National: Americans Driving At Historic Lows - Americans drove less in March 2008, continuing a trend that began last November, according to estimates recently released from the Federal Highway Administration.

"That Americans are driving less underscores the challenges facing the Highway Trust Fund and its reliance on the federal gasoline excise tax," said Acting Federal Highway Administrator Jim Ray.

Given the drop in driving, federal statistics show Americans drove 11 billion fewer miles in March 2008 than in March 2007. That means a prime source of road maintenance and construction money has begun to dry up.

An upshot of American's cutting back on driving in the face of soaring gasoline prices is the loss of what could be billions of dollars in the Highway Trust Fund. This fund is the pool of money fed by federal gasoline tax revenues that are siphoned from each gallon of gas sold. States and cities depend on these funds to build new roads or fix old ones.

The Federal Highway Administration's "Traffic Volume Trends" report, produced monthly since 1942, shows that estimated vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on all U.S. public roads for March 2008 fell 4.3 percent as compared with March 2007 travel. This is the first time estimated March travel on public roads fell since 1979. At 11 billion miles less in March 2008 than in the previous March, this is the sharpest yearly drop for any month in Federal Highway Administration's history. - More...
Sunday - June 01, 2008

National: Pelosi says she will ensure peace at the Democratic convention By CARLA MARINUCCI - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will step in if necessary to make sure the presidential nomination fight between Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama does not reach the Democratic National Convention -- though she believes it could be resolved as early as next week.

Pelosi predicted that a presidential nominee will emerge in the week after the final Democratic primaries on June 3, but she said "I will step in" if there is no resolution by late June regarding the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan, the two states that defied party rules by holding early primaries.

"Because we cannot take this fight to the convention," she said. "It must be over before then." - More...
Sunday - June 01, 2008

National: Indiana boy captures Scripps National Spelling Bee title By ANSLEY HAMAN - Sameer Mishra definitely earned his "guerdon."

The 13-year-old from West Lafayette, Ind. outlasted 287 other competitors and captured the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship Friday night by correctly spelling guerdon, a word of Germanic origin meaning reward.

Mishra outdueled Sidharth Chand, a 12-year-old from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who misspelled prosopopoeia in the 15th round, just before Mishra nailed guerdon.

Mishra will receive $35,000 in cash plus more than $5,000 in other prizes.

Earlier Friday night Mishra provided comic relief. In the 9th round Dr. Jacques A. Bailly, one of the Bee officials, read "numnah," a sheepskin pad placed between a saddle and an animal's back. But Bailly's pronunciation sounded odd, prompting tittering from the crowd and a puzzled question from Mishra.

"Numbnut?" Mishra asked.

Bailly then more clearly stated the Hindi word. - More...
Sunday - June 01, 2008

Health - Fitness: Chronic medical conditions, diagnostic errors abound By LEE BOWMAN - America, land of the free, home of the ill.

A new report out this week from the government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality gives some daunting numbers. Six out of every 10 Americans 18 and older has at least one chronic medical condition.

That means in the average office building elevator, most of the people on board have a medical problem that can be expected to last for at least one year and result in physical limitations or the need for ongoing medical care.

The numbers come from a 2005 federal survey of spending for health care services around the country. - More...
Sunday - June 01, 2008

Health - Fitness: Myth informed: A dozen food 'truths' don't hold water By GWEN SCHOEN - You hear a lot of nutrition advice, some good, some questionable.

Jeannie Gazzaniga Moloo, spokeswoman for the American Dietetics Association, is on a mission to squelch myths.

Here's a list of 12 common beliefs along with the facts from Moloo. - More...
Sunday - June 01, 2008

Dave Kiffer: Your Next American Idle! - Men and Women are different.

They must be, otherwise all those articles in the magazines my wife reads would be really, really, really wrong, or at least really, really, really pointless.

Page after page, article after article seem primarily intent in unlocking the male psyche for all of their - assumably - female readers.

I particularly like the ones that tell the readers what their male partner is really thinking.

It seems to be a really popular topic of discussion amongst women.

I.E. "What does he really mean when he says _______?"

Or "How his facial expressions give his deepest thoughts away."

Or "Uncoding his secret body language."

