Columns

The MLB season is very close to ending and some divisions are pretty much over and some divisions are going to come down to the wire. Here are the top 3 divisions that I believe are over. First, the National League (NL) East. In the NL East the Braves have a 7.5 game lead on the Phillies.  Coming out of the trade deadline both teams made great deals, the head of the Braves deadline was Tyler Mahle, who in a Braves uniform has a 0.75 ERA, the Phillies got one of the best second basemen in allstar Louis Arraez who is batting .315 this season. Leading up to just before the...

A few weeks ago I wrote about the MLB playoffs and Wild Card picks, who gets in, who gets a bye were all big questions. In this article, I want to name all the teams that get to move on to the NLCS, and ALCS. These are my second round playoff predictions. First, in the Dodgers vs Phillies series, I have the Dodgers winning the series in 3. This season the Dodgers have been without a doubt one of the best teams in baseball. Whenever the Dodgers play a team who has an above .500 winning percentage  the team goes 34-31 showing that even when the team gets a tough opponent...

Corbin High School golfers recently took a road trip to Jonesville, Virginia, to take part in the Farmers and Miners Bank Invitational high school golf tournament at Cedar Hill Country Club where they had a great showing with an individual win and a second-place team finish. Each year the Corbin High School Boy’s Golf Team and the Girl’s Golf Team join forces to play in the coed tournament. This year 87 boys and girls teed it up to crown the 2026 champions. Corbin Golfer Makena Myatt shot a bogey free four under 68 to become the 2026 Farmers and Miners champion. “She’s good. Plain and simple. Cut and dDry. We hyped this one...

Corbin Mayor Suzie Razmus epitomized what a small town festival like NIBROC is supposed to be about Friday night. Razmus was at a concert for The Wildflowers, which is a Tom Petty tribute band. She was sitting in the front row with approximately half a dozen of her besties enjoying the show and was later up dancing with her friends as the group played several classics from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. To me, this is what these festivals are supposed to all about, bringing people together to socialize and have a good time. Sure, the parking is a hassle. Once you get down to the festival though, it is typically a...

By John Curtis White The trade deadline for MLB was Monday and a lot of teams made moves. Some trades made really big headlines while others were not talked about as much. Here are in my opinion the winners and losers of the trade deadline. First, the Cubs get Kevin Gausman and the Blue Jays get Brett Bateman and Ty Southisene. The Cubs, for this trade, get an A- and the Blue Jays get a C-. The Cubs were in need of a starting pitcher and the two time all star in Gausman really helps the starting rotation. The reason that the Blue Jays get a C- is because the rotation isn’t very...

Goodbyes are rarely easy, but when you get the opportunity to watch someone step into their dream, they can be quite special. In recent weeks, the News Journal has said goodbye to three people. For a small staff, those farewells seem to hit just a little harder. Two weeks ago, we wished Andy, our delivery driver, well as he traveled to the west coast for the next chapter of his career. Andy was a behind the scenes person, and his contributions to the newspaper were invaluable. If Andy didn’t show up on a Wednesday, you wouldn’t see the News Journal on the newsstands scattered throughout the region. If he didn’t show up...

When you are the managing editor of a small community newspaper, you “get” to do some stuff editors are bigger newspaper don’t have to do, such as filling up the jug for the water cooler, taking out the glue trap with the dead lizard and checking upstairs in the attic after some of the ladies heard a noise and are convinced there is a racoon up there. (It turned out just to be a fallen ceiling tile…LOL.) The latest case in point was last Wednesday. Our long-time newspaper delivery driver, Andy Welsh, left us for the greener pastures of California. (Cannot imagine why he would want to do that…LOL.) I...

By: John Curtis White The MLB season is over halfway through and playoffs are in two months. The trade deadline is in only 14 days. However, I believe that the playoffs should be talked about more than they are right now. Here are my 1st round playoff predictions. First, I would like to name all the teams in the National League  (NL) who will get byes. The Dodgers will be the one seed and move on to the NLDS. The Dodgers have been the best team in baseball. Led by a combined 3.51 ERA and a .229 batting average, the Dodgers are the best team in baseball. The 2nd team who...

The recent British Open certainly had an exciting finish. American Cameron Young, who birdied four out of his first five holes in the final round, got into the clubhouse early posting a score of 9-under-par for the tournament. Then he waited and waited for more than two hours to see whether anyone caught him. They did. New Zealander Ryan Fox kept plugging along birdieing Hole No. 13 and Hole No. 14. He bogeyed hole No. 15 followed by a birdie at Hole No. 16. After parring Hole No. 17, Fox went into the final 72nd hole of the tournament in a tie for the lead. By this time, Young was back on...

The Whitley County Fair and the recent deaths of two local residents will be three of the topics for this week’s column. Williamsburg Dry Cleaners owner Pat Michael Marple died on July 15 at the age of 79. Most people in Williamsburg knew Pat from his time owning and operating Williamsburg Dry Cleaners for over have a century. Pat’s father, Pat Marple Sr. founded Williamsburg Dry Cleaners in the late 1930s. I did a story about the younger Pat and Williamsburg Dry Cleaners in 2001. The business never charged to clean an American Flag or a Christian Flag. It was a practice’s Pat Marple Sr. started and one his son continued. One interesting thing...