News

Report: Troopers recover body on north Kenai beach

Alaska State Troopers recovered a body near the mouth of the Kenai River on Tuesday afternoon. Troopers responded to a report that someone had found… Continue reading

Overdose-reducing drug could come to schools

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District has the opportunity to obtain Narcan, a brand of the drug naloxone which temporarily blocks or reverses the effects… Continue reading

A ceramic bear sculpture by potter Laura Faeo rests atop a pedestal in the Kenai Fine Art Center on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The sculpture, along with a number of other paintings, sculptures, photographs and other art works, will be available for purchase either through silent bidding or outcry auction at the center’s annual Harvest Art Auction, scheduled for Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. Silent bidding began Thursday and will run until the event on Sept. 30, when the outcry auction will take place. The funds go to support the art center’s activities throughout the year. Tickets for the event are $30 and include appetizers, desserts, music and door prizes. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Photo: Art in anticipation

A ceramic bear sculpture by potter Laura Faeo rests atop a pedestal in the Kenai Fine Art Center on Thursday in Kenai. The sculpture, along… Continue reading

A ceramic bear sculpture by potter Laura Faeo rests atop a pedestal in the Kenai Fine Art Center on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The sculpture, along with a number of other paintings, sculptures, photographs and other art works, will be available for purchase either through silent bidding or outcry auction at the center’s annual Harvest Art Auction, scheduled for Sept. 30 at 6 p.m. Silent bidding began Thursday and will run until the event on Sept. 30, when the outcry auction will take place. The funds go to support the art center’s activities throughout the year. Tickets for the event are $30 and include appetizers, desserts, music and door prizes. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Mallott rejects salmon habitat ballot initiative

Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott denied an application on Sept. 12 to put a voter initiative on the 2018 statewide ballot that would have tightened the… Continue reading

In this Sept. 9, 2016 photo, Rep. Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski) speaks at a flagpole dedication ceremony at the Nikiski Senior Center in Nikiski, Alaska. Chenault filed a letter of intent Tuesday to seek office in October 2018 and said he was gauging statewide support for a run for governor. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)

Chenault tests waters for gubernatorial bid

Nikiski’s state legislator is looking for support for a run for state governor. Rep. Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski) announced his intention to run in October 2018 in… Continue reading

In this Sept. 9, 2016 photo, Rep. Mike Chenault (R-Nikiski) speaks at a flagpole dedication ceremony at the Nikiski Senior Center in Nikiski, Alaska. Chenault filed a letter of intent Tuesday to seek office in October 2018 and said he was gauging statewide support for a run for governor. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)
Not forgotten Small American flags dot the lawn alongside the Kenai Spur Highway on Monday in Kenai. The American Legion post in Kenai placed 2,996 flags on the greenway between Frontage Road and the highway, one for each person killed in coordinated terrorist attacks on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The display added to the Kenai Fire Department’s display of 343 flags on the corner of Willow and Main streets in honor of the firefighters killed in the line of duty trying to rescue people from the burning World Trade Center towers. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Remembering 9/11’s victims

Small American flags dot the lawn alongside the Kenai Spur Highway on Monday in Kenai. The American Legion post in Kenai placed the flags early… Continue reading

Not forgotten Small American flags dot the lawn alongside the Kenai Spur Highway on Monday in Kenai. The American Legion post in Kenai placed 2,996 flags on the greenway between Frontage Road and the highway, one for each person killed in coordinated terrorist attacks on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. The display added to the Kenai Fire Department’s display of 343 flags on the corner of Willow and Main streets in honor of the firefighters killed in the line of duty trying to rescue people from the burning World Trade Center towers. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
The Kenai River flows by the newly restored riverbank of Dow Island on Saturday, May 27, 2017 in Funny River, Alaska. A group of four property owners banded together this spring to install the extensive project to protect the bank of the island in the Kenai River from rapid erosion. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

2 charged after illegal gravel dumping in Kenai River

Two men are facing charges after dumping gravel in the Kenai River related to an erosion problem on Dow Island. The state has levied charges… Continue reading

