A friendly competition between the Kenai’s District Attorney’s Office and the Public Defender Agency helped people in need this holiday season. 

The two offices, which generally compete toe-to-toe at the Kenai Courthouse, collected food last week as part of a private food drive. The public defenders won the competition, donating 1,547 pounds of canned and dried foods. The district attorneys donated 978 pounds of food.

Assistant district attorney Angela Garay started the food drive after speaking with her mother who volunteers at the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank. 

A man accused of killing a Seward woman 29 years ago pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of manslaughter after years of legal proceedings.

State prosecutors and Jimmy Eacker’s public defendant Ben Adams negotiated a lesser charge than the original first-degree murder charge, according to state cold case prosecutor Paul Miovas. Superior Court Judge Anna Moran accepted the plea agreement.

“We’ve been discussing the matter for quite some time,” Miovas said.

School programs and the availability of reproductive health services keep the Kenai Peninsula’s teen birth rate consistent with Alaska’s largest city, health officials said.

However, according to Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics data, the Peninsula has a higher teen birth rate than the national average despite three straight years of national decline. The consequences of teen pregnancy, such as higher likelihood of welfare use and child neglect, can have a negative effect on mother and child.

A former Cooper Landing fishing guide was charged last week with stealing from nearly 70 clients by failing to provide trips booked with his guiding business in 2010 and 2011.

Thomas W. Murray, the owner of Wise Guide Outfitters of Cooper Landing, was alleged to have failed to provide package-deal fishing vacations that included transportation to and from Anchorage and Cooper Landing, five full days of guided fishing trips, all meals, six nights lodging as well as camp fires and sightseeing tours, according to an Alaska State Troopers press release.