Kenai is pursuing its own shop local program this spring, called “Shop Here All Year in Kenai.”

Much like the program in Soldotna, which ran in November and December, it rewards shoppers who spend  $200 on discretionary purchases in Kenai with $100 vouchers for Kenai businesses. Those who spend $100 will get vouchers for $50.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough is opening a call center to help seniors register for their doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Starting tomorrow, those eligible for the vaccine can call in to add their names to a waiting list. That’s for seniors who have had trouble navigating the online system on their own, according to the borough.

Vaccine registration has been a fraught process for some Alaskans so far. 

The eastern Kenai Peninsula has little in common with Niagra Falls or the Mississippi Delta. What they do all share is the designation of “National Heritage Area” — meaning, they’re among 55 sites the federal government recognizes as culturally and ecologically significant to the U.S. and its history.

The Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area, or KMTA, is the only one of those sites in Alaska. As such, it gets funding from Congress each year, about half of which goes toward an annual project grant.

KMTA is soliciting projects for its 2021 grant cycle. The application window closes March 12.

The Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward is partnering with an oil spill response organization to rehabilitate oiled marine mammals in Western Alaska.

Through an agreement with nonprofit Alaska Chadux̂ Network, the center will treat marine mammals affected by spill pollution in a large chunk of Alaska waters.

The idea is to get wildlife experts to the scene of a spill as quickly as possible — like an oiled wildlife SWAT team, said Chip Arnold, chief operating officer for the SeaLife Center.

“The exciting thing about the contract with Chadux̂ is that their whole paradigm of oiled wildlife response is rapid response," he said.