morning cram [mined edition]

The men began emerging like clockwork from the depths of a mine that could easily have been their tomb. They jubilantly embraced their wives, children and rescue workers, looking remarkably composed after languishing underground for 69 days.

~NPR covers the successful rescue effort at Chile’s San Jose Mine amid a torrent of press.

KENTUCKY~ Grand Rivers’ Vulcan Materials workers could unionize. Mayfield’s Zoning Board will take (yet another) look at a permit request for a downtown mosque. A Mayfield man is arrested in McCracken County for a DUI hit and run. The Paducah Sun has it that an Oklahoma city administrator will likely be Paducah’s new city manager. Paducah city commissioners will vote next week to keep property taxes the same. If given the shot, Rand Paul would kill the IRS and the federal income tax.

TENNESSEE~ Murder, kidnapping & suicide in Clarksville (Oh my!). State sales tax revenue grew again last month. Early voting begins.

morning cram [middle woes edition]

Being middle class in America once meant feeling secure. You could count on having a decent home, a regular paycheck and food in the fridge.

~NPR reports government statistics confirm just how dramatically life has changed for the middle class.

KENTUCKY~ Mayfield law enforcement denies Florida pastor Terry Jones’ allegations the city’s Muslim community is violent. Police in McCracken County are searching for a missing and possibly depressed homeless man. A Murray construction firm wins a bid to build Marshall County’s new Health Department.  An Owensboro chemical plant may relocate to Dawson Springs. Trigg County’s Ham Fest begins this weekend!!! The Beshear camp banks +$3mil.

TENNESSEE~ South Fulton officials stand by a decision to let a house burn because the residents didn’t pay their annual protection fee. Clarksville mayoral candidates differ on how to prepare for the city’s predicted population explosion. The state’s Employees Association head plans to petition election candidates for pay raises.

morning cram [graphene edition]

The Nobel Prize in physics goes to Russian-born scientists Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for “groundbreaking experiments” with an atom-thin material expected to play a large role in electronics.

~NPR talks graphene — a flake of carbon that is only one atom thick.

KENTUCKY~ State Police are searching for an escapee in Paducah and a man there is charged with arson. The Paducah Sun digs up some dirt on the top city manager candidates. TVA is holding a public hearing in Bowling Green today on its nuclear future. 5 people are charged in connection to an attempted Hopkinsville home bombing. The state receives $1.7mil in federal grants to teach sex ed. Rand Paul wants term limits for regulatory heads.

TENNESSEE~ A man convicted in Clarksville’s Taco Bell slayings is released from prison awaiting a new trial. When judges are reprimanded, should it be public?

ILLINOIS~ State officials begin figuring out how to implement federal health care reform. You can pay overdue state taxes without penalty through early November.