So even when someone of the female persuasion asks you what you are thinking and you honestly answer "nothing" it is clearly not a good enough answer. You must be thinking something and these articles will spell it all out

Uh huh.

The sad truth is that most men are usually conserving brain cells when they are quiet.

To tell you the truth, and not charge you $4.95 for it, most men are also conserving brain cells when they are talking as well.

Assuming that we are thinking about anything at all any given time is probably a waste of time. Nearly as a big a waste as reading all those articles written to give you a clue about what we are thinking.

And those times when we are thinking, you really don't want to know what we are thinking about anyway. Nothing good can come from that information.

Do you really want to know that we are pondering why our favorite sports team is not doing better?

Do you really want to know that we are considering which is more important between "less filling" or "tastes great?"

Do you really want to know that we are having a sudden nostalgic thought about a girl we kissed in the third grade?

Really the best advice I can give you is "don't ask, don't tell." - More...
Sunday - June 01, 2008

Public Meetings 7:00 pm - Thursday - June 5, 2008: The Ketchikan City Council will hold a regular meeting in the City Council Chambers Download the agenda and information packets pdf (Once the agenda is downloaded to your computer, click on the various items on the agenda to download each packet of detailed information.) Ketchikan Ketchikan Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Today's Forecast Satellite Today's Weather Images Marine Forecasts Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map CLASSIFIEDS Publish ad Please select the proper category before posting. CLASSIFIEDS' CATEGORIES Announcements and       Help Wanted For Sale / Free Stuff Garage Sales Homes / Apts/ Property Pets Wanted Lost & Found Local Services Publish your ad   Front Page Archives April - May 2008 S M T W T F S 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 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 More Front Page Archives

Non-Profit Accountability By Agnes Moran - Non-profit organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code are accountable to the public for how they generate and spend their funds. At a minimum, when requested, they are required to provide tax returns and copies of their letters of determination for nonprofit status along with the supporting documentation the organization used to prove to the IRS that they were qualified for 501( c)(3) status. (For more information see IRS publication 4221 Compliance Guide for 501( c)(3) Public Charities.) Ketchikan-Kanayama Exchange Inc is a 501(c)(3) qualified organization. - More...
Thursday PM - May 29, 2008

Three strikes By Tom Ferry - Thank you Mr. Worrel for the look into your group and your viewpoint on what happened. I believe that some kind of method of written notice needs to be implemented as you suggested so things are more clear cut to the parent, student, etc. - More...
Thursday PM - May 29, 2008

Free spirits By Eileen Small - Many years ago -- and I am 57 now -- when I was 14 I won a state essay contest and got to represesent my state on a big tour of New England landmarks. I got to go to Gettysburg and the NY World's Fair and it was a two-week blast! For a little girl from a one horse town in Oklahoma it was my first look at the world "beyond" and you will notice, I no longer live in Oklahoma! It was the beginning of doors opening to me. - More...
Thursday PM - May 29, 2008

Beautiful sounds of Ketchikan By Trygve Westergard - I have a house on Millar St and a home on Pennock and I have always loved the sounds of float planes taking off. - More...
Thursday PM - May 29, 2008

Teens and Adults Linking in Ketchikan By Karen Eakes - T.A.L.K. (Teens and Adults Linking in Ketchikan) has become a regular PATCHWorks event during the past couple of years. Gathered in small mixed groups of youth and adults, participants have been building understanding and positive communication. Topics have been explored ranging from concerns related to teen drug and alcohol use, to factors that encourage and/or discourage students to stay in school until graduation, to the importance of parental awareness and involvement in the lives of their teens. The continually expressed desire by youth at all T.A.L.K. events for a special place that teens can call their own, helped lead to the current effort by KYI (Ketchikan Youth Initiatives) with the help of the NCCC Americorps group, to begin to restore and develop the Water Warehouse. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 27, 2008

Non -voters are the problem By Edward Brown - A government of "We the People" will not function well if our "lazy electorate" remains at home. These non-voters ignore their responsibility to govern. These non -voting chumps stand by as our governing bodies run things like they do not need our permission or our vote. Therefore non-voters are the real problem. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 27, 2008

