 Tonight on EKB Evening News at 6, the effects of disability check suspensions continue to ripple through eastern Kentucky. Good evening, everyone. I'm Jill Fraley-Dotson. And I'm Gary Slong. The implications are still being determined. After hundreds of area residents learned, they have lost their disability benefits at least temporarily. In a story first reported on EKB TV News last night, the Social Security Administration emailed notices to hundreds of eastern Kentucky residents, notifying them of their disability benefits were being suspended. Today, EKB News reporter Shelby Steele investigated how far reaching the action is and what impact is likely to have. EKB News today received confirmation from the Social Security Administration that 1,500 people, mostly in eastern Kentucky, have been notified that their disability benefits are in jeopardy and that they will need to go through the process of determining their eligibility again. Those receiving the letters were all represented by Stanville attorney Eric C. Kahn, who has been the subject of numerous investigations and federal lawsuits concerning his practices. Another thing the recipients have in common is that all of them were found eligible for disability benefits based on medical evidence provided by one of four doctors, Bradley Atkins, Serena Voss Amosetti, Frederick Huffnagle, and David Hurr. The SSA has determined that fraud was involved in some cases involving Kahn and those doctors. Vanover Hall and Bartley senior attorney Jim Vanover says this is an unexpected surprise to those receiving the letters. This has been a sudden thing, you know, people, most of the people we've talked to only received their notices on Friday of last week and the letters that they received, their notices were dated maybe 18th and they were only given 10 days from the date of the letter to submit any new additional medical information. Of the 1500 people receiving letters, over 900 are social security disability or SSDI recipients whose checks have been terminated immediately. The remaining 600 receive supplemental security income or SSI or some combination of the two programs. Those people will continue to receive their benefits for now because the process for suspending SSI benefits is a longer process. The notices that were sent out say that their disability benefits will be immediately suspended and of course that's an extreme hardship on people to all of a sudden be told that the benefits that they've received for several years are just going to be immediately terminated. Vanover adds that the redetermination process can be lengthy, meaning those whose benefits are suspended will go a while without a check before learning whether their benefits will be restored. The 10 days is simply a period for them to try and submit any new evidence that they want to submit medical evidence in their claim and then after that takes place then after that information has been submitted whichever way that goes then know the time period that they could be looking at, you know, a year or more before there's a final determination made. In the meantime, Prestonsburg attorney Ned Pillersdorf is working with some others to try to get the Social Security Administration to change the way they are handling the situation. There are hundreds of desperate people who are losing their benefits immediately. How are these people going to pay their electric bills? How are they going to pay their rent? I've been contacted by numerous cancer patients who are worried about being homeless next week. So what we're going to try to do to help these folks is ask the federal judge to tell us Social Security they can't to reinstate everybody's benefits until there's been a hearing. The Floyd County Bar Association is holding an emergency meeting at the Floyd County Courthouse tonight in order to determine a way to help those who have received the letters. The meeting began at five and was open to the public. EKB will bring you more information about the results of the meeting tomorrow. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Shelby Steele. And just before we went on the air, Congressman Hal Rogers' office issued a statement about the disability suspensions. In the statement, communications director Daniel Smoot says Rogers is deeply concerned by the decision to suspend payments and his staff is working to help those impact navigate the process to have benefits reinstated. Smoot says Rogers' office has received dozens of calls this week concerning the denial letters and advises those living in Rogers District to call 1-800-632-8588 for assistance. West Virginia residents served by Appalachian Power and Wheeling Power Company can expect to see their electricity bills rise 16.1 percent following Action Tuesday by the state's Public Service Commission. The PSC granted a request for a 9 percent total rate increase which has residential customers shouldering a