Oh, Kentucky

An early-morning fire today has staggered Ferrell's, which arrived in Madisonville when my dad was 4, remained his standard for hamburgers the rest of his life and became mine once my wife and I moved to town in 2008.

On the better-news-from-here front, Madisonville Community College has graduated its first class of utility lineman, and more than half are reported to be already employed.

Aluminum to the rescue, in coal country, per Forbes.

Hiring (at a coal mine) in Hazard.

The University of the Cumberlands is cutting tuition for undergraduate students by 57 percent.

A new clinic "to extend the healing ministry of Christ to everyone" in Manchester.

Kentucky considers boosting its animal-cruelty penalties, and The Horse takes hopeful note.

USA Today reports on a nationwide effort is underway to save 458 pigs rescued from a Falmouth farm.

The state has a new Boxing and Wrestling Commission chair, and he's a former Somerset High Briar Jumpers football star with a "mind for money" and solid résumé of excelling on state boards, reports Christopher Harris in the Commonwealth Journal.

Joe Asher in the Harlan Daily Enterprise delivers a comprehensive report on the fiscal court's tourism priorities and efforts to refresh the county's parks.