News

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion A firefighter sprays foam onto the damaged areas of a mobile home that caught fire Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016 on Blanch Street, off of Kalifornsky Beach Road, near Soldotna, Alaska. Firefighters were able to put out the blaze in the back bedroom and bathroom area of the mobile home within minutes and none of the occupants were hurt.

CES douses fire near Soldotna

No one was hurt in a mobile home fire that called firefighters to Blanch Street, off of Gas Well Road, near Soldotna on Tuesday. Members… Continue reading

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion A firefighter sprays foam onto the damaged areas of a mobile home that caught fire Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016 on Blanch Street, off of Kalifornsky Beach Road, near Soldotna, Alaska. Firefighters were able to put out the blaze in the back bedroom and bathroom area of the mobile home within minutes and none of the occupants were hurt.
A northern pike dies inside of a bucket as Fish and Game staff net the dead and dying fish out of East Mackey Lake during a poisonous rotentone treatment designed to clear the lake of invasive species on October 8, 2014 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Clarion file photo)

Fish and Game wraps up Soldotna Creek pike work

Soldotna Creek got a shock of chemicals this summer designed to kill off invasive northern pike, which appear to be almost gone from the stream… Continue reading

A northern pike dies inside of a bucket as Fish and Game staff net the dead and dying fish out of East Mackey Lake during a poisonous rotentone treatment designed to clear the lake of invasive species on October 8, 2014 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Clarion file photo)

Fundraiser to help rebuild barn

Area residents will have the chance this weekend to help a local farmer rebuild her barn. Debbie Love began raising pigs on her farm in… Continue reading

Drill, baby, drill? Election reignites offshore-oil debate

The controversy over drilling for oil in the Atlantic Ocean has been reignited by the election of Donald Trump, and environmentalists and coastal businesses say… Continue reading

  • Nov 22, 2016
  • By PATRICK WHITTLE

Murkowski lays out path on Arctic leases

Republicans have options to counteract the Obama administration’s move to pull Arctic waters from the federal offshore oil and gas lease plan, but they are… Continue reading

  • Nov 22, 2016
  • By ELWOOD BREHMER
Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Homer resident Lee John Henry, 55, listens during an omnibus hearing Monday, Nov. 21, 2016 in Kenai Superior Court in Kenai, Alaska. Henry was indicted Oct. 20 on murder and robbery charges for the 2013 death of Mark Matthews in Homer.

Trial date set for Homer man charged with murder

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the day of Lee Henry's court appearance in Kenai, on Monday.   A Homer man accused… Continue reading

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Homer resident Lee John Henry, 55, listens during an omnibus hearing Monday, Nov. 21, 2016 in Kenai Superior Court in Kenai, Alaska. Henry was indicted Oct. 20 on murder and robbery charges for the 2013 death of Mark Matthews in Homer.
Photo courtesy Rashah McChesney Anglers race up the river after trolling for king salmon on the Kenai River on Sunday, July 24, 2016 near Kenai, Alaska.

Inch by inch

Each summer for the past several years, Kenai River anglers have noticed that the river’s famous king salmon are both fewer and smaller. The trend… Continue reading

Photo courtesy Rashah McChesney Anglers race up the river after trolling for king salmon on the Kenai River on Sunday, July 24, 2016 near Kenai, Alaska.

Group sues over lack of info in Alaska Railroad LNG project

ANCHORAGE — An environmental group filed a lawsuit Monday against the Federal Railroad Administration for failing to disclose the approval process for the Alaska Railroad’s… Continue reading

  • Nov 21, 2016
  • By Rachel D'oro
This pilgrim and turkey sculpture was created by students in Robert Stitt's class at Redoubt Elementary School in Soldotna using food items brought in by students for the school's "Canstruction" competition Thursday. Food items collected during the event will be donated to the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank. (Photo by Will Morrow/Peninsula Clarion)

Redoubt students show ‘can-do’ attitude

Students at Redoubt Elementary School in Soldotna helped out their community and had some fun in the process Thursday during a “Canstruction” competition at the… Continue reading

This pilgrim and turkey sculpture was created by students in Robert Stitt's class at Redoubt Elementary School in Soldotna using food items brought in by students for the school's "Canstruction" competition Thursday. Food items collected during the event will be donated to the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank. (Photo by Will Morrow/Peninsula Clarion)
Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Sharps Billiards, 11888 Kenai Spur Highway, has reopened under new management after closing in 2014.

Newcomers seek to make pool hall a safe community space

Two weeks, some planning and a little financial help was all it took for three Kenai residents to get the doors of Sharps Billiards open… Continue reading

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Sharps Billiards, 11888 Kenai Spur Highway, has reopened under new management after closing in 2014.
Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Adam Trujillo lets off a shot at a pie plate for a chance at winning a turkey at the Snowshoe Gun Club on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The club, located on the Kenai Spur Highway between Kenai and Soldotna, hosted a series of events Sunday, including an "Annie Oakley" trap-shooting game and the pie-plate shooting. The club, which is always open for members, will host its annual membership meeting on Sunday, Dec. 3.

Photo: Ready, aim, fire

… Continue reading

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion Adam Trujillo lets off a shot at a pie plate for a chance at winning a turkey at the Snowshoe Gun Club on Sunday, Nov. 20, 2016 in Kenai, Alaska. The club, located on the Kenai Spur Highway between Kenai and Soldotna, hosted a series of events Sunday, including an "Annie Oakley" trap-shooting game and the pie-plate shooting. The club, which is always open for members, will host its annual membership meeting on Sunday, Dec. 3.

Seaton joins bipartisan caucus

The day after he was elected to an eighth term representing District 31 in the Alaska House, Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, joined two other Republicans,… Continue reading

Marijuana money already reaching state coffers, but industry isn’t yet self-funding

The state of Alaska will begin to collect its first marijuana taxes this month, but records from the Alaska Alcohol and Marijuana Control Office show… Continue reading

Kenai Peninsula College: Around Campus

Instructor Bob Amundson has announced that he will again offer Humanities A220: Film as/and Literature this spring. The popular 3-credit, online course focuses on Film… Continue reading

  • Nov 20, 2016
  • By Suzie Kendrick
  • Schools

School News for Nov. 21

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meets at 6 p.m. in the borough building at 148 N. Binkley Street in Soldotna (unless… Continue reading

FILE - In this 2007 file photo, an oil transit pipeline runs across the tundra to flow station at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope.The Obama administration is blocking new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean, handing a victory to environmentalists who say industrial activity in the icy waters will harm marine mammals and exacerbate global warming. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)

Obama administration culls Arctic OCS from five-year lease plan

Interior Secretary Sally Jewel reversed course and pulled Alaska’s Arctic waters from the latest federal outer continental shelf oil and gas leasing plan released Friday… Continue reading

  • Nov 19, 2016
  • By ELWOOD BREHMER
FILE - In this 2007 file photo, an oil transit pipeline runs across the tundra to flow station at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope.The Obama administration is blocking new oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean, handing a victory to environmentalists who say industrial activity in the icy waters will harm marine mammals and exacerbate global warming. (AP Photo/Al Grillo, File)

ASRC’s Nikiski fabrication plant to close

The Arctic Slope Regional Corporation’s Nikiski fabrication facility, located just north of the ConocoPhillips LNG facility on the Kenai Spur Highway, will shut down within… Continue reading

  • Nov 19, 2016
  • By ELIZABETH EARL and BEN BOETTGER
Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion A scrapbook details the history of Hospice of the Central Peninsula at the nonprofit's 30th anniversary event at Central Peninsula Hospital on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 in Soldotna, Alaska.

Hospice celebrates 30 years

Grief is a living thing, developing through a process and staying with the affected person forever. Lee Coray-Ludden describes progressing through grief like an injury… Continue reading

Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion A scrapbook details the history of Hospice of the Central Peninsula at the nonprofit's 30th anniversary event at Central Peninsula Hospital on Friday, Nov. 18, 2016 in Soldotna, Alaska.

After internal investigation, Blood Bank clears itself

The Blood Bank of Alaska leadership has investigated itself and found nothing wrong. Board of directors chairman Ryan York and chief executive officer Bob Scanlon… Continue reading

  • Nov 19, 2016
  • By DJ SUMMERS
Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Ideas, thoughts and feelings about being a female veteran cover a poster during a facilitated conversation held Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 at Peninsula Community Health Services in Soldotna, Alaska. The meeting was held through the Alaska Veterans' Organization for Women, a program run through YWCA Alaska, which is based in Anchorage.

‘Stand up and be counted’

Local veterans got the chance to add their voices to a project that seeks to identify issues specifically facing female veterans, and work toward solutions… Continue reading

Photo by Megan Pacer/Peninsula Clarion Ideas, thoughts and feelings about being a female veteran cover a poster during a facilitated conversation held Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 at Peninsula Community Health Services in Soldotna, Alaska. The meeting was held through the Alaska Veterans' Organization for Women, a program run through YWCA Alaska, which is based in Anchorage.