Ketchikan: Senate panel works to remove funding for 'bridges to nowhere' By LIZ RUSKIN - With nationwide scorn on Congress for spending $452 million on two so-called "bridges to nowhere," a Senate committee is trying to erase the two projects from the highway bill Congress passed this summer, Sen. Ted Stevens confirmed Tuesday. Stevens said a Senate appropriations bill now in the works would remove the description, but not necessarily any of the funding, for the Knik and Gravina bridges.

"I'm disappointed at the whole prospect of losing the bridges, but we'll just have to see how it comes out," the Alaska Republican said. "We have not seen the final form yet. It has not been done yet."

Details of the proposal were scarce this week, since the negotiators working on the annual transportation appropriations bill haven't finished their work. But Stevens said one possibility is that the state would get all of the bridge money, but wouldn't have to spend it on the bridges. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Red ink creates Republican rift By ZACHARY COILE - Republicans in Congress showed a remarkable unity during President Bush's first term that helped the White House pass a broad agenda - major tax cuts, a Medicare prescription drug benefit and an overhaul of federal education policy.

But less than a year into the president's second term, major divisions are appearing in the party that controls power in Washington. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Alito tries to assure senators on abortion issue By JAMES W. BROSNAN - Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito sought to assure a Democratic senator Tuesday that his views have changed since he wrote 20 years ago "that the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion."

Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said Alito told him in a 20-minute meeting that he should not be judged on the basis of the job application he wrote in 1985 to become deputy assistant to then-Attorney General Ed Meese. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Closing loophole allowing murderers to be buried in nat'l cemeteries By LISA HOFFMAN - Congress is expected this week to decide whether convicted murderers and spies can be buried at Arlington National Cemetery and more than 120 other burial grounds across the country.

A measure barring military veterans convicted of a state or federal capital crime from being interred in a national or state veterans' cemetery is now before a joint House-Senate panel. The committee is working to craft a final version of the annual defense authorization bill. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Most believe in Genesis, but want evolution taught By THOMAS HARGROVE and GUIDO H. STEMPEL III - Most Americans believe God created humans on the sixth day of the universe, yet they also overwhelming want science-based evolution taught in public school, according to a Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll.

Half of the 1,005 adults interviewed support President Bush's suggestion that public schools should also teach intelligent design, the notion that God played a role in the evolution of humans. But only 17 percent said they believe in intelligent design when asked their opinion of humanity's origins.

Neither side of the intelligent design debate was happy with the poll's results. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

Margie Thynes, Anesthesia Technician Photo courtesy KGH

Ketchikan: Hospital purchases state of the art anesthesia technology - Ketchikan General Hospital installed new state of the art anesthesia machines this week in each of its three operating rooms, and employees are being trained in their use. The Aestiva 5 system, produced by General Electric, is the same technology found in the operating rooms of the Mayo Clinic, Walter Reed Hospital, all the military hospitals, the UCLA Medical Center, Duke University, and Massachusetts General in Boston, to name just a few.

The most crucial issue during anesthesia is the ability to ventilate the patient properly. These machines have the ability to ventilate a broad range of patients: infants to very large adults, trauma patients, compromised and routine cases alike. Volume and pressure controls allow for the optimum flow of gases, and the system automatically adjusts for any changes in the patient's lungs throughout the course of surgery. An identical ventilation system is used in the KGH Intensive Care Unit (ICU), so when an ICU patient goes to surgery, the settings on his or her ventilator can be copied to the anesthesia equipment and continued in the operating room. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

Ketchikan: KGH announces scholarship recipients - Ketchikan General Hospital (KGH) announced Tuesday two recipients of the 2005 Joseph A. Shields Jr. Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is designed for students who are at least two years beyond high school, and are enrolled in or accepted to a health care program of study.

Shelley Kerber, enrolled in the Health Information Management program at the University of Alaska Southeast Sitka Campus, received a check that will help her to continue her studies full time while working part time at KGH. Shelley has six years of experience in a health care environment, and has also pursued a demanding career in the US Army, deployed in Bosnia. Her goal now is to pursue credentialing as a Registered Health Information Technician. "I know I function well in this kind of environment, and the outlook for jobs in this field is strong," Kerber stated. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

Dale Curtis joins the Kayhi Jazz Ensemble on Sam Pitcher's trumpet at the 2004 Sam Pitcher Memorial Concert

Ketchikan: Third Annual Sam Pitcher Memorial Scholarship Concert Scheduled - The third annual Sam Pitcher Memorial Scholarship Concert will take place Tuesday, November 22 at 7 pm at the Kayhi Auditorium. "An Evening of Jazz and Blues" will feature the Discovery Jazz Club, the Soundwaves Jazz Club, the Windjammers Jazz Club and the Kayhi Jazz Ensemble. Donations for the scholarship fund will be accepted at the door.

