 Tonight on EKV Evening News at 6, strong storms sweep through the region and there's more to come. Good evening, I'm Cindy May Johnson. And I'm Gary Slum. You know, a line of strong storms has swept through this afternoon and there are a lot of power outages. And both Kentucky and West Virginia. And Lathen Hopkins is in for an update right now. And that line of storms, very powerful as it moved through. Wind gust as high as 60 miles per hour, that was the main threat as that line of storms moved through. You'll see that right there, moving through the big sandy and then eventually into western parts of West Virginia. All those boxes, those were severe thunderstorm warnings that were in effect a little bit earlier this afternoon. Now here's some of the damage reports that we know of so far, trees down throughout MacGuffin County, even one report of a roof blown off one home. And that roof actually landed on another home nearby. So that's some incredible damage near Saliersville. In Island Creek in Pike County, a couple of reports of trees down. Williamson in Mingo County, Lenore in Mingo County, a couple of trees down in Lenore. That is our long route 52. You mentioned power outages. Yes, we have those nearly 13 or a little over 1300 now in Pike County. Hundred folks without power in Floyd County, 500 in Johnson County, nearing 800 in MacGuffin County and 179 in Martin County. And these numbers from Kentucky Power, the ones from Appalachian Power showing 1500 customers in Mingo County and nearly 3000 customers in Logan County without power at this time. Now we dry things out at least for now, but watching another batch of strong to severe thunderstorms, you'll see a severe thunderstorm warning just to our West near Somerset also toward London, this making away making its way toward the east and northeast. So hazard over to Pikeville, can't let your guard down just yet more storms on the way and we'll detail your forecast a little bit more coming up in just a little bit. Thank you very much, Latham. A Floyd County mining company was ordered today to pay over $114,000 for failing to pay fines for mine safety violations. A federal judge this morning entered a default judgment against Viper Cole after the company did not respond to a complaint filed in January that it had failed to pay fines levied by the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Under the judge's order, the company now must pay over $82,000 in back fines plus interest and penalties. According to the original complaint, Emsha issued 126 violations against Viper between March of 2011 and March of 2013, but the company failed to pay any of the fines. Traffic came to a standstill near Pikeville shortly after 7 last night due to an injury accident that resulted in an arrest. Pikeville police responded to the scene on U.S. 23 South. Two people were taken to the hospital for non-life threatening injuries, another was taken to jail. We responded to a report of a collision with the injuries on U.S. 23 on South Mail Trail. Traffic was delayed for some time due to the collision itself, result of the collision. There was a de-arrest made for DUI and shortly after that we re-opened the road in traffic. Police arrested 44-year-old Todd Dameron of Pikeville. He was charged with DUI and driving on a suspended license. He remains in the Pike County Detention Center. Work continues on a couple of projects related to the Mountain Parkway expansion in McGuffin County. Workers have dismantled the old Gifford Road overpass five miles west of Saliersville and have now begun work on a new bridge. Work on the span is expected to continue throughout July. Excavation work continues around Gifford Road in order to widen the highway to four lanes and build a new interchange. Construction has also begun on a new Parkway Bridge to handle eastbound traffic over Middle Fork. During this phase, the speed limit through the Gifford Road work area has been reduced to 65 miles per hour. Meanwhile, work continues in preparation for widening and a modernized interchange at Saliersville. Work around the Saliersville interchange is not expected to impact traffic at this time. Coming up, area children got a step closer to being ready for school to resume during an event in Pikeville today. And continuing with the kid theme, a special visitor at the Floyd County Library gave kids a thrill with an important message. We'll be right back. Children visiting the Floyd County Library this morning were treated to a special guest. Batman. Black Knight was there not only to show kids a hero, but also to inspire them to become heroes themselves. EKB News reporter Shannon Deskins attended today's visit and discovered the important lesson behind it. Children of all ages came out to the Floyd County Library in Prestonburg this morning to see Batman and the Batmobile. Library officials took advantage of their summer superhero theme and contacted heroes for hire out of Huntington, West Virginia. Super reading this year's theme is superheroes and I loved that Batman's message was inspirational to our children. He really teaches that you can be the change in the world and that the children are the superheroes. Heroes for hire, a company