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Hazard Herald - 6.7.26 · Eastern Kentucky Newspapers

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Speaker 1: Now we turn to the reading of the Hazard Herald,
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the news of Hazard and Perry County, Humley Townshend. We
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begin with the online edition day to June third, twenty
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twenty six. As a reminder, Radioized a reading service intended
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month of June. Listeners in the eastern Kentucky region using
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of no cost to us or our listeners, etc. Celebrates
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first students completing mobile fiber Optics training. Hazard Community and
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Technical College is celebrating the accomplishments of eight students from
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Deacons of Hope Rehabilitation Center who recently earned a certificate
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and fiber optics through eight CTC workforce solutions. The students,
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according to the statement from h CTC, completed the training
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through hctc's new Mobile Training Unit initiative, which delivers workforce
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education directly to individuals in recovery from substance abuse disorder
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and other underserved populations throughout the region. Students in recovery
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complete fiber Optics coursework in a Mobile Training Unit. Students
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earning the Fiber Optics Certificate include an alphabetical order, Dustin Bewley,
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Tyler Cassada, Christopher Clark, William Eldridge, Joshua Heiser, Chandra Kirkpatrick,
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Benjamin Middleton, and Paul Wells. Beacons of Hope Executive director
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Greg Burke said the graduation represents more than a workforce certificate.
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It reflects lives moving forward with hope, purpose, and opportunity.
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Through our partnership, we're able to bring together higher education
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and workforce development directly into our Substance Abuse Disorder Recovery
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campus in using new mobile classroom initiatives. He said, for
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many of the individuals, this is the first college certificate
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that they've ever earned. Burke said the program equipped students
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with both recovery support and practical career skills. They're not
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only leaving treatment with recovery tools, but also with an
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industry recognized skill that can lead to meaningful employment and
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long term stability that changes families, communities, and futures, Burke remarked.
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He added that Beacons of Hope believe recover every should
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include long term pathways to independence and opportunity. At Beacons
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of Hope, we always have believed recovery must go beyond
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sobriety alone. Recovery should create pathways to independence, dignity, and
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economic opportunity. This program provides that when education, recovery, and
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community partnerships come together, people can truly rebuild their lives.
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HCTC Workforce Solutions, the statement said, focuses on short term
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workforce education, industry partnerships, and rapid skills development to help
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individuals enter high demand career fields. The Mobile Training Unit
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allows HCTC instructors to bring hands on technical training directly
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into rehabilitation and recovery settings, removing barriers to educational access
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and career preparation. According to the doctor Keilah Miller, h
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CTC Chief Workforce Officer, the Mobile Training Unit represents the
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whole community partnerships in economic and workforce development. The Mobile
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Training Unit represents more than workforce education. It represents access, collaboration,
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and hope. Doctor Miller said the cause of investments from
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in the support of numerous community partners were able to
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bring hands on training directly to individuals working to rebuild
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their lives and prepare for sustainable careers. The Mobile Training
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Unit was launched earlier this year through support from the
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Kentucky Opioid Debatement Advisory Commission, which is investing opioid settlement
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funding into prevention, treatment and recoverty initiatives across the Commonwealth.
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The statement said the initiative allows HCTC to expand workforce
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training opportunities in communities heavily impacted by the over comoid crisis.
