National: Bush admits Katrina mistakes By JAMES ROSEN - esident Bush made a rare admission of error Tuesday as he accepted responsibility for the weak federal response to Hurricane Katrina and vowed to get to the bottom of what went wrong.

Bush, who belatedly cut short his summer vacation and returned to Washington after Katrina struck the Gulf Coast two weeks ago, planned to address the nation Thursday evening from New Orleans during his fourth visit to the stricken region.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't do its job right, I take responsibility," Bush said at a White House news conference with visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

Alaska: Senate delays action on ANWR By LIZ RUSKIN - The Senate's Republican leaders, thrown off schedule by Hurricane Katrina, are postponing their latest attempt to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling until late October, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., announced this week.

The Senate was supposed to finish work on its ANWR-opening budget measure this week. But delay does not mean defeat. In fact, drilling proponents are predicting that the hurricane's disruptions to oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the high gasoline prices, will increase congressional support for drilling in the Arctic refuge.

"ANWR will have greater support than it would have had before Katrina," predicted Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

Alaska: Producers Respond to Governor's Request for Increased Production - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski Tuesday released letters from ConocoPhillips, BP and Chevron responding to his request for increased North Slope oil production in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

"Every barrel of oil we can produce is a barrel our nation needs," said the governor. "I appreciate the willingness of the producers, in this time of national need, to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to increase production." - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

National: Bush says U.S. 'will not waver' in Iraq By JAMES ROSEN - President Bush told Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday that the United States "will not waver" in backing his fledgling government and tied insurgents in Iraq to terrorists who launched the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Bush also criticized Syria for allowing anti-American fighters to cross its border with Iraq to join the insurgency there, and he said it would be "incredibly destabilizing" for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

"For President Talabani and his fellow citizens, the day Saddam (Hussein) was removed from power was a day of deliverance, and America will always be proud that we led the armies of liberation," Bush told reporters at the White House, the Iraqi leader by his side. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters "CAN I GET MY MONEY BACK FROM PIPS?" NO, YES, YES, AND MAYBE. By David G. Hanger - Tuesday pm The genuine Alaskan experience By William Lidster - Tuesday pm There's time and a reason to debate By Ted Wright - Tuesday pm Visit to Ground Zero By Jessica Mathews - Tuesday pm Price of gas... By Neil Gray - Tuesday pm Katrina Relief Effort Tickets On Sale By Rob Holston - Tuesday pm Any Interest? By Bill Thomas Sr. - Tuesday pm Embrace tourism By William Lidster - Tuesday pm More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoons Big Oil Vince O'Farrell, The Illawarra Mercury, Australia Distributed exclusively to subscribers by Cagle Cartoons, Inc. Political Cartoonists E-mail a political cartoon Ketchikan Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast City Police Report 09/12/05 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements September 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S   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

National: Supreme Court nominee fields, deflects questions from senators - President Bush's nominee to be the nation's 17th chief justice said Tuesday he believes the Constitution protects Americans' rights to privacy but avoided any commitment to upholding Roe v Wade or other abortion rights precedents.

Abortion dominated Supreme Court nominee John Roberts' first day of questioning by senators. Roberts, who has been supported by social conservatives, is expected to win confirmation by the Republican-controlled Senate. The margin will be determined how many Democrats support him; many have said the hearings would be a deciding factor in how they cast their votes.

But on abortion and other subjects, Roberts so far has avoided answering many specifics. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

National: Congress asks: Is government ready for a disaster? By ROB HOTAKAINEN and AARON BLAKE - Four years after the Sept. 11 attacks, members of Congress are now raising very basic questions about whether the federal government is ready to protect its citizens in the event of a disaster.

The answers will begin trickling in on Wednesday, when a panel of 17 senators opens the first in a string of public hearings into the government's response to the deadly destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. The investigation promises to dominate the political agenda in Washington in coming weeks, perhaps for months.

With Capitol Hill besieged by complaints from the public, members of Congress - including prominent Republicans - are making it clear that the Bush administration has some explaining to do. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

National: Roberts tells senators he has 'no agenda' By MARGARET TALEV - As his confirmation hearings to become the nation's 17th chief justice began Monday, John Roberts carried himself with the assuredness of a nominee who is broadly expected to win approval by more than a bare majority of the Republican-led Senate, but he also sought to ease Democrats' angst about his conservative political ties.

"I come before the committee with no agenda," Roberts, 50, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee about three and a half hours into the first day of testimony. "Judges are not politicians who can promise to do certain things in exchange for votes."

Roberts promised to "confront every case with an open mind" and a sense of humility for precedents shaped by justices before him. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

National: Human error behind Southern California power outage - A maintenance mistake knocked out power to about half the city Monday, snarling traffic, trapping people in elevators and rattling nerves in a city already on edge because of a reported terrorist threat.

Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials said about 2 million customers lost power when the municipal utility's employees accidentally connected the wrong wires during maintenance work at a receiving station.

The accident triggered outages in neighborhoods from the San Fernando Valley to the southernmost edge of the city beginning at 12:37 p.m. Monday. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

National: Louisiana improperly spent relief funds in past years, audits find By LISA HOFFMAN - An L.L. Bean briefcase and raincoat. Professional dues and charitable contributions. A trip to Germany. Video equipment. A 2002 Ford Crown Victoria.

According to two federal audits, those are just some of the items that Louisiana state emergency officials improperly bought with some of the $228 million in U.S. disaster funds they received in recent years.

The audits also found that the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness ignored federal rules for overseeing contractors, doling out more than $15 million in aid without keeping any records to show what 97 percent of the money was spent on, according to a report by the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

National: Mosquito numbers explode due to hurricane flooding By JIM ERICKSON - Clouds of mosquitoes are rising from the stagnant waters left by Hurricane Katrina, plaguing recovery workers and posing a disease threat.

"The mosquito numbers have taken off and are building," said Janet McAllister, an entomologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We're talking biblical proportions. Clouds of mosquitoes."

McAllister is one of six CDC mosquito experts in Louisiana and Mississippi. She is working with state health officials to revive mosquito-control programs disrupted by the storm. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005

Alaska: Quick Reaction to Energy Needs Crisis Proposed - With Alaskans facing higher cost of energy, Representative Jay Ramras (R-Fairbanks), Co-Chair of the House Resources Committee is asking several departments within the Administration to move quickly with assistance.

Ramras proposes a three-step plan called "Energy Ease" that he says will help with the most basic needs as the cold winter months approach. "We have several options that, in combination, will ease the financial concerns many Alaskans are facing," said Rep. Ramras. - More...
Tuesday pm - September 13, 2005