Ketchikan - POW: Building the Stikine - As Dakota Creek Industries' cranes lift the pilot house in place, the Stikine begins to look more like a ferry. This new ferry, which will be in service in Alaska, will be the second in the fleet of the Prince of Wales Inter-Island Ferry Authority. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

National: Bush Calls Iraq U.S. Front in Battle Against Terrorism; Defeating "brutal enemy" will require more sacrifice, time, resolve - President Bush says that the United States will "not rest or tire until the War on Terror is won," and the United States will not leave Iraq until it is secure and free.

The terrorists in Iraq are using it as the front for their war against humanity, Bush said, but Iraq is the U.S. front in the battle against terrorism.

"We will never back down. We will never give in. We will never accept anything but complete victory," Bush said before the Joint Armed Forces Officers' Wives' luncheon held Tuesday at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington.- More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

National: Experts predict new Fed chair will be 'nonpartisan policymaker' By PAMELA GAYNOR - Economists and money managers lauded Ben Bernanke, a leading authority on monetary policy, as the perfect successor for the Federal Reserve's longest-serving chairman and predicted his leadership would differ from Alan Greenspan's in ways only academics were likely to notice, if at all.

Bernanke, who since June has served as the White House top economic adviser, is expected to face little challenge in his Senate confirmation.

"I think Ben Bernanke will be well-received on Capitol Hill," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group."I think people will find him a very nonpartisan policymaker." - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

National: Few high-court nominees have withdrawn By BILL STRAUB - Remember Douglas Ginsburg? Probably not.

Ginsburg was former President Ronald Reagan's choice to succeed the retiring Justice Lewis Powell on the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987 after his original choice, Robert Bork, was rejected for views that critics described as outside the judicial mainstream.

While grumbling typical of high-court nominations greeted the president's choice, Ginsburg appeared on his way to a standard confirmation until Nina Totenberg, a National Public Radio correspondent, reported that he smoked marijuana on several occasions in the 1960s and 1970s, possibly with students after he became a law school professor. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

National: Most families unprepared for disasters, survey finds By THOMAS HARGROVE and GUIDO H. STEMPEL III - Americans have not learned the lessons of this deadly hurricane season.

Most families have not discussed what they will do if ordered to evacuate or how they'd find each other again if separated. Nearly half have failed to prepare a "disaster kit" with such basic items as a flashlight, battery-powered radio and medical supplies.

Only 65 percent are "very certain" that they would obey an order to evacuate their homes, according to a survey of 1,005 adult residents of the United States conducted by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

Alaska: ANWR: Economic Analysis of Oil Resources Updated - The United States Geological Survey has released an updated economic analysis that shows at least 70 percent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil resources assessed in the combined areas of the federal portion of the 1002 area of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Native Lands inside the boundary of the 1002 area, and the lands beneath adjacent Alaska state waters can be found, developed, produced and transported to market, assuming a market floor price of $30 per barrel in 2003 dollars. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

Beached Humpback Dwarfed by even a young humpback whle, Juneau veterinarian, Vic Walker, of the necropsy team sizes up the situation. The rope helped anchor the whale against tide waters. The grooves visible on the whale are ventral pleats that expand when whales take in water for filter feeding. Photo: NOAA Fisheries

Southeast Alaska: DEAD HUMPBACK WHALE STUDIED BY TEAM - A NOAA Fisheries biologist, four veterinarians and a Forest Service volunteer recently returned to their homes after studying a dead humpback whale beached in Peril Strait.

Although final analysis of the animal's condition is still pending, this is the first humpback whale this year in Southeast Alaska that appears to have died as a result of severe blunt trauma consistent with being struck by a ship. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

Alaska: Alaska official quiet after warning about pipeline By SEAN COCKERHAM - Gov. Frank Murkowski's office refused to say Monday whether Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Irwin still has a job after his publicized warning that the state is giving up too much in the governor's gas line negotiations.

Meanwhile, several legislators from both parties said Monday that Irwin raised good questions about the gas pipeline talks. The lawmakers also said they were shocked that Murkowski had made Irwin's concerns public. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Whining and Complaining By Jerry Cegelske - Wednesday AM Re: Mission Possible By Joseph Prows - Wednesday AM Front Page Photo: Shaggy Manes By Penny Eubanks - Tuesday PM Only for cruise ship issues? By Walt Bolling - Tuesday PM We can't allow more bungling... By Patrick Jirschele - Monday PM Response to Question By Marty West - Monday PM KHRA Toy Run and Dance By Jen Brewer - Monday PM Mission Possible By Gary Ridenour - Monday PM Ketchikan's future By Glenn Bell - Monday PM Re: Peddling Fear By Dave Kiffer - Sunday Dock development By Thomas Ferry - Sunday Open Letter To Ketchikan City Council: Please Answer the Question By Robert D. Warner - Sunday Federal Agencies Obligated To Address Issue With Tribes By Randy Williams - Sunday Born to Read By Charlotte L. Glover - Sunday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political cartoons 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: Sales of human-growth hormones widespread, study finds By LEE BOWMAN - Sales of human growth hormone to treat aging or age-associated illnesses has become widespread in the United States, even though it is illegal to sell it for such an "off-label" use, researchers reported Wednesday.

"Physicians and other health care professionals should be aware that current law explicitly prohibits the distribution of growth hormone except for clearly and narrowly defined indications," the team wrote in a paper published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Human growth hormone is released by the pituitary gland to spur growth and development in children and teens. As a drug, it can be legally prescribed only for three conditions: hormonal deficiency that causes short stature in children; adult deficiency due to rare pituitary tumors or their treatment, and to treat muscle-wasting disease associated with HIV/AIDS. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

National: Tips for the tax savvy By MARY DEIBEL - Millions of taxpayers could pay more next year if Congress lets popular tax breaks expire. That makes it worthwhile to think through your tax situation now instead of waiting until December to plan tax-savvy strategies.

For starters, "Don't be clueless about the Alternative Minimum Tax," said Kimberly Sterling, a Certified Public Accountant and financial planner in Orlando, Fla.

The Alternative Minimum Tax denies favorite deductions for people with hefty incomes, big capital gains, stock options or large families. Some 3 million households will be hit with it on their 2005 taxes, but absent congressional relief, it will explode to 14 million households, or 1 in 5 taxpayers, next year and 1 out of every 3 by 2010. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

National: Should police have right to take DNA from suspects? By LANCE GAY - he Sherlock Holmes of the future will arrive on a crime scene expecting less to use magnifying glasses and intuition than computers linked remotely back to laboratories for on-the-spot DNA analysis of tell-tale evidence like blood spatters.

This isn't fiction, but a scenario sketched out by the National Commission on the Future of DNA Evidence, which concluded that by 2010 DNA-typing could bring a revolution in how detectives operate on crime scenes and catch criminals. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005

Sports: Baseball enjoying glory days of parity By BRIAN O'NEILL - If the Houston Astros rebound to win this World Series, they will be the first team to win on their first try since the Wherever Angels did it way back in 2002.

If the Chicago White Sox hang on to win their first Series in 88 years, that would be a case of championus interruptus whose like has not be seen since, well, last year. The Red Sox went 86 years between championships.

These aren't just repeating story lines. While everyone was complaining about those damn Yankees, we have slid into the true Golden Age of Baseball. - More...
Wednesday - October 26, 2005