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Ketchikan: Petasek takes lead with 44.4 pound king at end of derby's 2nd week - By the end of the second week of the 59th Annual King Salmon Derby, Lyle Petasek took the lead with a 44.4 pound king salmon pushing Misty Pattison to second place on the ladder. Petasek's king was weighed in at the Knudson Cove Marina.

According to Ketchikan CHARR, sponsors of the derby, 1,097 anglers checked out during the 2nd weekend of the derby (June 3 & 4) and entered 304 king salmon. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

National: Congress' post-recess agenda targets GOP core By MARGARET TALEV - Gays, the flag, taxes and terrorists.

Anxious to retain their majority in this year's midterm elections, Republican congressional leaders plan to hit the ground running when they return from a long Memorial Day recess, with scheduled floor debates and votes over the next two weeks on tried-and-true issues that could reinvigorate their base and appeal to some swing voters.

In the Senate, which gets back to work on Monday, Republican leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is scheduled to bring to the floor two proposed constitutional amendments. The first seeks to ban gay marriage across the country regardless of what individual states want to recognize. Another would give Congress the power to ban flag desecration, an action the courts have said the Constitution in its current form protects as a matter of free speech.

Frist and some other Senate Republicans also will push for a vote to eliminate the so-called estate tax. They will refer to it as the "death tax" and speak of its strain on family-owned farms and other businesses. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

National: Canadian catch leads to American anxiety By PAUL KORING - Senior U.S. officials are hailing Canada's anti-terrorism efforts, but critics warn that Islamic extremists lurking north of a porous border would inevitably strike American targets.

"Canadians have had a very great success in their counterterrorism efforts," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, adding "we don't know of any indication that there is a U.S. part to this."

But some U.S. politicians, fearing that lax security and the presence of a large Muslim population in Canada makes the country a natural staging ground for terrorist strikes, pointed to the arrests as a grim harbinger of future attacks.

"Americans should be very concerned," said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y. "There's a large al Qaeda presence in Canada ... because of their very liberal immigration laws, because of how political asylum is granted so easily." - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Cow Moose Front Page Photo by Carl Thompson

National: 1 in 7 Mexican workers migrates - most send money home By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD - he current migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the United States is one of the largest diasporas in modern history, experts say.

Roughly 10 percent of Mexico's population of about 107 million is now living in the United States, estimates show. About 15 percent of Mexico's labor force is working in the United States. One in every 7 Mexican workers migrates to the United States.

Mass migration from Mexico began more than a century ago. It is deeply embedded in the history, culture and economies of both nations. The current wave began with Mexico's economic crisis in 1982, accelerated sharply in the 1990s with the U.S. economic boom, and today has reached record dimensions.

It is unlikely to ebb anytime soon.

"There is no scenario outside of catastrophic attack on the United States that would make immigration stop," said Demetrios Papademetriou, president of the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Calf Moose Front Page Photo By Carl Thompson Calf Moose - Although this baby moose appeared to be alone at the time it was photographed recently in the Soldotna, Alaska area, the mother, or cow moose, was close by. Approaching a calf moose can be dangerous as a cow moose will protect her calf vigorously. - More... Tuesday - June 06, 2006

National: Army tightens spending as it waits for Congress to approve funding By LES BLUMENTHAL - The Army has imposed a series of increasingly tough belt-tightening measures as it waits for Congress to approve emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While the cost controls are not expected to affect ongoing operations, purchase of non-critical supplies and spare parts has been frozen, all non-essential travel and training canceled or postponed and, within a week, all civilian hiring will be placed on hold.

If Congress doesn't act by the end of the month, new contract awards would be halted and all temporary civilian employees performing maintenance and operations work released. If the impasse continued into July, the Army might cease recruiting, defer re-enlistments, halt transfers and delay promotions.

"These are painful actions but they are absolutely necessary in order to continue operations during the month of June," Gen. Richard Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said last week in a memo to senior commanders obtained by The News Tribune.

Congress failed to act on an emergency funding bill before leaving on its weeklong Memorial Day recess, and there are significant differences between the House and Senate versions. In addition, President Bush has threatened the first veto of his presidency if the measure costs more than $94.5 billion. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Business- Economy: Scientists help carve caverns for extra oil - By SUE VORENBERG - Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories are looking to salt away a little extra oil for a rainy day - almost 13 billion gallons.

The Albuquerque facility has been charged with carrying out a congressional mandate to boost the nation's oil stockpile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, by 300 million barrels.

A barrel holds 42 gallons of oil - thus, in this case, an extra 12.6 billion gallons. The extra oil would bring the reserve to a total of 1 billion barrels.

The problem is where to put the additional oil.

Now the oil is funneled into man-made caverns in four salt domes, two in Texas and two in Louisiana.

Since January, Sandia scientists have been evaluating five new salt domes in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.- More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Science - Technology: Lunar robot fleet in the works By DAVID PERLMAN - NASA has assigned scientists and engineers to develop a fleet of small robotic spacecraft to orbit the moon and sample its surface before astronauts again land there within the next 15 years.

The missions would be a major prelude to the space agency's Constellation program, the name given for President Bush's proclaimed U.S. goal to send humans to Mars after first establishing manned lunar bases.

The small unmanned lunar craft would seek to learn more about the nature of the moon's dusty surface, to land on nearby asteroids and to survey possible landing sites for the human crews to come. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Ketchikan Arts This Week: This week in Ketchikan the Magician Jeff Brown, "Balloon Laureate", will perform magic and make balloon sculptures at the Ketchikan Public Library for all ages on Thursday, June 8 at 10:30am. Alaskan & Proud Markets supports this event. Call 225-0370 for more info.

