Ashlyn O'Hara

The logo for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is displayed inside the George A. Navarre Borough Admin Building on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The logo for the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District is displayed inside the George A. Navarre Borough Admin Building on Thursday, July 22, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Lisa Gabriel is honored for her 28 years of service to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District during a Board of Education meeting on Monday, July 11, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

School district honors retiring secretary

Lisa Gabriel has worked for the school district for 28 years

Lisa Gabriel is honored for her 28 years of service to the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District during a Board of Education meeting on Monday, July 11, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A sample ballot for the Aug. 16, 2022, Alaska regular primary election for House District 7. (Courtesy Alaska Division of Elections)

Reminder: Voter registration deadline is July 17

Alaskans will cast ballots in the state’s special general election and the regular primary election

A sample ballot for the Aug. 16, 2022, Alaska regular primary election for House District 7. (Courtesy Alaska Division of Elections)
Donald Trump addresses attendees at a Save America rally on Saturday, July 9, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Trump in Anchorage

Former U.S. president speaks to a crowd of 5,000, endorses Tshibaka, Palin

Donald Trump addresses attendees at a Save America rally on Saturday, July 9, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Megan Pacer / Homer News 
A giant silver salmon is paraded through Salmonfest on Aug. 3, 2019, in Ninilchik.

Umphrey’s McGee, Shakey Graves to headline Salmonfest 2022

The festival returns Aug. 5-7 in Ninilchik

Megan Pacer / Homer News 
A giant silver salmon is paraded through Salmonfest on Aug. 3, 2019, in Ninilchik.
Recycling signage is displayed on an upscaled dumpster used to collect plastics as part of a project to turn discarded plastic waste into artificial lumber, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Lori Landstrom)

Seward recycling program to turn plastic into lumber

The program was made possible by grant money awarded through the Environmental Protection Agency

Recycling signage is displayed on an upscaled dumpster used to collect plastics as part of a project to turn discarded plastic waste into artificial lumber, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Lori Landstrom)
Slash is piled at the City of Kenai’s slash disposal site on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. The Kenai Peninsula Borough will use $300,000 in general funds to set up temporary slash disposal sites in multiple communities throughout the borough. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly OKs $300k for borough slash sites

The move is in response to the ongoing spruce bark beetle outbreak

Slash is piled at the City of Kenai’s slash disposal site on Wednesday, June 15, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. The Kenai Peninsula Borough will use $300,000 in general funds to set up temporary slash disposal sites in multiple communities throughout the borough. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
COVID

COVID cases, hospitalizations, down from last week’s report

Officials say hospitalization data is the most effective indicator of the prevalence of the virus

COVID
Alaska LNG Project Manager Brad Chastain presents information about the project during a luncheon at the Kenai Chamber Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

‘Window of opportunity’ seen for LNG Project

Brad Chastain presented the current status of the project Wednesday

Alaska LNG Project Manager Brad Chastain presents information about the project during a luncheon at the Kenai Chamber Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Central Emergency Services staff wait to receive doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Central Emergency Services staff wait to receive doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine on Friday, Dec. 18, 2020 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Cook Inlet can be seen at low tide from North Kenai Beach on June 15, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Comment period on proposed Cook Inlet lease sale opens Friday

Cook Inlet is one of 11 locations described in the department’s Proposed Program for the National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program

Cook Inlet can be seen at low tide from North Kenai Beach on June 15, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Signs warn Fred Meyer customers to prepay if they thing they may go over limits while pumping gas on Friday, March 11, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Analysis: Inflation is up in Alaska

Alaska’s 2021 average inflation rate was the largest annual price increase since 1990

Signs warn Fred Meyer customers to prepay if they thing they may go over limits while pumping gas on Friday, March 11, 2022 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A podium marks the beginning of a StoryWalk at Soldotna Creek Park on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

StoryWalk is back after vandalism

The installation was discontinued last September after someone damaged the poles and podium plexiglass

A podium marks the beginning of a StoryWalk at Soldotna Creek Park on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Jessica Cook, left, and Les Gara are photographed in The Peninsula Clarion’s offices Thursday in Kenai. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Gara, Cook campaign on the Kenai Peninsula

The pair cited education funding, reproductive rights and election security as priorities

Jessica Cook, left, and Les Gara are photographed in The Peninsula Clarion’s offices Thursday in Kenai. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A map shows the Seward Highway MP 17-22.5 Rehabilitation Project area. The Seward Highway between Mileposts 17 and 22.5 — from about Primrose Campground to near Teddy’s Inn The Woods — will be closed from 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesday starting July 18, 2022. (Screenshot)

Roadwork in Moose Pass to shut parts of Seward Highway

The Seward Highway between Mileposts 17 and 22.5 will be closed from 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesday starting July 18

A map shows the Seward Highway MP 17-22.5 Rehabilitation Project area. The Seward Highway between Mileposts 17 and 22.5 — from about Primrose Campground to near Teddy’s Inn The Woods — will be closed from 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. on Mondays and Wednesday starting July 18, 2022. (Screenshot)
Assembly members participate during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Another renewable energy company seeks to set up peninsula solar farm

Utopian Power wants to build a two-megawatt solar farm on a 40-acre chunk of land owned by the borough

Assembly members participate during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, June 21, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Tyson Cox, left, speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Penisula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Assembly OKs pay bumps for planning commissioners

The 14-member body is responsible for the “systematic development and betterment” of the borough

Tyson Cox, left, speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Penisula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, April 19, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The Sterling Highway crosses the Kenai River near the Russian River Campground on March 15, 2020, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

1-year Russian River Campground closure starts Aug. 15

The closure will allow extensive construction work to take place

The Sterling Highway crosses the Kenai River near the Russian River Campground on March 15, 2020, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)
KPBSD Summer Work Program Coordinator Olivia Orth welcomes guests to a program celebration in the Soldotna High School Library on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Summer Work Program students celebrated

The program places current KPBSD students with disabilities in local businesses

KPBSD Summer Work Program Coordinator Olivia Orth welcomes guests to a program celebration in the Soldotna High School Library on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy signs Alaska’s fiscal year 2023 operating and capital budgets into law on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office)

Dunleavy signs budget

$3,200 in payments to Alaskans, money for local projects included

Gov. Mike Dunleavy signs Alaska’s fiscal year 2023 operating and capital budgets into law on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s office)