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W of 1 inner Awa0* 201 Exc rds fo 8 e r Rep llence i o n rt * Ala ska P i n g ! res
P E N I N S U L A
Vol. 50, Issue 76
In the news
US climate experts say 2019 was record warm year in Alaska ANCHORAGE — Alaska experienced its warmest year on record, according to federal climate officials. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in its U.S. Climate report said Alaska had a statewide average temperature of 32.2 degrees. That was 6.2 degrees above the long-term average. It also surpassed the previous record statewide average temperature of 31.9, set in 2016, the agency said. Four of the last six years in Alaska have been record warm years, NOAA said. Ten cities experienced their warmest years ever, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Utqiagvik, Kotzebue, King Salmon, Bethel, Northway, McGrath, Kodiak and Cold Bay. Alaska set the record despite a December that featured temperatures closer to average, NOAA said. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information compiled the annual summary. Among the other highlights was rainfall in other states. The contiguous 48 states experienced the second wettest year on record with 34.78 inches, just 0.18 inches less than the total for the wettest year set in 1973.
Law enforcement officers shoot, kill man sought on warrant ANCHORAGE — A man sought by federal and state law enforcement officers was shot and killed at Delta Junction, Alaska State Troopers said. Daniel Duane Jensen. Jr, 59, of Delta Junction, died in a shooting with officers Tuesday. Members of the U.S. Marshals’ Fugitive Task Force, which included U.S. marshals, troopers and police officers from the Anchorage and North Pole police departments, were in Delta Junction to apprehend Jensen on a felony warrant for counts of sexual abuse of a minor. A state trooper investigation led to the warrant, troopers said. See news, A3
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Thursday, January 9, 2020 • Kenai Peninsula, Alaska
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Gravel pit reg changes on hold The code-changing ordinance was voted down in December. By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly chose not to reconsider code changes affecting gravel pit operators at its Tuesday meeting. The code-changing ordinance, voted down at the Dec. 3 assembly meeting,
was brought to Tuesday’s meeting for reconsideration by assembly member Jesse Bjorkman. Bjorkman said he asked the ordinance be reconsidered after members of the public contacted him with the hope of offering input on the ordinance. “I think reconsideration will go a long way to informing and educating people about that process as well as potential changes to proposed ordinances and
ordinances moving forward having to do with gravel pits and material sites,” Bjorkman said at Tuesday’s meeting. Assembly member Brent Johnson also supported reconsideration of the ordinance, saying that it included a number of housekeeping items that weren’t controversial. Assembly member Hal Smalley said he agreed the ordinance had good, necessary components, but that
the planning department should continue to tinker with the ordinance and bring it back to the assembly. The planning department has 60 days to bring forth a new ordinance. Assembly member Norm Blakeley also did not support reconsideration and said that numerous residents contacted him about the ordinance with nothing “good to say about it.” The reconsideration failed 5-4, with assembly members
Bjorkman, Willy Dunne, Johnson and Tyson Cox voting in favor. Since reconsideration failed and was removed from the agenda, there was no immediate opportunity for public comment. After the vote, more than a dozen members of the public who came to speak on the ordinance and its reconsideration left the meeting. Bjorkman said the lack See gravel, Page A14
Cold snap to wane over the weekend By Victoria Petersen Peninsula Clarion
official said. There were no reports of casualties. Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that it was “perhaps too early to tell” if Iran will be satisfied that the missile strikes were sufficient to avenge the Soleimani killing. “We should have some expectation,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper added in a Wednesday briefing, “that Shiite militia groups, either directed or not directed by Iran, will continue in some way, shape or form to try
Residents wishing for subzero temperatures to subside may see some relief after the weekend ends. The rise in temperature will be slow and steady over the rest of the week and weekend, Michael Kutz, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Anchorage, said Wednesday afternoon. “It will be a slow rising of temperature, and not very strong,” Kutz said. Temperatures may reach the zero mark, or close to it, by Sunday, he said. The weather service forecasts that by Tuesday the temps will reach about 15 degrees above zero. Next week there’s also a chance for more snow, he said. The below zero temperature is being caused by outflow of high pressure, Kutz said, which he described as a big lump of cold air sitting over the interior of the Kenai Peninsula. The “big lump of cold air” is spilling its frigid air through nearby drainages, like the Kenai River. The Kenai area is no stranger to freezing January temperatures. In 1975, the central peninsula experienced its coldest recorded cold snap of a bone-chilling -47 degrees. Temperatures in January hit close milestones in 1972 with -46 degrees and in 1973 with -45 degrees. Things warmed up by 1974 with the coldest
See iran, Page A14
See cold, Page A3
AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed
A protester waves the national flag while demonstrators set fire to close streets near Tahrir Square during a demonstration against the Iranian missile strike in Baghdad, Iraq, Wednesday. Iran struck back at the United States early Wednesday for killing a top Revolutionary Guard commander, firing a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq that house American troops in a major escalation between the two longtime foes.
