Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: Sept. 11 Commission unhappy with legacy By LANCE GAY - The 9/11 Commission dissolved Monday, leaving behind the legacy of a best-selling history of the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history, some chairs shuffled in Washington's bureaucracy, and a debate over its own effectiveness.

At their farewell meeting, commissioners released a report card giving the government failing grades for its actions to prevent another attack like the one on Sept. 11, 2001.

And although the commissioners said they aren't happy with their legacy, the panel did give Americans a glimpse of what Washington's secret government does and how the CIA spends its $40 billion budget.

It scored one major bureaucratic victory by pushing for the creation of a czar to oversee the activities of all federal intelligence agencies - a post currently occupied by Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte. But the recommendations for broader reforms of the intelligence community, including making the CIA's annual budget public, have been ignored. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

National: The U.S. in Iraq: One war, many rationales By DAVID WESTPHAL - For months leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, it was the Middle East nation's supposed stockpile of threatening weapons that President Bush held up as the main rationale for military action.

But it wasn't the only rationale expressed by the White House. In fact, some experts believe other factors rarely talked about might have been at play in Bush's war decision as well.

The issue of why Bush chose war is once again front and center, with critics suggesting the administration may have exaggerated pre-war claims of an Iraqi weapons-of-mass-destruction arsenal, and defenders branding the detractors as historical revisionists. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

National: European Union probes alleged CIA flights By DOUG SAUNDERS - Whenever he has a weekend to spare, Luis Goncalves indulges in his passion.

He travels from his home in Oporto, Portugal, to one of Europe's major airports and spends a couple of days standing at the side of the runway with a bunch of friends, photographing every airplane that takes off or lands.

He is proud to call himself a plane spotter. And like hundreds of Europeans who share this peculiar hobby, his only desire is to build up his life list: a compilation of thousands of high-quality photos of jet airplanes, building toward the almost unattainable goal of owning a photo of every registered plane in the world. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

National: That fat check in the mail? Be wary By ANDREW McINTOSH - The letter from Nova Financial Trust in Canada contains a genuine-looking $4,900 check made payable to you - and news that you've won much more.

To claim the rest of your $250,000 prize, all you have to do is cash the check and wire back $2,950 to a "claims agent" to pay what a Nova official called "nonresident government service tax payable in Canada."

Fall for this scam, and you'll find you're not nearly as lucky as you thought.

There's no such thing as a nonresident-government-service tax in Canada. The $4,900 check was a clever counterfeit now under investigation by the U.S. Secret Service, bank security officials in New York and police in Canada.

The scheme is one of the many ways criminals are making growing use of fake checks to defraud consumers. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Ketchikan and Small Town America By Robert D. Warner - Tuesday Find a better argument.... By Marcia Hilley - Monday A Third Proposal By Patrick Jirschele - Monday ANWR or Bust? By Virginia E, Atkinson - Monday How will a bridge benefit our lives and assist our travel? By Peg Travis - Monday BOLLING BRIDGE SUPPORT NECESSARY By Pete Ellis - Sunday A Proposal By Patrick Jirschele - Sunday A Second Proposal By Patrick Jirschele - Sunday RE: A Gift of Life (SitNews 12/2/2005) By David J. Undis - Sunday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Thursday , December 08, 2005 - The Ketchikan Legislative Liaison will meet at noon in the City Council Chambers to discuss community projects and a fly-in to Juneau. The meeting is open to the public. November Calendar Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report 12/06/05 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements Nov. - Dec. 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 01 02 05 Front Page Archives

Alaska: Alaska Weighs In on U.S. Supreme Court Review Involving Federal Jurisdictional Limits Under the Clean Water Act - Alaska Attorney General David Márquez announced that the state filed an amicus brief last Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court over a legal dispute regarding the reach of federal jurisdictional limitations over wetlands under the Clean Water Act (CWA).

The Court has consolidated two cases where the primary issue under review is whether wetlands located long distances from, or not directly connected to "navigable waters," should be deemed "adjacent" under the CWA for purposes of exercising federal permitting jurisdiction by the Army Corps of Engineers.

"This court's decision will have a profound impact in the area of state's rights and economic development in Alaska," said Governor Frank H. Murkowski. "The Supreme Court should give pointed recognition and force to Congress' objective that under the CWA, the management of land and water resources is primarily reserved to the States and local agencies, and that federal jurisdiction is not absolute over all waters and wetlands." - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

Alaska: State Settles with Diving Exploration Company Over Fate of Historic Sunken Steamship SS Aleutian - Alaska Attorney General David Márquez announced Monday that the state has settled a federal lawsuit with Shoreline Adventures, LLC, involving the fate of the SS Aleutian, an 1898 steamship that sank off the coast of Kodiak in 1929. The Aleutian sank in 220 feet of water and lodged on the seafloor intact.

"I commend the efforts of both parties to resolve this lawsuit in a responsible manner that benefits the interests of Shoreline and the state," said Márquez. "This settlement will allow Shoreline to conduct dives to this historical shipwreck while protecting the vessel and its contents as an archaeological site and ensuring that the environment will be protected and preserved." - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

Southeast Alaska: LeConte Delayed in Sitka with Shaft Problem - The Alaska Marine Highway System announced Monday that the M/V LeConte has been delayed in Sitka due to a problem with its propulsion shafts. It will be held over in Sitka at least through Tuesday morning.

"We are now making contingency plans in the event the LeConte is required to return to the yard in Ketchikan," said Jim Beedle, operations manager for the ferry system. "If that is the case, we will fill in the LeConte's schedule with the M/V Taku where possible, and work to get the St. Aquilina back under contract to cover those communities the Taku cannot get into." - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

National: Alito critics focus on 10 appellate opinions By MICHAEL MCGOUGH - With 15 years on a federal appeals court and hundreds of decisions under his belt, Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr. has a much longer paper trail for liberal activists to pore over than Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who served only two years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

National: Stress makes us slow to heal, researchers say By LEE BOWMAN - A steady stream of irritations and upsets from people and things around us can literally make us sick or slow to heal.

Psychological stress and physical ills have become so well linked over the past few decades that researchers into the brain-immune system connection have a name for the specialty - psychoneuroimmunology. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

Science: What's a cloud? By LEE BOWMAN - Talk about clouding the issue.

Are the skies not cloudy all day? Is it partly cloudy, or overcast or downright dark as night? - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005

Home & Garden Ins and outs of decorating your Christmas tree By MATT FOX - The Christmas tree is the heart of any Christmas decor. For many American families, the process of finding and decorating a tree is a tradition. In fact, there are some who believe that Christmas just isn't Christmas without a live tree.

Just like any other decorating project, my co-host, Shari Hiller, and I have found that putting up a Christmas tree takes a bit of planning.

The first step in this process is to decide on where you will place the tree. - More...
Tuesday - December 06, 2005