Oh, Kentucky

It's (almost) a wrap for Mayfield's first Fairgrounds Festival of Lights, and we have until Oct. 1 to sponsor a 2020 display.

The I-65 Mile Marker 0 welcome center in Simpson County, opened in 1974, is closed until probably fall.

Hoptown's Pennyroyal Area Museum targets Feb. 27 for its reopening.

Floyd County is optimistic the resurrection of Wheelwright's prison will take place, even with turnover in Frankfort.

Inez will be down to one grocery after the IGA's Monday closing.

Several Peebles, Goody's and other department stores around Kentucky are converting to Gordmanses this year, such as in Leitchfield and Winchester.

Paducah Police also is hiring.

World Trade Center Kentucky has named an interim executive director.

Kathie Stamps at Smiley Pete Publishing has an interesting report on a married-physicians couple's launch of "membership-based concierge medicine" in Lexington. Excellent name for the new biz: Downtown Drs. Brown. 

Jerry Sparks kicks off a three-part Jackson County Sun series on three people from McKee who were pardoned by former Gov. Bevin: "(M)ost of the pardons issued by the former Governor were not controversial at all. A great deal of the pardons issued were earned by the recipients through years of hard work and dedication toward turning their lives around. Unfortunately, the news cycle tends to focus on the sensational and the negative. In fairness, time should be spent addressing those people that honestly turned their lives around and earned themselves a second chance."

Huge in Kenton County: Liane Moriarity, James Patterson, Mario, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Alvin Schwartz, Lego, Game of Thrones and a bunch of Now That's What I Call Musics.

Oh, Kentucky

Catching up from the weekend ...

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Central City, Nov. 24; Lebanon and Louisville, Nov. 29;  Greensburg, Guthrie and Pikeville, Nov. 30; Boyce, Dawson Springs, Murray, Salem and Sebree, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Clay, Fredonia, Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville, Irvine/Ravenna, London, Maysville, Monticello, Pineville, Richmond, Smiths Grove, Stanton and Trenton, Dec. 6; Arlington, Barbourville, Beattyville, Berea, Bloomfield, Bowling Green, Bromley/Ludlow, Brownsville, Cadiz, Calvert City, Carlisle, Clinton, Columbia, Corbin, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Grayson, Hawesville, Henderson, Horse Cave, Inez, Lawrenceburg, Leitchfield, Lexington, Madisonville, Marion, Middlesboro, Morgantown, Munfordville, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Rabbit Hash, Russell Springs, Salyersville, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Somerset, Trenton, Versailles, Whitley City and Winchester, Dec. 7; Auburn, Georgetown and New Haven, Dec. 8; Augusta, Burkesville, Burnside, Cave City, Elkton, Franklin, Mayfield, Providence, Williamsburg and Woodburn, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

He turned 100, and he wanted to mow.

Trump, Bevin, coal, renewables, TVA, the DoE, John Prine, U of L, newspapers ... this story by WFPL's Ryan Van Velzer has everything.

There's a big U.S./China economic and cultural event going down in Lexington this week, and the National Governors Association hails "the exclusive deal-making opportunity." Indeed, here's a deal struck having to do with Chinese-mined magnesium.

Kentucky is considering whether to ban tattoos on scarred skin, and you can weigh in with emailed comments.

A new bar/pizza place in Covington closes; an old restaurant in Franklin is expanding to offer coffees and breakfast.

The Gleaner's Douglas White delivers his typically outstanding 411 on the purchase of a 50-year-old Henderson Ford dealership by a Bowling Green Toyota outfit.

Untethered from presses, the Kentucky New Era has moved back to downtown Hopkinsville. Interesting trend observed by Al Cross at his always-great Rural Blog.

Booming Beaver Dam--it is about a sixth more populous since 1980--has hired its first full-time fire chief.

Corbin's tourism director says the season's first movies-in-the-park event drew about 175 to (Col.) Sanders Park.

The Paducah area's Women in Maritime Operations are (formally) getting it together.

The elementary teacher of the year is from London, and the local Sentinel-Echo is hosting a virtual celebration.

Turning to sports, a globetrotting volleyballer from Erlanger is thinking about turning away.

Oh, Kentucky

Where have all the barn owls gone? Long time passing.

Cat parades: Franklin (Favorite), May 23.

