Recent Articles

Legislative agenda:

1. Abortion waiting period - "focusing once again on the rights of the unborn" -

"no state funding goes to Planned Parenthood"

2. Transparency in retirement systems

3. Preventing frivolous medical malpractice -

4. Judicial redistricting

5. Changing gubernatorial elections -"from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years,"

For Humphries letter to constituents, follow the jump...

In the nothing to see, move on department....

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Regina Stivers has been appointed the deputy secretary of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, Secretary Don Parkinson announced today. Stivers brings years of Kentucky public service experience to the cabinet at both the state and federal level.

Mrs. Stivers is the wife of Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers and a former field director for Senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning.

PADUCAH, KY. (January 6, 2016) - Seven regional high schools competed in the 2016 President's Cup Academic Bowl held at West Kentucky Community and Technical College on January 6.

McCracken County took home the top prize with Paducah Tilghman in second place and Calloway County and Madisonville North Hopkins earning third and fourth place, respectively.

Follow jump for list of winners and more photos.

Online retail giant, Amazon.com, just opened a brick and mortar bookstore in University Station, Seattle, Washington. This location is within a blocks of the Amazon corporate office...

A new feature for book retail will be the strategy of showing each book face outward. In the old days before books were listed by independent book dealers, most books were shelved with only the binding showing. This allowed a normal shelf to handle 40 to 50 books for display. This new strategy of showing book faces outward will greatly reduce number of books per shelf. However, a higher rate of impulse shopping will take place...

The bigger issue is the question - Will this brick and mortar store become the template for Amazon to open up a chain of retail bookstores to challenge Barnes and Noble existing stores?..

Sid Easley, Murray attorney and former judge, a long time advocate and supporter of Murray State University, passed away Tuesday January 5, 2016. The former chairman of the MSU Board of Regents had been suffering from cancer.

Easley was 75. He leaves behind his wife, Melissa, and two sons, Don and Eric.

(Clinton KY) No-Count Dog is back for his second adventure in No-Count Dog to the Rescue. In his second outing, the lovable dog finds a lost kitten after the big storm of his first book. How No-Count and his friends care for the kitten is the story told in this colorfully illustrated new 44 page picture book.

No-Count Dog to the Rescue was written and illustrated by Mary and Ivan Potter. It has taken the Potters over two years to bring the lovable dog back to print.

...The campaign for governor, the glamour of the outsider, the attitude of their self assurance in life, and their roots as self made businessmen all point to how similar Matt Bevin and John Y. Brown are.

Bottom line, Brown won because he was the major disruptive force upon the 1979-80 political landscape. Bevin won because he was the major disruptive campaign force in the 2015 political landscape. Both men tapped into a voter base who want change in government...

Editor's Note: One of the government offices of great interest to Western Kentucky has a new commissioner.

Newly elected Governor Matt Bevin has appointed Sandra Dunahoo to become the new commissioner for the Kentucky Department for Local Government.

In a press release, the Bevin administration described Dunahoo as a government relations veteran with more than three decades of experience in governmental service and private sector consulting...

...It's high time churches (you know who you are) leave politics at the door and stick to spreading the gospel rather than influencing votes..

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Jan. 4, 2016) - Today, Governor Matt Bevin filed four writs of election with the Secretary of State to schedule special elections on Tuesday, March 8, 2016. The special elections will fill the following vacancies in the Commonwealth of Kentucky House of Representatives:

House District 8 in Christian & Trigg counties vacated by the resignation of Rep. John Tilley
House District 98 in Boyd & Greenup counties vacated by the resignation of Rep. Tanya Pullin
House District 54 in Boyle & Casey counties vacated by the resignation of Rep. Mike Harmon
House District 62 in Fayette, Owen & Scott counties vacated by the resignation of Rep. Ryan Quarles

A comprehensive preview of the upcoming two-year Kentucky state budget confirms both a massive funding gap facing the state for the next two years and a need for reinvestment in many areas post-recession...

