Recent Articles

During the week following Labor Day, Hickman Countians focused on the history of their county. It was a week of all ages learning something new. Photo - Ms. Dean's 8th grade history class researches at Historical & Genealogical Society.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Industrial hemp will cover tens of thousands of acres and generate thousands of jobs in Kentucky in the near future, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer told hundreds of hemp growers, processors, and enthusiasts at the Hemp Industries Association Conference today in Lexington.

"In the future, I think we're going to go from 1,700 acres to 10,000 acres to 20,000 acres to 40,000 acres"..

This is a story of how an ex-girlfriend of a candidate for governor in the 2015 Republican primary altered the destiny of the Commonwealth. The story is based on confidential interviews that Kentucky Roll Call conducted over the past two months with credible sources close to the campaigns of Jamie Comer and Hal Heiner.

With leaked emails - stolen identities - private detectives - a sex and abuse scandal involving a major candidate for governor - it's a story straight out of a political thriller.

Thanks to Lowell Reese for allowing us to reprint.

Clinton, KY - September 22, 2015 - Over seventy people gathered on the Hickman County Courthouse lawn to pray for the safety of police and emergency responders in the aftermath of KSP Trooper Joseph Ponder's shooting death. Girl Scout Daisy Troop was also on hand to take part in the service.

Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are proposing an initiative for reducing air pollution. Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to our future generation. When it comes to the care of our common home, we are living at a critical moment of history. We still have time to make the change needed to bring about a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.

For full transcript of Pope Francis' remarks, follow the jump

On September 4th, on the Mississippi River near Columbus Belmont State Park, two barges collided. One barge owned by Inland Marine Services was punctured. One storage compartment leaked over 120,000 gallons of slurry oil into the River...

Only time will tell whether Old Man River can safely absorb 120,000 gallons of slurry oil without suffering permanent damage.

UPDATE: Neither was the Lt. Gov. debate. Those interested can watch it on WDRB, the Cincinnati television station online.

Far as we can tell, for those who cannot stream over the Internet, there will be ONE gubernatorial debate.

We searched for the candidates' debate last night on on our zillion channel DirectV feed. No luck.

Turns out the debate was televised - on Louisville station WHAS. Yes, it was streamed on several websites - but it never occurred to us to look online.

According to Jack Brammer at kentucky.com there will be other televised debates scheduled in the race. They include the WAVE-TV, AARP debate Oct. 6 at Centre College; the WLKY-TV, WKYT-TV, Kentucky League of Women Voters debate Oct. 25 at Eastern Kentucky University and the Kentucky Tonight debate on Kentucky Educational Television Oct. 26.

It appears that only the KET debate on the 26th will be available on television for far western Kentuckians.

Not feeling the love at the moment.

We did link after the jump. Good luck watching what turned out to be a snark fest interspersed with lighter moments from Drew Curtis.

Western Kentucky labor activist and author Berry Craig poses with Scott Prouty -- the guy who caught Romney's "47 percent" crack on video.

(Clinton, KY - September 4, 2015) The Hickman County Interagency Council met at the Extension Office on James Phillip Drive on Friday morning. The group shared news of what their groups and agencies are up to this fall. Representatives of the two local nursing homes, churches, business and volunteer agencies come together quarterly.

Melissa Goodman, Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences in Hickman County opened the meeting by first asking participants to limit their reports to three minutes then repeating the goal of the group is "working together to strengthen Hickman County."

Watch out Katniss Everdeen!

Graves County has two up and coming archers in Emma Hancock, Gracie Johnson- 6th graders at Symsonia Elementary.

UNION CITY, TN- On your mark, get set....go to Discovery Park of America for its first 5K race, a Fun Run and the chance to meet Ronald McDonald in person! October the 3rd is the date as Discovery Park of America is teaming up with McDonald's to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House in Memphis.

Dear Editor:

The Republican Governors Association along with Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-funded PAC, have financed a misleading ad going out to KYians where they paraphrase an excerpt in a Kentucky Hospital Association "white paper" to imply that the ACA is responsible for jobs lost at KY hospitals.

