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Kentucky Shakespeare performing in E-Town Friday

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UPDATE: Friday’s performance has been moved to the State Theater due to rain.
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“Oh, brave new world!” 

Kentucky Shakespeare’s touring production of The Tempest will be making a stop in Elizabethtown Friday evening.

Kentucky Shakespeare says the 2026 Shakespeare in the parks tour is visiting a record 46 locations this season as they present The Bard’s final play. The organization says the tragicomedy is “a testament to the redeeming power of love and forgiveness – featuring fools, spirits, monsters, shipwrecks, and magical spells.”

The company will be performing at Freeman Lake Park Friday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, the performance will be moved to the State Theater.

All performances of The Tempest are free, with no tickets or reservations required. The show runs approximately 75 minutes with no intermission. Attendees should bring their own chairs or blankets to the performance.

Find more information at www.kyshakespeare.com.

Superintendent Carter says 2026-2027 a year of progress at Breckinridge County Schools

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Breckinridge County Schools Superintendent Dr. Nick Carter said the 2025-2026 school year was a year of progress at BCS.

“We’ve seen a lot of increases in our student achievement with some of our NWEA MAP assessments, and I’m just super proud of the work that’s taken place academically this year as we, you know, we’re continuing to get further out away from the pandemic and addressing the learning loss component from those years, and there’s just been amazing work taking place, so I’m really excited about that work and want to thank all of our teachers and staff that’ve had such a hand in that,” Carter said.

Carter says the progress can also be seen in the district’s facilities, most notably the start of work on the new Breckinridge County Middle School building.

“That was six years in the making, and so it’s exciting to see dirt being moved for that project and really thinking about what that campus is going to look like in August of 2028, but it’s just been an amazing year and truly one of the best in my career,” Carter said.

Carter says the goal in the 2026-2027 school year is to maintain the progress and keep the district moving forward.

“Obviously in every school district, you welcome back current staff and you welcome new staff into your district, and so I’m always looking forward to welcoming our new staff into the district and getting to know them and really just making them feel welcome in our Tiger Nation family,” Carter said.

Follow the Breckinridge County School District Facebook page or visit the district website for more information and updates.

Hunters set new record for Kentucky spring turkey season

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A strong population and good weather led to a record harvest in the spring turkey hunting season in Kentucky.

Kentucky Fish and Wildlife says 36,439 turkeys were harvested during the spring hunting season, well ahead of the 10-year average of 30,847 and breaking the state record set in 2010 by about 340 birds. This included 2,613 turkeys harvested during the youth-only season and 13,670 harvested during opening weekend of the spring season.

KFW says more than 99 percent of the turkeys harvested during the spring season were males. About 86 percent of the harvested birds were toms, or adult male birds, while the rest were younger jakes.

Graves County saw the highest turkey harvest with 778 birds, followed by Muhlenberg county at 746 and Breckinridge County at 662. Hardin and Grayson counties also made the top ten with 566 and 548 birds harvested, respectively. Nearly 36,000 of the harvested birds were taken by shotgun, with 258 by bow and 129 by crossbow.

KFW says officials attribute the high harvest to factors such as more turkeys on the landscape, more hunters in the woods, and good weather for hunting during the season. KFW says: “Poult surveys from a year ago suggest the 2027 spring season will also be good, but young turkeys face threats like disappearing habitat, early mowing, and predators.” 

Find more information at fw.ky.gov.

Annual county unemployment numbers show slight decline from prior year

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The annual unemployment rate in the Lincoln Trail District trended slightly higher than the statewide average in 2025.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the statewide annual unemployment rate in 2025 was 4.6 percent. The annual rate was higher than the state rate in 75 counties, the same in five, and lower in 40. 95 counties had an annual unemployment rate higher than the national average of 4.3 percent, with six counties at that rate and 19 below it.

The annual unemployment rate for the Lincoln Trail District was 4.8 percent. Grayson County had the highest annual rate in the district at 5.9 percent followed by Breckinridge County at 5.3 percent. Washington County had the lowest annual rate at 4 percent followed by Nelson County at 4.4 percent. The annual unemployment rate for Hardin County in 2025 was 4.9 percent.

The annual unemployment rate for 2025 is based on 11 months of data, as the federal government shutdown in October of 2025 prevented the collection of unemployment data. The center for statistics says the 2025 rate therefore is not strictly comparable to rates from prior years.

Learn more about how the unemployment rate is calculated and find more labor market information by visiting kystats.ky.gov.

Registration open for HCS Summer Meals Program

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Hardin County Schools will once again be providing its annual Summer Meals Program, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

“Meals will be served Monday through Friday between June 3 and July 29,” said HCS Community Relations Specialist John Wright. “No meals will be served on July 3 because of the Independence Day holiday.”

HCS says USDA guidelines require meals served in rural areas to non-congregate, or grab-and-go, meal service, while urban sites require congregate feeding, meaning the meals must be eaten on site. Participants will receive five days of breakfast and lunch meals at the non-congregate sites.

Participants must register, and can find more information, on the HCS website.

“Dates and times and locations, all that information is on the Hardin County Schools website,” Wright said. “If you just go to hardin.kyschools.us and click the Quick Links tab, right under that tab the very first item is 2026 Summer Feeding Program, so just click on that and you’ll find everything that you need.”

Free meals are available for any child 18-years-old and younger. Participants do not have to be a HCS student. Adult lunch is available for $4 at the Farmer’s Market, Dawley Park, and Optimist Park sites.