http://www.kentucky.com/211/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com Local 60 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:30 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613688.html http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613688.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
NEW YORK . U.S. auto sales plunged 37 percent in November to their worst level in more than 26 years, dashing expectations that this dismal year for vehicle demand had found a bottom, and adding more ammunition to the Detroit automakers' case for a congressional lifeline.

"Our industry is in a much more severe situation than the rest of the economy," said Mike DiGiovanni, General Motors Corp.'s executive director of global market and industry analysis. "We cannot continue at these levels or else the entire industry is going to go down."

U.S. auto sales in November fell to 746,789, according to Autodata Corp. On a seasonally adjusted basis, automakers reported an annual sales rate of 10.2 million units, the lowest level since October 1982.

Every major automaker reported a year-over-year sales decline of more than 30 percent when they released their results Tuesday. The Detroit carmakers were among the worst hit, with GM's U.S. sales falling 41 percent and Chrysler LLC's dropping 47 percent. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613686.html http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613686.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
DALLAS . Executives of major U.S. airlines, already seeing signs of slumping travel demand, said Tuesday they were ready to cut more flights, and Delta hinted at more job losses as the carriers jockey to survive the deepening recession.

U.S. airlines have been helped by a sudden drop in jet fuel prices, and they already cut capacity this fall to further reduce costs and drive up fares.

But traffic has fallen even faster than the supply of seats, especially since the stock market went into a nosedive.

"October was a bang-up month, almost unexplainably strong," said Southwest Airlines Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Gary Kelly. "The trends changed in November." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613685.html http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613685.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
Kentucky

Racing veterinarian to appeal suspension in drugs case

The veterinarian in the Patrick Biancone cobra-venom case will appeal his five-year suspension at a hearing Wednesday at the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Dr. Rodney Stewart was suspended after three vials of cobra venom, along with two drugs to treat Parkinson's disease and other improperly labeled medicines were found in a raid of Thoroughbred trainer Biancone's barn at Keeneland in June 2007. Stewart also was fined $2,000 for failing to report Biancone. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613689.html http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613689.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
NEW YORK . The troubles that are part of imaginary life on daytime dramas are hitting those shows for real in the form of budget cuts and dismissals.

Salaries of All My Children regulars including longtime stars Susan Lucci, Michael E. Knight and Ray MacDonnell are seeing their paychecks shrink as part of a cost-cutting policy being applied to all three of ABC's soaps, including One Life to Live and General Hospital .

Without offering specifics, ABC Daytime on Tuesday confirmed a new focus on belt-tightening.

A statement from the network spoke of "carefully and responsibly managing our costs, which include some production cuts, but in ways the audience will not see on screen." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613142.html http://www.kentucky.com/101/story/613142.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:52 EST
Dixieland Band has been pensioned from stud duties at Lane's End Farm near Versailles.

Dixieland Band sired 115 stakes winners, according to a release from the farm, with progeny earnings in excess of $73.7 million,

The 28-year-old remains in good overall health, but his arthritis has prompted his retirement. He will remain at Lane's End.

Dixieland Band won the Grade II Pennsylvania Derby and Grade II Massachusetts Handicap before he was retired in 1985. He is one of the original three stallions to enter stud at Lane's End (the others were Fit to Fight and Hero's Honor). ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614487.html http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614487.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:17 EST
When officers stopped the truck, the man told them he was teaching his son to drive. Officers say the father's speech was slurred, his breath smelled of alcohol and he unable to stand without swaying. Police said an open case of Budweiser beer was in the backseat.

The man was charged with cruelty toward a child and allowing an unlicensed minor to drive. He was released from jail on $2,000 bond. The man did not return a phone call seeking comment.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614647.html http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614647.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:32 EST
The manager of Stromboli Pizza in Allentown says a customer saw one of the restaurant cooks carving up a deer Tuesday. But John Okumus says the venison was not intended for the store.

He says he shot a doe during a hunt and left the carcass in the store's kitchen for pickup by a friend. Okumus says a customer complained to the city health department after seeing a cook mistakenly butcher the deer.

The department investigated the incident but did not issue a citation.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614353.html http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614353.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:42 EST
"My first reaction was - you gotta be kidding," he said Wednesday.

The fisherman who discovered the tarnished ring inside his catch contacted Richardson on Nov. 28 in Buna, about 100 miles northeast of Houston, after tracking him down with help from the Internet.

His fisherman hero asked to remain anonymous.

Richardson, 41, said he lost the ring about two weeks after his 1987 graduation from Universal Technical Institute in Houston. His mom had bought it for about $200 and wasn't pleased when it went missing.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614435.html http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614435.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:33 EST
All of the lobster's excess appendages worked.