...With a more than $10 billion budget, one way to get back to building thriving communities with strong schools, roads and other necessities is to look at the more than $12 billion the state is giving away in tax breaks...

(Paducah KY - January 2, 2016) - When we accepted an invitation to attend an early morning meeting of the McCracken County Democratic Executive Committee, Ivan and I had low expectations. A Saturday morning of a holiday weekend seemed an inauspicious time for a political meeting - especially for Democrats who had just lost the governor's race and all but two constitutional offices.

We went expecting a handful of dispirited party faithful. What we found was a standing room only fired up crowd from around the Purchase. Leaders Mike Murphy and Ron Morgan led a lively discussion that began with "what happened" and ended with plans and promises to coordinate and cooperate...

Sam Gaskins, of Hopkinsville, is running for the seat left open by the retirement of Rep. Ed Whitfield.

Gaskins announced his candidacy on New Year's Eve on the steps of the Hopkinsville Arts Council building.

Governor Bevin is filling his leadership team - some names may be familiar - like Hal Heiner as Education Cabinet Secretary and John Tilley at as Secretary of the Kentucky Justice Cabinet.

Others aren't well known.

West Kentucky Journal covered a lot of territory in 2015 -

Following the jump are links to ten of the top stories for our region.

(Paducah KY - December 29, 2015) - Senator Rand Paul held a town hall meeting on a day in the middle of a slow political news week. Despite his appearance being squeezed between Christmas and New Year, an audience of 76 showed up at the Paducah Commerce Center to meet, greet and question the Kentucky junior senator aka presidential candidate...

UNION CITY, TN- Topping the list of unique holiday activities at Discovery Park of America is the "Let it Glow Light Show," which opens at 5:00 p.m. December 1st.

For a list of activities planned for December, follow the jump.

SEN. PAUL TO SPEAK AT FULTON TOWN HALL

DATE: Tuesday, November 24, 2015

TIME: 2:30 PM CT

LOCATION: Pontotoc Community Center

138 E. State Line Street

Fulton, KY 42041

October 6-12 was Public Service Recognition Week. Hickman County High School's Junior Beta Club hosted an appreciation reception in the school cafeteria on October 14th in honor of public service workers.

FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky State Parks are prepared for the winter holidays with decorations, candlelight tours, special meals, entertainment and other unique events planned.

State parks are a great place for Christmas and holiday gatherings. The resort parks have restaurants, meeting areas and gift shops that offer unique gift ideas. That includes Kentucky Unbridled Spirit gift cards, which are valid at Kentucky State Parks, the Kentucky Horse Park, the Kentucky Historical Society and the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

....I often write about my family's ten generation tobacco farm in the Black Patch of Western Kentucky, the traditions that were fostered there, and the ways in which times have changed. My most recent book, Farming in the Black Patch, tells the story of farming, from our past to what we know it to be today...

Editor's Note: Bobbie will be at the Hickman County Arts, Crafts & Book Fair on November 21st at the Hickman County Elementary Gym in Clinton KY. The Fair runs from 8:30-2:30.

Paducah, KY (November 5, 2015) - Susan Swartwout, professor of creative writing and publishing at Southeast Missouri State University will share poems from her new book at West Kentucky Community and Technical College November 19.

The poetry reading from Swartwout's new release, Odd Beauty, Strange Fruit: poems, is free and open to the public and will be held in WKCTC's Matheson Library at 2 p.m.

Democratic candidate Jack Conway called the Kentucky governor's election a race "between the mainstream and the extreme."

The extreme won.

Republican Governor-elect Matt Bevin's extremism is nowhere plainer than in his hatred for unions.

Before Tuesday night, Gov. Steve Beshear and a Democratic-majority Kentucky House of Representatives were all that stood between us and a "right to work" law and repeal of the prevailing wage.

Now the House stands alone...

Site Selection.com ranked the Bluegrass State third behind Georgia and North Carolina in their 2015 survey of site selectors. In 2014, Kentucky was ranked 8th. This year, the state came in 1st in "new plants per capita" in 2014 and 2015.