Ketchikan: Ketchikan to vote on consolidation plan - Ketchikan Gateway Borough residents are deciding whether it's better to have one or two governing bodies. - Read this Juneau Empire story... www.juneauempire.com Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

Ketchikan: Investigation into explosive device placed in vehicle leads to arrest - According to Ketchikan Public Safety Directory Richard Leipfert, during the early morning hours of Saturday, November 4th, officers of the Ketchikan Police Department investigated the report of an improvised explosive device that had been left under the front passenger seat of a Ketchikan woman's vehicle.

Leipfert stated in a news release that the improvised explosive device was secured until members of the United States Army Explosives Ordinance Detail arrived from Anchorage and rendered it safe.

The suspect in the case was identified as Christopher Patterson, 33 years of age. An arrest warrant with $25,000 bail was obtained, charging Patterson with two counts of Assault in the Third Degree, a class C felony and one count of Misconduct Involving Weapons in the Third Degree, also a class C felony. - More...
Monday PM - November 06, 2006

Hydaburg: SEARHC Hydaburg Health Center welcomes Tracy Ray - The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) announces the hiring of Tracy Ray, PA-C, as Physician Assistant and Community Health Aide Program (CHAP) Supervisor at the Hydaburg Health Center.

"Why Hydaburg? Simply because I felt welcomed into the community when I visited last July," Ray said. "It felt like home."

Ray started his medical career as a paramedic in Lincoln, Neb. He coordinated medical disaster response efforts for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search And Rescue (USAR) Nebraska Task Force 1 - a 13-state disaster response team for Rural Metro Medical Services - and also instructed paramedics at hospitals and rural agencies. After 10 years, Ray became the Safety Director in charge of Environment of Care Standards at St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, a position he held for five years before returning to school to earn his Physician Assistant certification. - More...
Monday PM - November 06, 2006

Skagway: City of Skagway Agrees to Pay $18,000 EPA Settlement to Resolve Clean Water Act Violations - The City of Skagway has agreed to pay an $18,000 penalty to resolve alleged violations of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit issued to the City's wastewater treatment plant.

The NPDES permit program, established under the federal Clean Water Act, controls water pollution by regulating sources that discharge pollutants to waters in the United States. Here, the City's wastewater treatment facility discharges municipal wastewater into Taiya Inlet, which is part of the upper Lynn Canal located near Skagway, AK. The facility serves a population of approximately 862. - More...
Monday PM - November 06, 2006

Ketchikan & Statewide: Governor's Awards for the Arts & Humanities Announced; 40th Anniversary Awards Honors 12 for Dedication - Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski and First Lady Nancy Murkowski announced the honorees of the 40th annual Governor's Awards for the Arts and Humanities, sponsored by the Alaska State Council on the Arts and the Alaska Humanities Forum.

"It is fitting that the 40th annual Governor's Awards for the Arts and Humanities is being held at the same time as the Alaska Federation of Natives annual convention," Murkowski said. "So much of what we are here to celebrate tonight reflects the immense breadth and beauty of Alaska Native culture and tradition. Nancy and I would like to pay our debt of gratitude to all of you who are being honored tonight, and thank you all for reinforcing the message that the arts and humanities are vital to a blooming community and state.

"We are richer for your service and all Alaskans should be thankful for your efforts in broadening our horizons and showing us the many ways and things that make our state so unique and sometimes mesmerizing. We have the luxury of a large and varying area with diverse peoples who all have their own arts and cultures to study and acknowledge," Murkowski said. "We are truly a better state thanks to your work."

The following awards were announced Friday, October 27, 2006 at the Anchorage Marriott Hotel.

