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Monday
March 03, 2014
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Deer Mt. Winter Fireworks 2014
The 14th annual Deer Mountain Winter Fireworks display took place Saturday night. Ken Arriola is the founder and has been the director of the annual Deer Mountain Winter Fireworks display since 2001.
Front Page Photograph By CHARLES HABERBUSH ©2014
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Ketchikan: Intoxicated man arrested after crashing in yard - The Alaska State Troopers and Saxman VPSO were notified Friday evening of a 911 REDDI report in the 300 block of South Tongass Highway of a truck being driven off the roadway and into the yard of a residence causing damage. The driver left behind portions of the rear cargo and front bumper in the yard when leaving the area.
The Alaska State Troopers were able to locate the driver William Rivera, age 25 of Saxman, in the 2700 block of South Tongass Highway where his truck stopped due to a buoy rope getting wrapped around the rear axle. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
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Fish Factor: Acidic ocean having an effect on survival and growth of shellfish By LAINE WELCH - Just as Nero fiddled while Rome burned, US policy makers are quibbling over climate issues as bivalves dissolve in an increasingly corrosive Pacific Ocean.
Any kid’s chemistry set will show that big changes are occurring in seawater throughout the world. As the oceans absorb more carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning outputs (primarily coal), it increases acidity to a point where shellfish can’t survive. It is referred to as ocean acidification (OA) and results in sea creatures’ inability to grow skeletons and protective shells. The process occurs much faster in colder climes.
West coast scallops are the latest bivalves to feel the bite. Ten million tiny scallops have died in waters off Victoria, British Columbia, reported the Parksville Qualicum Beach News.
Nanaimo-based Island Scallops, a grow-out hatchery with 1,235 acres in production, has shut down its processing plant and laid off a third of its workforce. That accounts for about 16 per cent of B.C.’s total shellfish aquaculture valued at $10 million.
Island Scallops started seeing problems in 2009 along with other Washington hatcheries, said CEO Rob Saunders.
“Suddenly we were getting these low pH values. That level has been so stable that for many years no one bothered to measure it because it never changed. It was really startling,” he told the News.
Early last year the company counted three million scallops seeded in 2010 and seven million from 2011, and was gearing up for processing. But the shellfish started to die and by July the losses reached 95 per cent. Other local growers faced the same fate.
“The high acidity in the local waters interferes with everything they do, their basic physiology is affected,” said Chris Harley, a marine ecologist at the University of B.C.
Growers are artificially increasing the pH levels of the water that circulates through the hatcheries to protect the larvae, but that is little help to the shellfish once they are moved to the sea.
The B.C. Shellfish Growers Association stated that the acidic ocean is increasingly having an effect on survival and growth of shellfish during grow out in the ocean, and that last year mortalities reached 90% in all year classes.
Pacific oysters also are one of the most vulnerable to the ocean corrosion. In 2005, growers first noticed oyster failures in natural sets in Willapa Bay in southern Puget Sound, and production was off by 80% by 2009.
“The oysters still grow a shell; it’s just that it dissolves from the outside faster than they can grow it. So eventually they lose the race and they die,” said Bill Dewey of Taylor Shellfish Farms with 11,000 acre in Shelton, Washington. It is the nation’s largest shellfish producer with 500 employees.
Growers there have learned that wind direction tells them when to plug intake pipes to the shellfish holding tanks. When the wind shifts from south to north, they know they have about a 24 hour window before corrosive waters show up. Meanwhile, Taylor is planning to move more of its oyster operations to Hawaii.
Closer to home, researchers are seeing signs of corrosion in tiny shrimp-like pteropods – which make up 45% of the diet of Alaska pink salmon.
Carbon dioxide has passed 400 parts per million in the Earth’s atmosphere, according to measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory. That’s up from 280 ppm in the pre-industrial era. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
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Alaska: Lt. Gov. Treadwell Certifies Marijuana, Minimum Wage Initiatives – Lt. Governor Mead Treadwell announced the certification of the citizen initiatives 13PSUM, “An Act to tax and regulate the production, sale, and use of marijuana”; and 13MINW, “An Act increasing the Alaska minimum wage to $8.75 per hour effective January 1, 2015, $9.75 per hour effective January 1, 2016, and thereafter adjusted annually for inflation.”