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In addition to fiber optics, the Mobile Training Unit is
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designed to support instruction and other high demand workforce areas,
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including computerized machining and manufacturing. Doctor Jennifer Lyndon HCTC President
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and Chief Executive Officer as champion recovery and re entry
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training initiatives. According to the statement, She said the Mobile
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Training Unit initiative continues to expand access to workforce education
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in communities across the region. This work reflects who we
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are as a community college and who we are as
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a region. We show up for one another, Linden said,
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HCTC is committed to meeting students where they are and
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creating accessible educational opportunities that strengthen both individuals and communities
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throughout southeastern Kentucky. The Fiscal Court approves memorandum for potential
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hotel development justin Beglett, the Perry County Fiscal Court approved
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a resolution during the May twenty seventh Special Meeting authorizing
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the execution of a memorandum of Understanding between Perry County
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Fiscal Court and RP Hospitality LLC reguarding the potential development
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of a new hotel in Perry County. According to Perry
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County Judge Executive Scott Alexander, the agreement is intended to
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help facilitate discussions and incentives aimed at bringing additional lodging
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accommodations to the county as tourism and economic development continue
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to expand. We have a hotel group that's looking to
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build a new hotel here, said Alexander. We're entering into
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an industrial revenue bond like we have on multiple developments
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here to work with them. We wanted to try to
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get them to build a new hotel, which we're desperate for,
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Alexander said. To discovers are still ongoing regarding a potential
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location for the project, with developers evaluating sites that would
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offer convenient access to nearby businesses, restaurants, and other amenities.
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Alexander said that current lodging options throughout the county are
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experiencing consistently high occupancy rates, creating a growing need for
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additional hotel accommodations. The data currently shows that our hotels
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here are book more than normal rates, he said. With
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tourism growing, we're seeing a lot more visitors come to
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period county. It's hard to get a room here because
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the occupancy rate is so high. We are in need
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of multiple hotels. Alexander said. Much of the increased demand
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is due to the continued growth in tourism and broader
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economic development efforts taking place throughout the county. A lot
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of it is due to growth, Alexander said. We have
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continued growth going on as we can continue to push tourism.
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As tourism grows, we need more developments in place. When
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these outside dollars come in, they need a place to stay.
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So this is part of our growth process as we
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continue to open up new businesses and expand our economic
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development across the county. Declining enrollment reduced SEEK funding challenging
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Perry schools. As school districts across Kentucky prepare budgets for
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the twenty twenty six twenty seven school year, many are
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facing the prospect of state funding through the Support Education
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Excellence in Kentucky formula, a trend that local officials say
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is being felt in Perry County as enrollment numbers continue
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to decline. According to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy,
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two thirds of Kentucky school districts are expected to seek
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less state SEEK funding next year than they received currently,
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largely due to enrollment decline, attendance trends, and changes in
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local property assessments. Statewide, to SEEK formula is heavily driven
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by student population, meaning districts with fewer students often received
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less funding. Perry County School's financial officer, Jody Maggard said
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current projections show Perry County schools will seek a reduction
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and seek revenue during the upcoming fiscal year. The final
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calculated seek for Perry County schools for twenty twenty five
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twenty six is twenty point four million dollars. The forecast
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at SEEK revenue for the twenty six twenty seven school
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year is nineteen point seventyion, Magrid said. Maggard said the
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district has experienced a significant decrease in enrollment over the
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past two decades, creating long term financial challenges. Like the
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majority of school districts in Kentucky, Perry County has seen
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an overall decline in student enrollment, said Magrid. Specifically, I
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highlight the last twenty years that our school district enrollment
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has decreased nearly thirteen hundred students. According to state projections,
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SEEK funding statewide is expected to decline despite a slight
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increase in the state's per pupil guarantee as rising property values,
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lower attendance and enrollment ships reduced the state's overall contribution
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to the funding formula. Magard said those enrollment losses have
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a direct impact on the amount of state funding the
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district received each year. The reduction of students in our
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schools presents a great challenge financially. SEEK, being the formula
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used statewide to fund public schools, is driven primarily by
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student population. He said, as those numbers decline, the less
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guaranteed SEEK base is received by the district. State Wide,
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school districts are also facing the effects of inflation, increased
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transportation costs, hired utility expenses, and rising construction costs, all
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while many districts anticipate receiving less state support than in
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previous years. Smith reflects on four years of services. He
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departs the City of Hazard grow after four years of
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helping shape community development initiatives, grant projects, and events across
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Hazard in Periry County. Logan Smith is preparing to leave
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his position with the City of Hazard and Periry County
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to begin a new chapter in his hometown of Knock County. Smith,
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twenty eight set his time serving alongside local leaders, organizations,
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and residents has been among the most rewarding experiences of
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his professional career. Of Ligan Perry County since twenty twenty one,
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and I've worked for the city in county since twenty
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twenty two, said Smith. I was initially hired to be
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assistant to the CFO grant writer and community planner. Over time,
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things grew both infrastructurally and event wise, and became involved
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in a lot of different projects. With each passing day
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there was more I was able to get involved in,
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and part of that was a pivotal meeting with community
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leaders with the city and county. I feel a lot
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of gratitude for being given the opportunities I have. As
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his responsibilities expanded, Smith found himself taking on additional roles
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and becoming increasingly involved in community initiatives and public events
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throughout the county. About a year ago, Bailey Richards announced
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she was leaving her position as Downtown Coordinator, and I
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put my name in the hat for that to help
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replace all the responsibilities she had. Now I'm the Community
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Development and Events coordinator. Throughout his time with the city,
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Smith said the opportunity to work directly with residents and
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witness to communities growth and resilience has been particularly meaningful.
