Area colleges ranked among top 10
      Two colleges in the Kentucky Community and Technical College System have been ranked nationally among the top 10 of the nation's community colleges. The Washington Monthly lists Hazard Community and Technical College (HCTC) as fifth in the nation and Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKCTC) as eighth.
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Council elections set
      An election for a Letcher Elementary School Site Based Decision Making Council parent position will be held Sept. 10 and 11 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. each at the school. Parents must vote in person.
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Jenkins police receive truck
      The Jenkins Police Department has received a four-wheel drive truck courtesy of a convicted drug dealer. Former Jenkins Police Officer Brian Damron arrested a man from Pike County who was transporting drugs into Letcher County on November 24, 2006.
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School board sets taxes, acts on financial report
By SALLY BARTO
      The Letcher County Board of Education has voted to increase taxes on real estate by four percent, the maximum amount allowable under Kentucky law without being subject to recall by registered voters. The board met in a special meeting last week to approve a tax rate of 45.4 cents per $100 of real estate. Last year's tax rate was 46.7 cents per $100 of real estate.
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Teachers put on notice by Jenkins superintendent
By WILLIAM FARLEY
      Jenkins Independent Schools Superintendent John Shook is angry over the way two teachers at Jenkins Middle High School reacted to a broken air-conditioning system at the middle-high school building.
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Court will meet in special session to set tax rates
By WILLIAM FARLEY
      The Letcher County Fiscal Court is being forced to call a special meeting this week because neither of the two school districts in the county submitted its tax rates to the court in time for the regular August meeting, Judge/Executive Jim Ward said.
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'Rogue pharmacies' plague region
By TOM BREEN Associated Press Writer
      CHARLESTON, West Virginia Drug shipments from illegal online pharmacies were once so frequent in rural Appalachia that delivery companies had to add trucks to their southeastern U.S. routes.
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Bush moves to weaken strip mine regulations
By JOHN HEILPRIN
      WASHINGTON The Bush administration wants to quit requiring coal operators to prove that their surface mining will not damage streams, fish and wildlife. Under proposed new regulations that were put out Aug.
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Seismologist made the first 911 call after Utah mishap
By JENNIFER DOBNER and CHELSEA J. CARTER Associated Press Writers
      HUNTINGTON, Utah A seismologist who detected ground tremors was the first to notify authorities of the cave-in that trapped six miners, even before mine officials called for an ambulance, according to 911 recordings. University of Utah seismologist Walter Arabasz made his call about a potential problem at the Crandall Canyon mine early on Aug.
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