Marks trapped the mutated animal about 60 miles south of Newport and hauled her up on Monday.

Marks told the Newport Daily News he sometimes lets lobsters go out of guilt when they look at him funny.

So after showed off the multi-clawed lobster for most of the day, he let her go. She weighed 1.5 pounds and could have sold for $7.50 retail.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614546.html http://www.kentucky.com/523/story/614546.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:07 EST
Police said the driver of the Mazda RX7 accidentally hit the gas instead of the clutch. The driver, who was not ticketed, said she recently bought the car but had only driven it a few times.

Bulldogs Tour owner John La Verne refunded the tour fee although some completed the outing.

La Verne said he's glad the accident wasn't worse, saying Charleston doesn't "need any more ghost stories."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614947.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614947.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:30 EST
David Brannen is thrilled at the forming of the new Anglican Communion in North America.

The rector of St. Andrews Anglican Church in Versailles said his church is part of a denomination that is forming the new communion.

St. Andrews was formed about three years ago and has about 250 members. It is under the authority of the Anglican Church of Uganda, which has split recently with other Anglican communions over homosexuality and other issues.

Brannen is a former priest in the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the United States with ties to the Church of England. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614807.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614807.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:55 EST
The University of Kentucky would drain most of its reserve funds for classroom improvements and scholarships and freeze hiring for as many as 150 positions if forced to cut its budget by 4 percent.

The long-term effects would be severe, the university warned in a three-page draft of how it would carry out a $12.7 million reduction in state funds. Undergraduates "would bear the brunt of the consequences" with less availability of classes causing graduation delays and a possible double-digit tuition increase next year if the cuts are extended.

UK broadly outlined its reduction plan to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education late Wednesday after Gov. Steve Beshear's budget office requested plans from every state agency and pubic university. The state is scrambling to cope with an expected shortfall of $456 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009.

UK's document doesn't put dollar amounts next to each item to be cut but it foreshadows tough days ahead. The state has already scaled back funding to UK by $20 million in the last 11 months. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614743.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614743.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:30 EST
An 18-year-old man faces murder charges after a 2-year-old girl he was charged with raping and beating last week died at the Kentucky Children's Hospital.

Brian Matthew Crabtree is being held in the Fayette County Detention Center on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree assault.

The Fayette County coroner's report said the child, Katelynn Stinnett, was assaulted on Nov. 25 in a home at 2034 Cumins Court off Versailles Road. An autopsy is pending.

According to court documents, police said Crabtree admitted raping the child, plus dropping her several feet to the floor. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614704.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614704.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:15 EST
Versailles police are seeking the public's help in recovering property stolen from the residence of Patricia Last, who has been reported missing since Oct. 1.

Charged in the case with first-degree burglary is Richard Kincaid. "He remains under investigation," said Versailles police officer Pat Melton.

"It's a big puzzle and where the next piece comes from we don't know," Melton said. But "detectives are working very, very hard on this case."

Stolen items include heirloom jewelry and antique furniture. Anyone who received or bought items from Kincaid is asked to contact the Versailles Police Department at (859) 873-3126. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614604.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614604.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:00 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . A Wednesday afternoon fire destroyed a warehouse and office complex in a business park off U.S. 27 known locally as "the drag strip."

No one was hurt in the fire reported at 3:30 p.m. But building owner Mike Simpson said the structure at 204 Normandy Court went quickly.

Simpson, owner of Simpson . Co. Painting Contractors, which has office space in the building, said someone knocked on his door and told him, "You're building's on fire."

"I didn't smell smoke or anything, but I did notice a little bit of white smoke in the parking lot," Simpson said. "And then almost immediately, a little bit of smoke got into my unit, and it just started filling up. I was beside myself: What do I grab? A computer? Payroll checks? My car keys?" ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614557.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614557.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:20 EST
William Gallion, a disbarred Lexington-area lawyer accused of cheating his clients out of millions in a diet-drug lawsuit settlement, is appealing a federal judge's refusal to reschedule his February trial.

Gallion's lawyer, O. Hale Almand, Jr., of Georgia, has repeatedly asked U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves to reschedule the trial because Almand has a trial scheduled for January in Georgia and another trial scheduled for March in Mississippi. Gallion and co-defendant Shirley Cunningham's trial would likely not end before the start of the trial in Mississippi.

Almand filed an appeal this week to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is asking the court to fast track his appeal so he can get a quick ruling.