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Some of my favorite parts about working with the city
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and County in the last four years has been being
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able to take and become involved with the community. Smith said,
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to sum it up, it's been the greatest honor of
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my professional life today to serve hazard and Prairie accounting
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and to work for administrations such as Happy and Scott
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who truly put community first and want their community to
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grow and prosper be a part of that has been
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my favorite part. Seeing people's lives change for the better,
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watching the community bounce back from the flood, or very
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rewarding work like working the Skyview Estates project that has
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provided housing the flood survivors, or working with small businesses
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has made this job invaluable in experience. Among the many
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projects he worked on, Smith said helping revitalized key community
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assets and preserved local history stands out as some of
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the most memorable work. Just being a part of the
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revitalization process has also been very rewarded. The Memorial Gym,
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hisstoried building project, was one of my favorites. It's the
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only historical site in the city limits and the only
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one of two historic sites within the county. I believe
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that was really fun. Smith credited several local leaders and
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organizations for helping god his professional growth during his time
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in period County. I'm incredibly grateful for the mendership from
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Hazard Mayor Donald Happymobiling. I learned so much working alongside him.
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It's also been in order to work with him during
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my time here. I came here as a twenty four
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year old who was eager to learn, and I really
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appreciate everyone with the Hazard and Perry County School District.
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Scott May, long time Spanish professor, retires from ad CTS
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after more than thirty five years of service to Hazard
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Community and Technical College. Long time Spanish professor Scott May
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is retiring, leaving behind a legacy of language instruction, cultural exploration,
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and dedication to students across generations. Originally a journalism major
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hoping to move to Arizona after graduation, May first studied
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Spanish because he believed it would be valuable while living
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and working in the Southwestern United States. Along the way,
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influential university professors helped spark a passion that ultimately shaped
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his career in education. Originally, I was a journalism major
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and hoped to move to Arizona after graduation. May said,
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I knew Spanish would be very useful while working and
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living in the Southwest. Also, it was required for my degree.
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I had great professors at the university level. Throughout his
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time at HCTC, May witness significant change in higher education,
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including transition from traditional classroom instruction to online learning. Reflecting
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on that period, he said support of fellow faculty staff
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stood out most. Looking ahead, he hopes to spend more
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time traveling and experiencing new places. I'm anxious to travel
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some places I could not go in the past, he said,
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For example, maybe spend January and Costa Rica, or traveling
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to Vermont in the fall. As he closes this chapter,
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may said, he hopes touch remember not only what they
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learned in his classroom, but also how they were treated.
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I hope they remember how caring and concerned I was
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for their personal and professional well beings, may have said.
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He also shared one final message for the EIGHTHCTC community,
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as he had served for more than three decades. Milgosius,
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for everyone's kindness and generosity, may have said. Eight CTC
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is a great place to work, even with all the
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changes I experienced in the past thirty six years. Utilities
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report as many as thirty data centers under discussion in Kentucky.
