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Saturday
April 13, 2013
Merganser Taking Flight on Ward Lake
Front Page Photo By RYAN BUDDE ©2013
(Please respect the rights of photographers, never republish or copy
without permission and/or payment of required fees.)
Ketchikan: Ketchikan Medical Center Among Top 2% of Critical Access Hospitals -
For the second year in a row, PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center was named among the top Critical Access Hospitals in the nation, ranking in the top 2% of more than 1,300 hospitals. Ketchikan Medical Center is one of only two Alaskan hospitals to be among the Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals, which are considered the best rural hospitals; serving as safety-nets for their rural communities.
(L to R) Marina Rowe, Aimee McClory & Karen Afonso from Ketchikan Medical Center’s Emergency Department.
Photograph courtesy PKMC
“More and more, our Medical Center is being called upon to provide care for residents across southern Southeast Alaska,” said Patrick Branco, CEO of Ketchikan Medical Center. “Our caregivers strive to provide every person with safe, compassionate care; close to home. I believe it is a well-deserved honor for our staff to be recognized nationally once again.”
PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center is a 25-bed, critical access hospital offering comprehensive trauma care, outpatient and home health services, and a 29-bed long-term care facility. In partnership with the City of Ketchikan, KMC provides the southern Southeast Alaska region with critical health care services including general and orthopedic surgery; obstetrics and gynecology; birthing center; diagnostic imaging, laboratory; physical, occupational and speech therapies; long-term care; and a sleep study center. In addition, PeaceHealth Medical Group provides primary and specialty care in both Ketchikan and Prince of Wales as well as specialists visits throughout southern Southeast Alaska.
“As the provision of care in our region has expanded and changed, so has the breadth and quality of services delivered at Ketchikan Medical Center,” commented Shannon Updike, Vice President of Patient Care Services. “Receiving this award is a true testament to the level of exceptional care and dedication our caregivers deliver on a daily basis, and we are so pleased to be recognized in this way.” - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Ketchikan: Ketchikan's James Scott Named Juneau District Attorney - The Alaska Department of Law announced Friday that James Scott will replace Dave Brower as Juneau District Attorney.
Scott is currently an assistant district attorney in the Ketchikan District Attorney’s Office. He has worked for the department in that capacity since 1999. Prior to that, he worked in Illinois for several years as a prosecutor and in private practice.
“Mr. Scott has had a great deal of experience and success handling all levels and types of criminal cases from traffic offenses to domestic violence cases to murder trials,” said Deputy Attorney General Rick Svobodny. “He is a dedicated prosecutor who will serve the Juneau community well as district attorney.” - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
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Southeast Alaska: New turboprop enables greater range of medical response in Southeast Alaska - Beginning May 1, Airlift Northwest will station a Turbo Commander aircraft in Juneau, allowing the medical transport service to reach more people living in outlying rural communities in Southeast Alaska.
Airlift has served Southeast Alaska for over 30 years transporting critically ill or injured patients to specialty care in Anchorage or Seattle, and will continue this service. Airlift currently operates a Learjet, which has limitations landing in smaller communities due to shorter airport runways.
The Turbo Commander is better suited to land on shorter runways allowing improved access to the smaller community airports based in Gustavas, Haines, Hoonah, Kake, Prince of Wales Island and Skagway.
“Airlift Northwest is dedicated to saving lives by providing pre-hospital emergency treatment on the ground and in the air,” said Chris Martin, executive director. “In response to requests for improved access to medical transport from providers in Southeast Alaska, we are pleased to offer this new service.”
“The turboprop will allow us to access patients who, in the past, have had to make their way to an area where we could get them in the Learjet. Now we won’t see that delay,” said Dr. Richard Utarnachitt, medical director for Airlift. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Southeast Alaska: Sealaska’s land legislation scheduled for U.S. Senate subcommittee Hearing - The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Public Lands has scheduled a hearing on S. 340, the Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act, for April 25, 2013. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the legislation.
The Senate bill results from robust public dialogue related to previous land legislation introduced in the last two Congresses and reflects more than 100 significant revisions responding to concerns posed by numerous individuals and groups notes Sealaska in a press release.
“This legislation provides unprecedented public access to Sealaska lands in perpetuity for the purposes of recreation, subsistence gathering and education,” said Sealaska President and CEO Chris E. McNeil, Jr. “It is a collaborative interaction of stakeholders, honors the intent of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and is a strong conservation bill.”
According to Sealaska, the Senate bill now secures 150,000 acres of newly designated conservation lands, adding to the 87% of the Tongass forest already in federal conservation. It also achieves a net benefit to the Tongass by removing more than 118,000 acres of old growth and 255,000 acres of inventoried roadless from potential selection. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013 |
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Fish Factor: Crab Detectives By LAINE WELCH - Did you know that red king crabs are cannibals and eat their babies, but blue king crabs do not? Or that deep water golden king crabs along the Aleutian Islands are almost indestructible and appear to resist the effects of ocean acidification?
Those are just a few of the secrets being revealed at the nation’s top king crab research lab in Kodiak. Scientists at the Near Island center handle the yearly Bering Sea king crab surveys and use samples to study their biology and breeding. They hope to find clues about why king crab stocks are not returning to Kodiak, and why recruitment is so low and slow at Bristol Bay.
Right now the researchers are studying crab diets.
“Not much has been done on that because crabs eat everything. They shred it. So we are trying to identify it with genetic signatures. To find out what they are eating helps us understand what’s out there. ,” said Bob Foy, director of the NOAA/Kodiak lab. “It helps us understand if the environment is producing enough food to the bottom of the ocean. What they’ve found in the Bering Sea is that there are cycles. If we understand the production of the ocean ecosystem, it can help predict how well the crab stocks might do.”
The researchers recently learned that while female king crabs lay hundreds of thousands of eggs, their viability can vary extremely over time. Foy said that discovery has changed the way the stocks are surveyed. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Column - Commentaries
 Money Matters: INVESTING BASICS: STOCKS AND BONDS - Part #1: Bonds By Mary Lynne Dahl, CFP® - Investing in stocks and bonds should be a long-term plan of accumulating financial assets that can help support you as you get older. Retirement is probably the biggest reason most people invest at all, so getting educated about how to invest in stocks and bonds is basic to accumulating those assets.
In this article, I will begin by explaining how bonds work.
Bonds are “debt instruments”; they represent loans that you make as the buyer, to the seller of the bonds. Bonds are sold by governments and by corporations, usually in increments of $1,000.
Bonds pay interest, like a bank or credit union account. They do not ordinarily grow in value, however; they have a set value, called “par”, usually in denominations of $100 or $1,000. When you buy a bond, it promises to pay a rate of interest for a period of time. At the end of that period of time, called the maturity date, you are supposed to get your principal back at “par value” ($100 or $1,000 per bond).
Some government bonds are guaranteed but corporate bonds are not. None are federally insured, like credit union or bank deposits, but some municipal bonds are insured by private insurance policies, for payment of the promised interest and return of principal at the maturity date. US Treasury bonds are backed by the full faith and credit (and taxing power) of the federal government, so they are considered the least risky type of bonds to purchase. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
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Viewpoints
Commentary
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Questions, please contact
the editor at editor@sitnews.us or call 617-9696
Sitnews reserves the right to edit.
 State of Alaska Denies Herring Forage Fish Status By Michael Baines -
Currently Pacific herring are acknowledged as a keystone forage fish species that is responsible for maintaining the health of the marine ecosystem in the waters of California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia (BC). As you cross the maritime boundary between BC and Alaska herring lose their forage fish status and become just another commercially harvested finfish. At a recent Board of Fish meeting in Anchorage, the Board heard testimony from fishery managers, the herring industry and the public on a proposal that would have acknowledged herring as a forage fish by adding them to the State’s Forage Fish Management Plan (FFMP). - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Herring Fisheries By Andy Rauwolf - We don't get news from Canada very often, especially when related to their herring management. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has stated repeatedly that our herring harvest policy is based on and patterned after the "conservative" management plan designed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in B.C. This fisherman's letter illustrates just how far reaching the degradation of the North Pacific's coastal waters has become, thanks to the failed policies of both British Columbia and Alaska. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Marriage Equality for Gay Couples By Chuck Anziulewicz -
While it's true that the Constitution doesn't define "marriage," the federal government has complicated the issue by taking a vested interest in married couples for the purposes of tax law and Social Security (among the 1,138 legal benefits, protections, and responsibilities that are automatically bestowed on couples once they marry). Therefore this is not an issue that can be left up to the states to decide individually, since it wouldn't do for a Gay couple that is legally married in Iowa, for instance, to become automatically UN-married once they decide to move somewhere else. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Where is your honor and decency Jarvis? By Hamilton Gelhar -
