Society

Little damage is being reported throughout western Kentucky in the wake of a line of strong thunderstorms that passed through the area last night.  The storms lasted for about two hours, producing rain and high winds that downed trees and power lines.  The National Weather Service reports those winds gusted as high as 50 and 60 miles per hour in McCracken, Graves, and Marshall counties.  Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Keith Todd says a motorist in Calloway County struck a tree that had fallen across the road.  Otherwise, no injuries were reported last night.  N-W-S meteorologists

A proposed ordinance in Paris, Tennessee could put an end to what locals call perpetual yard sales. City Manager Carl Holder says some people were running the yard sales like a business, and it was becoming an eyesore. He says,

“The problem is that very often they simply throw a tarp on them and leave them out there sometimes for weeks or months. So it is the purpose of the ordinance to limit the number of times a year you can have a yard sale…”

The U.S. corn harvest continues ahead of schedule with some states nearly half-finished at a time when they usually are just getting started.  In its weekly crop update, the USDA says little has changed in the condition of drought-damaged corn and soybeans. That's because the plants are too far along for recent rain to make a difference.  Corn was planted several weeks earlier this year and matured more quickly in the summer heat, allowing farmers to start harvesting early.  Tennessee has almost half of its corn in, compared to the usual 21 percent.

Search and rescue teams have recovered the body of a Southern Illinois man who went missing from his boat on Sunday. Ballard County Emergency Management Director Anita Bugg says a tow boat operator last night spotted the body of 43-year-old Robert Goins on the Mississippi River in Hickman County. The search for Goins started after his empty Jon boat was found on the Ohio River Sunday night.

A Benton man is in custody following a state police Marijuana Strike Force operation in Marshall County earlier this week.  Troopers observed 49-year-old Ronald Ledbetter attempting to remove marijuana plants from a rural plot and recovered 49 plants with a street value of 49 thousand dollars.  Ledbetter was arrested and charged with marijuana cultivation and possession, along with tampering with physical evidence.  Ledbetter is being held in the Marshall County Jail.   KSP Post 1 spokesman Trooper Jay Thomas reports an investigation is ongoing.