Hatton, Justice discuss issues, exchange barbs



The two candidates seeking to replace 94th District State Rep. Leslie Combs in Frankfort met at the office of the Appalachian News-Express newspaper in Pikeville Tuesday evening to discuss the issues important to the region. And, despite the two candidates being from opposing parties, they agreed on many topics, especially the need for jobs to be brought to the region. […]

PROGRESS ON U.S. 119 IN LETCHER COUNTY —



Ballots crowded here but actual races are few



While there are races from president to city council to special taxing district boards on the ballot in Letcher County next Tuesday, several seats will go unfilled because of a lack of candidates, and several other candidates are running unopposed. No one filed to run for the two open seats in the Jenkins Independent Board of Education election, meaning the […]

Should Stoops be SEC coach of year?

Vaught’s Views

Mark Stoops won’t be SEC Coach of the Year, but maybe he should be. No one could really have believed UK would be 5-3 after it lost its first two games and had to rally just to beat New Mexico State in game three. Yet Kentucky has rebounded to win four out of five games, all SEC games. The one […]

Top-seeded Southwestern hosting LCC in playoff tilt



The Letcher County Central High School Cougars hope to build on some positives gained from the first half of last Friday’s loss to Union, Va., when they travel to play top-seeded Southwestern in Somerset this Friday night in the first round of the playoffs. Letcher Central ended the regular season with a 4-6 record after losing to Union (8-1) by […]

Struttin’ Time:

Four-year-old hunts like he’s 30

As I sat down to write this Struttin’ Time, my friend Mathew Caudill, who likes to hunt as much as I do, contacted me. He had filmed a big black bear — it looked to be around 400 pounds — that was looking at him while he hunted a wild turkey in Letcher County. That is probably the same bear […]

Johnson nearer to 7th title



The Sprint Cup Chase took on somewhat of a new identity on Sunday at Martinsville when Jimmie Johnson took the checkered flag for the 79th time in his career. The Hendrick Motorsports driver entered the Chase with very little momentum and was not considered to be a serious threat, but he now becomes the first driver to punch his ticket […]

Gabby’s fishing fever

Hot spot? Main lake at Carr Creek

The calendar may say fall, but the hot daytime temperatures say summer. I have been able to do a lot of fishing on Carr Creek Lake the past few months and have fished the main lake areas and the smaller backwaters. For right now, the best fishing is in the main lake areas. The fishing in the creeks offers more […]

Don’t be fooled by fake news on Facebook




One day at the grocery, a woman who recognized me from my work as a reporter smiled as we passed in an aisle and said she liked my “political views.” I assumed she meant she liked my Sunday column, which is on this paper’s Opinion page, and thus where I try to confine my political opinions. Even in a column, […]

Political Cartoon