This is WMMT’s Regional Roundup, a compilation of news from around the region, as reported in area newspapers.

That slab of salmon on your dinner plate may one day soon come from such exotic locales as southern West Virginia. Bill Martin of the town of Man recently bought a fish farm fed by pure, cold water from a closed underground coal mine. According to the Associated Press, Martin plans to turn the farm that once produced arctic char into a breeding ground for salmon and steelhead trout. His company, Blue Ridge Aquaculture, already ships 70,000 pounds of live tilapia fish every week from a farm in eastern West Virginia, and he is developing a fish farm near Saltville, Virginia, for other species. Right now, more than 80 percent of the fresh and frozen salmon we eat comes from net pen farms in coastal waterways.

Discussion on the possible consolidation of Wise County, Virginia’s, six high schools into three has been put on hold, at least for now. The county school board hit a deadlock during its meeting Monday evening, according to the Coalfield Progress. After six hours of meeting, a motion by member Mike Mullins to conduct further studies regarding consolidation ended in a tie vote. About 35 citizens – most of them opposed to consolidation – addressed the board members for a third of the meeting time. More than 250 citizens showed up for the board meeting, at which the subject of consolidation was not addressed until 10 p.m. Saint Paul High School junior Drew Mullins was among those vocally opposing consolidation. The student said – It’s blatantly obvious that some serious statistical manipulation in favor of consolidating high schools has been used. If you’re determined to consolidate, at least show us the courtesy of being honest. I’m an intelligent teenager who knows when I’m being lied to – end quote.

Ground was recently broken for a new sewer project in the community of Eastern, in Floyd County, Kentucky. The Big Sandy News reports that the 600,000 dollar project will include a pressure sewer collector system and a 25,000 gallon wastewater treatment plant. Operated by the Southern Water and Sewer District, the project will serve about 42 households.

Officials in the town of Appalachia, Virginia, are considering the possibility of building a network of all-terrain vehicle trails on the site of an old Wise County landfill. Ownership of the site remains an issue, however, according to the Coalfield Progress. The tract is listed in county records as belonging to Penn Virginia company, yet a notation on the property listing indicates the property was given to the town. But no one can find a deed. Mayor Eddie Galloway said the site became a landfill in the early 1970s. He added that the county later put in some gas monitoring wells, which, he said, might be of concern.

Powerful radio station WSIP in Paintsville, Kentucky, is moving on – across the street, that is. The Big Sandy News reports that station honchos recently had the ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the new building on Main Street. The commercial station has operated from a modest building across the street for more than half-a-century.

Three area law officers are among those promoted recently during a special Kentucky State Police ceremony in Frankfort. John M. Bradley, a Beattyville native, was promoted from lieutenant to captain and named commander of the KSP Post 10 in Harlan. Pikeville native Michael Kidd was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant and assigned to the recruitment branch of KSP. Trooper Donald Shearer, a resident of Banner in Floyd County, was promoted to sergeant and assigned to Post 14 in Ashland, according to a press release from KSP.

A new dental office has opened in Pike County, Kentucky. Dr. Travis Ratliff calls his office Sharp Smiles, according to the Appalachian News-Express. The office is located at Weddington Plaza, in Coal Run, just north of Pikeville. The dentist is a native of Zebulon and has most recently practiced in Virginia.

The Virginia Funeral Home opened the doors of its new facility recently on Route 83 at Slate Creek in Buchanan County. According to the Virginia Mountaineer, Joey Davis is funeral director and owner.