Ketchikan: Bridges face new hurdle in Congress By DON HUNTER Anchorage Daily News - An Illinois congressman has persuaded the U.S. House Appropriations Committee to pass an amendment that would block spending any federal money on the proposed Knik Arm and Ketchikan bridges. - Read this Anchorage Daily News story... www.adn.com - Friday - June 09, 2006 Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: Biggest terror prey still eludes U.S. By JAMES ROSEN - Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, surely didn't mean to be a spoilsport Thursday when he interrupted all the bipartisan celebration over the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi with an inopportune observation.

What about the man Bush said he wanted "dead or alive" a week after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks?

"The best news will be when we hear that we've taken out Osama bin Laden - the face of terrorism everywhere," said Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Despite a $25 million bounty on his head and an international manhunt in the mountainous terrain along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, bin Laden is still on the lam more than 4 1/2 years after his operatives piloted commercial jets into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

Zarqawi's infamy is of more recent vintage as the Jordanian waged dozens of brutal insurgent attacks in Iraq, even personally beheading Nicholas Berg, an American contractor, in one videotaped execution.

Zarqawi swore allegiance to bin Laden in 2004 and renamed his group al Qaeda in Iraq; bin Laden, in turn, released an audio tape in which he crowned Zarqawi "the prince of al Qaeda in Iraq."

Tensions later emerged between the two terrorist kingpins. In a letter last October, intercepted by Western intelligence agencies, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian-born deputy to bin Laden who is believed to be hiding with the Saudi fugitive, warned Zarqawi that public decapitations might cause a public relations setback. - More...
Friday - June 09, 2006

National: Death of insurgent leader a political boost for Bush By MARGARET TALEV - In tracking down and killing Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, U.S. and Iraqi forces may have given President Bush a political boost at a time he needs it badly.

Against a relentless drumbeat of bad news and historically low approval ratings for Bush, the fatal air strike on the leader of Iraq's al Qaeda insurgency is one accomplishment neither the second-term president's Democratic foes nor his conservative allies who have turned a cold shoulder of late can criticize.

"This is a good day for the Iraqi people, the U.S. military and our intelligence community," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Thursday. "Zarqawi was a cold-blooded killer who got what he deserved."

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters, "It's good news, and frankly, with all of the news that we have had out of Iraq for some time, good news has certainly been welcomed."

Bush, making the announcement early Thursday morning from the White House Rose Garden, seemed as if he were still trying to absorb the news. He called Zarqawi's killing a "remarkable achievement" and, while anticipating violence would continue, added that "the developments of the last 24 hours give us renewed confidence in the final outcome of this struggle." - More....
Friday - June 09, 2006

USCG Assisted Grounded Eagle Official Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Eric J. Chandler

Southeast Alaska: USCG Assisted Grounded Eagle - The four person crew of the Eagle One was forced to abandon ship in the vessel's motorized skiff when the 65-foot commercial vessel ran hard aground on three points of rock in Auke Bay Thursday.

The crew of the Eagle One was able to safely land their skiff on a nearby stretch of beach located on the southeast corner of Spuhn Island. 

Coast Guard Station Juneau launched their 27-foot S.A.F.E. boat with a rescue crew. Marine safety officials from Sector Juneau inspected the grounded vessel, and with a crew from the station, will return to the scene at the next high tide as a precaution. The vessel's owners say they plan to use commercial salvage efforts to refloat the vessel at Thursday's midnight high tide

The vessel's owners say they plan to use commercial salvage efforts to refloat the vessel at the midnight high tide. There were no reports of injuries. - More...
Friday - June 09, 2006

Ketchikan: "Life Matters... Make it Count": An Event for Teens; Seven local bands performing, prizes, speakers & refreshments - Saturday night, from 7 pm - 10 pm, at the Ted Ferry Civic Center, the Boys & Girls Club is sponsoring "Life Matters... Make it Count." According to Sharli Hayter of the Life Matters committee, various organizations in the community have been working for the last six weeks to put this event together.

Hayter said the admission is free and there will be over $3,000 in prizes including "Life Matters... Make it Count" bracelets donated by Guardian Flight, and free food and refreshments.

For entertainment, there will be seven local bands performing.

There will be seven speakers. From Ketchikan, speakers include Blaine Ashcraft, Carl Webb, Jimmy Pike, Kj Harris. Motivational Speaker Chris Skinner will be the keynote speaker who will share the lessons he has learned from the traumatic events in his life. Skinner has sent Ketchikan a special message via DVD.