All of the groups feature many talented young musicians in grades 7 - 12. A few of the featured soloists will be Jamie Karlson playing tenor sax and Courtney Kiffer playing alto sax on "Where is the Love," Amber Kiffer playing flugelhorn on "If I Could," Ron Brandow playing trumpet and Weston Corporon playing trombone on "Granada Smoothie," Niles Corporon playing alto sax on "Harlem Nocturne," and drummers Pat Troll and Brandon Hoyt on "Timetable." - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters The bridge funding and how a hurricane impacts Ketchikan. By Rick Grams - Wednesday Welcome back By Tom LeCompte - Wednesday Schoenbar Middle School Miracle Needed By Jackie Williams - Tuesday Ketchikan Bridge Funding By MJ Cadle - Tuesday More of the Same at UAS By Robert D. Warner - Monday BRIDGE TO THE FUTURE By Pete Ellis - Monday President Bush's Veterans Day Speech By Alan Lidstone - Monday Thinking about the old boys marching... By Kelli Carlin-Auger - Sunday am Teen Blogging in Schools By Kathi Collum - Sunday am Ketchikan Borough Water By Robert McRoberts - Sunday am Alaska's Governor Gets Sleek Jet By Don Hoff Jr. - Sunday am THE AMERICAN REPORT CARD: ARE WE REALLY BETTER OFF? By René Ryman - Sunday am VETERANS DAY By June Allen - Friday 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 More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan November 17, 2005: The Ketchikan City Council will hold a regular meeting in the City Council Chambers. Agenda & Information Packets (pdf) November Calendar Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map 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

Ketchikan: University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan Learning Center Adds MAT Testing Service - The University of Alaska Southeast Ketchikan Learning Center will now offer the Miller Analogies Test (MAT). The MAT is often required for anyone wanting to enter graduate school.

The Miller Analogies Test (MAT) is a high-level, analytic ability test that requires the solution of problems stated as analogies. The MAT consists of 120 partial analogies that are to be completed in 60 minutes. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Court sends Columbine records dispute back to judge By SUE LINDSAY - The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that it's up to the sheriff's office to decide whether videotapes and writings seized from the homes of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold should be made public.

The court said such recordings fall under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act and as such, refusals to release them can be challenged in court. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Researchers developing way to screen for Alzheimer's By LEE BOWMAN - Researchers say they are moving closer to a technique than can screen for Alzheimer's disease well before any symptoms become apparent.

The advances, described Tuesday before the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, hinge on a new compound developed at the University of Pittsburgh that binds to beta-amyloid deposits in the brain - the hallmark sign of Alzheimer's disease. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

National: Survey: Govt. should pay more for custodial care By LEE BOWMAN - Although long-term care has come to be seen as a back-burner issue for much of Washington, a new survey finds Americans surprisingly concerned about how the country pays for custodial care of the elderly and disabled.

The poll shows that 7 in 10 baby boomers and senior citizens think the federal government should do more to help people meet the cost of long-term care, but most also agree that government and individuals should share responsibility for the cost. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

International: Lines of control shift like sands in the desert in Iraq By ANNA BADKHEN - U.S. Marines swept through the Iraqi insurgency stronghold of Karabila last month in a three-pronged, three-day offensive they dubbed Operation Iron Fist, meticulously searching every house and leaving behind a town devoid of enemy fighters.

But by last week, guerrillas linked to al Qaeda were running Karabila again. Marines conducting another offensive - this one called Operation Steel Curtain - were once more fighting their way through Karabila's dusty streets as insurgents greeted them with small-arms fire, roadside bombs and houses rigged with explosives. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005

International: Japan links Tamiflu to two teen suicides By SABIN RUSSELL - An expensive, hard-to-find flu drug that nations are stockpiling against a possible influenza pandemic has been linked to 64 cases of psychological disorders and two teenage suicides in Japan, according to media reports there.

The drug is Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, which will become the world's first line of defense if the avian influenza now spreading among migrating birds from Asia to Eastern Europe ever mutates into a form that transmits readily to people. - More...
Wednesday - November 16, 2005