News

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

Part of Skilak Lake Road Open

A portion of the closed Skilak Lake Road, the gravel road connecting the Sterling Highway to recreation areas on five lakes near Sterling, was reopened… Continue reading

School district replacing potentially biased textbook

The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is replacing an eighth-grade history textbook called into question for containing potentially biased information. The publisher, Prentice Hall, is… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015
  • By Kelly Sullivan
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Dancers pose for photographs Monday at the Encore Dance Academy in Kenai in preparation for their spring recital. The recital is May 29 at 6 p.m. at Kenai Central High School, said academy owner Tara Slaughter.

Photo: Plié for the camera

… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Dancers pose for photographs Monday at the Encore Dance Academy in Kenai in preparation for their spring recital. The recital is May 29 at 6 p.m. at Kenai Central High School, said academy owner Tara Slaughter.

Kenai man accused of sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl

A Kenai man has been arrested after police accused him of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl. Joshua Brown, 20, was found by police in a… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015
  • By Rashah McChesney
FILE - In this April 17, 2015 file photo, an oil drilling rig arrives aboard a transport ship at sunrise, following a journey across the Pacific in Port Angeles, Wash. Royal Dutch Shell hopes to use the rig for exploratory drilling during the summer open-water season in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast, if it can get the permits. Royal Dutch Shell cleared a major hurdle Monday, May 11, 2015, when The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved Shell's exploration plan. However, this isn't the final step that Shell needs for Arctic drilling. (Daniella Beccaria/seattlepi.com via AP) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; SEATTLE TIMES OUT; TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

Shell clears major US government hurdle for Arctic drilling

ANCHORAGE — Royal Dutch Shell’s Arctic drilling program has cleared a major bureaucratic hurdle to begin drilling for oil and gas off Alaska’s northwestern coast… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015
  • By Mark Thiessen
FILE - In this April 17, 2015 file photo, an oil drilling rig arrives aboard a transport ship at sunrise, following a journey across the Pacific in Port Angeles, Wash. Royal Dutch Shell hopes to use the rig for exploratory drilling during the summer open-water season in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's northwest coast, if it can get the permits. Royal Dutch Shell cleared a major hurdle Monday, May 11, 2015, when The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management approved Shell's exploration plan. However, this isn't the final step that Shell needs for Arctic drilling. (Daniella Beccaria/seattlepi.com via AP) MAGS OUT; NO SALES; SEATTLE TIMES OUT; TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

Lt. Governor outlines state stake in British Columbia issues

JUNEAU — Alaska has clear interests in protecting with extreme vigilance the water quality in rivers that flow into the state that could be affected… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015
  • By Becky Bohrer

Business news

■ The Soldotna Chamber of Commerce next meets May 19 at noon at Frosos Restaurant in Soldotna. Presentations will include of Soldotna Chamber Scholarship Awards… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015

Judge won’t block plan to kill cormorants to save salmon

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A judge has refused to block a plan to shoot more than 10,000 double-crested cormorants in the Columbia River estuary. The… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015

Alaska is first phase of Arctic Ocean fiber optic project

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Marine surveying will start again this summer near Alaska’s coastal communities in a wide-reaching effort to improve communications by laying a… Continue reading

  • May 11, 2015

KPC announces end-of-year award recipients

The Kenai River Campus Student Union announced their end-of-year award recipients at their recent annual BBQ, held Friday, May 1. Those chosen to receive the… Continue reading

Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Whitney Owens sells a copy of Winston's Friendship Journey at her book signing Saturday, May 9. 2015, at King's Treasures in Kenai, Alaska.

Self-publishing as a student

At 11-years-old, Whitney Owens has self-published her first book. The home school student authored and illustrated ‘Winston’s Friendship Journey’, which is available on Kindle, Amazon.com… Continue reading

  • May 10, 2015
  • By Kelly Sullivan
  • Schools
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Whitney Owens sells a copy of Winston's Friendship Journey at her book signing Saturday, May 9. 2015, at King's Treasures in Kenai, Alaska.

Around the District

School board to meet The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education meets at 7 p.m. in the borough building at 148 N. Binkley… Continue reading

Birding sidebar

Birding events… Continue reading

  • May 10, 2015
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Matthea Boatright, 14, poses with her entry into the PEEPs art show for the Kenai Peninsula Birding Festival as her mother, Kirsten Boatright, takes her picture on Thursday May 7, 2015 at the Kenai Fine Arts Center in Kenai, Alaska.

Birders flock to town

The Kenai Birding Festival is flocking into town and local birders have been gearing up for another year of showing off the more than 200… Continue reading

  • May 10, 2015
  • By Rashah McChesney
Photo by Rashah McChesney/Peninsula Clarion Matthea Boatright, 14, poses with her entry into the PEEPs art show for the Kenai Peninsula Birding Festival as her mother, Kirsten Boatright, takes her picture on Thursday May 7, 2015 at the Kenai Fine Arts Center in Kenai, Alaska.
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Family and friends of the 2015 Cook Inlet Academy class snap photographs of the six graduates Sunday, May 10, 2015, at Cook Inlet Academy in Soldotna, Alaska.

Cook Inlet Grads look from past to future

Following the turn of the tassel, Cook Inlet Academy’s six 2015 graduates were off. The tight knit group that has functioned as peers and friends… Continue reading

  • May 10, 2015
  • By Kelly Sullivan
Photo by Kelly Sullivan/ Peninsula Clarion Family and friends of the 2015 Cook Inlet Academy class snap photographs of the six graduates Sunday, May 10, 2015, at Cook Inlet Academy in Soldotna, Alaska.