In a motion filed with the Sixth Circuit, Almand wrote that he told Reeves in July that he had three trials scheduled in Georgia and Mississippi. He has reminded Reeves repeatedly in other motions. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614467.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614467.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:10 EST
Police in Ohio said Wednesday they probably won't file criminal charges against a Lexington Catholic High School hockey player in connection with a serious injury to another player in a game last weekend.

Detective Paul Markowski of the Kettering Police Department said that after talking with referees in the game he could determine no criminal liability in connection with the play that injured Kyle Cannon, 14.

Cannon suffered broken vertebra in his neck and had some lingering paralysis after the incident Sunday.

"It's a tragedy; we're all sorry something like this happened. But it was a sporting event," Markowski said in a telephone interview. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614332.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614332.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:16 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . A Jessamine County man faces an attempted murder charge after he allegedly tried to fire a handgun at his estranged wife, police said.

Robert Gill, 54, of Nicholasville pleaded not guilty earlier this week during an appearance in Jessamine District Court.

The incident allegedly happened at 5:45 p.m. Friday at the Keene Springs Inn restaurant, 209 Keene-South Elkhorn Road. Gill's estranged wife, Deborah, 48, operates the restaurant, Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman said.

"He brandished a weapon and said something like, 'You remember me?' and then pulled the trigger a couple of times," Corman said. "For whatever reason, the gun didn't go off." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613375.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613375.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:13 EST
State Auditor Crit Luallen 's office will examine the finances of Blue Grass Airport after a newspaper story revealed last month that its executive director spent more than $200,000 on travel and other expenses over 27 months.


Luallen confirmed that her office will conduct an audit of the Lexington airport, shortly after the Urban County Council gave tentative approval Tuesday to a resolution by Vice Mayor Jim Gray asking for her help. The measure was placed on the council's Thursday docket in an 11-4 vote.

"The public needs to be reassured that airport funds are being spent as effectively as possible and that strong management controls are in place," Luallen said.

Airport board chairman Bernie Lovely pledged to cooperate with Luallen. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613468.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613468.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:03 EST
Many Kentucky school districts probably would have to dip into contingency funds to absorb a projected 4 percent state budget cut, but that might only postpone the pain, public school superintendents say.

Several superintendents said in interviews Tuesday that, since many districts have built up their contingency funds in anticipation of future needs such as enrollment growth, using the funds to offset a budget cut now might leave some districts short next year or later.

"This current year's cut, if it comes to fruition, will make next year very difficult," predicted Kelley Crain, superintendent of the Fleming County Public Schools and president of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents . "What I'm hearing from the superintendents I've spoken with is that it's going to significantly impact services for kids."

State Education Commissioner Jon Draud has asked the state's 174 public school superintendents to submit reports to him by noon Wednesday, analyzing how a 4 percent state budget reduction would affect their districts. Draud acted in response to Gov. Steve Beshear's directive last week that all state agencies and public universities prepare plans for a 4 percent cut. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613358.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613358.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:11 EST
The official commemorative painting of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was unveiled Tuesday at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Games organizers said the painting by New York sports artist LeRoy Neiman will be displayed in cities around the state to build support for the 16 days of equine competition in 2010 that will decide eight world championships.

The painting, which will be permanently displayed at the park after the Games, is roughly 48 inches tall and 65 inches wide in its frame. It shows each of the eight events in bright reds, blues, greens and yellows that are typical of Neiman's work.

The 87-year-old artist also did the official painting for the 37th Ryder Cup golf tournament in Louisville in August as well as for five Olympiads and four Super Bowls. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613438.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613438.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:11 EST
The University of Kentucky has seen an up-tick in international students this year but not as steep of an increase this fall as the university initially reported.

UK has 212 international undergraduates enrolled, up from 185 in the 2007-2008 academic year, according to corrected figures supplied through UK institutional research department.

That represents a 14.6 percent increase, which is still above the national rate of increase in international students on U.S. campuses. But UK's total of 212 international undergraduates falls short of other key universities of similar size, including the University of Louisville.

The university, last week, incorrectly released 387 as the number of 2008 international undergraduate population. That figure, which was incorrectly stated in the university's Office of International Affairs' 2008 annual report, actually represents the number of international undergraduate applicants. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613414.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613414.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:43 EST
Well, the economists finally made it official this week: We're in a recession. And, guess what? They said it began a year ago.

If you're like the three-fourths of Americans who consider themselves to be "middle class," this probably didn't come as a surprise. Many people feel as if they've been losing economic ground for years. That's because many of them have been.

America has been a generally prosperous nation since World War II, achieving the highest overall standard of living in the planet's history. The reasons are many, including advances in technology and global economic trends that have made goods cheap and available. Americans have been innovative, entrepreneurial and they have worked hard. At times, the nation has made significant public investments in physical infrastructure, such as highways, and social infrastructure, such as schools.

