Board attorney Jack Lackey Jr. added there are no hospitals within 100 miles that have any rooms available. Bentzel said it’s not “looking good” for students to return to traditional learning on Monday due to the increasing COVID numbers in the county, the hospital’s capacity, and a large number of teachers and staff in the district who are either positive or in quarantine.
Assistant Superintendent of Administration Laura Morris also provided an update about the COVID vaccine. She said educators are in the third-phase of receiving the vaccine, which is expected to be within the next couple of months. She added 802 of the district’s 1,193 employees have signed-up to get the vaccine.
Board attorney Jack Lackey Jr. added there are no hospitals within 100 miles that have any rooms available. Bentzel said it’s not “looking good” for students to return to traditional learning on Monday due to the increasing COVID numbers in the county, the hospital’s capacity, and a large number of teachers and staff in the district who are either positive or in quarantine.
Assistant Superintendent of Administration Laura Morris also provided an update about the COVID vaccine. She said educators are in the third-phase of receiving the vaccine, which is expected to be within the next couple of months. She added 802 of the district’s 1,193 employees have signed-up to get the vaccine.
Brian Ellis
A new lawyer will be assigned to the Hopkinsville man charged with three felonies, including two counts of attempted murder from a September 2020 incident.
Rick Sanborn, attorney for Brian Ellis, said Thursday afternoon in Christian County Circuit Court, his client wants to drop Alford pleas in the cases.
An Alford plea is when the defendant does not admit to committing the crime but admits there is enough evidence to find them guilty.
Sanborn said in doing so, they are asking for a date for an evidentiary hearing.
Judge John Atkins said Ellis would need a new attorney, as Sanborn will be unable to represent him in these cases.
Judge Atkins asked Sanborn to have Ellis in court at 10:00 Monday morning with proof of a positive COVID-19 test.
Ellis is charged with two counts of attempted murder, six counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, and multiple drug charges. Those charges stemmed from September 1st when Christian County sheriff’s deputies were called to the 2900 block of Dawson Springs Road for a report of shots fired and found a home had been hit twice. Shortly thereafter, they were called to the 10,000 block of Hart Road for a car that had been hit in a second shooting. Deputies said they determined Ellis was involved in both shootings, and he was located and arrested on Wallace Avenue in Hopkinsville.
A Hopkinsville man involved in a 2019 pursuit that ended in a crash and injured two people has been sentenced to time served in federal court on a weapons charge stemming from the case.
27-year-old Brandon Demar Smith pled guilty in U.S. District Court in Paducah in October to possession a weapon as a convicted felon.
Hopkinsville Police attempted to stop an SUV driven by on July 10, 2019, on Calvin Drive for not wearing a seatbelt. Police said Smith fled before hitting another vehicle at the intersection of Eagle Way Bypass, causing it to overturn.
After the wreck, Smith fled on foot with a gun in his hand but was quickly apprehended.