An expose on the history and controversy surrounding commercial herring management in Southeast Alaskan fisheries (excluding Sitka Sound)- A Public Point of View By Andy Rauwolf - Tuesday What do Tourists think of Ketchikan, and how can we improve it? By Bobbie McCreary- Tuesday We're All Wrong By Robert McRoberts- Tuesday New Town "proactive" planning By Chris Elliott- Tuesday Importance of Visible Street Numbers By Scott R. Davis - Monday AM At Taxpayers' Expense By Don Hoff Jr. - Monday AM McRoberts' economic development plans By Don Hoff Jr. - Monday AM New marine service center By Beverly Anderson - Saturday 45 Neighbors meet to discuss future plans for NewTown By Bobbie McCreary - Saturday Sanderson Best Choice By Dorothy Nix - Saturday Open letter to KIC citizens: Reasons Tribal members need to vote on January 16th By Rob Sanderson, Jr. - Saturday VERIFY! By Virginia E. Atkinson - Saturday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan 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 Tuesday, January 24, 2006, from 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm - Zoning for the Newtown Area Commercial & Residential meeting is scheduled - 640 Park Avenue (across from the American Legion). More meeting information January Calendar Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements January 2006 Click on the date to read the stories 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 31         Front Page Archives

Ketchikan: Toys donated to local organizations - Now that the Christmas season is over, many may believe that the spirit of giving is over as well. This, however is not the case in Ketchikan. The Plaza Shopping Center has recently donated over $700.00 of new toys to organizations in the community and children who find themselves spending time with the folks at Women In Safe Homes (WISH), The Office Of Children Services and The Harley Riders Association will have a few more toys to play with in 2006. - More...
Friday AM - January 20, 2006

Dave Kiffer: And the Drip Goes On - Anyone else out there "relieved" that it finally sunned on Seattle earlier this week?

I think we'd all grown a little tired of the constant "drip-drip-drip" of news stories about Seattle's recent swim toward a record of consecutive rainy days.

The deluge of stories made me think that perhaps the mayor of Seattle's name was Noah and that Pacific Northwest was really somewhere in the Sumerian province of Shuruppak, but of course, I digress.

It turned out that Seattle fell a few drizzles short of its all-time record when the rain stopped on the 28th day, off of the mark. Some Seattle residents actually expressed disappointment that the old streak - like Joltin' Joe DiMaggio's - lives on. Bummer.

But the "runoff" from the wet-hand ringing stories even reached me in dry-as-a-bone Anaheim, California last week. - More...
Friday AM - January 20, 2006

The Arts This Week - This week in Ketchikan... Friday Night Insight Program at the SE Alaska Discovery Center, 7 - 8pm, January 20th "Exploring the Big Island - Prince of Wales Island, AK" presented by Dennis Benson of the US Forest Service.

Dance Dance Dance!!! Instructor Jerry Pierce will lead several dances at the Rec Center from 7-9 pm on Friday, January 20th. The dances will include Rumba, Tango, swing, and some help with Salsa moves. A suggested donation at the door of $5 will be accepted. - More...
Friday AM - January 20, 2006

Ann McFeatters: The Rice Doctrine - When Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice leaves her post, probably in January 2009, she will have forged a dramatically different foreign policy for the United States.

The stiletto-heeled proponent of the Rice Doctrine is fond of pinning interestingly artful sobriquets on her ideas. For example, the policy of U.S. agents snatching suspects off the streets in foreign countries and taking them to third countries that sometimes practice torture to force revelation of information is called "rendition." Rice staunchly defends it.

The policy of starting wars with troublesome enemies is called "pre-emptive action." She's a big proponent when the administration deems it necessary.

Now she has come forth with "transformational diplomacy." The idea is not just to have diplomats stationed in foreign posts report to the United States what is going on around them, but to have them act to influence what goes on in host nations to spur the emergence of democracy. - More...
Friday AM - January 20, 2006

Dan Thomasson: Congress pretends to reform - Old congressmen never die. They just go to the House and Senate gyms and push special interests - but maybe not for long now.

It looks as though Congress is going to clean up its act when it comes to outside influence. But don't expect squeaky-clean. There are loopholes allowing lawmakers to escape into the seemingly uncontrollable world of campaign finance, where most political evil originates, that may diminish the efforts. - More...
Friday AM - January 20, 2006

Dale McFeatters: Ethics are more than just rules - Congressional Republicans and Democrats have offered dueling ethics-reform proposals - in the Republicans' case, to try to stem the Abramoff lobbying scandal; and in the Democrats' case, to exploit it.

First, the Republicans had to clear up a bit of awkwardness, replacing Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, who could be the next shoe to drop in the Abramoff probe, as chairman of the House committee that will handle the reforms.

Many of the proposals are worthwhile and - temporarily - could improve the ethical climate in Congress. Some of those include: a ban on "dead of night" insertions in bills; a waiting period between the time a bill emerges from committee and the final vote, to give members a chance to read what they're voting on; banning former members who have become lobbyists from the House floor; and timely, accessible disclosure of trips aboard private aircraft. - More...
Friday AM - January 20, 2006