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Kentucky communities are grappling with the prospect of hyper sale
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data center projects, massive sprawling warehouses of power intensive commuter
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clusters potentially moving in a lot. More of them could
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be on the way. Louisval Gas and Electric and Kentucky
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utilities the state's largest utility told the Kentucky Service Commission
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in March that eleven data centers with a combined electricity
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demand of almost three point five gigawatts of power have
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at least a fifty percent chance or greater of setting
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up shop in the state. The amount of electricity demand
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could power more than two million homes. On the opinion page,
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the Pope versus aid banner by Jeff Vanderback, the Pope
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jumped into world politics again. This time his aim was AI. Recently,
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Southside Chicago's Pride and Joy, who now occupies the Vatican,
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made news when he challenged President Trump's beliefs and leadership abilities.
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The Pope took the high road, while Trump and Deep
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dj Vance told the Pope to basically mind his own business.
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Very diplomatic. Most recently, the Pope released his Encyclical, a
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formal letter sent to bishops of the Catholic Church. His
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letter was focused on artificial intelligence AI. Pope Leo urged
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the world to disarm AI to prevent it from becoming
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a tool of domination and warfare, all demanding regulation and
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ethical accountability from tech developers. That's a mouthful with great sentiment.
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We're living in an era where people are embracing in
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at the same time calculating about the u s use
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of AI. We use AI to answer emails, y resumes,
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diagnose diseases, solve math problems, and a host of other applications.
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We should, however, be cautious the use of AI as
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it pertains to everyday life, because of a robot takes
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information biased and unbiased and regurgitates it to the user's application.
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And in a newly published book, The Future of Truth,
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the author admitted that AI gave false quotes. I asked
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chat gpt to explain the dangers of AI to me.
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The response AI can be dangerous in many ways, not
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because it's evil, but because powerful tools can be misused,
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poorly designed, or deployed without safeguards. The risks include misinformation
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and manipulation, job displacement, bias and discrimination, loss of privacy, cybersecurity, recus,
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dis autonomous weapons, loss of human control, and concentration of power.
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The long term risk states that scientists are concerned that
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advanced AI could surpass human intelligence and become difficult to control.
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I know that for some humans and empty beer can
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surpasses their intelligence, so that statement does not surprise me.
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I think Pope Leo has something for the world to
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consider in his encyclical, especially the part about the total
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domination and ethical accountability from humans. Pope Leo needs to
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break out his Bible and start praying real hard for
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the meat and easily lead and most importantly, the evil
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who wished to dominate the existence of man. Even AI
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says AI is dangerous chatter GPT did highlight some of
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the benefits of AI, which include medical diagnosis, scientific discovery,
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language translation, and productivity improvements. This certifies that there is
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a place for AI if and when used properly. People
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use AI regularly and oftentimes don't know they're using it.
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Global use is in the hundreds of millions daily. Fe
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research claims that AI experts estimate seventy nine percent of
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Americans interact with AI daily. People who use AI for
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texting and emails create perfect verbiage. AI is used to
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finance to help answer questions about money, although I never
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hit the lottery with my AI recommendations. People can use
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AI to help make travel arrangements. Some passive uses of
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AI include Seri Alexandria, Google Assistant. When people stream on
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audio and video platforms. AI will give recommendations based on
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the user's patterns. When people edit photographs on their smartphones,
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AI is used. No one likes to shiny eyes in
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their photos. AI is not evil. It has the ability
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to be very useful. Evil comes from humans using powerful
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systems and tools carelessly and without oversight. If you read
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the news, people are creating evil everywhere had a powerful
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AI component and we could be doomed. Thanks for reading
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the Hazard Herald. Here are in the obituaries Bella Young
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hert amber V eighty eight Tuesday May twenty sixth Teresa
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Marietta Jones seventy of Lexington died Monday, May twenty fifth.
