News

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion BlueCrest Energy Chairman Bob Israel speaks during the ceremonial opening of BlueCrest Energy's Hansen Production Facility - visible in the background - on Saturday, June 25, 2016 at BlueCrest's wellpad north of Anchor Point, Alaska.

BlueCrest opens Anchor Point oil wellpad with ceremony

BlueCrest Energy has ceremonially opened their Hansen Production Facility, an oil wellpad on the shore of Cook Inlet near Anchor Point. A small group of guests… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion BlueCrest Energy Chairman Bob Israel speaks during the ceremonial opening of BlueCrest Energy's Hansen Production Facility - visible in the background - on Saturday, June 25, 2016 at BlueCrest's wellpad north of Anchor Point, Alaska.
Randy McPherson and his grandson Ethan, 9, both of Wisconsin, show off their Kenai River king salmon caught Tuesday, June 13, 2017. Kenai River early-run kings have been returning in larger numbers this year as compared to the last several years, leading the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to liberalize the maximum size limit for retention from 36 inches to 46 inches on Monday. (Photo courtesy Jason Foster)

Fishing report: Russian flush with reds

Sunday morning’s opener at the confluence of the Russian River and Kenai River saw a lot of happy anglers. By midmorning, fishermen of all ages… Continue reading

Randy McPherson and his grandson Ethan, 9, both of Wisconsin, show off their Kenai River king salmon caught Tuesday, June 13, 2017. Kenai River early-run kings have been returning in larger numbers this year as compared to the last several years, leading the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to liberalize the maximum size limit for retention from 36 inches to 46 inches on Monday. (Photo courtesy Jason Foster)

Soldotna passes budget; mill rate unchanged

The Soldotna City Council passed the city’s operating budget for fiscal year 2018 in 15 minutes. With no public or council comments and not much… Continue reading

3 hikers injured in bear run-in

EAGLE RIVER — Three juveniles were mauled Wednesday after coming across a grizzly bear and her two cubs while they were hiking in a heavily… Continue reading

  • Jun 14, 2017
  • By RACHEL D’ORO and MARK THIESSEN

Borough administration seeks to patch up fund balance

If all expenses and revenues shake out as predicted, the Kenai Peninsula Borough will have to draw about $4.15 million out of its fund balance… Continue reading

Multiple assaults at Spring Creek reported to troopers

Inmates at the Spring Creek Correctional Center in Seward were assaulted in two separate incidents a day apart last week. The first happened on June… Continue reading

The Russian River Ferry waits, ready to bring fisherman to the opposite bank of the upper Kenai River, on the river’s opening day of fishing for sockeye salmon on Sunday, June 11, 2017 in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Fish passage

The Russian River Ferry waits, ready to bring fisherman to the opposite bank of the Russian River, on the river’s opening day of fishing for… Continue reading

The Russian River Ferry waits, ready to bring fisherman to the opposite bank of the upper Kenai River, on the river’s opening day of fishing for sockeye salmon on Sunday, June 11, 2017 in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo by Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Alzheimer’s benefit to celebrate solstice

The summer solstice lands on June 20, but the Alzheimer’s Association is celebrating early this Saturday with live music, games, food and more in Soldotna… Continue reading

Recall appears to fail in Homer election; 800 votes still to be counted

A special election to recall three Homer City Council members who sponsored an “inclusivity” resolution appears to have failed. In preliminary results, the “no” votes… Continue reading

A sign posted near the Kenai Field of Flowers by activist and nieghborhood resident Greg Daniels urges property-owners near Lawton Acres — a 16.5-acre wooded strip of city-owned land that has been the subject of controversial development efforts — to attend a past Kenai City Council meeting, phographed on May 12, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The Kenai City Council may vote on June 21 or July 5 on whether to preserve Lawton Acres as a park by paying to relieve it from the legal obligation to support the Kenai Municipal Airport.

Lawton purchase scheduled for June 21, may be delayed

The Kenai City Council may vote on whether to buy Lawton Acres — a 16.49 acre strip of wooded land between the Kenai Spur Highway… Continue reading

A sign posted near the Kenai Field of Flowers by activist and nieghborhood resident Greg Daniels urges property-owners near Lawton Acres — a 16.5-acre wooded strip of city-owned land that has been the subject of controversial development efforts — to attend a past Kenai City Council meeting, phographed on May 12, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. The Kenai City Council may vote on June 21 or July 5 on whether to preserve Lawton Acres as a park by paying to relieve it from the legal obligation to support the Kenai Municipal Airport.
The Tulimaniq well at Smith Bay on the North Slope is seen in this Caelus Energy image. After heralding what they believe to be a major discovery in 2016, plans for an appraisal well to prove up the find have been put off based on sustained low oil prices and state policy uncertainty on tax incentives. (Photo/Courtesy/Caelus Energy)

