Oh, Kentucky

Live from Paducah, it's the Quilt Channel (through Saturday).

Congrats @duPontManual highest-ranked school of 34 ranked in Kentucky! https://t.co/KpZFKKLKWG @BFLouisville @JCPSKY pic.twitter.com/MBzybHLb2k

— 55,000 Degrees (@55kDegrees) April 20, 2016

They're building Lexus vehicles at Toyota's Georgetown plant now, and, to better understand the challenge, factory workers went out driving back roads around the state. Mad props to Forbes for passing along that reporting tidbit, but I really wish they also would've included maps of the workers' routes.

Chinese investors have agreed to buy Lexmark, and that appears to be good jobs news for Lexington. 

Meanwhile, a radio-station operator in Edmonton has bought Funtown Mountain, and his plans sound very exciting for the Cave City property.

Here’s WFPL’s Jacob Ryan with a thought-provoking report from a fast-changing area of Louisville on the last days for a discount grocery that’s soon to be auctioned. “… Many in the neighborhood now — and before, when it was dominated by the Clarksdale housing project — depend on the small shop. It’s a quick trip and a short walk for snacks and smokes. …”

U.S. courts have decided that a Bosnian woman who had been living in Powell County can be extradited back to her home country for trial on war crimes.

Daryl Carrier--former Bristow High Comet, WKU Hilltopper, Kentucky Colonel and 1967 Federation Internationale de Basket-ball (FIBA) gold-medal winner--is among three new inductees to the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame.

Four Teams Left

I didn't bother to watch last night's quarter-finals in the State Tournament, because I was certain that Ballard and Bowling Green were going to win.  I was right about Bowling Green, but very wrong about Ballard, which suffered one of the biggest upsets I can ever remember in the Sweet 16.

Here are the scores from yesterday's quarterfinals:

(7) Owensboro 71, (8) Hopkinsville 50
(9) Cov. Catholic 61, Lou. Doss 48
Boyle Co. 85, (1) Lou. Ballard 70
Bowling Green 65, Calloway Co. 57

This is the first time since 1984 that neither the 6th, 7th, nor 11th region champions made the semi-finals.  Boyle County eliminated the champions from the 11th region and the 7th region on its way to the semi-finals -- that is almost unheard of.

Here are tonight's semi-finals:

(7) Owensboro (29-4)  v. (9) Cov. Catholic (31-5)
Boyle Co. (28-6) v. Bowling Green (30-5)

Oh, Kentucky

Is Hopkins County out of coal?

How would the president's budget proposal impact Appalachia?

Paducah's downtown hotel has hit a snag. 

London fire destroys Weaver’s, Bob’s Ready to Wear http://t.co/R7sdAYEYtN pic.twitter.com/MSKR16zylo
— The Times-Tribune (@TimesTribuneKY) February 3, 2015

The unemployment rate is down.

So's "serious crime" in Madisonville.

The autobiography of a Logan County journalist who became "the first reporter to query President Eisenhower on civil rights" is being re-released.

Per "the magic of the bookmobile" in Warren County.

Seven more shopping days until Arts Day in Kentucky.

The Christmas parades in Bremen and Central City went fine.

Oh, Kentucky

And a belatedly happy from the Kentucky desk, Mr. Claycomb of Campbellsville.

Happy 90th Birthday to one of our favorites! Mr Conrad Claycomb, who spent 7 months as a #POW in Germany in 1944! pic.twitter.com/8ZMVhYBdb8
— Druther's Restaurant (@Druthers_Cville) June 16, 2014

Yes, we can! Lyon County rejoices as our president signs the Freedom to Fish Act.

It's morning in Eddyville again.

Celebrating big government's role in bringing safe, reliable electricity to Barren County.

Good jobs news from Elizabethtown and Franklin.

On the bad from Louisville's Courier-Journal last week.

Paducah's Summer Festival does not start Friday.

Take that, Southern Illinois All-Stars (of high-school football)! (By the way, the new KHSAA football season starts Aug. 22.)

Here's your newest KHSAA hall-of-fame class.

Oh, Kentucky

From Russia with love ...

pic.twitter.com/NakGoj2jgD
— Dallas Robinson (@DRobUSA) February 23, 2014

To Morganfield with hardware ...