But the pain being felt in this recession has brought new attention to a trend economists have been watching for years: The rich really are getting richer, the poor really are getting poorer and the middle class has been shrinking steadily since the late 1970s. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/611740.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/611740.html Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:34 EST
A grand jury will hear the case against two men accused of hanging an effigy of President-elect Barack Obama.

A Fayette District Court preliminary hearing was scheduled Monday morning for Joe Fischer, 22, and Hunter Bush, 21. However, their attorney, Fred Peters, said they waived their rights to the hearing, letting the case go to the grand jury to consider possible charges.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to give Peters access to the entire University of Kentucky Police investigative report, he said.

In late October, Fischer, a University of Kentucky senior, and Bush were arrested after an effigy of the then-Democratic presidential nominee was found hanging from a tree over a walkway on the University of Kentucky campus. The two men were charged with disorderly conduct and burglary for allegedly taking items from a fraternity house to make the effigy. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/611822.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/611822.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:07 EST
While you were digesting leftover turkey last weekend, 14 endangered whooping cranes were making their way across Western Kentucky.

The birds were following an ultralight aircraft on their way from the Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin to Chassahowitzka and St. Marks national wildlife refuges along Florida's Gulf Coast.

These cranes, the tallest birds in North America, left the Necedah refuge on Oct. 17. Kentucky is one of the seven states that the ultralight-guided migration will fly over before reaching Florida.

The birds passed over Marshall County on Saturday. Each fall, the ultralight guides a group of whooping cranes south. The birds make the return trip the next spring on their own. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/612207.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/612207.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:04 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . Construction won't start on a new city hall as quickly as elected officials had planned.

Last week, the Nicholasville City Commission voted to postpone construction of a new city hall, which will cost $6 million to $7 million. The project will be funded with municipal bonds, but in light of the weakened economy, city officials want to be sure that city revenues continue to come in to make the bond payments.

Postponement is a precautionary move, said Streets Superintendent Gary Goldey, a member of the committee that made the "wait" recommendation to the city commission.

"We're not in any trouble. We're not hurting," Goldey said. "But we certainly don't want to put ourselves in a situation where a glitch or two would put us in a bad situation." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614812.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614812.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:00 EST
A Nicholas County High School student has been diagnosed with whooping cough, according to a letter sent home to parents. The letter also notified parents of a case of chicken pox.

The student with whooping cough has been treated with antibiotics for five days and is now considered non-contagious.

The announcement comes on the heels of Tuesday's news that a student at Shannon Johnson Elementary School in Berea may also have whooping cough.

Whooping cough, formally called pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through tiny drops of fluid from an infected person's nose or mouth. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:55 EST
The University of Kentucky would drain most of its reserve funds for classroom improvements and scholarships and freeze hiring for as many as 150 positions if forced to cut its budget by 4 percent.

The long-term effects would be severe, the university warned in a three-page draft of how it would carry out a $12.7 million reduction in state funds. Undergraduates "would bear the brunt of the consequences" with less availability of classes causing graduation delays and a possible double-digit tuition increase next year if the cuts are extended.

UK broadly outlined its reduction plan to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education late Wednesday after Gov. Steve Beshear's budget office requested plans from every state agency and pubic university. The state is scrambling to cope with an expected shortfall of $456 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009.

UK's document doesn't put dollar amounts next to each item to be cut but it foreshadows tough days ahead. The state has already scaled back funding to UK by $20 million in the last 11 months. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614719.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614719.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:30 EST
Defense attorneys for three men charged in connection with a scheme to tamper with $130 million in state road contracts say the federal government is keeping its investigators from interviewing witnesses in the case.

Lawyers for road contractor Leonard Lawson also say an April jury scheduled to hear arguments in the case should not be presented evidence involving Lawson's political donations because the information is irrelevant and could prejudice a jury.

Lawson, former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert and Lawson employee Brian Billings were indicted in September on a host of charges including conspiracy, bribery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

In defense motions filed Wednesday, lawyers for the three men say that their investigator has been blocked from speaking to various witnesses, including current Transportation Cabinet employees. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614332.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614332.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:16 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . A Jessamine County man faces an attempted murder charge after he allegedly tried to fire a handgun at his estranged wife, police said.

Robert Gill, 54, of Nicholasville pleaded not guilty earlier this week during an appearance in Jessamine District Court.

The incident allegedly happened at 5:45 p.m. Friday at the Keene Springs Inn restaurant, 209 Keene-South Elkhorn Road. Gill's estranged wife, Deborah, 48, operates the restaurant, Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman said.

