Jenkins (pop. 2095) still has no grocery store for its citizens



It’s a waiting game for the City of Jenkins as consumers anxious for a new grocery store wait for construction to begin on the planned Save-a- Lot grocery that is set to replace the former Edwards Food Center by the “end of 2017.” One factor contributing to the delay of what would be the city’s only grocery store is the […]

Bridge to be closed for repairs



The bridge on KY 7 in Letcher County between Ulvah and Blackey (better known as the Redstar bridge) will be closed to all traffic from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. each day starting Wednesday, July 26 and continuing through Tuesday, August 1. Shane Allen, bridge engineer for the Kentucky Department of Highways’ District 12 office in Pikeville, said the structure […]

Service set for Friday for drowning victim



Funeral services are scheduled to be held at 1 p.m. Friday for Richard Mullins Jr. of Jenkins, who drowned Sunday in North Carolina. Search crews in North Carolina on Sunday night found the body of Mullins, 24, washed ashore on Holden Beach after being missing for approximately 7 hours. According to the U.S. Coast Guard at Wilmington, N.C., Mullins and […]

Whitesburg council told audits are nearly done; grants may come easier



After four years without a city audit, the City of Whitesburg is nearly caught up. At the July meeting of the Whitesburg City Council Tuesday night, audits for 2013, 2014, and 2015 were presented and unanimously accepted by the council. Mayor James Wiley Craft told the council members the audit for 2016 (Fiscal Year 2016-17) will go to the auditor […]

Work on old hotel will begin this fall



The project to renovate the Daniel Boone Hotel, which was to begin this month, probably won’t begin until fall. “We’re going to do the hotel, but the first thing you need to do is get a chair and sit down, because it’s going to be a while,” architect Bill Richardson said last week. He said because the money being used […]

John Prine still hippest songwriter in Nashville




NASHVILLE, Tenn. The first time a new country songwriter named Kacey Musgraves saw one of her songwriting heroes, John Prine, she had an unusual proposition when she approached. “I said, ‘Hey, my name is Kacey and I am a really big fan. I don’t want to offend you or anything, but is there any way you might want to burn […]

Beshear: Opioid painkiller being pulled



FRANKFORT In 2015, more than 225 Kentuckians died from a drug overdose with Opana in their blood. Now that the makers of the opioid painkiller announced recently that it will no longer sell the drug, Attorney General Andy Beshear is calling the move a “first step” in fighting against what he believes is the single greatest threat to Kentucky — […]

Report: Exodus from Virginia’s coalfields region will continue



NORTON, Va. Virginia is expected to become the 10th most populous state by 2040, but nearly every locality in its coalfields region in the southwest is expected to lose population in the same timeframe. The Roanoke Times reports that new projections from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service show that southwest Virginia’s coalfields region is expected […]

Musician Sonny Houston dies



Well known musician Sonny ( Martin Wayne) Houston, 67, died July 5 after a brief illness. Born in Fleming to the late Denton and Sophia Houston, he was graduated from Fleming-Neon High School, and earned a bachelor’s degree in recording engineering from Middle Tennessee State University. He was a musician and songwriter since the age of 18, and taught mountain […]

Remembering our governors, past and present



Every Kentuckian who has paid attention to politics has his or her own first memory of a governor. For those of a certain age, that memory might be Happy Chandler proudly singing My Old Kentucky Home, or taking his place as Baseball Commissioner and integrating the sport. It might be Bert Combs brushing off criticism that the Mountain Parkway started […]