Kanayama: Staying with the Group By Tony Hatano-Worrell - I'm glad to hear from Mr. Tom Ferry. First of all, you are right about the student in question. The student is indeed smart, loves reading, bright colors, and (I'm told) the dramatic arts. These are only some of the reasons this student was originally chosen to be an exchange member. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 27, 2008

Obama By Mark Neckameyer - Barack can't get away with bald faced lies like he told yesterday! Barack Obama is in big trouble again with Jewish voters and with any and all voters who expect some level of truthfulness from national political candidates. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 27, 2008

Noise Polution By Heidi Entwit - Are you seriously complaining about float planes buzzing your house? You live in Southeast Alaska, better yet on Pennock Island. Did you not see the float planes when you landed on this island. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 27, 2008

Memorial Day: A day of remembrance By Sen. Lisa Murkowski - A few years after our Civil War, General Order 11 was given that designated the 30th of May as a day to remember those in both the North and South who had died in the Civil War. - More...
Sunday - May 25, 2008

Memorial Day By Rep. Don Young - Every year at this time we enjoy a three-day weekend in honor of Memorial Day. But how often do we actually stop and remember why we have the extra day off from work? This country is home to millions of courageous men and women who have served their country with honor and bravery, and Alaska is where many of them call home. - More...
Sunday - May 25, 2008

Can we avert an economic meltdown? By Sen. Kim Elton - We are in desperate need of a series of unaffiliated solutions -- neither Democrat nor Republican -- to the looming U.S. energy crunch. - More...
Sunday - May 25, 2008

Voters are the real problem By Mike Isaac - Many voters are too simple to vote for change regardless of their education level. They whine and cry about all the money they spend on gas, food, utilities, property, income and sales taxes but turn around and vote or support someone who will raise their taxes, stand in the way of any domestic energy development which will cause food and all other prices to go up. Even though these issue are real and affect many people on a daily basis,the same voters turn around and vote for someone who is pro life, for gay marriage, builds a new school in their town but have no kids, or buys the whole global warming spin as they look for their snow shovel on this first big weekend of summer to dig out their Prius. - More..
Sunday - May 25, 2008

Democracy By Charlotte Tanner - I was stunned in 2004, when my children who were attending college were not able to vote, BECAUSE Loren Lehman, the Lieutenant Governor at that time, put all absentee ballots in the mail with insufficient postage. They were held in the Post Office until the correct amount of postage could be added. - More...
Sunday - May 25, 2008

If only cars ran on political hot air ... By Mark Neckameyer - Washington would be supplying the world instead of begging hat in hand for the kind Saudis to rescue us. The TV shows are in re-run, football season hasn't started and I don't like baseball so I am stuck watching the buffoons who pass for our Senators and Congressmen (sorry, the Democrats are the dumbest ones!) make believe that they are asking "hard questions" of oil execs to somehow prove that the oil companies are "profiteering", whatever that means. They are so incredibly stupid in real life. They all look so clever in the ads they run all Summer to get re-elected but they are so much dumber than dirt trying to think on their feet or on their ample behinds is more accurate. If they were smart they would stay off live TV. - More...
Sunday - May 25, 2008

Taking Care of Our American Heroes By Senator Ted Stevens - This weekend, we must take time to remember and honor those who have worn our country's uniform, particularly those who paid the ultimate price to preserve our freedoms. It is a chance to show our gratitude and deepest respects for generations of American heroes. - More...
Friday - May 23, 2008

Noise Pollution By Sharon Preston - Short term or impulse noise is becoming a bigger problem in Ketchikan all the time. Some examples include: whistles, horns, bells, sirens, fireworks, gunfire, blasting, pile-driving, aircraft flyovers, and dogs barking. - More...
Thursday PM - May 22, 2008

No Democracy among Democrats By Anita Hales - The Democrat primary has me feeling very ill at ease and leaving me wondering where the media is to protest the gross disenfranchisement that is happening in this primary. - More...
Thursday PM - May 22, 2008

Safety Issue for Kanayama Eject a Ruse By Kathleen Svenson - The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. The child who was not allowed to go to Japan has never "disappeared" from school, nor anywhere else. I checked her attendance records. I also checked with the Troopers. No report of her missing. - More...
Thursday PM - May 22, 2008

