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Gary Lee Williams.

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Former Homer mayor, Homer News owner dies

Gary Williams served as mayor during transitional times of 1970s.

Don Young talks during a visit to the Empire offices in June of 2021. Memorials for Alaska’s longtime at-large congressman are planned for Washington and Anchorage. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire File)

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Public memorials set for late-US Rep Don Young next week

On Saturday, April 2, a memorial is scheduled to be held at Anchorage Baptist Temple, in Anchorage

Fencing marks the boundaries of a planned dog park in Kenai near Daubenspeck Park on Monday, Dec. 27, 2021, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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Kenai describes ‘path to completion’ for dog park

Kenai City Manager Paul Ostrander described needed work in a council memo

A would-be voter considers the candidates on a sample ballot released by the state of Alaska in March 2021. The Alaska Division of Elections has announced the dates for the special elections to select a replacement for Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who died recently. (Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire file)

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Filing opens for election to fill US House seat

Filing deadline is April 1.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management Agent Dakota Truitt presents information about the borough’s new timber sale and reforestation project at the Donald E. Gilman Kenai River Center on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Penisula Clarion)

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Borough takes next steps to combat spruce bark beetle outbreak

Borough land management is crafting legislation to outline a forest management plan, timber sale

Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire The deadline for the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which comes from the fund managed by the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation, is coming up fast, landing on March 31.

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Deadline approaching to apply for PFD

This year’s payout is still being decided.

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge trails in Soldotna, Alaska, are still covered with snow on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

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Refuge trails emerge from winter

It’s officially the end of the groomed winter trail season

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck 13 miles north of Mount Iliamna on the western side of the Kenai Peninsula on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Alaska. (Screenshot/The Alaska Earthquake Center)

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4.7 magnitude earthquake strikes north of Iliamna

Mount Iliamna is an active volcano on the west side of Cook Inlet

Alaska Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai speaks at an Anchorage news conference on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, about the upcoming special election to fill the seat in U.S. House of Representatives vacated following the death of Rep. Don Young last week. (Screenshot)

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State details timeline to fill vacant US House seat

The state plans to hold the special general election on Aug. 16, concurrently with the regular Alaska primary

Katherine Hayes waves a flag and a sign urging Alaska lawmakers to fund a full oil wealth fund check, known locally as the PFD or Permanent Fund Dividend, Monday, July 8, 2019, in Wasilla, Alaska. Momentum is building for a constitutional convention question that will be on the ballot this year in Alaska, and similar questions will go before voters in Missouri and New Hampshire. Critics say the times are too partisan and the country is too divided to reopen state constitutions for rewriting or amendments. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

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State constitutional convention measures stoke partisan fear

PFD question is providing a tail wind for groups seeking to change the constitution to address a range…

Traffic moves north along the Sterling Highway shortly after the roadway reopened. A fatal crash closed the highway for several hours Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2021. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

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Kenai council voices support for lighting on Kenai Spur, Sterling highways

Additional lighting would be added to Kenai Spur Highway within city limits and along the Sterling Highway Safety…

A sockeye salmon’s tail protrudes above the edge of a bin on a setnet site July 11, 2016, near Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file photo)

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Board of Fisheries meeting begins Saturday

Board members will not only discuss fishing issues in Cook Inlet, but also in Kodiak and Prince William…

Ice juts out from Skilak Lake on Sunday, March 20, 2022, in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

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Waiting on spring

While the spring season officially began on Sunday, it’s unclear if Alaska is quite ready to transition out…

Signage hangs on the exterior of the Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility on Monday, March 21, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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Ice rink closures planned for Kenai, Soldotna this summer

Both cities are planning to renovate their respective facilities

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland stand near the entrance to the district’s Soldotna offices on Thursday, March 17, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

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KPBSD lays out its legislative goals

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District has multiple bills it would like to see passed

U.S. Rep. Don Young answers a reporter’s question after filing paperwork for reelection at the Alaska Division of Elections in Anchorage, Alaska. Young, the longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation, died Friday, March 18, 2022. He was 88. (AP Photo / Mark Thiessen)

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Rep. Don Young to lie in state at US Capitol

By KEVIN FREKING

In this Nov. 3, 2020, file photo, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, gathers with supporters in Anchorage, Alaska. Young, the longest-serving Republican ever in the U.S. House, died on Friday, March 18, 2022. Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Christopher Constant are running in a special election to finish his term in office. (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP, File)

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Begich, Constant to run in special election

Rep. Don Young died Friday at age 88

Adam Crum (left), Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Alaska Sen. Peter Micciche (on screen) discuss the move to split the Department of Health and Social Services into two separate agencies, on Monday, March 21, 2022, in Juneau, Alaska. (Screenshot)

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Department of Health and Social Services split official; change to be implemented this summer

DHSS will be divided into two new agencies — the Department of Family and Community Services and the…

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

News

COVID cases continue to decline

State data showed a 46% decrease in cases from the week of March 14 to the week prior

Attorney for the State of Alaska Matthew Singer defends the Alaska Redistricting Board to the Alaska Supreme Court on Friday, March 18, 2022. The Court will return a decision on the state’s new electoral districts by April 1. (Screenshot)

News

Alaska Supreme Court takes up redistricting case

A decision is expected by April 1.