Oh, Princeton

You hardly ever hear anyone--even anyone from Princeton--call it "kuh-WELL" County anymore. It's almost, absolutely almost always "CALD-well" County. But that changed over the second half of the last century, and, if you don't believe me, would you take the word of the 1960 Caldwell County High School cheerleaders?

I cannot believe that this amazing BBC movie directed by Denis Mitchell exists and that I had not discovered it until an hour ago or so. For Pete's sake, do yourself a favor, stop everything you're doing and watch it in case the internet or you or whatever doesn't exist later this afternoon.

I'm pretty sure that's Princeton Dotson's Dwight Smith shooting jumpers in closeup at about 20:30.

Warning Explicit Content

Oh, Kentucky

Again, Pikeville's Mountain Top News does just a fantastic job on covering the conversation in Whitesburg ...

"I have an alternate proposal. Suppose both sides of the story are told."

Midway will celebrate Juneteenth, officially.

The Bowling Green-Warren County Coronavirus Workgroup had a happy surprise on its regular conference call Wednesday.

Bardstown and Nelson County roll out another round of small-biz relief.

A weekend Kentucky Headhunters show at the Beaver Dam Amphitheatre delivered a big boost for the Ohio County food pantry.

Gabe's is (almost) gone.

Fancy Farm is happening.

Mercer County might be getting its second solar farm.

Vanceburg police is hiring. So's the forthcoming Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel.

The #ohky desk's DQ beat is blowing up of late. You might remember yesterday's dispatch from Columbia. Well, there are Blizzards in the forecast for Princeton, too.

Oh, Kentucky

7th District Basketball, 2010-2019

Here are the last 10 finals in the Seventh District Boys' Basketball Tournament:

2019:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 72, Caldwell Co. 60
2018:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 80, Hopkins Co. Cent. 64
2017:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 60, Dawson Springs 45
2016:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 80, Caldwell Co. 45
2015:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 61, Caldwell Co. 55
2014:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 57, Caldwell Co. 44
2013:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 52, Caldwell Co. 44
2012:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 78, Caldwell Co. 49
2011:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 72, Hopkins Co. Cent. 52
2010:  Madisonville-N. Hopkins 56, Hopkins Co. Cent. 29

That's 10 in a row for the Maroons.  They last lost the District Title in 2009, when Hopkins County Central beat them 54-49.

Oh, Kentucky

Catching up ...

Oh, Kentucky

Danville's Advocate-Messenger on the new 988 suicide-prevention hotline: Yea. Prestonsburg's Floyd County Chronicle on Martin's lack of financial transparency: Nay.

I'm a big fan of Elizabethtown's Ring Road exit off of the Western Kentucky Parkway, and I'm excited to see what becomes of this planned food-and-retail complex.

Paducah's hotels reportedly have been about 60-percent full this year.

UK's starting pay for regular employees is going up to $12.50 per hour.

Bad jobs news from Williamsburg. Good from Hebron.

Good for retired Professor Hagans who donated thousands of dollars in stock for Madisonville Community College's emergency fund for students. And good for this Henry County, not-the-Berrrys couple who donated hundreds of acres for a new wildlife preserve.

Turning to sports, here's a Norse-centric look back at the decade, and here's a preview of WKYT's Christmas-afternoon airing of Reggie Warford: Fight of His Life.

Oh, Kentucky

You got the wrong DJ's.

In Frankfort, Wilkinson Street School will be no more.

To Taylor Mill, Dunkin' is comin'.

I'm surprised Little League wasn't already in Paducah.

I love deadline extensions.

On the pardons ...

Henderson Police gets creative in how to cost-effectively address its officer shortages.

Turning to sports, our old friend Elijah Sindelar appears to be calling it a career. 

Ninety-one Christmas19 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, 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, East Bernstadt, Frankfort, Glasgow, Grayson, Greenville, Hawesville, Henderson, Horse Cave, Inez, Lawrenceburg, Leitchfield, Lexington, Madisonville, Marion, Middlesboro, Morgantown, Munfordville, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Prestonsburg, Rabbit Hash, Raceland, Russell Springs, Salyersville, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Somerset, Trenton, Versailles, Whitley City and Winchester, Dec. 7; Auburn, Georgetown and New Haven, Dec. 8, and Augusta, Benton, Burkesville, Burnside, Campbellsville, Cave City, Edmonton, Elkton, Franklin, Hopkinsville, Louisa, Mayfield, Providence, Tollesboro, Williamsburg and Woodburn, Dec. 14!

Oh, Kentucky

Change is everywhere in Kentucky. Our license-plate letters and numbers will no longer be raised.

The new Democratic governor will give Kentucky's first Republican attorney general in 70 years an early start.

The secretary of Kentucky's justice and public safety cabinet--a Democrat appointed four years ago by the outgoing Republican governor--bows out.

