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Hardin County reminds residents to use recycling trailers properly

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Hardin County Government is reminding residents to use the county’s recycling trailers properly.

Hardin County Government Communications Officer Brian Walker said some of the trailers were inundated with materials after the holidays.

“One of the main problems is people do not break down and flatten their cardboard,” Walker said. “Therefore, it takes up so much more space when it gets into the bin. The other thing is when the bins are full, the trailers as well, it is not appropriate to leave those items on the ground. If they become wet, they are then at that point just garbage. They can’t even be recycled.”

Walker also says an uptick has been seen in people leaving materials that aren’t accepted for county recycling.

“A lot of times people will buy a larger item on a pallet, they’re unsure what to do with that item, and they simply take it to the recycling center and throw it on the ground, and that is never accepted,” Walker said. “The only things that can be accepted at our recycling sites are rinsed out plastics No. 1 and No. 2 (just look for the little triangle, and it’ll have a number in the middle of it), rinsed out aluminum and tin cans, cardboard that is not greasy or dirty or wet, and newspaper.”

It might be a bit of a hassle, but if you find a trailer that is full, look for another trailer.

“We have locations scattered about the county including Radcliff, Eastview, Glendale, Sonora, Vine Grove, and several in Elizabethtown,” Walker said.

More information on the county’s recycling program is available on the county website.

Gregory touts Elizabethtown improvements made in 2025

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Elizabethtown Mayor Jeff Gregory says the city has taken great strides in 2025.

“We’ll start with park improvements,” Gregory said. “I think everybody is going to notice some great improvements at American Legion Park and Freeman Lake Park, and then you go to stormwater and engineering, and the street improvements and the maintenance that we’re seeing all across the city. Then we go to the PD, the police department, the expansion that we’re seeing down there, because we’re hiring so many officers to keep our community safe that we’ve had to do some expanding in the building down there.”

Gregory says 2026 will see more expansions for city services.

“Fire Station No. Four is going to come online probably at the end of January of 2026, so we’re excited about that,” Gregory said. “Our public works phase three is going to be the last phase down there redoing the whole public works park and giving them some really, really good buildings to work out of.”

Gregory also said he is proud that the Elizabethtown City Council was able to lower the city’s real property tax rate, “trying to make it more affordable to live here in Elizabethtown, all while operating within an $130 million budget that also has a strong reserve.”

“We’re doing some good things in Elizabethtown that we’re really proud of, and we look to carry that momentum into 2026 where we have some really big capital projects coming,” Gregory said.

Visit the city’s website for more information.

Breckinridge County Schools looks to improve upon a strong 2025

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Breckinridge County Schools Superintendent Dr. Nick Carter says he is very proud of the growth the district continued to see in 2025.

“Our graduation rate was 96.6 percent,” Carter said. “That was one of the highest in the region. The post-secondary readiness rate was 98.3 percent, which was also one of the highest in the region, so we’re excited about that. Our high school earned an overall high rating with state test scores, and there was academic achievement growth in all of our schools throughout the district.”

Carter said extracurricular participation rates across the district are starting to return to pre-pandemic numbers, and a long-term facilities goal made headways in 2025.

“We’ve been working since 2021 to build a new middle school in Breckinridge County, and in 2025 we made a lot of ground on that, and we’re set to begin construction on a new middle school in February of 2026, so we’re really proud of that,” Carter said

Carter says goals for 2026 in addition to the new middle school include some updates for the district’s area technology center, more growth for extracurriculars, and continued work on academic standards improvements that began in mid-2025.

“Our goal for 2026 is to continue working to fully implement that research-based curriculum, continuing the curriculum alignment with our state standards and our assessment expectations, so really just continuing the good work that’s going on academically, but trying to continue improving student academic outcomes,” Carter said.

Visit the Breckinridge County Schools website for more information.

Lincoln Trail district unemployment rates see improvement in September

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Unemployment rates across the Lincoln Trail District in September are down from where they were the year prior.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says unemployment rates decreased in 116 counties, increased in three, and stayed the same in one when comparing September 2025 with September 2024.

The state unemployment average for September was 4.5 percent. That’s a slight increase from the 4.4 percent average in August but is down from the 4.9 percent average reported in September of 2024.

Hardin County’s unemployment rate for September was slightly above the state average at 4.9 percent. That is up from the 4.7 percent rate reported in August and down from the 5.1 percent rate from September 2024.

Grayson County posted the highest September unemployment rate in the district at 5.5 percent, followed by Breckinridge County at 5.3 percent. Washington County posted the lowest unemployment rate in the district, and tied for the seventh-lowest rate in the state, for September at 3.9 percent, followed by Nelson County at 4 percent.

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

Kentucky Animal Shelter Advisory Board hopes new design will boost spay and neuter license plate sales

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Kentuckians for the last twenty years have shown their support for animal shelters across the commonwealth with the Kentucky Spay or Neuter special license plate. With more special interest plates available and the same design in place for two decades, Kentucky Animal Control Advisory Board Co-Chair, and Elizabethtown City Council Member, Julia Springsteen said the board decided it was time for a refresh.

“We did a statewide design competition in the spring, and in the summer, we looked at all of the submissions,” Springsteen said. “We actually had about 120 submissions. It was great, and we chose this one that you guys will see online and at the clerk’s office, and we’re just hoping it’ll do some good.”

The winning design was submitted by Hayli Strickland, a graphic design teacher at the University of Kentucky. When you register your vehicle or renew your registration, you can pick Strickland’s plate and support the state’s animal population.

“The Animal Control Advisory Board’s mission is to distribute revenue from the sale and renewal of the Spay/Neuter license plate, and those monies go out in the form of spay/neuter grants to animal shelters across the state, including the Hardin County Animal Shelter,” Springsteen said.

The new plate comes at a time when shelters everywhere are struggling with demand.

“Shelter Animals Count reports the average intake for Kentucky shelters is 319 dogs and 322 cats each month, and adoptions are only about a third of those numbers, so we hope this encourages people to be very public about their support for spaying and neutering pets,” Springsteen said. “Every animal fixed outside of a shelter gives a shelter animal a better chance at getting a new family.”

The new plate is available now for purchase at all Kentucky County Clerk offices, including Hardin County, or on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s website.