STATE CHAMPS! @UC_Wrestling @UnionCountyHS @UCHSathletics pic.twitter.com/9ntDepSLbn
— Mr. Evan Jackson (@MrJacksonUCHS) February 23, 2014

To Lexington for horses.

To Owensboro for hockey.

The district tournaments for KHSAA basketball (both boys and girls) have gotten going this week around Kentucky, so we're going to read a lot of good, fun stuff over the next few weeks about hoops in Kentucky--but nothing is going to be any better or more fun than this Park City Daily News story by Chad Bishop about Darel Carrier.

The gov is feeling his oats.

The conversation in the comments about finding a good steak in Muhlenberg County is intriguing--with a hint of romance.

"The building at the corner of 4th and Main streets saw businesses come and go amidst one of Murray’s most commercially rich districts before it suddenly collapsed in the night Saturday, sending little pieces of history careening into the streets."

"I’d like to see East Kentucky give some thought to a strategy that makes the most of our native population, our fascinating and eclectic heritage, and the natural areas that have facilitated both."

Rest in peace, U.S. Marine Master Sgt Aaron Torian, originally of Paducah.

NBA (and ABA) Playoffs, Round of Eight

So, when we left off last season, 1966-67, the Boston Celtics' long run of NBA championships had been at last ended at eight, as the Philadelphia 76ers put together what even Bill Russell had to agree was one of the best seasons in NBA history. 

As the 1967-68 NBA division semifinals commence, all indications are that the 76ers are ready to begin a championship run of their own. Philadelphia finished the NBA's first 82-game regular season with 62 wins--including a 30-point romp in the season's last week against the Western Division-runnerup Los Angeles Lakers. The 76ers' 31-year-old, hometown-hero center, Wilt Chamberlain, had 53 points, 32 rebounds and 14 assists in the game, en route to his fourth-straight honor as the league's most valuable player. Like last season, Chamberlain was expected to shoulder less of the team's scoring load. After his first nine NBA seasons, in which he averaged no fewer than 30.1 points per game, Chamberlain had averaged 24.1 and 24.3 points in the 1966-67 and '67-68 seasons, respectively. In 1967-68, he also averaged a league-best 23.8 rebounds and totaled a league-best 702 assists (8.6 per).

Also qualifying from the playoffs from the Eastern Division are the Boston Celtics (54-28), New York Knichs (43-39) and Detroit Pistons (40-42). The Cincinnati Royals (39-43) and Baltimore Bulllets (36-46) finished out of the reason.

In the Western Division, the final standings saw the St. Louis Hawks (56-26) in first, followed by Los Angeles (52-30), the San Francisco Warriors (43-39), the Chicago Bulls (29-53), the expansion Seattle SuperSonics (23-59) and the expansion San Diego Rockets (15-67). After winning the Western Division last season, San Francisco slid in the standings in 1967-68 without Rick Barry, the NBA's rookie of the year in 1965-66 and leading scorer in 1966-67.

Barry left San Francisco and the NBA to join the Oakland Oaks of the first-year American Basketball Association. However, a San Francisco judge ruled in favor of the Warriors in a court case that prevented Barry from playing for the ABA Oaks for one year under terms of the NBA's reserve clause. So, with 23-year-old Barry providing radio commentary, the Oaks went 22-56 in the first ABA regular season--last place in the Western Division, behind the New Orleans Buccaneers (48-30), Dallas Chaparrals (46-32), Denver Rockets (45-33), Houston Mavericks (29-49) and Anaheim Amigos (25-53). In the Eastern Division, it was the Pittsburgh Pipers (54-24) coming in first, ahead of the Minnesota Muskies (50-28), Indiana Pacers (38-40), Kentucky Colonels (36-42) and New Jersey Americans (36-42).

The NBA playoffs open Friday, March 22, 1968. Here are the round-of-eight pairings:

-- 76ers vs. Knicks,

-- Celtics vs. Pistons,

-- Hawks vs. Warriors and

-- Lakers vs. Bulls.

The ABA playoffs tip off Saturday, March 23, 1968. Here are those round-of-eight pairings:

-- Pipers vs. Pacers,

-- Muskies vs. Colonels,

-- Buccaneers vs. Rockets and

-- Chaparrals vs. Mavericks.