Kenai

Kenaitze Indian Tribe Executive Director Bart Garber poses for a photograph at the tribe’s administration building Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Garber, who grew up in Tyonek and Anchorage and worked with the Tyonek Native Corporation and the Toghotthele Corporation in Nenana, took over the position with Kenaitze this fall. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

New Kenaitze executive director envisions active tribal engagement

Although it’s a new office and staff, taking the job as the Kenaitze Indian Tribe’s CEO is in some ways a homecoming for Bart Garber.… Continue reading

Kenaitze Indian Tribe Executive Director Bart Garber poses for a photograph at the tribe’s administration building Thursday, Dec. 28, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Garber, who grew up in Tyonek and Anchorage and worked with the Tyonek Native Corporation and the Toghotthele Corporation in Nenana, took over the position with Kenaitze this fall. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai bluff project gained ground in 2017

In 2017, the mile of bluff between Old Town Kenai and the Kenai River mouth may have receded three feet — the amount of ground… Continue reading

Central Kenai pot store permitted on second try

A strip mall location in central Kenai is both a blessing and a curse for the planned marijuana retailer East Rip, whose city permit was… Continue reading

A smartphone user interacts with the Dipnet Kenai app — created by the city of Kenai for the 2017 dipnet fishery — on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Peninsual Clarion office in Kenai. In its debut year, the app had 8,474 downloads. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Dipnet Kenai app looks back on debut year

Kenai is shifting the emphasis of how it manages the roughly 20,000 personal-use dipnet fishermen who come to town from July 10–31 from merely keeping… Continue reading

A smartphone user interacts with the Dipnet Kenai app — created by the city of Kenai for the 2017 dipnet fishery — on Wednesday, Dec. 13 at the Peninsual Clarion office in Kenai. In its debut year, the app had 8,474 downloads. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai reviews 2017 dipnet

Editor's note: This story has been changed to correct the number of dipnet transactions in 2013. When the Kenai city council took its annual look… Continue reading

The Kenai home school team ‘Aqua Intelligence’ won top prize for core values on Saturday at the First Lego League competition held at the Aurora Borealis Charter School in Kenai. The event recognized awards in five categories. The champion’s award, project award, core values award, robot design award and robot performance award. The core values award recognizes a team that excels in inspiration, teamwork and gracious professionalism. The ‘Aqua Intelligence’ team showed “extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit” and understand that they can “accomplish more together than they could as individuals.” (Photo by Kat Sorensen/ Peninsula Clarion)

LEGO Water World

Students from across the Kenai Peninsula took on a big challenge, innovating the field of hydrodynamics, and they did it with LEGOs. This Saturday, the… Continue reading

The Kenai home school team ‘Aqua Intelligence’ won top prize for core values on Saturday at the First Lego League competition held at the Aurora Borealis Charter School in Kenai. The event recognized awards in five categories. The champion’s award, project award, core values award, robot design award and robot performance award. The core values award recognizes a team that excels in inspiration, teamwork and gracious professionalism. The ‘Aqua Intelligence’ team showed “extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit” and understand that they can “accomplish more together than they could as individuals.” (Photo by Kat Sorensen/ Peninsula Clarion)

Eyes on the sky

The Kenai Municipal Airport will be getting a quartet of publicly accessible, real-time cameras, meant to allow pilots planning a flight into Kenai to see… Continue reading

Kenai to examine land policy Wednesday

Editor's note: This story has been changed to clarify council member Mike Boyle's 2006 vote on creating the airport reserve.  On Wednesday, Kenai city council… Continue reading

This map, included in a report presented at Kenai’s Nov. 29 worksession on land management, highlights in blue the 353 lots of land owned by Kenai’s city government - equal to about a third of the city’s area. Policy reforms proposed at the worksession may lead to a plan for selling unused city land.

Land reforms possible for Kenai in 2018

Land policy revisions that the Kenai city council will be considering next year could bring big changes in Kenai’s dealings with those seeking to use… Continue reading

This map, included in a report presented at Kenai’s Nov. 29 worksession on land management, highlights in blue the 353 lots of land owned by Kenai’s city government - equal to about a third of the city’s area. Policy reforms proposed at the worksession may lead to a plan for selling unused city land.
A visit from St. Nicholas

A visit from St. Nicholas

’Twas the day before last when all through Kenai People were clamoring to meet one jolly guy. His suit was red and his beard was… Continue reading

A visit from St. Nicholas
Owner Jeanie Carter of the Curiosity Shop poses among her merchandise on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Like many small business owners in Kenai and Soldotna, Carter said the Thanksgiving weekend drew a lot of customers to her store, which offers gifts with local history that aren’t available in larger chain stores. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Gift-seekers visit local businesses on Thanksgiving weekend

A very chilly Black Friday found crowds peering into handmade pottery mugs, flipping through racks of hand-sewn scarves and jackets and chatting with artists at… Continue reading

