FISCAL COURT PASSES FIRST READING OF COUNTY BUDGET
At Wednesday’s regular meeting of the Calloway County Fiscal Court, magistrates passed the first reading of the 2021-22 county budget and also approved multiple appointments. Nancy Mieure was reappointed to the South 641 Water District Board; Tim Cantrell, Steve Owens and Brandon Kindle, who were reappointed to the Airport Board; Sue Outland was appointed to the Purchase Area Development District Board of Directors and the PADD Housing Corporation Committee; Eddie Clyde Hale was appointed to the PADD Transportation Committee; Tonia Casey and Noraa Ransey were appointed to the PADD Commodities and Food Bank Task Force. The court also passed the second reading of a budget amendment to account for a $25,000 illegal open dump flood grant and over $31,000 from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
MISD SCHOOL BOARD APPOINTS VINSON TO FILL VACANCY
The Murray Independent Board of Education appointed Mark Vinson on Tuesday to fill a board vacancy of a seat held by Dr. Miranda Terry who is relocating due to an employment opportunity. Vinson is a 1977 graduate of Murray High School and a former Board Member with 12 years of experience. He currently serves as the President/CEO of Money Concepts Wealth Management & Financial Planning in Murray. Vinson’s service will begin on July 1.
CCSD WILL PARTICIPATE IN CLICK IT OR TICKET
The Calloway County Sheriff’s Office has made plans to participate in the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety “Click it or Ticket” campaign. The increased focus on enforcement of Kentucky’s occupant protection laws will begin Monday and continue through June 6th. The campaign will include public awareness messages posted on the department’s social media site as well as increased seatbelt enforcement efforts. Deputies will conduct both daytime and nighttime patrols focused on the enforcement of seatbelt laws as well as child safety seat laws. Approximately 10,000 unbelted occupants die in motor vehicle collisions every year.
CALLOWAY COUNTY COVID REPORT
The Calloway County Health Department reported 3 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the county case total during the pandemic at 3,502. Of that total, 3,446 have recovered, 6 are isolated at home, and 1 is hospitalized. There have been 49 COVID-19 related deaths in the county. As of yesterday, 28.9 percent of Calloway County residents have been fully vaccinated including 65.7% of those 65 and older. Calloway County’s COVID-19 positivity rate as of Wednesday was .74%, which is lower than Tuesday’s rate of .82%.
KENTUCKY COVID REPORT
At Wednesday’s COVID-19 update for Kentucky, 123 new cases and 5 new deaths were reported, raising the total to 6,678 Kentuckians who are listed as Covid deaths. As of Wednesday, there have been over 6.5 million coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky with a positivity rate of 2.77%, which is lower than last Wednesday’s rate of 3.08%. There are 378 Kentuckians hospitalized which is 47 less than last Wednesday, including 108 in ICU, which is 3 more than one week ago. At least 52,341 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus. As of Wednesday, 1,937,333 Kentuckians have been vaccinated for a 44% total, including 80% of those 65 and older.
TWO KILLED IN BALLARD COUNTY ACCIDENT
The Kentucky State Police are investigating a fatal wreck Wednesday morning in Ballard County that claimed the life of two people and left one person injured. Preliminary investigation shows 20-year old James Sanders of Russellvillle was traveling westbound on KY 286 while 28-year old Cain Oswald of Flippin, Arkansas was traveling eastbound. For an unknown reason, Sanders’ vehicle crossed the center line into the opposite lane of traffic, colliding head on with Oswald. After being taken to a Paducah hospital, Sanders was airlifted to Tennova Healthcare in Clarksville where he died from his injuries. Oswald was pronounced dead at the scene by the Ballard County Coroner’s Office. A passenger in Sanders’ vehicle, 19-year old Alissa Downing of Lewisburg was transported to Mercy Health Lourdes Hospital for treatment of her injuries.
PUBIC FORUM ON DRUG TREATMENT FACILITIES SET FOR THURSDAY
Circuit Judge Jamie Jameson and the members of the 42nd Judicial Circuit Community Corrections Board Incorporated are hosting a public forum at 7 pm Thursday at Zion’s Cause Baptist Church in Benton. The public forum and fundraiser will be about plans that are progressing to bring two separate 100-bed long term inpatient substance abuse treatment facilities to Marshall and Calloway counties that will also help surrounding counties. Former Governor Ernie Fletcher and his nonprofit, The Fletcher Foundation, have teamed up with the local Corrections Board to build and begin operations of the lifesaving facilities for the community. Several local leaders, survivors of addiction, and Fletcher will be speaking at the event. Following the presentation, Judge Jameson will preside over the first edition of the 2021 Drug Court graduations for Calloway & Marshall counties. The graduation will include video presentations from families of the graduates illustrating how recovery can redeem lives and families.
KTC PREPARES TO REPAIR NEW HOPE ROAD
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 1 engineers have evaluated a damaged box culvert that forced a section of New Hope Road in Trigg County to close on May 13. The road remains closed near the 8 mile marker between Freeman Road and Meadow Cemetery Road about 1 mile south of the South Road intersection. Starting this week, the KYTC Trigg County Maintenance Crew will remove decking and beams from the top of the box culvert. Starting early next week, the crew will start the process of installing new beams and decking. Engineers are optimistic the repairs can be completed in 3 to 4 weeks, weather permitting. The roadway will remain closed until all work is completed.