higher percentage of the burden. The increase will ultimately see the average West Virginia power bill rise $19.50 a month. Yesterday evening, a wreck occurred at the southbound ramp to U.S. 23 at Exit 23 which left a red GMC Sierra in the ditch. Driver Joe Holland was not injured and there were no injuries or other vehicles involved. The driver stated that he blacked out. He ran off the roadway and knocked down the luminaire support, lost control and flipped his vehicle over the hill there. The truck rolled once before it landed back on its tires. The truck was still able to operate but a tow truck arrived at the scene shortly after to move the broken vehicle. The Williamson Police Department is asking for assistance in identifying a white male who has been allegedly taking money from a charity box from a local business in the Williamson area. On April 25th around 3.20 the suspect walked into the Williamson Goodwill and concealed the donation box resting on a counter inside the store. The clear donation box typically contains around $1 to $200 but at this time it is unclear how much money was taken. The suspect was last seen wearing a camouflage baseball cap and a large gray flannel coat. The suspect has blackish hair with a goatee. If you have any information regarding the suspect please contact Sergeant John Hall at the Williamson Police Department at 304-235-2570 all callers will remain anonymous. Coming up next the Mountain Parkway expansion is beginning to take shape with developments this week. Coming to an event coming up soon will clean up a river valley in two states in two minutes. The annual tug for it cleanup is coming soon and this year will feature a new wrinkle. Hathfield and McCoy airboat tours owner Keith Gibson who is partnering with Pine County Pride to stage the cleanup on both sides of the river has obtained grants which will pay volunteers $5 for each tire they removed from the river. The grants will pay for up to 1,300 tires. Gibson says the sheer number of tires in the river is a big problem which is caused by people not thinking about where they dispose of them. Jimmy Dalsanders with Pike County Pride says he cannot understand why some people do not make more of an effort to keep their surroundings clean. I hate litter. I hate litter. Sure. The tug for it cleanup is expected to take place June 5th beginning at 10 a.m. Volunteers can meet either in Matewan on the West Virginia side of the river or at the Bus Kirk Park on the Kentucky side. The first batch of concrete has been poured on the Mountain Parkway Expansion Project as workers have begun steel and construction work on the new Gifford Road interchange in McGulfin County. Engineers say the development is a milestone indicating that the project is beginning to take shape. Currently, two sections of the Parkway Expansion are underway in McGulfin County with a third expected to begin soon. Both of the other projects will modernize existing interchanges including one at Route 7 in Soutiersville and another at Route 30 further west. All three projects are expected to be completed within two years. Three Floyd County residents are among the most recent graduates of the Kentucky State Police Telecommunications Academy. Rebecca Randolph, Johnny Johnson and Matthew Scott Hall work as police telecommunicators at KSP Post 9 in Pikeville. They completed 236 hours of training during a six-week period. Randolph of Beaver is the 1995 graduate of Johnson Central High School. She is the daughter of Larry and Kathy Osborn. Johnson of Prestonsburg is a 1993 graduate of Prestonsburg High School. He is the son of Johnny Johnson of Prestonsburg and the late Freda Owens of Hayside, Virginia. Hall of Gretel is a 1997 graduate of Betsy Lane High School. He is the son of Matthew Hall and Glenda Hall. Coming up, Andrew Joyce will be in to stage tonight's 15th Region Baseball and Softball Championships. The first DKB Chief Meteorologist Lathen Hopkins will be in with her weather forecast. We'll be right back. Well, it was a nice day in many parts of our area. A little warm, a little muggy. Some would say a little too warm. We had temperatures in the mid and upper 80s today and yes, it is a very nice evening all across the region. I can show you that. Take you outside here from the stations of East Kentucky Broadcasting overlooking downtown Pikeville, 86 degrees, a muggy day, but so far so good as far as any rain is concerned. The Doppler radar showing, well, that may not last all night long. We do see a couple of showers beginning to make their way closer to, let's say, the Mountain Parkway as well as Interstate 64. We're broadening the picture with the Doppler radar and you can see exactly what I'm talking about. A pretty impressive line of showers and thunderstorms stretching from Lexington to Richmond down towards Somerset and Monticello, making their way to the east. I want you to notice this little blue line