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Kentucky medical cannabis program making progress

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Heartland Medical Cannabis Health and Wellness owner, and family nurse practitioner and licensed medical cannabis practitioner, Marlena O’Neal says the opening of the state’s first medical cannabis dispensary (The Post Dispensary in Beaver Dam) this past weekend shows the progress medical cannabis continues to see in Kentucky.

“I believe that soon to follow will be Kentucky Alternative Care, which is located up on Bardstown Road in Louisville,” O’Neal said. “I know that the processors are still trying to get up and running, and those are the ones that are responsible for your products being made such as edibles and vaporization products. So right now, what we have access to would be the raw plant materials for patients.”

O’Neal says the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis has made some streamlining changes to the application process for medical cannabis cards.

“There’s less forms,” O’Neal said. “They’re standardizing those a little bit more, and then they have their customer service number up and running for people to be able to reach out if they have any issues once they’ve applied for their card. Otherwise, the process is still pretty much the same, and we’ve been seeing a steady number of people come through for certifications.”

O’Neal says the state office has expressed openness to expanding the list of qualifying conditions, but such action is a legislative process so the focus is on getting the program up and running. State regulations require all products in the program be Kentucky-made.

O’Neal says offices like hers exist to help people through the application process.

“If you have a qualifying condition, it’s easier to get certified than you would imagine, and the major goal is making sure that someone qualifies, but also that they can safely use cannabis and they don’t have any contraindications, and we do that in one office visit,” O’Neal said.

More information, including contact information for practitioners like O’Neal, can be found at kymedcan.ky.gov.

Take safety steps when warming home with alternative sources

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With the temperature dropping in the winter, if you use alternative heating sources to warm your home make sure you are taking steps to use them safely.

Radcliff Deputy Fire Marshal Tommy Crane says you should get fireplaces or stove pipes cleaned and inspected regularly. 

“A lot of times what happens when we go on fire runs involving chimneys and wood burning stoves is there is a lot of radiant heat, so over time something has happened and it’s actually started to heat the things around the stove pipe or around the chimney itself, so check for things like that,” Crane said.

Make sure you are using seasoned wood for fuel, not green wood or trash, and properly dispose of the remnants.

“Make sure when you’re done with the ashes, you let them cool before you try to dispose of them,” Crane said. “Place them in a metal container, preferably at least 10 feet away from your home and other nearby buildings.”

If you use a kerosene heater, make sure you are only using clear K-1 kerosene.

“Make sure that you’re using the kerosene heater in a well-ventilated room,” Crane said. “You may even need to crack a window. I know that sounds a little counterintuitive because you’re trying to heat, but you want to make sure that you have a good air exchange.”

If you use any alternative heating sources in your home, make sure your carbon monoxide detector is up to date and properly functioning.

E-Town council approves downtown measures, prepares for meeting location move

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The Elizabethtown City Council met for their final meeting of 2025 Monday.

The council approved three municipal orders related to Downtown E-Town. Downtown Redevelopment Grants were approved for 109 South Main Street for $20,908.15 (Hub Haus LLC) and 127 North Main Street for $30,490.27 (Elizabethtown Renaissance Associates). A lease agreement for 226 South Main Street with Logistics Solutions LLC was also approved. City Attorney Ken Howard said the city is negotiating to include stipulations for early termination of the lease.

“We have been discussing with the lessee, Logistic Solutions, the possibility of an early termination,” Howard said. “The original term is five years. If in the event the city needs that property before a five-year time period, we could terminate it earlier.”

The first reading was held on an ordinance to rezone 2916 Dolphin Drive from Neighborhood Commercial (C-2) to Regional Commercial (C-3). The first reading was also held on an ordinance that amends the city’s code for setting city council meetings and other board and commission meetings to reflect the move from the Pritchard Community Center to the new city council chambers located in the former Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame, located at 212 West Dixie Avenue. 

“We’ve had a lot of work in Mr. Addington’s building to make it a wonderful city council chamber,” said Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory. “I think you all will be pleased with what it looks like and everybody will have a comfortable chair except Marty (Fulkerson). I look forward to having meetings in there, and I think you all will enjoy it as well. It gives us a lot more room, it’s a little more professional, and it’s going to be a good situation.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will meet in their new chambers at their next meeting on January 5.

Grant supports CASA of the Heartland growth in Grayson County

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The Grayson County Health Foundation has awarded CASA of the Heartland a $25,000 grant “in support of its mission to provide trained volunteer advocates for children who have experienced abuse or neglect.”

According to a release from CASA of the Heartland, the grant will support the organization’s capacity to serve children in Grayson County while enhancing ongoing expansion and outreach efforts across the region.

CASA of the Heartland expanded their service area to include Grayson County in August 2024 following the closing of Tri-County CASA. In 2025, the organization has served 63 children from the county, and the grant funding will help grow that number “by expanding volunteer recruitment, training, and case management services.”

CASA of the Heartland is working on building a stronger network of trained volunteers and enhancing local awareness of the role CASA advocates play in the lives of children in need of their services. Learn more about the organization at www.casaheartland.org.

Ford to repurpose Glendale facilities for energy storage

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Four days after the announcement that Ford and SK On would be dissolving their joint venture for battery factories, the Detroit automaker announced a shift in focus that will result in a new operation at the Glendale facilities and the loss of 1,600 jobs.

In a release published by the company Monday, Ford announced “a series of actions to sharpen its Ford+ plan, executing a decisive redeployment of capital to meet customer demand and drive profitable growth.”

Those actions include the repurposing of the Kentucky One and Kentucky Two BlueOval SK plants in Glendale “to serve the rapidly growing battery energy storage systems market.” Ford says the change “will leverage currently underutilized electric vehicle battery capacity to create a new, diversified, and profitable revenue stream for Ford.” Ford plans to convert the facilities from an electric vehicle battery plant to produce advanced battery energy storage systems. Ford says they plan to produce “LFP prismatic cells, battery energy storage system modules, and 20-foot DC container systems” at the facility.

Ford says it will invest $2 billion over the next two years to develop the new operation, which they plan to bring online within 18 months. While Ford says the energy storage facility will include 2,100 jobs, Ford executives said in a call with media that current operations at BlueOval SK will cease and the plant’s 1,600 workers will be laid off. A timeframe for the layoffs was not announced, but Ford said the laid off workers would have the opportunity to apply for the new operation.

The original BlueOval SK announcement from September 2021 reported the project to be a $5.8 billion investment which would lead to approximately 5,000 new jobs. BlueOval SK announced the production of their first battery in August.