Governor's Awards for the Arts: (Biographical information courtesy AKASCA)

Individual Artist Award: Ray Troll, Ketchikan - Ray moved to Ketchikan in 1983 and has become one of Alaska's best-known artists. He is also involved in many arts and culture projects in Ketchikan and throughout SE Alaska. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 07, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Basic Rules After a two day battle with hair frizzing technical problems, the fight is won and SitNews can again move forward with publishing letters. The Piers to Nowhere By Samuel Bergeron - Tuesday AM Consolidation: We All Owe Thanks To Rodney Dial By Dave Person - Tuesday AM Upsetting Halloween Experience By Amy Schmitt - Tuesday AM Voting for the best candidate: Tony Knowles By Michael Spence - Tuesday AM Consolidation Ballot Due By Nov. 21st By Cheryl Henley - Tuesday AM Knowles for Governor By Marty West - Tuesday AM Majority Whip; Does it Really Matter? By Virginia E. Atkinson - Tuesday AM COMMON SENSE OR STUPIDITY By Marie L. Monyak - Tuesday AM Desecration Bridge By Don Hoff Jr. - Tuesday AM Why John Kerry Still Matters! By Robert Freedland - Tuesday AM Pro Knowles By Dave Kiffer - Tuesday AM Heeeere's Tony! By Chris Elliott - Tuesday AM Admiration & Support for US Armed Forces -- from a Veteran By Ronald Lee Lamb - Tuesday AM Time to vote again By Robert McRoberts - Tuesday AM RE: The Real Problem with Families By Janelle Hamilton - Tuesday AM RE: John Kerry By Ben Rosenfeld - Tuesday AM Something fishy in Palin mailer By Kate Sangster - Tuesday AM Power corrupts but this is rediculous! By Mark Neckameyer - Tuesday AM Reponse to Hate, Greed and Fear By Alan Miller - Tuesday AM Revilla Road Trashed By William C Thomas - Tuesday AM Gas Pipeline - Priority for all Alaskans By Bill Sheffield - Saturday AM Know Knowles = NO Knowles By Ed Brown - Saturday AM Knowles is the Governor needed By Terry Gardiner - Saturday AM John Kerry By Elizabeth Whittington - Saturday AM Ketchikan's Bridge By Michael Spence - Saturday AM The Bridge by Greg Harris - Saturday AM Let's not vote for gridlock! By Mark Neckameyer - Saturday AM Fanatics By Janelle Hamilton - Saturday AM Hate, Greed, and Fear: In style this year? By Hallie Engel - Saturday AM Redefined marriage By Kelly Needham - Saturday AM Hate, Greed & Fear By Greg Harris - Saturday AM Consolidation Voter Fraud? By Ken and Emo Bylund - Friday PM Revilla Road Trashed... Again! By Jerry Cegelske - Friday PM Why We Can't Afford A Delay on the Gas Pipeline By Gov. Frank H. Murkowski - Friday PM Encourage production of gasline and discourage delay By Eric Croft - Friday PM Same sex marriage By Tony Pollock - Friday PM RE: Hate, Greed, and Fear By Alex McDonald - Friday PM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Ketchikan Police Report AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Today's Forecast Satellite Today's Weather Images Marine Forecasts Ketchikan Weather Data Current AK Weather Map CLASSIFIEDS Auto-post your ad in the proper category, or email your ad & photos to ads@sitnews.us  CLASSIFIEDS' CATEGORIES Announcements For Sale / Free Stuff Garage Sales Homes / Apts/ Property Pets Wanted Lost & Found Local Services SitNews Archives October 2006 Click on the date to read the stories 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 31 01 02 03   More Front Page Archives

Alaska: State's salmon industry continues uphill climb By WESLEY LOY - Alaska's commercial salmon industry is undergoing big changes because of powerful market shifts around the world, a fisheries expert says.

The state's salmon industry has struggled with lower prices and lost customers in recent years because of competition from foreign, farm-raised salmon, and that struggle continues, said Gunnar Knapp, a University of Alaska Anchorage economist.

Some pockets of Alaska's complex salmon fisheries are strengthening, with fishermen receiving higher prices for their catches.

And while the overall value of Alaska's salmon harvest has nearly doubled since the industry hit bottom in 2002, the comeback is modest when measured against the boom years of the late 1980s and early '90s, when the farming industry took off, Knapp said.