On his last day in office, Gov. Bevin opined on good jobs news from Murray: "Over the past four years, we have made historic strides in improving our business climate, and it’s exciting to see those efforts culminate in transformational job-creating projects. We are grateful that TPG chose Kentucky for its new operation and appreciate the opportunities it will provide to our citizens."

As one who knows next to nothing about law, the whole deal where a governor or president on the way out pardons convicted people is one of the more curious aspects of life in the United States.

The state's anticipated $1.1 billion budget shortfall "is a lot bigger than anything that we anticipated," a Republican state representative tells Joe Sonka and Deborah Yetter of The Courier-Journal. "It's a real train wreck," amplifies a progressive economic-policy group from Berea.

Eleanor Klibanoff of the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting: "A KyCIR investigation shows LMPD brings almost every rape case to a prosecutor to decide whether to make an arrest--sometimes before they’ve done much investigating. If prosecutors decline the case, the police clear it 'by exception.' LMPD cleared three times as many 2017 rape cases 'by exception' than they did by arrest."

The Who's planned concert at NKU in April is historic for greater Cincinnati.

Brand new in Manchester: The Clay We Were.

Congratulations, Ms. McGaha, retiring operator of June's Beauty Shop in Jamestown since 19 and 62.

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, Raceland, 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, Louisa, Mayfield, Providence, Williamsburg and Woodburn, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Oh, Kentucky

"While in the audience of that open meeting, Mayor Perros made a joke about Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Jennifer Kirchner not wearing socks as she gave a presentation, which Magistrate Phil Sammons took to another level by commenting on the attractiveness of her legs." Bobbie Curd, in Danville's Advocate-Messenger, delivers another example of contemporary American journalism's typically stellar meeting coverage.

Even if the grid fails, Fort Knox reportedly--by the garrison commander, to the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, via Mary Alford in Elizabethtown's News-Enterprise--can power itself back up within 11 minutes.

Deborah Fallows in The Atlantic:

Reporting from those who live or spend time in Kentucky, be that in newsletters or rural press, adds a nuance of understanding that delivers insistent stories of a contaminated water supply, leaky and crumbling pipes, wastewater pipe shortages, industrial leaks and spills, a declining tax base from mine closures, rising water costs, and all the humanly compelling drama that ensues. 

Then the cascade begins. The women bathe the babies, who then develop rashes. The women drive them long distances to see doctors, which is costly and time-consuming. Researching medical counsel or the alternatives of telemedicine often demand broadband connections, which are scarce, spotty, or thin in poor, rural America. Navigating coverage of telehealth from insurance companies is, as you’d imagine, complicated. And of course, all these steps require technology, transportation, and bill-paying, not to mention the wherewithal to accomplish them.

Hiring in Barbourville, Booneville, Frenchburg and Prestonsburg.

Silver Grove Independent School is no more.

Turning to sports, Sunday's your day for (free) ice skating in Corbin; Emma Talley looks back on "the hardest year of my golf career" (and reflects on Jeremiah 29:11), and WKU's Ty Storey is your Manning Award Quarterback of the Week!

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Louisville, Nov. 29; Pikeville, Nov. 30; Boyce, Dawson Springs and Murray, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville and Monticello, Dec. 6; Berea, Bowling Green, Calvert City, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Madisonville, Paducah, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Trenton, Versailles and Whitley City, Dec. 7; Georgetown, Dec. 8; Cave City, Dec. 10, and Burnside, Elkton and Williamsburg, Dec. 14.

Oh, Kentucky

On the Babies 'R Us transformation in Florence.

On the Patti's comeback in Grand Rivers.

On the Christmas-decor redo debut in Columbia.

Fiber to the (Princeton) home.

Good jobs news from Berea, Erlanger, Hopkinsville and Maysville. Bad from Ashland and Shelbyville. False hope in Inez.

Turning to sports, Franklin County High's Benny Watkins Field will be under scrutiny Friday night; Martha Layne Collins High celebrates its first Division I hoops signees, and Season 4 for the SoKY Ice Rink is afoot.

Christmas parades: Sharpsburg, Nov. 9; Owensboro, Nov. 23; Boyce, Dawson Springs and Murray, Dec. 1; Bardstown, Dec. 5; Harrodsburg, Hopkinsville and Monticello, Dec. 6; Berea, Bowling Green, Calvert City, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Madisonville, Paducah, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Trenton, Versailles and Whitley City, Dec. 7; Georgetown, Dec. 8; Cave City, Dec. 10, and Burnside, Elkton and Williamsburg, Dec. 14.