Skinner was a popular, athletic college student who was struggling with the direction of his life. Then, on June 10, 2000, a near-fatal car accident changed his life forever. After a night of drinking and partying with his fraternity brothers, Chris ended the party with a broken neck, spinal cord injury and in a coma. He woke up two weeks later as a quadriplegic. Skinner is the creator of the title "Life Matters... Make it Count".

She said, "We've been kind of keeping taps on sharing the fact that this event is designed to start a discussion of solutions for our community regarding alcohol abuse." Hayter said, "The ripples have already started, since one of event coordinators has been inspired to bring a chapter of M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) to Ketchikan."

Hayter said there will be a number of social profits in attendance to discuss other activities going on in Ketchikan in which to get involved.

The "Life Matters... Make it Count" event is for teens (12-20) and there will be a large number of adults in attendance, as volunteers, speakers, booth operators, and as supportive community citizens. - More...
Friday - June 09, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Process is crucial By Mike Harpold - Friday Confidentiality. Privacy. Ring a bell? By Chris Elliott - Friday Principal's demotion By Karen Pitcher - Friday RE: What are they thinking? By Dave Kiffer - Friday Options for Gravina By Rob Holston - Friday Action against Principal unwarranted By Charlotte L. Glover - Friday Ketchikan Politics By Greg Harris  - Friday Adults need to set the good example for sportsmanship and decorum By Neil Gray - Friday Instead of ranting... By Dinah Pearson - Friday Ketchikan has produced some incredible young athletes By Gabe Easterly - Friday Demotion of Principal By Susan Doherty - Thursday am Thank you Ketchikan By Doyle Cowart - Thursday am Admit mistakes, apologize and move on By Sharyl Whitesides - Thursday am Open letter to Officer Maki By Patti Fay Hickox - Wednesday Baseball By Ken Lewis - Wednesday Softball team fundraiser By Mykayla Martin - Wednesday Follow the rules... everyone By Sharyl Whitesides - Wednesday Guardian Flight By Marie L Monyak - Wednesday 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 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

Alaska: Lightning's Puzzling Preference in the North By NED ROZELL - Lightning, long thought to have a fondness for high ground, may instead have a thing for the boreal forest. At least that's what University of Alaska researchers who track lightning strikes are finding.

Because lightning is responsible for most of the acreage burned in Alaska every year, Bureau of Land Management technicians installed lightning sensors at Unalakleet, Bethel, Galena, McGrath, Tanana, Bettles, Ft. Yukon, Fairbanks and Tanacross. Most of the sensors are in the Interior because that's where the vast majority of lightning strikes happen.

Dorte Dissing and her academic advisor Dave Verbyla, both of the UAF department of forest sciences, use BLM sensors to track lightning strikes. While working on her Ph.D. degree, Dissing and Verbyla noticed that dots on a map representing lightning strikes neatly covered the range of boreal forest in Alaska. Boreal forest consists of spruce, birch, aspen, willow and other trees. The area in Alaska covered by boreal forest--the Interior, Yukon Flats, the Copper River Basin, and the Susitna River--received more lightning strikes than did higher ground covered with tundra and shrubs.

Lightning may favor the boreal forest because the forest absorbs less heat (and gives off more heat) than tundra or shrubs. This warmth can produce unstable air masses that help the growth of cumulonimbus clouds, the thunderheads that produce lightning and are known for their characteristic anvil shape. - More...
Friday - June 09, 2006

Alaska: ADF&G Official Testifies at U.S. Senate Hearing on Offshore Aquaculture - David Bedford, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, testified yesterday at a hearing on offshore aquaculture held by the Senate Commerce Committee's National Ocean Policy Subcommittee. Bedford was invited to participate in yesterday's hearing by Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). He offered the subcommittee several recommendations for coordinating the federal regulation of offshore aquaculture with existing state regulatory programs.

Bedford emphasized that local and state input will be critical in any federal attempt to oversee aquaculture activities. He highlighted many of the practices and polices in Alaska that have led to successful conservation and management of the state's fisheries resources. "We believe that the legislation authorizing offshore aquaculture should first allow states to determine what kind of aquaculture activities would take place in the federal waters off of their coastline," he said. "Local control is, from our perspective and in our experience, key to long-term conservation of resources and public acceptance of any development that takes place."

Bedford also urged the subcommittee to incorporate the regional councils in any federal legislation. "We believe that the regional fishery management councils should be given jurisdiction over aquaculture operations," he said.

Stevens echoed that the right of states to opt out of aquaculture activities is crucial. "I believe the state should have the right to determine what happens in terms of the areas off of their shores," he said. "I'm really worried about the state not having the right to veto a federal plan if that type of operation would pose a threat to the survival of that state's wild species." - More...
Friday - June 09, 2006