Central Peninsula Hospital is buying the independently owned Surgery Center of Kenai for nearly $10 million; and the Kenai Peninsula is experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases that has bumped it into the CDC’s highest COVID community level.

The Kenai Peninsula is experiencing an increase in COVID-19 cases that has bumped it into the CDC’s highest COVID community level; Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services was the largest state agency, but earlier this month, it split into two smaller departments; and as Alaskans approach their first ranked choice election next month, they’re wrestling with the concept of ranking.

There won’t be an oil and gas lease sale in Cook Inlet this year, or the year after that; the Kenai Borough Assembly convened for just under an hour Tuesday night to pass several ordinances; and a 14-year-old girl died in an ATV accident just outside of Ninilchik over the weekend.

The Kenai Borough Assembly convened for just under an hour Tuesday night to pass several ordinances; in a new proposed plan for offshore drilling, the U.S. Department of the Interior floated the idea of auctioning off leases to oil and gas companies in Cook Inlet in 2026, in addition to 10 lease sales proposed for the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years; and a 14-year-old girl died in an ATV accident just outside of Ninilchik over the weekend.

Two years in, gun suppliers are still seeing high demand across the U.S. for both firearms and ammunition, driven in part by panic buying from gun owners; and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game anticipates sockeye salmon in the Kasilof River will exceed its escapement goals for the run, and it’s increasing how many sockeye anglers can take, effective this Thursday.

Local nonprofit Cook Inletkeeper hopes to plant 23,000 seedlings on the central Kenai Peninsula within the next one to two years, with the mission of repopulating the area with trees amid the ongoing spruce bark beetle invasion; and at one gun store in Soldotna, spikes in sales often line up with things that are happening thousands of miles away.

Bristol Bay's Nushagak District broke a record for the largest single-day sockeye salmon harvest with 2.46 million salmon caught on Thursday; and one reason inflation appears to sting a bit more in Alaska right now is because it is one of the few places in the country where prices actually dropped during the pandemic.

Much of Interior and Southcentral Alaska is under an emergency burn closure starting at midnight Friday; the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency lacks authority to broadly regulate greenhouse gases as pollutants; and anyone on the Kenai Peninsula who enjoys bowling has had to make the long journey to Anchorage as the fate of the bowling alley in Kenai has remained in limbo.

COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb across the lower Kenai Peninsula, but local public health officials say changes that go into effect Friday might discourage people from testing; and in a health presentation to parents Tuesday, state health officials stressed the importance of getting kids vaccinated and addressed common concerns.

COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb across the lower Kenai Peninsula, but local public health officials say changes that go into effect Friday might discourage people from testing; children under 5 years old began getting COVID vaccines in Alaska last week; and while there are no large wildfires in the Kenai area, smoke from the Interior is blowing down to the region and the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has issued a “moderate” air quality warning for Southcentral Alaska.