WQXE News

Breckinridge County was included in the latest round of funding from the Kentucky Product Development Initiative.

According to a release from the governor’s office, the KPDI “provides funding for local communities to boost investment in site and building upgrades to support future, well-paying jobs and economic growth across the commonwealth.” More than $700,000 in state funding was approved for the latest approved projects.

“This is how we improve in the next site for the next major business,” said Governor Andy Beshear during Thursday’s Team Kentucky Update. “It’s that idea that every time we announce a business, yeah, we’ve got those jobs coming, but that we’ve got to do extra work so we can get the next one and the next one and the one after that.”

The governor’s office says funding was approved for the Breckinridge County Fiscal Court, on behalf of Breckinridge County United Inc., “to extend a waterline 1,150 feet to the Irvington Industrial Park.”

“Our site development and speed to market initiatives are crucial to our long-term success,” Beshear said. “They are how we’re able to tell people that we will get them up and running months before any other state.”

KPDI project proposals are reviewed by a third party, independent site selection consultant, who provides recommendations to the Cabinet for Economic Development, with final recommendations for approval coming from the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority. Learn more about the program at kpdI.ky.gov.

One person is dead and one person is in custody following a collision on the Western Kentucky Parkway Thursday.

According to a release from the Kentucky State Police, at around 4:25 a.m. on September 4 troopers from KSP Post Four responded to a call from the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office to assist with the investigation of a head-on collision near the 117-mile marker of the Western Kentucky Parkway.

The KSP says the preliminary investigation indicates a car operated by Francisco Tziquin of Houston was travelling west on the parkway when for unknown reasons the vehicle crossed the median, striking an eastbound car operated by Isaac Hearn of Leitchfield.

A female adult passenger in Tziquin’s vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene by the Grayson County Coroner’s Office. Two juvenile passengers in that vehicle were transported to Norton Children’s Hospital for treatment of serious injuries. Hearn was transported to Twin Lakes Regional Medical Center for treatment of serious injuries.

Tziquin was arrested for Leaving the Scene of an Accident-Failure to Render Aid or Assistance and for No Operator’s-Moped License. He remains incarcerated in the Grayson County Detention Center. The KSP’s investigation is ongoing.

The United Way of Central Kentucky got some high-flying support from area volunteers, sponsors, and team members with their Skydive for Change fundraiser, which raised more than $45,000 at the Elizabethtown Regional Airport on August 23.

“We did over double of what we did last year, and that’s incredibly exciting, and it kind of gives us a view as to what to expect next year, and we’re hoping to make it even bigger,” said UWCK Operations Manager Andrea Hill.

The event featured 17 volunteers skydiving from 12,000 feet, with the event held in partnership with Skydive Kentucky.

“The fact that we were able to convince people to jump out of an airplane for us, it’s pretty mind blowing,” Hill said. “We are incredibly grateful for them doing that, but also just for their efforts and fundraising to help bring that money to United Way. We would not have been able to do any of this if it weren’t for them.”

Funds raised as part of Skydive for Change will go towards the organization’s Operation Good Neighbor initiative.

“That’s a program of ours that provides free home repairs for those that are at an advanced age, maybe living with a disability, low income, that sort of thing,” Hill said.

Visit www.unitedwayck.org for more information on the initiative.