Ebb tide at Newport on the Levee, but, perhaps, flow is afoot.

Kentucky for sale:

Turning to sports, the prospect of Chad Johnson's appearance actually bothers me more than that of Michael Vick's. Also, the Kentucky Derby horse race is reportedly scheduled to take place Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

Oh, Kentucky

By the way, it turns out "The Fort Campbell Courier has been suspended for an undetermined period to fulfill contractual requirements for the selection of a new service provider."

The First Lady is coming to Toyota; AOC, to a coal mine?

There might be a buyer for TVA's coal-fired Paradise Power Plant.

Charles Bethea's article in The New Yorker on environmental reporting in Kentucky is fantastic.

Kentucky had a record February for home sales.

Bad jobs news from Franklin.

Hiring in Shepherdsville.

It's almost drive-in season again in La Grange.

Covington honors a fast-acting ambulance crew (and Ryan Clark in the Northern Kentucky Tribune delivers a compelling report).

Turning to sports, a 10-year-old Reidland Intermediate School student will be covering MLB19 (but, according to WSIL, he's a West Paducah native).

Oh, Kentucky

The Kentucky Standard's Forrest Berkshire and Randy Patrick weigh in with a terrific, thick series of stories on how depictions of the black experience have changed in Bardstown arts and history.

Good jobs news from Coal Run and Franklin.

The Christian Church (Disciples of Kentucky) is restructuring itself, and you can learn more and weigh in on the proposed changes.

First Aid Kit, so hot at the HP in 2018, is on the docket for July's Forecastle Festival in Louisville.

Turning to sports, the KHSAA's tweaks to its state golf tournaments aggravated the Golf Channel crowd.

Rest in peace, "Joe Franklin Fulks, Corporal US Marine Corps." (Steve Flairty in the Northern Kentucky Tribune revisits the triumphant and tragic tale of the "Kuttawa Clipper.")

Oh, Kentucky

Christmas parades: Owensboro, Nov. 17; Ashland, Nov. 20; Berea, Bowling Green, Cadiz, Columbia (streaming live!), Lawrenceburg, Madisonville and Paducah, Dec. 1; Dawson Springs, Dec. 2; Richmond, Dec. 7; Hopkinsville, Dec. 8, La Center, Dec. 15.

I'm working to The Crittenden Press's 43-minute video of snowy driving around the county this morning, and IT! IS! GLORIOUS! (Note to self: Make this video the lead of an "Oh, Crittenden County" post.)

Gov. Bevin, emboldened.

Kentucky Downs, "a pioneer in modern Historic Horse Racing," has been sold.

"Of the 2,828 businesses operating in Hopkins County, Kentucky, in 2016, nearly 80 percent had fewer than 10 employees, for example, and all but 29 of those businesses had fewer than 500 employees. Businesses employing from two to nine people made up 68.1 percent of all businesses in Hopkins County in 2016." The Global Entrepreneurship Week observance rolls on!

"A once-in-a-lifetime deal for the parks system for Glasgow," but just another typically fantastic meeting story by Melinda J. Overstreet in the Daily Times.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Franklin, Hebron and Winchester.

Effective words and picture from Glenn Puit and Tim Preston in the Grayson Journal-Enquirer: "Cashiers on duty at Grayson's K-Mart Big K Monday afternoon said they have been informed of plans to close the store, although they have not been given a closing date. The cashiers said the store employs about 50 workers. It is a retail mainstay in the small community."

Etown loses its tourism chief to BG.

A former Paducah tourism director has taken it upon herself to commence the long process of restoring McCracken County's 83 historical markers, and Leah Shields of WPSD tells how you can help.

A Bardstown antiques collector is offering his Civil War artifacts to a Bardstown museum for half-a-million off. Interesting report by Randy Patrick in The Kentucky Standard.

Manchester now has its own oncology clinic, but Clay County is short on deputy sheriffs.

A downtown block of Henderson is bouncing back to life.

Louisville is losing out on millennials.

Rest in peace, Lebanon's "Dr. Salem," son of immigrant parents, proud St. Augustine School alum, deliverer of more than 6,000 babies and founder of several nursing and other medical facilities in and around Marion County.

Oh, Kentucky

Also this weekend, old friends Sen. McConnell and President Trump shared a car ride to a rally in Richmond and celebrated their successes, such as efforts to "change the court system forever!" (I'd really like to know more about that limousine trip, the route they took and whether they got something to eat along the way.)

