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The Tennessee Department of Transportation announced that one lane of northbound Interstate 75 in Campbell County will be opened to traffic Thursday morning. According to TDOT officials traffic near the 142-mile marker will be reduced to one lane as workers continue repairs to the damage caused by a rockslide on Feb. 26. TDOT officials estimate that repairs to the second lane will be completed on or before April 15. “We asked that motorists use extra caution in this area as workers are present,” TDOT officials said in a press release.

A fiery single vehicle crash Friday evening near Siler claimed the life of a Bell County woman, and alcohol is suspected as a contributing factor, according to the Whitley County Sheriff's Department. Whitley County Coroner Andy Croley pronounced Sharon F. Mills, 54, of Ingram, dead at the scene about 9:20 p.m. Friday from injuries she sustained in a motor vehicle accident. Ingram is located on Highway 92 outside of Pineville. "I think she passed prior to the fire," Croley said. "I feel that the impact of the accident was the ultimate factor that caused her death." Shortly after 8 p.m., Mills was driving a black four-door Chevy Malibu west on Highway 904...

Corbin Police arrested a Corbin man Wednesday that they have been searching for in connection with two burglaries at Gatti’s Pizza on consecutive nights in early March. According to Corbin Police Major Rob Jones, the department’s public affairs officer, officers received a tip about 2 p.m. that 20-year-old Jacob Huff was at the Marathon gas station on U.S. 25 near Hunter Hills Elementary School. Huff Jones, along with Detective Rusty Hedrick and officers Jeff Hill and Amanda Neal responded. “When we rolled up he was sitting in the car,” Jones said. “Hill blocked him in the front and I blocked him in the back and we got him out of...

  UPDATE: Corbin Superintendent Dave Cox announced Thursday that graduation will be 2 p.m. on Sunday, May 22. Cox said the date and time are the best choice to ensure that all of the graduation senior can be present along with family and friends who are traveling from out of town. The issue of when to hold graduation was initially brought up at the Corbin Board of Education meeting last Monday. Cox explained to the board members that while classes will end on May 20, several spring sports including baseball, softball and track and field continue. “The baseball and softball district tournaments are set for May 18, so they won’t be a problem unless we...

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Department of Transportation has re-opened I-75 South in Campbell County. Both directions of I-75 have been closed since February 26 due to a rockslide at Mile Marker 142. I-75 North remains closed for the removal of the slide debris, stabilization of the existing slope, and repairs to the interstate. One lane is scheduled to open on I-75 North on or before March 24, 2016. The entire repair project is scheduled to be complete on or before April 15, 2016. Local traffic is allowed to use Exit 141 (Huntsville/Oneida) on I-75 North. Message boards are already in place on I-75 North to alert motorists to the road closure....

A Corbin woman has been charged in connection with the theft of more than $30,000 from a local business where she had worked. Forty-year-old Heather B. Smith was arrested Feb. 22 following a Corbin Police investigation into a complaint of money missing from Southeast Audiology. According to Detective Rusty Hedrick, Smith admitted to taking the money over a five-month period between October and February. Hedrick said police were contacted on Feb. 9 after Angela Morris, the business owner, noticed her deposits were off. “Part of Smith’s job was to make the deposits,” Hedrick explained. “She admitted she would not show all of the checks on the deposit. Instead, she would take the checks...

Whitley County officials have issued a Golden Alert for a missing Williamsburg man. About 1:50 p.m. Monday, the family of Joel S. Moses, 48, of the Brush Arbor community, notified Whitley County Sheriff’s deputies that they were concerned about his safety. His vehicle was found unattended along US25W in the Pleasant View community. Moses requires medication. He was last seen wearing blue or black jeans, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. He is described as being 5’9? tall, around 165 pounds in weight, with blue eyes and brown hair. Moses has tattoos (a “full sleeve”) on his right arm and the tattoo of a panther on his upper left arm. Anybody with information of Moses’...

About 15 percent of registered Whitley County Republican voters went to the polls and cast their ballots Saturday during Kentucky's first ever Republican Presidential Caucus. Nearly 3,200 people cast ballots in the gymnasium at Whitley County High School, which was the only polling location in Whitley County. Donald Trump led the field in Whitley County with 1,499 votes followed by Ted Cruz with 816 votes, Marco Rubio with 428 votes and John Kasich with 344 votes. Trump won the largest percentage of voters statewide during Saturday's caucus. For a complete list of Saturday's Whitley County caucus results, see Wednesday's edition of the News Journal.

A $1.2 million 'Rocket Docket' pilot project that is being funded by the Kentucky General Assembly in 30 judicial circuits across the state, designed to expedite the court process in some felony cases, has crashed landed in Whitley and McCreary counties at least for the time being. In a Feb. 18 letter addressed to 34th Judicial Circuit Criminal Defense Bar, Commonwealth's Attorney Allen Trimble noted he had "received notice from both Circuit Judges that they would no longer accept informations arising out of the 'Rocket Docket' procedures in district court." The News Journal obtained the letter last week. At least one of Whitley County's two circuit judges disagrees with Trimble's interpretation...

Over the last three months voters in both Barbourville and London have approved packaged alcohol sales and Williamsburg residents will likely be voting on a similar measure this June. Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said he plans to submit a petition to Whitley County Clerk Kay Schwartz's office around March 23 that would allow the sale of packaged alcohol in stores and allow alcohol sales by the drink at restaurants that seat at least 50 people and derive at least 50 percent of their profits from the sale of food. The measure is equivalent to what Corbin currently has, and what London and Barbourville voters recently approved. "It is all around us. I...