'Up
on the Roof Top?'
Front Page Photo by Carl Thompson
Southeast Alaska: Coast
Guard continues to assist Independence; 325-foot fish processing
ship lost steering and began drifting - A Coast Guard C-130
is on scene this evening with the Independence and Coast Guard
cutters are continuing to the vessel's position. The 325-foot
fish processing ship lost steering and began drifting earlier
today in the Gulf of Alaska. - More...
Monday - March 21, 2005 - 7:35 pm
Ketchikan: Man
held for brutal assault and robbery - According to information
released by Public Safety Director Rich Leipfert of the Ketchikan
Police Department, a man is being held today at the Ketchikan
Correctional Center on First Degree Robbery, First Degree Assault,
Second Degree Theft and Violation of Conditions of Release. -
More...
Monday - March 21, 2005 - 2:25 pm
Southeast Alaska: Coast
Guard rushing to save hundreds aboard drifting ship - Crews
aboard two Coast Guard cutters and a C-130 aircraft are rushing
to assist 204 fishers aboard a 325-foot fish processing ship
drifting aimlessly in the Gulf of Alaska at this hour. (1:00
pm AST)
The Coast Guard received a
report earlier this morning from crewmembers aboard the Seattle-based
processor Independence report an engineering problem with one
of the ship's three rudders. - More...
Monday - March 21, 2005 - 1:05 pm
Alaska: Recent
Consumer Information Theft at ChoicePoint Prompts
Bill to Protect Consumer Privacy - Today four Alaska legislators
introduced legislation to require that companies notify consumers
when their personal or financial information has been stolen.
In February ChoicePoint, Inc., a Georgia-based financial database
company admitted personal information affecting almost 150,000
consumers had been stolen. Recently, the company admitted
it knew of this breach since the fall, and had delayed letting
consumers, including 251 Alaskans, know about the breach
until last month. - More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
Alaska: Stiffed
Seafood Workers to Get Partial Paychecks; Processor Forfeits
$10,000 Bond; Faces $178,000 Court Judgement - Alaska seafood
processor workers cheated out of pay and travel expenses after
their employer closed suddenly last summer will get partial payback
this spring, thanks to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce
Development. - More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
National: Rubella
no longer a major threat in U.S. By Lee Bowman - Federal
officials declared Monday that the rubella virus, scourge of
the baby boomers as the German measles, no longer poses a major
public-health threat in the United States.
Still, this is no time to stop
getting vaccinated, they warned. -
More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
International: Water
scarcity, contamination could become wave of the future -
As the planet prepares to mark the 13th annual World Water Day
on Tuesday, water scarcity and contamination are becoming both
an increasing economic threat to industry and a growing business
opportunity, experts said. - More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
Columns - Commentary
 Star Parker: Social
Security reform threatened by elitist liberals - President
Bush's Social Security initiative has gotten off to a shaky start.
However, polls indicate that voters are warming up to the idea
of personal retirement accounts. It's time for the Bush administration
to start making crystal clear the core principles that distinguish
its approach on Social Security reform from that of Democrats.
Whereas Bush is selling his
reform under the theme of an "ownership society," I
would call the Democratic alternative the "plantation society."
The "plantation society" is characterized by a wealthy
class of owners who want to limit the choices, opportunities
and freedom of working-class Americans.-
More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
 Linda Seebach: A
compelling look at China today - In his new book "China
Inc.," Ted Fishman explores the consequences of what he
calls "the largest migration in human history " - the
hundreds of millions of people from rural China flooding into
the cities, and not incidentally away from subsistence farming
and into the global economy.
Officially, China's gross domestic
product in 2003 was $1.4 trillion, making it the seventh-largest
economy in the world. But that figure is far too low, Fishman
says. For one thing - a very big thing - it does not include
the underground economy, whose size is by definition unknown
but certain to be vast. Second, that number relies on the formal
exchange rate, but the Chinese currency is pegged to the dollar
and substantially undervalued. In terms of purchasing power,
$1 spent in China buys "about what $4.70 does in Indianapolis."
- More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
 James K. Glassman: On
the verge of a telecom revolution - At long last, 21 years
after a judge broke up Ma Bell, Americans are on the brink of
getting the telecommunications they deserve.
Exactly which technologies
will dominate in the next few years, I have no idea. Voice Over
Internet (VoIP), wireless broadband, superfast DSL, satellite,
cable telephony? If all goes well, the choice, finally, will
be in the hands of consumers, rather than regulators, judges
and legislators who left the job half-done. Americans will benefit
from fierce competition among serious, well-funded companies
and choose for themselves the best products at the lowest cost.
-
More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
 Bonnie Erbe: A
last abandonment of principle - The next time you hear a
Republican who voted in favor of the "Prolong the Schiavo"
misery bill stumping for states' rights, one word and one word
only should come to mind: "prevaricator." Of course,
Democrats lie, too. But more often than not, they make the politically
unacceptable mistake of sticking to partisan principles.
When I was coming of age, Republicans
stood for two things that made the party appealing to me. The
first issue was states' rights (to wit, giving local government
control over local issues) and the second issue was a balanced
budget. Since the rightward lurch of the GOP, members have dropped
both stands with such wanton abandon as to make the party unrecognizable.
- More...
Monday - March 21, 2005
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