National: Bush likely to get increased support for Iraq war, at least for now By CAROLYN LOCHHEAD - The London terrorist bombings are likely to temporarily strengthen President Bush's hand politically at a critical juncture when public support for the war in Iraq has eroded, but the attacks raise difficult questions over whether that war has made the United States more or less vulnerable to terrorism, analysts said.

"There may not have been a linkage between Iraq and al Qaeda, but al Qaeda has clearly made that linkage, and we've been sucked into what I think is a common war," said Timothy Lomperis, a former military intelligence officer now at St. Louis University. "There is a fusion occurring in what many Americans see as separate - al Qaeda is married to the war in Iraq and it is becoming increasingly one big war." - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Washington Calling: Congress thinks twice about cutting transit security By LANCE GAY- he 7/7 attacks on London are prompting U.S. lawmakers to reconsider cuts that Senate committees are making in security for mass-transit systems in this country.

A Senate panel last month cut $50 million from next year's Homeland Security budget, but in the wake of the London bombings, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is vowing not just to restore that money when the Senate considers the spending bill next week, but to add $1 billion for research on ways of fortifying "the soft underbelly of buses, subways and railroads" in the United States. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Week In Review: Terrorism in London ... Reporter jailed ... Storms ... More By MARY DEIBEL - The Group of Eight summit, shaken by terrorism, ended with world leaders agreeing to aid for Africa and the Palestinian Authority and a promise to address global climate change. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, host of the Scotland summit, told a closing news conference: "We speak today in the shadow of terrorism, but it will not obscure what we came here to achieve." - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

National: Camera phones turn bystanders into chroniclers of catastrophe By RACHEL LEIBROCK - Shortly after the London bombings, photographs of the carnage began to appear on television sets and computer screens worldwide. However, the images were not captured by professionals but taken by ordinary citizens with camera phones.

In the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, cell phones were heralded for keeping people in touch during a time of chaotic disaster. Now, nearly four years later, phones equipped with cameras have put a sharp focus on the melding of technology and tragedy once again. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

National: Terrorists increasingly targeting mass transit By THOMAS HARGROVE - Terrorists increasingly are targeting mass-transit systems to draw attention to their political and religious causes, killing more than 4,000 people on planes, trains, subways and buses since 1968.

The most deadly terror attack in Europe last year was al Qaeda's bombing of the commuter transit system of Madrid, Spain, that killed 191 and wounded 1,900 using tactics strikingly similar to Thursday's London bombings. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

National: Portman trying to corral votes for Central American trade pact By MARY DEIBEL - As President Bush's new trade wrangler in chief, Rob Portman is working hard to corral votes in Congress for a pact that the White House considers key to national security and immigration control.

Round after round of meetings into the night with lawmakers and lobbyists finally sent the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) through the Senate on a 54-45 vote at the start of Congress' weeklong July Fourth recess. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

International: Vacationers and firms play down effect on travel By JANET FULLWOOD - The London bombings sent shivers through a travel industry still recovering from the post-9/11 slump, but the impact on vacationers is expected to be short-term.

Attitudes have changed since the New York and Pentagon terrorist attacks, travelers and industry professionals say. And that means more travelers are staying the course rather than backing off out of fear. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Musk oxen - North Slope, Alaska - 1982 August Photographer: Captain Budd Christman, NOAA Corps Photo courtesy NOAA

Alaska: The Muskox's Odyssey: From Greenland to Alaska, via New Jersey by NED ROZELL - Leaving cloven hoof prints from the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, more than 3,500 muskoxen live in Alaska. All of those shaggy, curly-horned beasts came from one group of muskoxen that survived a most remarkable journey in the 1930s.

