2025: A year of historic weather, new developments and milestones

It can be hard to imagine, but Thursday marks the turn of the New Year, and as we bid farewell to 2025 and bravely march into 2026, WHOP is looking back on everything that happened this past year in local news.

We cannot talk about 2025 without talking about the weather, as the year easily could be dubbed “The Year of the Flood,” and while the summer months brought plenty of their own rain, they couldn’t out rain April. April brought a historic amount of rainfall to the region, and that includes Christian County, as Little River burst from its banks and flooded a good chunk of downtown Hopkinsville. In fact, in that flooding event on April 4, nearly 50 pets had to be rescued by boat from the Pet Lodge on North Drive, and numerous human water rescues took place across the city.

At the time, Christian County Emergency Management Director Randy Graham detailed their rescue and disaster response efforts, calling the situation life-threatening.

The National Weather Service estimated that roughly 12 inches of rain fell in Christian County during that event, though we’ve seen varying totals in the months since, and it wouldn’t be the last of the rain to fall that year, leaving southern Christian County in particular water-logged for several months. And we certainly can’t forget the flooding event in February that covered area roadways with not just icy flood waters, but also several inches of snow.

The severe weather continued in mid-May, with an EF-2 tornado touching down in the Casky area, uprooting dozens of trees, snapping power poles and damaging several barns. In that same event, another EF-2 tornado destroyed a trailer and several chicken houses in Todd County in the Allegre area. Luckily, no one was injured in those events.

The same can’t be said for eastern Kentucky, where that same storm system hit the London, Somerset areas and killed at least 14 Kentuckians. The National Weather Service in Paducah reported a total of 61 tornadoes that touched down across our area in 2025, which was the second most on record for a year only behind 79 reported in 2011.

If you thought that was the last of the weather, think again, because 2025 was determined to experience all of it, with excessive heat warnings in July starting us on the path to a lengthy drought, if you can believe it. That would spark a burn ban and lead to some heightened fire dangers until rain finally returned in the fall.

After finishing off 2024 with a date in Christian County Civil Court, an agreement was reached in March between the Save Jennie Stuart group and the Jennie Stuart Health Board of Trustees regarding plans to merge the local hospital with Deaconess Health. That civil case was dismissed, and plans moved forward with the merger, culminating with the official joining of the two in October.

The merger allowed for Jennie Stuart Health to install the EPIC electronic medical records keeping system, while Deaconess vowed to retain all doctors and staff. Deaconess CEO Shawn McCoy said at the time this signified a new chapter for the local hospital while maintaining its rich history in this community.

Another large industry in the area was a headline in the news fairly often in 2025, as troubles began to hound the steps of Ascend Elements, starting all the way back in February. That’s when the company, that manufactures battery materials in electrical vehicles, came to an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy that they would cancel a $164 million grant. The Apex 1 Facility would have created cathode active material, or CAM, but due to changing market conditions, Ascend Elements now plans to produce only cathode precursor, or pCAM, and Lithium Carbonate at the facility.

That would not be the last time they would be in the news. In March, a civil suit was filed by a joint venture called Turner-Kokosing, comprised of Turner Construction Company and Kokosing Industrial, Inc. against Ascend Elements. The lawsuit alleged that Ascend Elements failed or refused to pay for work that was done and materials delivered by the Joint Venture by December 20 of 2024. The total owed, the plaintiff says, is $138.4 million. They go on to state that they are entitled to recover interest from Ascend at a rate of 12 percent, on top of what they are already owed.

After a couple of hearings in Christian Civil Court, it would be ruled for that suit to undergo arbitration instead of litigation, taking it out of the jurisdiction of the court. It remains ongoing, as dozens of other companies and contractors joined in the suit. In court in March, Ascend Elements representation affirmed they remain committed to resuming construction in Commerce Park II, though the attorneys representing the joint venture felt differently.

Then, in October, the Department of Energy rescinded a $316 million grant from Ascend–but the company remains undeterred, saying as recently as December that they intend to resume construction in 2026 and restart hiring in 2027.

The year also marked a lot of change, as it began to really hit home that Hopkinsville High School and Christian County High School as we know them will soon change, combining into the new Christian County High School. Construction is very nearly finished on the new school that will house the student bodies of both schools, and it’s been a year of announcements and farewells in light of that.

Ken Carver was announced as the Executive Principal of the new CCHS in May, and in October, Christian County Public Schools announced the administrative team that will lead the high school when it opens in August 2026. That lineup includes Lacey Ramirez, Arnelle Lynch-Wesley, Joseph Riley, Cindy Campbell, Kristen Lindsey, Megan Kem and Johnathan King. All familiar names to CCPS, as they’ve served in numerous positions in the district.

During his announcement, Carver said he was impressed by the passion of both the administration and the community for their students, and wants to do what he can to help those students succeed.

That means the 2025 high school graduations were the final separate ceremonies for both high schools, along with the final Hopkinsville vs. Christian County football game and other athletic head-to-heads. For their last competitive season, the Christian County Colonel Marching Band brought home their first state championship in school history, and the Hopkinsville High School Band of Tigers came in third overall in the state.

Business owners in Hopkinsville will be feeling a little lighter heading into the New Year, after the Hopkinsville City Council voted to lower the occupational license tax rate from 1.5% to 1.3%. That did not come without some contention however, after Mayor J.R. Knight had to be the tie-breaking vote twice, as council members were evenly split on the motion to either leave the tax at 1.5 percent or lower it.

