News

Sunday Night Jazz Showcase

Program #210 (June 24 at 8:00 p.m.)

A wide-ranging trumpeter, arranger and composer, Humberto Ramirez is comfortable playing straight-ahead Latin jazz (on his solo releases for Tropi-Jazz) as well as producing and arranging for the bigger names in Latin dance, including Tony Vega, Johnny Rivera and Brenda K. Starr.

Ramirez began his professional career playing trumpet in the band of salsa legend Willie Rosario, then moved into the arranging chair as well.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is suspending recreational target shooting with firearms on Veterans Memorial Wildlife Management Area until further notice because of ongoing habitat work on the 2,497-acre property in Scott County.

The decision ensures crews performing the work can do so safely.

Veterans Memorial Wildlife Management Area (WMA) remains open for fishing, hiking, bird watching and other types of outdoor recreation. Fall hunting seasons will not be affected.

Within a few weeks, three new sections of access road will open in the Restaurant Row Segment of the Mountain Parkway Expansion project.

The opening of these roads, along with bridge construction nearby, paves the way for the next phase of the project: expanding a busy 2.4-mile section of the Mountain Parkway to four lanes.

By early July, three new roads will open to traffic:

Survey crews will be working along US 60 in eastern Rowan County next week collecting data for an upcoming highway safety improvement project.

Beginning Monday, June 25, and continuing through Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, employees of Gresham, Smith and Partners (GS&P) will survey drainage pipes under US 60 as well as under driveways and side roads along the highway between Hays Crossing and the Carter County line.

Muddy Bottom Blues

Program #144 (June 22 at 8:00pm and June 23 at 3:00pm)

Clarence Bucaro originally hails from outside Cleveland, Ohio.

When he was just twenty years old, he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail. On this hike, carrying a Martin backpacker, he wrote his entire first album “Sweet Corn,” which caught the attention of an Americana record label in Portland, Oregon. Soon Clarence found himself on tour with The Blind Boys of Alabama and Mavis Staples playing to sold out theaters across America.

Olivia. Bougainvillea. Iguana.

These three words will have meaning after reading Southernmost from author Silas House.

Silas House will be the guest author at CoffeeTree Books in Morehead on Tuesday, July 31 at 6pm. 

Southernmost is now available for purchase from CoffeeTree and House will be reading and signing books that evening.

In this stunning novel about judgment, courage, heartbreak, and change, House wrestles with the limits of belief and the infinite ways to love.

The Morehead State University Service Award Committee has recommended that Dr. Frances “Fran” L. Helphinstine be the recipient of the 2018 Founders Award for University Service.

MSU’s Board of Regents approved the action during its June meeting. She will be presented with the award during Morehead State University’s Homecoming Banquet Friday, Oct. 19, at the Morehead Conference Center.

Three standout athletes on and off their playing venues will be inducted into the Morehead State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2018. The newest class consists of David Hyland (Football), Karen Lutes (Women's Cross Country/Track and Field) and Nick Atzinger (Men's Golf).

The induction ceremony will take place on Friday, Oct. 19 with recognition as well at the Homecoming football game versus Valparaiso (2 p.m. ET) on Oct. 20.

Matt (Guitar) Murphy, a renowned blues guitarist who played with The Blues Brothers and jammed with musical heavyweights Muddy Waters, Etta James and Chuck Berry, died Friday. He was 88.

Murphy's nephew Floyd Murphy Jr. confirmed his death in a Facebook post. It was unclear how he died.

A bluesman throughout his life, Murphy rose to fame when he joined The Blues Brothers, a band founded by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi in 1978 as part of a musical sketch on "Saturday Night Live."

Morehead State Public Radio (WMKY, 90.3FM) has announced the addition of two music programs.

Deep Grooves, part of Audio Visions, airs Thursdays at 8:00 p.m. The program offers a weekly theme featuring music from a variety of genres. Tildon Johnson, MSU senior convergent media major, is host of the program.

