Ketchikan: Oktoberfest Draws Guests to Pioneers' Home By NANCY COGGINS - What a warm welcome!

The lighted sign at the Ketchikan Pioneers' Home greeted the residents' guests arriving for the first Family dinner of the 2005-06 season on October 20, 2005. Once inside the lobby, the inviting, bright colors of the fish tank and the comfy chairs made them feel right at home for the event that was about to unfold: A celebration of "Family" with an Oktoberfest flair. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Alaska: Governor Proposes $90 Million School Funding Increase - During a message at the Association of Alaska School Boards meeting in Anchorage Sunday, Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski announced he will ask the Alaska Legislature to increase funding for K-12 schools next year by $90 million.

With this proposal, funding for schools will have risen 33 percent in the Murkowski administration - the biggest funding increase in Alaska's history.

"I think that tells you the significance that this administration holds for education and the job you're doing," Murkowski told the assembled school board members during a taped address. Murkowski is completing a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle and Washington, D.C. and was unable to attend the meeting. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Alaska: ADFG Commissioner Announces Department's Opposition to Petition - Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Commissioner McKie Campbell announced Friday the department's opposition to a petition that would prohibit the same-day airborne shooting of wolves and other predators to conduct predator management when necessary. 
 
"At first glance, the petition seems fairly innocuous.  However, if passed, this petition could significantly hamstring the department's predator management program," said Commissioner Campbell.  "While we are still reviewing the petition with the Department of Law, there is no question that this petition seeks to make it extremely costly and very difficult, if not impossible, for the state to actively manage its wildlife." - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Alaska: Governor Talks Alaska Issues With Interior Secretary - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski met with Interior Secretary Gale Norton last Thursday to discuss several federal issues affecting Alaska, including greater access to Glacier Bay and Denali national parks.

"It was good to have the opportunity to elevate a number of important issues directly to Secretary Norton and I look forward to seeing these issues addressed adequately to satisfy the concerns of Alaskans," Murkowski said. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Alaska: Governor Issues Disaster Declaration for September Sea Storm - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski issued a state disaster declaration for the Northwest Arctic Borough, the Bering Strait, Kashunamiut, Lower Yukon, and Lower Kuskokwim Rural Education Attendance Areas in response to a fall sea storm that caused widespread damage in late September.

"The damage inflicted on the communities in the named areas is extensive," said Murkowski. "I'm directing my Administration to work quickly to respond to assist in the recovery effort for these hard-hit communities." - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Alaska: American Seafoods' Community Advisory Board calls for nominations for its Alaska community grant program - The Community Advisory Board (CAB) of American Seafoods Company, one of the nation's largest seafood processors, announced Friday that it is accepting applications for its Alaska community grant program. The deadline to submit an application is November 21.
 
The CAB community grant program awards $75,000 annually to community projects throughout rural Alaska. In December, CAB will present a total of $30,000 to various Alaskan community projects that tackle issues such as hunger, housing, safety, education, research, natural resources and cultural activities.  - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Fish Factor: King crab detectives digging deep to find answers - King crab detectives are digging deep to find answers to Kodiak's disappearing crab stocks.

More than 100 million pounds of king crab crossed the Kodiak docks in the 1960's. The catch dwindled to a few million pounds a year in the early 1970's, and by 1983 the King Crab Capitol of the World was no more. Now, crab researchers will leave no stone unturned as they try to solve one of Alaska's most enduring fishery mysteries. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Serious questions raised By Sen. Hollis French - Monday am Sealaska pains or gains??? By Michael Nelson - Monday am Support Wildlife... By David Anderson - Monday am We Were All Kids Once; Halloween on Jackson/Monroe Street By Robert D. Warner - Monday am A road and a bridge needed... By Sharon Fraley - Monday am Shift in wealth By Robert K. Rice - Saturday pm A Woman's Place... By Yeda Hicks - Saturday pm Misunderstood By Chris Elliott - Saturday pm Jackson Street Pride By Lynne Miller - Saturday pm Fishermen are not the threat to wild salmon... By Frances Field - Saturday pm Halloween on Jackson Street By Rhiann Golder - Saturday pm More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political cartoons Ketchikan Today: The Ketchikan Borough Assembly will hold a regular meeting in the City Council Chambers. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 5:30 pm. Agenda & Information Packets Calendar, Meetings, Events Today's Forecast City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements Oct. - Nov. 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 01 02 03 04 05 Front Page Archives

National: Tornado survivors tell harrowing stories By BRYAN CORBIN - A ghastly scene of twisted metal, scraps of insulation and shredded furniture and clothing filled the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, and survivors are telling harrowing stories of hearing victims moaning for help.

At least 17 people were killed and 108 injured when the tornado roared through the trailer park southeast of Evansville around 2 a.m. Sunday. Of the 326 lots at Eastbrook, at least 123 received some damage - and of those, more than 50 were destroyed, officials said. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

National: Stories of high drama abound as tornado rips families apart - Moments after the tornado destroyed a portion the Eastbrook Mobile Home Park, Tony Vidal was at the scene, trying to locate his mother. It was 1:59 a.m. Sunday.

She was OK, so he turned his attention to helping others. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

National: Pre-war intelligence questions embolden Democrats By MARGARET TALEV - Since the indictment and resignation of Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff in a case involving a CIA leak and the war in Iraq, Democrats have seized on the scandal with a multi-front campaign to discredit the war and the Republican-held Congress and White House.

Democrats are divided over whether to use their newfound leverage to seek policy changes, such as how to fight the ground war. Some want immediate troop withdrawal, while others feel the United States must finish what it started. A middle group wants to reassess the situation after another round of elections in Iraq scheduled for next month but favors some withdrawal schedule. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

National: War of ideas fought in a small-town courtroom By MIKE WEISS - State Route 74 is the main road into and out of Dover borough, a tidy hamlet of 1,800 set in rolling, wooded hills that at this time of year are dressed in the reds and golds of autumn.

It was here, in October 2004, that a school board led by fundamentalist Christians included so-called intelligent design in its biology curriculum, launching the latest federal courtroom battle over the place of religion in the classroom, a warfare of ideas that has roiled America's political waters ever since the Scopes "monkey trial" of 1925, and beyond - way back to the adoption of the First Amendment. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

National: European Union eyes alleged CIA jails By ALAN FREEMAN - European officials have vowed to investigate reports that the CIA set up a network of "ghost prisons" in Poland, Romania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe to interrogate al Qaeda suspects, far away from the peering eyes of human-rights activists, the press and the courts.

"We have to find out exactly what is happening," said Friso Roscam Abbing, a spokesman for the European Union in Brussels, who said the 25 European Union governments would be questioned about the reports. He pointed out that the existence of these prisons could violate E.U. human-rights rules and the International Convention Against Torture. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

National: Carter takes Bush to task for 'arrogance' By ANN MCFEATTERS - The shock of white hair, the blue eyes, the soft Georgia accent are all the same. But the venom pouring from Jimmy Carter as he peddles his 20th book is new.

"I wrote this book with trepidation, ... reluctantly," the 81-year-old former president admitted to reporters before going on yet another round of TV talk shows. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005

International: Wrestling with the enemy within By SHARON SCHMICKLE - One recent Sunday in Hyde Park, Mohammed Hussein climbed a three-step ladder and began shouting: "Americans are killers. ... Every one of you will die through your barbaric thinking. ... When the bombs start coming down here, you are going to start worrying."

Some in the crowd scurried away, shock and fear distorting their faces. - More...
Monday - November 07, 2005