Ketchikan: Listen to this KRBD story - Twenty-one participants in last summer's Greenpeace protest near Petersburg were sentenced in Ketchikan's U.S. District Court today. As part of a plea agreement, the defendants plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of either obstructing a public road or aiding and abetting the blocking of a Forest Service road. The U.S. District Attorney's Office in turn dropped additional misdemeanor charges stemming fro the protest. Deanna Garrison reports.
KRBD - Ketchikan Public Radio - Monday - June 06, 2005

Portable Hyberbaric Chamber Adam Day, of Diversified Diving, receives training. nside the chamber during the training was diver Alan Benitz. Photo by Dick Kauffman

Ketchikan: Portable hyberbaric chamber can provide immediate treatment By Dick Kauffman - Commercial diving in Alaska can present many life-threatening challenges, however Greg Harrison owner of Diversified Diving Service of Ketchikan is making sure treatment for one of those life-threatening challenges is immediately available. According to Harrison, Diversified Diving will be using one of the first portable hyberbaric chambers in this area for treatment of decompression sickness. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Ketchikan: Fire Marshal Warns of High Fire Risk; Important to discard smoking materials properly - The residents and visitors of Ketchikan are enjoying a warm and dry spring season. However, Kevin C. Murphy, Fire Marshal for the City of Ketchikan said, "Due to dryer than normal weather patterns coupled with windy conditions, we have been experiencing an increase in fires caused by improperly discarded smoking materials." - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Ketchikan: Unofficial Standings of Week 2 of the 58th King Salmon Derby - The unofficial results have been announced for the 2nd week of the 58th King Salmon Derby. This family event which is sponsored by the Ketchikan CHARR membership has remained a grass roots effort over the 58 years of its existence and attracts over a thousand participants of all ages annually. - More...
Monday - JUne 06, 2005

Disappearing arctic lakes linked to climate change Photo by Karen Frey, UCLA

Alaska: Disappearing arctic lakes linked to climate change - Continued arctic warming may be causing a decrease in the number and size of arctic lakes. The issue is the subject of a paper published in the June 3 issue of the journal "Science." The paper, titled "Disappearing Arctic Lakes" is the result of a comparison of satellite data taken of Siberia in the early 1970s to data from 1997-2004. Researchers, including Larry Hinzman with the Water and Environmental Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, tracked changes of more than 10,000 large lakes over 200,000 square miles.

"This is the first paper that demonstrates that the changes we are seeing in Alaskan lakes in response to a warming climate is also occurring in Siberia," said Hinzman, who has also compared satellite data of tundra ponds on the Seward Peninsula near Council, Alaska, and found that the surface pond area there had decreased over the last 50 years. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Alaska: Mountain Climber Leads Expedition of Hope for People Battling Depression - American Joe Lawson today has embarked on a journey to climb the world's highest peaks to focus global attention on the need for greater depression awareness, treatment and support. As a teenager, Lawson's father committed suicide after a long battle with depression. In honor of his memory he formed Expedition Hope™, with the goal of preventing similar tragedies.

"My father's illness left him feeling isolated and too ashamed to ask for help," said Lawson. "That's why I'm dedicating this effort to him. I want to focus attention on the stigma that keeps so many with mental illness from seeking the treatment they so desperately need." - More....
Monday - June 06, 2005

National: High court rejects defense of medical marijuana By DAVID WHITNEY and CLAIRE COOPER - A medical prescription is not a ticket to legal marijuana in California, the U.S. Supreme Court said Monday in a 6-3 ruling in which the justices nonetheless expressed sympathy for those whose illnesses have been uniquely alleviated by the popular street drug.

In an opinion written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the court held that laws in California and 10 other states permitting marijuana cultivation, possession and use by persons with a doctor's prescription do not trump the federal government's authority under the Constitution to prosecute sick users on federal drug charges. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

National: Blair hopes to sway Bush on two key issues By BILL STRAUB - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is making a pilgrimage to Washington this week in hopes of influencing President Bush on aid to Africa and global climate change in advance of the G8 Summit in Scotland next month.

