|
Gravina Island Bridge
The Gravina Island Bridge, commonly referred to as the "Bridge to Nowhere", was a proposed bridge to replace the ferry that currently connects the town of Ketchikan, Alaska, United States, with Gravina Island, an island that contains the Ketchikan International Airport as well as 50 residents. The bridge was projected to cost $398 million. Members of the Alaskan congressional delegation, particularly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, were the bridge's biggest advocates in Congress, and helped push for federal funding. The project encountered fierce opposition outside Alaska as a symbol of pork barrel spending and is labeled as one of the more prominent "bridges to nowhere". As a result, Congress removed the federal earmark for the bridge in 2005. Funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere" was continued as of March 2, 2011, in the passing of H.R. 662: Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ketchikan International Airport Ferry
Ketchikan International Airport is a state-owned, public-use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) west of the central business district of Ketchikan, a city in Ketchikan Gateway Borough in Alaska, U.S. state that has no direct road access to the outside world or to the airport. The airport is located on Gravina Island, just west of Ketchikan on the other side of the Tongass Narrows. Passengers must take a seven-minute ferry ride across the water to get to the airport from the town. As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 108,837 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 96,996 enplanements in 2009, and 100,138 in 2010. It is included in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015–2019, which categorized it as a ''primary commercial service (nonhub)'' airport (more than 10,000 enplanements per year) based on 103,136 enplanements in 2012. History Around the World War II era until the early 1970s, longer range la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tongass Narrows
Tongass Narrows is a Y-shaped channel, part of Southeast Alaska's Inside Passage. The waterway forms part of the Alaska Marine Highway and as such, is used by charter, commercial fishing, and recreational vessels, as well as commercial freight barges and tanks, kayaks and passenger ferries. A proposal to build the Gravina Island Bridge across the Tongass Narrows was shelved due to a national-level controversy over the "bridge to nowhere". Geography Tongass Narrows is defined as the water body that extends from the Revillagigedo Channel to the Gravina Island in Clarence Strait. It is shaped as a "Y", split into two channels by Pennock Island. At its northern end is Clarence Strait. In the southeast it extends from Nichols Passage to Guard Island. The eastern side is bounded by Revillagigedo Island and the west by Gravina Island. The eastern side of the narrows includes the cities of Saxman and Ketchikan. Ketchikan International Airport is located on Gravina Island. The ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anchorage Daily News
The ''Anchorage Daily News'' is a daily newspaper published by the Binkley Co., and based in Anchorage, Alaska. It is the most widely read newspaper and news website (adn.com) in the state of Alaska. The newspaper is headquartered in Anchorage, with bureaus in Wasilla, Alaska and Juneau, Alaska. The paper sells within Alaska at the retail price of $2 daily except Saturday, with the Sunday/Thanksgiving Day final selling for $3. The retail price for the paper outside Alaska and home delivery subscription rates vary by location. History Early history The ''Anchorage Daily News'' was born as the weekly ''Anchorage News'', publishing its first issue January 13, 1946. The paper’s founder and first publisher was Norman C. Brown. The early president of the paper's parent company was Harry J. Hill, who was also assistant treasurer of The Lathrop Company. This established the theory that Cap Lathrop was really behind the publication, but didn't wish to have his name formally associa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record and is now tied with 2017's Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the twelfth tropical cyclone, the fifth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous United States. Katrina originated on August 23, 2005, as a tropical depression from the merger of a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. Early the following day, the depression intensified into a tropical storm as it headed generally westward toward Florida, strengthening into a hurricane two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach on August 25. After briefly weakening to tropical storm strength o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchartrain ( ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west to east and from south to north. In descending order of area, the lake is located in parts of six Louisiana parishes: St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Tangipahoa. The water boundaries were defined in 1979 (see list of parishes in Louisiana). The lake is crossed by the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest continuous bridge over water in the world. A power line also crosses the lake. Its towers stand on caissons in Lake Pontchartrain, and its length can be used to visually demonstrate the curvature of the earth. Toponymy Lake Pontchartrain is named for , . He was the French Minister of the Marine, Chancellor, and Controller-General of Finances during the reign of France's "Sun Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Knik Arm Bridge
