MHS Chess champions: Conner McKenna, Zake Zimmerer, Eric Wann, Liam Parker, Daniel Hughes, and Steven Arnold.
MISD Chess Teams Advance To This Weekend's State Competition
Recently Murray High School Chess Team captured first place during the Quad A Regional Chess Championship (their first competition of the year) held at Murray High School. Murray Middle School Chess Team members, as well as Murray Elementary School students received second place. All three teams advanced to state and will compete in this weekend's state chess competition in Louisville. Hughes, Jake Zimmerer, and Eric Wann all tied for first place individual awards with three of a possible four points. Liam Parker placed sixth with 2.5 points.
MMS Chess Team students (fourth-fifth grade section) placed second in the Quad A regional championships with only three players in a four player tournament. Sam Lewis won first place overall with a perfect 4 points. Talon Cole finished in fourth, and Charlie Gannon won sixth.
Members of the MES Chess Team received second place during the Quad A Regional Chess Championship at Murray High School. The following MES Chess students were recognized for their winning rankings after receiving second place during the Quad A: Mason Lu (second), Fatemeh Yarali (fifth) Blake Bumb (sixth) and Tomas Ferreyra (seventh).
MCCH Employees L to R: Shannon Kidd, Faye Key, Peggy Smith, Donna Steelman, and Myra Melson
MCCH CELEBRATES MARCH AS NATIONAL COLORECTAL CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, MCCH’s Endoscopy Department put together an educational display in the MCCH cafeteria and engaged employees with a colorectal cancer “Know the Facts” quiz. Murray-Calloway County Hospital also encouraged the community and employees to observe national Dress in Blue Day on Friday, March 5th to create additional awareness about colorectal cancer. MCCH employees all wore blue on this day to recognize the importance of colorectal cancer prevention and detection. For more information about colorectal cancer, call the MCCH Endoscopy Department at 270-762-1167.
Cindy-Thanhhoa Bui with Dr. Robin Floyd, Radiologist at MCCH.
MURRAY-CALLOWAY COUNTY HOSPITAL WELCOMES MEDICAL STUDENTS
Murray-Calloway County Hospital welcomes medical students as they complete their clinical rotations with physicians at MCCH. Cindy-Thanhhoa Bui is a fourth year medical student at the University of Kentucky Medical School and recently spent four weeks at Murray-Calloway County Hospital doing clinical rotations with Dr. Robin Floyd, Dr. Casey Hines and Dr. William Wilson, Radiologists. She will begin her residency in July and is planning to focus in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
“We appreciate Drs. Wilson, Hines and Floyd working with medical students in this very important part of their training,” said Keith Travis, VP of Institutional Development. Murray-Calloway County Hospital works with numerous medical students each year giving them an opportunity to get hands-on experience in a healthcare setting.
Tina Collins is on the job as Murray State University’s new registrar
Tina Collins is new Registrar at Murray State
With the spring midterms underway and the home stretch for many soon-to-be graduates in sight, a trip to the registrar’s office at Murray State University is almost inevitable. "Our office offers general services to students that are typical of most university registrar offices such as registration, degree audits (called MAP reports at MSU), enrollment verifications (often requested for insurance purposes), transcripts, graduation, name changes, residency questions/appeals and so forth" Tina Collins, the new registrar at Murray State, said.
“We are also responsible for certification of student athletes, and we’ve recently assumed the responsibility for certification of our veteran students and their families. The registrar’s office handles many issues within the educational system, and Tina Collins is no stranger to the learning process. “I received both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Austin Peay State University and I am currently pursuing completion of my doctorate in higher education administration at Vanderbilt University,” Collins said.
Her professional experience includes 13 years at Austin Peay in various roles, including that of enrollment services office manager. She was the director of records and registration at South Illinois University-Carbondale for seven years and came to MSU from the University of North Texas-Dallas, where she was registrar. On the academic side, Collins has been an adviser and has teaching experience.Being raised in Clarksville, Tenn., Collins is familiar with this part of the country. Before joining the Murray State University family, she would frequently watch basketball games between Murray and Austin Peay.
"Since moving to Murray, I have immediately felt at home here and the people I’ve met have been friendly, helpful and hospitable,” she said. “The area is beautiful.”Collins said the Murray staff she inherited is excellent and the biggest challenge for her right now is reviewing the student information system module and strategizing ways to enhance the system so that the registrar may better serve students, faculty and staff.“I want students to feel comfortable visiting or contacting our office because I want to impress upon them that the registrar staff is here to help them succeed, and my expectation is that they are to be treated respectfully and professionally,” Collins said. “Even when the answer cannot always be yes, we strive to help students identify alternatives when possible.
The students with whom I have interacted have impressed me as intelligent and well prepared.”“The registrar’s office has been very helpful with everything that I need for my graduation and preparation for other classes I may need,” Kandice Irvin, a senior from Murray, said.Collins said she plans to visit various departments on campus as soon as possible. “My goal is to reach out and take the opportunity to hear about their experiences with the registrar’s office and to listen to ideas or suggestions as to how we may better serve the campus community.”" Murray State students who need to contact the registrar’s office can do so by dropping in at 113 Sparks Hall, calling (270) 809-3759
Lt. Governor leads in poll
Monday News Briefs
Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Dan Mongiardo have strong leads in their U.S. Senate primary campaigns, according to a new statewide poll. The Courier-Journal/WHAS-11 Bluegrass Poll found Paul, a Bowling Green doctor, leads Secretary of State Trey Grayson 42 percent to 27 percent in the GOP race. Mongiardo, the state's lieutenant governor, leads Attorney General Conway by a similar wide margin, 45 to 27 percent. Undecided voters were at 19 percent in both polls.
