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Traci Hunt named North Middle School principal

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North Middle School will have a new principal for the 2024-2025 school year, and it is somebody with previous experience at Hardin County Schools.

HCS has announced that Traci Hunt will be moving into the principal’s office. Hunt comes to NMS after serving as assistant principal and principal at Marion C. Moore School in Louisville, principal at Bloomfield Middle School in Nelson County, and assistant principal at Bullitt East High School. The Western Kentucky University and University of the Cumberlands grad started her education career as a teacher and secondary instructional specialist at North Hardin High School.

HCS Superintendent Teresa Morgan said in a release: “Ms. Hunt brings valuable experience as she returns home. She knows how to ensure student growth in and out of the classroom. She has a strong work ethic and she will help lead North Middle School in a tremendous fashion. Our community is growing and Ms. Hunt’s experiences will help her prepare North Middle for that growth.”

Hunt replaces Jeff Lowan, who retires as principal at the end of this school year.

Voter registration up ahead of primary; in-person excused absentee voting this week

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Voter registration in Kentucky saw another surge ahead of the deadline for the primary election. 

Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams says more than 8,300 new voters got registered between April 1 and the pre-primary registration deadline on April 22. 

In turn, about 4,600 voter registrations were removed. About 3,300 removals were for deceased voters, 543 for felony convicts, and 562 for voters who moved out of state.

Adams says Republican registration in the state rose by a little less than 2,700 voters, and independent or other registrations went up by more than 1,700. Democratic registrations decreased by about 700 voters.

Voters that qualify for in-person excused absentee voting may do so Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Hardin County Clerk’s Office. Hardin County Clerk Brian D. Smith says the same qualifications for a mail-in absentee ballot apply to in-person absentee, but voters can cast a ballot as they would on Election Day.

“Some of those qualifications are if you’ll be out of town or scheduled to work all dates and times of in-person voting,” Smith said. “The law uses the phrase ‘age, illness, and disability.’ Sometimes those words ring a little harsh on our ears. There is no definitive age, illness, or disability. We don’t ask. You just attest to it.”

Early voting for all will run at the clerk’s office and at the Colvin Community Center this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The primary election will be held on May 21. Find more election information at govote.ky.gov.

Buffalo Lake connector trail work progressing

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Work is progressing on the Buffalo Lake Connector Trail, a joint project between the City of Elizabethtown and Elizabethtown Tourism.

“The trailhead is going to be located near the railroad crossing at Dixie, and will connect all the way to Commerce Drive,” said Elizabethtown Tourism Director of Marketing Krysta Souleyrette. “It’s going to be about a mile and a half long, and there will be paved sections so it’s accessible for everyone.”

The trailhead will include amenities such as a water bottle filling station, a bike repair station, and ample seating.

Souleyrette said the connector achieves a strategic goal of connecting Downtown E-Town with the hotels on or near Commerce Drive, and adds to Elizabethtown’s outdoor recreation offerings.

“We have a wide array of outdoor trails and wonderful outdoor activities in Elizabethtown, and this is only going to enhance this, our outdoor attractions and activities for community members as well as visitors,” Souleyrette said.

The connector trail is set to open in spring of 2025.

Kentucky ranks second in region, eighth in nation for economic development

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Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is highlighting new recognition of the commonwealth’s economic success.

The governor’s office says Site Selection magazine ranked Kentucky in second place for its South Central Region rankings and in eighth place nationally in its 2024 Prosperity Cup rankings. The Prosperity Cup “recognizes the competitiveness of state-level economic development agencies and their success in landing capital investment projects according to data from 2023.” Expanded facilities, new jobs created, and sales tax climate are among the criteria for the rankings.

The governor touted some of the state’s accomplishments during the ribbon cutting for the ECTC BlueOval SK Training Center Wednesday.

“We’ve now had over $30.6 billion of new private sector investment in us in just 4.5 years, a record by far, over a thousand new location and expansion projects, 52,700 new jobs,” Beshear said. “We’ve broken every export record, every tourism record. It is an exciting time to be a Kentuckian right now.”

Beshear has cited BlueOval SK as being the catalyst for making the electric vehicle industry a central part of new development in the state.

“We are leading this country in the EV sector with $11.7 billion announced in just 3.5 years, and 10,250 full-time jobs,” Beshear said.

More information on Kentucky economic development efforts can be found at ced.ky.gov.

KY Gives Day raises nearly $100K for area non-profits

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The Central Kentucky Community Foundation facilitated the twelfth annual KY Gives Day for regional non-profits Tuesday.

Community Foundation Communications and Projects Coordinator Erin Hahn said the effort was a successful one.

“25 regional organizations participated and they had a great day,” Hahn said. “It was a 24-hour online giving day and we raised collectively close to $100,000, and that’s just due to the amazing and generous community that we live in.”

More than 600 donors contributed 771 gifts to regional organizations. Hahn said the individual support is a credit to the impact the nonprofits have across the community.

“Yes, it’s a 24-hour online one day of giving, but more importantly, it’s you give $5, you give $10, but every dollar counts, and it really does help to make a strong impact to all of the organizations that do so much good in our community.” Hahn said.

Participating organizations compete for state and regional prizes, which Hahn said is a way of adding friendly competition and encouraging more support.

“The organizations obviously are wanting to raise dollars for their organization, but we kind of help to throw in a little bit more fun with providing prizes for most dollars raised,” Hahn said. “We have a couple of power hours through the day, which some organizations actually take advantage of having matches during those periods.”

The leading recipients in the region were the Lincoln Museum, Bernheim Forest, and Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. More information and the complete leaderboard can be found at www.kygives.org.