GARRETT – A Lackey woman was killed Saturday in a motorcycle accident on Route 80 at Garrett.
According to police, Amber N. Hall, 24, was traveling west in Garrett just after 9 p.m. when she lost control of the motorcycle and ran off the road. Hall reportedly struck the side of the guardrail and was ejected from the motorcycle.
Hall was transported to St. Joseph of Martin and was pronounced dead by Dr. Ben Browning in the emergency room.
The accident is under investigation by Kentucky State Police Trooper Brad Austin, who was assisted on scene by Trooper Isaac Whitaker, Sgt. Ronald Peppi, Transtar Ambulance Service, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department and the Garrett Fire Department.
Showing posts with label fct. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fct. Show all posts
State preparing for swine flu
FRANKFORT – Kentucky joined the rest of the nation in addressing concerns about the more than 60 Americans infected with swine flu during a media conference in Frankfort Monday afternoon.
Dr. William Hacker, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, spoke to reporters at the department’s emergency operations center, saying the situation was an “evolving” one.
“The situation is evolving and we’re in the early stage of this investigation,” Hacker said. “Those who have died in Mexico raise concerns, certainly. We’re not clear about whether ours is less severe or if we haven’t identified the more severe cases.”
Still, Hacker said there was no real cause for alarm at this point.
“I would be concerned, but not panicked,” he said.
The number of people who have died from the strain of swine flu in Mexico since April 13 was 149 as of Tuesday afternoon.
But, as Hacker said during the media conference, Mexico has a six-week head start on the U.S.
In the meantime, officials are saying that “common sense” approaches to safeguard against becoming infected are the best method at this time.
“Use common sense,” said Hacker. “It’s appropriate to take precautionary steps and wash your hands, cover your cough and practice good hygiene.”
There are currently researchers working to develop a vaccine for the new strain, said Hacker. That vaccine would be several months in the making, he added.
“We don’t know where this virus came from,” he said. “This is a new combination we have not seen before, but it’s not like this has never happened before.”
Currently, Hacker and his staff have been stockpiling backup medicine to treat against the virus. The federal government has been releasing supplies, of which Kentucky has received enough to treat a little over 100,000 people.
“Flu virus has a tendency to evolve and is highly unpredictable,” Hacker said Tuesday. “We don’t want to get caught unprepared if it does become a bigger threat because changes will be taking place on a daily basis.”
Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were a total of 64 verified cases in the U.S. as of Tuesday afternoon.
The highest number of those appeared in New York, which has 45 confirmed cases. The nearest to Kentucky was Ohio, which had reported one case. In California, 10 people have contracted the virus, with two others in Kansas and another six in Texas.
Dr. William Hacker, commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health, spoke to reporters at the department’s emergency operations center, saying the situation was an “evolving” one.
“The situation is evolving and we’re in the early stage of this investigation,” Hacker said. “Those who have died in Mexico raise concerns, certainly. We’re not clear about whether ours is less severe or if we haven’t identified the more severe cases.”
Still, Hacker said there was no real cause for alarm at this point.
“I would be concerned, but not panicked,” he said.
The number of people who have died from the strain of swine flu in Mexico since April 13 was 149 as of Tuesday afternoon.
But, as Hacker said during the media conference, Mexico has a six-week head start on the U.S.
In the meantime, officials are saying that “common sense” approaches to safeguard against becoming infected are the best method at this time.
“Use common sense,” said Hacker. “It’s appropriate to take precautionary steps and wash your hands, cover your cough and practice good hygiene.”
There are currently researchers working to develop a vaccine for the new strain, said Hacker. That vaccine would be several months in the making, he added.
“We don’t know where this virus came from,” he said. “This is a new combination we have not seen before, but it’s not like this has never happened before.”
Currently, Hacker and his staff have been stockpiling backup medicine to treat against the virus. The federal government has been releasing supplies, of which Kentucky has received enough to treat a little over 100,000 people.
“Flu virus has a tendency to evolve and is highly unpredictable,” Hacker said Tuesday. “We don’t want to get caught unprepared if it does become a bigger threat because changes will be taking place on a daily basis.”
Swine influenza is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza virus that regularly causes outbreaks of influenza in pigs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were a total of 64 verified cases in the U.S. as of Tuesday afternoon.
The highest number of those appeared in New York, which has 45 confirmed cases. The nearest to Kentucky was Ohio, which had reported one case. In California, 10 people have contracted the virus, with two others in Kansas and another six in Texas.
