News

Rotary Park reopens after black bear sighting

The 52-acre Rotary Park on Funny River Road in Soldotna is open again. The park reopened Thursday after being temporarily closed due to bear activity.… Continue reading

Poet’s Corner: Bender’s Mother

Bender’s Mother By Carolyn Ostrander A bent and dusty woman Secret is her route Peeping out the windows. Hardly ventures out. This seeming musty woman… Continue reading

  • Jul 14, 2017
Dana Woodard holds up a selection of her newly designed fabric collection in front of a quilted pattern on display, and for sale, at Kenai Fabric Center. (Photo courtesy Gwen Woodard)

Quilted Creations

Dana Michelle Woodard has been surrounded by fabric her entire life, so it was only a matter of time before she started making her own… Continue reading

Dana Woodard holds up a selection of her newly designed fabric collection in front of a quilted pattern on display, and for sale, at Kenai Fabric Center. (Photo courtesy Gwen Woodard)
Two Kenai firefighters clean up a 1987 Volkswagen Westfallia camper van that caught fire Thursday, July 13, 2017 on the south beach in Kenai, Alaska. No one was in the van when it burnt, and there were no injuries. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Fire extinguishes vehicle blaze on beach

Members of the Kenai Fire Department made a trip to the beach Thursday night to extinguish a camper that had caught fire. A crew was… Continue reading

Two Kenai firefighters clean up a 1987 Volkswagen Westfallia camper van that caught fire Thursday, July 13, 2017 on the south beach in Kenai, Alaska. No one was in the van when it burnt, and there were no injuries. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
The white clover is considered a weed, but has a variety of uses and can be used in teas and salads. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Herbal Solutions)

Natural remedies: Alaska’s flora does a body good

That weed in the garden or the pretty flower along a strenuous hike may be more useful than meets the eye. During her workshop at… Continue reading

The white clover is considered a weed, but has a variety of uses and can be used in teas and salads. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Herbal Solutions)
Open since 1991, the Bradley Lake hydropower plant 30 miles east of Homer supplies the cheapest energy on the Railbelt at about 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Utilities are in favor of an expansion, but the board of directors for the Alaska Energy Authority are a bit skeptical. (Photo/Alaska Energy Authority)

Utilities pitch expansion at Bradley Lake hydroplant

Railbelt utility leaders want the Alaska Energy Authority to approve a $46.4 million expansion of the Bradley Lake hydroelectric plant. AEA management is on board… Continue reading

  • Jul 13, 2017
  • By ELWOOD BREHMER
Open since 1991, the Bradley Lake hydropower plant 30 miles east of Homer supplies the cheapest energy on the Railbelt at about 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Utilities are in favor of an expansion, but the board of directors for the Alaska Energy Authority are a bit skeptical. (Photo/Alaska Energy Authority)

Black bears prompt Rotary Park closing

Soldotna’s 52-acre Rotary Park located along Funny River Road is temporarily closed due to black bear activity. Soldotna Parks and Recreation Director Andrew Carmichael said… Continue reading

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

Commercial fishing season slow so far, big chum harvest for drift fleet

Upper Cook Inlet’s commercial fishing season has been relatively slow so far, but it will likely pick up speed soon. The earliest commercial fishing in… Continue reading

A sockeye salmon’s tail protrudes above the edge of a bin on a setnet site in this July 11, 2016 photo near Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion, file)
A retired U.S Airforce Lockheed T-33 fighter jet stands on a pedestal in front of the Kenai Municipal Airport on July 7, 2017 in Kenai. The Kenai Airport Commission is discussing giving the plane a fresh coat of paint this summer. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Airport T-33 may get new paint

The aircraft mounted in the grassy lot in front of the Kenai Municipal Airport — a retired U.S Air Force Lockheed T-33 “Thunderbird”— may be… Continue reading

A retired U.S Airforce Lockheed T-33 fighter jet stands on a pedestal in front of the Kenai Municipal Airport on July 7, 2017 in Kenai. The Kenai Airport Commission is discussing giving the plane a fresh coat of paint this summer. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
This Feb. 2, 2008 file photo shows the ConocoPhillips LNG facility in Nikiski. (Clarion file photo)

ConocoPhillips to mothball LNG facility

JUNEAU — In 2016, ConocoPhillips announced that it was putting its liquefied natural gas plant in Kenai on the market. But, the company hasn’t yet… Continue reading

