News

A map shows what Native-owned land parcels fall within the current boundaries of the Nikiski Fire Service Area. The assembly is considering excluding those parcels from the coverage area of the Nikiski Advisory Planning Commission, which currently has the same boundaries as the fire service area. (Map via Kenai Peninsula Borough)

Assembly bumps vote on size of Nikiski planning group to mid-April

Assembly members last fall approved the creation of a Nikiski Advisory Planning Commission that includes communities on the west side of Cook Inlet

A map shows what Native-owned land parcels fall within the current boundaries of the Nikiski Fire Service Area. The assembly is considering excluding those parcels from the coverage area of the Nikiski Advisory Planning Commission, which currently has the same boundaries as the fire service area. (Map via Kenai Peninsula Borough)
This photo provided by the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey shows the Tanaga Volcano near Adak, Alaska, on May 23, 2021. Diminished earthquake activity led authorities Thursday, March 16, 2023, to reduce the warning level at two volcanoes, including the Tanaga Volcano, on an uninhabited island in Alaska’s Aleutian chain because of the decreased potential for eruptions. (Matt Loewen/Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File)

Alaska volcanoes now pose lower threat, after quakes slow

The Alaska Volcano Observatory lowered the warning level to “Advisory” status from “Watch”

  • Mar 16, 2023
  • By Mark Thiessen Associated Press
  • State News
This photo provided by the Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey shows the Tanaga Volcano near Adak, Alaska, on May 23, 2021. Diminished earthquake activity led authorities Thursday, March 16, 2023, to reduce the warning level at two volcanoes, including the Tanaga Volcano, on an uninhabited island in Alaska’s Aleutian chain because of the decreased potential for eruptions. (Matt Loewen/Alaska Volcano Observatory/U.S. Geological Survey via AP, File)
This 2019 aerial photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. (ConocoPhillips via AP)

Willow oil project approval intensifies Alaska Natives’ rift

Two lawsuits filed almost immediately by environmentalists and one Alaska Native group are likely to exacerbate tensions

This 2019 aerial photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. (ConocoPhillips via AP)
Nurse Tracy Silta draws a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the walk-in clinic at the intersection of the Kenai Spur and Sterling Highways in Soldotna, Alaska on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Camille Botello / Peninsula Clarion)

State officials say influenza and RSV in decline, COVID-19 still around

Though cases are dropping, weekly nationwide COVID deaths reported by the CDC remain around 2,000

Nurse Tracy Silta draws a dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the walk-in clinic at the intersection of the Kenai Spur and Sterling Highways in Soldotna, Alaska on Wednesday, June 9, 2021. (Camille Botello / Peninsula Clarion)
The banks of the Kenai River can be seen on July 14, 2020, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

KRSA founder Bob Penney dead at 90

Statements were released by KRSA, Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan and Gov. Mike Dunleavy

The banks of the Kenai River can be seen on July 14, 2020, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire An employee leaves the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, where the 60 members of the Alaska State Legislature are slated to get a 67% pay increase to $84,000 annually following the unanimous vote by the five new members of the Alaska State Officers Compensation Commission, who were appointed during the past week to replace commission members whose majority voted to rejected the raises.

Sudden 67% pay hike OK’d for legislators

Salary commission that rejected raises is replaced by new members who recommend salaries of $84K.

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire An employee leaves the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, where the 60 members of the Alaska State Legislature are slated to get a 67% pay increase to $84,000 annually following the unanimous vote by the five new members of the Alaska State Officers Compensation Commission, who were appointed during the past week to replace commission members whose majority voted to rejected the raises.
Demonstrators gather outside of the Kenai Courthouse on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

State officials clarify grand jury role

They weighed in as the assembly’s Legislative Committee considered a resolution on grand juries

Demonstrators gather outside of the Kenai Courthouse on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: Cases and hospitalizations drop

The state reported no new resident deaths from COVID-19 this week

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
Ryan Redington mushes down Front Street to win the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Tuesday, March 14, 2023 in Nome, Alaska. Redington, 40, is the grandson of Joe Redington Sr., who helped co-found the arduous race across Alaska that was first held in 1973 and is known as the “Father of the Iditarod.” (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

Ryan Redington wins Iditarod

He’s the grandson of Iditarod co-founder

Ryan Redington mushes down Front Street to win the 2023 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Tuesday, March 14, 2023 in Nome, Alaska. Redington, 40, is the grandson of Joe Redington Sr., who helped co-found the arduous race across Alaska that was first held in 1973 and is known as the “Father of the Iditarod.” (Loren Holmes/Anchorage Daily News via AP)
Foreground: Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland, left, and KPBSD Finance Director Liz Hayes, right, speak about the district’s fiscal year 2024 budget during a work session with the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

School district, borough mull budget shortfall as cuts loom

The two groups convened for a work session Tuesday

Foreground: Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Superintendent Clayton Holland, left, and KPBSD Finance Director Liz Hayes, right, speak about the district’s fiscal year 2024 budget during a work session with the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
This 2019 photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. The Biden administration’s approval of the massive oil development in northern Alaska on Monday, March 13, 2023, commits the U.S. to yet another decades-long crude project even as scientists urgently warn that only a halt to more fossil fuel emissions can stem climate change. ConocoPhillips’ Willow project was approved Monday and would result in at least 263 million tons of planet-warming gases over 30 years. (ConocoPhillips via AP)

Willow approval adds yet another climate concern

ConocoPhillips’ Willow project would produce 180,000 barrels of oil a day at its peak