US, Iran step back from the brink By ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The U.S. and Iran stepped back from the brink of possible war on Wednesday as President Donald Trump signaled he would not retaliate militarily for Iran’s missile strikes on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops. No one was harmed in the strikes, but U.S. forces in the region remained on high alert. Speaking from the White House, Trump seemed intent on deescalating the crisis, which spiraled after he authorized the targeted
killing last week of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani. Iran responded overnight with its most direct assault on America since the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, firing more than a dozen missiles at two installations in Iraq. The Pentagon said Wednesday that it believed Iran fired with the intent to kill. Even so, Trump’s takeaway was that “Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world.” Despite such conciliatory talk, the region remained on
Peninsula population grows slightly in 2019 By Brian Mazurek Peninsula Clarion
While Alaska’s population has decreased overall, the Kenai Peninsula Borough saw a slight uptick in population between 2018 and 2019, according to the latest estimates from the state. 2019 marked the third consecutive year of a declining population on the state level, according to a Wednesday press release from the Department
of Labor and Workforce Development. The state’s total population peaked in 2016 at 739,649, and as of July 2019 the state had an estimated population of 731,007. Between 2018 and 2019, Alaska’s population decreased by 3,048 people. By comparison, the Kenai Peninsula experienced population growth of about .14% between 2018 and 2019, with the population increasing from 58,285 to 58,367. This growth is lower than average for the last
edge, and American troops including a quick-reaction force dispatched over the weekend, were on high alert. Last week Iranianbacked militia besieged the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, and Tehran’s proxies in the region remain able to carry out attacks such as the one on Dec. 27 that killed a U.S. contractor and set off the most recent round of hostilities. Hours after Trump spoke, an ‘incoming’ siren went off in Baghdad’s Green Zone after what seemed to be small rockets “impacted” the diplomatic area, a Western
decade, during which the peninsula grew an average of .56% each year. There were 652 births and 481 deaths on the peninsula between July 2018 and July 2019 for a natural population increase of 171, however net migration to the peninsula between 2018 and 2019 was negative — meaning more people moved out of the borough than into it. Net migration for the state was also negative and has been for the past decade. Since 2010, 42,407 more people have moved out of the state than moved into it. The median age for the See population, Page A2
Coast Guard technician gets life for killing 2 co-workers By Dan Joling Associated Press
ANCHORAGE — A civilian antenna technician convicted of gunning down two Alaska co-workers at a U.S Coast Guard base in 2012 has been sentenced to life in prison. James Wells, 68, was convicted in October of killing Electrician’s Mate First Class James Hopkins, 41, and Richard Belisle, 51, a retired Coast Guard chief boatswain’s mate employed as a civilian. They were found dead at a Coast Guard communication
station about 3 miles from the Coast Guard’s sprawling main base in Kodiak. Wells continues to deny murdering his co-workers and said he will appeal. the Anchorage Daily News reported. “I still maintain my innocence because I know I did not commit these murders,” he said at sentencing Tuesday. Federal prosecutors said no person other than Wells, who worked at the station for more See life, Page A3