Ketchikan:  There's Giegers in them thar hills; Bokan Mountain and the Alaska uranium "Boom" By DAVE KIFFER -Fifty years ago this month, Mrs. John Thomas of Ballston Spa, New York performed a historic act. According to the Associated Press, she turned on her electric stove and cooked a hamburger.

The electricity for her meal was the first generated by Niagara Mohawk, America's first nuclear power plant, located in upstate New York.

Also in July of 1955, Canada announced that it would soon open its first nuclear plant and that atomic energy would meet 75 percent of country's electrical needs by 1970. American officials predicted 55 percent of the country's electricity would be nuclear generated by 1980.

The Atomic Energy Commission certainly believed in the future of domestic nuclear power. In the early years after World War II, the United States imported nearly 90 percent of its uranium from Africa and Canada. So the AEC moved to spur native development of uranium for weaponry and potential electric power by spending nearly $2.5 billion to encourage production, according to historian Raye Ringoltz. - More...
Sunday - July 10, 2005

Business: Oil prices not yet hurting economy By DAVID R. BAKER - With oil prices parked above $55 per barrel, why hasn't the economy tanked?

Spikes in the cost of crude used to cause recessions, unemployment, gas lines, misery. This one hasn't. Drivers grouse, but the economy seems to hum along.

The reason oil hasn't dragged the economy down, as many forecasters expected, is that the economy doesn't depend as much on oil as it once did. Manufacturing jobs have moved overseas, coal and natural gas have replaced oil for fueling electrical plants, and cars go farther than before on a gallon of unleaded. - More...
Sunday - July 10, 2005

Business: Real estate gurus: If only it were so easy By JULIE STURGEON - Real estate prices are soaring, which means the real estate investment-seminar business is booming.

You've probably heard the pitches - whether delivered live, on tapes, or late-night TV - claiming you can buy property with little work and no money down, or promising that you can get rich in your spare time.

Ah, if it were so easy. - More...
Sunday - July 10, 2005

Business: Personal accounts only part of Social Security proposal By NEIL DOWNING - One of the proposed changes to the federal Social Security program would allow workers to invest, in their own personal accounts, a portion of the Social Security taxes they pay.

During a recent visit to the Social Security Administration's regional headquarters in Boston, James B. Lockhart III, 59, the deputy commissioner of Social Security, discussed personal accounts with Providence Journal MoneyLine columnist Neil Downing. Excerpts follow: - More...
Sunday - July 10, 200

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Rep. Don Young's Smoking Pot Comment By Robert McRoberts - Sunday Above the Law? By Don Hoff Jr. - Sunday Airport Ferry Fares By Terri Lee - Sunday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Global warming By: Larry Wright The Detroit News 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

Jason Love: Gridlock - I live by a dock where cars are dumped off daily. Hourly. Mercilessly. They march like I-Robots, half-wrapped, past my window toward a processing plant. And every day I get that uneasy feeling you have when too many people cram inside an elevator. Last week a batch of cars rolled straight off the docks INTO GRIDLOCK.

And that is why I write.

It used to be that rush hour referred to a time of day; now it refers to an era. This is The Idling Age. We can't go anywhere but into the conga line of our freeways. "Rush hour" ... "free ways" ... Why do these words suggest movement? Most of us live in second gear, wondering why the lane beside us catches all the breaks. I believe it was Confucius who first said, "The traffic's always lighter in someone else's lane. - More...
Sunday - July 10, 2005

Will Durst: The Rare Double-Pronged, Red-Footed Bushie - There are a lot of things President Bush would rather do than give a speech to the nation. Play golf with his dad. Fall off a mountain bike. I even think clearing brush wearing nothing but boots at high noon in the middle of an August rattlesnake migration would win hands down over the speech thing. But this week, America was treated to a rare double dose of the president talking out of both sides of his mouth. Happy and sad, that is.

The early part of the week we were presented with his sad, serious side. The one without the Texas accent. Where "having learned the lessons of 9/11, our mission is clear, we must stay the course, and advance freedom in what has become a terrorist's paradise." A situation for which neither we nor the people of Iraq have ever properly thanked him, and being the simple humble man he is, for which he takes little if any of the credit, when truth be told, it is a single-handed accomplishment that he need not share with anyone. Bravo, Mr. President! Bravo!- More...
Sunday - July 10, 2005

Preston MacDougall: Chemical Eyes in the Getty - Seeing is believing. That much is clear, even though you and I may believe differently after seeing the same thing.

There may also be a time lag, such as when we first saw the grave images of the Twin Towers going from seemingly defying the laws of gravity, to shockingly verifying them.

Less certain is the link between seeing and understanding. This is why we need teachers.

Unfortunately, just as a caterpillar can turn into a moth, somehow, over the last few generations, the teaching profession has morphed from a respected calling into a thankless job. The reasons for this are complex and I don't pretend to know all of them (although I can think of a few biggies). I have also over-generalized the situation - some teachers are butterflies. - More...
Sunday - July 10, 2005