News

About two weeks after the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly passed an expanded elections options ordinance, it came up for a reconsideration vote about four hours into Tuesday night’s regular meeting. A reconsideration vote is a final effort to change something that’s already passed.
    During the meeting, Seward Assemblymember Kenn Carpenter explained why he asked to have the expanded elections ordinance reconsidered after it passed 6-to-3 two weeks earlier.

   Halibut anglers and the charter guide segment got some good news in an announcement from NOAA Fisheries this week when it announced new rules for Area 3A Southcentral Alaska.

Residents of Homer thought the worst when it was announced last week that the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 had reached Friendship Terrace, the assisted living arm of Homer Senior Citizens, Inc. Two employees had tested positive, and on Friday it was announced that a resident had tested positive for the disease.
    Cases of COVID-19 have run rampant in such congregate living centers around the nation, hitting Anchorage earlier this month.

The City of Homer has started receiving reports back from the COVID-19 study it is participating in, trying to gauge the incidence of the disease in the population by sampling the city’s sewer.
    City spokesperson Jenny Carroll explained on Thursday’s COVID Brief.
     “It is a study, just trying to figure out how to see it in the wastewater and then extrapolate that to our population numbers,” Carroll said. “So it is a study, it's a rough estimate of the number of people in the community, but it is confirming the presence of COVID-19 in our community.”

Alaskans know what Outsiders think is only an urban legend, but it’s true, eagles will swoop down and take your small dog away for a meal if you’re not careful. But a Homer woman has a new twist that’ll make the story that much more amazing.
    An eagle in downtown Homer attacked her full-grown Weimaraner, a dog about the size of a labrador retriever, sending the pup to the vet clinic with severe injuries.
    Emily Wisdom picks up the story.

    A case of COVID-19 has been detected in a resident of Friendship Terrace assisted living facility in Homer. In an announcement today, Homer Senior Center, Inc., Executive Director Keren Kelley said they were notified shortly before midnight Thursday night of the positive result. 

    That is in addition to two cases of Covid-19 that have been discovered in the staff at Friendship Terrace this week, as first reported by The Homer News. 

Anticipation was high when the State Ferry Tustumena turned around in Dutch Harbor on Saturday and made a beeline back for Kodiak after a crew member was diagnosed with COVID-19, but when it pulled into Homer shortly after 7 p.m. on Monday, healthcare professionals were already prepared to test the remaining crew and the six passengers onboard.
    During Thursday’s Covid Brief on KBBI, Alaska Public Health Nurse Lorne Carroll and South Peninsula Hospital’s Derotha Ferraro discussed what happened after the Tusty arrived.

The Homer City Council continued meeting via Zoom video conference Monday night. It was a relatively short meeting, but the body got quite a bit accomplished.
    After an update on the Covid-19 situation with the ferry Tustumena, which sailed into Homer during the council meeting, Councilmember Donna Aderhold asked the city’s Unified Command how it’s handling the reopening of city parks.

The Homer City Council received a lot of interest in the position of city manager when the job was advertised for the second time this year. After going through the resumes of more than three-dozen candidates, five were selected for audio interviews with the council. Those were held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Afterwards, the council settled on moving forward with only one of the candidates, Rob Dumouchel of Eureka, Calif.

After the Alaska State Ferry Tustumena returned to Homer Monday night a bit past 7 p.m., healthcare personnel from South Peninsula Hospital boarded in protective garb to take COVID-19 test samples from 40 crew members and the six passengers on board.
    According to the Alaska Department of Transportation, all were kept aboard the Tustumena overnight while the rapid tests were analyzed at SPH.