Councilmembers Amy Craig and Chuck Crabtree strongly disagreed with the decision at that first-reading of the motion in November.

The landscape itself changed for Hopkinsville and Christian County this past year, as the Hopkinsville Fire Department’s Station Five opened for service in November, bringing much needed service to the southern half of the county. Road work has been underway, and will likely remain ongoing for some time, as the project to widen West Seventh Street in Hopkinsville got underway. In September, the Joy Closet cut the ribbon on the Hope House in Christian County. After a lengthy construction process, Toyota Boshoku cut the ribbon and got to work in December.

The community had very mixed feelings when discussions of demolishing the Blue Streak Printers Building on East Ninth Street began in September, as officials expressed concerns over its structural integrity and the safety of the public. Despite public outcry, including a petition, council would ultimately vote to have it demolished in October.

There was concern that a similar fate awaited the Weber Street building, after Christian Fiscal Court voted to mark it as surplus with the understanding that it would likely be demolished in July. However, following public support of keeping the historic building, Fiscal Court instead voted to sell it to a private buyer who could fix the structural issues plaguing the building.

Christian County and surrounding communities kept up the reputation of generosity going strong in 2025, with the Rotary Club of Hopkinsville raising a record-smashing $634,000 during the 75th WHOP Rotary Radio Auction in April. The United Way of the Pennyrile announced in February that they raised $704,000 during their annual campaign, the Brice Long Back-2-Back Foundation fundraiser concert in July raised $116,000 and the Christian County Relay for Life raised $57,000 during the annual Relay event in August.

On the other hand, we had our fair share of crime and court proceedings in 2025, including a week-long trial against Bobby Spikes, which ended in guilty verdicts on the charges of murder in the deaths of Candace Marcel and Stanley Bussell, along with two counts of first-degree robbery, tampering with physical evidence and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. He was sentenced to serve two life sentences in prison in September.

Meanwhile, Kamron Snyder was found not guilty by a jury in the shooting death of Khalil Buckner, and Jaden Johnson entered a guilty plea to manslaughter for his role in the fatal crash on Bill Bryan Boulevard that killed Adrian Tucker. A fatal crash involving two bicyclists on Pembroke Road in May would ultimately end with Isaiah Edwards being charged with vehicular homicide, and a fatal crash on Lovers Lane in October would lead to a murder charge against Douglas Jones.

There were also plenty of milestones to celebrate in 2025, the Boys and Girls Club of Hopkinsville celebrated 20 years of service in August. Also in August, Corinth Missionary Baptist Church celebrated their awe-inspiring 200th anniversary and in October, the Modernette Civic Club celebrated 60 years of service to the community.

At the Modernette Civic Club’s anniversary celebration, Club Co-Founder Billie Todd said she and her fellow members had no idea how long the club would last, but is thankful to have reached this milestone and looks forward to continuing to support the community.

There were no elections held in Kentucky in 2025, but November brought a flurry of political hopefuls filing for office, from state legislators and city council members, to fiscal court magistrates, sheriffs and more. There’s shaping up to be a full ballot during the May 2026 primaries, with incumbent Christian County Sheriff Tyler DeArmond set to face challenger Erik Pacheco. Then, there will be a three-way race in the Republican primary for Hopkinsville Mayor, as incumbent Mayor J.R. Knight has challengers in both current Magistrate Russ Guffey and one-time city councilmember Natasha Sophia Francis.

The deadline to file for office is January 9, so we could yet still see even more filings in the days ahead.

Speaking of politics and government, we can’t leave out the fact that the federal government shut down in October, and that would stretch on for a grueling 43 days before a continuing resolution was passed by legislators in Washington, D.C. That led to a tough time for federal employees, including armed forces service members, and numerous community organizations and local governments hosted resource fairs and other giveaways to support those families.

Then, to better honor the 248 Fort Campbell soldiers and eight flight crew members who died on December 12, 1985, in a plane crash in Gander, Newfoundland, a renovated Gander Memorial was unveiled at the Christian County Military Affairs Committee’s annual Gander ceremony. The memorial now features an eternal flame, enveloped in a sculpted veil that bears a star for each of the fallen. Then the plaques with the soldiers’ names were raised higher off the ground to make them more readable.

We also lost some good folks in 2025, including longtime coach and principal Harold Wood, community advocate Thomas “Brown” Badgett Jr., community supporter Edward Todd Jr., radio pioneer Willburn “Willie” Wilson, agriculture powerhouse and longtime WHOP’er Charles Petty, University Heights Academy icon Imelda Gorman, mental health visionary Dr. Robert Sivley and surely many others that we have missed. Their loss will be felt in this community for years to come.

There are some things that will carry into 2026 that began last year, including a ‘master plan’ proposed to Christian Fiscal Court that would create a two-story parking garage, renovate the historic Christian County Courthouse, and create a downtown ‘county plaza’ in the area of the Alhambra Theatre–that’s still very much in the beginning phases. And the fate of Bluegrass Splash Family Aquatic Center remains up in the air due to unrelenting issues with water leaks and underground pipes, as Hopkinsville City Council is set to determine whether they will fix the leaks, or close the water park permanently.

And then, because 2025 felt the need to go out with a bang, a train derailed in Todd County near Trenton on December 30, spilling 31 train cars at Tress Shop Road and Highway 41, resulting in a shelter-in-place order due to leaking molten sulfur.

There could be something we missed in this wrap up, as 2025 seemed to be the year where everything wanted to happen, but we can promise that WHOP will do our best to continue bringing you the local news as it happens, just as we have for 86 years.