Oil prices, policy uncertainty prompt Caelus to postpone well

Caelus Energy won’t be drilling new wells on the North Slope next winter for a host of reasons. As a result, Alaskans will have to… Continue reading

  • Jun 13, 2017
  • By ELWOOD BREHMER
The Tulimaniq well at Smith Bay on the North Slope is seen in this Caelus Energy image. After heralding what they believe to be a major discovery in 2016, plans for an appraisal well to prove up the find have been put off based on sustained low oil prices and state policy uncertainty on tax incentives. (Photo/Courtesy/Caelus Energy)
Plays and puppets

Plays and puppets

The Kenai Community Library hosted a showing of “The Sleeping Beauty” by Stevens Puppets on Monday afternoon. Puppeteers Dan and Zan Raynor, owners of Indiana-based… Continue reading

Plays and puppets
Sockeye salmon caught in a set gillnet wait to be set to the a processor on July 11, 2016 near Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Fish and Game to run cost-recovery harvest to fund Anchor Point test fishery

With the loss of state funding, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is back to running a cost-recovery harvest on sockeye salmon to fund… Continue reading

Sockeye salmon caught in a set gillnet wait to be set to the a processor on July 11, 2016 near Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
Glenn Fowler of excavation company Fowler’s Dirt Works, left, and Doug Bass of Bass Werks Welding, right, scope out the underside of Alaska Railroad rail car 602 on Thursday, June 8, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. The rail car was placed onto a set of trucks, the wheels underneath the car, where it will be fixed in place an eventually turned into a coffee house. Mary Krull hopes to open the coffee house and a beer and wine bar/restaurant in a second rail car by next year. (Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion)

Soldotna area woman plans to open businesses in railroad cars

When Soldotna area resident Mary Krull began her journey toward filling a niche in the business community, she wasn’t actually thinking about what kind of… Continue reading

Glenn Fowler of excavation company Fowler’s Dirt Works, left, and Doug Bass of Bass Werks Welding, right, scope out the underside of Alaska Railroad rail car 602 on Thursday, June 8, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. The rail car was placed onto a set of trucks, the wheels underneath the car, where it will be fixed in place an eventually turned into a coffee house. Mary Krull hopes to open the coffee house and a beer and wine bar/restaurant in a second rail car by next year. (Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion)
An angler fillets his sockeye salmon caught on the Kenai River near the confluence with the Russian River on Sunday, June 11, 2017 near Cooper Landing, Alaska. Sunday was the first open day for the popular Russian River sockeye sportfishery, and by midmorning, anglers were packing up with their limits and heading home while many others were landing some of the bright fish, some of the first sockeye of the season on the Kenai Peninsula. As of Saturday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s weir on Lower Russian Lake had counted 1,027 fish, more than triple the count of 274 on the same day in 2016. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Photo: Reds run on the Russian River

An angler fillets his sockeye salmon caught on the Kenai River near the confluence with the Russian River on Sunday near Cooper Landing. Sunday was… Continue reading

An angler fillets his sockeye salmon caught on the Kenai River near the confluence with the Russian River on Sunday, June 11, 2017 near Cooper Landing, Alaska. Sunday was the first open day for the popular Russian River sockeye sportfishery, and by midmorning, anglers were packing up with their limits and heading home while many others were landing some of the bright fish, some of the first sockeye of the season on the Kenai Peninsula. As of Saturday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s weir on Lower Russian Lake had counted 1,027 fish, more than triple the count of 274 on the same day in 2016. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Fish and Game increases max size for early king retention

Kenai River anglers can now keep king salmon up to 46 inches long. With more king salmon coming into the river than projected, the Alaska… Continue reading

The Surgery Center of Kenai, which is planning to add a second operating room, stands on Friday, June 9, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska.

Surgery Center of Kenai plans new operating room

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct a reference to the 91 percent drop in Central Peninsula Hospital's net income, orginally referred to… Continue reading

The Surgery Center of Kenai, which is planning to add a second operating room, stands on Friday, June 9, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska.

1 dead in Anchor Point car accident

1 dead after Anchor Point car accident A Homer woman has died after her car went off the road near Anchor Point on Friday. Carol… Continue reading

Borough plans composting pilot project in Homer area

The Homer area may get a little greener with its food waste if a planned composting project comes to fruition. The Kenai Peninsula Borough is… Continue reading

Graysen Besse, 5, gives Bensen Besse, 2, a twirl while dancing during this year’s Kenai River Festival on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska. (Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion)

Summer fun on the Kenai

By MEGAN PACER Peninsula Clarion… Continue reading

Graysen Besse, 5, gives Bensen Besse, 2, a twirl while dancing during this year’s Kenai River Festival on Saturday, June 10, 2017 at Soldotna Creek Park in Soldotna, Alaska. (Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion)