News

Photo courtesy Christy Weber Kenai local, Christy Weber is a finalist in the thirty-ninth Mrs. Alaska-America Pageant.

Kenai local heads to Mrs. Alaska-America Pageant

This weekend Christy Weber will be representing the central Kenai Peninsula in the Mrs. Alaska-America Pageant. The mother of five boys- ages 18 through 23-… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2015
  • By Kelly Sullivan
Photo courtesy Christy Weber Kenai local, Christy Weber is a finalist in the thirty-ninth Mrs. Alaska-America Pageant.
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion 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. Birder Ken Marlow said the bufflehead was an uncommon sight for the area, though there are usually a few around in the spring.

Photo: Watch the birdie

… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2015
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion 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. Birder Ken Marlow said the bufflehead was an uncommon sight for the area, though there are usually a few around in the spring.
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Brian Olson, a borough resident and president of Borough Residents Against Annexation, was the first to testify before the Soldotna City Council on Wednesday May 13, 2015 during the public comment portion of an ordinance to appropriate $150,000 to study annexation in Soldotna, Alaska.

Soldotna votes to study annexation

Despite the on-record protestations of nearly 30 people, cheered on by an audience of more than 70, the Soldotna City Council voted to move forward… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2015
  • By Rashah McChesney
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Brian Olson, a borough resident and president of Borough Residents Against Annexation, was the first to testify before the Soldotna City Council on Wednesday May 13, 2015 during the public comment portion of an ordinance to appropriate $150,000 to study annexation in Soldotna, Alaska.

House Finance stalls Walker’s Medicaid expansion proposal

JUNEAU — House Finance Committee co-chair Steve Thompson said Thursday that the panel is not comfortable moving ahead with plans to expand Medicaid coverage in… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2015
  • By Becky Bohrer

Construction season approaches

This week’s Skilak Lake Road closure was the first ripple of a wave of road maintenance set to sweep the Peninsula in summer 2015. The… Continue reading

Seward leading maritime workforce efforts

SEWARD — AVTEC, that little school at the end of the road in Seward, happens to be at the international forefront of maritime training.Right now,… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2015
  • By ELWOOD BREHMER
The oil drilling rig Polar Pioneer is towed toward a dock and in view of the Space Needle Thursday, May 14, 2015, in Elliott Bay in Seattle. The rig is the first of two drilling rigs Royal Dutch Shell is outfitting for oil exploration and was towed to the Port of Seattle site despite the city's warning that it lacks permits and threats by kayaking environmentalists to paddle out in protest. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

What’s at stake: The debate over Arctic drilling

ANCHORAGE — Royal Dutch Shell is parking two massive Arctic oil drilling rigs in Seattle’s waterfront before they head north. The first drill rig, the… Continue reading

  • May 14, 2015
  • By DAN JOLING and MARK THIESSEN
The oil drilling rig Polar Pioneer is towed toward a dock and in view of the Space Needle Thursday, May 14, 2015, in Elliott Bay in Seattle. The rig is the first of two drilling rigs Royal Dutch Shell is outfitting for oil exploration and was towed to the Port of Seattle site despite the city's warning that it lacks permits and threats by kayaking environmentalists to paddle out in protest. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Fight over Kenai River gillnet ramps up after regulation published

The Federal Subsistence Board has nearly 100 public comments and requests for reconsideration of subsistence gillnetting on the Kenai River. The previous record for a… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
  • By DJ SUMMERS
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Several busses head to Kenai Peninsula School District schools which were put in a modified lockdown mode Wednesday May 13, 2015 when the district received a computerized threatening telphone call.

Central peninsula schools respond to phone threat

Several central Kenai Peninsula schools implemented “stay put mode” measures Wednesday after Kalifornsky Beach Elementary and Skyview Middle School received threatening automated voice messages. Law… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
  • By KELLY SULLIVAN and BEN BOETTGER
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Several busses head to Kenai Peninsula School District schools which were put in a modified lockdown mode Wednesday May 13, 2015 when the district received a computerized threatening telphone call.
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Johnathan Rine, dungeon master for a group who plays the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, explains the subtleties of character building as Soldotna Public Library Youth Service Director KJ Hillgren laughs in the background on April 22, 2015 at the library. Rine and several others in his group will host a D&D marathon day, open to the public, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Photo: Getting into character

… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Johnathan Rine, dungeon master for a group who plays the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, explains the subtleties of character building as Soldotna Public Library Youth Service Director KJ Hillgren laughs in the background on April 22, 2015 at the library. Rine and several others in his group will host a D&D marathon day, open to the public, on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Sea stars with ‘wasting disease’ found in Kachemak Bay

ANCHORAGE (AP) — Researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks made a disappointing discovery while surveying long-term monitoring sites: a half-dozen diseased sea stars in… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015

Shell: Drill rigs coming to Seattle despite pleas for delay

SEATTLE — Royal Dutch Shell is forging ahead with plans to park two Arctic oil drilling rigs in Seattle, despite the city saying it could… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
  • By GENE JOHNSON and PHUONG LE

Wood bison healthy in wild after March reintroduction

FAIRBANKS (AP) — When you bring an animal back into the Alaska wild for the first time in a century, you have to be prepared… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Shannon Bradford laughs during a break in a Dungeons & Dragons game on April 22, 2015 in the community room at the Soldotna Library. Bradford and a handful of others play the fantasy role playing game regularly at the library and will be hosting a marathon D&D day at the library for community members interested in learning more about gameplay.

Group hosts Dungeons & Dragons marathon

On a recent Wednesday, a group of five high school students gathered in the community room of the Soldotna Public Library to continue a fantasy… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
  • By Rashah McChesney
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Shannon Bradford laughs during a break in a Dungeons & Dragons game on April 22, 2015 in the community room at the Soldotna Library. Bradford and a handful of others play the fantasy role playing game regularly at the library and will be hosting a marathon D&D day at the library for community members interested in learning more about gameplay.

Central Kenai schools on “stay put mode” this afternoon

Several Central Peninsula schools implemented “stay put mode” this afternoon after Kalifornsky Beach Elementary and Skyview Middle School received threatening automated voice messages. The calls… Continue reading

  • May 13, 2015
  • By Staff Report

Kenai draft budget increases $48,386

Editor's note: This story has been changed to clarify the increase in Kenai's health care costs and to correct the day of the budget work… Continue reading

Clarion file photo In this April 2011 file photo, Herb Stetler teaches a Soldotna Elementary School class how to properly fold an American flags. Stetler conceived of a project to bring an "Iron Mike" statue to Soldotna to memorialize military servicemen.

Iron Mike statue to be seated in Soldotna

A five-foot, one-ton monument is headed to Soldotna Creek Park. The Central Kenai Peninsula community and the City of Soldotna, led by the Soldotna Veterans… Continue reading

  • May 12, 2015
  • By Kelly Sullivan
Clarion file photo In this April 2011 file photo, Herb Stetler teaches a Soldotna Elementary School class how to properly fold an American flags. Stetler conceived of a project to bring an "Iron Mike" statue to Soldotna to memorialize military servicemen.

Photo: Puddle Jumpers

… Continue reading

  • May 12, 2015

Nikiski woman accused of firing at a car for “driving recklessly”

Alaska State Troopers arrested a Nikiski woman on Monday after getting a report that she had shot at a moving car near Island Lake Road.… Continue reading

  • May 12, 2015

Report: Alaska population down after 26 years of growth

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An aging baby boomer population and a stagnate birthrate have caused Alaska’s population to fall for the first time since the… Continue reading

  • May 12, 2015
  • By Associated Press