"He brandished a weapon and said something like, 'You remember me?' and then pulled the trigger a couple of times," Corman said. "For whatever reason, the gun didn't go off." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613711.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613711.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:58 EST
WASHINGTON . The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that environmentalists fear will lead to coal companies burying more Appalachian streams with excess rock and dirt from surface mining.


The change rewrites a 1983 rule that prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop mining within 100 feet of streams. Environmentalists argue that regulators have not properly enforced the rule, and there were some exceptions that allowed mine debris in stream areas. Government figures show that 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted between 2001 and 2005, more than half of them in the mountains of Appalachia.

The 11th-hour change before President Bush leaves office would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams. Mining companies had been pushing for the change for years, and Kentucky elected officials had weighed in on both sides of the debate in recent weeks.

The change also means that President-elect Barack Obama's administration will have to decide whether to try to restore and enforce the rule, a process that could take many months of new rule making. Obama's transition team declined to comment on its plans on Tuesday. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613710.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613710.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:08 EST
More Kentucky students are being encouraged to enroll in college, showing up prepared and graduating, but the state still doesn't do enough to make college affordable, according to a new national report.

The independent report on American higher education flunks all but one state when it comes to affordability . an embarrassing verdict that is unlikely to improve as the economy contracts.

The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education , which evaluates how well higher education is serving the public, handed out F's for affordability to 49 states, including Kentucky, up from 43 two years ago. Only California received a passing grade in the category, a C, thanks to its relatively inexpensive community colleges.

Still, the report shows that Kentucky has hoisted itself up to or above the national average in several key areas. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613680.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613680.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:22 EST
President-elect Barack Obama assured governors of financially strapped states that "help is on the way," Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said Tuesday.

Beshear, attending the National Governors Association meeting in Philadelphia, said Obama told the nation's governors that a financial stimulus package is in the works for states.

The governor also said he invited the president-elect to visit Kentucky, particularly next February in conjunction with the bicentennial celebration of Abraham Lincoln's birthday.

"He did indicate a desire to be in Kentucky and felt like that was an interesting prospect," Beshear said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613149.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613149.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:40 EST
DANVILLE . A Boyle County woman was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison on charges that she sexually and physically abused three girls she adopted after serving as their foster parent.

Patricia Ann Harris, 55, pleaded guilty in September to second-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse and three counts of first-degree criminal abuse.

During Tuesday's sentencing, defense attorney Melissa Bellew said this was the first felony conviction for Harris, and she sought probation for Harris. And in a handwritten letter filed with the court record on Nov. 13, Harris asked for probation from Boyle Circuit Judge Darren Peckler.

"I understand my charges and accept them" Harris wrote to the judge. "I regret those things that I did that were wrong and not a day goes by that I don't pray for forgiveness." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613468.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613468.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:03 EST
Many Kentucky school districts probably would have to dip into contingency funds to absorb a projected 4 percent state budget cut, but that might only postpone the pain, public school superintendents say.

Several superintendents said in interviews Tuesday that, since many districts have built up their contingency funds in anticipation of future needs such as enrollment growth, using the funds to offset a budget cut now might leave some districts short next year or later.

"This current year's cut, if it comes to fruition, will make next year very difficult," predicted Kelley Crain, superintendent of the Fleming County Public Schools and president of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents . "What I'm hearing from the superintendents I've spoken with is that it's going to significantly impact services for kids."

State Education Commissioner Jon Draud has asked the state's 174 public school superintendents to submit reports to him by noon Wednesday, analyzing how a 4 percent state budget reduction would affect their districts. Draud acted in response to Gov. Steve Beshear's directive last week that all state agencies and public universities prepare plans for a 4 percent cut. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613414.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613414.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:43 EST
Well, the economists finally made it official this week: We're in a recession. And, guess what? They said it began a year ago.

If you're like the three-fourths of Americans who consider themselves to be "middle class," this probably didn't come as a surprise. Many people feel as if they've been losing economic ground for years. That's because many of them have been.

America has been a generally prosperous nation since World War II, achieving the highest overall standard of living in the planet's history. The reasons are many, including advances in technology and global economic trends that have made goods cheap and available. Americans have been innovative, entrepreneurial and they have worked hard. At times, the nation has made significant public investments in physical infrastructure, such as highways, and social infrastructure, such as schools.

But the pain being felt in this recession has brought new attention to a trend economists have been watching for years: The rich really are getting richer, the poor really are getting poorer and the middle class has been shrinking steadily since the late 1970s. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613381.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613381.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:32 EST
FALMOUTH . One person has died in a house fire in Pendleton County. Firefighters were called to a home at 199 Moore Road in Williams town about half a mile east of the Pendleton and Grant county line at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, state police said. A body was found among the debris.

