Photo via Sherry Purdom, MISD Public Information Officer
MHS SPEECH TEAM STUDENT CLAIMS STATE CHAMPIONSHIP
Murray High Speech Team President Ella Brown-Terry was named State Champion in the Broadcasting category, and Runner-Up in Dramatic Interpretation at the Kentucky Educational Speech and Drama Association State Tournament, held online this week. In addition, the team won first place in the small team sweepstakes race and will bring home the Greynolds Award for top team with twenty entries or less. The team also took second place in the Bruce Florence Efficiency Awards for having one of the strongest teams in the state tournament, while also capturing third place in the KESDA overall team sweepstakes awards. Dunbar won first place. The Murray High Speech Team is coached by Michael Robinson, Drew Thompson, Doris Cella, and Randy Patterson.
PEDESTRIAN STRUCK BY VEHICLE
At 11:40 yesterday morning, the Murray Police Department responded to an injury collision involving a pedestrian on South 9th Street. 23-year old Ashlee Whitley of Murray told police she was traveling south on 9th Street near Poplar Street and the side of her vehicle struck a person crossing the road. 67-year old Gil Hopson of Murray said he was crossing South 9th Street and walked into the driver side of a vehicle as it was driving by him. Hopson was transported to the emergency room by EMS for treatment of possible injuries.
MAYFIELD POLICE ARREST TWO AFTER SHOTS FIRED REPORT
Mayfield police officers responded Monday to a call of shots being fired in the city, but before they arrived, the shooter fled the scene in a blue pickup truck. The truck was located on Mayfair Drive but the driver ran off the road into a yard, and then fled on foot. 38-year-old Christopher Worley of Todd County and 29-year-old Kelsey Delk of Wingo were passengers and remained at the scene. When officers found stolen property in the bed of the truck, Worley and Delk were charged with receiving stolen property under $10,000. Delk was additionally charged with tampering with physical evidence and possession of a controlled substance. Both were lodged in the Graves County Jail. The driver of the vehicle remain at-large.
BRIDGE INSPECTION ALONG KY 402
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans an inspection today of the East Fork Clarks River bridge along KY 402 between Hardin and Aurora. Drivers should be prepared to encounter one lane traffic with alternating flow controlled by flaggers from around 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. All Kentucky bridges get a detailed safety inspection every two years, with long-span river and lake bridges getting an extra walk-through inspection annually.
AREA COVID UPDATE
The Marshall County Health Department yesterday reported 6 new COVID-19 cases and 1 death. The Purchase District Health Department reported 12 new cases in McCracken County, 3 each in Hickman County and Ballard County, and 1 in Fulton County. The Calloway County Health Department and the Graves County Health Department did not release an updated report yesterday. Calloway County’s Incidence Rate per 100,000 on Tuesday was 7% which was the same as Monday’s rate. All 11 counties in far west Kentucky are once again outside the red zone for COVID cases per 100,000. Caldwell County at 53.8 is the only county west of Owensboro that is a red zone county for COVID cases.
STATE COVID UPDATE
At Tuesday’s COVID-19 update for Kentucky, 1,497 new cases and 16 deaths were reported, raising the total to 4,476 Kentuckians who are listed as covid deaths. As of Tuesday, there have been over 4.42 million coronavirus tests performed in Kentucky with a positivity rate of 6.3%, which is lower than last Tuesday’s rate of 6.57%. There are 894 Kentuckians hospitalized which is 41 less than last Tuesday, including 242 in ICU, which is 30 less than one week ago. At least 47,067 Kentuckians have recovered from the virus.
NAME RELEASES OF PILOT KILLED IN MONDAY CRASH
Authorities have released the name of the pilot who was killed Monday afternoon in a plane crash near the Mayfield-Graves County Airport. The pilot was identified as 60-year-old Dr. Henry Babenco of Paducah. Babenco’s plane crashed in a field just north of I-69. That intersection is less than a mile from the north end of the airport runway. The investigation is continuing.
IN AND AROUND KENTUCKY
FRANKFORT—Governor Andy Beshear announced yesterday that he is issuing a new executive order that recommends all school districts, including private schools, offer or expand some form of in-person instructional opportunities beginning March 1. If district personnel have not yet finished their vaccine series as of March 1, the executive order recommends some form of in-person instruction begin seven days after they have received their second vaccination.