IN AND AROUND KENTUCKY
FRANKFORT—Governor Andy Beshear is introducing several programs intended to fight human trafficking. The governor announced the initiatives yesterday, which act on recommendations based on research Beshear’s office did with Project PIVOT when he was Attorney General. Beshear’s administration is creating an advisory council as part of the Department for Community Based Services, and launching a human trafficking and child labor screening tool to identify high-risk children. A full-time child protection specialist is also being hired. Kentucky was one of only four states to receive a 2020 one-million-dollar grant to fight human trafficking from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime.
OHIO COUNTY—Kentucky State Police are reporting three deaths in Ohio County. KSP officials say two men and one woman appear to have been shot and were found near each other outside a home in the 57-hundred-block of US-62. A barn near where the bodies were discovered was found burning. An investigation into the deaths is underway.
OWENSBORO—Owensboro Police Department Chief Art Ealum is addressing concerns about his officers’ use of force statistics. Ealum went over the numbers during a testimony on the 2020 OPD Annual Report before Tuesday’s City Commission meeting. Ealum says the category totals all uses of force, but is not a report of incidents of excessive use of force. Ealum says the category includes most types of physical contact with a suspect, something not all departments count as use of force.
JESSAMINE COUNTY—A Nicholasville company is donating a thousand oxygen concentrators to help fight COVID-19 outbreaks in India. Dr. Preetpal Sidhu is CEO of Solaris Diagnostics and wanted to do something to help fight the pandemic ravaging his home country. Dr. Sidhu recently found a vendor in China to send the equipment to India at a cost of around 700-thousand dollars. He says he will continue to send oxygen concentrators to the country in the future. More than 45-hundred people died yesterday in India from COVID-19-related illnesses.
LEXINGTON—A reemergence of 17-year Brood X cicadas is happening across the state. University of Kentucky extension entomologist Jonathan Larson says the cicadas don’t bite or sting and aren’t a danger to public health. The bugs can cause illness in animals that eat too many of them. Scientists are hoping people will report the emergence of cicadas in their backyards to a local extension office and on a cicada tracking app.
WASHINGTON DC—U.S. Rep John Yarmuth is reacting to a measure to form a commission to investigate the January 6th Capitol attack. The Louisville Democrat said yesterday Republicans against the commission are the same ones who “stood against democracy on January 6th.” Yarmuth added they’re trying to conceal the truth of what happened. He called their opposition “a dereliction of duty.”
FAYETTE COUNTY—Students in Fayette County Public Schools won’t have to wear face masks with their prom outfits. District officials say masks are being “strongly recommended,” but not required. All six of the district’s main public high schools will hold proms outside due to coronavirus concerns. The formals will be held on Saturday.
TENNESSEE—There are nearly 480 new coronavirus cases in Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Health reported the new cases yesterday, bringing the total since the outbreak began to over 858-thousand-280. An additional 14 COVID-19-related deaths were also reported, with the total number of coronavirus-attributed deaths standing at over 12-thousand-350. About 600 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized across the state.
TENNESSEE—Preparations are being made to begin repairs on the I-40 bridge in Memphis. Crews began building a platform yesterday near the center of the bridge. The platform will allow workers to get down to the crack. A pair of steel plates are currently being manufactured in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The 35-foot pieces weighing about 18-thousand pounds each will be attached to the damaged section of the bridge while a permanent fix is prepared.
TENNESSEE—A kayaker says he has pictures that show the crack in the I40 bridge in Memphis going back a few years. The man says news of the crack in the I-40 bridge caused him to search through some photos. He says pictures taken while kayaking on the Mississippi River in 2016 show the crack. The Arkansas Department of Transportation says it’s investigating how long the crack was there before it was discovered by investigators.
TENNESSEE—The board for the state’s largest school district is approving the district’s largest ever budget request. The over two-billion-dollar budget is a 60-percent increase over last year’s budget for Shelby County Schools. It includes money for additional kindergarten classes, building renovations and pay raises for teachers and other staff. The Shelby County Commission is expected to vote on the proposed budget next month.
TENNESSEE—Humphreys County is the center of the biker world in Tennessee. The Tennessee Motorcycles and Music Revival Festival is being held at Loretta Lynn’s Ranch and Campground today through Sunday. Thousands of people are expected to camp at the 35-hundred-acre venue in Hurricane Mills during the four-day event. The festival includes music, dirt-track racing, Harley-Davidson demos, and hand-crafted custom motorcycles.
ILLINOIS—Illinois GOP and Democratic leaders are continuing to battle over the issue of redistricting. Republican leaders say then-candidate Governor J.B. Pritzker campaigned on the idea that the process of drawing a new district map would be independent, and that he’d veto any map created by lawmakers, party leaders, and their staff or allies. Democrats intend to release a map by the end of the week and may call for a vote on Memorial Day without observing a two-week public review period. Republicans say they don’t want to draw a map until all 2020 Census data is released in August or September. Pritzker now says he’ll veto any “unfair” map.
