WASHINGTON (AP) — The director of the National Security Agency said June 12 that once-secret surveillance programs disrupted dozens of terrorist attacks, explicitly describing for Congress how the programs worked in collecting Americans’ phone records and tapping into their Internet activity.

KENAI — Every time he was asked “are you sure you want to move to the next step?” Chris DesOrmeaux’s answer was always “yes.”

Ken Behrendt had already had his fill of the hidden costs of offshoring, but the Eagle Creek Software Services chief executive was having trouble finding enough qualified consultants to expand the company’s development and technical support business in the Dakotas.

Invisalign, a San Jose company, uses 3-D printing to make each mouthful of customized, transparent braces. Mackenzies Chocolates, a confectioner in Santa Cruz, uses a 3-D printer to pump out chocolate molds. And earlier this year, Cornell University researchers used a 3-D printer, along with injections of a special collagen gel, to create a human-shaped ear.

Another telecommunications provider has entered the Alaska market.

To compete with the new wireless player Verizon, Alaska Communications and GCI are trying to merge their infrastructure into the Alaska Wireless Network, or AWN.

Amid the increased activity in the Arctic is a project that could improve telecommunications in rural Alaska.

Alaska Communications and General Communication, Inc. are working toward merging their infrastructure as the Alaska Wireless Network, a deal meant to better position both companies when Verizon Wireless enters the Alaska market.