KENAI — The construction of a playground in Nikiski marks a major step forward for local nonprofit Youth Restoration Corps. The organization obtained earlier this year a contractor’s license, as the state required, and expanded its vocational program.

“We’ve always focused on working with the youth through teaching job skills, and the vocational program furthers that mission,” said Kelly Wolf, the Corps co-founder and project manager. “And this was the perfect project.

KENAI — At the highest point on the Russian River rests a rustic cabin near an Alaska Department of Fish and Game weir — a low dam built across the river used to count salmon. Two fisheries technicians spend the summer at this spot counting every fish passing through the weir’s trap.

The early run Russian River fish swim 77 miles up the Kenai River before fighting through the various spots of their natal stream, said Patti Berkhahn, Fish and Game habitat and fishery biologist. They finish the journey at Goat Creek, or Upper Russian River.

Oil and other resource representatives, local politicians and a few Kenai Peninsula residents testified last week at the first of 10 hearings on a ballot initiative that would re-establish a coastal zone management program in Alaska.

KENAI — He knew about the high possibility of a genetic disorder being passed down to him since his early 20s. Jason Johnston, 33, recalled visiting his grandmother, Clarice Phillips, in a nursing home during that time.

“I don’t remember much except she couldn’t control her body movements and didn’t recognize my mom,” said Jason, who was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease last year. “Didn’t even recognize her own child ... It was pretty hard on my mom.”