Warren County has been awarded state funding for three highway projects that will improve safety around schools.  

Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman visited Bristow Elementary School on Wednesday with a ceremonial check in the amount of $880,000. 

“In order to have the type of state we want, we have to honor and invest in our schools," Coleman said. "I’m a former teacher and I know kids’ well-being, their education and their safety, go hand in hand and they are inseparable.”

One of the projects will eliminate left-hand turns against traffic on U.S. 31W in front of Bristow Elementary.  Traffic exiting the school will be able to more safely cross the busy, four-lane highway. 

Another project will create an additional left-turn lane at the new Cumberland Trace Elementary School.  Funding will allow dual left turn lanes at the intersection of KY 2158 and KY 234.

Tennessee’s electric utility is starting the long process that could eventually lead to closure of its most-polluting coal plant.

Tennessee Valley Authority Jeff Lyash has already announced this month that it plans to end all coal power generation by 2035. And TVA spokesman Scott Brooks says the utility is beginning the preliminary review with the Cumberland Fossil Plant in Stewart County, which has two separate coal-fired units.

“These are the two largest coal units we have in our fleet,” Brooks says. “So if there’s any logic to it, it would make sense that we would start with our two largest units.”

The Cumberland plant produces enough power for more than 1 million homes. It also releases 8 million tons of carbon emissions into the air each year, as well as especially high mercury releases into the Cumberland River, according to the Sierra Club of Tennessee.

Embattled Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit will run in this weekend’s Preakness Stakes.

The Maryland Jockey Club and a lawyer for trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday they had reached an agreement involving increased testing and monitoring of three Baffert horses ahead of the races.

That follows an announcement earlier Tuesday from Baffert that Medina Spirit was treated with an antifungal ointment that contained betamethasone. After the Derby, the horse tested positive for 21 picograms of the substance, more than the allowed limit.

Churchill Downs suspended Baffert following the initial positive test. If another test reveals the same finding, the horse could be disqualified as the Derby winner.

Trainer Bob Baffert says Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit was treated with an antifungal ointment containing the steroid betamethasone that caused the horse to fail a postrace drug test.

Baffert in a statement sent out by his lawyer says Medina Spirit was treated with the ointment for dermatitis once a day leading up to the race and that experts have told him this could explain the test results. Baffert says the horse tested positive for 21 picograms of the substance, which would lead to a disqualification if upheld with another test.

Lawyer Craig Robertson says the plan is still for Medina Spirit to run in the Preakness on Saturday.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 may be given to children ages 12 to 15. Kentucky is preparing to make the vaccine available for children. 

Shortly before the FDA announced expanded use of the vaccine, Kentucky’s top public health official, Dr. Steven Stack, said studies showed that the vaccine was safe for children. 

“You could have some aches or a little fatigue, but kids bounce back very quickly, and it’s been very well tolerated,” Stack said. “Additionally, they have found that it has been, at least in the initial studies, 100% protective from serious illness.”