Alpha Natural Resource’s CEO says his company’s acquisition of Massey Energy improves the company’s position in the international market. Kevin Crutchfield said Massey’s vast metallurgical coal reserves were one reason the merger made sense for Alpha. During an interview with West Virginia MetroNews, he said he also expects to be providing coal for electricity to developing nations.

A couple of days ago Astronomy Picture of the Day posted this beautiful compilation of the Cassini mission's results from Saturn.

Its remarkable how much these space probes are giving us that we are not even aware of. One of the advantages of an Internet age is the distribution of these "fruits of science" to the general public.

Many thanks to Chris Abbas for creating this video.

The Kentucky Bar Association board of governors Tuesday recommended the disbarment of famed Cincinnati trial attorney Stanley Chesley. The board also voted to follow the recommendation of a hearing officer who said Chesley should return more than $7 million in fees he received from a 2001 fen-phen settlement to his former clients. The vote came after a more than hour-and-a-half oral argument before the board at its meeting at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington. The board's recommendation will be sent to the Kentucky Supreme Court, which has final say on attorney discipline cases.

These photos come from a set called "Still Life With Book" by Flickr user Juliette Tang. In her words:

To be honest, the pictures began out of nostalgia. I felt like I was in a creative funk and I began taking pictures of books because they signified a more intellectually fertile time in my life. ...

TV personality, multiple sclerosis patient and one-time drug industry spokesman Montel Williams has a new role: consultant to medical marijuana dispensaries.

Lynch Mayor Taylor Hall and several Lynch City Council members have accused Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop of criminal coercion. The accusations were aired at a special called city council meeting Tuesday and comes following a meeting between Hall and Grieshop, that was held Monday. “I plan on talking to the Commonwealth Attorney’s office about what was said at the meeting,” said Hall. “Criminal coercion is when you take or threat to omit action unless someone else is changing what they are doing or saying. When you say to us, that we will negotiate with the coal companies or not receive any money through the fiscal court, I think that is paramount to criminal coercion.” Grieshop denies the accusations.

Corbin city officials are turning up the heat on one of the towns largest businesses to clean up a portion of its property in a highly visible area of downtown. In a tersely worded letter to CSX Transportation's Jacksonville, Fla. corporate headquarters in April, Frank Burke, who serves as the city's Building Inspector and Code Enforcement Officer, blasted the company for its lack of maintenance to property that lies along Depot Street

There was a 0.4 percent increase in output at U.S. manufacturers last month vs. April, the Federal Reserve just reported. That follows a 0.5 percent decline in April from March.

For the 12 months ending May 31, the Fed says, factory output was up 3.7 percent.

Charlie Siem is, literally, the very model of a modern major violin star. At just 25, he's already appeared on the world's great concert stages, as well as the pages of Italian Men's Vogue magazine. He's also the 2011 spokesman for Dunhill, the men's fashion house. For his Tiny Desk Concert appearance, you could say Siem dressed "casual, but with an understated elegance," right down to his left-hand pinky, with its pink-painted fingernail.

The news that the city of Fukushima, Japan, plans to give badge-like dosimeters to 34,000 children in September — to gauge how much radiation they're exposed to from the nearby nuclear power plant that was crippled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami — isn't sitting well with some parents.