State police have not released the victim's name, but the property owner, David Gilliam, said the victim is Kenneth Searp, who had rented the home from him for about four years. Gilliam said Searp, who was about 55 years old, was home alone at the time of the fire.

Gilliam said Searp had recently installed a woodburning stove, which could have caused the fire. He said the home had a furnace, but Searp had lost his job a few months back and was unable to afford the gas needed to run it. "He took care of my farm," Gilliam said. "I didn't have to worry about anything."

Fire crews from Williamstown, Dry Ridge, Falmouth and Pendleton County extinguished the fire. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/612255.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/612255.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:46 EST
An atheists-rights group is suing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security because state law requires the agency to stress "dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

American Atheists of Parsippany, N.J., and 10 non-religious Kentuckians are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, set to be filed Tuesday in Franklin Circuit Court.

Edwin Kagin, a Boone County lawyer and the national legal director of American Atheists , said he was appalled to read in the Herald-Leader last week that state law establishes praising God . and installing a plaque in God's honor . as the first duty of the Homeland Security Office.

The state and federal constitutions both prohibit government from getting involved in religion, Kagin said Monday. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/611896.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/611896.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:04 EST
FRANKFORT . A judge has nixed a potential sale of one-fifth of Curlin, who was recently retired as the winningest racehorse in history.

Boone County Special Judge Roger Crittenden said Monday that, based on a $20 million valuation presented to the court two weeks ago, he thought the $4 million offer for 20 percent of the horse was fair.

But he blocked the sale because of the objections by the minority owners, the disbarred Lexington attorneys William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., and a group of their former clients who later sued them.

"I am ending the process," Crittenden said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/612585.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/612585.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:35 EST
When Gov. Steve Beshear joined other governors to meet with President-elect Barack Obama Monday night, he expected to make a pitch for a stimulus plan for states that could include cash to help struggling programs.

Beshear and other state leaders were scheduled to sit down with Obama in Philadelphia, first at an informal session Monday evening, then in a formal conference Tuesday morning.

"We're going to be talking about a number of possibilities to help us with this situation we find ourselves in," Beshear said. "Obviously an infrastructure stimulus package would help Kentucky as well as other states in helping people get back to work."

Beshear said he and other governors also are expected to ask for help to bolster Medicaid programs and unemployment insurance funds that are running low as jobless rates take off. Beshear also mentioned the possibility of a direct "cash infusion" from the federal government to state coffers, similar to what the Bush administration approved earlier this decade. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/612581.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/612581.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:19 EST
A state drug program designed to help poor patients pay for life-saving and life-sustaining HIV/AIDS drugs could again have a waiting list by April, state health officials said Monday.

As the state paused Monday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day with vigils and other public remembrances, HIV/AIDS clinics in Kentucky and throughout the country are bracing for the return of waiting lists for services because of a drop in federal and state funding.

The Kentucky AIDS Drug Assistance Program, which helps provide HIV/AIDS drugs to 1,300 patients not on Medicaid, Medicare or private insurance, has lost a significant part of its federal and state funding over the past three years.

At the same time, the number of patients who have applied for help to pay for anti-viral drugs . which can cost anywhere between $2,000 and $10,000 a month . has steadily increased, said Sigga Jagne, branch manager for the HIV/AIDS program with the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services. . ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/613682.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/613682.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
Robert D. "Bob" Bell, who served in the administrations of several Kentucky governors and is credited with fostering education reforms, died Nov. 28.

Mr. Bell, 83, was involved with the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education, the Governor's Scholars Program, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and other education-related organizations.

"He was a public servant to the core," said Bob Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee. "He ... understood fully that you can get a lot done if you don't care who gets the credit."

Mr. Bell's son, Larry Bell, said his father was a lifelong Democrat who served under governors Bert Combs, Ned Breathitt, Wendell Ford and Julian Carroll. He was appointed to a number of positions including secretary of natural resources and environmental protection, revenue commissioner, parks commissioner, director of state planning and deputy commissioner of highways. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610739.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610739.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:55 EST
COPENHAGEN, Denmark . Joern Utzon, the Danish architect who designed the iconic Sydney Opera House, has died. He was 90.

Mr. Utzon died from a heart attack in his sleep early Saturday, surrounded by family members in Denmark, his son, Kim Utzon, said. "He had not been doing well these past few days, since Thursday. He had been undergoing a series of operations recently," Kim Utzon said. He declined to give details.