here. This is actually a big gust of wind from these storms as they're dying out, but sometimes we can see storms fire up along these little boundaries. So we'll watch this through the rest of this evening. As far as the satellite radar composite goes across our region, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia, western West Virginia, pretty nice day. We had plenty of sunshine, but there you see those storms moving in from central parts of Kentucky. I'm going to show you one of the computer forecasting models and you can see it's picking up on that line pretty nicely. But as it moves to the east, notice it really just fizzles out as it moves to the east. And before it gets here, this computer forecasting model is saying we will see nothing more than just the cloud cover. So we'll watch this through the rest of the evening and overnight hours, but pretty much a repeat forecast today for tomorrow and even into the day on Friday. I'll show you that with a seven day here in just a little bit. And a radar composite across the entire eastern half of the country. Numerous watch boxes, the yellow boxes that you see there near New York, Columbus, severe thunderstorm watches, nothing like that here locally. And even tornado watches out to the west. But this is the first round. This there's actually a little front right through here stretching from St. Louis up toward Detroit. It's going to move closer to the Ohio River overnight tonight. It may be the focus for more storms during the day tomorrow. All right, let's take a look at that pollen count sponsored by Faith Pharmacy, Adam's Posa in Pikeville. Tomorrow 8.0 out of a possible 12, 8.8 on Friday. And with a better chance of rain as we move into the weekend, of course, that's going to drop the pollen count by Saturday back into the moderate category. All right, seven day forecast time. 30% chance of rain on Thursday, 40% on Friday, 50% chance of rain on Saturday, 60% for Sunday into Monday. But each and every day temperatures in the low to mid 80s and overnight lows very muggy in the low to mid 60s. So no real change in the weather pattern. What we've had the past couple of days will continue this weekend early next week, middle part of next week, lighter part of next week. Well, you get the you get the idea. So what are you doing here? I'm not sure tonight and we're just going to replay this tomorrow. See how it goes. Summer temperatures starting early. Absolutely. All right, thank you. Well, this weekend, Elkhorn City will host Kids Day in the Park. The day is filled with free activities for children, including games, music, face painting, inflatables, and much more. However, according to organizers, the message behind the event is much more serious. The day is part of National Foster Care Awareness Month. And the one day event will include information booths for adults to learn more about foster care and how to become a foster parent. Well, May is a National Foster Care Awareness Month. So we wanted to have the event in honor of that because at any given time there's about 400,000 children in foster care nationwide, which equals out to be about one per minute. So we wanted to have this event in honor of that, but to also raise awareness and to try to get some foster parents involved and hopefully recruit some new homes because we don't have any foster homes in Elkhorn. And we wanted to have a fun-filled day to encourage people to come out, not only to maybe recruit, but also to get people involved, more involved if they can't be foster parents, that maybe they can donate their time or their money, you know, for our program. Not that we can take donations, but the foster care association can. Kids Day in the Park will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Elkhorn City Park. And also our good friend, Banjo Neil James. He's going to be on hand, signing autographs and taking pictures with the kids. So it's going to be a great event. It will be. And we'll be back with sports in two minutes. Well, dodging the rain to 15th reach in high school baseball and softball action continued. They did. Of course, last night some lightning delays, dealt with some rain, but got the semifinals complete. And of course, in high school baseball and softball teams began the season with dreams of advancing to the Kentucky State tournaments in Lexington or the softball tournament in Owensboro. To get their teams must get past the upsets in the district or regional tournaments as contenders are separated from the pretenders. As of last night, only contenders remained. In 15th region, high school baseball semifinal action in the opener on Scotty Fakes and Paintsfield. The Tigers looking for a little revenge. This one was close to the sixth. They go to the field. Bottom of the sixth, Paintsfield had a 1-0 lead. But here come the Bulldogs runners on first. Zack Kazee at the plate. He drives the right center field gap, allowing