Breaking News

Update: The Williamsburg Police Department shared the following information with the public on their official Facebook page Wednesday morning... MURDER INVESTIGATION On January 14, 2025, Williamsburg Police were called to Mount Morgan Apartments about an unresponsive male in the parking lot, at 611 Brush Arbor Road. First arriving officers found a 61 year old male deceased. The male has been identified as Richard Cox, of Williamsburg. Preliminary investigation indicates, that Cox and another male, identified as Brian Randle, 41, got into a physical altercation, while trying to break up a fight between two dogs. Cox immediately died following the altercation. Randle has been arrested and charged with Murder and lodged in the...

The University of the Cumberlands announced late Thursday afternoon that after a distinguished 20-year tenure at the University of the Cumberlands, including a decade as its 10th president, Dr. Larry L. Cockrum has announced his plan to step away from day-to-day operations at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. He will transition to President Emeritus, focusing on strategic projects to advance the university’s growth and innovation. Under President Cockrum’s leadership, the university has experienced unprecedented growth, enhanced its student accessibility, and solidified its financial foundation. Cockrum has been instrumental in transforming the institution into a leader in affordable education, ensuring that students from all backgrounds have access to quality...

A Woodbine man is being held behind bars in the Whitley County Detention Center in lieu of a $1 million cash bond for allegedly killing his brother-in-law late Saturday evening. About 5:45 a.m. Sunday, Whitley County Sheriff’s Major Tony Dingess arrested John Robert Lang, 34, charging him with murder in the death of Richard Willoughby, 43, of Lexington, according to an arrest citation. (A sheriff's department release Wednesday evening indicated Willoughby is from Huntsville, Tennessee.) At 10:07 p.m. Saturday. Whitley County E-911 Dispatch received a call from a woman, who reported that her brother (Lang) had shot her husband inside Lang’s residence at 938 East KY-6 in Woodbine, Dingess wrote on...

Laurel County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a reported shooting, which occurred off Hopper Creek Road about nine miles southeast of London Thursday about 2:45 p.m. Sheriff's investigators were dispatched by the London-Laurel County 911 Communication Center to a complaint that a 43-year-old male had been shot there, according to a sheriff's department release. When investigators arrived at the scene, they found out that the man had been shot once in the hip. He was airlifted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington for treatment. Investigators are attempting to determine a possible suspect in the shooting. A shooter has not been determined at this time. Laurel Sheriff's Detective Taylor McDaniel is...

A Corbin LLC was among those selected Monday to obtain a medical cannabis dispensary license. No 1 Boundary LLC was among the 36 licensees selected during a lottery held Monday afternoon via live stream on the Kentucky Office of Medical Cannabis’ (KOMC) YouTube channel. According to the Kentucky Secretary of State’s website, the registered agent is based out of Irvine, California, and is registered in Kentucky through a company in Richmond. The organizer name associated to the LLC is John Malone, who has nearly two dozen originations listed under his name. At this moment, the News Journal is attempting to verify ownership of that LLC and determine if they plan to open...

Jordan Blake Taylor has admitted to strangling, sodomizing and ultimately killing three-year-old Amoura Smallwood earlier last year. Taylor, 24, of Corbin, appeared in Whitley Circuit Court on Wednesday morning to enter a guilty plea in connection to Smallwood’s death. Smallwood died in February 2023 at Baptist Health Corbin after suffering extensive non-accidental injuries  sustained while she was in Taylor’s care. Taylor’s plea is contingent upon a deal with Commonwealth’s Attorney Ronnie Bowling, in which Taylor has agreed to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. During Wednesday’s proceedings, Taylor pleaded guilty to murder, first-degree sodomy and first-degree strangulation. Judge Dan Ballou, who presided over the case, accepted the plea. A sentencing...

Gov. Andy Beshear announced about 4 p.m. Friday that Kentucky’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. William Ralston and the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab have confirmed that the unidentified body found Wednesday off Exit 49 is in fact that of suspected mass shooter Joseph Couch of Woodbine. The remains were positively identified through DNA extracted from bone. “We appreciate everyone involved in the search and are grateful no one else has been hurt,” said Beshear. “We will continue to be there for those injured as well as the Laurel County community as they recover from this tragic situation.” Couch is the suspect accused of shooting five people on Sept. 7 on I-75...

Knox County Sheriff Mike Smith is reporting an accident involving a Knox County Public Schools school bus at the intersection of Hwys. 830 and 1232 at Gray Monday afternoon, the Mountain Advocate is reporting. Of 35 passengers on board, Sheriff Smith said two passengers and a bus monitor received minor injuries. Everyone is off of the bus and is being taken by another bus to Lynn Camp Elementary School, Smith reported. The accident happened about 3:30 p.m.

UPDATE 4: A South Carolina man has been arrested in connection to an alleged attempted child abduction at a Whitley County school earlier Friday. According to a release from Kentucky State Police Public Affairs Officer Trooper Scottie Pennington, law enforcement officials arrested Willie O. Bethea, 37, of Latta, South Carolina, after being located at Walmart in Corbin. Sometime Friday afternoon, Bethea allegedly tried to lure a child from a playground and into his vehicle at Whitley County Intermediate School. He was confronted by school officials and quickly fled the scene. Bethea has been charged with attempted kidnapping of a minor, first–degree criminal trespassing, operating a motor vehicle on a suspended or revoked operator’s...

The Pilot Travel Center off Exit 11 in Williamsburg has been evacuated by police as they attempt to investigate a threat involving the business. Williamsburg Police Assistant Chief Bobby Freeman told the News Journal that a report was made to police Monday evening that someone had threatened to blow up the Pilot Travel Center. The alleged threat originated with an inmate at the Whitley County Detention Center. The inmate, who allegedly made the threat, has been an inmate for approximately three to four weeks and is from Michigan, though police could not share the person’s identity at this time. That inmate allegedly recently got into a fight with another inmate inside...