Ketchikan: Student Nurses Pinned In Traditional Ceremony By MARIE L. MONYAK - Seven Ketchikan women took part in the traditional candle lighting and pinning ceremony held at the Holy Name Parish Hall Friday evening, December 16th. These soon to graduate student nurses have attended the University of Alaska Anchorage, School of Nursing, in conjunction with the University of Southeast Ketchikan. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

From Other Sources Ketchikan: Legislators plan to delve into road, bridge spending - Reps. Elkins, Gatto schedule hearing two days into session By Elizabeth Bluemink... Sunday - December 18, 2005 - Juneau Empire - www.juneauempire.com - Ketchikan: Gravina group gives bridge alternative By Rob Stapleton Alaska Journal of Commerce - With the loss of a federal earmark reducing the chances of a bridge being built between Ketchikan and Gravina Island, a group of Gravina Island landowners have submitted a $20 million request to the state Department of Transportation for infrastructure development on the island. - More... - Sunday - December 18, 2005 - - Alaska Journal of Commerce www.alaskajournal.com Top Stories U.S. News U.S. Politics Alaska Ketchikan

National: Senate blocks extention of Patriot Act By M.E. SPRENGELMEYER - A bipartisan group of senators blocked reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act Friday, citing concerns about an erosion of civil liberties.

Backers of the sweeping anti-terrorism law warned that the move could leave gaping holes in the country's homeland security, but lawmakers said they had too many unresolved questions about civil-rights protections. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

National: Merchant Marines fight for benefits as veterans By MICHAEL DOYLE AND CYNDEE FONTANA - When Fred Lewis and other merchant mariners came home from World War II, they knew some people didn't consider them veterans. Some still don't.

Lewis joined the all-volunteer Merchant Marine in 1944 - at age 17 - and spent five years helping deliver supplies to troops around the world. During the war, he and fellow seamen endured terrible casualties while fighting back against kamikaze pilots, submarines and other attacks. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Alaska: Governor Gives Gas Pipeline Update - In a press conference held Friday in Anchorage, Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski provided an update on gas pipeline negotiations and announced that negotiations are suspended over the holidays. The state will reengage with the producers BP and ExxonMobil once they provide satisfactory responses on several key contract issues that the state has presented to them.

"We are at what I would call a defining moment," said the governor. "All of the parties have reached agreement on fiscal terms that are very positive for the state. But there are other critical issues on the table that, for the state, are non-negotiable. I am confident that BP and ExxonMobil will come back to the state after the holidays with satisfactory resolution to the items we have presented to them." - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Alaska: Nigerian Advance Fee Scam Customized for Alaska; Morris Thompson variation could be taste of ploys to come - Alaska Attorney General David W. Márquez issued a warning this week for Alaskans to be on the lookout for variations of the Nigerian e-mail advance fee scam. The Department of Law has received reports of scams involving the late Morris Thompson over past several months and warns that other deceased Alaskans could be used to "bait" potential victims. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Alaska: Alaska's Senior Fraud Campaign Unveiled - Alaska's First Lady Nancy Murkowski, Commerce Commissioner Bill Noll and Health and Social Services Commissioner Karleen Jackson, on Friday unveiled the state's "Be Elder Wise" campaign advising seniors they should be wary as they are often a target of fraud. The campaign is paid for by a grant from the U.S. Administration on Aging and includes direct mail and print advertising. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

International: Smuggling of babies in China raises fears in the West By GREG MCARTHUR - Allegations of a baby-smuggling ring in China have shaken North American families, prompting them to question whether their children were legitimately obtained and whether they should continue to donate thousands of dollars to Chinese orphanages. - More...
Sunday - December 18, 2005

Week In Review: Iraq votes in parliamentary elections - Iraqis voted in large numbers in a historic parliamentary election. Heavy turnout was reported by Sunnis, improving U.S. hopes of calming the insurgency bedeviling American troops. Ballots ran out in some precincts. Insurgents staged relatively few attacks. As many as 11 million people voted, putting the turnout at more than 70 percent, according to Iraqi officials. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Washington Calling: Fat leathernecks ... new pennies ... and more By LANCE GAY - It's official: Americans are increasingly unhappy with their government.

