U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski attends a joint Soldotna and Kenai Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Murkowski talks LNG, local projects in Soldotna

Murkowski caught up the Clarion on oil and gas resources and what it looks like to collaborate with local government to get things done

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski attends a joint Soldotna and Kenai Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
The Kenai Public Health Center is seen on a cloudy Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

State issues new guidance to combat ongoing syphilis epidemic

The alert urges increased screening for pregnant people

The Kenai Public Health Center is seen on a cloudy Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Areas cleared to make way for the Cooper Landing Bypass Project (bottom) can be seen above the Kenai River in Cooper Landing in this August 10, 2021, photo. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion file)

Bypass project costs jump, state looks for more funding

The long-planned project aims to reduce traffic congestion through Cooper Landing

Areas cleared to make way for the Cooper Landing Bypass Project (bottom) can be seen above the Kenai River in Cooper Landing in this August 10, 2021, photo. (Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion file)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: Hospitalizations steady, 1 local death reported

An update to the Alaska COVID-19 Information Hub on Tuesday, the first since the platform shifted to monthly reporting, shows that COVID-19 levels have remained… Continue reading

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy prepares to deliver opening remarks at a bill signing event at Twin Cities Veterinary Clinic on Thursday, July 6, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Dunleavy signs 2 Ruffridge bills into law during Soldotna ceremony

Amid the throng of furry friends filing in and out of Twin Cities Veterinary Clinic on Thursday morning were the governor of Alaska, a state… Continue reading

Gov. Mike Dunleavy prepares to deliver opening remarks at a bill signing event at Twin Cities Veterinary Clinic on Thursday, July 6, 2023 in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Mount Redoubt can be seen acoss Cook Inlet from North Kenai Beach on Thursday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)

Utilities, state lawmaker call on state to investigate Hilcorp compliance with Cook Inlet leases

A state lawmaker and the leaders of four major electric utilities are calling for the State of Alaska to investigate whether or not Cook Inlet’s… Continue reading

Mount Redoubt can be seen acoss Cook Inlet from North Kenai Beach on Thursday, July 2, 2022. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Two commercial troll fishing boats pass each other on June 2, 2020, at Mountain Point in Ketchikan, Alaska. A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s chinook salmon fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish. (Dustin Safranek/Ketchikan Daily News via AP, File)

King salmon season back on in Alaska after federal appeals court lets fishery open July 1

The ruling by a three-judge 9th Circuit Court panel means the summer king salmon season will start as usual next week

  • Jun 21, 2023
  • By MARK THIESSEN and AUDREY McAVOY Associated Press
  • NewsState News
Two commercial troll fishing boats pass each other on June 2, 2020, at Mountain Point in Ketchikan, Alaska. A U.S. appeals court on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, halted a lower court ruling that would have shut down southeast Alaska’s chinook salmon fishery for the summer to protect endangered orca whales that eat the fish. (Dustin Safranek/Ketchikan Daily News via AP, File)
The Kenai Public Health Center is seen on Feb. 6, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Health department: Congenital syphilis increased ‘dramatically’ over past 5 years

The condition occurs when the bacteria that causes syphilis is transmitted from a pregnant person to a developing fetus

The Kenai Public Health Center is seen on Feb. 6, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the Kenai Classic Roundtable at Kenai Peninsula College on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022 near Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Dunleavy budget vetoes include peninsula projects, bonus funding for schools

Funding for Kenai Peninsula projects and a slash to the extra money approved by state lawmakers for K-12 education are among the vetoes made by… Continue reading

Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks at the Kenai Classic Roundtable at Kenai Peninsula College on Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022 near Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
A sign opposing the participation of trans girls in girls sports is propped against a fire hydrant outside of the George A. Navarre Admin Building on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. The Alaska Board of Education met in the building to discuss a resolution that would ban trans girls from girls high school sports. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Peninsula residents protest trans girls in sports at state school board meeting

The Alaska Board of Education last week met at the George A. Navarre Kenai Peninsula Borough Administration Building in Soldotna

