Ketchikan: Coast Guard aircrew rescues fishermen - A Coast Guard helicopter crew rescued three fishermen from a beach near Point Alava on Revillagigedo Island Tuesday afternoon after they were forced to abandon the fishing vessel Yvonne Denise which was disabled and adrift.

The Coast Guard identified the three rescued fishermen as Crewmen Aaron Hudson and Cliff Hudson Sr. of Metlakatla and Elmer Makua of Saxman. The three abandoned the ship wearing their survival suits. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

National: Progess of war in Iraq difficult to measure By BILL STRAUB - President Bush and other members of the administration have consistently held that "progress is being made" in the global war on terrorism and they are looking to gather some objective data to bolster the veracity of that disputed claim.

To this point, most recently in his Oct. 6 address, the president has relied on little more than anecdotal evidence to support his assertion that terrorism's grip is eroding while those opposed to war in Iraq and other initiatives taken under the president's direction point to countervailing reports to establish the effort is not proceeding well. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

International: Iraq's soldiers: Ready or not? By ANNA BADKHEN - Kicking up clouds of fine, yellow dust, three Iraqi army trucks pulled to a halt on an arid hillock. Soldiers climbed out of the trucks and quickly fanned out, drawing their Kalashnikov semiautomatic rifles and taking in the vastness of the desert through the scopes of their weapons.

Flanked by two soldiers, Lt. Naif Shammari, commander of this Iraqi army platoon, waved down a white truck speeding down the dirt road. A farmer in a long, soiled white dishdasha shirt and a brown kaffiyeh scarf got out of the truck and handed Shammari his identification card. The other soldiers watched his every move and peeked into the bed and the cabin of his vehicle. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

International: Iraq hides 1.2 million ballots in Saddam Hussein's province By ANNA BADKHEN - Iraq's future may be sitting in a secret warehouse on the southern outskirts of Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Here, guarded by Iraqi army and police officers, 1.2 million ballots earmarked for the voters of Salahaddin province lie in hundreds of brown cardboard boxes stacked on a dusty floor, along with knocked-down cardboard voting booths.

"I agree with the draft constitution," each ballot reads, in Arabic and Kurdish. On a blue field below are two squares, marked "Yes" and "No." - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

National: Most of U.S. can expect warmer-than-normal winter By LEE BOWMAN - Government climate forecasters offered a little good news Wednesday amid warnings that home heating bills will soar this winter: Expect warmer-than-normal temperatures for the western two-thirds of the continental United States from December through February.

The forecast for the Eastern Seaboard is less toasty, however, with the odds equal for warmer, colder or normal winter thermometer readings. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Why does everyone give President Bush a hard time? By Licha Kelley-King - Wednesday PM Freedom of speech By Frances C. Natkong - Wednesday PM Goodbye and Thank You Ketchikan By Richard S. Cropp - Tuesday PM Offensive T-shirt beyond the limits By Neil Gray - Tuesday PM Just live with it! By Tom Carlin - Tuesday PM Open letter to Alaska Airlines By Michael Nelson - Tuesday PM Salmon-Thirty-Salmon and Funding By Mark Vinsel - Monday PM Airport name change? By Rick Grams- Monday PM Open Letter to Rep. Young: Save the US Merchant Marine By Norbert Chaudhary - Monday PM Maybe we should play the "Kurd card"? By Mark Neckameyer - Monday PM Schoenbar By Diana Chaudhary - Monday PM Salmon Thirty Salmon By Mark Gatti - Monday PM Anti-Bush T-shirt Hits No-fly Zone By Morgan Doubleday - Monday PM No-fly T-shirt By Carol Ann Faulkner - Monday PM Naming public facilities By Samuel Bergeron - Saturday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists The What If Channel Bob Englehart, The Hartford Courant 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 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements October 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S 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           Front Page Archives

National: Dobson's remarks raise questions for Bush By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER - President Bush fueled the debate about the role of religion in politics Wednesday, as lawmakers mulled whether to call Colorado's best-known evangelical Christian leader to testify in confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers.

James Dobson, founder of Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family, took to the airwaves Wednesday trying to clarify his conversations with White House political adviser Karl Rove prior to Miers' nomination last week. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

National: Supreme Court wades into dispute over wetlands By MICHAEL McGOUGH - Accepting the appeal of a Michigan developer who has become a hero to the property-rights movement, the U.S. Supreme Court said it will decide whether the federal government has the authority to regulate wetlands miles away from a river or other waterway.

The justices will decide whether John Rapanos, a grandfather in his 70s, was within his rights when he filled in wetlands on his property without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Rapanos had hoped to build a shopping center on his land. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

National: Seeking better labeling on alcoholic drinks By PATRICK BOURLAND - Knowing how much alcohol to drink is hard for Americans when, some say, there isn't enough proof provided to decide.

"Current labeling regulations for alcohol are outdated," said Barbara Moore, president of Shape Up America!

Her group is one of 75 lobbying to require alcohol facts on containers of beer, wine and liquor, whose labels currently list alcoholic content, volume and a surgeon general's warning about pregnancy and drunk driving. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

Science: Hypothermia treatment shows promise for infants By LEE BOWMAN - A new study suggests that lowering the body temperature of infants whose birth left their brains short of oxygen or blood flow reduces the odds of disability and death.

The study, published Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, is the largest experiment using the chilling technique on newborns.

The treatment relies on the same physical reactions to cold that have been seen over the years in hypothermia and drowning victims who have survived long periods without oxygen while immersed in cold water. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005

Science: Report: Potent antibiotic found within fungus By LEE BOWMAN - Danish and American researchers have found a potent antibiotic within a fungus that grows in northern pine forests, according to a report published Thursday.

Researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, the University of California-Los Angeles and the Danish biotech firm Novozymes say the molecule has as much power as penicillin or vancomycin and appears to be highly effective against bacterial strains that have developed resistance against most existing antibiotics.

Specifically, the researchers found a protein called plestacin, the first molecule of its type ever found in fungi. It is part of a class called defensins, miniature protein molecules produced by many animals to protect themselves from infection. - More...
Wednesday PM - October 12, 2005