The University of Michigan's annual survey found that consumer satisfaction with the government declined last year, with only 7 out of 10 Americans contented with the services they're paying for. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters 2005 Ketchikan Boat Parade By Pat Long - Sunday PM Answers By Rick Grams - Sunday PM No lack of room for expansion in Ketchikan By Charlotte Tanner - Sunday PM Town Tree By Jacquie Meck - Sunday PM Bridges Supported by Whom? By Don Hoff Jr. - Sunday PM SitNews By Bobbie McCreary - Sunday PM How can a shrinking city expand? By Robert McRoberts - Sunday PM Indigenous By Kevin Mackey - Sunday PM Sneak Attacks By Sheridan "Pete" Peterson - Sunday PM Christmas Tree... Star... Boat Parade By Tom LeCompte- Saturday PM Knik and Gravina Fully Supported By Gov. Frank H. Murkowski- Saturday PM Answers please... By Peg Travis - Saturday PM Times a changing! By A.M. Johnson - Friday Christmas Toy Drive By Tyla Williams - Friday Bridge By Virginia E. Atkinson - Friday Hope for Ketchikan's Bridge By Rick Grams - Friday Retort: Bridges? By Don Hoff Jr. - Friday AM Bending Towards the Light By Peg Travis - Friday AM More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter Political Cartoonists Political Cartoons Ketchikan Monday, December 19, 2005 5:30 pm - The Ketchikan Borough Assemby will hold a regular meeting in the City Council Chambers. Agenda & Information Packets Thursday, December 22, 2005 Noon: The Assembly/School Board Liaison Committee scheduled to meet on Thursday, December 15, 2005, has been changed to Thursday, December 22, 2005 at noon in the City Council Chambers. December Calendar Ketchikan Arts This Week Today's Forecast Current AK Weather Map City Police Report 12/12/05 AK Troopers Daily Dispatch Classifieds & Announcements December 2005 Click on the date for stories and photos published on that day... S M T W T F S   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 Front Page Archives

Laine Welch: Gubernatorial Candidates Better Start Boning Up On Fish - Invitations are going out this week to all those who have so far thrown their hats into the 2006 gubernatorial ring. The candidates are being invited to come to Kodiak in mid-March to participate in the popular "goober debate," which has been held every four years since 1990 as part of the ComFish trade show.

"The debate has always attracted the full slate of candidates, and it gives the public their first glimpse at the line up in the election year," said Norm Wooten, director of the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce, which organizes ComFish.  There's one catch. The candidates are limited to a single topic: Alaska's seafood industry.  - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Dave Kiffer: A Fine, Old Whine - I've been thinking about wine and cheese lately.

Probably because they are the few things that everyone agrees get better with age. And as one ages one begins to appreciate such subtle distinctions because we don't live in a society that gives a lot of "props" for aging.

I'm thinking about age because of several recent events my life - none of which was another birthday. Those fail to shake me anymore. Besides, every morning when I wake up and stumble out of bed, my knees remind me that I am no longer a whippersnapper. My whip got snapped a long time ago. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Marsha Mercer: Growing old with Social Security - "Social Security can and will be saved," the president proclaimed at the White House aging conference.

"It will require the best efforts of both parties and of both the executive and legislative branches of government. Its future is too important to be used as a political football."

No, those stirring words were not President Bush's. He didn't even do a drop-by of his White House conference on aging last week.

That was President Reagan talking in December 1981. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Dale McFeatters: Iran, the new North Korea? - Iran's new president seems determined to make both him and his country international pariahs. He's off to a great start.

With the world growing apprehensive over Tehran's nuclear ambitions and getting to the point where it might actually do something about them, the wise course of action would have been for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be discreet, circumspect.

Instead in October, he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The reaction was swift and predictable. Diplomacy and common sense called for Ahmadinejad to keep his mouth shut. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005

Ann McFeatters: The road to a stable Iraq - For months there was a loud clamor for President Bush to address the American people on the war in Iraq. He has now delivered four speeches. How did he do?

Bush's resolve seems clear - no withdrawal in the foreseeable future. His strategy for "complete victory" is less clear and vastly troubling.

In the thousands of words from Bush in the last few weeks, he repeatedly said that American troops are in Iraq to make certain it doesn't become a "safe haven" for terrorists, to train Iraqi security forces to defend their own country and to help ensure that Iraq becomes a constitutional democracy. - More...
Sunday AM - December 18, 2005