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Roger D. Stacy sixty seven of Hazard died Wednesday, May
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twenty seventh. Shel Via Gene Eversoon sixty three died Saturday
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May thirtieth. Preston Burschell Scott bub Pollard twenty five of
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Hazard died Wednesday, May twentieth. Tennessee Stacy eighty two died
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Monday May twenty fifth. Jove Vermillion eighty three of Hazard
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died Saturday, May twenty third. Hazard man allegedly threatened to
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commit shooting of graduation. A Hazard man was arrested on
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a fellow in charge of terroristic threatening after allegedly threatening
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to commit a shooting at a local school's eighth grade graduation.
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The man, Michael Carson Kilburn, nineteenth, of Ladder Branch, was
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also accused of threatening to shoot his juvenile girlfriend. According
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to a citation written by Kentucky State Police Trooper Patrick Bailey,
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on May twenty seventh, he was made aware of a
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report that Kilburn had threatened to shoot his juvenile girlfriend
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along with several other people attending the school's eighth grade graduation.
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Bayley wrote that he made contact with Kilburn, who admitted
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to having a verbal altercation with the girlfriend, but denied
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making threats to shoot up the graduation. Bailey learned through
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interviews that Kilburn had threatened that if the girl attended
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the graduation, he would shoot her and everyone else there.
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This citation said Kilburn was lodged in the Kentucky River
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Regional Jail on a charge of second degree terroristic threatening.
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Ferry District Judge Cody Gearing ordered that Kilburn be held
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on the twenty thousand dollars property bond, that he referred
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for mental health evaluation and did he did not live
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in a home or travel in a vehicle where firearms
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are located. Also, documents show Kilgrin was ordered not to
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have any contact with the victim and not to have
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any new arrests or violations of the law. His arraignment
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in the case is set for June twenty third. A
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Ferry County man has been arrested on charges including trafficking
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and meth anthetamine resent incident. According to a citation written
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by Perry County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Jones, on May twenty ninth,
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he and Deputy Mullens responded to a call at Thomasville
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Lane at Rowley. During the response, the citation said, the
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deputies made contact with a resident later identified as James R. Grigsby,
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fifty six, of Thomasonville O'lane, who initially gave the deputies
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a different name. James wrote that it was discovered that
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Grigsby had active warrants and was placed under arrest. During
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the search of his person after his arrest, the citation said,
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the deputies found a baggie containing a substance suspected to
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be meth amphetamine, a meth pipe, and what was believed
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to be of magazine for a pistol. Jones wrote that
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a search warrant was obtained for the residents and a
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search was conducted, during which deputies found more meth amphetamine,
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an ar style pistol, and a handgun. Grigsby, the citation said,
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told the deputies he was not trafficking in meth antetamy
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and that it was for his personal use. Like many,
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Kentucky and State Senator Chris McDaniel was horrified when he
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found out that Governor Matt Bevin had pardoned a group
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of hardened criminals just as he was leaving Frankfurt. The
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Roland Heights Republican was so horrified that he embarked on
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a seven year journey to make sure it didn't happen again.
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There were lots of things that were egregious in history,
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but this, really, I think for the modern General Assembly,
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took the cake and made us realize we've got to
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do something, mcdangal told the Kentucky Lanter. For seven years,
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mcdangal tried to pass legislation to curb a governor's pardon power.
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This year, his colleagues finally agreed, passing McDaniel's legislation that
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would allow a constitutional amendment to be on the ballot
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this fall. They would limit Kentucky governor's power to grant
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pardons and sentence commune commutations around elections. However, some including Bashir,
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who beat Bevin in twenty nineteen, have reservations about enacting
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the change. This concludes the reading of the Hazard Herald.
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Please stay tuned for continued programming. Thank you for joining
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me and on behalf of everyone here at RADIOI. This
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is Lee Townshend, wishing you a good day.