WEKU

Still Fighting: These Widows’ Stories Show Larger Effects of Black Lung Epidemic

By Sydney Boles • 2 hours ago

Nancy and Rich Potter had the kind of marriage that made other couples jealous. He’d take her on spontaneous trips. She’d wear her Daisy Dukes just for him.

Joyce Birman said her late husband, George, made a terrible first impression. It was his apology for it that made her fall for him, hard.

Vickie Salyers’ husband, Gene, loved hunting and fishing, but he loved being a father and grandfather most of all.

Focus on Business: Aligning Education And Jobs

By Tom Martin • Jan 21, 2019

The KentuckyWorks Collaborative is re-imagining how to align public education and training to provide the skills that are in demand by employers. Trying to stay current as skills demands evolve and change is an enormous challenge. Tom Martin talks with Beth Davisson, Executive Director of the Workforce Center at the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and a member of the steering committee that created the KentuckyWorks Collaboration.

Kentucky Politics Distilled: New Statehouse Harassment Details Emerge

By Ryland Barton • Jan 20, 2019

The legislature wasn’t in session this week, but there was still plenty of news coming out of the Capitol. The Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting and Kentucky Public Radio unveiled new details of sexual assault and harassment in Frankfort. In this week’s edition of Kentucky Politics Distilled, we talk about the allegations and how lawmakers are reacting in the statehouse.

Flu Prompts Madison County Schools To Extend Long Holiday Weekend

By Mary Meehan • Jan 18, 2019

Madison County schools will extend the holiday weekend through Tuesday to help stem the spread of the flu.

The message went up on the Madison County Facebook page around 2:30 p.m. Friday that schools would be closed on Tuesday. This, school officials say, will allow the district to disinfect buildings and ill students and staff time to recover.

There is no school Monday because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Fort Campbell Officer Killed By Suicide Bomb In Syria

By Liam Niemeyer • Jan 18, 2019

The Department of Defense said in a release an officer stationed at the Fort Campbell army base was one of four Americans killed in Syria from a suicide bomb Wednesday. The attack is still under investigation.

37-year-old Army Chief Warrant Officer Jonathan Farmer was a part of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Fort Campbell. Farmer is originally from Boynton Beach, Florida.

Legislative Leaders Respond To Sexual Harassment, Assault Allegations

By Ryland Barton & R.G. Dunlop • Jan 18, 2019

Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne said in a statement issued Thursday that he “takes all allegations of a hostile work environment seriously” after allegations of sexual assault were publicized about state Rep. Jeff Hoover.

Osborne said he has asked the Legislative Ethics Commission if it was aware of details of the sexual assault and harassment allegations when it looked last year into claims made by a former staffer.

Health Officials: Get Flu Shot, Hep A Vaccine

By Mary Meehan • Jan 17, 2019

With flu season firmly here and an ongoing outbreak of hepatitis A, health officials continue to encourage people to get their shots.

An announcement Thursday from Powell County schools represents the reach of the flu. School officials announced Thursday that schools would be closed because of the high number of students and staff out because of the flu.

FSA Offices Reopen To Confusion and Disarray

By Liam Niemeyer • Jan 17, 2019

The United States Department of Agriculture is reopening Farm Service Agency offices across the country Thursday, Friday and Tuesday. Agency staff will help process loans affected by the federal government shutdown. There are reports that many Ohio Valley farmers showing up were turned away.

The Farm Service Agency office in Mayfield, Kentucky, is so quiet you can hear the tick of the Department of Agriculture-branded clock on the wall. Eleven employees usually make up this busy office. Only three were called in Thursday morning.

Be Prepared For Some Blasting In Downtown Lexington

By Mary Meehan • Jan 17, 2019

City officials are warning that the construction of the expanded Lexington Center will require some limited blasting.

According to a release from City Hall today small blasts will occur over the next two months between 2 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon.

People in the immediate area will be warned by a loud whistle 5 minutes before the blast occurs and 5 minutes after blasting is completed.

The blasting area will be covered with large mats to help prevent flying rocks and to suppress the dust.

Wrong-Way Driver Who Killed Family Of Five Was Drunk

By Associated Press • Jan 17, 2019

A Kentucky official says the wrong-way driver who killed a vacationing Michigan family had a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit.

Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn says in a statement that 41-year-old Joey Bailey of Georgetown had a .306 blood-alcohol content and was at fault in the crash that killed six people. The legal limit in Kentucky is .08.

Lexington police have said a pickup truck going southbound the northbound lanes struck a sports utility vehicle at 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 6 and the SUV caught fire.

Ohio Valley ReSource

Still Fighting: These Widows’ Stories Show Larger Effects of Black Lung Epidemic

By Sydney Boles • 2 hours ago

Nancy and Rich Potter had the kind of marriage that made other couples jealous. He’d take her on spontaneous trips. She’d wear her Daisy Dukes just for him.

Joyce Birman said her late husband, George, made a terrible first impression. It was his apology for it that made her fall for him, hard.

Vickie Salyers’ husband, Gene, loved hunting and fishing, but he loved being a father and grandfather most of all.

FSA Offices Reopen To Confusion and Disarray

By Liam Niemeyer • Jan 17, 2019

Plan to Manage Toxic 'Teflon' Chemicals Delayed by Shutdown -- EPA Nominee

By Brittany Patterson • Jan 17, 2019

During a sometimes contentious confirmation hearing Wednesday on his nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler was pressed by members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works about the impact of the government shutdown on the agency.

Wheeler noted one casualty of the ongoing partial government shutdown, now in its fourth week, is that a long-awaited plan on regulating the PFAS group of chemicals has been delayed.