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

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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…

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Kenai passes $26 million budget

The Kenai City Council passed its $26.49 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2018 — to begin…

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Kenai partners with Chamber of Commerce for fall silver derby

Kenai’s city government will have a say in how the town’s first silver salmon fishing derby — initiated…

Carrie Gaethle and her children Ayla Gaethle (left) and Andrew Gaethle play in the surf on Kenai’s north beach on Tuesday, June 6, 2017 in Kenai. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

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Life’s a beach

Charles Woodcock of Woodcock’s Hydroseeding sprays a mix of water, fertilizer, paper pulp, and wildflower seeds across the soon-to-be Kenai Field of Flowers on Monday, June 5. Since 2014, Kenai’s municipal government has been turning the vacant city-owned lot into a summer attraction by seeding it with 15 varieties of wildflower, which Kenai Parks and Recreation Director Bob Frates said include lupin, poppies, cosmos, columbine, cornflower, baby’s breath, flax, and forget-me-not. After a drizzling Monday morning, Woodcock started spraying the field at noon — the ground’s dampness, he said, makes it better for seeding. In past years, the flowers have usually started to sprout in mid-July. Frates said that hydroseeding the approximately 55,000 square feet of the field costs about $5,400.

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Sow with the flow

Charles Woodcock of Woodcock’s Hydroseeding sprays a mix of water, fertilizer, paper pulp, and wildflower seeds across the…

Steve Flick, one of the property owners on Dow Island’s north bank, relaxes in Natalie and Chad Smyre’s cabin on the island Saturday, May 27, 2017 in Funny River, Alaska. Flick, a professional construction contractor in Missouri, worked with the Smyres and two other property owners to install an extensive bank restoration project on the island to preempt the Kenai River’s erosion that has been washing away feet of their properties each year. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion) Steve Flick, one of the property owners on Dow Island’s north bank, relaxes in Natalie and Chad Smyre’s cabin on the island Saturday, May 27, 2017 in Funny River, Alaska. Flick, a professional construction contractor in Missouri, worked with the Smyres and two other property owners to install an extensive bank restoration project on the island to preempt the Kenai River’s erosion that has been washing away feet of their properties each year. (Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

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Landowners band together to restore Dow Island bank

For the past several years, property owners on Dow Island have been watching their land disappear into the…

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PRL permitted for airstrip use, lodging, office space, restaurant

On Wednesday Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission members unanimously gave transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics six conditional…

American Legion members Ray Nickleson (left), Joe Coup, and Alvin Diaz leave the Kenai Cemetery after participating in a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 29, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

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Community remembers the fallen

Flags flew and poppies were laid across Kenai and Soldotna in remembrance of those who died in active…

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Kenai bluff erosion project inches forward

In the race between geology and bureaucracy that has constituted Kenai’s bluff erosion mitigation attempts, geology continues to…

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Fund balance cap, health care fund, cemetery expansion in Kenai budget

New features in the $15 million budget proposal that Kenai City Council members will be debating and voting…

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New ownership brings fresh approach to movies, bowling in Kenai

Editor’s note: This story has been changed to correct a reference to the Kenai Peninsula Borough Economic Development…

The four-story Dragseth Mansion, which the Kenai municipal government sold on Wednesday to the transportation and contraction company PRL Logistics for $825,000, sits on Kenai’s south beach Friday, May 19, 2017 in Kenai. A concrete barrier blocks the southern end of a city-owned airstrip that PRL is also seeking to buy from Kenai, requiring a permit from the Kenai Planning and Zoning Commission that will be discussed May 24. The airstrip parallels the beach alongside the Kenai River flats, valuable habitat for migratory birds, prompting concern from birders and bird advocacy groups. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

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Kenai sells mansion, will consider airstrip sale

The four-story, 7,556-square foot mansion on Kenai’s south beach belongs to the transportation and contracting company PRL Logistics,…

This screen capture from the city of Kenai’s live-feeding camera above a local eagle nest shows an eagle parent roosting with two eggs on Thursday, May 18, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Presently the eagle camera is streaming to Kenai City Hall, where administrators hope to raise the city’s profile by putting a live eagle feed online sometime in the coming weeks. (Screen capture courtesy of Jamie Heinz/City of Kenai)

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Kenai eagle nest to stream live online

Update, Friday May 19, 11:00 a.m — The city of Kenai’s eagle cam is now online and streaming…

William Konig of Kenai’s Parks and Recreation department tills the Field of Flowers, preparing it to be planted with wildflowers, on Wednesday, May 17 in Kenai. The Field of Flowers is part of a 16 acre city-owned strip known as Lawton Acres, which sits between the Kenai Spur Highway and a neighborhood to the south where residents have been fighting commercial development of the land since the late 1980s. On Monday, many spoke at a Kenai City Council work session about possible resolutions to the dispute.

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Lawton Acres options include ballot proposition, land trade, purchase

Prompted by a standing-room only crowd in the Kenai City Council Chambers on Monday night, Kenai council members…

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)

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Birding festival takes flight May 18

Grab your binoculars, the annual Kenai Peninsula Birding Festival starts Thursday, May 18 and runs through Sunday, May…

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.

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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…

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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,…

This map of the city-owned wooded strip between the Kenai Spur Highway and Lawton Drive shows Kenai city manager Paul Ostrander's compromise in a land use debate between residents to the south seeking to preserve the strip as a buffer from the highway and business owners who've sought to develop it. Under Ostrander's plan, which the Kenai city council will discuss in a May 15 worksession, the blue areas would remain in city ownership while the yellow areas would be put out to bid for private acquisition. This map was taken from the Kenai Peninsula Borough's parcel viewer and modified by the Peninsula Clarion with information from the Kenai City Council.

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Lawton Acres plan to be discussed

The 30-year debate over Kenai’s Lawton Acres — a wooded city-owned strip by the Kenai Spur Highway that…

The Kenai Rocks group is placing painted rocks throughout Kenai and asking those who find them to post their find on the group’s Facebook page before hiding the rock again or keeping the rock. (Photo Courtesy Amanda Marshall) The Kenai Rocks group is placing painted rocks throughout Kenai and asking those who find them to post their find on the group’s Facebook page before hiding the rock again or keeping the rock. (Photo Courtesy Amanda Marshall)

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Between a rock and a fun place

In the search for happiness, leave no stone unturned, or leave no rock unpainted. A new group, Kenai…

The facade of Kenai’s former Regal Kambe Cinema — now known as Kenai Cinema after being purchased by Ashland, Oregon-based Coming Attractions Theatres — shows signs of impending changes on Monday, May 8, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska.

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Kenai movie theatre to see changes

Kenai’s Regal Kambe theater has changed owners — from the nationwide Regal Entertainment Group to the northwest regional…