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The Federal Aviation Administration released an initiative to improve flight safety in Alaska for all aviation on Oct. 14, 2021. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

News

FAA releases Alaska aviation safety initiatives

The recommendations, covering five areas, range from improvements in hardware to data-gathering.

COVID-19 (Image courtesy CDC)

News

State reports 3 more COVID deaths, more than 900 cases

The newly reported deaths push Alaska’s total to 594 COVID fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Soldotna junior Brayden Taylor rushes the ball down the field during the Division II state football championship game against Lathrop at Service High School in Anchorage on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Sports

Lathrop snaps SoHi’s run of state titles

The Soldotna Stars football team fell to Fairbanks’ Lathrop High School in a close Division II state championship…

Informal floor sessions were held this week at the Alaska State Capitol, seen here on Sept. 24, 2021, but committee meetings were held remotely as many lawmakers have returned home. But only the House of Representatives was busy as the Senate was stalled by COVID-positive senators. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire File)

News

Senate is stalled while House gets to work

Two weeks left.

Jason Floyd testifies in opposition to COVID-19 mandates during a meeting of the Soldotna City Council on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Protesters pack council meeting, declare ‘medical liberty’

Attendance at Wednesday’s meeting was reduced to standing-room only.

Clem Tillion of Halibut Cove poses for a photo on Jan. 9, 2020, in Homer, Alaska. The veteran Alaska legislator was passing through Homer while waiting to take the M/V Tustumena ferry to Kodiak. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

News

Clem Tillion, PFD founder and former legislator, dies at 96

Tillion died Wedneday, Oct. 13, at Halibut Cove home.

Renewable IPP CEO Jenn Miller presents information about solar power during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Company looks to build solar farm on peninsula

It would be roughly 20 times the size of the largest solar farm currently in the state.

Baked goods are on display during a Soldotna Chamber of Commerce pie auction in this undated photo. (Photo courtesy Soldotna Chamber of Commerce)

News

‘Local gourmets’ to share baking skills at Soldotna Pie Auction

The Great British Baking Show-esque event showcases local culinary talent.

Finn Petersen, left, is announced the winner of a $49,000 Alaska 529 scholarship on Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021, as part of the “Give AK a Shot” COVID-19 vaccine program. (Photo via the Alaska Chamber of Commerce)

News

Anchorage residents win latest vaccine lottery

“Give AK a Shot” awards $49,000 in cash scholarships to one newly vaccinated adult and one child.

“Soctober” will take place from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at the Cook Inlet Counseling parking lot at 10200 Kenai Spur Highway in Kenai, and consists of rock painting, the winter gear giveaway and a free spaghetti lunch. (Image via Cook Inlet Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse)

News

Recovery group to host outreach event

The event will include rock painting, the winter gear giveaway and a free spaghetti lunch.

(Image courtesy CDC)

News

Officials: COVID is at a plateau in Alaska

The approved COVID vaccines, Zink said, are the best tool to get cases to drop off.

Teressa Minnich (left) speaks to another poll worker at a precinct at Soldotna Prep School on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Municipal elections see ‘sad’ turnout levels

11.8% of registered voters cast ballots in the borough’s Oct. 5 municipal elections.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Clerk Johni Blankenship (right) swears in new members of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Brent Hibbert (left), Cindy Ecklund (second from left) and Mike Tupper during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Borough assembly swears in 3 members

Cindy Ecklund, Brent Hibbert and Mike Tupper take oath of office.

A spruce bark beetle is seen on the underside of a piece of bark taken from logs stacked near Central Peninsula Landfill on Thursday, July 1, 2021 near Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Chugach campgrounds to be closed for beetle kill mitigation

Only one campground will be closed at a time, and updates on closures will be shared to the…

(Image courtesy CDC)

News

Over 1,200 new COVID cases reported Wednesday

At Central Peninsula Hospital there were 22 COVID patients on Wednesday morning — 17 unvaccinated.

Abby Struffert discusses the Ladies First breast and cervical cancer screening program at the joint Kenai and Soldotna Chamber meeting in Soldotna on Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Local health care chapter looks to boost women’s cancer screenings

Ladies First program is a nationwide health care initiative that provides free cervical cancer and breast cancer screenings.

Alaska State Troopers logo.

News

Soldotna Trooper arrested for multiple charges of child sex abuse

He has been a State Trooper in Soldotna since June 2020.

In this March 21, 2006, file photo, is the abandoned bus where Christopher McCandless starved to death in 1992 near Healy, Alaska. The bus that people sometimes embarked on deadly pilgrimages to Alaska’s backcountry to visit can now safely be viewed at the University of Alaska Fairbanks while it undergoes preservation work. The bus was moved to the university’s engineering facility in early Oct. 2021, while it’s being prepared for outdoor display at the Museum of the North, Fairbanks television station KTVF reported. (AP Photo/Jillian Rogers, File )

News

‘Into the Wild’ bus on display during preservation work

The abandoned Fairbanks city bus became a shelter for hunters and others using the backcountry near Denali National…

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire Several members of the Alaska House of Representatives were absent form a floor session Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, but after a quiet first week lawmakers are scheduled to hold committee meetings through the end of the week.

News

COVID cases delay Senate

Still slow going.

Kenai Mayor Brian Gabriel speaks at a joint work session at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Monday, Oct. 11, 2021 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

News

Kenai to unveil interactive map of available land

The total acreage of all land owned by the City of Kenai is roughly the same size as…