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The Stephen Foster Drama Association has announced the production that will accompany their regular show this season, and while “the sun shines bright on My Old Kentucky Home,” “the hills are alive with the Sound of Music.”

The drama association has announced that the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic will be the organization’s summer Broadway musical this year. The show will be performed at the J. Dan Talbott Amphitheatre in Bardstown this July and August.

The organization describes the Sound of Music as “a Broadway musical about Maria, a spirited governess who brings joy, music, and love back to the von Trapp family.” featuring classic songs such as “Do-Re-Mi”, “My Favorite Things”, and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”, the original Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Musical and the 1965 film adaptation won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Broadway production, ironically, opened the same year that The Stephen Foster Story first ran at the amphitheater at My Old Kentucky Home State Park.
More information and tickets are available at www.stephenfoster.com, or contact the box office at 502-348-5971.

Unemployment in Kentucky in December came in slightly higher than where it was the year prior.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the state unemployment average for December was 5.2 percent. That is an increase from the 5.1 percent rate reported in November and from December 2023 when the rate was reported at 4.3 percent.

Kentucky’s unemployment average also came in higher in December than the national unemployment rate, which the U.S. Department of Labor reported at 4.1 percent.

The Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet says the state’s civilian labor force, which includes people currently employed and people actively searching for work, saw an increase of just over 5,000 people from November to December, bringing the civilian labor force to about 2,085,000.

The Education and Labor Cabinet says the Leisure and Hospitality, Manufacturing, Information Services, Government, and Construction sectors saw increases in December. The Mining and Logging, Financial Activities, Educational and Health Services, and Trade, Transportation, and Utilities sectors all saw decreases.

Visit the Kentucky Center for Statistics website to learn more about labor market information.

Lincoln Trail Area Development District Executive Director Daniel London says the evidence shows that now is the time to pursue the public transportation plan laid out in the regional transit study commissioned by the Radcliff-Elizabethtown Metropolitan Planning Organization

“It’s only going to be more expensive,” London said. “We’ve already, frankly, in some ways waited too long. It was too long of a gap between the studies, and we’re already behind the ball a little bit, but we can catch up, and we can do it the right way.”

London presented on the regional transit study while serving as the guest speaker at the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce’s January membership luncheon Wednesday.

London said since the last regional transportation study, Hardin County’s population has grown by 16,528 people, an 18 percent increase, and projections show the population increasing by 22,380 people by 2030. He also said the people that are moving to the area expect infrastructure improvements such as mass transit.

“We have the growth to support a mass transit system,” London said. “We need a mass transit system now that we’re a destination community. We need it now that we are an economic powerhouse in this region, and for further growth to facilitate whether it be infrastructure or people coming, we need a mass transit system.”

London said local officials are committed to “not digging a taxpayer grave.” The total cost of the project is about $5.8 million, but with federal and state support the local contribution will be about $1.7 million. The overall project is a three-phase approach in order to keep costs down, and interest and participation will need to be seen in phase one in order to keep the project moving forward.

“If people don’t participate in phase one, which is a concept of operation plan with goods, we’ve got to see that the interest from the community is there,” London said. “If people don’t take advantage of phase one, they won’t get to phase two and phase three because they’re not going to sink the costs into it. It’s that simple.”

The complete plan can be found at www.ltadd.org or at Radcliff-Elizabethtown-MPO.org.