Owner Jeanie Carter of the Curiosity Shop poses among her merchandise on Monday, Nov. 27, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Like many small business owners in Kenai and Soldotna, Carter said the Thanksgiving weekend drew a lot of customers to her store, which offers gifts with local history that aren’t available in larger chain stores. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai acquiring land for bluff erosion

Kenai’s municipal government is steadily buying the land necessary for a planned mile-long rock berm meant to halt the three-feet-per-year erosion wearing away the ground… Continue reading

Crash in Turnagain Pass sends 1 to hospital

Report says meth use up across state

Alongside the national conversation over the opioid epidemic, Alaskan health professionals are seeing a rise in methamphetamine use. A study released Tuesday by the Alaska… Continue reading

Crash in Turnagain Pass sends 1 to hospital
A crew from Gebhardt Construction puts metal siding on a Kenai building — erected as office space in 1968 but vacant since the mid-1980s, and now set to open in early 2018 as an Extreme Fun Center amusement hall and arcade — on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. John Schweiger, whose company Coming Attractions Theatres has owned the building and the adjacent Kenai Cinema since May, said crews are finishing the exterior before colder weather sets in, and will spend the winter refurbishing the inside, so the center “will hopefully be open for spring break.” Coming Attractions is “about 80 to 90 percent” through the process of deciding what attractions the center will feature, Schweiger said. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai arcade in progress

A crew from Gebhardt Construction puts metal siding on a Kenai building — erected as office space in 1968 but vacant since the mid-1980s, and… Continue reading

A crew from Gebhardt Construction puts metal siding on a Kenai building — erected as office space in 1968 but vacant since the mid-1980s, and now set to open in early 2018 as an Extreme Fun Center amusement hall and arcade — on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. John Schweiger, whose company Coming Attractions Theatres has owned the building and the adjacent Kenai Cinema since May, said crews are finishing the exterior before colder weather sets in, and will spend the winter refurbishing the inside, so the center “will hopefully be open for spring break.” Coming Attractions is “about 80 to 90 percent” through the process of deciding what attractions the center will feature, Schweiger said. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)
Aircraft diverted by fog from flights to Anchorage or Kodiak — including a trio of Ravn Alaska DeHaviland Dash Eights, two of which are pictured here — sit in front of the Kenai Municipal Airport terminal on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Fog throughout the Cook Inlet region has been hampering flight schedules all week — on Monday and Tuesday it grounded planes at the Kenai airport; shifting northward later in the week, it has prevented landings in Anchorage. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Fog brings traffic through Kenai airport

Fog rolling up and down the Cook Inlet region has been keeping flights on the ground this week, both at the Kenai Municipal Airport and… Continue reading

Aircraft diverted by fog from flights to Anchorage or Kodiak — including a trio of Ravn Alaska DeHaviland Dash Eights, two of which are pictured here — sit in front of the Kenai Municipal Airport terminal on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Fog throughout the Cook Inlet region has been hampering flight schedules all week — on Monday and Tuesday it grounded planes at the Kenai airport; shifting northward later in the week, it has prevented landings in Anchorage. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Kenai to record work sessions

Kenai’s city government will now make audio and video recordings not only of official council meetings, but also the less-formal discussions called work sessions. The… Continue reading

Crash in Turnagain Pass sends 1 to hospital

Car chase ends in Sterling crash

A Monday car chase that began in Kenai ended in Sterling when 28 year-old Dylan Adkins of Anchorage crashed a stolen white pick-up into some… Continue reading

Crash in Turnagain Pass sends 1 to hospital
Build your own library

Build your own library

Barb Christian, left, and Jane Fausternau peruse the selection at Kenai Community Library’s book sale on Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Sunday was… Continue reading

Build your own library

Pallet fires banned on Kenai beaches

By the middle of next summer, pallet fires will be illegal on Kenai’s beaches. On Wednesday the Kenai city council unanimously approved a ban on… Continue reading

Ann Fraser (left) and Steve Waldron (right), both of Kasilof) wave signs opposing Kenai Peninsula Borough Proposition 1 on the corner of Pollard Loop and the Sterling Highway on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017 in Kasilof, Alaska. Voters in Kasilof and the other unincorporated communities of the borough voted Tuesday on Proposition 1, which asked whether commercial cannabis operations should be legal in the borough ouside the city limits. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Borough ballot props fail

Cannabis businesses in the borough outside the cities can continue operations as usual with the failure of Kenai Peninsula Borough Proposition 1, according to Tuesday’s… Continue reading

Ann Fraser (left) and Steve Waldron (right), both of Kasilof) wave signs opposing Kenai Peninsula Borough Proposition 1 on the corner of Pollard Loop and the Sterling Highway on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017 in Kasilof, Alaska. Voters in Kasilof and the other unincorporated communities of the borough voted Tuesday on Proposition 1, which asked whether commercial cannabis operations should be legal in the borough ouside the city limits. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)