Ben Boettger

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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

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

Land donation still pending for Kenai Performers

In August 2015, the Kenai City Council approved the donation of two acres of city land on the corner of Evergreen Street and the Kenai… 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

Kenai Watershed Forum water quality specialist Branden Bornemann (right) talks to a visitor during the Kenai Watershed Forum’s holiday open house Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. The nonprofit held a community open house at its headquarters behind Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday night to celebrate the events of the past year. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Celebrating together

Kenai Watershed Forum GIS specialist Branden Bornemann (right) talks to a visitor during the Kenai Watershed Forum’s holiday open house Wednesday in Soldotna. The nonprofit… Continue reading

Kenai Watershed Forum water quality specialist Branden Bornemann (right) talks to a visitor during the Kenai Watershed Forum’s holiday open house Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2017 in Soldotna, Alaska. The nonprofit held a community open house at its headquarters behind Soldotna Creek Park on Wednesday night to celebrate the events of the past year. (Photo by Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Spruce bark beetles returning on north peninsula

After a string of warm summers, the Kenai Peninsula’s spruce bark beetles are now hitting their highest numbers since their last outbreak in the 1990s.… Continue reading

A broken black spruce tree lies in the middle of Baron Park Road behind the old Lowe’s building on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Gusts of wind up to 55 miles per hour whipped across the western Kenai Peninsula on Monday afternoon, knocking power lines and trees down and keeping first responders busy. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Fallen trees cause power outages across central peninsula

High winds brought down trees across the Kenai Peninsula on Monday. In many cases, those trees also brought down power lines. By 2 p.m, Central… Continue reading

A broken black spruce tree lies in the middle of Baron Park Road behind the old Lowe’s building on Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. Gusts of wind up to 55 miles per hour whipped across the western Kenai Peninsula on Monday afternoon, knocking power lines and trees down and keeping first responders busy. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)
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.

Local author shares empathy and family history

At Friday’s annual post-Thanksgiving gifts bazaar, Mary Haakenson Perry sat among the local merchants and craftspeople in Kenai’s Challenger Learning Center. Her table held copies… Continue reading

Kitchen manager Beau Jamison of the Duck Inn slices the breast meat of one of the twelve turkeys he prepared for the restuarant’s Thanksgiving dinner at the Duck Inn on Kalifornsky Beach Road on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017 near Soldotna, Alaska. This Thanksgiving — the twelfth for which that Jamison has prepared the Duck Inn’s traditional meal, closes a year of hardship for Jamison — in August he recieved a clean diagnosis after struggling with lymphoma since October 2016, and it’s his first year as a single father after his wife’s death. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

After cancer, wife’s death, Duck Inn kitchen manager keeps serving Thanksgiving

As the Duck Inn restaurant served its 11th annual all-you-can-eat Thanksgiving dinner Thursday, owner Lela Rosin said she’s thankful for one specific thing: the Duck’s… Continue reading

Kitchen manager Beau Jamison of the Duck Inn slices the breast meat of one of the twelve turkeys he prepared for the restuarant’s Thanksgiving dinner at the Duck Inn on Kalifornsky Beach Road on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017 near Soldotna, Alaska. This Thanksgiving — the twelfth for which that Jamison has prepared the Duck Inn’s traditional meal, closes a year of hardship for Jamison — in August he recieved a clean diagnosis after struggling with lymphoma since October 2016, and it’s his first year as a single father after his wife’s death. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Trees caused HEA outages in Sterling

Birch trees laden with snow and ice will — as poet Robert Frost memorialized in his piece “Birches” — often “bend to left and right/across… Continue reading

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

Kenai Peninsula Food Bank director Linda Swarner to retire

After 15 years as Executive Director of the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank, Linda Swarner will be retiring from the position in spring 2018. Swarner announced… Continue reading

Summer treatments diminished elodea in three lakes

As the Kenai Peninsula’s lakes ice over, the three in which the invasive waterweed elodea were found this summer have been largely freed from infestation,… Continue reading

Electric vehicles raise more questions than answers

Though electric cars are finding enthusiastic users in Alaska’s Southeast, how they would perform on the Kenai Peninsula is largely a speculative matter. To date,… Continue reading

A goalie from Soldotna High School’s Soldotna Stars hockey team prepares to block a teammate’s shot during a practice on Monday, Nov. 13 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

Approaching the goal

… Continue reading

A goalie from Soldotna High School’s Soldotna Stars hockey team prepares to block a teammate’s shot during a practice on Monday, Nov. 13 at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna. (Ben Boettger/Peninsula Clarion)

HEA holds first energy technology workshops

Conversations at Homer Electric Association (HEA)’s first Energy Technology Workshop on Thursday at Kenai Peninsula College ranged from very practical — increasing home energy efficiency… Continue reading

Clear skies

We knew it would gush rain all weekend but decided to go anyway. I sliced off the top of a plastic milk jug and said… Continue reading

Furie defers 2017 drilling for want of tax credit payment

Cook Inlet gas producer Furie Operating Alaska is blaming its scuttled 2017 drilling season on a technical problem and the Alaska government’s nonpayment of incentive… 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)

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)