Assembly member Cindy Ecklund speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly shuts down ordinances that would tax tobacco, fund child care

Ordinance 2024-15 sought to combat the lack of affordable, accessible and quality child care in the borough

Assembly member Cindy Ecklund speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska State Troopers logo.

Anchorage resident dead after Sunday collision

The collision closed the Seward Highway for roughly six hours

Alaska State Troopers logo.
The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)

Fundraising efforts spring up after 2 families are displaced by Monday fire

Kenai Fire Department responded to a structure fire around 1 a.m. on Monday

The Kenai Fire Department headquarters are photographed on Feb. 13, 2018, in Kenai, Alaska. (Peninsula Clarion file)
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Central Kenai Peninsula athletes who will be competing in the Special Olympics Alaska 2024 Summer State Games stand for a photo at Soldotna Creek Park on Tuesday.

Local athletes travel to Anchorage to compete in Special Olympics Summer Games

The team will participate in swimming and basketball skills competitions

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Central Kenai Peninsula athletes who will be competing in the Special Olympics Alaska 2024 Summer State Games stand for a photo at Soldotna Creek Park on Tuesday.
Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Emily Musgrove emerges from a cloud of orange powder during a color run as part of the opening night of the Levitt AMP Soldotna Music Series along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna on Wednesday.

Music and color return to Soldotna Creek Park

Soldotna Music Series kicks off with celebration under rainfall

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Emily Musgrove emerges from a cloud of orange powder during a color run as part of the opening night of the Levitt AMP Soldotna Music Series along the Sterling Highway in Soldotna on Wednesday.
Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche speaks during a meeting of the Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly unanimously approves borough budget

The budget describes around $178 million in revenue and $180 million in expenditures

Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Peter Micciche speaks during a meeting of the Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Cheri Smith, executive director of The LeeShore Center, speaks about the center’s work and services at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

LeeShore Center shares stats on domestic violence, gives update on community efforts

The agency aims to “promote healthy families in a violence-free community while providing a safe haven for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault”

Cheri Smith, executive director of The LeeShore Center, speaks about the center’s work and services at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Alaska State Troopers logo.

Minnesota man arrested on charges of car theft, credit card fraud

Troopers stopped the vehicle just past the junction of the Seward and Sterling highways

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Alaska State Troopers logo.

Body of woman recovered in Seward waters

Troopers were notified at about 11 a.m. that a person in waders was having trouble staying above water

Alaska State Troopers logo.
An arch marks the entrance to the Church of St. Nicholas on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Nikolaevsk, Alaska. In rear, cars are parked in front of a building that has been used this school year as a makeshift classroom for families part of a home-school cooperative. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Nikolaevsk, Forest School charters not moving forward

Nikolaevsk’s application sought a school with closer adherence to the practices of Nikolaevsk’s Russian Old Believer community

An arch marks the entrance to the Church of St. Nicholas on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023, in Nikolaevsk, Alaska. In rear, cars are parked in front of a building that has been used this school year as a makeshift classroom for families part of a home-school cooperative. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Vice President Tyson Cox speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly adds 3 recipients to opioid grant awards

The grant program was created to distribute funds received by the borough through three nationwide settlement agreements

Vice President Tyson Cox speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly in Soldotna, Alaska, on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Central Emergency Services Fire Chief Roy Browning stands in the agency’s ambulance supply room on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Additional $5 million may be directed to construction of new CES fire station

Voters in the October 2022 election authorized the issuance of a $16.5 million bond for the replacement fire station

Central Emergency Services Fire Chief Roy Browning stands in the agency’s ambulance supply room on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A freshly stocked rainbow trout swims in Johnson Lake during Salmon Celebration on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at Johnson Lake in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A freshly stocked rainbow trout swims in Johnson Lake during Salmon Celebration on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, at Johnson Lake in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A harbor seal pup rescued from near Kachemak Bay is treated by Wildlife Response Program staff at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska. (Photo provided by Alaska SeaLife Center)

SeaLife Center admits 2 more seal pups to wildlife response program

The newly rescued pups were found near Homer and Cordova

A harbor seal pup rescued from near Kachemak Bay is treated by Wildlife Response Program staff at the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, Alaska. (Photo provided by Alaska SeaLife Center)
Clayton Holland, superintendent of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, speaks during a meeting of the Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, June 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Holland to remain KPBSD superintendent

Clayton Holland will remain the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s superintendent through June 2027 after the district’s Board of Education on Monday approved a new… Continue reading

Clayton Holland, superintendent of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, speaks during a meeting of the Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, June 3, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A guide from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge leads visitors on a hike of Centennial Trail near Soldotna on Saturday, June 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Refuge readies for another season of Guided Discovery Hikes

Guided Discovery Hikes are scheduled for every Friday and Saturday from June 21 to Aug. 30

A guide from the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge leads visitors on a hike of Centennial Trail near Soldotna on Saturday, June 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Voters fill out their ballots at the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, Alaska on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Races for State Legislature come into focus after filing deadline

Incumbents Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and Reps. Justin Ruffridge and Sarah Vance are all facing challengers,

Voters fill out their ballots at the Challenger Learning Center in Kenai, Alaska on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Zen Kelly, president of the board, speaks during a special meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s School Board in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, April 15, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

School board directs KPBSD to begin restoring cut positions

The board had previously advanced and approved a budget based on “the worst-case scenario” of no additional funding for the state

Zen Kelly, president of the board, speaks during a special meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s School Board in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, April 15, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
A sockeye salmon rests atop a cooler at the mouth of the Kasilof River on Monday, June 26, 2023, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Commercial drift fishing outlook published by Fish and Game ahead of opening

Around 5.7 million sockeye are expected to return to Upper Cook Inlet

A sockeye salmon rests atop a cooler at the mouth of the Kasilof River on Monday, June 26, 2023, in Kasilof, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Participants are covered with colored powder during a color run held as part of during the Levitt AMP Soldotna Music Series on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center in Soldotna (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Soldotna Music Series debuts Wednesday with color run, Hope Social Club

This is the second year that the series’ opening has been heralded by runners covered in vibrant powder

Participants are covered with colored powder during a color run held as part of during the Levitt AMP Soldotna Music Series on Wednesday, June 7, 2023, at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge Visitor’s Center in Soldotna (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)