News

Nikiski High School student Justin Mason, with diploma, poses for a photo at his graduation from Project SEARCH flanked by (left from right) Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones, Board of Education member Penny Vadla, Superintendent Sean Dusek and Pupil Services Director Clayton Holland, Monday, May 16, 2017 at Central Peninsula Hospital. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Project SEARCH awards five diplomas to graduates

On Monday night, a group of five interns from across the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District were celebrated with a graduation ceremony for their work… Continue reading

Nikiski High School student Justin Mason, with diploma, poses for a photo at his graduation from Project SEARCH flanked by (left from right) Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Assistant Superintendent Dave Jones, Board of Education member Penny Vadla, Superintendent Sean Dusek and Pupil Services Director Clayton Holland, Monday, May 16, 2017 at Central Peninsula Hospital. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai airport struggles to perfect land agreements

The Kenai Municipal Airport earned a fifth of its revenue recorded in the city's present budget from payments made by businesses that lease the hundreds… Continue reading

A bufflehead duck flies between three drift boats of birders on Thursday, May 14, 2015 as the group tours the Kenai River during a long weekend of Kenai Birding Festival activities. (Clarion File Photo)

Birding festival takes flight May 18

Grab your binoculars, the annual Kenai Peninsula Birding Festival starts Thursday, May 18 and runs through Sunday, May 21 with different birding hot spots and… Continue reading

A bufflehead duck flies between three drift boats of birders on Thursday, May 14, 2015 as the group tours the Kenai River during a long weekend of Kenai Birding Festival activities. (Clarion File Photo)

Students collect more than 3,000 pounds of trash

Redoubt Elementary took home the “Most Trash Collected” award after collecting 1,540 pounds of trash during the fourth annual Kenai River Spring Cleanup last Thursday… Continue reading

  • May 15, 2017
  • By KAT SORENSEN

Senate kills income tax

The Alaska Senate on Friday voted 15-4 to kill an income tax proposed by the House, all but ensuring the Alaska’s multibillion-dollar deficit will not… Continue reading

Senate passes oil tax bill

Now the oil tax debate in the Legislature can really start. The Republican-led Senate passed House Bill 111, this year’s oil tax credit legislation, Monday afternoon by a 14-5 vote alongcaucus lines. The Senate version of the bill ends the cashable tax credit “experiment,” Anchorage Republican Sen. Cathy Giessel said in thefloor debate, along with preventing companies producing oil in the state’s largest fields from using deductible credits to taketheir tax obligation below the 4 percent gross minimum tax. Read more… Continue reading

John Michael, a member of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, prepares to carry a damaged icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane from the church’s sanctuary on Monday, May 15 in Kenai. In the foreground stands the wooden cross that fell backward during the January 2016 Iniskin Earthquake, tearing the icon’s canvas. After planning and fundraising for the icon’s repair since mid-2016, the church shipped it to an art restorer on Monday.

Kenai Russian church sends icon for restoration

John Michael, a member of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, prepares to carry a damaged icon of Jesus praying in… Continue reading

John Michael, a member of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church, prepares to carry a damaged icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane from the church’s sanctuary on Monday, May 15 in Kenai. In the foreground stands the wooden cross that fell backward during the January 2016 Iniskin Earthquake, tearing the icon’s canvas. After planning and fundraising for the icon’s repair since mid-2016, the church shipped it to an art restorer on Monday.

Big issues unresolved as Alaska legislative deadline looms

JUNEAU — Alaska legislators face a looming constitutional deadline for completing their work, but they remain at odds over how best to address a multibillion-dollar… Continue reading

Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula ClarionThis icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane sits behind the altar of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church and was torn when a cross fell on it during the Jan. 24, 2016 Iniskin earthquake. It was photographed on Monday, Oct. 31 in Kenai. The church is raising funds to send the icon to a conservator in Colorado who will repair the rip, as well as an earlier candle burn above and to the right of the rip.

Earthquake-damaged icon to be repaired

When the Kenai Peninsula was shaken by the 7.1 magnitude Iniskin earthquake in the early hours of Jan. 24, one of the many things to… Continue reading

Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula ClarionThis icon of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane sits behind the altar of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church and was torn when a cross fell on it during the Jan. 24, 2016 Iniskin earthquake. It was photographed on Monday, Oct. 31 in Kenai. The church is raising funds to send the icon to a conservator in Colorado who will repair the rip, as well as an earlier candle burn above and to the right of the rip.

Kenai’s Russian Church to install fire system

Kenai’s Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church is filled with religious art and historical artifacts, is built of logs, and hosts weekly… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Father Andrew Thomas of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church speaks to the small congregation gathered for Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Chapel on Saturday, Dec. 19 in Kenai. Behind him stands Father Victor Nick of Ninilchik. "There is no other church like this in Alaska," Father Thomas said of the chapel, which was built in 1906 over the graves of three missionary monks who came to the Kenai area in the mid-1800s.

