National: Bush touts alternative fuels as way to combat high gas prices By BILL STRAUB - With the summer driving season on the horizon, President Bush is pushing for quick development of alternate fuel sources in the face of rising oil prices and depletion of traditional energy resources.

Bush, who for months has been pressuring Congress to adopt an energy policy he proposed more than three years ago, visited a biodiesel refinery in West Point, Va., on Monday to draw attention to America's need to develop alternative sources and lessen dependence on foreign sources of oil.

But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the president isn't going far enough in support of alternative fuels.

"Consumers are facing record gas prices at the pump while oil companies are reporting record profits," Reid said. "Oil companies are not expanding their purchases of lower-priced biodiesel and ethanol and are continuing to purchase expensive crude oil and raise gasoline prices. The president should immediately call on oil companies and refiners to use more domestically produced biodiesel and ethanol." - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

National: Senate could see 'nuclear option' explode this week By MARGARET TALEV - In the political war over President Bush's judicial nominees, the Senate is at DEFCON 1.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., says that this week he'll use the nominations of California's Janice Rogers Brown and Texas' Priscilla Owen to trigger what has been dubbed the "nuclear option."

It's a dramatic name for a procedure that sounds technical: If Democrats continue to filibuster nominees they find too conservative - as they've done with 10 of Bush's judicial picks since he took office - Frist would ask his party to re-interpret the Senate rules to say filibusters on nominations can be shut off with 51 votes, a simple majority, rather than the 60 votes now needed. Republicans control 55 of the Senate's 100 seats. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

National: Above-normal hurricane season in forecast By LEE BOWMAN - Government forecasters anticipate another above-normal hurricane season in the Atlantic this year after the record-breaking round of storms last year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's outlook, issued Monday, "is for 12 to 15 tropical storms, with seven to nine becoming hurricanes, of which three to five could become major hurricanes (with winds in excess of 111 mph)," said retired Vice Adm. Conrad Lautenbacher, undersecretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

New Exhibit Opens at The Tongass Historical Museum Photo courtesy THM

Ketchikan: New Exhibit Opens at The Tongass Historical Museum - Over two hundred visitors packed the gallery at the Tongass Historical Museum Friday night, May 6th as the Museum unveiled its summer exhibit, Tides of Change: The History of Ketchikan. Using artifacts, photographs and artwork, the exhibit tells the fascinating and oftentimes colorful history of the "town on Tongass Narrows". - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

Alaska: New USGS Oil & Gas Assessment of Central North Slope, Alaska Released - A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the central part of the Alaska North Slope and the adjacent state offshore area finds that there is a significant amount of oil and a large amount of gas that remains to be discovered. The assessment estimates that there are 4.0 billion barrels of oil (BBO), 37.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas, and 478 million barrels of natural gas liquids that are undiscovered and technically recoverable. Technically recoverable resources are the amount of petroleum that may be recovered using current technology. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

Totem to Totem Half Marathon Race Results 1st Place Walker Front Page Photo by Nancy Coggins

Ketchikan: Totem to Totem Half Marathon Race Results - The Totem to Totem half marathon (13.1 miles) race sponsored by the Ketchikan Running Club (KLC) took place this weekend in Ketchikan. Participants included both runners and walkers in the race which began at Totem Bight State Park north of Ketchikan and ended at Bugge's Beach south of Ketchikan.

Race Director Gretchen Klein reported KLC tried to get the times for everyone, but it is difficult with the many different starts. She said, "We think everyone was a winner today."

On behalf of the Ketchikan Running Club, Klein thanked Ocean View Restaurant who brought pizza out in the windy and rainy conditions and Nancy Coggins, C.C. Johnson and family for setting up the food table at the end. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

Ketchikan: 3rd season's exploration budget approved for Platinum Project north of Ketchikan - It was announced today that a $1.10 million exploration budget has been approved for the Union Bay Platinum Project, located in southeast Alaska 35 miles north of Ketchikan. The announcement was made by Freegold Ventures Limited (ITF:TSX), Pacific North West Capital Corp. (PFN:TSX), and Lonmin Plc . For the past two years Lonmin has been providing full funding for the exploration programs at Union Bay.

This year's program will focus on the further delineation and drilling of targets identified as a result of previous years' field programs, in particular the targets identified from the airborne electromagnetic and magnetic surveys flown in 2004. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters JUDICIAL FITNESS IS THE ISSUE AS TO FILIBUSTER USE By Pete Ellis - Monday Cruise Ship Wake, incident Ryndam by Steven K. Shrum - Monday In shock By Janice L. Jackson - Monday Deadly Triangle By Francis E. Caldwell - Monday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Oops at Newsweek By: Tab, The Calgary Sun Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists Ketchikan Editorial Cartoonist Roger Maynard May 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos 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

Jason Love: Unlevel Playing Field - I was standing in line behind 300 shoppers at Ralph's when I was approached by a local reader. She said that my column is getting "soft" and what about the good ol' days when I blasted the likes of car salesmen and vege-nazis. Then she bounded off to tennis, which appeared to constitute her sense of self.

Maybe she was right. It has been a while since I've let someone have it. If I'm not careful, I could write myself into obsolescence. For my next trick, then, I will be blatantly offensive...to female athletes.

Why are we subjected to female sports on TV? The other day I came home in dire need of seeing a ball in flight. When I turned on the tube, my choices were women's tennis, women's softball, and women's hockey. Women's hockey! I can't remember if I laughed or I cried. Sometimes it's a fine line between the two. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

Bonnie Erbe: Anchor babies - It's a new term to me: Anchor Babies. Having grown up in the news biz, I'm familiar with Anchormen and Anchorwomen, but not Anchor Babies.

The moniker refers to the children of pregnant illegal immigrants who enter the United States at some point before their due date. Since their children are delivered on U.S. soil, the children immediately become U.S. citizens and "anchor" the mother (and later, the rest of her family) as future legal U.S. citizens as well.

FAIR (or the Federation for American Immigration Reform), a group pushing for limits on our capacious immigration policy, estimates between 287,000 and 363,000 so-called Anchor Babies are born to illegal immigrants each year. Immigration (both legal and illegal) is responsible for 60 percent of the population growth in the already overcrowded United States (according to Census Data) and Anchor Babies are creating a significant portion of the associated costs. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005

Dan K. Thomasson: Military necessity vs. political clout - Now comes all the political leveraging, the exercise that takes place whenever the Pentagon decides it needs to revamp its bases, closing out jobs here, moving some there without much regard for the communities that depend on them.

The process will take months to sort out and at times provide much drama. In fact, it may be a welcome diversion in the never-ending war over Social Security. The most outrageous claims of disaster will emanate from congressional offices severely impacted by the decisions, and dozens of state and local committees and officials will enter the fray with pilgrimages to Washington to try to save their bases. In the end it won't make much difference. Only a few of the recommended closings, if any, will be rescinded.

In the current list of closings, probably the facility with the best chance of being spared is Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota's second-leading employer. And that depends on whether newly elected Republican Sen. John Thune has the clout with the White House he claimed he did when he delivered a body blow to the Democrats by defeating their Senate leader, Thomas Daschle. Thune's neck is out there a bit because his contention about the president's ear and saving Ellsworth from such a fate was made during the heat of a bitter campaign. - More...
Monday - May 16, 2005