Mr. Utzon, who has been compared to architecture greats such as Alvar Aalto of Finland and Frank Lloyd Wright, drew up the design for the opera house in Sydney, Australia, in 1957. But he quit the project in 1966 . seven years before it was finished . after scandals about cost blowouts and design arguments. Government-appointed architects took over; the interior was not completed to Mr. Utzon's original plan.

Although considered an architectural masterpiece, the Sydney Opera House has been criticized for poor acoustics in the Concert Hall and a lack of performance and backstage space in the Opera Theater. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610740.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610740.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:55 EST
ALEXANDRIA, Pa. . The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97.

The Rev. Docherty died Thursday at his home in central Pennsylvania, according to his wife, Sue Docherty.

She said her husband of 36 years had been in failing health for about three years.

"George said he was going to live to be a hundred and he was determined," she said in a telephone interview Saturday. "It's amazing that he was with us this long." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/609048.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/609048.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:07 EST
Prasad Krishna Kadaba, a retired electrical engineering professor at the University of Kentucky and a two-time Fulbright Scholar who survived an airplane hijacking in 1970, died Thursday. He was 84.

Mr. Kadaba died of heart failure at his home in Newtown Square, Pa.

Mr. Kadaba won Fulbright Scholarships in 1973 and 1989 to pursue research at the University of Ljubljana in the former Yugoslavia, now Slovenia.

He spent nearly five decades on the faculty of UK's engineering school, remaining a professor emeritus after moving to Pennsylvania to be near his daughter's family. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/215/story/613681.html http://www.kentucky.com/215/story/613681.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
In a story on Page D3 in Saturday's City | Region section about a Ten Commandments case in Grayson County, The Associated Press reported erroneously that two attorneys would split more than $44,000 in attorneys fees awarded by a judge. U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley awarded the attorney fees to the plaintiffs . Raymond Harper, Ed Meredith and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. The judge's order did not specify the disposition of the fees. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/607498.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/607498.html Thu, 27 Nov 2008 02:42 EST
Ernest and Angela Turner have something many of us would love to have, not just on this day of giving thanks, but any day of the year.

No, it's not love of family or joy or peace of mind, although they do have and cherish those things.

The Turners have a mortgage that is paid off. And it's not just any old mortgage.

They are the first family in Lexington to pay off the mortgage on their Habitat for Humanity house in which they still live. And they did it two years early. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/604882.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/604882.html Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
Because of the economic downturn and winter's early visit this year, a lot more people are vying for help from a shrunken pool of donors.

And while well-established charities such as the Salvation Army's Angel Tree and its Mountain of Love, and the Firefighter Toy Program are struggling to satisfy the increased need in Fayette County, smaller local charities are struggling, too.

One of those agencies is the Manchester Center.

Marty Jones, executive director of the center, said the organization began in 1939 as a library founded by Frances VanMeter for the children of Irishtown, just south of downtown Lexington, a very poor community that was settled by the working-class Irish who had fled the potato famine in Ireland. It officially became the Manchester Center in 1952 and eventually also served residents of Davis Bottom, Speigle Heights, Smithtown and Thompson Road, some of the more deprived and forgotten areas of Fayette County. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614743.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614743.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:30 EST
An 18-year-old man faces murder charges after a 2-year-old girl he was charged with raping and beating last week died at the Kentucky Children's Hospital.

Brian Matthew Crabtree is being held in the Fayette County Detention Center on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree assault.

The Fayette County coroner's report said the child, Katelynn Stinnett, was assaulted on Nov. 25 in a home at 2034 Cumins Court off Versailles Road. An autopsy is pending.

According to court documents, police said Crabtree admitted raping the child, plus dropping her several feet to the floor. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614704.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614704.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:15 EST
Versailles police are seeking the public's help in recovering property stolen from the residence of Patricia Last, who has been reported missing since Oct. 1.

Charged in the case with first-degree burglary is Richard Kincaid. "He remains under investigation," said Versailles police officer Pat Melton.

"It's a big puzzle and where the next piece comes from we don't know," Melton said. But "detectives are working very, very hard on this case."

Stolen items include heirloom jewelry and antique furniture. Anyone who received or bought items from Kincaid is asked to contact the Versailles Police Department at (859) 873-3126. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614604.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614604.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:00 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . A Wednesday afternoon fire destroyed a warehouse and office complex in a business park off U.S. 27 known locally as "the drag strip."

No one was hurt in the fire reported at 3:30 p.m. But building owner Mike Simpson said the structure at 204 Normandy Court went quickly.

Simpson, owner of Simpson . Co. Painting Contractors, which has office space in the building, said someone knocked on his door and told him, "You're building's on fire."

