118 Teams Left

Here are the results of last night's Boys' Regional Games (MaxPreps rankings in parentheses):

FOURTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (at W. Kentucky):

Barren Co. 77, Clinton Co. 49

(3) Warren Cent. 67, Franklin-Simpson 27

SIXTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (home teams listed first):

(19) Lou. Butler 83 - 52 Lou. Pleasure Ridge Park

Lou. W.E.B. DuBois 71 - 59 Bullitt Cent.

Lou. Fairdale 61 - 78 (13) Lou. Jeffersontown

Lou. Moore 85 - 95 Lou. DeSales

SEVENTH REGION QUARTER-FINALS (home teams listed first):

(4) Lou. St. Xavier 105 - 50 Lou. Central

Lou. Trinity 64 - 63 Lou. Eastern

(9) Lou. Ballard 78 - 76 Lou. Male

(12) Lou. DuPont Manual 60 - 51 Lou. Waggener

Note:  Christian Academy-Louisville, ranked 14th in the Commonwealth on MaxPreps, was eliminated by Lou. Eastern 80-65 in the semi-finals of the 28th District.  So, CAL did not qualify for the Seventh Region Tournament.

Lots more action on tap tonight.

Oh, Kentucky

 

Oh, Kentucky

The United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, via the Kentucky Baptist Convention's KentuckyToday: "This is not merely happy talk. Your United States Attorney’s Office has dramatically increased the number of federal firearm prosecutions across the district targeting violent trigger-pullers. We are unwavering in our commitment to bring justice to the unsolved murder of fallen Bardstown Police Officer Jason Ellis. I have staffed the U.S. Attorney’s Branch Office in Paducah at its highest levels ever. The DEA has opened an office in Paducah for the first time and the FBI plans to re-open its office in the Purchase next year. ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) has staffed up 40 percent in Kentucky with real benefit to communities large and small. And I hope to announce similar good news in Bowling Green very soon."

Mary Meadows in the Floyd County Chronicle delivers the interesting goods from a local board-of-education meeting and the back and forth about transportation policy around extracurricular activities.

Abbey Nutter in the College Heights Herald tells me a story I had never heard of WKU's takeover of Jonesville.

We appear to have missed last call at Pazzo's in Lexington.

Turning to sports, the NCAA volleyball tournament gets rolling today, and WKU is the No. 15 seed.

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, London, Monticello, Pineville, Richmond and Trenton, Dec. 6; Arlington, Barbourville, Berea, Bloomfield, Bowling Green, Bromley/Ludlow, Brownsville, Cadiz, Calvert City, Clinton, Columbia, Corbin, Cynthiana, Danville, Frankfort, Glasgow, Grayson, Hawesville, Henderson, Lawrenceburg, Lexington, Madisonville, Marion, Middlesboro, Morgantown, Murray, Owingsville, Paducah, Rabbit Hash, Scottsville, Shelbyville, Somerset, Trenton, Versailles, Whitley City and Winchester, Dec. 7; Georgetown and New Haven, Dec. 8; Cave City, Dec. 10; Augusta, Burkesville, Burnside, Elkton, Mayfield, Providence, Williamsburg, Dec. 14, and Tollesboro, Dec. 15.

Merle Travis Birthday Miners Strawberries and Cornbread Suppers: Drakesboro, Dec. 7.

Oh, Kentucky

Barren County High School says it's in compliance with state guidelines for its Bible-literacy course and has received no complaints from parents or students in the seven years it has been offered, reports Lisa Simpson Strange in the Glasgow Daily Times. And at Lewis County High, per Kathryn Robinson of West Virginia's WSAZ, "there's no daily devotionals, that's not done. Daily prayer is not done ... it's more of a comparative religion."

The Lake Cumberland region is working toward a memorial to people buried in unmarked graves who were enslaved during their lives, and plans are to be detailed at a breakfast Monday.

The nuns at Saint Walberg Monastery sold 85 acres to an Edgewood developer, but their neighbors in Villa Hills turned out in such large numbers Tuesday to dispute the plan that the Kenton County Planning Commission punted the question to next week, in order to move to a larger facility, in Lakeside Park. Terrific meeting coverage by The River City News.

The KHSAA Board of Control has also been meeting on some lively topics, such as how to recombobulate high-school football for the next several seasons.

The federal bust at the Jumbo Buffet in La Grange is quite a mystery--even to the owners, they say.

"The largest firearms retailer in the state of Kentucky and one of the largest volume single shop locations in the country," Whittaker Guns of Owensboro, appears to have no overnight security guards, dogs, etc. Anyway, some people broke in and stole a bunch of their guns the other night.

Madisonville is hiring for a director of its forthcoming "makerspace."