The Kenai River flows by the newly restored riverbank of Dow Island on Saturday, May 27, 2017 in Funny River, Alaska. A group of four property owners banded together this spring to install the extensive project to protect the bank of the island in the Kenai River from rapid erosion. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly discusses changes to capital priority process

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly is considering changes to its community engagement process for state capital project funding priorities. In the past, the borough has… Continue reading

Students dismissed 90 minutes early on Wednesday

Students will be heading home 90 minutes earlier on Wednesday. The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District will release all students early in order to allow… Continue reading

A participant in Sunday’s Out of the Darkness Kenai Walk adorned a bib saying who she was walking for — Mason Vig and too many students. The walk started at the Kenaitze Fishery Site in Kenai, Alaska and continued down the beach for one mile. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Community walks ‘Out of the Darkness’ for suicide awareness

Suicide rates in Alaska are at a 20-year high and it is the leading cause of death among Alaskans age 10 to 34, according to… Continue reading

A participant in Sunday’s Out of the Darkness Kenai Walk adorned a bib saying who she was walking for — Mason Vig and too many students. The walk started at the Kenaitze Fishery Site in Kenai, Alaska and continued down the beach for one mile. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)
Madee Knowlton chases down a steer during the steer daubing event at the Soldotna Equestrian Club’s first 9-11 Tribute Rodeo, junior division, on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017 in Soldotna’s Centennial Park. In steer daubing, riders carry poles tipped with swabs dipped in mustard to tag a running steer forward of its shoulder. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

At the rodeo

Madee Knowlton chases down a steer during the steer daubing event at the Soldotna Equestrian Club’s first 9-11 Tribute Rodeo, junior division, on Saturday, Sept.… Continue reading

Madee Knowlton chases down a steer during the steer daubing event at the Soldotna Equestrian Club’s first 9-11 Tribute Rodeo, junior division, on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017 in Soldotna’s Centennial Park. In steer daubing, riders carry poles tipped with swabs dipped in mustard to tag a running steer forward of its shoulder. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

American Legion looking for volunteers for 9/11 memorial

Monday marks the sixteenth year since the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and the American Legion Post 20 is looking… Continue reading

  • Sep 9, 2017
  • By KAT SORENSEN
This map, taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s parcel viewer, shades in green the property where Ron and Deniece Isaacs were denied a permit for their marijuana business in 2016, and shades in blue the recreational property containing the softball fields that created a 500 foot buffer, measured in a straight line from the property boundary, which excluded the Isaacs’ shop. The odd shape of the buffered property prompted an unsucessful attempt by council member Bob Molloy to loosen city restrictions on proposed marijuana businesses more than 200 feet and across a road from properties that trigger setbacks. (map by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Council rejects loosening marijuana setbacks

An effort to loosen city restrictions on where marijuana businesses can locate in Kenai — which critics say has pushed businesses from the town’s commercial… Continue reading

This map, taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s parcel viewer, shades in green the property where Ron and Deniece Isaacs were denied a permit for their marijuana business in 2016, and shades in blue the recreational property containing the softball fields that created a 500 foot buffer, measured in a straight line from the property boundary, which excluded the Isaacs’ shop. The odd shape of the buffered property prompted an unsucessful attempt by council member Bob Molloy to loosen city restrictions on proposed marijuana businesses more than 200 feet and across a road from properties that trigger setbacks. (map by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
Bill Radtke, a longtime Habitat for Humanity of the Kenai Peninsula board member and volunteer, stands in front of a house Habitat for Humanity volunteers are currently building on Second Street on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Radtke is stepping down from the nonprofit chapter’s board after 20 years, though he said he still plans to stay involved. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Longtime Habitat for Humanity board member, volunteer Bill Radtke steps down

The house on Second Street in Kenai is still bare boards and concrete floor, but that doesn’t stop Bill Radtke from seeing it as the… Continue reading

