News

Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings attends a Soldotna City Council meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Farnsworth-Hutchings was one of two names submitted for the Soldotna seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission after a monthslong standoff between the city and borough mayor over the appointment. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Monthslong commission delay could end next week

Tautfest’s appointment, if approved, would cap a 10-month process to fill the vacancy

Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings attends a Soldotna City Council meeting on Wednesday, March 23, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Farnsworth-Hutchings was one of two names submitted for the Soldotna seat on the Kenai Peninsula Borough Planning Commission after a monthslong standoff between the city and borough mayor over the appointment. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Loretta Knudson-Spalding, left, and Regional Director of the Office of the Governor Jill Schaefer, right, pose next to the Soldotna Senior Center’s new cars in Soldotna on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Senior meals program gets a lift

Soldotna Senior Center uses federal rescue funds for new Meals on Wheels vehicles

Loretta Knudson-Spalding, left, and Regional Director of the Office of the Governor Jill Schaefer, right, pose next to the Soldotna Senior Center’s new cars in Soldotna on Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
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)

Salmon runs projected to be weaker than average

A run of around 4.97 million sockeye is projected to return to Upper Cook Inlet

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)
The City of Kenai Boat Launch into Cook Inlet is photographed May 14, 2020. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Copper River Seafoods halting Kenai operations this salmon season

The company salmon cited the fisheries management plan, rising production costs and the poor forecast

The City of Kenai Boat Launch into Cook Inlet is photographed May 14, 2020. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
KPBSD Finance Director Elizabeth Hayes (left) gives a presentation on the school district’s FY23 budget at Soldotna High School on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

KPBSD student enrollment higher than projected

Historical enrollment numbers were presented to the KPBSD Board of Education

KPBSD Finance Director Elizabeth Hayes (left) gives a presentation on the school district’s FY23 budget at Soldotna High School on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2021 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney speaks during a meeting of the Soldotna City Council on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Soldotna mayor vetoes financial support for Triumvirate production

The council voted to use up to $25,000 to support an outdoor community theater production

Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney speaks during a meeting of the Soldotna City Council on Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
House Chaplain Margaret G. Kibben speaks during a ceremony for the late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, as he lies in state in Statuary Hall, Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington. Young, the longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation, died Friday, March 18, 2022. He was 88. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)

Washington honors Young

The fiery, tireless defender in U.S. House lies in state in the Capitol

  • Mar 29, 2022
  • By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press
  • State News
House Chaplain Margaret G. Kibben speaks during a ceremony for the late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, as he lies in state in Statuary Hall, Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at the Capitol in Washington. Young, the longest-serving member of Alaska’s congressional delegation, died Friday, March 18, 2022. He was 88. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
A notice board at the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, shows the cancellation of the House of Representatives floor session for that morning. For the second day running the House has canceled floor sessions over disagreements between caucuses over masking rules amid an outbreak of COVID-19 among some lawmakers and their staff. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

House again cancels floor session amid masking debate

Some lawmakers resist mask requirements amid COVID-19 outbreak

A notice board at the Alaska State Capitol on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, shows the cancellation of the House of Representatives floor session for that morning. For the second day running the House has canceled floor sessions over disagreements between caucuses over masking rules amid an outbreak of COVID-19 among some lawmakers and their staff. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles during a meeting with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, March 28, 2022. Following Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearing last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to begin moving her nomination to the floor but Republicans on the panel are expected to delay the process.

Alaska’s senators say minds aren’t made up as Jackson’s confirmation pushes ahead

No Republican senators have signaled support for Jackson

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson smiles during a meeting with Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, March 28, 2022. Following Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearing last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee meets today to begin moving her nomination to the floor but Republicans on the panel are expected to delay the process.
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)

Division of Elections: Now is the time to verify voter registration information

People must be registered to vote by May 12 to vote in the special primary election

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)
Alaska State Troopers logo.