that provides a number of different superheroes for events uses these opportunities to bring a positive message to children. John Bucklin, the man who created this, who started everything. He saw all the negativity in the area and he decided I'm going to do something about it. What we're trying to teach the kids is to get them out there so as they grow up and they take over the world when we all get old and we can't do it anymore, that hopefully this message will stick with them and they can change the world as they grow up. In addition to Batman, the Floyd County Library also invited the Prestonburg Police and Fire Departments to participate in the event showing children that heroes come in many forms. Local heroes, what we like to call our hometown heroes, such as our police officers, our firemen, our teachers, our librarians, our policemen, doctors, kids need to know that the real heroes are right next to them. In addition to portraying the heroes, Heroes for hire also wants children to understand that they can be the heroes themselves. Always do the right thing. Help other people. Help other people. And never be a bully. Never be a bully. Those are the four things that all superheroes have to do. Do you know that? No. Yep, those are the four things. You don't need superpowers. You don't need a car. All you need to do is those four things, all right? Okay. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Shannon Deskins. We hate to remind those kids, but the first day of school is getting closer all the time. Today, many families in Pikeville got some relief from back-to-school shopping. It all happened at the Shoes of Hope event held in the University of Pikeville Gymnasium. EKB news reporter Courtney Lavern was there and filed this report. What are you going to do in your new shoes? Tackle school. The favorite part was getting the shoes. Did you get the kind that you wanted? The ninth annual Shoes of Hope event gave kids more than just shoes. It was an interactive way for missionaries to reach out to kids in Eastern Kentucky. Score Domestic was the company that hosted the event at the U-Pike Gymnasium. Score Domestic is located in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, and it's all about domestic mission trips. So during the summers, we do a lot of mission trips to Appalachia and inner city and coast and all that. So church groups, mission teams, all that, they come in. They do home repairs, they do homeless shelters, they do veteran shelters, all those things. A wall of shoes lined the bleachers and plenty of volunteers were on hand to assist the kids. All kids were invited to come to Shoes of Hope regardless of their household income and were given a foot washing and a free pair of shoes. The reception of the event was primarily positive. We get a lot of feedback. Some kids come back every single year and I know in previous years I've been a foot washer and I've had the same lady come back and tell me updates about how her life's been going, giving me updates on how her family is and it's so great. The event normally provides for around 150 to 250 kids each year and the kids only had a few words for the volunteers and helpers. Thank you. Thank you. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Courtney Levin. A collection of Kentucky Generals is calling on Congress to continue and provide additional funding to fully implement the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act. And the report entitled Retreat is not an option for Kentucky published by Mission Readiness. The Generals note that soaring obesity rates are a national security risk because they disqualify many potential soldiers from military service. In Kentucky, 73 percent of men and women between the ages of 18 and 24 are considered ineligible for the military due to obesity, lack of education and criminal and drug records. In West Virginia, that number is 75 percent while in Virginia the rate is 71 percent. Since 1990, obesity rates in Kentucky have risen from 13 percent to 33 percent. Locally, county rates are at the state rate or higher, ranging from 33 percent in McGolfan County to 41 percent in Martin County. Mission Readiness calls for building on tougher school nutrition standards in order to bring down the obesity rate and future generations. Coming up, Andrew Joyce will be here to tell us about what you might call Kentucky Sports Radio, the West Virginia edition. That's an interesting twist. Of course, first we'll have EKB Chief Meteorologist Lathen Hopkins back in with your more complete weather forecast. We'll be right back. You know, weather is always a big part of the news, but boy today it sure has taken a front seat. Storms moving through the region. At last check, about 7,000 people throughout eastern Kentucky, western west Virginia without power as we speak and I'm sure crews will be out and about throughout the rest of this evening and overnight tonight. We are getting a break at least for now. The Doppler radar showing dry conditions across eastern Kentucky, beginning to dry out as well in western west Virginia, still a few showers near Logan and also a couple of showers in southern parts of Johnson County, northern parts of Floyd