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Alaska: Governor Palin Says Sell the Jet - Governor Sarah Palin on Tuesday directed Department of Public Safety Commissioner, Walt Monegan, to sell the jet that was purchased by former Governor Frank Murkowski's administration over the objections of the Legislature. The Westwind II will be put up for auction on eBay.

"The purchase of the jet was impractical and unwise and it's time to get rid of it," said Governor Palin. "In the meantime, I am keeping my promise not to set foot on the jet." - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

Alaska: Lucrative Bering Sea fishery cut By WESLEY LOY - Seafood companies will be making fewer fish sticks and less imitation crab from Alaska catches next season due to a cut in the Bering Sea walleye pollock catch limit.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council, meeting in Anchorage this week, cut the limit due to a declining population of the bland, bug-eyed bottom fish.

Bering Sea pollock is one of the world's largest commercial fisheries by weight, and ranks as Alaska's most valuable seafood harvest. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

National: Bush reaches out to conservative Democrats By EDWARD EPSTEIN - President Bush is openly wooing moderate and conservative House Democrats as potential allies on a variety of issues as their party prepares to take control of Congress in January.

But the president's effort is running up against a major obstacle. The Democrats he has targeted for cooperation are the same lawmakers who are most critical of the huge budget deficits and increased national debt that have been amassed during Bush's six years in the presidency. They also want major changes in Bush's Iraq policy and have pledged their support for Democratic Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi's "six for '06" platform of major legislative items that she will push in the early days of the new Congress. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

National: Selective Service changing mailings to protect IDs By RYAN MORGAN - The federal agency charged with keeping track of young men in case of a draft may be putting them at serious risk for identity theft.

The Selective Service System mails notices to young men when they turn 18. The notice is a postcard with the recipient's full name, address, date of birth and Social Security number printed on one side. That information is covered by a tear-off flap when the mailing is sent out.

Instructions on the card tell the recipient to tear off the flap and check the information. If the data is correct, the recipient doesn't need to do anything. If any of the information is incorrect, the recipient is directed to correct it on the card and mail it back. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

National: New rules may ease use of 'last resort' experimental drugs By LEE BOWMAN - What if you're seriously, life-threateningly ill, and you've run out of treatment options - except for this experimental new drug that your doctor's heard about, but is only beginning to be tested to see if it's safe to take?

Normally, the Food and Drug Administration only allows a small number of patients to take part in the first round of clinical trials for a new drug - often less than 100 for a safety check, followed by several hundred to several thousand, depending on how common the ailment is - to demonstrate that the treatment improves the condition most of the time. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

National: Study finds many families consumed by health care costs By LEE BOWMAN - Health care costs now eat up more than 10 percent of the family income of nearly 50 million Americans under age 65, according to a new study by government researchers.

Their estimates, published Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, are based on federal consumer surveys done in 1996 and 2003 that counted all out-of-pocket health care costs.

"We found that the prevalence of high financial (health) burdens increased across the population as a whole and among several subgroups between 1996 and 2003," said Jessica Banthin and Didem Bernard, researchers at the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

By 2003, they calculate there were 48.8 million individuals (19.2 percent of the non-elderly population) living in families that spent more than 10 percent of household income on medical care, an increase of 11.7 million people since 1996. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

National: Feds push new research for chronic fatigue syndrome By DORSEY GRIFFITH - The yuppie flu. A hypochondriac's excuse. A drain on the Social Security disability system.

Chronic fatigue syndrome has been called a lot of things in the past 20 years. Mostly, it has been a stepchild of an illness, maligned or misdiagnosed by doctors, pooh-poohed by employers and neglected by drug makers.

That is beginning to change. The federal government last month launched its first awareness campaign about chronic fatigue syndrome. The cause is bolstered with new research and millions in additional funds dedicated toward finding a cause and possible cure.

"This isn't hooey," said Dr. William Reeves, chief of the chronic viral diseases branch at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "This illness ... was thought to be a bunch of upper-class, yuppie, white women who were whiners. But there is a substantial body of solid, scientific literature accumulating." - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

An ice-free Arctic Ocean coming soon? Year 2040, when sea ice is gone Illustrations courtesy the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.

Alaska Science: An ice-free Arctic Ocean coming soon? By NED ROZELL - Sea ice coverage on top of the world shrank again in 2006, and experts are predicting that the polar ice cap may disappear in summer soon.