From my understanding of Jesus Christ's teachings he taught love and kindness. Jesus taught love your neighbor as you love yourself. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Offensive By Edelweiss Serlin -
I just finished reading the Viewpoints Opinion letter entitled "An open letter to the US Supreme Court, RE: Proposed legal rights for those that practice homosexual sex." I found this letter to be highly offensive and feel that it should not have been published on Sitnews. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Oil tax revenues By Victoria McDonald -
Vic Fischer, a long time Alaskan, Anchorage city planner, and one of 55 citizens who drafted the Alaska constitution, released "To Russia with Love" in 2012. Vic's words on the struggles with the oil industry are especially pertinent as we face falling State revenues. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Open Letter: Strongly Oppose SB 21 By Joe Samaniego and Chaz Rivas -
As students, we are writing to express our strong opposition to SB 21, which would reduce the price that oil companies pay to Alaska residents for our oil. This legislation represents a multi-billion dollar theft which will eviscerate Alaska’s secondary and higher education system while compromising our state’s economic competitiveness. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
Poor and middle class won't suffer under FairTax By Dr. Walter Wesley Snyder V - Some clarification of the FairTax is in order. I have read from several forums where people state the poor and middle class will suffer under FairTax. The poor and middle class are not put into hardship with this transparent tax. In fact, these two groups are better off with FairTax as they will have more spending money and can choose when to pay taxes. How would these groups make out under FairTax? - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
CBS STATION By Marlene Steiner -
I want to know why that I am having problems watching Channel 4 when it is so compact to a 15 inch screen when I have 32 inch flat screen. This was NEVER this way until 4 days ago. I had contacted your Juneau station about this and all it comes down to is my provider is a fault. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
RE: Ammo Hording By A. M. Johnson -
It is obvious that Mike and I will not arrive at any middle ground on the subject of ammo. Mike prefers to rely on the info Congressman Young provided. Fine. That position allows me to interject a report to the public regarding the subject that I had requested from Representative Young's office and placed that request on a 10 day trace and so stated in a letter to Sitnews. To day a young staffer "Paul" representing Representative Young, responded by telephone. He advised that a number of House Republicans are not satisfied with the response received to Senator Coburn's specific request documenting the purchase and accumulation of this large ammo supply. It is my take away that the House will become more detailed in their request in the form of an audit on the purchases. Representative Young is support of the audit request. Let this serve as my confirmation that Representative Young did in deed, respond as reported. - More...
Saturday - April 13, 2013
The Truth and Encouragement to Check Out the Facts By Bob Sivertsen -
This letter is in response to a message that was posted into ‘Annoucements’ on SitNews on April 9-10, 2013... - More...
Thursday AM - April 11, 2013
Our Ecosystem is dying By Andy Rauwolf -
Today’s headlines: “King Salmon Quota Reduced by 90,000”; “Halibut Shortages Driving Prices Higher”; Sitka Sound Herring Fishery Closed After Second Straight Year of Harvesting Less Than Half of Reduced Quota.” - More...
Thursday AM - April 11, 2013
RE: About the ammo hording By
Mike Harpold
- Dear Al, I had hoped to show there might be a simple explanation for federal agencies needs for such a seemingly large amount of ammo, jacketed hollow-points at that, and elected to pass along what I knew from my own experience. I did look at your references and not surprisingly wound up on Joe Miller's web page. I prefer to rely on the info Congressman Young provided. He's in a better position to know, and I appreciate that he chose not to perpetuate rumors. - More...
Thursday AM - April 11, 2013
Our wasted money By Don Petrey - Look at this sight and see the two green blocks on the top left and the two red ones at the bottom below them. Those are 2 diesel generators running at bailey power plant and the two green ones are the Swan turbines, not giving us any power - More...
Thursday AM - April 11, 2013
An open letter to the US Supreme Court, RE: Proposed legal rights for those that practice homosexual sex. By Michael W. Jarvis - “Homosexual civil rights" is an oxymoron. Popular support and practice of homosexuality puts humans on the endangered species list. Homosexuality is the ultimate anti-civil behavior since homo + homo = 0 +/- HIV AIDS! Those that practice homosexuality already have the right to be civil just as they have the right to choose homosexual sex, which is non-compulsory in that one can choose to abstain from sexual relations just as one can choose what kind of sex to engage in and with whom or what within the law; (children never an option). This means they do not qualify for minority status protection. - More...
Thursday AM - April 11, 2013
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