Oh, Kentucky

The Forcht Bank/KHSAA State Baseball Tournament has two more quarterfinals this evening in Lexington, and now the Rawlings/KHSAA Fast Pitch Softball State Tournament gets rolling in Owensboro.  

You are writing an awesome end for The LOHS Final Chapter!! So proud!! @loneoaksoftball @loneoakhs twitter.com/madmom8/status…

— Michelle Wooten (@madmom8) June 5, 2013

Also, go, Smithland Livingston Central (for whom it has been an especially memorable and emotional season)!

A left-handed pitcher from Bowling Green's Warren East High School is expected to be selected early in today's Major League Baseball draft.

Micah Johnson's latest stop is Calgary. You remember Micah.

“Things always look better when you look back.”

County-fair season, continued: "Re-live the glory days of the 1980s as Carrollton Idol contestants belt out the hits. ..."

No disrespect to U.S. 68, but U.S. 41 bows to no route!

Nice detailed reporting and clear writing from Erin Schmitt in this morning's Henderson Gleaner: The FCC is paying $500,000 of a $600,000 bill to bump Webster County Schools' Internet performance by 1,000 percent, enabling, the local assistant superintendent and IT director says, the kids from Dixon, Providence, et al to take better advantage of a bunch of new educational opportunities. The county had to come up with the remaining $100,000, and the contractor that got the work was a consortium of Murray and Paducah electric companies. Because Japanese natural disasters caused slowdowns in the fiber-optics supply chain, project implementation in Webster County was delayed--but the feds extended by a year the deadline to spend the $500,000 grant.

Two stories from Lawrenceburg: "... (I)t’s a problem when the IRS is used as a political tool to carry out punishment and extortion," and "We want to pass along our experience and training to the public, and are big proponents of the 2nd Amendment. Our goal is to properly train those who wish to carry a firearm."

Two from Harlan: The Christ Hands homeless shelter is getting a sprucing; meanwhile, a state legislator, Sen. Brad Smith (R-Hazard) talks about local job-growth efforts "from going from coal mining to mechanical engineering and engine repair on Lockheed-Martin. to doing chemical looping here in the coalfields to make our own power."

Muhlenberg County's first statue will be Kentucky's first monument honoring veterans of the War of 1812.

Rest in peace, Mr. E.O. Whitfield, railroad man for 44 years, husband for 71 and dad of Rep. Ed Whitfield, the First District's U.S. Representative since 1995.