Trent Knuckles

Since we are a newspaper and we are located on Main Street in Corbin, it’s a relatively common thing for folks from out of town to stop in seeking directions to certain restaurants, or Cumberland Falls or whatever. Last week, this very situation happened. A very nice couple, from Indiana, was looking for Sander’s Café (the very first KFC). I gave them directions. They also wanted to know how to get to our local tourism office, so I directed them there as well. I even provided them with a very handy Tri-County Visitor’s Guide, published annually by the News Journal. They greatly appreciated this. “This is such a pretty, interesting downtown,”...

My one and only book review for this newspaper may have gotten me blacklisted. Let me explain. A couple of years ago, I thought it would be a cool idea to add book reviews as a semi-regular part of what we offer in the News Journal. I didn’t just want them to be reviews of the latest mass market stuff. Instead, I figured it would be a good idea to focus on more regional writing — books by Kentucky authors, or ones that focused on the state, it’s people and culture. The University Press of Kentucky — the publishing arm of the University of Kentucky — seemed the perfect partner in this. Twice...

Ever hear this one? The city of Corbin is forbidden from annexing into southern Laurel County. The reason — some sneaky state senator got a law passed in the 1980s that won’t allow a city to annex into a third county. Corbin lies in two counties so, as the story goes, this underhanded legislative misdeed was unfairly directed at our very fair city. It’s got all the trappings of a classic good vs. evil battle. You have the oppressor and the oppressed. You have the good city of Corbin that could annex property and spur economic growth on Exit 29, and get wheelbarrows full of tax money for its coffers. You have the evil,...

As a commissioner for the city of Corbin, there have been few issues more galling and aggravating for me than the occupational tax situation in the Knox County portion of the city. Much attention is given to the fact that the occupational tax rate on the wages of workers in that part of our town is 2 percent, when it is only 1 percent if you happen to work in the Whitley County side. We’ve reported on this at length. It’s well covered territory. I’ve come to accept the fact that for the time being Corbin will just have to play the cards it is dealt. That’s bad enough. But what is particularly...

In case you didn’t know, Whitley County is 200 years old this year! That’s an amazing milestone. The city where this newspaper was founded in 1908 has gone to great effort to have a month-long celebration for the bicentennial in April. So, we decided to join in on the fun. This week, we got in the proverbial time machine to take you way back to when this newspaper looked quite a bit different. The A-section of this week’s edition of the The Whitley Republican is modeled after the look of the newspaper in the year 1950. We aren’t calling it The News Journal, this week. That name didn’t exist until 1992. We’ve...

I often hear that “newspapers are a thing of the past.” A lady said to me recently that all the news she needs, she gets on Facebook. For free. So there! Never mind that a lot of the news she’s reading originates from newspapers. Newspapers are still doing the sort of reporting that just can’t be replicated by television, radio, bloggers, etc. Reporters at good old traditional ink and paper newspapers are getting into the nooks and crannies of society and prying out the stories and information that is very difficult to get elsewhere. It’s not glamorous or flashy oftentimes. But it’s real. So much of TV news is trash nowadays, or so...

I’ve heard quite a lot of feedback about the story that appeared in last week’s News Journal regarding a local circuit judge’s order that closed The Dixie Café for non-payment of restaurant taxes. You can read the specifics by procuring of copy of the paper, or viewing the story online at thenewsjournal.net/. I looked back fondly this week on reporting I did in 2012 about the exciting news that The Dixie was opening downtown again after a seven year absence. I truly hated to see it close again. In the wake of that, one thing I think needs to be clarified is how different a restaurant tax is from some other forms...

I know it might be impolite to do so, but let me brag for just a bit. For the second year in a row, the News Journal was named the best large weekly newspaper in Kentucky. It may not mean much to some, but I can tell you it is no easy accomplishment. The competition is fierce. There are many weekly newspapers in Kentucky that compete against us for this award. Altogether, at the Kentucky Press Association Awards Banquet on Jan. 26, this newspaper won 24 awards across many categories like “Best Spot News” and “Best Feature Story” and “Best Sports Picture, “Best Front Page,” etc. There are some good newspapers out...

There’s this snappy little quote I’ve had stuck in my head since college: “Minds are like parachutes; they work best when they’re open.” There are some small variations of the same phrase, but it all pretty much makes the same point — we should never let our preconceived notions wall us off from learning new things. Last week, I drove to Frankfort to cover a hearing before the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Board. The board is proposing to basically abolish regulations that control the number of liquor stores and bars cities and counties can have. Currently, those limits are based on population — one of each for every 2,300 residents. Philosophically, I’m a...

A few quick observations about the Andrew Taylor situation, … cause of much hyperventilating on ANTI-social media the last few days. • Had Knox Central won last Friday’s game, I doubt there would have been an uproar. • Anyone not directly ON the court during that game could not have heard much. I was right there for some of the second half and couldn’t hear any conversation between players. So I’m dubious of some of the claims I’ve been reading, particularly from folks who I know were in the stands surrounded by other screaming fans. • If Andrew Taylor had a year of eligibility left, and he said he was transferring to...