The Elizabethtown City Council and Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Commission will be holding a joint meeting today at 2:00 PM. The meeting will be held at City Hall in the 3rd Floor Conference Room and the purpose of the meeting is to discuss development issues. The City Council will also be holding its regularly scheduled meeting at 4:30 PM where the Council will hear the first reading of the ordinance to discuss the proposed Entertainment Destination Center and the licensing which were presented last week during the work session meeting. The agenda also notes that a Special Meeting will be held on March 27. This was discussed briefly at the March 14 work session to get the second reading of the Entertainment Destination Center ordinance completed before April. Due to spring break, the meetings normally scheduled for the first two Mondays in April have been canceled which would have delayed the ordinance to mid April. The City Council and Tourism Commission want to submit the paperwork and begin the process of obtaining the license ahead of summer tourism events.
Three area school districts have published a letter to businesses asking for assistance in keeping vape products out of the hands of minors. The superintendents of Hardin County School, Elizabethtown Independent Schools and Larue County Schools are asking that they consider moving vape related products behind a counter and to provide additional training to employees to keep vapes from being sold to juveniles. According to the statement, students have told school officials that they have been able to purchase vape products illegally from businesses in Hardin and Larue counties. Most vaping products are unregulated and dosage levels of chemicals in them are not precise. Vapes can also be lined with extremely dangerous drugs like Fentanyl. You can view the letter on the websites and Facebook pages for the districts.
This morning, Price Smith from Nolin RECC stopped in to make the annual call for local organizations to apply to be the beneficiaries of the funds collected through Nolin’s Operation Round-Up.
An Elizabethtown neighbor had to call 911 after a young child fell from a second story last night and a neighbor had to call 911 to get the child medical treatment. Elizabethtown Police Spokesperson Chris Denham stated, “Shortly before 8:00 PM Thursday night, we were called to a residence on Wingfield Court in reference to the report that a small child had fallen from a second story window. At arrival, responding officers found the home to be in deplorable condition. The investigation revealed that a two year old fell from the window and the child’s mother, Allie White, wasn’t even aware of the incident until being alerted by a neighbor. After finding out., White took the child back into the residence instead of contacting E.M.S. but did contact the child’s father, Matthew Norfleet. During an interview, White admitted to frequently locking the child in the second story bedroom, unattended, and knowing that the window was broken, giving the child the ability to open it. Allie White was arrested and charged with endangering the welfare of a minor as well as criminal abuse in the second degree. Norfleet was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor. The involved children were taken to a safe location following intervention from Child Protective Services.” The mother is being lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center. The investigation is ongoing.
Work has continued overnight in Glendale at the site of the train derailment that occurred yesterday afternoon.“Crews are still on the scene at this time, still removing carts and laying new tracks down in downtown Glendale area. At this time, still the two main crossings are blocked in downtown Glendale although the Gilead Church Road crossing is open at this time. The goal was to try to get those crossings open by this afternoon at some point,” said Hardin County Emergency Management Director Joey Scott. The CSX train went into emergency to avoid colliding with a semi-truck and trailer stuck on the crossing on Gilead Church Road. Twenty-one rail cars were derailed. There were no hazardous materials involved. The investigation is on-going.
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There was a train derailment in Glendale yesterday afternoon. An official statement from CSX Railroad hours after the accident sent to WQXE news shared the following: “ A CSX train went into emergency attempting to avoid a collision with a semi-truck and trailer stuck on the crossing. Preliminary reports indicate that 21 rail cars derailed as a result of that emergency action. No hazardous materials are involved.” According to an update from the Transportation Cabinet at 7:30 last night, the Gilead Church Road KY 1136 South opened back up. The KY 222 crossing would likely remain closed for several days. “Obviously the downtown crossing at 222 in Glendale. That’s going to be closed for a while. I can’t tell you what awhile means, but it’s not going to be a quick issue with that particular crossing. That’s where you know most of the mess is and cars overturned. All of that to 222 is going to be closed.” We will continue to update this story throughout the day.
Preparation for the demolition of a bridge over the Western Kentucky Parkway has started. The KY 224 bridge, which is between mile markers 111 and 116 in Grayson County, is part of an asphalt rehabilitation project along the parkway. One lane of the bridge will remain open using temporary signals to alternate one-way traffic over the bridge. The eastbound off ramp is closed but the other ramps remain open. “It’s not uncommon for contractors to get on a job site, start working and then realize we’re going to have to tweak or adjust plans for how we maintain traffic during a project. That’s the case with the 224 bridge. It was realized we were going to need to do some ramp closures we originally planned not to do any. It’s necessary here to get the work done and do it in a timely fashion that doesn’t have the project drawn out over a long period of time. These decisions were kind of made at the last minute here as work started. As we go through the project and other traffic impacts take place, we will push to announce these impacts in a more timely fashion,” said Transportation Cabinet spokesperson Chris Jessie. The project is scheduled to wrap up by November 15 unless work schedules are affected by weather. Drivers in the area are encouraged to follow the Transportation Cabinet District 4 social media or sign up for emails to get the latest updates.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says the RCUTs along US 31W In Elizabethtown are showing success in what they were designed to accomplish. “From both the safety and efficiency standpoint, we were very pleased with the results of the North Dixie RCUT project by the Kentucky Department of Transportation.. In 2022, we saw a 41% reduction in collisions and of those collisions, those involving injuries were also reduced by just over 41%. With traffic volume on the rise, it’s imperative that proactive steps are implemented to minimize its impact. This is firm proof that engineering efforts were effective, and quite honestly, we are excited to see the outcome of the upcoming projects,” stated Elizabethtown Police Department Spokesperson Chris Denham. The Transportation Cabinet reports in its release that prior to the project, there were 130 total crashes in 2019 with 12 of them being injury crashes. Construction was completed on the northern section in November 2021, and collision data indicates a total of 76 crashes in 2022 with 7 being injury crashes. Traffic volume data for 2020 were not considered due to COVID and 2021 was during construction. Travel time through the area is also benefiting from removing two signalized intersections and the more structured median layout. Traffic efficiency data is still being gathered and more detailed results will be available within the next year.
Hardin County Schools will be holding Preschool and Kindergarten early registration today. “We’re excited to host early registration for preschool and kindergarten for the 2023-2024 school year at our elementary schools. Now it will not take place at Meadow View, Radcliff, Vine Grove and Woodland because those kindergarten and preschool students attend North Park Elementary. So the rest of our elementary schools that will take place from 9:00 AM until 1:00 PM,” said Hardin County Schools spokesperson John Wright. If a parent cannot attend today, you can still get your child registered. “If you cannot make it to the early registration event, you can reach out to those elementary schools and schedule a time where you can come in between now and the beginning of school next year and register your child for preschool and kindergarten.” Parents seeking to register their children into preschool will need to bring those children with them to the event as there is a screening process to be done then. To view information about what will be needed and locations, go to the HCS Kindergarten Readiness Facebook page or call the HCS Early Childhood Education department.