County just to the north or right in between Paintsville and Prestonsburg. So calm at least for now. Are we done with the storms? Can we finally just sound the all clear? I don't think so. We're actually watching another complex of storms just off to the west. This is interstate 75 running from Lexington toward London and Corbin. There you see the severe thunderstorm warning that is in effect for those folks in this line of storms moving to the east northeast. So Jackson hazard eventually over toward Pikeville. If this holds together, we'll continue to produce some gusty winds, large hail, frequent lightning, heavy rainfall. That's what we'll be watching throughout the rest of this evening. Satellite and radar composite. We had this front moving right across Kentucky and you'll see the storms are moving right along that front. There's the first band moving through. Here's the second band that we're watching as we speak and as I mentioned moving right along that front. So we'll have to watch even here locally for another round of some stronger storms to move through as we make our way into the day tomorrow. This front it's going nowhere and it's still parked right across the region and this is one of the computer forecasting models suggesting what the radar will look like about this time tomorrow afternoon. And again you'll see a line of some pretty impressive showers and storms potentially making their way into the region. So that's something that again we'll have to watch not only today but even during the day tomorrow. Temperatures tonight dropping down into the upper 60s and highs tomorrow before the rain arrives. We are back in the mid 80s across the region. Maybe a few upper 80s if that rain holds off long enough. Let's talk about the drought information because this Thursday that's when the new information comes down. This was actually two weeks ago and you can see most of eastern Kentucky parts of western West Virginia in the moderate drought at normally dry all across eastern Kentucky most of West Virginia. The boy the difference two weeks can make now at normally dry well to the south we are actually in a surplus for rain across the region. Two weeks from June 23rd July 7th five and a half inches of rain. Some areas picking up six to eight inches of rain in a matter of two weeks and so why we've had so many problems with flooding flash flood watches flash flood warnings in effect we've had rain 12 out of 14 days no change in the weather pattern is expected and we're actually watching for another round of heavy rain as we move into next week. Let's talk about the pollen count sponsored by Faith Pharmacy Adams Plaza in Pikeville still running very low 2.6 Friday 3.9 Saturday and 3.8 during the day on Sunday this is 3.8 out of 12 so still very low. 7 day forecast time again a 50% chance of rain for tomorrow 86 degrees some of those storms may be strong to severe mid and upper 80s as we head into the weekend a 30% chance of rain each day and you see more rain rain rain rain rain Monday Tuesday and into Wednesday of next week we cannot break out of this weather pattern. Yeah I'm looking for bright spots I guess the rain's beating the pollen down that's true that's one thing for some people that's Saturday might be our best bet for an enjoyable outdoor day just a 30% chance but we'll have to watch that front if that front parks across the region even this weekend up the rain chances will go so we'll have to watch that and of course we'll have the latest forecast in tomorrow's edition of the Appalachian News Express all right okay and we'll be right back with Andrew KSR continue their visit in the mountains today of course the tour of the Commonwealth and touching the West Virginia line in South Williamson today four years ago East Kentucky broadcasting added Kentucky sports radio to its talk radio lineup KSR with Matt Jones has quickly become the big blue nation's top rated sports talk show for the third consecutive year EKB has hosted bringing Jones and company to the mountains KSR has now completed 12 of 38 stops on their tour of the Commonwealth the tour allows UK fans and fans of the show to get a first-hand look at what it's like to put on a radio show also giving them the opportunity to participate and win great prizes Makayla Colley caught up with some fans at the South Williamson stop this morning KSR had its 12th stop today at the Southside Mall in South Williamson where we got fans reactions about the tour UK basketball and UK football it was great having Matt Jones and KSR Bunch here today I know they were in Pikeville yesterday and you know we were happy to welcome over here in South Williamson well I just recently started enjoying the broadcast and I'm starting to get into it a lot I like it because it gives us all an outlet for Kentucky so we can listen and keep up with everything that they're doing and that's really good emphasize that there's a great show there they go work real well together so we like it the tour is real fun and you get us be at a live radio show I listen to the radio show every day the good place to find out everything you want to know about Kentucky sports basketball is an important sport in the state of Kentucky