Good jobs news from Millville.

"Why Whitley"? Why not? Congratulations, Williamsburg, on its first River Fog Festival.

More racing is coming to Franklin and Oak Grove.

Manufacturing Day was a couple of Fridays ago, but Manufacturing Month rolls on.

Morning Edition is coming to Lexington.

The sad story of an allegedly persistent (read the comments) panhandler at Kentucky Oaks Mall.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Hazard, Henderson, Lexington, Lexington (wow!) and Shepherdsville (WOW!).

Toward reversing Paducah's decline.

The Madisonville McDonald's restaurants are now locally owned.

CVG-Hebron set a new passenger record in July.

New day for Franklin's Goodnight Memorial Library.

The coal-fired power plant in Owensboro and maybe the one in Henderson are closing.

The Stoner Creek Golf Club fight in Paris is headed to court.

Once more ... about that rehab facility that might open in the old Cox's Creek school ...

And, as for the resident copperheads of Red River Gorge, ...

Christmas parades: Owensboro ("Our Christmas Wish"), Nov. 17; Bowling Green, Dec. 1; Richmond, Dec. 7, and Hopkinsville, Dec. 8.

Oh, Kentucky

Cumberland County Retired Teachers donated 35 bags of supplies for students and teachers of Burkesville, KY. pic.twitter.com/37SoZZRVVU

— Sherry Radford (@sherryberry54) August 9, 2018

The allegedly promised Adair County oil boom that wasn't.

The Mayfield boom reportedly is a real thing, however.

Alexandria's County Market is getting out before its narrowing window shuts.

Bus-driver shortage in Warren County.

Veterans Telehealth comes to the Evarts Public Library.

The TV grid and some comics leave the Middlesboro Daily News.

Assessing Year 1 for Etown's Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

"An unpleasant ... necessary story" of Logan County's lynching history, well told by Wes Swietek in Bowling Green's Daily News.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Bowling Green, Erlanger and Lexington.

"If part of your community is doing well and the other part not doing so good then the community can only fail. But if both sides of the community flourish, then the community will rise together and we all win because the sky is the limit."

"Their new group, Co-Heirs with Christ Missions, is different from some churches they attended in Africa. Too often, Frimpong remembered, leaders preached that joining the church would change their lives immediately – that their belief would guarantee prosperity. This tactic brought people to churches, but it only exacerbated the poverty rate, as people started to believe that they didn’t need to look for work."

UK's Kentucky Kernel has a new advisor (second consecutive one from WKU), and the Todd County Standard is on the market.

Sweet Paducah Sun story about a South Carolina man returning to where he and his late wife married in 1955--with helpful bonus material on the history of PJC/PCC/WKTC/WKCTC.

Terrific Bill Estep report in the Lexington Herald-Leader on the impact of drugs on the labor market in eastern Kentucky.

A Hardinsburg barber stars in an Amazon movie that came out yesterday, and it sounds hair-raising!

With the U.S. Senior Open rolling, the USGA took a road trip to Franklin to visit with the defending champ.

Corbin's getting a mural, on Roy Kidd Avenue.

Oh, Kentucky

Christmas parades: Bowling Green, Dec. 1; Richmond ("THEME: coming soon ..."), Dec. 7, and Hopkinsville, Dec. 8.

It's the 60th season for The Stephen Foster Story, and it's high time I get to Bardstown and see it.

Can the show go on at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts--in particular, Waitress, scheduled to open June 26?

Reviews were strong for Hopkins County Farmers Market Family Fun Day.

Here are the stories that made our front page pic.twitter.com/pMPJipfTz4

— Kentucky New Era (@KentuckyNewEra) June 18, 2018

 

Good jobs news from Beaver Dam, Corbin, Franklin, Ghent, Lewisport, Louisville and Shepherdsville.

The feds boost Kentucky's apprenticeships program.

Oh, Kentucky

Cave City can hardly wait for Karst Beach and Boo Boo Playground.

Christmas parades: Bowling Green, Dec. 1, and Hopkinsville, Dec. 8.

Kentucky Opera Night at Louisville City FC is scheduled for June 30.

Corbin's third-annual Burger Week begins Monday. 

Are food trucks and restauranteurs getting too close for comfort in Owensboro?