The Knik Arm Bridge is a dormant proposal for a bridge across Cook Inlet's Knik Arm to link the two fastest growing parts of Alaska – Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. The project consists of a bridge with of connector roads, including on and off ramps, and a $50 million cut and cover tunnel under Government Hill. Cost estimates are between $700 and $800 million. Proponents say the crossing would provide access to much-needed residential, commercial and industrial land; create jobs; reduce the cost of transportation to Interior Alaska and the North Slope; lessen carbon emissions and provide an alternative transportation route out of Anchorage. Opponents, however, say that: the crossing would create unnecessary urban sprawl in the Anchorage area; would be more expensive and less used than projected; would divert limited transportation funding away from more critical projects; would disrupt the Government Hill neighborhood and negatively impact the endangered Coo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Coburn
Thomas Allen Coburn (March 14, 1948 – March 28, 2020) was an American politician and physician who served as a United States senator for Oklahoma from 2005, until his resignation in 2015. A Republican, he previously served as a United States representative. Coburn was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994 as part of the Republican Revolution. He upheld his campaign pledge to serve no more than three consecutive terms and did not run for re-election in 2000. In 2004, he returned to political life with a successful run for the United States Senate. Coburn was re-elected to a second term in 2010 and kept his pledge not to seek a third term in 2016. In January 2014, Coburn announced he would resign before the expiration of his final term due to a recurrence of prostate cancer. He submitted a letter of resignation to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, effective at the end of the 113th Congress. Coburn was a fiscal and social conservative, known for his o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powers of the Senate are established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The Senate is composed of senators, each of whom represents a single state in its entirety. Each of the 50 states is equally represented by two senators who serve staggered terms of six years, for a total of 100 senators. The vice president of the United States serves as presiding officer and president of the Senate by virtue of that office, despite not being a senator, and has a vote only if the Senate is equally divided. In the vice president's absence, the president pro tempore, who is traditionally the senior member of the party holding a majority of seats, presides over the Senate. As the upper chamber of Congress, the Senate has several powers o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omnibus Spending Bill
An omnibus spending bill is a type of bill in the United States that packages many of the smaller ordinary appropriations bills into one larger single bill that can be passed with only one vote in each house. There are twelve different ordinary appropriations bills that need to be passed each year (one for each appropriations sub-committee) to fund the federal government and avoid a government shutdown. An omnibus spending bill combines two or more of those bills into a single bill. Regular appropriations bills are typically written, debated, and passed by the House and the Senate during the summer. However, these versions can be different, especially if different parties control each chamber. The omnibus negotiating process takes place later in the year, and involves reconciling differences in the various bills so that an identical, combined appropriations bill can pass both chambers and avert a government shutdown. Appropriations process Every year, Congress must pass bills th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pennock Island
Pennock Island is located in the U.S. state of Alaska near the city of Ketchikan. The island is situated within the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and is part of the Alexander Archipelago. Most of the island is public land managed by the Tongass National Forest.Third Annual Pennock Island Challenge Raises Funds for the American Diabetes Association Stories in the News, Aug. 31, 2006 Geography Pennock Island lies between and at the ea ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Juneau International Airport
Juneau International Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport and seaplane base located seven nautical miles (8 mi, 13 km) northwest of the central business district of Juneau, a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska that has no direct road access to the outside world. The airport serves as a regional hub for all air travel, from bush carriers to major U.S. air carriers such as Alaska Airlines. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2015-2019 categorized it as a ''primary commercial service (nonhub)'' airport based on 353,048 enplanements (boardings) in 2012. As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 378,741 passenger enplanements in calendar year 2008, 337,038 in 2009, and 344,057 in 2010. History During World War II, Juneau Airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces as a transport link between the combat bases being established in the Aleutians and airfields in the mainland United States. It was also used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southeast Alaska
Southeast Alaska, colloquially referred to as the Alaska(n) Panhandle, is the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska, bordered to the east and north by the northern half of the Canadian province of British Columbia (and a small part the Yukon Territories). The majority of Southeast Alaska's area is part of the Tongass National Forest, the United States' largest national forest. In many places, the international border runs along the crest of the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains (see Alaska boundary dispute). The region is noted for its scenery and mild, rainy climate. The largest cities in the region are Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan. This region is also home to Hyder, the easternmost town in Alaska. Geography Southeast Alaska has a land area of , comprising much of the Alexander Archipelago. The largest islands are, from North to South, Chichagof Island, Admiralty Island, Baranof Island, Kupreanof Island, Revillagigedo Island and Prince of Wales Isl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
