FILE - A sign requiring masks as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus on a store front in Philadelphia, is seen Feb. 16, 2022. Philadelphia is reinstating its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the city’s top health official, announced Monday, April 11, 2022. Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines call for people to wear masks indoors. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

US marks 1 million COVID-19 deaths; 15 more reported in Alaska

The state Department of Health and Social Services reported 15 more COVID-19 deaths Thursday, as the United States marked 1 million coronavirus-related deaths. According to… Continue reading

FILE - A sign requiring masks as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus on a store front in Philadelphia, is seen Feb. 16, 2022. Philadelphia is reinstating its indoor mask mandate after reporting a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, Dr. Cheryl Bettigole, the city’s top health official, announced Monday, April 11, 2022. Confirmed COVID-19 cases have risen more than 50% in 10 days, the threshold at which the city’s guidelines call for people to wear masks indoors. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was delayed Thursday, May 12, 2022, as lawmakers discussed in private how to move forward with a packed budget bill passed by the Alaska Senate. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
A floor session of the Alaska House of Representatives was delayed Thursday, May 12, 2022, as lawmakers discussed in private how to move forward with a packed budget bill passed by the Alaska Senate. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)
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Water and debris cover the Sterling Highway near Cooper Landing on Thursday, May 12, 2022 near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)

One lane of traffic open near Cooper Landing after Sterling Highway landslide

The landslide is the fourth environmental incident to strike the Kenai Peninsula this week

Water and debris cover the Sterling Highway near Cooper Landing on Thursday, May 12, 2022 near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Alaska gubernatorial candidate Les Gara campaigns on Friday, May 6, 2022, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Nate Graham, courtesy of Les Gara)

Gara brings gubernatorial bid to peninsula

The former state lawmaker announced last summer that he would be challenging incumbent Gov. Mike Dunleavy

Alaska gubernatorial candidate Les Gara campaigns on Friday, May 6, 2022, in Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Nate Graham, courtesy of Les Gara)
Jordyn Ortega walks the runway during an Alaska Fashion Week event on May 7, 2022. (Courtesy photo / Sydney Akagi Photography)

Alaska’s (fashion) capital brings fashion week back

Designers, models and attendees from across the continent came to Juneau for the show.

Jordyn Ortega walks the runway during an Alaska Fashion Week event on May 7, 2022. (Courtesy photo / Sydney Akagi Photography)
Presley Jackson waits in line before releasing her rainbow trout at the 21st annual Kenai Peninsula Salmon Celebration in Kasilof on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Grins, fins and lessons

Kids get caught up in releasing fish during annual celebration

Presley Jackson waits in line before releasing her rainbow trout at the 21st annual Kenai Peninsula Salmon Celebration in Kasilof on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
In this July 8, 2021, photo, adjunct history professor and research associate Larry Larrichio holds a copy of a late 19th century photograph of pupils at an Indigenous boarding school in Santa Fe during an interview in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department is expected to release a report Wednesday, May 11, 2022, that it says will begin to uncover the truth about the federal government’s past oversight of Native American boarding schools. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

Over 500 boarding school deaths found so far

The U.S. Interior Department released a report Wednesday on Native American boarding schools

  • May 11, 2022
  • By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press
  • State News
In this July 8, 2021, photo, adjunct history professor and research associate Larry Larrichio holds a copy of a late 19th century photograph of pupils at an Indigenous boarding school in Santa Fe during an interview in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The U.S. Interior Department is expected to release a report Wednesday, May 11, 2022, that it says will begin to uncover the truth about the federal government’s past oversight of Native American boarding schools. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)
Gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker stands in the Peninsula Clarion office on Friday, May 6, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

‘We need to invest in ourselves’

Walker highlights infrastructure opportunities, centrist status in campaign visit to peninsula

Gubernatorial candidate Bill Walker stands in the Peninsula Clarion office on Friday, May 6, 2022 in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A landslide blocks Lowell Point Road in Seward, Alaska on Sunday, May 8, 2022. (City of Seward)

Blasting work to begin on Seward landslide

The Kenai Peninsula Borough will facilitate a town hall for Lowell Point residents Friday