FRANKFORT—A Kentucky Senate committee has given initial approval to a bill allowing the state to waive the overpayment of some pandemic-related unemployment claims. The measure applies to some people who left their jobs early in the pandemic due to concerns about exposure to COVID-19. At the time, the state signaled they’d be eligible for unemployment assistance, but recipients were later informed the money had to be given back. The bill would allow the Labor Cabinet to waive overpayments when the unemployment office was at fault. Recipients would be expected to request the waiver. The bill won committee approval Tuesday.
HENDERSON—Big River Electric Corporation is making a third offer to purchase Henderson Municipal Power and Light. Big River presented the 90-million-dollar purchase proposal before Henderson city leaders yesterday. The corporation is offering an immediate five-year rate freeze and reimbursement to the city for an independent evaluation of the offer, with the city picking the evaluator. An HMP and L leader gave a presentation also saying he doesn’t support the proposal. The mayor says he and elected leaders will consider the offer and respond in a timely manner.
OWESNBORO—A Morganfield couple is facing charges in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol in January. Thomas and Lori Vinson were arrested in Owensboro yesterday by Louisville FBI agents. They faces numerous charges and remain in federal custody. Lori Vinson admitted to media outlets in January that she entered the Capitol with others who stormed the building and took video with her phone while inside. She was fired from her position at Ascension St. Vincent, allegedly for admitting to engaging in criminal behavior at the event.
LEXINGTON—The University of Kentucky is honoring two soldiers involved in the Battle of Iwo Jima. UK ROTC honored the late Elwood Hughes and Franklin Sousley in a ceremony yesterday. The Kentucky veterans participated in the battle. Yesterday marked the 76th anniversary of the iconic battle.
WASHINGTON DC—Senator Mitch McConnell is again pressuring the state’s largest school district to reopen classrooms to in-person learning. While speaking from the senate floor yesterday, Senator McConnell slammed Jefferson County Board of Education vice chairman Chirs Kolb for suggesting it’s better Jefferson County Public Schools’ students if they finish this school year online. McConnell said Kolb has no facts or evidence to support such a view. It’s the second time this month McConnell has called out Kolb on the senate floor.
LOUISVILLE—The Board of Education for the state’s largest school district will vote tomorrow on whether to reopen the state’s largest school district for in-person learning. Jefferson County BOE Chairperson Diane Porter announced the vote yesterday after the board held a work session along with the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, University of Louisville and Norton Healthcare. Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio has said elementary schools could reopen five days per week by the third week of March while middle and high schools operate on a hybrid schedule starting the first week of April. Pollio has not given a recommendation.
TENNESSEE—A Kentucky church is among four being expelled by the Southern Baptist Convention. The churches were ousted yesterday with the SBC’s executive committee saying the churches are no longer in friendly cooperation with the conservative evangelical denomination. The SBC says St. Matthews Baptist Church was booted for affirming homosexual behavior. St. Matthews Baptist also lost its affiliation with the Kentucky Baptist Convention in 2018 for making financial contributions to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which lifted a ban on hiring LGBTQ employees.
TENNESSEE—There are over 12-hundred new coronavirus cases in Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Health reported one-thousand-226 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing the total since the outbreak began to over 767-thousand-300. Nearly 50 additional COVID-19-related deaths were reported, bringing the total number of coronavirus-attributed deaths statewide to close to eleven-thousand-200. Less than one-thousand COVID-19 patients are hospitalized statewide.
TENNESSEE—The Tennessee Department of Health is now distributing COVID-19 vaccines to proven community partners, instead of the Shelby County Health Department. New doses of the vaccine will go directly to the city of Memphis, hospitals, pharmacies and clinics. The change is being made after an investigation by the TDH found the Shelby County Health Department wasted over 24-hundred doses. TDH said yesterday it found seven incidents of vaccine waste dating back to February 3rd.
TENNESSEE—Personal-finance guru Dave Ramsey’s Middle Tennessee estate is for sale. The price tag for the Franklin property is close to 15-and-a-half-million dollars. Ramsey’s over 14-acre hilltop mansion features six bedrooms and seven full bathrooms in close to 14-thousand square feet of living space. The Tennessee native is the head of Ramsey Solutions, which moved its headquarters to Franklin in 2019 and is one of Williamson County’s largest private employers.
