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COVID-19

What I learned from dying; Dave Taylor’s first column

Last Tuesday I found out that I have stage 4 gastric cancer that has spread to my liver. I think this means I’m dying.    But being a journalist, I can’t pass up the opportunity to tell the story of a man whose life and plans might be cut short unexpectedly, so this column will…

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Second round of ARPA funding released locally

Hawesville and Lewisport are recipients of funding under the second tranche of funding released under the American Rescue Plan Act, the COVID-19 relief package approved by Congress in 2021. Hawesville will receive $132,282, while Lewisport will receive $225,815. The funding levels are determined by population for cities with counts below 50,000 people. Each allocation was…

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COVID-19 still a very real threat to public health

  Despite a call from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to “forget the tribalism” from the political division surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and scale back enduring emergency public health measures, Governor Andy Beshear is not so sure. In reporting from Melissa Patrick at Kentucky Health News, Beshear said, “To fully unwind a state of emergency…

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Hancock Schools dismisses for two days due to illness staffing shortages

Hancock County Schools were dismissed from classes Jan. 28 and Jan. 31 due to staffing shortages among teachers, classified staff and bus drivers, brought on by illness within the district, mostly due to COVID-19 infection. Assistant Superintendent Nick Boling, Director of Pupil Personnel for the district, said while illness from such things as influenza or…

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County among highest COVID-19 incidence rates in Ky.

              The COVID-19 pandemic has surged forward again in Kentucky following the Thanksgiving holiday. State officials reported 2,813 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, which raised the seven-day average to 2,039, its highest rate since Oct. 12, according to Kentucky Health News. The seven-day infection rate is 41.73 per 100,000, placing Kentucky at 16th…

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Workforce report alarming; local recruiting challenging

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce has released an alarming report – “20 Years In The Making: Kentucky’s Workforce Crisis” – which outlines the decline of the workforce participation rate among the state’s working age men and women from 2000 to 2020. Kentucky’s workforce participation rate in 2000 was 63.5 percent, declining to 56.3 percent in…

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Small Biz Saturday a success, one owner encourages local support

The Hancock County Chamber of Commerce Small Business Saturday and Market Days at the Lewisport Lions Community Center were a success this past weekend. Joanne Shiver, who operates JJ’s Pizza in Lewisport, said it is important for local citizens to support small businesses, and even that businesses support one another. “We have always gotten good…

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The words we use do matter, no matter the purpose

Well, just in time for the holidays, seems a new variant of COVID-19 – Omicron – has been discovered in South Africa. Early word is the variant could be more resistant to vaccines, and that the virus tends to reside in the upper respiratory system, making it much more transmissible through sneezes and coughs. The…

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Covid continues to increase in Hancock

The number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase in Hancock County, and stand at 1005 total cases as of Monday, August 23, up 52 cases since August 12. Currently, one person remains hospitalized with the virus. “We are seeing an alarming rise in our incidence of new COVID-19 cases,” Clay Horton, Green River District Health…

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Methodist Bishop recommends wearing masks

The Delta Variant of the Coronavirus continues to surge globally, as well as locally. The rise in the number of Coronavirus cases impacted churches in the community. The Kentucky Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church recommended to its churches to restart universal masking starting on August 1. It recommended everyone, even the vaccinated, to…

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