Trevor Sherman

A couple of interesting press releases have hit my email inbox recently concerning economic development opportunities. I thought I’d use my column space this week to help get the word out, and hopefully inspire some of our local entrepreneurs to follow up and see if these initiatives can help them bring their business plans to life. First, the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) has announced that it is seeking applicants for its Appalachian Regional Initiative for Strong Economies (ARISE) program. This program presents potential funding opportunities that “aim to drive large-scale, regional economic transformation through collaborative projects.” Specifically, ARISE seeks to empower projects that involve at least two Appalachian states. Since we...

We are smack-dab in the middle of the fall sports season, and this week promises to be full of excitement as three local teams will have the opportunity to compete for state championship titles. Inside last week’s edition, we had a preview story for this year’s Kentucky 2A State Championship soccer tournaments. Both the Corbin Lady Hounds and the Whitley County Colonels had qualified for this year’s tournaments, which got underway over the weekend in Rowan County. Both teams played Johnson Central in round one, and while Corbin was unfortunately not able to advance, the Colonels managed to pull out a 3-2 victory over the Golden Eagles to keep their...

Naturally, working for the local newspaper means you get asked questions all the time about various happenings around town. Sometimes I have knowledge of a particular situation, and am therefore able to share information with whoever happens to be asking me the question. Sometimes, on the other hand, I have no clue and am no help at all. This week, I wanted to use my column space to address a few of the questions that I have been asked recently. There are a few other topics that I’d like to touch on as well, so let’s dive in. I have been asked on more than one occasion lately, “What is the...

At the end of each week, we typically receive regular e-mails from Kentucky Press Association Executive Director David Thompson. These e-mails contain information on all kinds of things pertaining to newspapers across the Commonwealth, and are always interesting to look through. Last week, Thompson’s weekly e-mail message contained a link to the Appalachia Funders Network’s recent “News Business in Appalachia” report. Trust me when I say there is A LOT of information in this report. It would take me a very long time to comb through the entire thing, which I plan to do eventually, but for now I’d like to highlight just a few points of interest. In a section...

On Aug. 26-29, the Annual Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR) Summit will once again be taking place right here in Whitley County at the Corbin Arena. Corbin has played host to this mega-conference twice in the past, in 2021 and 2023, and based on those previous events, it is safe to say that unique opportunities will abound for folks throughout the local area during the last week of this month. My hope is to provide a more in-depth preview inside next week’s edition, and we will, of course, be on the scene to provide coverage over the course of the four-day event, but for now I’d like to highlight some...

I grew up in London, and every time that I have to be doing something in the area located just off of I-75 Exit 41 I can’t help but think just how much things have changed up there since I was young. Now, after living in south Corbin for the past 16 years, I find myself having that same thought about the area located just off of Exit 25. In last week’s paper, we had a story about the recent groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion to the Corbin Center (I was married in that building in the fall of 2009, by the way). As I watched the shovels hit the...

This is a very busy, but also very fun, time of year. It’s festival season, which means that there is a ton of work to be done on our part to cover all of the events scheduled to take place between now and the next 7-8 weeks. It is work, yes, but it’s also the kind of work that I don’t really mind doing. Last week, I was down at the Whitley County Fairgrounds for three-of-the-four days of the 2025 Whitley County Fair. Wednesday, opening day, was the only day that I missed completely. On Thursday, I took my daughter, Olivia, with me to check out what this year’s fair had to...

This week I’d like to address a couple of changes that our readers will surely mention in the coming days, as we wish one soon-to-be former employee luck while we welcome back another familiar face. A couple of weeks ago, reporter Timothy Wyatt wrote a column here in the News Journal explaining that he has accepted a job offer from Williamsburg Independent Schools. A few days later, WIS publicly welcomed Timothy to the staff via their Facebook page. This should be an exciting new opportunity for him, and all of us here at the paper wish him nothing but the best of luck. Timothy has served in several different roles for...

In recent days, my Facebook feed has been flooded with announcements from friends with careers in education that they are going through the process of deleting current students from their friends lists. This is being done as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 181 into state law. Basically, the law directs boards of education to, “designate a traceable communication system to be the exclusive means for a school district employee or volunteer to communicate electronically with students.” The idea here is to protect students’ safety by requiring all electronic communications with adults who are affiliated with the school system to be conducted through open channels that are designed to...

Last week, I wrote in my column thanking Jeff Chadwell for his efforts throughout what was yet another successful season for Little League in Corbin. Little did I know when I typed out those words that Jeff would tragically pass away as that column was making its way out into the local community. I don’t know all of the details behind what happened to Jeff, but early last week I learned that he had experienced some sort of a medical emergency and was in the hospital in pretty rough shape. I stayed in communication with a few folks who were receiving updates on his condition, and joined so many others...