At a Dec. 11, 2006 press conference about northern warming here at the annual American Geophysical Union meeting, Mark Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado said that by the end of November 2006, the floating ice pack on top of the world was two million square kilometers smaller than it has been on average during the recent past.

"That's an Alaska-size chunk of ice missing," he said. "When we looked at it in November, we were just astounded."

The low ice year in 2006 followed a slim 2005, when scientists recorded a new record low in northern sea-ice extent. The sea ice that floats on the Arctic Ocean waxes and wanes with the seasons, growing in winter and shrinking in summer. Serreze and other scientists who keep an eye on its size using satellite images say the icepack seems to be shrinking so much in the summer that the cold air of winter can't make up for the melting. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

Viewpoints Opinions/Letters Basic Rules Army Recruitment ad By John Harrington - Wednesday High Fuel Cost By Joseph J Chadwell - Tuesday AM The price of gas and public officials By Craig Moen- Tuesday AM Ketchikan Community Concert Band concert By Judith Green- Tuesday AM Army Recruitment Ad on Top of Alaska News Page? By Dan Mortenson- Tuesday AM Stopping abuse of any form. By Janelle Hamilton- Tuesday AM High Cost of Oil and Gas - Give us a break! By Janelle Hamilton - Saturday Outrageous Salaries! By Robert D. Warner - Saturday High cost of fuel By R.K. Rice - Saturday Christmas Lights Around Town By Diana Chaudhary - Saturday Ketchikan Lions Club By Jim Sundahl - Saturday Apology owed to NTVFD By Liz Hook - Saturday Will Ketchikan's gas prices ever go down? By Richard John Jr. - Saturday Ketchikan's high gas prices By Jon Van Essen - Saturday RE: House Approves Measure to Preserve WWII Internment Camps By Shirley A. Weiss - Saturday The Sam Pitcher Memorial Scholarship Concert By Judith Green - Thursday Senior center By Gretchen Klein - Thursday RE: Gas Prices By Jerilyn Lester - Thursday Thank you to those who serve By Anita Hales - Thursday About KPU giving Bad Service By Scott Willis - Thursday When do we get help!! By Laurie Price - Wednesday Gas prices By Chuck Moon - Wednesday More Viewpoints/ Letters Publish A Letter 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 December 2006 Archives Click on a date to view that front page. 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             More Front Page Archives

Home & Garden: Why not make this one an old-fashioned Christmas By MATT FOX - Are you worn out from your holiday shopping? And still stuck on what to get the kids? Why not give your family the experience of an old fashioned Christmas this year?

My co-host Shari Hiller and I enjoy all seasonal decorating projects, but decorating for Christmas is our absolute favorite. We love the lights, the colors and, most of all, the old fashioned Christmas trees.

In most homes, the tree is the focal point of the holiday decor. For many families, choosing and decorating the Christmas tree is an annual tradition.

Today, it seems, that Christmas trees can be found everywhere from malls to the Internet. If you are looking for an old-fashioned holiday experience, however, your family might enjoy cutting your own tree.

Or you might enjoy shopping at one of my favorite places. I get my tree at the lot around the corner, which is run by the local Boy Scout troop. It's filled with hundreds of trees just waiting to be taken home to a loving family. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

Fine Living: Make homemade eggnog for the holidays By ANNA WALLNER and KRISTINA MATISIC - Holidays are a great time to raise a glass with friends and family, especially with a glass of eggnog. Whether you like to drink it straight up or add a little zip with rum, here are a few shopping and health tips to consider when you're filling up your grocery basket.

- Low fat eggnog may have fewer calories than the full fat variety, but typically it has the same amount of carbohydrates.

- Always go for the store-bought variety if serving the elderly or anyone whose health is compromised. Store brands are always heavily pasteurized whereas homemade may contain harmful bacteria if the eggs are not cooked well enough. - More...
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006

Health & Fitness: Many women find the holidays stressful By LEE BOWMAN - Men may hang up the lights and put up the tree, but in most households, women bear the brunt of holiday preparation and get more stressed as a result.

A new survey shows nearly half of all women in the United States experience heightened stress levels around the holidays and many cope by eating or drinking more in response.

The survey findings show that added holiday stress, on top of already disproportionately high stress levels in women year-round, make it hard for women to relax, yet women are actually relying more on unhealthy behaviors to cope with their anxiety.

The survey released Tuesday by the American Psychological Association, found that 41 percent of 417 women in a national telephone survey said they would use food to deal with stress, compared to 25 percent of the 369 men in the survey. - More..
Wednesday PM - December 13, 2006