In 1900, no muskoxen existed in Alaska. Though the stocky, weatherproof creatures have survived in the Arctic since the last ice age, the last reports of muskoxen in Alaska came from the late 1800s. As Peter Lent reported in his book Muskoxen and Their Hunters, a man named Henry Rapelle in 1895 visited a Native man living on the bank of the Yukon River who had the skull of a muskox. He told Rapelle he thought the muskox was "a bear with horns" when he shot it a year earlier on the Kandik River. That muskox was perhaps the last of the Alaska population. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Technology: Wireless mode taps stealth potential By SUE VORENBERG - Sometimes being sneaky can save lives.

At Sandia National Laboratories, engineers are hoping their new ultra-covert type of wireless communications can save the lives of soldiers while letting generals and military officials track exactly where they are on a battlefield, said Tim Cooley, a Sandia researcher. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

'Life Raft Training' Front Page Photo by Chris Wilhelm

Ketchikan: 'Life Raft Training' - Crew members from the Coral Princess participated in a training drill at the Ketchikan High School swimming pool Thursday. The drill required that the staff right the life raft alone and then climb aboard while their trainer sprayed water on them with a hose to simulate ocean spray. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Ketchikan: New UAS Ketchikan Scholarship Opens - The University of Alaska Southeast Alumni Association Ketchikan Chapter Scholarship is now open and applications are being accepted. The scholarship is new for the Ketchikan campus. Applications are due by August 22, 2005. The scholarship will be awarded for the Fall 2005 semester, which starts September 1. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Health: Health care costs take toll on women, study finds By LAWRENCE M. O'ROURKE - Millions of American women cannot afford to go to the doctor or get their drug prescriptions filled, according to a study released Thursday.

"A sizeable share of women are falling through the cracks, either because they don't have insurance or even with insurance can't afford to pay for medical care or prescription drugs," said Alina Salganicoff, director of women's health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, sponsor of the study. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Slowpokes Revisited By Lee Caskey - Friday Airport Ferry Fee By Diane Chaudhary - Friday There They Go Again; Media Unfairly Portrays Legislature By Vic Kohring - Friday ANILCA By B More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Bush warming up By: Tab The Calgary Sun Distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists Ketchikan Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast City Police Report 07/09/05 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

Laine Welch: Salmon fishermen take more maketing control over catches - More Alaska salmon fishermen are organizing in order to take more marketing control over their catches.

Bristol Bay has just become the second of twelve potential Alaska regions to form a state sanctioned marketing entity to promote its own seafood. "The Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association has been officially certified by the state," said acting director Bob Waldrop.

The growing movement stems from a law passed last year by the Alaska legislature that allows fishermen to tax themselves based on their landings to fund such programs. The tax is collected through the state and distributed directly to the regional seafood development associations, or RSDA's. - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

Dave Kiffer: "Lies" we tell ourselves - On the Friday before the Fourth of July, an acquaintance remarked "It doesn't look good for the 4th."

"It never rains on the parade, " I responded smugly.

On Saturday, my wife said "the forecast isn't very hopeful."

"Nine out of 10 times, it clears up in time," I hedged.

On Sunday, my son said "It's never going to stop raining."

"I'm sure there will be plenty of candy in the parade," I changed the subject.

These conversations were pretty typical last week as locals tried to put the best face on a weather pattern that was more October than July. Unfortunately, it did rain during the parade, although not as hard as it did right before and right after (we take our silver linings where we can) - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005

John Hall: The real Downing Street memo - Yet, there they were again last week, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and President George W. Bush of Texas enduring yet another crisis in a long, dreary series of crises that have stretched over their mutual careers.

They were looking pretty solid.

The subway and bus bombings in London, which appeared to be the work of Islamic jihad terrorists, were designed to show the continuing competency of indiscriminate killers with timed, near-simultaneous explosions like the ones in Madrid, Spain, just over a year ago.

Blair got the news of the attacks at a summit meeting in Scotland and rushed back to London, his jaw set in determination. It is a familiar look both to Americans and British, both to Blair's admirers and critics. Bush sent his condolences with him and said he appreciated Blair's "steadfast determination and his strength." - More...
Friday - July 08, 2005