According to the latest legislative update from Representative Melvin Henley, Kentucky would not only eliminate a budget shortfall of over $1 billion but could end up with a much-needed small surplus under a two-part budget plan that moved closer to passage on Thursday after the House approved legislation to fund many of the state’s budget needs. House Bill 530 passed by a vote of 64-36 and now goes to the Senate so they can begin their budget review process. The second part of the budget which shows where the money will be spent should be ready for discussion and review by the House of Representatives this week.
A bill intended to help prevent child abuse deaths may never get out of the House. Republican Representative David Floyd has added controversial anti-abortion language to the proposal that also threatens two additional child welfare bills. All three measures had been approved in committee and sent to the House for a vote, but were sent back for more review after Floyd's additions.
A plan to slash 30-million dollars from the state corrections budget could be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. That's the view of President of the Kentucky Jailers' Association Bobby Watts, who says the plan won't save any money but will shift the cost from the state to the counties. Seventy-seven-hundred of the state's 21-thousand inmates are in jails and about two-thousand non-violent felons could be released. Justice Cabinet spokeswoman Jennifer Brislin declined comment on the plan until the cabinet reviews it.
Public middle and high schools will now be required to distribute suicide prevention materials by September 1 of each year, thanks to legislation sponsored by Rep. Linda Belcher. House Bill 51 was signed into law by Gov. Beshear last week. House Bill 51 also requires the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to provide suicide prevention information on its Web site by August 1 of this year. Rep. Belcher, a retired principal, said the legislation was filed in memory of three Bullitt County High School students who committed suicide. According to the non-profit group Stop Youth Suicide, Kentucky’s suicide rate is the 18th highest in the nation.
After receiving only a few hours to review a complicated $15 billion measure which makes substantial changes to the tax code, Representative Ed Whitfield voted against a bill which he says will raise taxes while doing little to spur economic growth. Whitfield opposed, and the House passed, H.R. 2847. Whitfield says the bill increases taxes by over $14 billion and uses budget gimmicks to pay for the proposal, which he believes will ultimately lead to an increase in the national debt. Whitfield said the legislation was brought to the House floor for consideration approximately five hours after introduction without going through a single Committee hearing or markup and without the input of the majority of Members of Congress.
CSX has agreed to take soil samples from under a bridge it owns in south central Kentucky to test for any contamination from peeling paint flakes. A group of concerned citizens in Barren County said their own tests of the soil showed high levels of lead. The group's leader, David Garvin, told The Daily News in Bowling Green that CSX had previously been ignoring the concerns. Late last month, David Hall, CSX vice president of public affairs, sent a letter Tuesday to Bowling Green Mayor Elaine Walker saying the company planned to do the sampling. Hall said similar testing of the water, sediments and soil in 2005 found that the areas "were within established regulatory limits." CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan said the company had to remove some soil from the area after the 2005 tests "to meet established regulatory standards." He said the 2005 testing was in response to an inquiry from the Kentucky Division of Water.
A construction official says the new 22,000-seat Louisville arena is on schedule to open Nov. 1. Bill Hedge, an executive with M.A. Mortenson Co., told The Courier-Journal that construction may actually be a little bit ahead of schedule. Louisville Arena Authority Chairman Jim Host says more than 90 percent of the suites have been leased. Host says seven companies have made offers to be the naming sponsor for the arena, but officials are waiting for the right sponsor to come along. In the meantime, he says, it will just be called the Louisville arena.
Graves Co. Students win TV Award
Graves High TV wins national title for Best High School Daily Broadcast
Graves County High School’s WGCE-TV won the national title for “Best High School Daily Broadcast” recently at the Student Television Network convention in Anaheim, Calif. The team competed in the daily-taped category for its daily 10-minute show “gctv.” GCHS also won the award in 2008. "gctv" features daily school news, along with feature stories, sports reports, movie reviews, and various other special segments. It is seen daily by students at school, as well as viewers of local cable television in Graves County, plus available for viewing on www.wgce.net.
Student Television Network, the national organization for high school broadcast/film programs, presents the award each year as part of its annual convention's award ceremony in the grand ballroom of the Disneyland Hotel and Convention Center. More than 1,800 students from 110 high schools from across the country participated in this year’s event. Schools are not required to attend in order to compete for the awards.
Excellence awards are presented to one school in each of several newscast categories: Best Monthly Newscast, Best Weekly, Best Daily-Live, and Best Daily-Taped. Participating schools were required to submit two consecutive shows in December for the contest, judged by a panel of broadcast professionals, then announced at the convention awards ceremony. Other awards were presented for winners in on-site contests held during the convention week. Twelve GCHS seniors in the TV program attended the convention March 3-6. Graves County’s TV program teacher/advisor is Randy Herndon.