Morgan Miller to travel to first to home to tie the game. Austin Bailey then with the chopper, back up the middle, driving in the run to break. The 1-1 tie with the Tigers. Bailey will still second. That's coming up. He's in scoring position after the stolen base. Josh Cantrell to the plate and will just get this one past the third baseman to score another run. And the call at the plate. Not everyone agreed, as you may see in the background. Paintsfield was able to make the last out of the inning, but were unable to battle back in the seventh. Bulldogs five, Tigers one. Lawrence County starter Austin Bailey gets the win, giving up just one run on four hits and seven innings, shutting down the region's most prolific offensive unit. And in the nine cap. Defending champion Johnson Central facing Prestonsburg. Let's head back to Stonecrest. Johnson Central and Prestonsburg went head to head until the fourth when the Eagles scored the first run of the game. Bottom of the fifth, no outs, bases loaded. Johnson Central's Jordan Blanton up to bat. Hits a two upper to third. Bobble, Bobble. They can't get it out here as Garrett McLeod scores on the play. Now playing small ball. Lake Gamble drops the sacrifice bunt to advance the runner from third home. Make it four nothing. Johnson Central then Seth Ratliff will hit a blue shot over the shortstop set in the shallow left to seal the deal for the Eagles. Johnson Central wins it six nothing over Prestonsburg. They say pitching and defense wins championships. Eagles starter Braxton Kelly did his part as well, throwing a two hit shutout while striking out 15. The matchup is set for tonight's 15th region baseball championship. Lawrence County takes on Johnson Central. 731st pitch, complete radio coverage on 93.1 WDHR beginning at 715. The 15th region softball semifinal action last night in the opener. Pikeville's girls facing Johnson Central. These two tradition rich programs split their meetings this season. This was a one run game until the bottom of the fifth. The Lady Eagles set the plate. Two outs, J.L.A. Spurlock. It's a grounder to short, but the drop end to flip to second, not in time. Now Mikaelyn Pierce will drive in a run as she hits a grounder to short. The throw is wide, everybody's safe. Mace is loaded still. The pitch in the dirt and one more run will score and secure the win. A close game to the fifth when the Lady Eagles put up four runs. Johnson Central's ladies five nothing over Pikeville. Lady Eagle pitcher Mikaelyn Pierce tossed a three hit shutout for the win. The Lady Panthers season ends at 17 and 18. And in semifinal number two, McGuffin County facing the Eastridge Lady Warriors. Eastridge had beaten the Lady Hornets twice this season. Mace is loaded. Hornets already up four. Laley Birchell hits a soft liner over the drawn in infield. Two more runs will score, putting McGuffin up by six. Then a high past ball. Play at the plate. Jazzy Howard beats the tag. Now Kristen Gamble hits a grounder to short. And another Eastridge error. It was just one of those nights. Lady Hornet pitcher Laley Birchell allowed just one Eastridge hit in four shutout innings. McGuffin County advances to the title game with a 15 nothing win over the Lady Warriors. Eastridge sees their season end at 16 and 16. And now underway at Stonecrest, McGuffin County facing Johnson Central's ladies for the 15th region softball crown. Radio coverage on ESPN Radio 95 9 and 104.5 FM. It's a rematch of the 57th district championship, won by the Lady Hornets to nothing. Certainly interested to see how those games tonight play out. Love championship nights. Seasons up for grabs in a trip to the state tournament. Lots of excitement. Lots of fun tonight. Thanks, Andrew. We'll be back in just two minutes. Well, a late in chance for some showers. Yet again, much like what we had today, we'll repeat that for tomorrow. 30% chance of rain with temperatures in the mid and upper 80s. 40% chance of rain on Friday. And it just keeps increasing all the way to a 60% chance of rain as we move into Sunday and Monday each and every day, temperatures in the 80s. Sounds like a broken record. It really does. I really still don't know why you're going to be here for the next five days. One of our days, the next two days. Right, Drew. Of course, baseball and softball wrap up tonight. We'll have all the coverage tomorrow, the winners. And then tonight, what's coming up? A full throttle video. It's one of my favorite new shows. 7 o'clock tonight. A very own 10-minute. It's a great show. Well, that will do it for this evening's EKB Evening News. Remember, you can get more local news anytime by listening to the radio stations of East Kentucky Broadcasting. And you can also follow EKB News and EKB TV on Facebook and on Twitter. Tonight, we leave you with a view from over eastern Kentucky from the state line. Overlook at the Breaks Interstate Park. Good night, and thanks for watching.