The nationwide opioid epidemic continued taking its lethal toll on the Commonwealth last year, driving up overdose deaths to unprecedented levels with an ever-stronger mix of fentanyl, heroin and prescription pills.

According to a report released by the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, fatal overdoses totaled 1,404 in 2016, a 7.4 percent increase from the previous year. Of those cases, toxicology data was available for 1,330 deaths.

Gov. Matt Bevin, joined by state legislators and constituents today (June 27) and signed nearly a dozen pieces of recently enacted legislation at the State Capitol. Among the acts signed were House bills (HB) 128 and 161 and Senate bills (SB) 4 and 79.

Gov. Bevin has called the General Assembly’s 2017 regular session “the most successful in Kentucky history.”

“The members of the House and Senate came together and passed legislation at a rate and significance that will transform the commonwealth for generations to come,” Bevin  said.

As his journalism career winds down, Morehead State Public Radio’s Dan Conti has written a book that chronicles his more than three decades as a broadcaster and revisits some of the stories he covered, wrote about and researched in later years.

Conti’s book “A Reporter’s Notebook and Other Stuff” by is a retrospective on big events, plus a few reflections on influential childhood experiences.

Morehead State University Alumni Association Board President Jason Rainey and president-elect Dr. Jason Marion presented Dr. Wayne D. Andrews with a resolution granting him honorary life membership in MSU’s Alumni Association. The Alumni Association Board of Directors unanimously voted to pass the resolution in January 2017.

Morehead State Public Radio (MSPR) will celebrate the July 4 holiday with special programs.

“Best of Independence Day” @ 9 a.m.

• We have compiled some of the best patriotic performances of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Songs include- "America, the Dream Goes On", Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Rally 'Round the Flag" and more.

July 4 with Leroy Anderson and the Boston Pops @ 10 a.m.