Sunday Night Jazz Showcase

Program #209 (June 17 at 8:00 p.m.)

The report of a deer fawn being kept illegally led to drug charges against a man and his mother in Marion County.

On Monday, June 11, conservation officers with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources charged 26-year-old Matt White, of Lebanon, Ky., with holding protected wildlife and one count of cultivation of five or more marijuana plants.

With a renewed focus on safety and protecting critical transportation assets, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is launching Bridging Kentucky – a statewide bridge program that will rehabilitate or replace more than 1,000 bridges.

Muddy Bottom Blues

Program #143 (June 15 at 8:00 p.m. and June 16 at 3:00 p.m.)

Dom Flemons is originally from Phoenix, Arizona and currently lives in the Washington, D.C. area. He is known as “The American Songster” since his repertoire of music covers nearly 100 years of American folklore, ballads, and tunes.

Flemons is a music scholar, historian, record collector and a multi-instrumentalist. He is considered an expert player on the Banjo, Fife, Guitar, Harmonica, Percussion, Quills, and Rhythm Bones.

Morehead State University’s Educational Talent Search (ETS) program collaborated with MSUCorps and Bath County Middle School to provide academic tutoring to eighth grade ETS students during the 2017-18 school year.

First year AmeriCorps tutor, Haley Wells, worked daily with eighth grade Educational Talent Search students with the goal to raise reading scores in Bath County. A total of 15 students received certificates of completion on May 23 for their participation and hard work in the academic tutoring program.

Morehead State University alumnus Dr. Lucian Yates III has been named interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at Kentucky State University.

He begins the position on July 1. Yates was inducted into the MSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012.

“It is with great excitement that we welcome Provost Yates back to the ‘College on the Hill,’” KSU President Christopher Brown said of Yates acceptance and homecoming.

Motorists should watch for lane closures and increased traffic restrictions along KY 32 in Rowan County in the coming days as work ramps up at two Morehead intersections that are among the region’s highest crash rate locations.

Improvements include right turn lanes on KY 32 at the Fraley Drive-Pinecrest intersection just east of the I-64 interchange as well as lane separator curbs there and at KY 32 at West Main Street in downtown Morehead.

After 10 days of bridging cultural gaps with songs and smiles, Morehead State University’s Concert Choir and Chamber Singers have returned home from their concert tour of Spain.

The choirs, led by Dr. Greg Detweiler, professor of music, presented five full concerts and four additional mini-concerts to packed audiences in Madrid, Toledo, Alcalá la Real, Valencia, Monserrat, Barcelona and the Úbeda International Festival of Music and Dance.

Participating were:

A meeting to nominate candidates for the Eighth District representative on the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Commission will be held at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern) June 25 at the Morehead Conference Center, Collins Hall West, 111 East First Street, Morehead, Ky.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. Doors will close promptly at 7:30 p.m. for the duration of the meeting.

The Eighth District includes Bath, Bourbon, Boyd, Carter, Elliott, Fleming, Greenup, Lewis, Mason, Menifee, Montgomery, Morgan, Nicholas, Rowan and Wolfe counties.

Attorney General Andy Beshear has announced the six Kentucky counties to undergo independent inquiries for any potential irregularities that may have occurred during the May 22 primary election.

The counties, randomly drawn by Beshear in a publicly held drawing, include Bullitt, Jessamine, Owen, Powell, Rowan and Scott counties.

Gov. Matt Bevin has announced The Legacy Companies, a food service and consumer appliance company, will create 60 full-time jobs and invest nearly $6.7 million as it revitalizes a recently closed Bourbon County facility.

One of Morehead State Public Radio’s most recognizable voices will be doing his last newscast this month.

Chuck Mraz, who came to Kentucky to work at WMKY in 1986, will retire at the end of the month after more than 30 years with the station.

“It has been a great ride,” said Mraz. “More than 30 years ago, I came to WMKY not knowing anyone in the area. After 30 years, I leave with a lot of friends and a lot of great memories.”