Divine Liturgy for St. Nicholas held in Kenai’s historic chapel

The rough wooden interior of St. Nicholas chapel was lit by a hissing gas lantern as Father Andrew Thomas, priest of Kenai’s Holy Assumption of… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Father Andrew Thomas of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church speaks to the small congregation gathered for Divine Liturgy in the St. Nicholas Chapel on Saturday, Dec. 19 in Kenai. Behind him stands Father Victor Nick of Ninilchik. "There is no other church like this in Alaska," Father Thomas said of the chapel, which was built in 1906 over the graves of three missionary monks who came to the Kenai area in the mid-1800s.
Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Electrician Richard Cutter crawls through the roof space of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church while installing a new fire supression system on Thursday, Oct. 6 in Kenai.

Kenai Russian Orthodox Church gets new fire supression system

A system designed to extinguish fires without damaging the Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church’s collection of icons, art, and archived documents… Continue reading

Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion Electrician Richard Cutter crawls through the roof space of Kenai's Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary Russian Orthodox Church while installing a new fire supression system on Thursday, Oct. 6 in Kenai.

New life for North Slope 100 million years in the making

All of a sudden, Alaska has more than 400,000 barrels per day of new oil potential. The North Slope, dismissed by many in recent years… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2017
  • By ELWOOD BREHMER
  • Energy
This graph, compiled by the Alaska Senate Majority, shows the state government’s spending by agency for fiscal year 2017. (Courtesy the Alaska Senate Majority) This graph, compiled by the Alaska Senate Majority, shows the state government’s spending by agency for fiscal year 2017. (Courtesy the Alaska Senate Majority)

How big can the Alaska health care bubble grow?

Alaska faces a paradox with its health care industry. In an economy sliding downhill, health care is the only sector still growing. With many jobs… Continue reading

This graph, compiled by the Alaska Senate Majority, shows the state government’s spending by agency for fiscal year 2017. (Courtesy the Alaska Senate Majority) This graph, compiled by the Alaska Senate Majority, shows the state government’s spending by agency for fiscal year 2017. (Courtesy the Alaska Senate Majority)

Kenai airport commission hears further details of PRL airship

With a first-generation hybrid airship planned to start work in 2019 for transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics, both the airship’s range of missions and… Continue reading

Nesting season on the Kenai A trumpeter swan sunbathes on an unnamed lake near Skilak Lake on Thursday on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Trumpeter swans, which mate for life, typically nest in marshes next to small lakes as early in the spring as thaw allows, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They need between 140 and 54 ice-free days to complete a breeding cycle. The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge has a growing population of swans, with about 50 nesting pairs. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Photo: Nesting season

A trumpeter swan sunbathes on an unnamed lake near Skilak Lake on Thursday on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Trumpeter swans, which mate for life,… Continue reading

Nesting season on the Kenai A trumpeter swan sunbathes on an unnamed lake near Skilak Lake on Thursday on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. Trumpeter swans, which mate for life, typically nest in marshes next to small lakes as early in the spring as thaw allows, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They need between 140 and 54 ice-free days to complete a breeding cycle. The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge has a growing population of swans, with about 50 nesting pairs. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
A group of Soldotna Montessori sixth-graders presented the idea for the Food Pantry to Soldotna City Council in order to make their vision a reality. The food pantry officially opened on Friday, May 12, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)

Food for thought

On the corner of North Binkley Street and East Park Avenue, students at Soldotna Montessori Charter School are fighting hunger in the community with a… Continue reading

A group of Soldotna Montessori sixth-graders presented the idea for the Food Pantry to Soldotna City Council in order to make their vision a reality. The food pantry officially opened on Friday, May 12, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Kat Sorensen/Peninsula Clarion)
LeAnna Hobby, right, adjusts Allison Bushnell’s cap before taking photos following the Kenai Peninsula College graduation Thursday, May 11, 2017 at Ren&

KPC celebrates 47th commencement

From GED diplomas to master’s degrees, over 100 certificates and diplomas were conferred at Kenai Peninsula College’s 47th annual commencement Thursday in the Renée C.… Continue reading

LeAnna Hobby, right, adjusts Allison Bushnell’s cap before taking photos following the Kenai Peninsula College graduation Thursday, May 11, 2017 at Ren&
FILE - In this July 13, 2007 file photo, a worker with the Pebble Mine project digs in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska near the village of Iliamma, Alaska. The Trump administration settled a lawsuit Friday, May 12, 2017, over the proposed development of a massive copper and gold deposit near the headwaters of a world-premier salmon fishery in southwest Alaska. (AP Photo/Al Grillo,File)

EPA allows mine company to pursue permits near Alaska bay

JUNEAU — In a sharp reversal, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cleared a way for the company seeking to develop a massive copper and… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2017
  • By Becky Bohrer
FILE - In this July 13, 2007 file photo, a worker with the Pebble Mine project digs in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska near the village of Iliamma, Alaska. The Trump administration settled a lawsuit Friday, May 12, 2017, over the proposed development of a massive copper and gold deposit near the headwaters of a world-premier salmon fishery in southwest Alaska. (AP Photo/Al Grillo,File)

Soldotna campgrounds to open, accept credit cards for first time

It’s time break out the tent poles and hot dog skewers — Soldotna’s campgrounds will open for business on Monday. City Manager Mark Dixson said… Continue reading