KHSAA Football Polls

McCracken County beat Mayfield.  Caldwell County crushed Crittenden County.  Madisonville beat Christian County.  Some pretty big games last Friday.  Here is the list of ranked football teams from Western Kentucky:

6A:
7.  Henderson Co:  4-0

5A:
4.  S. Warren:  4-0
5.  Bowling Green:  3-1
7.  Owensboro:  3-1
10.  Greenwood:  4-0

4A:
3.  Madisonville-North Hopkins:  4-0
9.  Hopkinsville:  2-2

3A:
8.  Trigg Co:  4-0
9.  Paducah Tilghman:  3-1

2A:
3.  Mayfield:  3-1
5.  Caldwell Co:  3-1
6.  Owensboro Catholic:  3-1
7.  Murray:  3-1
9.  Todd Co. Cent:  4-0

A:
7.  Crittenden Co:  3-1

AP Polls for KHSAA Football

Here are your ranked teams in Western Kentucky.  Eric, is Madisonville really this good?

6A:
9.  Henderson Co:  3-0

5A:
4.  S. Warren:  3-0
5.  Bowling Green:  3-0
7.  Owensboro:  2-1
10.  Greenwood:  3-0

4A:
3.  Madisonville-North Hopkins:  3-0
6.  Hopkinsville:  2-1

3A:
9.  Trigg Co:  3-0
10.  Paducah Tilghman:  2-1

2A:
1.  Mayfield
5.  Caldwell Co:  2-1
6.  Owensboro Catholic:  2-1
7.  Murray:  2-1
9.  Todd Co. Central:  2-0

A:
5.  Crittenden Co:  3-0

AP Polls for KHSAA Football

As of today, the following teams from Western Kentucky are ranked in the AP's polls for the KHSAA:

6A:
10.  Henderson Co.  2-0

5A:
5.  Bowling Green  1-1
7.  Owensboro  1-1
10.  Greenwood  2-0

4A:
5.  Madisonville-North Hopkins  2-0
9.  Hopkinsville  1-1
10.  Logan Co.  2-0

3A:
5.  Paducah Tilghman  2-0
9.  Trigg Co.  2-0

2A:
1.  Mayfield  2-0
3.  Caldwell Co.  2-0
4.  Owensboro Catholic  2-0
8.  Murray  1-1
T10.  Todd Co. Central  2-0

1A:
5.  Crittenden Co.  2-0

Oh, Kentucky

I was in Munfordville and got to pick up the July 11 Hart County News-Herald. My favorite item was the "Buzz Around Bonnieville" column by Linda Watts: "No matter where you call home, we all have the same basic issues facing our communities today; the lack of affordable housing, small businesses struggling to make it, trying to keep prices competitive while making enough to pay the bills and the older population facing loneliness with family members living miles away to pursue their careers." She used that as a springboard to talk about her thankfulness "that we live in a community that offers so many actives and opportunities for fellowship." She mentioned the recent county fair and an upcoming ribbon cutting and grand opening at Barbour's Fresh Produce in Munfordville.

Ryan Van Velzer of Louisville's WFPL lays out how Owenton avoided water contamination downstream from the Jim Beam spill.

A murder in Hazard has a local homeless shelter and the city reviewing its processes and policies. "Somehow we have to be a compassionate city, but we also have to protect our city," a city councilperson says in Katie Kelley's story in The Hazard Herald.

(Refugee) farm to (Hickory & Oak) table, in Bowling Green. Neat Madison Martin report for WBKO.

Ray Hagerman, president of the Madisonville-Hopkins County Economic Development Corporation, in the local Messenger: "Madisonville is at a 15-year record for open jobs, and our employers are struggling mightily to find the talent they need in those positions. Economic development has organized two job fairs in the first half of this year, and both had hundreds more available jobs than they attracted job seekers. Studies show that people with military experience tend to have a high rate of civilian work success, and so we see Fort Campbell as a crucial pipeline of talent for our community's prosperity. And we saw Madisonville Military Day as a great start to tapping into that talent."

The National Association of Agricultural Educators nabbed itself a couple of recruits from Caldwell County High.

Mural reveal! Today at 2 Central in the old Clinton Bank lot.

Turning to sports, forget about live racing at Ellis Park today.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Bowling Green, Coalgood and Morehead.

Cycling update: Remembering the Removal, in Princeton.

Oh, Kentucky

More erasures meant better scores ... Mary Meadows with the Floyd County Chronicle and Times is all over the Betsy Layne Elementary testing scandal.

More from Floyd County: The U.S. Post Office at Westbury has been destroyed by fire. Prayers for Ms. Ramirez and her missing dog.

Sen. McConnell came to Calvert City for a closed-door meeting in the city hall about carp, so Joshua Claussen with Princeton's WPKY and a commercial fisherman/Food Giant wheel had their own meeting about the problem outside.

"Put Hopkins County on the cutting edge of the fourth Industrial Revolution."

Oh, Kentucky

Welcome to Greenville (coming soon).

Hiring in Princeton (for jobs there and in Eddyville, Grand Rivers, Marion, etc.)