The Division of Elections completed its review of signatures of each initiative and determined they meet constitutional and statutory requirements for initiative petitions.
Treadwell notified the primary sponsor of 13PSUM, Timothy Hinterberger of Anchorage, the primary sponsor of 13MINW, Ed Flanagan of Juneau, as well as the Senate President and the Speaker of the House.
The lieutenant governor signed the certificates after consultation with the Division of Elections, which determined the signature booklets included a sufficient number of sponsor signatures, and the Department of Law, which concluded that the proposed bills are in the proper form under Article XI of the Alaska Constitution and AS 15.45. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Ketchikan: Federal subsistence fishery for eulachon closed in federal waters within District 1 - The Ketchikan-Misty Fiords District Ranger Jeff DeFreest, under authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board, is closing the Federal public waters that flow into District 1 to the taking of eulachon from 12:01 a.m., Monday, March 3, 2014 until 11:59 p.m., May 1, 2014 due to anticipated low eulachon returns. Any eulachon caught in this area must be immediately returned into the water unharmed. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has also closed State eulachon fisheries in District 1 beginning February 19, 2014.
Few eulachon have returned to the Burroughs Bay area since 2005. Similar closures have been issued by the USDA Forest Service for eulachon within the Burroughs Bay area from 2005 through 2013.
The eulachon life cycle is typically a five year period. Based on returns observed the last three years it is not likely a harvestable surplus will be present in 2014. It is anticipated that all eulachon returning to District 1 during 2014 will be needed for spawning to rebuild area eulachon populations. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014 |
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Alaska Science: Whales, ships more common through Bering Strait By Hannah Hickey - The Arctic is home to a growing number of whales and ships, and to populations of sub-Arctic whales that are expanding their territory into newly ice-free Arctic waters.
Bering Strait
Courtesy NASA
A study of the narrow passage of the Bering Strait uses underwater microphones to track the whales by their sounds. Three years of recordings reveal more detections of both Arctic and sub-Arctic whales traveling through the narrow choke point.
Kate Stafford, an oceanographer with the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory, will present the results Feb. 26 at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Honolulu.
The recordings show Arctic beluga and bowhead whales migrating seasonally through the region from the Arctic south to spend winter in the Bering Sea. They also detect large numbers of sub-Arctic humpback, fin and killer whales traveling north through the Bering Strait to feed in the biologically rich Chukchi Sea.
“It’s not particularly surprising to those of us who work up in the Arctic,” Stafford said. “The Arctic seas are changing. We are seeing and hearing more species, farther north, more often. And that’s a trend that is going to continue.” - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Columns - Commentary
 JEFF LUND: From good to great - Sometimes you have one of those days.
No, not one of those days you need everyone to clear a path and midnight to come with a quickness, one of those days the world lets you on the other side of the velvet rope. It’s the type of day that makes up for the hours sitting in torturous general education classes freshman year, or getting back to the dock on your kicker because the main engine caught cholera and shut down six hours ago.
Days like this balance out the one you lost because you were melancholy over breaking up with the right one or after realizing you were going after the wrong one.
It’s one of those days which make you a supreme optimist. Optimist Prime. It’s also the type of day that makes you not care about cheesy jokes, puns, titles or allusions.
Put simply, it’s a day that works out better than planned.
