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SitNews - Stories In The News - Ketchikan, Alaska
Tuesday
December 20, 2011

Front Page Photo By KEN ARRIOLA

Deer Mountain Challenge
Ketchikan resident Amy Russell with ice ax and crampons ascended the NW face of Deer Mt. summit last Wednesday. Yes, it's really that steep with 18" of fresh powdery snow and a snow base of 3 ft. Guided by Ken Arriola, Russell made it.
Front Page Photo By KEN ARRIOLA

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Alaska - National: Cheap Labor as Cultural Exchange - Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered an “extensive and thorough review” of the State Department’s troubled Summer Work Travel (SWT) program, which every year brings more than 100,000 college students from around the world to fill low-wage seasonal jobs at fish processing plants in Alaska, national parks, and other locations around the United States.

The ordered "extensive and thorough review" followed last summer's protests by students working at a Hershey Co. warehouse in Pennsylvania that garnered worldwide attention.

Last week the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) began an online publication of a four-day investigative series on the program. The report, “Cheap Labor as Cultural Exchange: The $100 Million Work Travel Industry ”, is based on five months of reporting by CIS senior research fellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning former journalist Jerry Kammer. Part Three of the series, "In Alaska, Fish Sliming as Cultural Exchange", addresses the story of SWT in Alaska, where some 2,000 "cultural exchange" workers take seafood industry jobs that used to be magnets for American college students as well as local hires.

Every year SWT provides J-1 visas to more than 100,000 college students from around the world, allowing them to work for three months in the U.S. and take an additional month to travel. Because they pay an average of about $1,100 in fees to the private organizations that sponsor their participation in the program, the program generates well over $100 million in annual revenues for those organizations. They pay many millions more in visa fees to the State Department and in travel expenses to and from the U.S.

The four-part series tells the story of the SWT program’s rapid growth over the past 15 years into a $100 million international industry that has spread around the globe. SWT is emblematic of a larger problem with the nation’s immigration system, where new programs are created and allowed to expand significantly without giving careful consideration to their impact on the labor market or the larger American society. - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

Alaska: Corps Decision Clears Way for Development of NPR-A; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Approves Surface Access to National Petroleum Reserve –The decision Monday by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant road access to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) via construction of a bridge across the Colville River was welcomed by Alaska officials.

The Corps permit authorizes construction of a drill pad, two valve pads, pipeline support structures, access roads and four bridge crossings for the development of the CD-5 site, located just inside NPR-A’s eastern border. ConocoPhillips has been working for nearly a decade to tap the oil and gas reserves at CD-5, a satellite of the company’s Alpine field on the North Slope.


The Corps permit represents the final hurdle to ConocoPhillips’ plan to connect CD-5 to pipelines and other infrastructure at Alpine. The bridge has the support of the North Slope Borough; the village of Nuiqsut; the Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which owns the subsurface rights to CD-5; and the Alaska Native village corporation for Nuiqsut, Kuukpik Corp. which owns the surface rights at CD-5.

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a prepared statement, “Today’s decision clears the way for the National Petroleum Reserve’s first oil production,” Murkowski said. “NPR-A has long been cited as an example of the federal government’s commitment to domestic oil production, but in reality the gates to NPR-A have been locked by bureaucracy and regulatory red tape. The Corps’ revised decision finally unlocks those gates.” - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

Alaska: Alaska District Court to Hear Lawsuit this Week, Decision Could Impact How Endangered Species Act is Applied Nationally - The courtroom of Alaska U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess is expected to be full this coming Wednesday as the State of Alaska and some of Alaska’s largest seafood companies face off against Federal attorneys over an Agency decision that has entirely closed an area in the Aleutian Islands that is half the size of Texas, and placing further restrictions on an area twice that size.

The plaintiffs - in this case the State of Alaska and the industry coalition - argue that there is “... factual and significant support for the faults found and the reckless manner in which National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Protected Resources division proceeded to rush forward a predetermined outcome based solely on political beliefs rather than scientific facts. Without proper leadership capable of exercising direction and authority over low level politically motivated researchers within NMFS, NMFS leadership has allowed the problem to explode,  with devastating effects on crewmembers, captains, owners, operators and other participants in the fisheries, as well as the communities, suppliers, dealers, and other businesses that depend on the fisheries—all to no demonstrable benefit, contrary to the administrative record, contrary to applicable law, science, and reason, and without allowing for meaningful public comment.” - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

Alaska: Fire Safety for the Holidays - The Holiday Season is upon us and Alaskans are busy decorating their homes and offices with colorful lights and ornaments. It is important not to forget fire safety in our haste to get our decorating, baking, and shopping done for the Holidays. Many people choose to use natural cut trees to decorate their homes. Beautiful decorations are traditional in the lives of Alaskans, but it is important to know that these decorations lead to added fire risks if safety precautions are not followed.