Dalton Godbey for WBKO 13 looks at Prints of Peace, a jobs-training program for teen-agers, launched by Broadway United Methodist Church and the Bowling Green Housing Authority.

The senior center in Liberty is offering painting classes on Thursday afternoons, and its instructor hails its cognitive and social-skills benefits, per Zach Johnson in The Casey County News.

Hiking trails have come to Hazard, and Buckhorn,  Leatherwood, Viper and other Perry County communities are up next, reports Destiny Caldwell in The Hazard Herald.

Checking in on the vice-presidential campaign of Matt Bevin of Shelburne, New Hampshire, ...

Alliance Coal needed new warehouse space, so a spec building constructed by Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development in 2003 has a new owner.

Good jobs news from Bardstown, Florence and Franklin.

Rest in peace, Ronny Smith, publisher of Beauty of 3/Pinnacle VIEW Magazine, park ranger at Cumberland Gap National Park and volunteer photographer at Middlesboro ARH.

Oh, Kentucky

"We are being called ... to be the moral defibrillators of our time," and the Rev. Dr. William Barber is being called to be that in Frankfort on Friday.

Downtown Covington is getting free IEEE 802.11™, IEEE Standard for Information technology--Telecommunications and information exchange between systems Local and metropolitan area networks--Specific requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications, "Wi-Fi."

I love the U.S. 68 400-mile yard sale.

Maybe we'll take a right at Bowling Green tomorrow and head down U.S. 31W to Franklin to celebrate the Johnny and June Cash nuptials.

"School's Out in Mad City," and we're ready to get our festival, jam and carriage rides on.

Oh, Kentucky

Here are the stories that made our front page pic.twitter.com/Al3KRVBCbw

— Kentucky New Era (@KentuckyNewEra) May 9, 2018

 

It's always interesting to see when Sen. McConnell chooses to be clear and when he chooses to be not clear. The number of words (4 vs. 134 in this case) is a pretty dependable tell.

A robo cop (not Robo Cop) appears to be coming to Madisonville.

Maker's Mark plans an expansion near Raywick, reports Stevie Lowery in The Lebanon Enterprise.

They're growing tennis players at Springfield's Idle Hours Park, writes Zack Penalva in The Springfield Sun.

Metcalfe County is raising its birds-per-barn ribbon by about 7 percent to better align with trends in today's poultry industry, Gina Kinslow details in the Glasgow Daily Times.

Angela Turner in Corbin's Times-Tribune: "(I)f you buy a bushel of tomatoes or a mound of cucumbers at the Whitley County Farmers’ Market, you just might be buying them from a hometown hero."

Jeff Neal and Janie Slaven deliver an interesting report on a mistake and correction around a burial at Pulaski County's Science Hill Cemetery, and the Somerset Commonwealth Journal article thoroughly answers a question I had never thought to ask: What happens to a person with no money or identifiable next of kin when he or she dies?

Rest in peace, Alvin Luther Randlett, 32-year janitor at Covington's Sixth Street Elementary School and $175,000 giver to the state Child Victims Trust Fund.

Oh, Kentucky

Alfalfa's is back on the market.

If you're wanting to start a business in a town of 25,000 to 100,000 people, you can do better than Bowling Green--in precisely 19 other U.S. locales, per WalletHub.

Good jobs news from Cynthiana and Franklin.

Kentucky Kingdom gets rolling this weekend.

Elizabethtown's Vietnam War memorial debuts, too.

And riverboat season is here in Paducah.

Duke Energy is diversifying its generation mix in northern Kentucky.

Morehead State's food pantry for students has expanded to offer toiletries and other necessities, reports Megan Smedley in The Morehead News.

Nice feature by Ruth Schenk in The Southeast Outlook on a new "businesstry" in Louisville's Portland neighborhood.

Oh, Kentucky

State!

Good jobs news from Bardwell.

The projected completion date for Madisonville's miniature-golf course is late summer, and I am thrilled.

Franklin's Kentucky Downs plans a grand reopening.

The graphics illustrating the possible I-69 Ohio River bridge options at Henderson are magnificent!

The governor's former adoption "czar" reportedly got a $60,000 golden parachute.

The downtown Covington Skyline Chili is no more.

