Oh, Kentucky

No, for real, Frankfort's Pic-Pac is closing.

Glasgow is starting to consider a new downtown park, and the comments on the local Daily Times' Facebook post about it are already strident.

The new $17.8 million library in Lyndon is open; the old ones in Fern Creek and Middletown are budget casualties.

A nonprofit's hospital grades were especially bad news for Henderson's Methodist Hospital, reports Douglas White in The Gleaner.

"There are more than 1,100 Harlan County students designated as homeless under a U.S. Department of Education definition of homeless, which includes living in substandard housing ... Harlan County Schools has the second highest percentage of homeless students in the state, according to data from the Kentucky Department of Education. More than one in every four students are considered homeless." Eye-opening but ultimately hopeful report by Report for America's Will Wright in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

From Peter Brackney's dependably interesting Kaintuckeean blog: "This summer is the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City which is seen as a seminal moment in the fight for LGBT rights in this country. In Kentucky, the Kentucky Heritage Council has been working to recognize significant LGBT sites in the Commonwealth. Given the modern science, Pulaski should be so recognized. Xis contributions, as a transgender/intersex individual, to our society were significant. Given that approximately 1.7% of children are born with intersex traits (approximately the same likelihood as one having red hair), it is a demographic which should not be ignored."

As previously reported, The Internet Is Amazing™, "ham radio has been called into action again and again to provide communications in crises when it really matters," says the Amateur Radio Relay League, which had a 24-hour field day at Murray State this past weekend. Hawkins Teague was there for the Ledger & Times.

One hundred years of Kentucky Power in eastern Kentucky, and at least two more months of celebrating at Ashland's Highlands Museum and Discovery Center.