Showers and thunderstorms remain in the forecast today as a pressure system moves into the region dropping highs in the upper 70s and low 80s.
The summer weather has finally come in and members of the Prestonsburg and Paintsville communities got out to enjoy the weather. For the eighth year in a row, Prestonsburg tourism hosted its Levisa Fork Paddlefest where participants kayaked eight miles on the Levisa Fork River in Prestonsburg. The event gives residents a chance to explore the Prestonsburg area as well as experience the beauty of the area. It also gave people the chance to get outside and enjoy the summer weather. Officials with Prestonsburg and Paintsville Tourism plan to host the Paddlefest event on the last Saturday of each month going forward.
The USDA is launching a new Summer EBT program in 35 states — including Kentucky. The department estimates this could benefit hundreds of thousands of children in the commonwealth. The unofficial start of summer is upon us, bringing with it a seasonal challenge to children across Kentucky. “About 1 in 5 Kentucky kids face food insecurity,” said Jessica Klein, an associate with the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. “That is really hardest on kids during summer when they don’t have access to those free and reduced meals at school. “Any students aged 6-17 who received SNAP, KTAP, which is our cash assistance program in Kentucky, or Kinship Care will receive these benefits automatically,” Klein said. Klein says families can expect to see that money around June 17th, serving as an important supplement that can help make ends meet.
The husband-and-wife operators of a chain of addiction treatment centers have been battling legal problems this year, but they found themselves facing their most serious trouble yet following a raid on their home Thursday. John and Myra Elam, both 43, both of Morehead, are respectively listed as the operating officer and registered agent for Edgewater Recovery, which is headquartered in Morehead, with treatment centers in Morehead, Flemingsburg, Pikeville and Paducah. In February, Edgewater resolved a False Claims Act lawsuit alleging the company routinely required clients to submit unnecessary urine tests on a weekly basis. The lawsuit was dismissed, but terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Thursday, authorities raided their home and took them into custody on child porn charges. Court documents are not yet available, but jail records indicated both are charged with two counts of possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under the age of 12. John Elam is also charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Both are currently being held in the Rowan County Detention Center.
A Magoffin County man who was arrested back in February after police found several types of drugs in his car during a traffic stop has now been indicted on federal charges. Daniel Jackson, 56, of Salyersville, was arrested after police found more than 100 grams of meth, 8 grams of marijuana and a small bag of heroin after a police dog alerted his car. The drugs were hidden in a case and a flashlight, which were in turn hidden inside the dashboard. On Thursday, he was indicted on a charge of possession of meth and fentanyl with the intent to distribute. The charge typically carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison. However, because he has a previous drug trafficking conviction back in 2013, and because the charges involve more than 50 grams of meth, that sentence could be doubled.
A Johnson County grand jury has indicted four of the five individuals involved in an assault that took place in July of 2023 at an antiques store in Paintsville. According to the court documents, the indictments also list an unnamed minor as having been complicit in the charges, which include second-degree assault, a class C felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of no more than $10,000, and first-degree unlawful imprisonment, a class D felony which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of no more than $10,000. The indictments charge 37-year-old Lora Hope Williams, of Ky. 1107, Paintsville, 53-year-old Rebecca Lynn Fairchild, 53, of West Van Lear, 57-year-old Charlotte Wallen, of Honey Hollow, Tutor Key, and Leslie Faith Lyte, 41, of Citation Court, Mason, Ohio, in complicity with one another and the juvenile on those charges. According to court documents, in addition to those charges, Lyte is charged with first-degree strangulation, also a class C felony which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of no more than $10,000.
