Business

Critically ill patients at Baptist Health Corbin will be among the first in the state to benefit from a state-of-the-art program that allows doctors and nurses from across the nation to partner with local physicians to enhance patient care. During a special reception Tuesday afternoon, hospital officials unveiled the new Tele-ICU service — installed in partnership with Advanced ICU Care, the nation’s largest provider of Tele-ICU specialists. “This has been a full-court press kind of project,” said Larry Gray, President of Baptist Health Corbin. “I just want to say how grateful I am for our system wide IT folks for the work they did leading the way on this project. It...

Water and sewer rates in and around the city of Corbin are likely increase in 2018, but City Utilities Commission leaders say they are still among the cheapest in Kentucky. The CUC’s three-member board of directors met last Tuesday and approved to go ahead with the rate increases following three months of discussion of the issue. The move came on the heels of a rate study performed at the request of General Manager Ron Herd. “We need to increase our reserves and recover more of our depreciation so, in the future, we have money to replace pump stations and replace lines,” Herd said. “The new sewer plant project has taken some of...

Between 2013 and the middle of 2017, more than 21 million doses of prescription opioids, including hydrocodone, oxycodone, tramadol and oxymorphone, were dispensed in Whitley County, which has a population of about 36,000 people. This is more than 584 doses of prescription opioids for every man, woman and child in Whitley County. During this same time period, more than 1.9 million doses of medications, which are often used as overdose antidotes, such as naloxone, have been dispensed in Whitley County. This averages out to 54 doses per person. Now the Whitley County Fiscal Court and more than two dozen other county governments in Eastern Kentucky are suing the three largest wholesale...

The city of Williamsburg is trying to help evacuees from recent hurricanes. Mayor Roddy Harrison told the city council during its monthly meeting Monday that he received a call Friday from two employees at the Kentucky Welcome Center, which was overrun by hurricane evacuees, asking if there was anything the city could do to help. All the hotels in town agreed to give a percentage discount on rooms for people with a valid identification from the four most affected states, Texas, Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The city agreed to provide two days of free camping at the Kentucky Splash Waterpark and Campground for those affected. The waterpark and Cumberland Regional Mall...

Several forms of cancer are treatable particularly when they are caught early, and regular, early screenings are the best way to do that. This was the crux of the message that Baptist Health COO Anthony Powers delivered to the Southern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce during its monthly membership luncheon that was held Tuesday at the Williamsburg Tourism and Convention Center. “Early prevention, detection is really the key,” Powers noted. Powers addressed three types of cancer screenings in particular, prostate, breast and lung. September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. One in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. “If you are not aware, us men do not do...

In a day and time where people are constantly on the go, finding the 30 to 45 minutes to squeeze in a workout is becoming more and more difficult, especially when it involves a trip to the gym. Doug Ladd and Caroline Hendy are seeking to expand that window to workout to anytime by opening a new Workout Anytime location in Corbin. “We wanted to do something and start up something together and help people,” Hendy said. Ladd said he had been a member of the club in the Knoxville, Tennessee area and has been impressed with what it offers. “It has everything you need has a great atmosphere and the price is...

Magistrates of the Knox County Fiscal Court voted to save county residents money and not raise their tax rate. During the August meeting, the court heard from Knox County Property Valuation Administrator Bill Oxendine on the assessed property value of the county. “We’ve grown in places and we’ve lost in places,” said Oxendine. “In real property (residential, farm, and commercial), we actually had a growth of 12 million dollars (in assessment), but we turn around and oil and gas is cut down, coal is cut down, so we losing 9.34 million dollars (in assessment) just in those two. We still ended up though with a net growth of around 2.9 million...

Students at the University of the Cumberlands will soon be able to play video games as a varsity sport. This year e-sports, or video gaming, is being started as a club sport. “It is catching on across the country. A lot of schools have added it. We are going to start it at the club level this year and turn it into a varsity sport for next year,” University of the Cumberlands Athletic Director Chris Kraftick told the Williamsburg Kiwanis Club during a recent address. “Some people will argue whether it is a sport. It is different. I am excited about it. I think it gives more variety to our department. Those...

Unemployment rates fell in 18 Kentucky counties, stayed the same in three and rose in 99 counties, including Whitley, Laurel and Knox, between July 2016 and July 2017, according to the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS), an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. Whitley County's unemployment rate increased from 6.8 percent in July 2016 to 7.2 percent in July 2017. Whitley County's July unemployment rate was the same of June?s unemployment rate. Laurel County's unemployment rate increased from 6.1 percent in July 2016 to 7.0 percent in July 2017. Laurel County's July unemployment rate was 0.1 percent higher than June's unemployment rate. Knox County's unemployment rate...