A sign opposing the participation of trans girls in girls sports is propped against a fire hydrant outside of the George A. Navarre Admin Building on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. The Alaska Board of Education met in the building to discuss a resolution that would ban trans girls from girls high school sports. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
An Epidemiology Bulletin titled “Drowning Deaths in Alaska, 2016-2021” published Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Screenshot)

Health officials say Alaska leads nation in drowning deaths, urge safe practices

A majority of non-occupational Alaska drownings occur in relation to boating, both for recreation and for subsistence

An Epidemiology Bulletin titled “Drowning Deaths in Alaska, 2016-2021” published Wednesday, May 31, 2023. (Screenshot)
In this aerial photo chunks of ice follow flooding from an ice jam in Crooked Creek, Alaska, May 15, 2023. Ice jams along two Alaska rivers unleashed major flooding over the weekend. (Jennifer Wallace, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management via AP)

Breaking ice jams, rapid snowmelt flood homes, businesses and roads across Alaska

Flooding across Alaska has inundated scores of homes, with several of them knocked from their foundations by large ice chunks, and shut one of the… Continue reading

In this aerial photo chunks of ice follow flooding from an ice jam in Crooked Creek, Alaska, May 15, 2023. Ice jams along two Alaska rivers unleashed major flooding over the weekend. (Jennifer Wallace, Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management via AP)
Rep. Justin Ruffridge works in the Alaska State Capitol building on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)

Ruffridge vet bill heads to governor’s desk

The bill exempts veterinarians from opioid monitoring program

Rep. Justin Ruffridge works in the Alaska State Capitol building on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. (Mark Sabbatini/Juneau Empire)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: Hospitalizations rise, cases still low

According to state data, 27 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
Alaska State Veterinarian Dr. Bob Gerlach gives a presentation on Avian Influenza Virus at the 4-H Agriculture Expo in Soldotna, Alaska, on Aug. 5, 2022. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)

Avian influenza expected to return to Alaska with migrating birds

The variant is described as “highly pathogenic” because it has the ability to kill poultry — representing a threat to food security and economics.

Alaska State Veterinarian Dr. Bob Gerlach gives a presentation on Avian Influenza Virus at the 4-H Agriculture Expo in Soldotna, Alaska, on Aug. 5, 2022. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Juneau artist Crystal Kaakeeyáa Worl poses with an Alaska Airlines 737-800 aircraft decorated with Worl’s latest work, Xáat Kwáani (Salmon People). Alaska Airlines held a unveiling ceremony on Friday, May 12 to welcome the plane into service. (Courtesy Photo / Alaska Airlines)
Juneau artist Crystal Kaakeeyáa Worl poses with an Alaska Airlines 737-800 aircraft decorated with Worl’s latest work, Xáat Kwáani (Salmon People). Alaska Airlines held a unveiling ceremony on Friday, May 12 to welcome the plane into service. (Courtesy Photo / Alaska Airlines)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: Small increase in cases and hospitalizations

20 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)
A State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin titled “Traumatic Brain Injury in Alaska,” published May 9, 2023. (Screenshot)

Alaska led deaths from brain injuries in the US

In people under 30 years of age, one in four deaths in Alaska followed a TBI

A State of Alaska Epidemiology Bulletin titled “Traumatic Brain Injury in Alaska,” published May 9, 2023. (Screenshot)
A troller fishes in Sitka Sound, Alaska on February 2, 2021. A ruling from a U.S. judge in Seattle could effectively shut down commercial king salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska — a valuable industry that supports some 1,500 fishermen — after a conservation group challenged the harvest as a threat to protected fish and the endangered killer whales that eat them. (James Poulson/Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP)

Ruling might cancel Alaska commercial king salmon season

Wild Fish Conservancy, the organization that brought the lawsuit, heralded the decision

A troller fishes in Sitka Sound, Alaska on February 2, 2021. A ruling from a U.S. judge in Seattle could effectively shut down commercial king salmon trolling in Southeast Alaska — a valuable industry that supports some 1,500 fishermen — after a conservation group challenged the harvest as a threat to protected fish and the endangered killer whales that eat them. (James Poulson/Daily Sitka Sentinel via AP)
COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)

COVID-19: Cases and hospitalizations stay low

15 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Alaska

COVID-19. (Image courtesy CDC)