Alaska State Troopers

State Troopers say a man who died in an October residential fire is 73-year-old Dan Vernon Dacus.

On Wednesday, Alaska State Troopers responded to two unrelated burglaries on the central peninsula. The incidents occurred in Sterling and Nikiski.

A Soldotna resident was found dead after a home fire last Thursday morning. Alaska State Troopers say they’re currently investigating the origin and cause of the fire.

Troopers say the arcades The Spot in Kenai and Arctic Spot in Soldotna illegally operated gambling games of chance, and conducted an undercover investigation. Four people were arrested yesterday.

Four crashes and six fatalities have happened on the Sterling Highway in the past two weeks. Troopers say those high rates come down to unsafe, distracted driver behavior.

56-year-old Dino Leite and 26-year-old Chase Logan died after a truck failed to slow down when entering a school zone and struck their vehicle, according to troopers. No charges have been filed as of Friday afternoon.

A car struck a concrete mixer head on near Cooper Landing Friday. 30-year-old Sherika Hatten and a 2-year-old boy died in the crash.

A Wisconsin woman was killed in a head-on collision near Sterling, and a Clam Gulch resident died after swerving off the road south of Soldotna.

An erratic driver collided with another car on July 23 on the Seward Highway. The driver, Gideon Grady, was arrested this week, related to the death of his passenger Gregory Green.

Troopers say Joshua Brown had meth, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, LSD and unidentified drugs in his tent at a Salmonfest campsite in Ninilchik.