Haida Descendant Dancers perform at Totem Bight on every second Friday of the month through September. The next performance will be Friday, June 9th at 6:30 pm. Come see the Haida Descendant Dancers dance in traditional regalia while singing songs, telling stories, and drumming. Performances begin at 6:30 pm in the Totem Bight Clan House. Performances are free and open to the public. Call 247-8574 for more information. Co-sponsored by Alaska State Parks and the Alaska Natural History Association.

Pets & Pals Reading Program is on now at the Library. Events featured on Saturdays throughout the month include Kid's cook: Dog Biscuits on June 10, Pet Grooming June 17 and Dress Like a Pet costume Party June 24. Visit the Ketchikan Public Library website www.firstcitylibraries.org or call for more information 225-0370. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters WHAT ARE THEY THINKING? By John Goucher - Tuesday An Open Letter to the Citizens of Ketchikan By John Maki - Tuesday Queen of the Fleet By Captain William M. Hopkins - Tuesday PLEASE DO NOT PASS ANY LEGISLATION THAT DOESN'T SERVE ALASKANS' BEST INTEREST By Kay Rollison - Tuesday RE: Battle Field By Susan Marks - Tuesday Landslide for the Democrats this November By Tom Proebsting - Tuesday RE: Battle Field By Neil Gray - Monday Open Letter to the Mayor & City Council By Joan "Trixie" Hurliman - Monday Meeting Not Adequately Advertised By Gerry K. Olmstead - Monday Why Christians should be Involved in Politics By Mark Beatty - Monday Seeking Your Vote By Franklin H. James, Sr. - Monday Construction Mess By Laurie Price - Sunday Shoreline Robbery By Eric Moyer - Sunday Battle Field By Sharyl Whitesides - Saturday KIC annual meeting By David Jensen - Friday Big Oil Companies By David Blasczyk - Friday A call for action By Mike Isaac - Friday Evacuation Plan? By Laurie Price - Friday MV Carmelita By Dave Kiffer - Thursday Adah Sparhawk Young: Woman Pioneer By Peggy Hendricks Mackey - Thursday Minutemen and their mission By Timothy Droke - Thursday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan May Calendar Arts This Week Today's Forecast Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements June 2006 Click on the date to read the stories published on that day. S M T W T F S 28 29 30 31 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

Paul Campos: U.S. record on war atrocities mischaracterized - This column was originally going to be about a couple of law professor-pundits, Hugh Hewitt and Glenn Reynolds, who specialize in defending the Bush administration. My learned colleagues are now busy claiming that the supposed "media frenzy" regarding the apparent massacre of civilians in Haditha, Iraq, is a product of liberal bias, rather than of a sense of professional obligation to report a major news story.

But in the end it's not very interesting to point out that Bush administration dead-enders are willing to defend anything it does. (Hewitt in particular seems past praying for: If President Bush came out in favor of compulsory late-term abortions for the wives of NASCAR drivers, I wouldn't be surprised if Hewitt found something to praise in the proposal.)

What's more interesting are the following comments from Peter Beinart, editor in chief of The New Republic. After noting that Americans can be as barbaric as anyone, Beinart argues that "what makes us an exceptional nation with the capacity to lead and inspire the world is our very recognition of that fact." While it's true "we are capable of Hadithas and My Lais," America is nevertheless almost unique among nations because, when we confront such atrocities, we are "capable of acknowledging what happened, bringing the killers to justice, and instituting changes that make it less likely to happen again." - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Dick Morris: Gore, Hillary Go Where Bush Fears To Tread By Dick Morris - Green isn't what it used to be. It was once just the color of the trees and grass that the environmental movement tried to protect. But now it is also the color of the three dollar bills Americans must suddenly pay for a gallon of gas.

More broadly, our frustrations in Iraq and the stalemate in Iran give an indication that it is only by following where the green movement points - to independence from oil domination - that we can vindicate the red, white and blue and, for Jewish voters, the blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag.

After five months of inaction, after his "oil addiction" reference in his State of the Union speech, President Bush now faces a Democratic Party galvanized by this new rainbow coalition of colors around a coherent policy theme. While Bush has dithered and the Republicans in Congress have failed to look beyond Alaska drilling as the solution to our dependence on foreign oil, first Gore and now Hillary have passed them by and staked out their claims to the issue. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006  

Martin Schram: Conservatives need to speak up for human-rights protections - A diabolical plot has been uncovered to severely damage America's once-proud image as a global superpower that is also a beacon of civility and humanity.

And it looks like our best (and maybe only) chance for halting the damage-doers before they shatter what is left of America's global image is to hope that the nation's most patriotic conservative hard-liners will be so outraged that they will rush into battle.

These conservatives are our best hope because the leaders of the damage-doers are their ideological kin - a trio that has apparently confused being hard-line with being hardheaded: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and the men he works for, President Bush and Vice President Cheney. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006

Dale McFeatters: Congressional wanderlust - If you are a member of Congress or work for a member, and are sufficiently important enough that some special pleader wants to impress you, you can travel a lot on someone else's dime.

Just how much is apparent in a study done by the Center for Public Integrity. (The study is available at www.publicintegrity.org/powertrips/.)The center found that from January 2000, in the last full year of the Clinton administration, through 2005, lawmakers and their aides took 23,000 trips worth $50 million paid for by corporations, interest groups and foreign governments.

It should be said that it is a tribute to Congress' willingness to disclose, however reluctantly, that the center was able to amass this data from required forms, even if those forms were subject to errors and omissions. - More...
Tuesday - June 06, 2006