News

Man arrested after crashing vehicle discovered to be stolen

School bus collides with moose, no one hurt

A collision with a moose on the way to school Thursday morning left a school bus driver and 24 students unhurt. Kasilof resident Elizabeth Chase… Continue reading

Man arrested after crashing vehicle discovered to be stolen

Soldotna to study feasibility of moving sewage discharge

Soldotna City Council approved an ordinance appropriating funds to conduct a feasibility study on different options for disposing of liquid waste from the wastewater treatment… Continue reading

  • Mar 5, 2018
  • By KAT SORENSEN
Police warn of phone scam

Kenai woman arrested for shoplifting $1,200 in goods

Soldotna police have arrested a Kenai woman in connection with stealing $1,200 in goods from Fred Meyer. Samantha Hayes, 28, was arrested Thursday and charged… Continue reading

Police warn of phone scam
John Quick, chief of staff to Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, serves a bowl of soup to a diner at the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank’s Fireweed Diner on Friday, March 2, 2018 near Soldotna, Alaska. Kenai Peninsula Borough and Kenai Peninsula Borough School District employees volunteer at the food bank every other Friday and have been doing so for more than a decade. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough, school district employees give back at food bank

Every day the door opens at the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank’s Fireweed Diner, no one can tell exactly who will come through. That applies to… Continue reading

John Quick, chief of staff to Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce, serves a bowl of soup to a diner at the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank’s Fireweed Diner on Friday, March 2, 2018 near Soldotna, Alaska. Kenai Peninsula Borough and Kenai Peninsula Borough School District employees volunteer at the food bank every other Friday and have been doing so for more than a decade. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
This zoning map from the City of Homer website shows the districts in town where commercial marijuana is allowed and where it is not allowed currently. (Image courtesty City of Homer)

Council introduces ordinance that would allow marijuana sales on Homer Spit

Retail marijuana stores making their way to the Homer Spit is once again on the table at City Hall. In a tie vote broken by… Continue reading

This zoning map from the City of Homer website shows the districts in town where commercial marijuana is allowed and where it is not allowed currently. (Image courtesty City of Homer)
Tony Kaser helps a customer at the Hearth Eathery and Catering’s stand during a craft fair fundraiser for the Central Peninsula Special Olympics at Kenai Central High School on Saturday, March 3, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. The fair featured a number of artists and craftsmen selling work ranging from paintings to wooden toys to essential oils, with proceeds from the fair going to assist the Special Olympics in purchasing jerseys, equipment, transportation and training costs. The Central Peninsula Special Olympics coordinates sports programs for people with intellectual disabilities as a subprogram of the statewide Special Olympics. Kaser participates in swimming in the Special Olympics. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Arts, crafts and sports

Vendors lined the halls of Kenai Central High School on Saturday for a fundraiser to benefit Central Peninsula Special Olympics. The fair featured a number… Continue reading

Tony Kaser helps a customer at the Hearth Eathery and Catering’s stand during a craft fair fundraiser for the Central Peninsula Special Olympics at Kenai Central High School on Saturday, March 3, 2018 in Kenai, Alaska. The fair featured a number of artists and craftsmen selling work ranging from paintings to wooden toys to essential oils, with proceeds from the fair going to assist the Special Olympics in purchasing jerseys, equipment, transportation and training costs. The Central Peninsula Special Olympics coordinates sports programs for people with intellectual disabilities as a subprogram of the statewide Special Olympics. Kaser participates in swimming in the Special Olympics. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Gravel pit group digs into noise, buffer issues

Three meetings in, the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s working group on gravel pit issues is already finding the sore spots between neighbors and operators. The Kenai… Continue reading

Lawmakers look at potential penta problem

Editor's note: This story has been changed to add information about an error in the 2015 U.S Fish and Game ground contamination study near HEA… Continue reading

In this Feb. 1, 2013, file photo, Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, responds to a reporter’s question at the Capitol in Juneau. Wilson says she has relented and taken required training to prevent harassment and discrimination. She did so after being assured that an updated legislative policy addressing sexual and other harassment would be vetted by a third-party. (Michael Penn/The Juneau Empire via AP,File)

Lawmaker takes training after policy vetting pledge

JUNEAU — An Alaska state lawmaker said she has relented and taken required training to prevent harassment and discrimination after being assured that an updated… Continue reading

  • Mar 1, 2018
  • By Becky Bohrer
In this Feb. 1, 2013, file photo, Rep. Tammie Wilson, R-North Pole, responds to a reporter’s question at the Capitol in Juneau. Wilson says she has relented and taken required training to prevent harassment and discrimination. She did so after being assured that an updated legislative policy addressing sexual and other harassment would be vetted by a third-party. (Michael Penn/The Juneau Empire via AP,File)

