The Kenai Senior Center’s dining space is readied for the annual March for Meals fundraiser in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, April 5, 2024. (Photo by Ken Aaron, provided by Kenai Senior Center)

March for Meals raises funds to support senior food service

The local event was organized by Kenai Senior Connection and hosted at the Kenai Senior Center

The Kenai Senior Center’s dining space is readied for the annual March for Meals fundraiser in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, April 5, 2024. (Photo by Ken Aaron, provided by Kenai Senior Center)
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
An array of solar panels stand in the sunlight at Whistle Hill in Soldotna on Sunday.

Federal grant awarded for Whistle Hill solar project

The annual production of the completed system is estimated to be enough electricity to power 19 homes

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
An array of solar panels stand in the sunlight at Whistle Hill in Soldotna on Sunday.
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
John and Parrisa Harris are surrounded by plants and flowers in the newly reopened Fireweed Greenhouse in Kenai on Sunday.

Fireweed Greenhouse finds renewed bloom

Parrisa and John Harris purchased the greenhouse last summer and reopened it late last month

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
John and Parrisa Harris are surrounded by plants and flowers in the newly reopened Fireweed Greenhouse in Kenai on Sunday.
School board member Patti Truesdell speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District School Board in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

School Board approves rehiring retired teachers

There are at least 25 full-time positions that will need to be filled for the next fiscal year

School board member Patti Truesdell speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District School Board in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, April 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska State Troopers logo.

3 arrested for weekend burglary

The three are accused of stealing clothes, electronics, collectible cards and tools

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland responds to questions during a joint work session of the School Board and Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland responds to questions during a joint work session of the School Board and Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Homer High School students who joined schools from around the state in a high school walkout pose near the end of the event, on Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. Not all students who attended the event are in the image. (Photo by Emilie Springer/Homer News)

Homer students join statewide student walkout

The event was in response to Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto last month of an education bill passed by the Alaska Legislature

Homer High School students who joined schools from around the state in a high school walkout pose near the end of the event, on Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. Not all students who attended the event are in the image. (Photo by Emilie Springer/Homer News)
Juneau students chant outside the governor’s office on the third floor of the Alaska State Capitol during a statewide protest Thursday morning calling for more public education funding. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Juneau students take statewide protest for more education funding into the Capitol

Scores of students march from JDHS to the offices of the governor and other lawmakers.

Juneau students chant outside the governor’s office on the third floor of the Alaska State Capitol during a statewide protest Thursday morning calling for more public education funding. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Kenai Fire Department Deputy Chief John Harris and Kenai Police Department Chief David Ross respond to questions about their facility during a work session of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai council discusses maintenance needs of public safety building

Central to the discussion was a proposed study to evaluate options and determine a path forward for the facility

Kenai Fire Department Deputy Chief John Harris and Kenai Police Department Chief David Ross respond to questions about their facility during a work session of the Kenai City Council in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Cooper Landing residents seek veto for concrete plant lease, mayor upholds assembly decision

The concrete plant is intended to support the construction of a steel arch bridge as part of the Sterling Highway MP 45-60 Project

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion
Attendees share their thoughts about a Dena’ina-focused charter school at a meeting hosted by the Kenaitze Indian Tribe on Thursday in Kenai.

Kenaitze Indian Tribe hosts meeting to gauge interest in a Dena’ina charter school

The initiative comes amid heightened legislative interest in Alaska’s charter school system

Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion
Attendees share their thoughts about a Dena’ina-focused charter school at a meeting hosted by the Kenaitze Indian Tribe on Thursday in Kenai.
A visitor to the 2023 Kenai Peninsula Job and Career Fair speaks to representatives of Paradisos Restaurant on Thursday, April 6, 2023 at the Old Carrs Mall in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Annual Job Fair returns to Kenai Peninsula

The event is an opportunity for job seekers to get face-to-face with potential employers and training providers

A visitor to the 2023 Kenai Peninsula Job and Career Fair speaks to representatives of Paradisos Restaurant on Thursday, April 6, 2023 at the Old Carrs Mall in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Wetlands are surveyed by the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust. (Photo provided by the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust)

Kachemak Heritage Land Trust completes conservation project with around 209 acres

The project is part of ongoing effort to conserve Kenai River watershed to compensate for the impacts of the Sterling Highway MP 45-60 Reconstruction Project

Wetlands are surveyed by the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust. (Photo provided by the Kachemak Heritage Land Trust)
Alaska Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Deena Bishop and Gov. Mike Dunleavy discuss his veto of an education bill during a press conference Friday, March 15, 2024, at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

State owes KPBSD $9.7 million, federal government says

DEED on Thursday pushed back on the federal government’s statement that it has not complied with requirements

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development Commissioner Deena Bishop and Gov. Mike Dunleavy discuss his veto of an education bill during a press conference Friday, March 15, 2024, at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Anti-abortion demonstrators protest outside Walgreens in Soldotna on Tuesday, March 27, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. The protesters say the company is distributing mifepristone, which is one half of a medicine series used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation. The company denies distributing the drug at Alaska locations. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Anti-abortion activists protest outside Soldotna Walgreens

The actions come as the Supreme Court weighs restrictions to mifepristone distribution

Anti-abortion demonstrators protest outside Walgreens in Soldotna on Tuesday, March 27, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. The protesters say the company is distributing mifepristone, which is one half of a medicine series used to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation. The company denies distributing the drug at Alaska locations. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Zack Scribner on Red Mountain in September 2021. (Photo courtesy Zack Scribner)

Seldovia singer channels local history, personal meditation on new record

Zack Scribner is a graduate of Susan B. English School in Seldovia

Zack Scribner on Red Mountain in September 2021. (Photo courtesy Zack Scribner)
A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)

Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Liz Hayes, left, presents preliminary fiscal year 2025 budge information during a school board committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Finance Director Liz Hayes, left, presents preliminary fiscal year 2025 budge information during a school board committee meeting on Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A slash pile containing non-organic construction debris is seen at the Snug Harbor Slash Disposal site on Sept. 22, 2020, in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management)

Assembly OKs concrete lease in Cooper Landing

The vote came amid widespread community opposition to the agreement

A slash pile containing non-organic construction debris is seen at the Snug Harbor Slash Disposal site on Sept. 22, 2020, in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management)
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Children hunt for Easter eggs during the Easter Eggstravaganza at Nikiski Community Recreation Center on Saturday.

Easter eggs, bunnies arrive on the Kenai Peninsula

There are plenty of opportunities to grab a photo with the Easter bunny or seek out some eggs

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Children hunt for Easter eggs during the Easter Eggstravaganza at Nikiski Community Recreation Center on Saturday.