Ketchikan: Sweet Second Saturday Folk Dance Features BC Guests By M.C. KAUFFMAN - It is impossible to describe the incredible synergy and spirit that occurs when you combine enthusiastic, connected, happy dancers and hot musicians. And this Saturday, the Sweet Second Saturday Folk Dance will combine happy dancers and hot musicians and once again provide an evening of delightful dance, music, and all-round silliness.

Featured at the Sweet Second Saturday Folk Dance in Ketchikan this weekend are two guests from British Columbia. Dance caller and accordionist, Marian Rose, will be joined by fiddler, June Cannon. Live music will be provided by Paddy's Leather Breeches. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

Ketchikan: Conservatives grow cross over 'bridges to nowhere' By LIZ RUSKIN - Federal spending on Alaska's so-called "bridges to nowhere" is facing renewed attack in the House of Representatives, where conservatives say the $452 million has become an embarrassment that may haunt them at election time.

Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., says Alaska's "bridges to nowhere" have become a national joke.

"Ask anyone what the 'bridges to nowhere' are and they will tell you they are a serious example of a Republican Congress bringing home some of the most expensive bacon in history on the taxpayers' dime," Flake said in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

National: Abortion cases scheduled before a Supreme Court in transition By MICHAEL MCGOUGH - On Nov. 30, the U.S. Supreme Court - including Justice Sandra Day O'Connor - will hear oral arguments in two abortion-related cases.

What is not clear is whether Justice O'Connor will be around when the court decides the cases - an uncertainty that troubles abortion-rights supporters who worry that her designated successor, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., will be less supportive of those rights. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

National: Vets say bird-flu worries overblown By DAVID KASSABIAN - Veterinary experts are cautioning that exaggerated media and government reports of a deadly influenza pandemic triggered by the avian flu are causing needless public hysteria.

"We are very unlikely to get an avian flu strain that is infectious to humans," said Daniel Perez, an assistant professor at Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. "The chances of getting hit by avian influenza from wild birds is the same as getting hit by a lightning bolt."

Perez, along with three other veterinary experts, said widespread prevention and detection methods are still integral in preventing an outbreak of the avian flu strain, also known as H5N1, which is currently infecting birds in Asia and Europe. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

National: Problems cited in Bush plan for Gulf Coast By JAMES STERNGOLD - After Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast, President Bush promised a major federal effort to rebuild the devastated local economies and reduce poverty, largely through a package of incentives called the Gulf Opportunity Zone.

The idea was to let businesses, rather than government, drive the recovery by using tax breaks, job training and cheap loans to help companies get back on their feet and start hiring workers. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters In Honor of Veterans By U.S. Senator Ted Stevens - Friday am We Owe Our Veterans Immeasurable Thanks By U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski - Friday am War on Veterans By Arthur H. Wilson - Friday am Assembly Passed The Buck Again By Patrick Bethel - Thursday pm Pipe Dreams for Economic Growth in Alaska By Don Hoff Jr - Thursday pm Golden Fleece Bridge By Charlotte Tanner - Thursday pm Halloween on Jackson Street By Jacquie Meck - Thursday pm Gas Prices By Frances C. Natkong - Thursday pm Principles and Legalized Torture By Mark O'Brien - Wednesday pm Future job prospects for Alaska's youth By Blain Anderson - Wednesday pm Alcohol Problem in Alaska By Morgan Doubleday - Wednesday pm Blogging Worries Parents By Christopher Davin - Wednesday pm Missing the point By Danielle Groghan - Wednesday pm We do have humor... By David Anderson - Wednesday pm More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political cartoons Ketchikan November Calendar Today's Forecast City Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements November 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S     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: Claims outnumber actual number killed by hurricane By JEREMY COX - Authorities have confirmed 35 deaths in Florida related to Hurricane Wilma, but the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been flooded with at least 263 applications seeking aid for funeral expenses.

Of those applications, 230 streamed out of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties on the state's east coast within two weeks of Wilma's passing. At last report, though, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement had attributed 20 fatalities to the storm in those three counties. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

National: Big One's first jolt might be a lifesaver By DAVID PERLMAN - Scientists studying the first jolts of an earthquake believe they have found the key to providing early warnings of imminent danger from a big one - enough to give a few precious seconds to allow people to duck for cover before the earth shudders violently beneath them.

Their findings are by no means merely another in a long line of fanciful earthquake prediction claims but are based on careful study of the physics and different frequencies of the different waves that all quakes generate, the researchers say. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

National: Textbook aims to teach Bible with no religion By ANN RODGERS - As lead attorney for the American Jewish Congress, Marc Stern has been at the forefront of keeping religious activities out of public classrooms. But now he is singing the praises of a new textbook to introduce public school students to the Bible and its influence on culture.

"I think they've done a very good job, and surprisingly so. It is very difficult to write a neutral textbook about something as freighted with meaning as the Bible," he said. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

National: Senate votes to allow prayer at military academies By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER - The Senate voted 99-0 Wednesday to allow voluntary, non-denominational prayers at official events at the U.S. Air Force Academy and other service academies.

The amendment to a pending defense authorization bill was inspired by the recent controversy over religious tolerance at the academy's campus in Colorado Springs, Colo., where complaints about alleged proselytizing by top officers prompted a Pentagon review and series of new restrictions. - More...
Thursday - November 10, 2005

Alaska: House Leaders Abandon Plan To Open ANWR To Drilling; However, legislation is not dead - Late Wednesday evening, House Republican leaders decided to abandoned a contested plan to open the Alaska National Wildlife refuge to oil drilling.

The decision by House Republican leaders to drop ANWR from the spending-reduction bill came after Republican moderates said they would oppose the bill if ANWR drilling was kept in the bill. With opposition by Republican moderates, the House Republican leaders feared it could jeopardize the overall bill. - More...
Wednesday PM - November 09, 2005