Blair is looking to convince Bush to embrace a plan to dramatically increase international aid to Africa while also providing debt relief to the chronically impoverished continent. The prime minister also is expected to, once again, take Bush's temperature to determine whether the president is willing to move ahead to address global warming.- More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

National: Retirements a worrisome trend at national lab By SUE VORENBERG - One thing about smart people - they have options.

In the wake of problems at Los Alamos National Laboratory, some of the smartest people in the country are starting to exercise those options - by retiring. And that trend has lab officials worried, said James Rickman, a lab spokesman. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Re: protecting the community By Jessica Mathews - Saturday Laura Bush for President By Carol Spaits - Friday The Bridge to Gravina By Joe Branco - Friday Retort Gravina Bridge: PETE ELLIS By Don Hoff Jr. - Friday Our Thanks By Lee, Morced, & Jayson Asnin - Wednesday Protecting the community By Jeff Kemp - Wednesday DON HOFF DISTORTIONS By Pete Ellis - Wednesday Gravina Island Bridge vs. Big Dig By Don Hoff Jr. - Tuesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Supreme Court Marijuana By: Daryl Cagle Slate.com Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists Ketchikan Editorial Cartoonist Roger Maynard   Ketchikan Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast Ketchikan Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements June 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     Front Page Archives

Steve Brewer: ABCs for grads - It's that time of year when young people graduate from school and set off on the next chapter of their lives.

We traditionally mark this occasion with a portentous speech by a successful alum or a semi-honest politician or, sometimes, a show-biz celebrity who stops by campus on his way to rehab.

Such a speech typically celebrates the students' accomplishments while also offering words of wisdom to prepare them for the future. The speech reminds teary parents why they spent all that money on their children. Also, it delays, for half an hour or so, the moment when students hurl their mortarboards into the air and resume drinking heavily. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Barbara Bova: Why are we so willing to think the worst of ourselves? - I'm mad! It's all right for others to be angry with us here in the United States, but when we're insulted we put our heads in the sand instead of speaking out.

The Internet carried a statement by a group claiming to be al Qaeda in Iraq. It made itself heard throughout the world insulting our secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. So far I don't hear any hue and cry of outrage from anyone here in these United States. Not even a howl from our feminist groups who are so quick to take umbrage at so much else. Where are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who are so quick to defend the honor of athletes and actors? How can we condone such an insult to a representative of the United States without so much as blinking an eye? - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Dan Thomasson: McCain aims at 2008 - In case you missed it in all the noisy hyperbole and commercialization surrounding Watergate revisited, at least one half of the 2008 presidential campaign - the Republican side - has begun, with the Memorial Day TV airing of a Vietnam memoir, a long piece in the New Yorker magazine and an 11th-hour compromise in the Senate. All three have served to dispel any notion that Sen. John McCain is not running for the GOP opportunity to succeed George W. Bush. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Ben Grabow: Real men and terry cloth robes - In order to be a real man, every man must challenge himself.

This was my mantra as I finished a three-day backpacking trip in North Carolina's Pisgah Forest last weekend. The true test of a man, I thought, is how far he is willing to push his physical and mental boundaries. Real men do the things that others will not consider.

The trail was not too strenuous, the distance not too long. It was simply a three-day hike in the woods, much less challenging than many treks I have faced before. But there was a monster waiting for me at the end of this trail, an experience I've never encountered before, and one for which I was not wholly prepared. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005

Dale McFeatters: Medical marijuana goes up in smoke - California's medical-marijuana law would seem a classic case of states' rights.

It was approved by the voters at large in a ballot initiative and as a law by the state legislature. The commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution would seem not to apply because the product was grown entirely in the state, was never bought and sold and never crossed state lines. And the marijuana was made available to qualified patients by state-regulated doctor's prescription. - More...
Monday - June 06, 2005