Diverging views of coal mining emerge from conference
University of Kentucky professor Ron Eller stirred up the proceedings of the Eastern kentucky Leadership Conference last week by calling for an end to surface mining.
Eller was the keynote speaker at this year’s Eastern Kentucky Leadership Conference awards ceremony in Hazard. He began his speech noting a need to build an “alternative future for our children,” and later called for an all-out end to the practice of surface coal mining, especially the controversial method of mountaintop removal mining, saying that perhaps there needs to be a “revolution in our thinking in the mountains.”
Eller, a West Virginia native and past Pulitzer nominee, said ending surface mining serves as a way to push the regional economy past an economy based on coal.
“We must look beyond an extractive based economy to one that values and enhances the landscape and resources that it holds,” said Eller. “One that connects our own sustainability and future to that of the mountains themselves. We must begin, I think, by abolishing surface mining, including the radically destructive practice of mountaintop removal.”
Eller said mountaintop removal is not a necessary component of the local or national economy. He called for employment in underground coal mines to be protected, while those jobs on surface mines in the coalfields could be replaced by jobs that “enhance the environment” such as forest management or localized energy production such as wind and solar.
“Jobs displaced by the loss of strip mining could be replaced by federally supported programs of reforestation and land reclamation for alternative energy production,” he continued, adding that reclaimed mine sites could also be added to the national forest and managed as national energy trusts.
Eller argued that restoring the lands and managing them would employ many more people than those jobs that would be lost by ending surface coal mining.
Reaction to Eller’s speech was quick, with many pointing out the development of shopping centers, hospitals, and other businesses on land once used as surface mining sites as indicators of how important surface coal mining is to the region.
In what was seen by some as a rebuttal to Eller’s keynote speech Thursday, Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo, in a speech made between conference sessions Friday afternoon in Hazard, announced support for new reclamation techniques and pointed to the progress being made on former surface mining sites, including the Stonecrest development in his hometown of Prestonsburg in Floyd County.
“I led a 10-year effort to reclaim this former mine site,” he said. “Now it is home to an industrial site, a public golf course, a beautiful residential area, a horse show facility, as well as baseball, football and soccer fields.”
Stumbo added that there has been a balance between responsible coal mining and the natural beauty of Eastern Kentucky, and that balance should continue.
“Kentucky is blessed with abundant coal reserves and beautiful land. We can enjoy the jobs and cheap energy provided by coal, while protecting our heritage of natural beauty,” he said.
Heating program pumps $5 million into economy
PAINTSVILLE – The Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) program has closed its doors now that the cold weather season has passed. But the program leaves behind a considerable impression on the local economy.
According to James Michael Howell, the agency’s executive director, the Big Sandy Area Community Action Program provided $5 million to local families for heating assistance.
The program provided assistance to families in the five-county region, which includes Floyd, Pike, Johnson, Magoffin and Martin counties.
“Our agency’s goal is to help those in the community who are in need,” Howell said. “The help LIHEAP provides makes a difference between a family staying warm or suffering from the cold.”
The agency began taking LIHEAP applications in November 2008 and by the time the program closed its doors on March 31 had processed more than 27,000 applicants.
“The $5 million injected by LIHEAP into our local communities has a significant impact,” Howell said. “In addition to helping customers, the money has a ripple effect by supporting local energy providers and their employees and families. By helping the less fortunate, everyone benefits.”
In total, the program distributed $5,064,241 to help heat homes throughout the region.
The program is funded through the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services through the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Community Action Kentucky.
According to James Michael Howell, the agency’s executive director, the Big Sandy Area Community Action Program provided $5 million to local families for heating assistance.
The program provided assistance to families in the five-county region, which includes Floyd, Pike, Johnson, Magoffin and Martin counties.
“Our agency’s goal is to help those in the community who are in need,” Howell said. “The help LIHEAP provides makes a difference between a family staying warm or suffering from the cold.”
The agency began taking LIHEAP applications in November 2008 and by the time the program closed its doors on March 31 had processed more than 27,000 applicants.
“The $5 million injected by LIHEAP into our local communities has a significant impact,” Howell said. “In addition to helping customers, the money has a ripple effect by supporting local energy providers and their employees and families. By helping the less fortunate, everyone benefits.”
In total, the program distributed $5,064,241 to help heat homes throughout the region.
The program is funded through the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services through the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Community Action Kentucky.