If you're planning to get your Chik-fil-A on in Ashland, you better get it going. But chill: "It is temporarily a bad thing but it is long term a good thing."

Some in Louisville City FC Nation are not about to chill.

Wonderful Nita Johnson feature in London's Sentinel Echo on Laurel County's new teacher of the year: "I always tell them, Te Amo Mucho - I love you a lot," she said. "I always want that to be the last words they hear."


The equivalent of about half of Kentucky's old tires reportedly are being converted into energy at East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s Spurlock Station in Maysville.

Why are people getting sick in the mail room of the federal prison in Manchester?

Oh, Kentucky

In her farewell editorial, Jamie Lucke asks for kindness for the mountains of Kentucky. No more prisons or strip mines or slurry spills. https://t.co/Fw6a94hHQi ^JC

— Bluegrass Politics (@BGPolitics) March 1, 2019

Not only do the numbers say you don't want to get old in Kentucky, they also say you don't want to be a baby here.

Per Austin Ramsey's report in Owensboro's Messenger-Inquirer, the entire staff of the City of Drakesboro on Jan. 3--a day after the new mayor took office--quit their jobs. 

Good jobs news from Louisville.

Toward better polymer and materials scientists at Murray and aviation-maintenance technicians at Eastern.

"Carp-crete" appears to be exactly as gruesome as it sounds like it might be.

Bardstown's Stephen Foster FiveStar is going retro.

No shocker to or argument from me in the pizza category: It's Pagliai's of Princeton. I look forward to reading the rest of WKDZ's 2018 Best of Western Kentucky winners.

One of the relatively minor but definitive joys of no longer being single is that events like Movies at the Park are pretty much off my calendar. But, seriously, Elizabethtown, I hope you all have a blast.

Rest in peace, Mrs. Louvernia Campbell Deaton (1947-2019), who would've been at least partly responsible for the fine food served at Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park and Hazard's Holiday Inn.

Oh, Kentucky

Robin Hart in Danville's Advocate-Messenger reports the state auditor's gripping tale of losing his vehicle but finding plenty of helpful people in the flooding near Salyersville.

Buffet on Kentucky (indirectly): "If I were relocating into some state that had a huge unfunded pension plan, I am walking into liabilities. Because I mean, who knows whether they’re gonna get it from the corporate income tax or my employees–you know, with personal income taxes or what. But that–that liability isn’t gonna–you can’t ship it offshore or anything like that. And those are big numbers, really big numbers."

Bevin on trade: "Ultimately, when the dust settles, I am confident that we will have a deal that is a significant improvement over NAFTA, that will benefit all interested parties in my home state of Kentucky and that will be a win for the entire Western Hemisphere. The USMCA is that deal, and the sooner each of our nations ratify it, the better it will be for all of us."

The back story, perhaps, on EnerBlu's pullout from Pikeville.

Hiring in Fulton (for drivers for the county transit authority) and Irvine (for a general laborer "essential to providing safe drinking water to the community").

Kentucky's safest cities? In order, they are Madisonville, Independence, Fort Thomas, Lawrenceburg and Mount Washington, per the National Council for Home Safety and Security and its analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Report statistics.

"Combatting Homelessness" is the agenda for tomorrow's Greater Louisville Reentry Coalition meeting.

Average student-loan debt among Kentucky college students is up 100 percent since 2004, reports Nicole Ziege in WKU's College Heights Herald.

Oh, Kentucky

Christmas parades: Owensboro, Nov. 17; Ashland, Nov. 20; Brownsville, Nov. 24; Cumberland and Fredonia, Nov. 30; Arlington, Barbourville (thank you, Mountain Advocate, for the video above), Berea, Cadiz, Calvert City, Carlisle (thank you, Carlisle Mercury, for the video above), Clinton, Columbia, Hawesville, Jenkins, Lawrenceburg, Leitchfield, Lewisport, Madisonville, Marion (thank you, Crittenden Press, for the video above), Murray, Paducah, Somerset and Whitley City, Dec. 1; Bowling Green, Dawson Springs, Glasgow and Salyersville, Dec. 2; Lexington, Dec. 4; Greenup, Dec. 6; Frankfort, Monticello and Richmond, Dec. 7; Benton, Elkton, Eubank, Harlan, Hopkinsville, Horse Cave, Louisa, Munfordville and Stamping Ground, Dec. 8; Whitesburg, Dec. 14; Burnside, La Center, Manchester (thank you, Manchester Enterprise, for the news) and Neon, Dec. 15.

The disappearance in Paducah of a legendary San Francisco radio host has been solved, sadly, but the case appears to be not at all closed.

The expansion of the Paxton Media Group engulfs another half-dozen papers in western Kentucky.

The Bellevue-Dayton Fire Department is getting serious about the help it needs. So's Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in Pineville.