Bill Radtke, a longtime Habitat for Humanity of the Kenai Peninsula board member and volunteer, stands in front of a house Habitat for Humanity volunteers are currently building on Second Street on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Radtke is stepping down from the nonprofit chapter’s board after 20 years, though he said he still plans to stay involved. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Joanna Hollier (left) shows visitor Gary Sonnevil around her apartment in Kenai's Vintage Pointe Manor during an open house in honor of the senior housing center's 25 anniversary on Thursday, September 7, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Hollier moved into the 40-unit housing complex immediately after it opened in 1992 — at the age of 67, "so I was pretty young back then," she said — and is its only remaining original resident. At the anniversary celebration, Hollier, who came to Kenai in the mid-1940s to work as an air traffic controller at the city's airport, recalled how she'd waited in line to get her room after the center opened and moved her furniture from her homestead house on Beaver Loop Road. Also attending the celebration were former Kenai mayor Pat Porter — who was director of the Kenai Senior Center in 1992 and is visiting from her current home in Texas  — then-Kenai Mayor John Williams and Kenai's then-state senator Paul Fischer. Porter, Williams, and Fischer recalled how the city had lobbyed the Alaska legislature for funds to build Vintage Pointe, including baking cookies for the Senate Finance Committee and distributing a photo of a senior woman in a bed outside during a snowy winter, holding a sign reading "Don't leave us out in the cold." (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

25 years in Vintage Pointe

Joanna Hollier (left) shows visitor Gary Sonnevil around her apartment in Kenai's Vintage Pointe Manor during an open house in honor of the senior housing… Continue reading

Joanna Hollier (left) shows visitor Gary Sonnevil around her apartment in Kenai's Vintage Pointe Manor during an open house in honor of the senior housing center's 25 anniversary on Thursday, September 7, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Hollier moved into the 40-unit housing complex immediately after it opened in 1992 — at the age of 67, "so I was pretty young back then," she said — and is its only remaining original resident. At the anniversary celebration, Hollier, who came to Kenai in the mid-1940s to work as an air traffic controller at the city's airport, recalled how she'd waited in line to get her room after the center opened and moved her furniture from her homestead house on Beaver Loop Road. Also attending the celebration were former Kenai mayor Pat Porter — who was director of the Kenai Senior Center in 1992 and is visiting from her current home in Texas  — then-Kenai Mayor John Williams and Kenai's then-state senator Paul Fischer. Porter, Williams, and Fischer recalled how the city had lobbyed the Alaska legislature for funds to build Vintage Pointe, including baking cookies for the Senate Finance Committee and distributing a photo of a senior woman in a bed outside during a snowy winter, holding a sign reading "Don't leave us out in the cold." (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Railbelt utilities make progress to pool resources

Leaders of Alaska’s largest electric utilities hope to have a green light from state regulators to form new infrastructure management companies in a little more… Continue reading

Local organization, restaurant plan teddy bear donation drive

A local organization is asking the community to donate teddy bears for kids in need this month. Bear Hugs, a community organization that distributes backpacks… Continue reading

Ordinance would exempt freight hauling from sales tax

If the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly approves an ordinance amending the sales tax code, freight haulers will again be exempt from paying. Freight haulers like… Continue reading

Alaska delegation reacts to Trump’s suspension of DACA

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the federal government will end a program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in… Continue reading

Dale Bagley, Linda Hutchings and Charlie Pierce listen to a question during a forum for borough mayoral candidates Wednesday at a joint meeting of the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce at the Kenai Visitors Center. (Photo by Will Morrow/Peninsula Clarion)

Mayoral candidates tout experience at forum

The three candidates for borough mayor are leaning hard on their past experience to garner votes in next month’s election. With less than a month… Continue reading

Dale Bagley, Linda Hutchings and Charlie Pierce listen to a question during a forum for borough mayoral candidates Wednesday at a joint meeting of the Kenai and Soldotna Chambers of Commerce at the Kenai Visitors Center. (Photo by Will Morrow/Peninsula Clarion)