A Tuesday afternoon crash near Mayfield claimed the life of an 81-year-old woman. The Graves County Sheriff's Department came to the intersection of KY 80 and 121, about four miles east of Mayfield. They say a vehicle driven by Patsy D. Canter of Lynnville went through a stop sign and into the path of a vehicle driven by 24-year-old Katibeth Y. Mealer of Murray. Canter's car was struck in the driver's side door, and Canter died of her injuries at the scene. Mealer and her passenger, 28-year-old Jaylon Blanton of Murray were treated for injuries at Jackson Purchase Medical Center. The intersect ..read more

In his update, Governor Andy Beshear reported more than 13,000 new COVID-19 cases in just four days, saying hospitals continue to be, "pushed to the brink," and could quickly run out of ICU beds. There were 2,356 new cases reported on Tuesday, with 2,353 in hospitals, 663 in ICUs and 433 on ventilators. The positivity rate is 13.74 percent. Beshear said the rate of increase in cases has slowed, which may be a good sign. However, he added that the positivity rate, which had been declining, is on the rise again. As of Tuesday, over 2.5 million people have now received at least one dose of the va ..read more

A traffic stop in Ballard County on Sunday led to the arrest of two people on warrants and drug charges. Ballard County deputies stopped the vehicle in LaCenter for an alleged traffic violation. Deputies say the driver, Britney Bruner, had a DUI suspended license and active warrants out of Tennessee. The passenger, Brandin Wilson, also had warrants out of Tennessee and Fulton County, Kentucky. A search of their vehicle and hotel room reportedly uncovered items consistent with meth use and residue that field-tested positive for meth. Wilson was served with warrants for drug and gun charges and ..read more

Kentucky's Republican lawmakers have taken initial steps to block statewide mask mandates. They showed their preference for local decision-making on the masking issue as they reconvened Tuesday for a special session. GOP lawmakers acted quickly to assert their new dominance in shaping the state's response to COVID-19. A Senate panel advanced a measure to nullify the state school board's requirement that anyone in a public K-12 school wear a mask. The bill would leave masking decisions up to local school boards. A House panel advanced another bill to prevent the governor from issuing any new st ..read more

A towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Richmond, Virginia, is expected to be taken down on Wednesday as a symbol of racial injustice, more than 130 years after it was erected in tribute to the South's Civil War leader. While many other Confederate symbols across the South have been removed without public announcements beforehand to avoid unruly crowds, Gov. Ralph Northam's office is expecting a multitude and plans to livestream the event on social media. Northam announced plans to take down the statue in June 2020, 10 days after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis ..read more

Data compiled by the National Weather Service in Paducah shows that our summer was a bit cooler than average, and much wetter for some locations. High temperatures during June, July and August in Paducah were about a degree cooler than normal. June and August were above normal, but July was cool enough to counter the other two months. Around the region, there were 2 to 7 fewer 90-degree days. However, the mornings were warmer. Paducah recorded 55 mornings with lows of 70 or warmer, compared to a usual summer with about 38 such mornings. Rainfall was above normal for most of the four-state regi ..read more

A Calloway County man was arrested Monday on drug and other charges. Deputies were attempting to locate 64-year-old Kenneth Knipp at his home in Almo. Knipp had previously been arrested in 2020 for possession of meth and drug paraphernalia then failed to appear at several court dates. A Calloway County Grand Jury issued an indictment for bail jumping in August. He reportedly resisted arrest but was taken into custody a short time later. A search of the home allegedly uncovered drugs and drug paraphernalia. Knipp was arrested and charged with bail jumping, failure to appear, possession of a sub ..read more

Legislature continues preparing for special session on COVID-related relief measures Representative Randy Bridges Throughout the past 18 months, I have used this column to share news about how COVID is impacting Kentuckians and our commonwealth. As of last Friday, 7,821 Kentuckians have died of COVID, the state experienced its second highest day of new cases, and we have barely moved the needle on our vaccination rate. Thousands of Kentuckians still wait for unprocessed unemployment claims, our health care system is bordering capacity, and the death and infection rates at our state-run prisons ..read more

Marion police are still in search of a woman that they pursued last week after a trespassing call. In a Facebook post, the Marion police chief and a sergeant said that on Sept. 1 they identified Sabrina Jones-Adams as she got into an older black Toyota. As the chief walked toward her car, Jones-Adams was said to have backed out of the driveway at high speed, narrowly missing the chief and hitting a trash can. The sergeant put his patrol car in Jones-Adams' path, but she avoided his car and struck the chief's police truck, damaging both vehicles. Jones-Adams fled the scene, pursued by the polic ..read more

Winners have been announced in the 1ST50K competition sponsored by Codefi and Sprocket. After nearly 200 applications worldwide were reviewed, nine finalists were selected and introduced to the Paducah community during Techfest, an event that showcased their demo products. In the end, the following three companies were awarded $50,000 grants and will relocate to Paducah on October 1: Noninvasive Diagnostic Instruments of St. Louis, Missouri, which provides cost-effective, convenient, and rapid non-invasive point-of-care blood cholesterol testing for patients and their healthcare providers. Sea ..read more