Congratulations, Covington Holy Cross

Holy Cross! Holy.... Abby Hassert's state title winner! @abby_hassert @dee_tee00 @ally_mayhaus33 @McclendonDajah pic.twitter.com/oD7HOVQ5i8
— Jeremy Rauch (@FOX19Jeremy) March 15, 2015

The black and red Indians of Covington Holy Cross--a high school of 385 boys and girls mostly from the "Kenton County parishes of Cathedral, Holy Cross, Our Savior, St. Anthony, St. Augustine, St. Benedict, St. Cecilia, St. Matthew and St. Patrick"--are the new Kentucky state champs in girls' basketball. And here are the previous ones:

1920 Paris
1921 Ashland
1922 Ashland
1923 West Louisville
1924 Ashland
1925 Georgetown
1926 Maysville
1927 West Louisville
1928 Ashland
1929 Ashland
1930 Hazard
1931 Woodburn
1932 Woodburn
1975 Louisville Butler Traditional
1976 Louisville Sacred Heart
1977 Laurel County
1978 Laurel County
1979 Laurel County
1980 Louisville Butler
1981 Pulaski County
1982 Marshall County
1983 Bowling Green Warren Central
1984 Marshall County
1985 Whitley County
1986 Oldham County
1987 Laurel County
1988 Louisville Southern
1989 Clay County
1990 Lexington Henry Clay
1991 Laurel County
1992 Louisville Mercy
1993 Nicholas County
1994 Hazard M.C. Napier
1995 Scott County
1996 Union County
1997 Hazard
1998 Elizabethtown
1999 Lexington Catholic
2000 Olive Hill West Carter
2001 Lexington Catholic
2002 Louisville Sacred Heart
2003 Louisville Sacred Heart
2004 Louisville Sacred Heart
2005 Lexington Catholic
2006 Lexington Catholic
2007 Lexington Catholic
2008 Louisville Butler
2009 Louisville Iroquois
2010 Louisville Mercy
2011 Rockcastle County
2012 Louisville duPont Manual
2013 Marion County
2014 Louisville Butler

Oh, Kentucky

It's 200 years of Daviess County, and here are some of the highlights.

Have some deer, Wisconsin.

Fort Thomas is said to be Kentucky's safest place. (Madisonville is No. 2!)

Good jobs news from Elizabethtown and Erlanger. Bad from Hodgenville.

The Heritage Foundation's county-by-county, right-to-work raid across Kentucky reaches Hardin County.

Spot treating of roads by KYTC Maintenance crews is widespread this morning. http://t.co/rV6Q7o5hPX pic.twitter.com/l82a47j42u
— KYTC (@KYTC) January 14, 2015

One and done: Congratulations to the Louisville Manual girls' basketball team

And, so, the (Alfred Victor) duPont Manual Lady Crimsons of Louisville join the list of Kentucky's state champions in girls' basketball. I noted in yesterday's Funky Winkerbean that Westview's new state-championship trophy is for the "Division III" girls' basketball title. Not Manual's crown--it's for the whole Commonwealth.

1920 Paris
1921 Ashland
1922 Ashland
1923 West Louisville
1924 Ashland
1925 Georgetown
1926 Maysville
1927 West Louisville
1928 Ashland
1929 Ashland
1930 Hazard
1931 Woodburn
1932 Woodburn
1975 Louisville Butler Traditional
1976 Louisville Sacred Heart
1977 Laurel County
1978 Laurel County
1979 Laurel County
1980 Louisville Butler
1981 Pulaski County
1982 Marshall County
1983 Bowling Green Warren Central
1984 Marshall County
1985 Whitley County
1986 Oldham County
1987 Laurel County
1988 Louisville Southern
1989 Clay County
1990 Lexington Henry Clay
1991 Laurel County
1992 Louisville Mercy
1993 Nicholas County
1994 Hazard M.C. Napier
1995 Scott County
1996 Union County
1997 Hazard
1998 Elizabethtown
1999 Lexington Catholic
2000 Olive Hill West Carter
2001 Lexington Catholic
2002 Louisville Sacred Heart
2003 Louisville Sacred Heart
2004 Louisville Sacred Heart
2005 Lexington Catholic
2006 Lexington Catholic
2007 Lexington Catholic
2008 Louisville Butler
2009 Louisville Iroquois
2010 Louisville Mercy
2011 Rockcastle County
2012 Louisville duPont Manual

I would like to know more about the following questions:

-- Whatever happened to W.B. Jackson, who coached all five Ashland Kittens winners in the early era?

-- Why did Louisville (in 1927) and Lexington (in '28) discontinue girls' basketball sooner than the rest of the state?

-- Were there teams around Kentucky that continued playing interscholastically after 1932 when the KHSAA stopped sponsoring regional and state tournaments?

-- Why did West Louisville, a community in Daviess County that today seemingly turns up in the direct path of any tornado that makes its way across western Kentucky, excel at girls' basketball, and how was Owensboro doing at the same time? Same question for Woodburn, a community in Warren County, in relationship to Bowling Green?

-- Why Laurel County five times in 15 seasons, and why none in the last 21?

Maybe we'll learn more about those next KHSAA girls' basketball season.