2 killed in head-on crash in Kasilof

Both vehicles received “disabling damage,” troopers reported

Alaska State Troopers logo.
A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was canceled on Monday, March 28, 2022, after some lawmakers refused to wear face masks in the chamber. House Speaker Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, reinstated the masking rule for the floor after several members of the body tested positive for COVID-19. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

COVID cases, mask debates delay House

Lawmaker absences push back timeline for budget bill

A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was canceled on Monday, March 28, 2022, after some lawmakers refused to wear face masks in the chamber. House Speaker Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, reinstated the masking rule for the floor after several members of the body tested positive for COVID-19. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
Soldotna City Hall is seen on Wednesday, June 24, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Soldotna mulls parks and rec changes

Soldotna parks and rec board would get bigger, meet more often under proposal

Soldotna City Hall is seen on Wednesday, June 24, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Hailey Scott holds her daughter, Ryssa Curtiss, in a rental apartment on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Scott appied to rent the apartment. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

‘Landlord’s market’

Renters battle limited housing inventory

Hailey Scott holds her daughter, Ryssa Curtiss, in a rental apartment on Tuesday, March 22, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. Scott appied to rent the apartment. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
This March 16, 2022, drone photo provided by Alyeska Pipeline Co. shows snow covering 62-foot tall and acre-wide oil tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal in Valdez, Alaska. Workers at the endpoint of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline are using saws to cut up large blocks of hard-packed snow on top of the oil storage tanks so they can shove the chunks off the tanks, some of which have damaged infrastructure after more than 4 feet of snow fell in Valdez in a month. (Alyeska Pipeline Service Company via AP)

Crews remove snow from damaged Alaska pipeline oil tanks

More than 4 feet of snow fell in the community of Valdez between mid-February and mid-March

This March 16, 2022, drone photo provided by Alyeska Pipeline Co. shows snow covering 62-foot tall and acre-wide oil tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal in Valdez, Alaska. Workers at the endpoint of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline are using saws to cut up large blocks of hard-packed snow on top of the oil storage tanks so they can shove the chunks off the tanks, some of which have damaged infrastructure after more than 4 feet of snow fell in Valdez in a month. (Alyeska Pipeline Service Company via AP)
In this Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, Elvi Gray-Jackson, of Anchorage, Alaska, speaks at the White House complex in Washington as part of former first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Gray-Jackson, a Democrat, announced Friday, March 25, 2022, that she is ending her run for U.S. Senate in Alaska and instead will seek reelection to the state Senate. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Democrat Gray-Jackson ends US Senate run in Alaska

Gray-Jackson had been the only Democrat so far to file with the state Division of Elections to run for the seat

In this Sept. 16, 2015 file photo, Elvi Gray-Jackson, of Anchorage, Alaska, speaks at the White House complex in Washington as part of former first lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative. Gray-Jackson, a Democrat, announced Friday, March 25, 2022, that she is ending her run for U.S. Senate in Alaska and instead will seek reelection to the state Senate. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
Two snowmachine-triggered snow slabs are seen below the weather station of Seattle Ridge in Turnagain Pass on Dec. 3, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Chris Flowers and the Chugach Avalanche Center)

Turnagain avalanche danger high this weekend

Summit Lake, Snug Harbor and Cooper Landing areas are in optimal avalanche condition this weekend

Two snowmachine-triggered snow slabs are seen below the weather station of Seattle Ridge in Turnagain Pass on Dec. 3, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Chris Flowers and the Chugach Avalanche Center)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

Small uptick in COVID cases; hospitalizations still down

There were 559 news cases in Alaska sequenced Wednesday and Thursday

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
Screenshot / Alaska Redistricting Board A map from the Alaska Redistricting Board shows proposed House Districts in Anchorage, two of which were the subject of a lawsuit against the board for their being paired together in a single senate seat.The Alaska Supreme Court Ruled Friday the board acted unconstitutionally in one of its Senate district pairings.

Alaska Supreme Court says redistricting board acted unconstitutionally

A tight timeline.

Screenshot / Alaska Redistricting Board A map from the Alaska Redistricting Board shows proposed House Districts in Anchorage, two of which were the subject of a lawsuit against the board for their being paired together in a single senate seat.The Alaska Supreme Court Ruled Friday the board acted unconstitutionally in one of its Senate district pairings.
Jesse Bjorkman speaks at a borough work session on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Bjorkman announces bid for state Senate

Tuckerman Babcock and incumbent Sen. Peter Micciche have also filed to run for the seat

Jesse Bjorkman speaks at a borough work session on Tuesday, March 2, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)