Ketchikan: Ketchikan's Reindeer Benefit From Volunteer Efforts By M.C. KAUFFMAN - Nubian goats, peafowl, Roman Tuffed geese, Mandarin ducks... and yes, even reindeer call Ketchikan home. Living at the Alaska Rain Forest Sanctuary located at Herring Cove south of Ketchikan, these delightful reindeer were brought to live at the Sanctuary after numerous requests were made by visitors indicating they would particularly like to see reindeer. The Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary is owned by Kris Singstad, Brien Salazar and Len Lawrence.

Gigi Pilcher one of four volunteer reindeer wranglers said, "The reindeer have delighted children from the Saxman Head Start Program, students from the Ketchikan Christian Academy, and senior citizens from the Long Term Care Unit at Ketchikan General Hospital."

In addition to the volunteer efforts of Pilcher, three Ketchikan students also volunteer their time and talents on a daily basis as reindeer wranglers - Oliva Round, Rachel Heitman, and Jolene Pflaum. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

Ketchikan: Listen to this KRBD story.... The State of Alaska is currently undergoing a reassessment of its commercial salmon fisheries. As Deanna Garrison reports, a private company has been hired by the State to determine if Alaska meets Internation Managaement and Sustainability Standards.
KRBD - Ketchikan Public Radio - Tuesday - May 24, 2005

National: Senate deal pulls plug on 'nuclear option' - for now - In a deal that cut across ideological and political lines, a group of 14 senators agreed Monday night to a series of up-or-down votes on several of President Bush's controversial judicial nominees, defusing the threat of a "nuclear option" that could have rewritten the Senate's 214-year-old rule on filibusters.

Declaring that some senators have gone too far in recent years in filibustering judges, the group stepped back from what they described as a dangerous precipice that could have permanently altered the balance of power between the White House and Congress. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

National: A new look at the oldest Americans By LEE BOWMAN - A band of as few as 200 people may have made up the earliest wave of immigrants from Asia to the Americas some 14,000 years ago, a new genetic analysis suggests.

In a paper appearing in the June issue of Public Library of Science Biology, Jody Hey, a professor of genetics at Rutgers University in New Jersey, describes a new computational method that uses genetic information to model population divergence.- More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

Beach Day White Cliff teacher Sharon Creasy provides lessons at Bugge Beach this morning. - More... Front Page Photo by Chris Wilhelm

Ketchikan - POW: Forest Service Hosts POW Off-Highway Vehicle Use Public Meetings - The Tongass National Forest's Craig and Thorne Bay Ranger Districts are seeking public input concerning an Access Travel Management Environmental Assessment. The EA's proposed action would affect passenger vehicle and off-highway vehicle access on Prince of Wales Island.

Scoping is the first formal step in public participation. The District's are hosting three public scoping meetings: 4 to 7 p.m., June 2, at the Southeast Alaska Discovery Center in Ketchikan; 4 to 7 p.m., June 3, at the Craig Community Center; and 3 to 6 p.m., June 4, at the Thorne Bay Ranger District. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

Ketchikan - Juneau - Sitka: 13 Scholarship Recipients Named by Southeast Conference - Thirteen students to the University of Alaska Southeast will receive $12,600 in educational scholarships from Southeast Conference for the 2005-2006 school year, including seven students in Juneau, five in Ketchikan and one in Sitka.

Scholarship winners included Ketchikan students Colleen Scanlon, Thomas Grass, Dan Wable, Linda Williams and Gail Jacqueline Williams, Juneau students Matthew Van Steenwyk, Jennifer Thorsteinson, Heather Carlton, Janelle Kirkham, Erin Ryder, Benjamin Shier and Justine Trinidad, and Sitka student Ashia. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

National: Stevens Co-Sponsors Clean Sports Act of 2005 - United States Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) has joined Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) in introducing the Clean Sports Act of 2005, a bill that would set minimum drug-testing standards for major professional sports leagues.  The bill would make it unlawful for a professional sports organization to operate in interstate commerce without meeting certain drug-testing requirements.  - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters How to Have A Fatal Boating Accident in Alaska By Fred Dyson - Tuesday Peace Officer's Annual Concert: Pajama Party By Laurel J. Bray - Tuesday Thank You By Jean Bland - Tuesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter 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

Michael Reagan: Betrayed by a Gang of Seven - "We have sent President George Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the radical right of the Republican party an undeniable message....the abuse of power will not be tolerated."

That was Democrat Minority Leader Harry Reid chortling over his party having once again put one over on the stupid party.

Seven so-called Republicans signed an idiot's compromise over the matter of judicial nominations, agreeing to defy the White House and their own leadership and for all intents and purposes give the Democrats a license to continue obstructing the approval of the president's judicial nominees.

Make no mistake about it ­ this deal is nothing less than an abject surrender made more humiliating by its impudent demand that the President consult with the Senate BEFORE submitting his judicial nominations to the Senate. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

Dale McFeatters: The center holds - It didn't take long for the Senate filibuster agreement to have an effect. First thing the following morning, the Senate cleared the way for an up or down vote - and it will be up - next week on Priscilla Owen's four-year-old nomination to the Fifth Circuit Court.

Votes on long-stalled circuit court nominees Janice Rogers Brown and William Pryor should quickly follow. Two other nominations are likely dead as a result of the deal.

But this is not about circuit court nominees. It is about President Bush filling a Supreme Court vacancy and naming a new chief justice, perhaps as early as this summer. As far as a long-term effect on the country, that could be as important as anything he will do in his eight-year presidency. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005

Paul Campos: What the filibuster fight was really about - Imagine a society that makes many of its most important decisions in the following manner: a tiny number of citizens are anointed members of a priestly caste, which has the power to determine the society's most fundamental rules.

The priests make these decisions by consulting ancient texts, written in an archaic language that remains incomprehensible to much of the laity. Nevertheless impious souls sometimes point out that the texts don't appear to answer the questions the priests ask of them. This impression is reinforced by the fact that members of the priesthood disagree violently among themselves regarding what the texts actually say.

Imagine further that, in this strange society, members of the priesthood are appointed for life by a legislative council that often has no clear idea what a priestly candidate's views are regarding the meaning of the ancient texts. This is a consequence of a custom that declares it improper to inquire too closely into a potential priest's views on such matters, when his fitness for the priesthood is considered. - More...
Tuesday - May 24, 2005