A landslide blocks Lowell Point Road in Seward, Alaska on Sunday, May 8, 2022. (City of Seward)
A wildfire burns near Milepost 46.5 of the Sterling Highway on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Cooper Landing Emergency Services)

Mop-up efforts continue at Cooper Landing fire

The fire was first reported on Tuesday evening

A wildfire burns near Milepost 46.5 of the Sterling Highway on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Cooper Landing Emergency Services)
Peter Segall / Juneau Empire
Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and Senate Finance Committee Co-chair Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, speak with Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, during an all-day debate on the state’s budget on the floor of the Alaska State Senate on Tuesday, May 9, 2022.

Senate OKs budget with $5,600 payments to Alaskans

Senators add nearly $1 billion in amendments

Peter Segall / Juneau Empire
Sen. Gary Stevens, R-Kodiak, and Senate Finance Committee Co-chair Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, speak with Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, during an all-day debate on the state’s budget on the floor of the Alaska State Senate on Tuesday, May 9, 2022.
Kenai Peninsula College Kenai River Campus valedictorian Sophia Nelson speaks at her virtual class graduation on Thursday, May 5, 2022. (Screenshot)

KPC graduates look to future

Students awarded diplomas in virtual ceremony

Kenai Peninsula College Kenai River Campus valedictorian Sophia Nelson speaks at her virtual class graduation on Thursday, May 5, 2022. (Screenshot)
Demonstrators in support of abortion rights stand at the intersection of the Kenai and Sterling highways on Saturday, May 7, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Locals rally for abortion rights

A leaked draft opinion signaled the Supreme Court’s intent to overturn Roe v. Wade

Demonstrators in support of abortion rights stand at the intersection of the Kenai and Sterling highways on Saturday, May 7, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuge Vice President and Outreach Chair Poppy Benson collects litter from the side of the highway at the refuge in Soldotna, Alaska on Friday, April 30, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Spring cleanups sweep across area

Events are taking place this month

Friends of Alaska National Wildlife Refuge Vice President and Outreach Chair Poppy Benson collects litter from the side of the highway at the refuge in Soldotna, Alaska on Friday, April 30, 2021. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
A wildfire burns near Milepost 46.5 of the Sterling Highway on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Cooper Landing Emergency Services)

Emergency services responding to wildfire near Cooper Landing

The fire is located at Milepost 46.5 of the Sterling Highway

A wildfire burns near Milepost 46.5 of the Sterling Highway on Tuesday, May 10, 2022, near Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Cooper Landing Emergency Services)
A recent photo of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane, missing since Oct. 17, 2019, in Homer, Alaska. (Photo provided, Homer Police Department)
A recent photo of Anesha “Duffy” Murnane, missing since Oct. 17, 2019, in Homer, Alaska. (Photo provided, Homer Police Department)
A member of the Gannet Glacier Type 2 Initial Attack Crew uses a drip torch during a burnout operation at the Swan Lake Fire on June 18, 2019. (Photo courtesy Alaska Division of Forestry)

Wind, dry conditions trigger burn suspension

Burns of all sizes requiring permits are prohibited, including burn barrels, lawn burning and brush piles

A member of the Gannet Glacier Type 2 Initial Attack Crew uses a drip torch during a burnout operation at the Swan Lake Fire on June 18, 2019. (Photo courtesy Alaska Division of Forestry)
Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the Soldotna Senior Center with Executive Director Loretta Knudson-Spalding on Friday, May 6, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

Dunleavy drops in for senior center celebration

The center celebrated the purchase of two new Meals on Wheels vehicles

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the Soldotna Senior Center with Executive Director Loretta Knudson-Spalding on Friday, May 6, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
A landslide blocks Lowell Point Road in Seward, Alaska on Sunday, May 8, 2022. (City of Seward)

Cleanup underway for 300-foot-wide Seward landslide

The slide buried a large part of Lowell Point Road along Resurrection Bay

A landslide blocks Lowell Point Road in Seward, Alaska on Sunday, May 8, 2022. (City of Seward)