Mine started with the idea to snowshoe up my favorite hike, then reacquaint myself with snowboarding. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014 |
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 Ketchikan Government Parties Down By Rodney Dial -
The average low wage worker in Ketchikan brings home about $6.20 per hour after taxes and various deductions are taken out. With the recent sales tax increase that will soon take effect, low income citizens will work over an hour to pay their sales tax for every $100 they spend. Spend $100 in groceries… work an hour for the local government. Spend $1000 in rent… work six hours for the government… and so on. How many people realize that sales tax is factored into the gas you buy? If a retailer sells gas for $4 a gallon, your price at the pump will soon be $4.26. Our city sales tax rate is going to 6.5%, the second highest in the state out of over 300 communities. The city sales tax is increasing because the Ketchikan City Government claims it is flat broke… out of money… running on reserves and would have to cut services if they didn’t raise taxes. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Alaska: State of Confusion By Tara Jollie -
The Education Session, the Gasline Project, the Fiscal Cliff, which is it? Can legislators pick one and get something done during this legislative session? Alaska’s future depends on it. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
No to Chloramine! By Chevell Lamar - I’m a freshman at Ketchikan High School, and I’d like to talk to you about the dramatic effects of Chloramine. Did you know that chlorinates are derivatives of ammonia by substitution of one, two or three hydrogen atoms with chlorine atoms? I’m reasonably sure that you all know what chlorine is, and if you don’t it is the stuff we use to chemically balance pools, but you wouldn't want to drink the pool water would you? - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
We are getting soaked and poisoned By Ed Plute -
There will be a meeting at the Ted Ferry Civic Center at 6:00 pm on the 5th of March concerning our water problems and what we can do. Bob Bowcock will be there. He is a lead researcher for the Erin Brockovich team. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Power demand By A. M. Johnson - Regarding area power demand solution: Here we go again! Today's (3/1/14) Ketchikan Daily News carries the various reports of the community elected official group priority "Community Needs" trip to the legislature. It was interesting to read that the Governor is aware of the hydro issues and requirements with farsightedness to encourage the Ketchikan contingency to get its act together including looking outside the box. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Postal Woes By Kathy Fitzgerald -
I'm not so sure that Senator Begich has earned the thanks of the Ketchikan community yet. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Chloramine By Michelle Anderson -
Please do not subject Ketchikan's citizens to chloramine in their tap water. I will never forget my six-year-old son grabbing his stomach and screaming. I will also never forget having the shower water hit my forehead and feel like hot burning acid. My gut swelled to twice its normal size. I later discovered it was the chloraminated tap water making us both sick. After we stopped drinking our tap water, and after I stopped using it on my face, we both got better. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
RE: Explanation please! By Kasia Polanska Thank you Gina Palmer for taking the time to read my letter regarding the firing of the KTB artistic director and for responding to it. I agree that the KTB is a wonderful organization and I feel fortunate that we have the ballet school in our community. However, I respectfully disagree that the actions taken by its Board are above all criticism. I feel that parents like me, who support KTB by getting their children involved in ballet, paying tuition, and voting for the board members, have a right to know the reasons for its decisions. As a matter of fact, I am assuming that you were not given the reason either and do not know what happened behind the closed doors. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
More Bigfoot sightings than Dan Sullivan sightings in Ketchikan By Tom Schulz -
I call Ketchikan home. I have for years. And former Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Dan Sullivan’s recent trip here tells me a lot about someone who wants our vote. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
RE: The Fair Tax INCREASES WELFARE By Wiley Brooks -
Mr. Eldridge standard introductory remarks are very telling: “I am a retired lifetime tax consulting professional (JD, LLM in Taxation, CPA, co-author of a 3 volume tax treatise, lecturer), with no financial stake in ANY tax system.” His credentials are very impressive. But, there are professionals with equally impressive experience and credentials in taxation matters who believe strongly it is time to abandon a tax on income and the FairTax legislation offers the best answer. Many of the nation’s leading university, business and law-focused economists, including Nobel Laureate Vernon L. Smith discredit Mr. Eldridge arguments. If you want the most thoroughly researched truth on the Fair Tax I suggest a visit to www.FairTax.org. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
RE: The Fair Tax INCREASES WELFARE By David Boone -
For some reason Stephen Eldridge has taken it upon himself to be a one man wrecking crew whenever he gets a Google Alert that someone has said something in print favorable to the FairTax. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
Every citizen should fear the IRS By Roy Newsom - When Marx and Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848, they presented ten steps necessary to destroy any free enterprise system and replace it with Communism. Step number two is to establish a heavy progressive or graduated income tax. At that time, this country did not have an income tax. It took 65 years for the progressives to sell it to the American people. Back then, it was hard to realize the dangers it brought to this nation. Today, we can see why Marxism considers it a necessary tool to bring down any productive nation and turn it into a Socialist State. - More...
Monday PM - March 03, 2014
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