Show off your culinary prowess in KDLL's Pickle Cooking Contest, part of our Picklefest Party annual membership meeting from 6-9 p.m. Friday, Jan. 31, 2019, at the Kenai Visitors and Cultural Center.

1. Bring a dish involving pickles to KDLL's Picklefest. It can be an appetizer, soup, entree, bread, dessert — your imagination is the limit, as long as pickles are among the ingredients.

2. Portion your dish so it can serve tasting portions.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is hoping for help from people in Kenai in locating a moose with a snare around its muzzle.

Jacob Pelham, a wildlife technician at Fish and Game’s Soldotna office, says department personnel responded to reports of the moose on Saturday. They found a young bull, maybe 3 or 4 years old, near the Burger Bus in Old Town Kenai. A snare was wrapped around what appears to be only its upper muzzle.

“From what we could see, the snare loop looks like it was just around, say like the top jaw, and it was possibly back far enough,” Pelham said. “We were able to observe, the moose was still able to browse on trees and was still able to eat snow. As far as that goes, it doesn’t look like it’s immediately affecting its quality of life. Although it seems like it is probably uncomfortable, it’s not keeping the animal from making a living right now.”

The Soldotna City Council at its meeting Wednesday will consider a resolution of support for Alaska House Bill 198, which would expand Alaska’s hate crimes statute to include sexual orientation or gender identity.

Currently, Alaska statutes allow the court system to increase the sentencing of defendants convicted of crimes that are found to be motivated by a victim’s race, sex, color, creed, physical or mental disability, ancestry or national origin. HB 198 would include sexual orientation and gender identity to that list.

Senator Peter Micciche held a townhall meeting in Soldotna Thursday night, just ahead of the opening of the second session of the 31st state legislature.