ANOTHER COVID-RELATED DEATH REPORTED IN CALLOWAY COUNTY
The Calloway County Health Department reported 50 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday as well as the county’s 54th covid-related death. The county currently has 177 cases isolated at home and 10 are hospitalized. Calloway County’s current positivity rate is 13.9% which is higher than the state rate of 11.6%. Yesterday, the state reported 2,713 new cases and 6 new deaths. There were 1,371 hospitalized as of yesterday, which is 432 more than last Thursday, including 357 in ICU, which is 75 higher than a week ago.
FIRE DEPARTMENTS RESPOND TO HOUSE FIRE
The Calloway County Fire Department and Murray Fire Department responded yesterday to a report of a house fire in the Saratoga Farms subdivision west of Murray. Firemen fought the blaze at a large two-story house for several hours. No additional details of the fire are available at this time.
HIGH SPEED CHASE CAPTURES FUGITIVE
A high speed chase has led to drug and traffic charges for a Trigg County man. WKDZ reports that 38-year-old Gregory Shemwell fled from sheriff’s deputies when they tried to stop him on US 68 at Industrial Drive for a violation. Shemwell fled into Christian County, reaching speeds of over 100 miles per hour before pulling into a driveway and hitting a fence. Shemwell went into his ex-wife’s home where he was arrested. He was charged with fleeing or evading police, resisting arrest, burglary, possession of meth and possession of marijuana. Deputies also found Shemwell had three active arrest warrants in Christian County.
MURRAY POLICE TO UTILIZED TRAFFIC SAFETY CHECKPOINTS
The Murray Police Department will be conducting traffic safety checkpoints over the next few weeks. These checkpoints will be at designated areas on highways where statistics have shown an elevated number of vehicle crashes. According to police, Traffic Safety Checkpoints are a valuable tool used to promote the safety and wellbeing of the public as well as providing police with visibility and interaction with the community. Checkpoints are utilized throughout the Commonwealth to help promote highway safety.
TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO DRUG CHARGES
Kentucky State Police arrested a Carlisle County man Sunday for various drug charges after a weekend traffic stop in Carlisle County. A Trooper with KSP Post 1 conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle speeding on KY 121 outside of the Kirbyton community. During the course of the stop, the Trooper learned the operator, 36-year old Bobby Styers of Cunningham had an arrest warrant out of Illinois. During a consent search of Styers’ vehicle, the Trooper located suspected methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Styers was charged with Operating a Motor Vehicle Under the Influence of Substance, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Possession of Methamphetamine, and other traffic offenses. Styers was lodged in the McCracken County Regional Jail.
MSU PROFESSOR WORKS ON PROJECT WITH COLOMBIAN SCHOOL
Dr. Bommanna Loganathan has been accepted to the Fulbright Specialist program and will be on the Fulbright Specialist roster for a tenure of four years. Dr. Loganathan is a professor of chemistry at Murray State University. Acceptance to the program places Loganathan among a competitive pool of candidates who are eligible to be matched with projects designed by host institutions in more than 160 countries around the world, at any time during their four-year tenure on the roster. Loganathan’s expertise has already been matched with a research project proposed by a university in Bogota, Colombia which selected Loganathan as their top choice for its project dealing with persistent organic pollutants in the environment and compound specific radionuclide sediment finger-printing.
IN AND AROUND KENTUCKY
FRANKFORT—Governor Andy Beshear is continuing to recommend COVID-19 vaccinations as hospitalizations climb in Kentucky. The governor said in his Team Kentucky update yesterday that many of those hospitalized are younger, unvaccinated people. Doctors from Ashland and Morehead spoke alongside Beshear, emphasizing the risks of being unvaccinated and the rapid rise of cases not seen since the pandemic began. Beshear says districts that haven’t followed the universal school mask mandate have 700 students in quarantine after three days.
LEXINGTON—A Lexington council member is making a bid for Alice Forgy Kerr’s state Senate seat. Amanda Mays Bledsoe announced her candidacy yesterday for the 12th District Senate seat. Bledsoe has been part of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for seven years and is chair of the Budget, Finance, and Economic Development Committee. Kerr has announced that she is not seeking reelection.
WEBSTER COUNTY—A home in Webster County is destroyed after a fire. The blaze broke out yesterday afternoon at a house in the nine-thousand-block of Highway 41 Alternate near Sebree. No one was home when the fire started. No word on injuries or what caused the blaze.
HENDERSON COUNTY—A man is hospitalized after a Henderson County four-wheeler crash. Authorities say the wreck happened yesterday afternoon on Airline Road near Barren Church Road. Deputies say the ATV went off the road and hit a fence. The driver is facing life-threatening injuries.
OWENSBORO—The Glover Cary “Blue” Bridge over the Ohio River in Owensboro is closing to traffic. The bridge will close for hours at a time for the Owensboro Air Show through Sunday. Today’s closure will run from 2 o’clock until 4 this afternoon.
TENNESSEE—There are over 55-hundred new coronavirus cases in Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Health reported the new cases yesterday, bringing the total since the outbreak began to over 936-thousand-600. An additional 20 COVID-19-related deaths were also reported, with the total number standing at over 12-thousand-900. There are over two-thousand COVID-19 hospitalizations in Tennessee.
>>Shelby County Schools: No Truth To All Virtual Learning RumorTENNESSEE—The state’s largest school district says there’s no truth to a social media rumor that all classes will go completely online soon. The Twitter rumor says Shelby County Schools will go completely virtual starting September 1st. The district said yesterday its priority is the safe return to in-person learning. SCS also requested people wear masks and take advantage of free COVID-19 vaccinations.
TENNESSEE—A Tennessee soldier who died while fighting in World War Two will be buried in Dayton tomorrow. Private Warren G.H. DeVault of Rhea County was killed while fighting in Germany in November of 1944. His body was not able to be recovered at the time of his death and his unidentified remains were buried at an American cemetery in Europe in 1951. Private DeVault’s remains were disinterred in 2019 and identified last year.
TENNESSEE—The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is issuing a warning about dumping unwanted pets. The TWRA issued the warning yesterday after an alligator was removed from a small pond in Bradley County, near the Georgia border. The TWRA says Bradley County is not in the “historic range” of alligators, however, the reptiles have been expanding their range in Tennessee. Most alligator sightings in the state have been in West Tennessee, including a seven-foot ‘gator that was captured in the Wolf River in Fayette County.
TENNESSEE—Sevier County-native Dolly Parton is teaming up with best-selling mystery author James Patterson to write her first novel. Run, Rose, Run is about a young singer-songwriter who escapes to Nashville where her dark secret follows her. The book is due to be released in March of 2022. An album featuring 12 songs “based on the characters and situations in the book,” will drop at the same time.
ILLINOIS—Data from the 2020 Census is showing a drop in population in Central Illinois. The data released yesterday indicates that at least ten counties in Central Illinois have experienced a decrease in population. Mason County showed the largest dip of the ten counties, at nearly eleven-percent. Overall, Central Illinois has seen a population loss of over 20-thousand residents since 2010. No word on what led to the decreases.