Are Halibut, Chinook, and Coho Salmon populations in Southeast Alaska heading for a crash? By Andy Rauwolf - There are serious issues with the Southeast Alaskan marine ecosystem that have been steadily getting worse. For instance, the 2007/2008 winter King troll fishery just closed after harvesting only 45% of the 45,000 fish quota. Furthermore, for the first time in history both the halibut and summer Chinook commercial quotas have been cut by 48%. Sport and guided sport fishing have been severely restricted as well. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 20, 2008

Today is a Gift By Louise Clark - If you missed the Friday, May 16 band concert "Today Is A Gift" at Kayhi, you really missed something. The music was superb. I'm a big Glenn Miller fan so it was almost impossible not to get up and jitterbug during the "Glenn Miller in Concert" and "Wilson Suite For Euphonium And Band" was so incredibly beautiful, and "Today Is The Gift" was absolutely wonderful. - More...
Tuesday PM

We all wish Ted Kennedy well but he is no paragon of virtue! By Mark Neckameyer - When Senator Ted Kennedy had his stroke scare Saturday morning, all the TV networks including FOX News went on the air with a glowing obituary sounding retelling of the Senator's life. They lionized the man, made him sound like combination of George Washington and Saint Peter. Fortunately Kennedy's health issue was not as serious as it first appeared but I can't help comparing the reality of his life and works with the flowery garbage we have been hearing on TV all day. Here are the facts about his "accomplishments". - More...
Tuesday PM - May 20, 2008

Thanks for a Great Year By Patrick E Johnston - I just wanted to say thank you to all the people I have had the pleasure to work with and serve this past year. - More...
Tuesday PM - May 20, 2008

In support of Kanayama! By Amber Williams - Most of my friends will tell you how much I love Japan. Their points of view, clothing, music ect. are wonderful. That trip changed my life for the better. If I could, I would love to move there forever. Long have I said "If I go missing, I'm in Japan, don't come and find me" - More...
Tuesday PM - May 20, 2008

A GRADUATION MESSAGE FROM YOUR ALASKA STATE TROOPERS By Captain Kurt Ludwig - This is graduation time for high school seniors in Southeast Alaska. Most teens enjoy parties and other get-togethers, especially around graduation. And while celebrating this time is appropriate and natural, there are often decisions made by some parents and teens that are cause for concern for the public's safety. - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

Getting Spammed! By Scott Willis - Are you getting UCE or Unsolicited Commercial Email, better known as SPAM? Well, if you are a KPU customer with a .KPUNET.NET email account, then maybe I can help you filter some of that out. Here's what you do: - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

Stop the secrecy By Thomas Ferry - Regarding the participant that was just kicked out of the Kanayama program, Mr. Worrell cites that some unthinkable negative things have been said about the program in retalliation. This child had supposedly broken some rules of commitment and safety set down by the controlling committee. I, like many others would like to know exactly what transpired to get this child kicked out. As people gossip and retell stories, the truth sometimes gets lost in translation on both sides. - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

There's Nothing to Do in Ketchikan? NOT! By Bobbie McCreary - Come out Sat nite to have FUN & support our Youth Try this on for size: Skateboard contests, capture the flag, paintball target range, pie eating contest, kids corner with face painting, balloon animals, go fish, BBQ dinner, and a theme based auction. Fun for the whole family. - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

THANK YOU By Mindy Lloyd - I want to thank the gentleman who contacted the Shelter (animal )after my dog was hit. I'm sorry that you were the one. But I thank you so much that I know how she passed. To let you know the wind blew our front door open and our little dogs got out. They do chase cars that's why we normally have them tied out or in our home. - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

Attention dog walkers By Julia Guthrie - I have lived on Alaska Avenue for about 7 years now. I would just like to say that I am really tired of dog walkers letting their animals use my front yard as a dumping stop. My children play in my yard. - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

What he's trying to say By James Greenberg - I have a couple of places to find an answer to your question, first go into your bible and read Luke 21:10-11 also Mark 13:8. Another scripture of interest is 2 Timothy 3:1-5, it shows how people will be during what the bible calls the last days. - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

Is Somebody trying to tell us something? By Charlotte Tanner - In reply to another one of Mark Neckameyer's wonderful letters, I can only reply that perhaps we are being told to be better Stewards of the Earth, as the Bible commands us.  - More...
Saturday - May 17, 2008

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