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LTADD announces DARCI partnership aimed at disaster readiness and response

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The Lincoln Trail Area Development District announced “a significant new investment in regional safety and resilience” Thursday with their new partnership with DARCI, Disaster Awareness and Ready Communities.

According to LTADD, Breckinridge County successfully implemented the program, and LTADD’s expansion to include Grayson, Hardin, LaRue, Marion, Meade, Nelson, and Washington counties creates a “unified, disaster ready corridor in Central Kentucky.”

“By partnering with DARCI, we are ensuring that our region isn’t just reacting to disasters, but more importantly, we are actively preparing to lead our own recovery,” said LTADD Executive Director Daniel London. “With this investment from DARCI, our member counties, and by extension their residents, will have meaningful preparedness and recovery support if disaster were to strike.”

LTADD says the investment from DARCI will cover the deployment of specialized technology and training that will support local leaders, nonprofits, and residents. Key benefits of the program include a digital lockbox for residents, real-time coordination, proven speed, and regional collaboration.

Learn more about the program at www.darciready.com. Residents can also contact LTADD for more information.

Twin Lakes Skatepark Project celebrates progress made possible by tourism grant

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The Twin Lakes Skate Park Project celebrated the progress that has been made on their mission to construct a “safe, inclusive, and professionally designed” skatepark in the region this week, as the organization was formally presented with the $25,000 grant awarded by Leitchfield City Tourism.

Twin Lakes Skatepark Project Chairman Casey Keown said the project received the funding in September 2025.

“That helped us pay for Phase One of our design from Hunger Skateparks, so that includes site evaluation, conceptual planning, coordinating with us, and getting us a cost estimate breakdown, and we actually just got our first conceptual design,” Keown said.

The organization is continuing their fundraising efforts, including their upcoming Art in Motion Casino Night, which will be held at Arbor Stone Vineyard on March 28.

“It’ll include professional gaming tables,” Keown said. “We’ll have food, drinks, entertainment, and some auction items, and 100 percent of our proceeds go directly to funding the construction of our park.”

Keown says you can also support the organization by helping spread the word.

“Follow us on social media,” Keown said. “We’re on Facebook at Twin Lakes Skatepark Project. Our website is www.twinlakesskatepark.org, and we’ve got links to all of our social media there, as well as a donation portal if anybody wants to make a monetary donation.”

Ticket information for the Art in Motion event is also available on the website.

Area students invited to Read Across America event this Saturday

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Hardin County Education Association Vice President and James T. Alton Middle School science teacher Lawson Barger says literacy is important for school, but its importance extends everywhere.

“If you can get a kid to love reading, then you build a lifelong learner and a lifelong reader, and it can help grow their mind and their heart,” Barger said.

The HCEA will be hosting their annual Read Across America event this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Central Hardin High School cafeteria.

Barger says Read Across America celebrates the works of many diverse authors across the country and abroad.

“We have a lot of activity tables, and they’re all based around the books that we will have read by many community members at the event,” Barger said. “Those activities can be anything from learning how to use chopsticks, based on a book called Watercress, to another book called The Water Keepers, and we will have Hardin County Water District No. 2 distributing water bottles to all the attendees.”

Food trucks will be on hand, and the event will feature door prizes and book giveaways for students.

“The event is open to any and all community members,” Barger said. “We invite families of all shapes and sizes.”

Find the event page for Saturday’s event on the Hardin County Education Association’s Facebook page.

Quicksie Versus Wolf Blood Drive a chance to help save lives and help radio stations yell at each other

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The American Red Cross is still attempting to rebuild a blood supply that saw further impacts due to winter storms.

According to the Red Cross, more than 20,000 donations went uncollected this winter due to the impacts of winter weather across the country. This impacted a blood supply that was already dealing with an ongoing shortage, and the Red Cross says some hospitals were forced to cancel elective procedures.

American Red Cross Account Manager Tammy Ritchie says the need for Type O donors right now is especially urgent.

“The need for Type O, O-positive and O-negative, is in an emergency need right now,” said Ritchie. “Transfusions are happening when needed, but because that is the most common blood type, it is also the most needed, and in an emergency situation, that is what’s going to be transfused until we know that patient’s blood type.”

You can support the blood supply and play a part in a friendly rivalry by participating in the Quicksie Versus Wolf Blood Drive, to be held at the Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown from noon to 5 p.m. on Thursday, March 5. When you register at the blood drive, be sure to tell the attendant which station you are supporting.

All successful donors in the month of March will receive a $15 Amazon.com gift card. Donors will also receive free A1C testing.

Visit www.redcrossblood.org for more information or to schedule a donation.

Beshear says 2025 was another record year for Kentucky exports

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Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear says the commonwealth broke its record for exports once again in 2025. 

The governor announced Wednesday that Kentucky shipped $50.6 billion worth of products globally in 2025, an increase of 5.65 percent from the year prior and the third straight year the state has broken its record for exports.

According to a release from the Governor’s Office, aerospace products and parts were Kentucky’s top export in 2025, with nearly $24 billion in products shipped out. Industrial machinery saw $5.7 billion in products shipped, motor vehicles and parts saw $4.6 billion in shipments, and pharmaceuticals saw $3.5 billion.

The Governor’s Office says Canada was once again Kentucky’s top destination for exports, with $9.3 billion in products going north of the border. The United Kingdom, France, China, and Mexico remained in the state’s top five. Other trade partners included Brazil, Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands, and Austria.

Beshear said in the release: “The commonwealth’s commitment to developing partnerships all over the globe is critical for our long-term economic success. Now more than ever, the rest of the world is realizing that you just can’t beat a Kentucky-made product.”

Visit www.kyexports.com for more information.