This 2019 photo provided by ConocoPhillips shows an exploratory drilling camp at the proposed site of the Willow oil project on Alaska’s North Slope. The Biden administration’s approval of the massive oil development in northern Alaska on Monday, March 13, 2023, commits the U.S. to yet another decades-long crude project even as scientists urgently warn that only a halt to more fossil fuel emissions can stem climate change. ConocoPhillips’ Willow project was approved Monday and would result in at least 263 million tons of planet-warming gases over 30 years. (ConocoPhillips via AP)
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland gestures while addressing reporters during a news conference, April 21, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Haaland on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, withdrew a 2019 exchange agreement finalized during the Trump administration that has been the subject of ongoing litigation, citing a lack of public participation and environmental review. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)

Haaland wades into thorny Izembek land exchange fight

On Tuesday, she withdrew a 2019 agreement finalized during the Trump administration

  • Mar 14, 2023
  • By Becky Bohrer Associated Press
  • State News
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland gestures while addressing reporters during a news conference, April 21, 2022, in Anchorage, Alaska. Haaland on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, withdrew a 2019 exchange agreement finalized during the Trump administration that has been the subject of ongoing litigation, citing a lack of public participation and environmental review. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
Mike Crawford, Chair of the Kenai/Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee, writes the language of an amendment to Board of Game Proposal 105, passed unanimously by the committee during a meeting on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, at the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Board of Game to meet this weekend in Soldotna

The Southcentral Region Meeting is scheduled to run from Friday to Tuesday

Mike Crawford, Chair of the Kenai/Soldotna Fish and Game Advisory Committee, writes the language of an amendment to Board of Game Proposal 105, passed unanimously by the committee during a meeting on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, at the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Glen Trombley, a Kenai River personal use guide, testifies to the Alaska Board of Fisheries during the 2023 Statewide Finfish Meeting on March 10, 2023 at the Egan Civic & Convention Center in Anchorage Alaska. (Screenshot)

Board of Fisheries approves regulation changes

Changes include simplified registration and new invasive species

Glen Trombley, a Kenai River personal use guide, testifies to the Alaska Board of Fisheries during the 2023 Statewide Finfish Meeting on March 10, 2023 at the Egan Civic & Convention Center in Anchorage Alaska. (Screenshot)
Gavel (File)

Kenai woman sentenced to 10 years for federal drug trafficking and firearms charges

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the case with the Alaska State Troopers and the Kenai Police Department

Gavel (File)
The Alaska Judicial Council listens to public testimony during the public hearing held as part of the selection process for a new Kenai Superior Court Judge on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska. Members include (from left to right) Geraldine Simon, Lynne Gallant, Dave Parker, Chief Justice Daniel E. Winfree, Kristie Babcock, Patricia A. Collins and Jonathon Katcher. They would ultimately name Kelly J. Lawson as one of the four nominees for the role. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Lawson named to Kenai Superior Court

Lawson is a victim rights’ attorney from Anchorage

The Alaska Judicial Council listens to public testimony during the public hearing held as part of the selection process for a new Kenai Superior Court Judge on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, at the Kenai Courthouse in Kenai, Alaska. Members include (from left to right) Geraldine Simon, Lynne Gallant, Dave Parker, Chief Justice Daniel E. Winfree, Kristie Babcock, Patricia A. Collins and Jonathon Katcher. They would ultimately name Kelly J. Lawson as one of the four nominees for the role. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Community members participate in the St. Patrick’s Parade in Soldotna on March 17, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)

St. Patrick’s Day Parade to return for 32nd year

Those interested in walking with the parade can just show up at Parker Park at 4 p.m.

Community members participate in the St. Patrick’s Parade in Soldotna on March 17, 2022. (Camille Botello/Peninsula Clarion)
The Alaska Board of Fisheries discusses three emergency petitions directed at Cook Inlet East Side Set Net closures during the 2023 Statewide Finfish Meeting on Monday, March 13, 2023, at the Egan Civic & Convention Center in Anchorage Alaska. (Screenshot)

Fisheries board rejects local anglers’ emergency petitions

Each of the petitions was rejected for failing to meet the board’s definition of an emergency

The Alaska Board of Fisheries discusses three emergency petitions directed at Cook Inlet East Side Set Net closures during the 2023 Statewide Finfish Meeting on Monday, March 13, 2023, at the Egan Civic & Convention Center in Anchorage Alaska. (Screenshot)
Areas cleared to make way for the Cooper Landing Bypass Project (bottom) can be seen above the Kenai River in Cooper Landing in this Aug. 10, 2021, photo. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion file)

Borough mulls plans for bypass parcel

The 1,000-acre Juneau Bench, or Unit 395, is located north of the Sterling Highway

Areas cleared to make way for the Cooper Landing Bypass Project (bottom) can be seen above the Kenai River in Cooper Landing in this Aug. 10, 2021, photo. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion file)
Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, testifies about his proposed constitutional amendment that would change how Permanent Fund earnings are allocated during a House Ways and Means Committee meeting Saturday morning at the Alaska State Capitol. The committee spent two hours taking testimony almost entirely by phone from residents statewide about five proposals related to the Permanent Fund and dividends, which continued the long historical pattern of strongly divided feelings about how much money to use for dividends vs. state government programs.

PFD proposals discussed at weekend hearing

The hearing addressed five specific legislative proposals

Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire State Rep. Cliff Groh, D-Anchorage, testifies about his proposed constitutional amendment that would change how Permanent Fund earnings are allocated during a House Ways and Means Committee meeting Saturday morning at the Alaska State Capitol. The committee spent two hours taking testimony almost entirely by phone from residents statewide about five proposals related to the Permanent Fund and dividends, which continued the long historical pattern of strongly divided feelings about how much money to use for dividends vs. state government programs.