Alaska State Fire Marshal David Tyler offers these fire safety tips to help make your Holiday Season safe and memorable:

• When decorating for the holidays, guard against blocking exit doors with Christmas trees or decorations that could interfere with being able to escape in the event of a fire.

• Natural cut trees should be secured in a sturdy tree-stand to prevent falling or being knocked over.

• Christmas trees should be freshly cut and placed in water the entire time the tree is inside your home. - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011


Southeast Alaska: Disabled tug safely under tow with Coast Guard escort - The commercial tug Le Chavel Rouge crew successfully took the disabled tug Nathan E. Stewart into tow 22 nautical miles southwest of Cape Fairweather at 11:32 a.m. Monday.

The Le Chavel Rouge responded from Hawk Inlet Sunday and is towing the tug Stewart and its barge to Skagway with an anticipated arrival on Wednesday. The Coast Guard Cutter Maple, a 225-foot buoy tender, is providing a safety escort for the tow.

The tug Stewart was pushing a 287-foot barge, carrying a reported 2.2 million gallons of diesel fuel and 1,000 gallons of jet fuel on board, from Valdez to Skagway when they were inundated by heavy seas and experienced failure of the starboard engine.

“The tug crew and cargo were never in immediate danger, however, we worked closely with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, our state agencies and industry partners to ensure the continued safety of the tug crew and the maritime environment,” said Capt. Scott Bornemann, Coast Guard Sector Juneau Commander. - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

Columns - Commentary

TOM PURCELL: Our Taxing Mess - Boy, is our tax system in a mess.

The mess began in 1913, when the 16th Amendment was passed and Americans were forced to pay federal taxes on their income.

People who made more than $3,000 -- a lot of dough in those days -- had to pay 1 percent to the feds. The top rate, which then applied to the superrich, was a whopping 7 percent!

Those rates didn't last long.

During World War I, the top rate shot up to 77 percent to finance our war efforts. After the war, it dropped down to 25 percent -- still 17 points higher than it was before the war.

Tax rates held steady until Franklin Delano "Big Government" Roosevelt came to town. Under FDR, the top rate shot up to 78 percent by 1936.

Then, during World War II, the top rate hit 94 percent. After the war, it remained above 90 percent -- into the early 1960s. - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011


      

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letter "Over the Top Route Minimizes Natural Gas Benefits to Alaskans" By Bill Walker - Article VIII, Sections 1 and 2 of Alaska's Constitution mandate that "Alaska's resources are to be developed to the maximum use and benefit of its people." - More...
Tuesday - December 20, 2011

letter Re: Tonka timber sale By Alan R. McGillvray - Well folks the eco-communists are at it again, doing every thing they are able to keep people from gainful employment. To make us import our building supplies at greater expense than otherwise needed. Thereby increasing our "carbon footprint" on the planet, but that's probably OK with them, they drive around in their fancy cars, write big checks from money that doesn't come from local sources, just so they can have a pristine playground. - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

letter RE: Biometric Scanning By Ken Leland - Why does this not surprise me? We already have "Big Brother" looking over our shoulder and examining our private lives. George Orwell was a true visionary, way ahead of his time.I have always said that 1984 authored by him should be mandatory reading for our students at least by middle school. - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

letter RE: Biometric scanning By April Harper - I totally agree with Charlanne Thomas. I was also appalled when I received a letter from my child's school stating that they had their fingers scanned!! What makes them think they have the right to do something of that nature and level of privacy of a minor without the consent of their parents? - More...
Tuesday AM - December 20, 2011

letter The Gravina Island Cleanup By Jerry Cegelske - The Gravina Island Cleanup began on July 1, 2006 after the Borough was notified that the grant request for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Grant for Coastal Marine Habitat Restoration had been approved.  The cleanup activities ended on October 31, of this year with a last load of marine debris placed in the dumpster near the Harbormaster’s office. - More...
Saturday - December 17, 2011

letter Biometric Scanning By Charlanne Thomas - First of all, I would like to make it very clear that I am in no way criticizing the staff of Point Higgins School. I realize they have a difficult job and I appreciate their dedication to our children. My complaint is with technology that is implemented without my consent. Biometric scanning has been implemented at Point Higgins school in an attempt to alleviate manual input of student lunch records and supposedly the library. While I understand that we live in an age where technology is expected, this process was completed on my child without my approval. When I discovered that his finger had been scanned and stored as a "10-digit binary code", it was too late. His unique code has been stored and is available, whether it is deleted or not. I'm sure the School District backs up their systems on a nightly basis, and once something is in a system, it's there for years. - More...
Saturday - December 17, 2011

letter RESPONSIBLITY By Pamela Graff - Just before noon today [Thursday] I received a phone call from Houghtaling the school my daughter attends 2nd grade, stated that while waiting for the bus at Ketchikan Lakes Road and Deer Mount around 8am a dog had jumped up on her and broken her front tooth. She was in pain after eating lunch when the food hit her nerve. - More...
Saturday - December 17, 2011

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Ketchikan, Alaska

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