Business

To help harbormasters identify and clean up derelict boats, the Alaska Legislature is considering a new fee on boats longer than 24 feet.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly may ask the state to drop the speed limit on part of the Sterling Highway near Cooper Landing.

Homer Elks #2127 awarded Homer Police Lt. Ryan Browning the Enrique Camarena Award, the first lodge in Alaska ito award a law enforcement officer with the Elks National Award.

Uncle Herb’s, Homer’s first retail cannabis shop, could open in May in time for the start of the traditional summer tourist season on Memorial Day weekend.

Homer flower farm Alaska Perfect Peony has been selected as one of two Alaska winners of the American Small Business Championship. Now in its fifth year, the contest rewards the best American small businesses in their community. Alaska Perfect Peony owner Rita Jo Shoultz will receive an all-expense paid trip this month to Reno, Nevada, where she will meet other business owners for networking and get training from SCORE, a nonprofit organization that helps mentor small business owners.

After three years of work, the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday voted 21-17 to approve a bill that would allow doctors to prescribe up to a year’s worth of birth control on a single script. Currently, doctors may prescribe only three months of contraceptives. The bill also requires health insurers to cover birth control, including devices such as IUDs and implants.

With the Legislature closing in on the final day of its regular session, the battle over a bill to tighten restrictions on permits to develop near Alaska’s anadromous streams is still attracting a lot of attention.

Lower Kenai Peninsula residents got a look at the newly remodelded and expanded Homer Medical Clinic last Friday, March 29.

With a 21-19 vote on Monday afternoon, the Alaska House of Representatives approved a $11.5 billion state operating budget and forwarded it to the Alaska Senate for consideration.

Gov. Bill Walker averted an impending shutdown of the Alaska Marine Highway System and the state’s Medicaid health insurance program on Tuesday by signing a $110.2 million fast-track supplemental appropriations bill.

Soldotna may see an influx of reusable grocery totes this November, with the introduction of a new ordinance banning plastic shopping bags.

Plans for the construction of an Aspen Hotel on the Sterling Highway in Homer are advancing, and the project is slated to break ground in May.

Sportfishing groups are raising a hue and cry about Gov. Bill Walker’s proposed appointee to the Board of Fisheries.

Staff at Land’s End Resort won six awards at the Alaska Hotel &Lodging Association’s 20th annual “Stars of the Industry” awards ceremony in Anchorage. The program honors those throughout the Alaska hospitality industry who show outstanding accomplishment in their fields. Land’s End had 15 nominees out of 135 state-wide nominees. Winning awards are:

Homer Electric Association, Inc. (HEA) members will see a slight decrease in their monthly bills beginning April 1. HEA proposes a decrease to the Cost of Power Adjustment (COPA) rate of about from $0.07077 per kilowatt hour (kWh) to $0.06701 kWh, which is a drop of 5.32 percent.

South Peninsula Hospital hosts the Homer Chamber of Commerce “Business After Hours” from 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, March 15.

Western Kenai Peninsula residents can now get to Homer, Kenai or Ninilchik by shuttle, courtesy of the Ninilchik Traditional Council.

Central Kenai Peninsula fishermen will get to stay at home for the 2020 Board of Fisheries meeting.

Leglislators are debating a bill to exempt utilities from legal liability for chemicals used to treat wooden poles, prompted by possible soil contamination around Homer Electric Association (HEA) powerline poles following the Kenai Spur Highway north of Sterling.

House Bill 195 will allow insurance companies to take credit scores into account when setting rates.