  • Jul 12, 2017
  • By Rashah McChesney
This Feb. 2, 2008 file photo shows the ConocoPhillips LNG facility in Nikiski. (Clarion file photo)
Tom Lyman of Michigan holds up a sockeye salmon he caught in the Kenai River on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. Lyman, who is visiting Alaska with his son, said he hadn’t been casting for long when he hooked into the fish. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Fishing report: Some sockeye showing on Kenai, big pulse yet to come

Kenai River sockeye salmon are making their way up the river in growing numbers, though it’s still a little slow. Tom Lyman, a Michigan resident… Continue reading

Tom Lyman of Michigan holds up a sockeye salmon he caught in the Kenai River on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. Lyman, who is visiting Alaska with his son, said he hadn’t been casting for long when he hooked into the fish. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Clarion reporter Kat Sorensen demonstrates how to tie an angler’s loop knot to create a stringer so sportfishermen can hang onto their catches on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. For a full video demonstration, check out the Peninsula Clarion’s Facebook page. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Photo: Learn to tie an angler’s loop knot

By Elizabeth Earl Peninsula Clarion… Continue reading

Clarion reporter Kat Sorensen demonstrates how to tie an angler’s loop knot to create a stringer so sportfishermen can hang onto their catches on Wednesday, July 12, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. For a full video demonstration, check out the Peninsula Clarion’s Facebook page. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

District recommends changes to hospital contract

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education wants a different billing arrangement with the Central Peninsula Hospital, according to a letter from the… Continue reading

Kenai Peninsula still has high per-capita opioid prescription rate

The Kenai Peninsula Borough is among the counties leading the nation in per-capita opioid prescriptions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A… Continue reading

Dog rolls truck into Kenai River

Editor's note: This article has been updated to include that the dog had died after the vehicle was submerged in the river.  The “Dipnet Kenai”… Continue reading

  • Jul 10, 2017
  • By KAT SORENSEN

Army Corps leaders speak on Kenai bluff erosion

Editor's note: This article has been updated to correct the date of the meeting to July 6. Last week Kenai residents provided input on one… Continue reading

A dipnetter reaches to retrieve a sockeye salmon caught in her net on the Kenai Beach on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Tuesday was the second day of the Kenai River personal-use dipnet fishery, which will remain open until July 31. The fishery was relatively quiet Tuesday, with a dipnetter hauling in a fish every once in awhile, and unlike many July weekends, there was plenty of room in the water for more participants. Sockeye salmon have been relatively slow to enter the Kenai this year, with about 94,885 past the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s sonar as of Monday, significantly less than in 2016 but ahead of years like 2013, 2012 and 2011, according to Fish and Game data. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai Police prepared for safe dipnet season

As business and traffic ramps up in Kenai as thousands of dipnetters arrive from all over the state, members of the Kenai Police Department find… Continue reading

A dipnetter reaches to retrieve a sockeye salmon caught in her net on the Kenai Beach on Tuesday, July 11, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Tuesday was the second day of the Kenai River personal-use dipnet fishery, which will remain open until July 31. The fishery was relatively quiet Tuesday, with a dipnetter hauling in a fish every once in awhile, and unlike many July weekends, there was plenty of room in the water for more participants. Sockeye salmon have been relatively slow to enter the Kenai this year, with about 94,885 past the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s sonar as of Monday, significantly less than in 2016 but ahead of years like 2013, 2012 and 2011, according to Fish and Game data. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough to settle Dunne free speech case

The court case between a current Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly member and the borough administration has reached a conclusion. Willy Dunne, who has represented District… Continue reading

Audience members clap along to the Blackwater Railroad Company’s afternoon performance Aug. 7, 2016 at Salmonfest 2016 in Ninilchik, Alaska. Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion

Salmonfest returns for its seventh year

For three days at the beginning of August, thousands of people will fill the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds in Ninilchik for Salmonfest, a celebration of ‘fish,… Continue reading

Audience members clap along to the Blackwater Railroad Company’s afternoon performance Aug. 7, 2016 at Salmonfest 2016 in Ninilchik, Alaska. Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion

District reinstates 7.5 teaching positions

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education has approved a revised Fiscal Year 2018 budget that reinstates 7.5 teaching positions, but administrators remain… Continue reading