On Thursday, the state Department of Fish and Game issued its summary of this year's commercial salmon season. At $309 million, the dockside payoff for the catch was above the $279 million average seen during 1996-2005, but this year's tally is $25 million less than fishermen received last year. A major reason was the size of the catch, which at 142 million fish was 80 million fewer than the record catch in 2005. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 07, 2006

Alaska: In Alaska, you will probably meet a bear By CRAIG MEDRED - Back in the tall grass just north of the U.S. Forest Service public-use cabin here, a yard-sized excavation of sod and dirt on the edge of an old avalanche run-out told an interesting story.

Sometime during the summer, a grizzly bear had camped on a moose kill within a couple hundred yards of a popular trail that runs east from the bridge across Crescent Creek to the cabin.

The torn-up ground surrounding the now-deserted cache was littered with moose hair. Here and there a few bones remained: a rib, a chunk of scapula, some unidentifiable fragments.

Judging by the size of the body parts and the volume of hair, an adult moose had died. There is no way to know how long the bear was on the kill afterwards. But if it had taken down an adult moose, or gotten lucky and stumbled on the carcass of one killed in an avalanche, the bear would likely have been guarding the spoils for days. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 07, 2006

National: Labs look at recycling weapons-grade plutonium for energy By SUE VORENBERG - Finding a way to get rid of 34 tons of extra weapons-grade plutonium poses an interesting challenge.

The United States and Russia - under an arms reduction treaty - can't just drop it off at the dump or toss it in the garbage.

And the people who might want to take it off their hands - say, North Korea and Iran - probably wouldn't do anything nice with it.

One option in the United States is to carefully treat it, then store it at the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, if it ever opens.

Or, if you're one of New Mexico's national laboratories, you can look at doing something even stranger with it - recycling it into commercial power. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 07, 2006

Business - Economy: Ethanol fever fires up farmers in heartland By DAN BROWNING, TONY KENNEDY, CHRIS SERRES - The gleaming $110 million ethanol plant is still rising over their cornfields, but locals in Heron Lake, Minn. say it's already the best thing to happen here in decades.

Farmers and other area residents plunked down a minimum of $20,000 each to buy stock in the plant, and the electric co-op kicked in a $740,000 loan. The Hotel Whiskey Bar & Grill fills up on some nights with the plant's construction workers. And Mayor John Hay figures the plant will triple his city's tax base, making it possible to upgrade area roads and fix the leaky roof on the city-owned nursing home.

"If they didn't have that ethanol plant, there wouldn't be much of anything going on here," said Barb Pohlman, who sells vegetables in town from the back of her pickup truck.

Ethanol mania is sweeping through Heron Lake and many towns like it across the Corn Belt. Investors are spending billions in rural communities, sparking a wild rush to secure land, an industry movement to alter environmental standards and a rash of fierce bidding by communities desperate for their own plant.

Two decades after farmers began mashing their corn into ethanol, the clear, odorless liquid is seen by many as the best chance for America to lessen its dependence on foreign oil. - More...
Tuesday AM - November 07, 2006

Business - Economy: Experts debate best ethanol source By ADAM WILMOTH - Record gasoline prices experienced over the past year have helped drive interest in alternative fuels. But it is still unclear as to which option is best for the country.

Despite some concerns of relative energy inefficiency, ethanol is the early leading alternative. Much of ethanol's popularity is because the fuel is commercially available, requires - at most - only moderate adjustments to existing engines and can be blended with traditional gasoline. But the debate continues as to whether the more popular corn-based ethanol is the best option.

President Bush in his "addicted to oil" speech earlier this year touted switchgrass and other so-called "cellulosic" plants as one of the key components of the country's effort to reduce its dependence on foreign oil.

If ethanol is to become a major transportation fuel nationwide, the country eventually must move beyond the corn-based product, Oklahoma Energy Secretary David Fleischaker said.

"If we took every stick of corn that we grow and turn it into fuel and eat none of it, we're talking about producing about 12 percent of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline that we burn annually," he said. "And we're not going to turn every stick of corn into fuel. So to make a dent, we have to go beyond corn. We have to go to cellulosic." - More...
Tuesday AM - November 07, 2006