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Ground broken and work progressing on new Breckinridge County Middle School building

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Breckinridge County Schools Superintendent Dr. Nick Carter said seeing the groundbreaking for the new Breckinridge County Middle School earlier this month was an exciting moment.

“You know, we’ve been working for almost six years to get to this day, and it’s been great to see it all come together, so we’re really excited to break ground, and progress is moving, so we’re very hopeful for good weather and to keep moving along and have that building ready to open for students in August of 2028,” Carter said.

The new middle school building will replace the current facility, the former high school building, which is now more than 60 years old. The district discussed renovations previously, but it was found that the cost would exceed 75 percent of new construction.

“Now that we’re there, we think about how wonderful this new building is going to be, and it will set up our students for years and years and years in Breckinridge County to have that new middle school,” Carter said. “It’ll be designed with modern learning spaces. It’s just truly exciting.”

Carter said the new building was made possible by a generous and supportive community.

“Things like this don’t happen in a rural community without the support of incredible people, and I’m very thankful to our state legislators, Senator Steve Meredith and Representative Josh Calloway, our Breckinridge County Board of Education, and everyone who has supported this work, supported this project,” Carter said. “It’s a great day to be a Tiger.”

Follow the Breckinridge County School District Facebook page for updates.

Gregory talks E-Town’s growth with annual report

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Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory said the city’s annual report, which was released this week, shows the hard work city employees in multiple departments have put into making the city a better place to live.

“In the last three years, our overall crime rate has dropped by 23.7 percent,” Gregory said. “I think that’s quite an accomplishment especially that we’re growing like we are. Public Works picked up 952 cubic yards of debris on the side of the road in different places across town which is equal to 50 full dump truck loads.”

Gregory discussed the annual report during Monday’s Elizabethtown City Council meeting. The report states that the city budget in 2025 was $130,000,000, and the city employs 400 people including 115 at the Elizabethtown Police Department and 74 at the Elizabethtown Fire Department.

Gregory said traffic collisions in Elizabethtown were down five percent in 2025.

“I think that’s the outcome of some really good police efforts,” Gregory said. “It’s the outcome of some good, safe design in our road networks, but we’re seeing that accident number go down, which is always a great thing, especially as everybody can tell we have more traffic on the road than we ever have had in Elizabethtown.”

Gregory said the city paved 11.29 miles of city streets at a cost of $1.265 million last year, and completed more than 2,000 feet of sidewalk improvements.

“We’ve been budgeting $350,000 a year to build sidewalks in parts of town that don’t have them,” Gregory said. “We’ve been budgeting that same money to restore sidewalks in the older parts of town, and you’d be surprised. There’s certain neighborhoods and areas of town that have gaps.”

The annual report can be found at Elizabethtown City Hall.

Kentucky officials publish updated report on women’s health

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March is Women’s History Month, and state officials this month published updated numbers on women’s health in Kentucky.

Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman, the Kentucky Commission on Women, and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services released a new report on the status of women’s health in the commonwealth.

According to a release from the lieutenant governor’s office, the report was developed in partnership with the Division of Women’s Health at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to highlight public health data indicators related to women including rates of insurance coverage, chronic disease prevalence, mental health data, and maternal health indicators, among other data points.

The data shows that eight percent of women in Kentucky are uninsured, which is on par with the national average, but Kentucky has the highest cancer mortality rate in the country. About 22 percent of Kentucky women ages 18 to 44 say their mental health is “not good” and about 1 in 10 Kentucky high school girls attempt suicide. Nearly half of Kentucky women have experienced domestic violence or stalking during their lifetime. 

Coleman said in the release: “As someone whose life was saved by early detection through screenings, we should celebrate the advances that have been made for women’s health while also admitting there are severe deficits and far too many women cannot access the care they need and deserve.”

The full report and more statistics can be found at women.ky.gov.

E-Town Council approves bid for West Railroad Avenue project

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second meeting of the month Monday.

The first reading was held on ordinances to annex property at Leitchfield Road and to rezone 106 East Memorial Drive from Neighborhood Office (C-1) to Neighborhood Commercial (C-2) and 237 West Poplar Street from Urban Residential (R-4) to Downtown Mixed Use (C-5).

The council approved the reappointments of Corey Blount and Rick Horn to the Civil Service Board, and Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory discussed the reappointments of Willie Wood and Glenn Deaton to the Airport Board and Pat Clark and Todd Davis to the Elizabethtown Tourism Board.

The council approved a municipal order accepting a bid from Schroeder Construction Inc. for the West Railroad Avenue project.

“This is the first phase of our Community Development Block Grant project moving over into the neighborhood just north of the downtown area,” said City Administrator Ed Poppe. 

The bid was accepted at $497,833.

“This project will help us upgrade sidewalks, fix some drainage, do some reconnection of some sewer lines, and then also make some street improvements on about a two block section of the roadway, but we need to move the project rather quickly because of some funding requirements from HUD on this phase of the project,” Poppe said.

The council also approved a proposal for banking services from Magnolia Bank. That contract runs five years with two city options for renewal.

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet March 23.

Kentucky Career Center hosting virtual job fair

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Area jobseekers are invited to participate in the Kentucky Career Center – Lincoln Trail’s Let’s Talk Tuesdays virtual job fair happening Tuesday.

“We have a virtual job fair platform that we use, and we have a virtual job fair every first and third Tuesday of every month, and so that’s a great opportunity for those folks to meet a whole different slew of employers that may be available on that platform,” said KCC Lincoln Trail Center Manager Robin Gooden.

There is no fee for jobseekers or employers to participate.

“You just go onto the platform, you register, you upload your resume, and then you go into that platform and it goes live from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and you can go in there and talk directly to employers,” Gooden said.

The virtual job fair is a convenient way for employers and employees to connect directly.

Jobseekers can connect with their local Kentucky Career Center for a range of services.

“A lot of times people come into the center because they need a new resume,” Gooden said. “They haven’t written a resume in 20 years, and so we help them do that. We help them with mock interviewing. We help them get ready. We also have a list of open current positions that are available, so we give them those resources, and also just kind of help them and guide them through their career planning.”

Find the registration link for the virtual job fair on the Kentucky Career Center – Lincoln Trail Facebook page or by visiting www.ltcareercenter.org.