Inter-island Ferry marks first year of new service

KETCHIKAN -- The Inter-island Ferry Authority celebrated the ferry Prince of Wales' first year in scheduled service Jan.15 with a brief sailing around Pennock Island.

The vessel, which has a capacity of about 30 vehicles and 155 passengers, completed 464 round trips in 2002 -- double the service provided in earlier years.

The IFA was formed in 1997 with the goal of providing better ferry service for Prince of Wales Island than was being provided by the Alaska Marine Highway System.

The island communities of Craig, Coffman Cove, Klawock and Thorne Bay joined Wrangell and Petersburg to form the public corporation, according to Len Laurance, IFA marketing director.

In 1998, the Alaska Department of Transportation formally approved routes, including links from Hollis to Ketchikan and Coffman Cove with Petersburg and Wrangell.

With help from federal money, the $12.2 million vessel was built at the Dakota Creek Industries yard in Anacortes, Wash., and began serving the Hollis-Ketchikan route on Jan. 15, 2002.

Fred Meyer considers Ketchikan lot for store

KETCHIKAN -- Fred Meyer is considering purchasing about nine acres for a large grocery store near 4 Mile North Tongass Highway.

"We have entered into an agreement that enables us to control the lot while we look at it," said Rob Boley, Fred Meyer assistant vice president for public relations. "But it's way too early to tell if we'll ever come to Ketchikan."

Company officials, including Tom Gibbons, senior site acquisition manager, met Jan. 16 with city and Ketchikan Gateway Borough officials.

The company will take whatever time is necessary to analyze the market in Ketchikan before making a final decision, Boley said.

If the company comes to Ketchikan, it will build a 60,000- to 100,000-square-foot Fred Meyer Marketplace store, he said. The company has been considering Ketchikan for many years and recently decided to seriously analyze a store's feasibility, Boley said.

NATION

Housing construction sees rise in December

WASHINGTON -- Construction of new homes and apartments rose by a solid 5 percent in December to cap the best year for housing construction since 1986, the government reported Jan. 21.

The Commerce Department said that builders broke ground on 1.84 million new home homes and apartments at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in December compared to a 1.75 million unit pace in November, when activity had risen by 5.2 percent from the October level.

For the year as a whole, work was started on 1.70 million homes and apartments, up 6.4 percent from 2001 and the best year for home builders since 1986.

All the activity was bolstered by the lowest mortgage rates since the early 1960s, which fueled a boom in housing construction and sales.

Housing was one of the few bright spots for the economy last year as the country endured an uncertain recovery from the 2001 recession. The unemployment rate at year's end stood at an eight-year high of 6 percent and many analysts believe it will go higher in coming months as concerns about what a possible war in Iraq will do to oil supplies continue to weigh on the U.S. economy.

WORLD

Chinese court upholds copyright of Lego blocks

BEIJING -- As it opens to the world, China has vowed repeatedly to eliminate counterfeit and pirated products. The latest test of its commitment appears to build on that promise -- brick by colorful plastic brick.

Lego, the Danish toy manufacturer that makes one of the Western world's most recognizable toys, has won a case in the Beijing High People's Court, which agreed that a Chinese company copied characteristics of its snap-together plastic building blocks.

The Denmark-based Lego Company lauded the court's action, asserting on its Web site that the decision "confirms copyright protection of industrial design."

From children's toys to Hollywood movies, soap and shampoo to name-brand designer clothing, China is a battleground for companies fighting fakery and intellectual-property theft. But since Beijing joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, the pressure has become even more intense.

Foreign businesses have complained that China is failing to fully enforce the laws.

-- Compiled from business wire services.