Ketchikan: Graham Crowned Ketchikan's Fourth of July Queen - After competing for over eight weeks in three different categories, Jessica Graham was crowned Ketchikan's Fourth of July Queen Sunday evening at the South East Alaska Discovery Center.

Four young women competed for the crown in the categories of 1) Presentation Forum, 2) community involvement and 3) raffle ticket sales. According to information provided by Lisa Machado for The Lions Club, the presentation forum was held at the Discovery Center on Friday, July 1st. The four women vying for the crown had opportunities to present speeches, dances and slide shows to earn points.

Community involvement including volunteerism, leadership and membership in organizations also earned points for the contestants. According to the Lions Club, all the young women are very involved in the community. The third category was the individual raffle ticket sales by each contestant. - More...
Monday PM - July 04, 2005

National: Bush Celebrates U.S. Independence as Model for Freedom Worldwide; President again pledges U.S. will stay in Iraq "until the fight is won" - President Bush led the nation in celebrating the 229th anniversary of America's independence July 4, citing that achievement in 1776 as a model for Iraq and other nations carrying on the struggle for liberty today.

He pledged once again to stand with the Iraqis "until the fight is won."

Speaking at an Independence Day celebration at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, Bush declared, "The history we celebrate today is a testament to the power of freedom to lift up a whole nation." - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005

National: Travel industry fears tougher security By DAVID ARMSTRONG - Foreign visitors, who pump billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, are not arriving in hoped-for numbers due to tighter post-Sept. 11 security rules, according the latest travel industry figures.

That is slowing the recovery of hotels, airlines and other businesses that are counting on a surge in commerce from the weak U.S. dollar.

What's more, industry executives say planned federal passport and visa rules and other measures intended to safeguard the nation are creating the perception of a Fortress America overseas, tarnishing this country's reputation for hospitality and personal freedom. - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters AIRPORT FERRY FEES AN EMBARRASMENT FOR THE CITY OF KETCHIKAN By Lynne Miller - Monday Providing for Alaska: Capital Budget Works for Alaskans by Kevin Meyer - Monday Twenty-five Years of ANILCA by John Coghill - Sunday Ferry Fare By Floyd Crocker - Sunday Afraid of strong women? By John Stewart - Saturday Anti-Tongass Amendment Defeated By Andy Rauwolf - Saturday Points By Linda Burger - Saturday Fact or Fiction? By Randy Cech - Saturday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Happy Birthday Uncle Sam Brian Fairrington, Cagle Cartoons Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists Ketchikan Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast City Police Report 06/30/05 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements July 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S 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             Front Page Archives

National: Looking for a prescription to fix Medicaid By BILL STRAUB - Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen says the Volunteer State offers its citizens the nation's most generous Medicaid program, offering medical coverage to a higher percentage of poor people and dedicating a larger proportion of its budget to the program than any other.

There's only one catch, he readily acknowledges - the system known as Tenncare is bankrupting the state treasury and leading Tennessee down the path of financial ruin.

A Democrat said to have his eye on the White House in 2008, Bredesen has moved to place Tenncare on more secure footing. But it comes at a cost. More than 300,000 Tennesseans could lose benefits, resulting in what one critic termed "the most drastic public health cutback in the history of the nation." - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005

Medical: Cold fronts trigger heart attacks, study finds - While you're enjoying not having to shovel snow this month, consider this: It may be dramatic changes in air pressure that accompany winter storms rather than the cold or snow that trigger more heart attacks during the winter.

"It's not shoveling snow. It's the snowstorm,'' said Dr. Philip Houck, co-chairman of the cardiology division at Scott and White Hospital and the Texas A&M College of Medicine and lead author of a new study on the phenomenon.

Writing in the July issue of the American Journal of Cardiology, Houck and colleagues showed a time-delayed relationship between drops in barometric pressure and the occurrence of heart attacks. - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005

Maureen Gilmer: Patriot gardens are more than red, white and blue - "Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bands."

These words of Thomas Jefferson describe the vast majority of patriots who fought in the American Revolution. They worked small hardscrabble farms, many carved by hand out of an unrelenting wilderness. Today it is difficult to understand what a mammoth effort it was to live off the land in colonial times. But as these men went to war against the British, their knowledge of the land and its plants played a vital role in the birth of our nation. - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005

Dan Walters: Independence Day a reminder to appreciate individual rights - As we celebrate the birth of the nation, we should not forget that the essential purpose of those who signed the Declaration of Independence 229 years ago was not merely to create a new nation, but to create one that would protect the "inalienable rights" of human beings to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Those rights were spelled out in more detail in the Constitution's Bill of Rights but their essential message remained intact and remains valid today: Live and let live. - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005

Ann McFeatters: Iraq war no cause to cheer about this July Fourth - This Fourth of July feels different. It IS different.

It's not about the cookouts or the parades or the bunting or the fireworks or the stirring music or the national rush of warmth about this wonderful country. This year, it's about the war and sacrifice and suffering and death.

Those of us with family members serving with the armed forces overseas got a jolt this week. We heard from President Bush that this war will go on for a long time. A year ago, we didn't really understand that.

Bush said something to the stony-faced men and women of the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, N.C., that he couldn't say in an election year - there is no end in sight. We have to stay in Iraq until the terrorists are routed and Iraq is, what? Like Kansas with mosques? - More...
Monday - July 04, 2005