Oh, Kentucky

Ever want to gather your tribe and parade? Here's your chance! The application to be in our Christmas parade on Dec 2 is part of this post. See you soon! https://t.co/YSzKKwFYgC#visitmunfordville #holidaylikealocal pic.twitter.com/PU8RmJTRIY

— Munfordville Tourism (@MVKYtourism) November 17, 2017

Christmas parades: Irvington and Owensboro, Nov. 18; Ashland, Nov. 21; Lebanon, Nov. 24; Brownsville and Danville, Nov. 25; Greenup, Nov. 28; Cumberland, London, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 1; Arlington ("Around the Block"), Barbourville, Beaver Dam, Fordsville, Georgetown, Harlan, Hartford, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Madisonville, Marion, Munfordville, Murray, Paducah ("Let It Glow, Let It Glow, Let It Glow"), Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 2; Dawson Springs and Evarts, Dec. 3; Mount Sterling, Dec. 4; Lexington, Dec. 5; Bardstown, Dec. 7; Frankfort, Dec. 8; Augusta, Cave City, Elkton, Hanson, Hopkinsville and Paintsville, Dec. 9, and La Center (donated canned goods and nonperishables go to the Ballard County Food Pantries) and Oak Grove, Dec. 16.

Kentucky is reportedly spending 15.8 percent less per public-school student than it was in 2008.

With about 40 percent of the state's regulations on combat sports rolled back, the WWE has returned to Kentucky for the first time in six years.

The Franklin-Simpson SKYCTC is doing something about Kentucky's CDL-driver shortage.

Rest in peace, Mr. Ausenbaugh, Western Kentucky State College attendee as an infant, Nebo Aces basketballer, one-time coal miner, journalist in Princeton and Russellville (and elsewhere), husband of former gift-shop manager for Barren River State Resort Park, and bonafide hall-of-famer. Barry Rose in Bowling Green's Daily News:

He probably wouldn’t have liked this analogy, but Ausenbaugh was the rock of a dream team of sorts on Western Kentucky University’s faculty that began in the mid-1970s under the direction of David B. Whitaker, head of the Department of Journalism.

In photojournalism, Jack Corn and Mike Morse created a nationally recognized program. In print, Bob Adams – or “Mr. A,” as we called him – taught the basics and shepherded the College Heights Herald staff. Jim Highland taught public affairs reporting and told us we could do practically anything.

Ausenbaugh, a former regional editor of The Courier-Journal, brought us back to reality and taught us how much we had to learn. To us, he knew everything about writing and editing, knew every Kentucky editor who might hire a young student for the summer and could throw in stories from his days at what he called the "Curious Jumble." He probably knew more Kentucky history and its towns than anyone in the History Department.

Oh, Kentucky

Cleve Jones at WKU, via Nicole Ziege in the College Heights Herald: "I don’t want any of you to ever believe that change isn’t possible,” Jones said. "There are many people out there right now who want you to feel like you are powerless. It is a lie."

I had never heard of Solomon Lee Van Meter Jr., so thanks for the knowledge, Kentucky Historical Society student-engagement coordinator Jennifer Disponette, students of Franklin's Simpson Elementary and Ethan Steinquest of the Franklin Favorite.

Also, thank you, Douglas Drew White of The Gleaner for the 411 on Henderson's first microbrewery, coming to Second Street.

Check out this new limited-edition Pepsi can featuring Patti’s 1880’s Settlement logo. The cans will be available in stores soon.https://t.co/jIrTaI1Fma

— WPSD Local 6 (@WPSDLocal6) November 13, 2017

 

The cleanup continued after Community Cleanup Day in Reed.

Highlands Regional Medical Center's Center for Autism in Prestonsburg is not reopening after its traditional holiday break. Not enough donations and not enough insurance coverage for autism treatment are cited as the culprits.

Christmas parades: Irvington and Owensboro, Nov. 18; Lebanon, Nov. 24; Danville, Nov. 25; Greenup, Nov. 28; London, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 1; Barbourville, Beaver Dam, Fordsville, Georgetown, Hartford, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Madisonville, Murray, Somerset and Winchester, Dec. 2; Dawson Springs, Dec. 3; Mount Sterling, Dec. 4; Lexington, Dec. 5; Bardstown, Dec. 7; Frankfort, Dec. 8, and Cave City, Elkton, Hanson and Hopkinsville, Dec. 9.