Dunleavy makes rounds on peninsula in bid for governor

Former state Senator Mike Dunleavy is out touring the state, rounding up support for his gubernatorial bid. Dunleavy, who represented the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in the… Continue reading

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday. The rocket is carrying the GOES-S weather satellite. (Craig Bailey /Florida Today via AP)

NASA launches advanced weather satellite for western U.S.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA launched another of the world’s most advanced weather satellites on Thursday, this time to safeguard the western U.S. The GOES-S… Continue reading

  • Mar 1, 2018
  • By MARCIA DUNN
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Thursday. The rocket is carrying the GOES-S weather satellite. (Craig Bailey /Florida Today via AP)
Juneau-Douglas High School sophomore Stella Tallmon testifies in front of the House Judiciary Committee in favor of HB 75, a gun violence protective orders bill, at the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)

Local students champion gun-control bill in Legislature

Juneau high school students and dozens of other Alaskans offered two hours of impassioned testimony Wednesday afternoon on the first gun-control proposal considered by the… Continue reading

Juneau-Douglas High School sophomore Stella Tallmon testifies in front of the House Judiciary Committee in favor of HB 75, a gun violence protective orders bill, at the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
The F/V Kupreanof and F/V Leading Lady are moored at the Homer Harbor in 2013. The smell of rotting fish came from the boats and a light oil sheen surrounded them. (Michael Armstrong/Homer News, file)

Legislature considering bill to crack down on derelict vessels

Harbormasters and state officials are looking for a little more authority to regulate junk boats around Alaska. Junk boats, or derelict vessels, haunt harbors and… Continue reading

The F/V Kupreanof and F/V Leading Lady are moored at the Homer Harbor in 2013. The smell of rotting fish came from the boats and a light oil sheen surrounded them. (Michael Armstrong/Homer News, file)
Fifth-graders fill out D.A.R.E. workbooks during a lesson at Soldotna Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

‘Just say no,’ no more

D.A.R.E. — the ubiquitous anti-drug campaign of the 1980s and 1990s — has come a long way since the days of “just say no.” Launched… Continue reading

Fifth-graders fill out D.A.R.E. workbooks during a lesson at Soldotna Elementary School on Wednesday, Feb. 28. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Poet’s Corner: The Pigskin Gladiators Face Off

The Pigskin Gladiators Face Off By Hedy-Jo Huss, Soldotna We are the Eagles. Patriots are our prey. It is Super Bowl Five-Two today. We raptors… Continue reading

  • Feb 28, 2018
Clayton Koroll, left, and Peter Anderson, juniors at Kenai Central High School, shadow Luke Thibodeau, owner of The Flats Bistro in Kenai, on Wednesday as part of the job shadow program through the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and the Alaska Job Center in Kenai. Koroll and Anderson both want to open small restaraunts and be their own bosses, just like Thibodeau. (Photo by Delbrian Parfitt/For the Clarion)

Annual KCHS job shadow shows students local industries

On Wednesday, Kenai Central high School Juniors got to answer the question they’ve been asked since they were children during their job shadow program, “What… Continue reading

Clayton Koroll, left, and Peter Anderson, juniors at Kenai Central High School, shadow Luke Thibodeau, owner of The Flats Bistro in Kenai, on Wednesday as part of the job shadow program through the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and the Alaska Job Center in Kenai. Koroll and Anderson both want to open small restaraunts and be their own bosses, just like Thibodeau. (Photo by Delbrian Parfitt/For the Clarion)
A salmon leaps above the surface of the Kenai River as it makes its way upstream near Centennial Park on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai plans second silver salmon derby

Kenai is taking another swing at hosting a silver salmon derby this fall. The city of Kenai and the Kenai Chamber of Commerce have obtained… Continue reading

A salmon leaps above the surface of the Kenai River as it makes its way upstream near Centennial Park on Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Police allegedly find 18-year-old in vehicle with loaded gun, drugs

An 18-year-old was arrested over the weekend after police allegedly found him and another teenager in a car with drugs and a loaded gun. Jaycee… Continue reading

Personal-use dipnet fishermen fish for sockeye salmon on the north side of the Kasilof River’s mouth in this June 2017 photo near Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

State plans permit program for vendors at Kasilof dipnet

Personal-use dipnetters at the Kasilof River may have access to a variety of food carts, firewood salesmen and other vendors on the north beach. Every… Continue reading

Personal-use dipnet fishermen fish for sockeye salmon on the north side of the Kasilof River’s mouth in this June 2017 photo near Kasilof, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

Soldotna man arrested on drug and gun charges during traffic stop

A traffic stop for a broken headlight led to a drug bust after Alaska State Troopers allegedly found more than 5 ounces of marijuana, other… Continue reading