Just about a month after halibut and black cod fishing came to a close, fishermen are taking stock of their seasons. Some longliners using a new piece of gear, known as longline pots, to prevent whales from stealing their catch are returning happier than others.

Bill Harrington is returning to pull in his line only to find a pod of killer whales swarming his boat.

“Yeah, there’s one, right underneath you a killer whale,” yells one of Harrington’s crewmembers.

A new space for teens and youth is looking for community support to stay afloat. Noiseland-Webtech Factory is a youth activity center complete with games, a pool table and computers.

Cooper Hyde owns Noiseland with his family, and he said they’ve been funding the operation, including renting commercial space, on their own.

“It all started because me and my sister were homeschooled, and we discovered during those years that there really isn't anything to do in Homer for kids or teenagers,” he said.

The Homer City Council adopted the 2019 budget Monday. The city is due to spend $21 million in the new year.

The city’s operational costs will jump roughly 3 percent from last year. That increase is due in part to employee health care and electricity costs.

However, the city projects increases in both property and sales tax revenue will help cover the hike in operational costs.

The spending plan approves nearly $600,000 worth of capital projects, such as upgrading the city’s wireless network and purchasing new vehicles for the police department.

An Anchor Point resident was sentenced for poaching and wasting three bull moose last week. Rusty Counts will spend nine months in jail. Counts is also required pay over $100,000 in fines and restitution and forfeit his rifle and ATV used while taking the illegal moose. The Homer District Court also suspended his hunting license for three years.

Fish heavily impacted by a three-year marine heatwave in the Gulf of Alaska may be headed for round two. Commonly referred to as the blob, warmer waters between 2014 and 2017 were blamed for a dramatic decline in Pacific cod and are thought to have negatively impacted other species such as pollock.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council set catch limits for several groundfish species in the Gulf of Alaska Thursday afternoon. Before members set those limits, Stephani Zador with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center updated the council on the latest trends in the Gulf. 

The Department of Natural Resources adopted a new management plan for Kachemak Bay State and Wilderness parks earlier this month without an announcement. But the new commissioner of the department rescinded the plan Friday.

The draft management plan, which has been in the works for roughly seven years, will shape recreation and commercial uses in both parks as well as state recreation sites on the southern Kenai Peninsula.