But this ad is contrary to what KHA President Michael Rust has said that most of the hospitals' layoffs have NOT been a result of the ACA law....

(Eddyville, KY)- The Kentucky State Police at Post 1 in Mayfield lost an officer in a late night traffic stop on I-24 on Sunday September 13th. Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder died of gunshot wounds received after a traffic stop.

The suspect, Joseph Thomas Johnson-Shanks, 25, of Florissant, Missouri, was shot in the woods near I-24 on Monday morning. He later died of his wounds.

Editor's Note: Funeral arrangements for Trooper Ponder have been added to the end of the story.

Fancy Farm in Graves County votes Tuesday, September 15th to decide on whether its local winery, Fancy Farm Vineyard & Winery, can serve its wines in the dry county (Mayfield is damp).

UPDATE in purple wine: Voters in Fancy Farm approved the winery sale by an overwhelming majority

Yes - 360 No - 17

This week we add a new "site of interest" in our righthand column. Mayra Diaz Ballard contacted us from Graves County and asked for a link to the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Association.

We aim to please. There is it right in the middle of the list.

Do you have a stuffed critter hanging on the wall or sitting around that's beginning to be a bit bedraggled?

If you said yes, (and you're not talking about your significant other resting in their favorite lounge chair) then this is the FREE webinar for you!

PADUCAH, KY ( September 10, 2015) - The practical nursing program at West Kentucky Community and Technical College recently received initial accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), college officials announced today.

Photo: A few of West Kentucky Community & Technical College's 2015 May practical nursing graduates during a nursing pinning ceremony at the Luther F. Carson Four Rivers Center.

...It might be hard to fathom that the most left-wing lawmaker in Washington has fans in deep western Kentucky, the most conservative corner of the Red State Bluegrass State.

But 27 area residents and a Tennessean stumped for Sanders at the 40th annual Labor Day parade in Paducah, an historic old river town where the Tennessee joins the Ohio...

Vice President Biden and Attorney General Lynch announced today that 20 jurisdictions will share a $41 million grant initiative to address a national backlog of untested sexual assault kits.

Kentucky is one of the first 20 to receive the grant. Over 800 kits await testing in the Commonwealth.

Could it be thanks to a Senate Resolution and Auditor Adam Edelen's making the backlog a priority?

Kentucky's Economic Development Authority approved $124.4 million dollars in tax incentives so far this year.

So, what's the story behind Kentucky's tax incentive program?

The most recent jobs report from the Kentucky looks good as the highest unemployment counties' numbers slide upward...

The best employment statistics in the Commonwealth continue to be in Northern Kentucky Area Development District (ADD) with an unemployment rate of 4.5% followed closely by the Bluegrass ADD (Anderson to Woodford Counties) with 4.6%.

The worst in the Big Sandy..

This month's Fortune Magazine trumpets "Humans are Underrated." In the magazine's lead article, Geoff Colvin, in an article, adapted from his book of the same name, tells today's workers that while they should be worried about what technology is doing to the world of work, there is still a place for them. Whew!

Graves County High School senior Becca Green competed in the Miss Teen Pageant in Lexington this past weekend and won first place in her division, earning a title that advances her to the Miss Teen Nationals in Orlando, Fla., Dec. 9-13.

WKMS Tracy Ross and Matt Markgraf interviewed Liz Jewell and Mary Potter about Heritage Days. Follow the jump for the audio at their website.

The gig economy has no standard definition, according to Monica Oss of OpenMinds.com, "but it's a shorthand reference to the growing numbers of Americans who no longer hold a regular "job" with a long-term connection to a particular organization..." The Gig Economy-Welcome to the World of Microentrepeneurs

For those of us older folks living more rural West Kentucky, getting our heads around the gig economy is not so easy. For city dwellers, programs like Uber, the we'll-pick-you-up driver company is one example. Few connections to the center, drivers come and they go. Other examples are only an app away.