but will this new team be able to have the same success as last year's I think they're great and they should win everyone last year it was a really tough road there were several good teams whereas this year I think we have a chance especially getting our latest recruit we definitely have a chance to to go the final four and hopefully win it all maybe I'm ready for I'm ready for number nine Kentucky is considered a basketball state but what about Mark Stoops and the football program we're hoping for six or more wins and you know I know if they they do make it to a ball with a big blue nation and all their fans will follow them wherever they go football in in the state of Kentucky has come a very long way I think we're going to do it I think this is the year that we beat Florida I think that streak is going to be over I'll be at the game and screaming my head off I really think they're going to turn a corner this year I think the stadiums new they've got good recruits this is Stoops third year I think that I think that we'll do it this year I think it's going to be six maybe seven games we'll get to a ball game for EKB evening news at six I'm Mikayla Colley KSR can be heard on the talk radio network daily Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. The participants and brackets were released yesterday for the 2015 Gillette homerun derby since 1985 the homerun derby has been putting on a show as a preview to the mid-summer classic Monday June 13th at 8 the derby will take place at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark as a part of Gatorade All-Star workout day this event will be played out as a bracket style timed event different than years past this year it features Albert Poo Holtz two nationally rookie of the year award candidates Chris Bryant and Jack Peterson Manny Machado Josh Donaldson first-timer Anthony Rizzo Cincinnati's third baseman Todd Frazier and past derby winner Prince Fielder. Fielder will be participating in his sixth career derby and fourth in the past five years King Griffey Jr. Mark McGuire Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa are the only players that had participated at least six times and more details have been learned about the recruitment of UK basketball commitment Jamal Murray earlier this week it was reported that Murray had turned down a million dollar offer to play professionally overseas rather than at the college level today as more details of the offer were released Murray actually turned down the offer from a Las Vegas semi-protein apparently the team known as the dealers plan to lure McDonald's All-Americans away from college and into Sin City for a year the dealers plan to sign those players rather than see them go to college as one and done players Jamal Murray he's still coming to Kentucky you know that story has got a lot of levels we could do a deep investigative piece you know on that luring them away from the the all-american team which sounds very moralistic and positive to Sin City Sin City it's deeply disturbing it's bothersome it is as long as we got our Kentucky guy we're okay he's still coming to Lexi okay good good we'll be right back well lathan round one came through a lot of power outages that looks like round two heading around to moving into parts of southern Kentucky as we speak near Laurel county of london near interstate 75 that's where a severe thunderstorm warning is for now why do i mention that well it is moving to the east northeast so hazard and eventually pipeville may be in line for some showers and another round of thunderstorms and we get to do do this all over again tomorrow a 50 percent chance of rain with temperatures in the mid 80s 85 on saturday 88 on sunday both days with a continued threat of those afternoon showers and storms and more heavy rain could be on the way for monday tuesday and wednesday of next week are you looking for any weather critics oh no i'll be happy to listen this forecast is not i've seen no change in this weather pattern unfortunately and you will keep us updated throughout the rest of the evening of course as always and congratulations are in order i think number one on the ksr tour kicks off in our neck of the woods right and it's a pretty big deal it really is and it's the hottest sports talk show in the commonwealth it's just taking over the ratings and kentucky fans fall in love with it as we've seen gray crowds in pipeville and again today in south williamson tomorrow they move on to kentucky speedway they won't have nearly as good a crowd i don't think so and we also want to congratulate a good friend of this company she's a frequent guest with you guys on daybreak absolutely marlena van who's who most recently has sung the national anthem on fox and friends in new york she'll be singing the national anthem at the home run derby monday night in sensonati she just keeps going bigger and bigger venues you said it before she's a rock she's a rock star she is well that will do it for tonight's ekb evening news remember you can get more local news anytime by listening to the radio stations of east kentucky broadcasting you can follow ekb news and ekb tv on facebook and twitter good night thanks for watching