Recent Articles

The state of Illinois made a commitment of four million dollars to the Alexander--Cairo Port Project on June 2, 2021.

The just announced and planned river port on the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois will be completed in 2023. At that time the port will become a new central axis in American inland shipping security framework...

Port security has emerged as a significant part of the US Government debate on U.S. homeland security. The primary issues for Congress and states are (1) how to fund and structure needed local port development (2) designing new commitments to maintaining safe and secure maritime shipping from and into American ports.

Kentucky's positivity rate dropped below 10% in a report published October1, 2021. Several Purchase counties have climbed out of high rate of spread to moderate - a good sign of possible easing.

8800 Kentuckians have died from the virus.

Former Courier Journal reporter, Ira Simmons, penned the proclamation commemorating the 200th anniversary of the first county of the Kentucky Jackson Purchase.

The proclamation reprinted in the story was read by Clinton City Councilman Howard Dillard and signed by Hickman County Judge Kenny Wilson and Anniversary Chair Sherry Allison.

...Andrew Jackson and Isaac Shelby set this story in motion when they negotiated The Chickasaw Treaty of 1818. This treaty transferred a vast amount of Chickasaw Land in west Kentucky and west Tennessee to the US Government...

During the era of the Korean crisis, William Batts stood guard over a nuclear cannon...

Statement from Dr. Donald Shively, Superintendent, Paducah Public Schools:

"Paducah Public Schools began the year with Level 3 COVID-19 mitigation strategies due to the surge in COVID-19 cases. Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics continue to recommend masking for all students. Therefore, the Level 3 mitigation strategies will remain in place.

All students (ages preschool through grade 12), staff and visitors are required to wear a mask or face coverings that cover their nose and mouth at school, on the bus, and on district property when indoors.

All but one Kentucky county in red zone as of September 13, 2021. Over 8000 deaths associated with virus.

Positivity rate 13.70%

Due to the rising COVID-19 numbers in our region, and considering that a majority of our sponsors and vendors work in healthcare or emergency management, our partners have made the difficult decision to postpone Saturday September 18th Pediatric Day 2021 until Nov. 13.

To the Editor:

I am a wife who, more times than I would like to count, has sat with her husband as a tube down his throat breathed for him. I have listened to the whoosh whoosh of oxygen being pushed into his lungs as he slept in a medically induced coma...

The bleating of the "freedom" lovers is drowning all else out...Freedom without responsibility is selfishness.

Carlisle and Trigg get out of red. Hickman gets in deeper. Eastern Kentucky suffering far more cases.

...The very achievements of Roman civilization hastened conditions for its collapse. The interconnectedness that the Roman empire achieved created ideal conditions for the pandemics that would overwhelm it...

...It is the impact of the virus on our belief systems that are the most intriguing.

Just as climate change and pandemics undermined a ruling Roman worldview, COVID has shaken the modern faith that we can reshape our natural world as we please...

Editor's Note: Why I love historians. Our story doesn't repeat but it may have more verses and a chorus.

With Fancy Farm's St. Jerome's Picnic over for 2021, the organizers of The Political Speaking (TPS from now on) are probably just glad it's over. Until next year. The complete abandonment by state Democratic elected officials and poohbahs cut the crowd down by more than half.

Is it time to change?

...there was one TV show that would pick me up once a week, make me laugh, cry, wonder what it all meant. This window into my new world was simply called "That Was the Week Was.' News events, art, songs, drama were presented and expressed in bundles of humor and satire.

Now, in this year of 2021, I sit here trying to just exist in a new world that seems to be changing every 10 seconds. The old me has become the new me. I read more. I think more. I do art. I build models. I collect stamps.

Changes are in store for the Purchase because census data show gains and losses in unexpected areas. We break down the gains and losses in towns and counties of the most western Kentucky counties.

We break down the numbers in text, charts and zip code map.

Sometimes a dream is so big it pulls a whole county into it. Such was the dream Hickman County librarian Laura Poole envisioned for a children's museum in Paducah. Funding wasn't forthcoming so that the Paducah dream was shelved.

When Laura began working at the Hickman County Library in 2013, she again started thinking about the children's museum. This one would be part of the library she managed and open without charge. As the idea spread, help and helpers started coming.

Hickman County Schools, a system that prided itself on community support and educational pride has run into the 21^st century world of division along ideological lines. A special meeting of the School Board brought out a gym full of angry anti masking parents, teachers and community members.

And it wasn't pretty.

Paducah Public Schools will begin the school year with a Level 3 COVID-19 mitigation strategy due to a surge of COVID cases due to the Delta variant. The Level 3 strategy follows Governor Beshear's Executive Order on August 10 requiring that all Kentucky public school students, staff, and visitors wear masks, regardless of vaccination status.

The first day of school for students is Wednesday, August 18, 2021.

A list of confirmed Political Speakers follows:

Kentucky's two US senators are skipping the 2021 Fancy Farm Picnic citing duties in Washington.

With Graves County in the red zone for Covid infections and 2021 not an election year, there will be empty chairs on the speakers' platform.

Schools across America and the world are struggling to provide in person learning in the face of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Children under 12 are not cleared to take the vaccine and resistance remains high in Kentucky.

Paducah Public Schools just published its plan to adjust to local, state, and national COVID rates throughout the 2021-22 school year. To see the plan to reopen, follow the jump.

Each Kentucky project will receive $50,000 to continue efforts to preserve these historical sites that represent African American history and culture in the commonwealth. The funding will enhance each project's ability to serve as a tourism attraction in its community. The historic sites that will receive funding in Kentucky are: Cherokee State Park (Kenlake State Park), Hotel Metropolitan (Paducah) and Palmer Pharmacy (Lexington)

Masks recommended indoors for all children under 12, unvaccinated Kentuckians 12 and older

...Governor recommended the following:

• School districts should require all unvaccinated students and unvaccinated adults to wear a mask when in classrooms and other indoor school settings;
• School districts should require all students under 12 years of age to wear a mask when in classrooms and other indoor school settings; and
• School districts wishing to optimize safety and minimize risk of educational and athletic disruption should require all students and all adults to wear a mask while in classrooms and other indoor school settings.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Graves County Dems are changing from their early morning eggs, biscuits, gravy and politics event to something new. Not so early in the morning this year with local musicians and poets entertaining.

KY Dem Chair Colmon Elridge will be moderating.