National: Bush's energy bill headed for passage By ANN MCFEATTERS - The Senate has seen a week of debate over eye-popping gasoline prices, corn-based ethanol, the value of pristine shoreline and the future of windmills and nuclear power.

Now, the White House is cautiously optimistic that the complicated and far-reaching energy bill it has promoted for nearly five years will win Senate approval Friday and reach the president's desk this summer.

In a series of important Senate votes on energy amendments last week, the White House won on nearly every issue with significant bipartisan support. The House passed its energy bill April 21.

Although most experts concede that the legislation would have no immediate impact on prices at the gas pump, there is almost no aspect of a consumer's day that would be untouched by the pending legislation. If passed, it will affect the cost of energy, regulations to control environmental cleanup, whether America's energy comes increasingly from nuclear power and coal or from wind and hydropower, the size of tomorrow's cars and how many miles to a gallon of gas they'll offer. - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

National: Network news shows struggle for survival By BILL STRAUB - No less an authority than Sam Donaldson, the television newsman notorious for bellowing hard questions at presidents, has concluded that it's time to blow taps over that most venerable of institutions, the network evening news.

Beset by mounting competition, journalistic missteps, changing demographics and the departure of some long-term marquee personalities, the network evening news program is a shell of its former self - no longer attracting the devotion that made it, in the 1960s and '70s, America's dominant information source.

"I think it's dead, sorry," Donaldson said during a panel discussion at the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas last April. "The monster anchors are through."

While 30 million viewers still tune in to the nightly newscasts offered by the erstwhile Big Three - NBC, ABC and CBS - Donaldson and others cite dropping viewership numbers and the public's desire to get its news from other, more contemporary, outlets as proof that the 30-minute broadcasts are headed for the twilight. - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

Alaska: State Alleges Felony Theft Charge in PFD Investigation - Last week the Department of Law filed charges against Sabrina M. Ruffin** of Lawton, Oklahoma, alleging one count of theft in the first degree and four counts of unsworn falsification, stemming from an investigation of permanent fund dividend (PFD) fraud.

According to charging documents, Ruffin, 41, left Alaska in 1998, but continued to file for Alaska PFDs every year since 2000 for herself and her children. The state alleges that Ruffin falsely claimed that she was "in Alaska today", and falsely stated that she was "not gone from Alaska for more than 90 days total". - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Thank You Raven Rescuers By Liam and Dave Kiffer - Monday A Father's Day letter to my daughters By Carroll G. Fader - Monday Stick to the issues By Myra Callahan - Monday Bridge to Gravina By Robert McRoberts - Monday RETHINK! By Brian Johnson - Monday Trajectory of a crisis By David Irby - Monday Left wing news groups By TL Myers - Monday Media lies By Bridget Gibson - Monday Substance of the current "hoohah" By George Parrish - Monday "Trajectory of a crisis" By Jimmy Montague - Monday Spin, not journalism By Mike Galloway - Monday Downing Street Memo By Randy Johnson - Monday Stop the Anti-Desecration Amendment to the Constitution By Rex Curry - Monday Beneath Contempt By Roger McLord - Monday Gravina Bridge By Czajkowski Wieslaw - Monday Another plea for fire safety By David Hull, Chief NTVFD - Friday Quality of life should come before Industrial Welfare - By Michael Spence - Friday U.S. Treasury Bonds and Worthless IOUs By Alan Lidstone - Friday Retort: Pork Barrel? By Don Hoff Jr. - Friday "Downing Street Memo Proves Nothing" By Jennifer Zilliac - Friday Bridge to Gravina By Kathy McNulty - Friday Disgusted with the lies By Melissa Shutta - Friday Amen! By P. J. Travis - Friday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Happy Father's Day By: Tab The Calgary Sun Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists Ketchikan Editorial Cartoonist Roger Maynard Ketchikan Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast City Police Report Updated 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

Maureen Gilmer: Don't accidentally execute your favorite tree - If you slit somebody's throat, you sever the carotid artery, and blood flow between brain and body ceases. What the carotid is to a human being the cambium layer is to a tree. It connects the leaves above to the roots underground. This vital conductive tissue lies in the thin band just underneath the bark.

Woody garden plants include trees, shrubs and vines. Their stems and branches produce mostly sapwood wrapped in a thin cambium layer covered by bark. Bark can be thin as paper or inches thick as with a redwood. - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

Steve Brewer: Handling the annual horror that is Swimsuit Season - This time of year, the entire nation convulses in a shudder of anxiety so powerful that scientists actually detect a "wobble" in Earth's orbit.

Yes, Swimsuit Season has arrived. It's time to bare parts of our flabby bodies that haven't seen the sun in months. Time to choose a new swimsuit, one of the few purchases based on the mysterious "jiggle factor." Time to reassess our diets and our exercise regimens and our friendships (shunning anyone who might invite us to a pool party). - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

Stewart Elliott: Cars I've known - I am completely fascinated by the new remote control for the car. The new On-Star locator and navigation system just blow my mind. All of this is such a long way from Ford's Model T, where you first set the spark and hand throttle on the steering column, pulled out the choke, turned the motor with the hand crank, then hurried back to adjust the controls. Be careful. That crank could break your arm.

I must have been 14 or 15 years old when our family got our first car, a big, heavy worn-out Hudson sedan with a motor a yard long. It had wooden wheels. We must have had a license tag for it, but I do not remember buying one or having a driver's license, either. I do remember what an adventure it was taking my father on a 50-mile trip to see his brother. We patched inner tubes and used the hand pump to keep air in the tires. The first car I owned was a 1933 Ford two-door sedan, definitely used. - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

James K. Glassman: Kyoto comes to town - The summer's hottest horror flick might be called, "Kyoto 8: The Bad Idea That Wouldn't Die." It's opening in the U.S. Senate this week, and it's coming to the big conference of global leaders in Gleneagles, Scotland, next month.

The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997, sought to cool the climate by limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (the stuff that we exhale and that trees need to grow). The only way to limit emissions in today's world is to cut back on energy use. To do that, governments either have to tax energy heavily or simply command reductions. - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005

Dale McFeatters: Attacking Alzheimer's - Alzheimer's disease has always had a certain inevitability in attacking its victims, but that may be not so true anymore as scientists begin making promising inroads on this exceptionally cruel disease.

Finding cures and treatments is assuming growing importance as America ages, with the 4.5 million victims today expected to nearly triple by mid-century. Alzheimer's makes victims of the families, too, as a loved one's mental faculties decline but the physical health remains good. - More...
Monday - June 20, 2005