Society

Henry County Fair Association has appointed its first executive director. Larry Ray previously served as the Paris Henry County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director. A volunteer board previously governed the fair association. Ray will primarily manage the Henry County Fair Grounds.  Ray's first task in his new position is promoting and marketing facilities for the World’s Biggest Fish Fry which kicks off April 21st.

Thousands of UK fans packed into Rupp Arena this afternoon for a celebration of the men’s basketball teaming winning the NCAA title.

Think of it as a mini version of Big Blue Madness. More than 20,000 people got free tickets to the Kentucky celebration at Rupp Arena this afternoon. Robert Rose drove up from Powell County to get a look at the 2012 Wildcats and their championship trophy.

“Means everything to me and my family. We’ve been UK fans, raised on it since we was little.”

The Tennessee State Champion Henry County High School football team will serve as Grand Marshal of the World’s Biggest Fish Fry parade in Paris. The Paris-Henry County Jaycees announced the decision over the weekend, marking the first time the Grand Marshal has been more than just a single person. The Henry County Patriots won the 2011 Tennessee Class 5A State Championship, a first in the school’s history. The Paris Post-Intelligencer reports World’s Biggest Fish Fry festivities kick off Saturday, April 21st. The parade will be held the following Friday, April 27th. 

The Kentucky Department of Education hopes to have a foundation operating by July that can provide desperately needed cash for public school reform efforts. To get the foundation off the ground, staff members have developed an aggressive timeline that will be presented at the Board of Education's regular meeting tomorrow in Frankfort. The as-yet-unnamed group is modeled after the Colorado Legacy Foundation, a 3-year-old charitable organization that works closely with the Colorado Department of Education and has pumped millions of dollars into that state's schools.

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability met yesterday to hear testimony on the closure of the Tamms Correctional Center in far southern Illinois. While locals championed the facility’s benefits …human rights groups and inmates’ families urged the state to shutter its only Super Max prison.

Last week's record Mega Millions drawing made a winner of Illinois schools, too.  WBBM Radio reports that record Illinois lottery sales in the past nine weeks pumped $31.5 million into the fund devoted to public schools.  Lottery officials say that's mostly because of the multi-state Mega Millions game that reached an all-time high $656 million before producing three main winners in a drawing Friday.  One of the Mega Millions winners bought a ticket in Red Bud near St. Louis.