"I didn't smell smoke or anything, but I did notice a little bit of white smoke in the parking lot," Simpson said. "And then almost immediately, a little bit of smoke got into my unit, and it just started filling up. I was beside myself: What do I grab? A computer? Payroll checks? My car keys?" ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614557.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614557.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:20 EST
William Gallion, a disbarred Lexington-area lawyer accused of cheating his clients out of millions in a diet-drug lawsuit settlement, is appealing a federal judge's refusal to reschedule his February trial.

Gallion's lawyer, O. Hale Almand, Jr., of Georgia, has repeatedly asked U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves to reschedule the trial because Almand has a trial scheduled for January in Georgia and another trial scheduled for March in Mississippi. Gallion and co-defendant Shirley Cunningham's trial would likely not end before the start of the trial in Mississippi.

Almand filed an appeal this week to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. He is asking the court to fast track his appeal so he can get a quick ruling.

In a motion filed with the Sixth Circuit, Almand wrote that he told Reeves in July that he had three trials scheduled in Georgia and Mississippi. He has reminded Reeves repeatedly in other motions. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614467.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614467.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:10 EST
Police in Ohio said Wednesday they probably won't file criminal charges against a Lexington Catholic High School hockey player in connection with a serious injury to another player in a game last weekend.

Detective Paul Markowski of the Kettering Police Department said that after talking with referees in the game he could determine no criminal liability in connection with the play that injured Kyle Cannon, 14.

Cannon suffered broken vertebra in his neck and had some lingering paralysis after the incident Sunday.

"It's a tragedy; we're all sorry something like this happened. But it was a sporting event," Markowski said in a telephone interview. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614332.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614332.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:16 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . A Jessamine County man faces an attempted murder charge after he allegedly tried to fire a handgun at his estranged wife, police said.

Robert Gill, 54, of Nicholasville pleaded not guilty earlier this week during an appearance in Jessamine District Court.

The incident allegedly happened at 5:45 p.m. Friday at the Keene Springs Inn restaurant, 209 Keene-South Elkhorn Road. Gill's estranged wife, Deborah, 48, operates the restaurant, Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman said.

"He brandished a weapon and said something like, 'You remember me?' and then pulled the trigger a couple of times," Corman said. "For whatever reason, the gun didn't go off." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613375.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613375.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:13 EST
State Auditor Crit Luallen 's office will examine the finances of Blue Grass Airport after a newspaper story revealed last month that its executive director spent more than $200,000 on travel and other expenses over 27 months.


Luallen confirmed that her office will conduct an audit of the Lexington airport, shortly after the Urban County Council gave tentative approval Tuesday to a resolution by Vice Mayor Jim Gray asking for her help. The measure was placed on the council's Thursday docket in an 11-4 vote.

"The public needs to be reassured that airport funds are being spent as effectively as possible and that strong management controls are in place," Luallen said.

Airport board chairman Bernie Lovely pledged to cooperate with Luallen. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613468.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613468.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:03 EST
Many Kentucky school districts probably would have to dip into contingency funds to absorb a projected 4 percent state budget cut, but that might only postpone the pain, public school superintendents say.

Several superintendents said in interviews Tuesday that, since many districts have built up their contingency funds in anticipation of future needs such as enrollment growth, using the funds to offset a budget cut now might leave some districts short next year or later.

"This current year's cut, if it comes to fruition, will make next year very difficult," predicted Kelley Crain, superintendent of the Fleming County Public Schools and president of the Kentucky Association of School Superintendents . "What I'm hearing from the superintendents I've spoken with is that it's going to significantly impact services for kids."

State Education Commissioner Jon Draud has asked the state's 174 public school superintendents to submit reports to him by noon Wednesday, analyzing how a 4 percent state budget reduction would affect their districts. Draud acted in response to Gov. Steve Beshear's directive last week that all state agencies and public universities prepare plans for a 4 percent cut. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613358.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613358.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:11 EST
The official commemorative painting of the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games was unveiled Tuesday at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Games organizers said the painting by New York sports artist LeRoy Neiman will be displayed in cities around the state to build support for the 16 days of equine competition in 2010 that will decide eight world championships.

The painting, which will be permanently displayed at the park after the Games, is roughly 48 inches tall and 65 inches wide in its frame. It shows each of the eight events in bright reds, blues, greens and yellows that are typical of Neiman's work.

The 87-year-old artist also did the official painting for the 37th Ryder Cup golf tournament in Louisville in August as well as for five Olympiads and four Super Bowls. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613438.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/613438.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:11 EST
The University of Kentucky has seen an up-tick in international students this year but not as steep of an increase this fall as the university initially reported.

UK has 212 international undergraduates enrolled, up from 185 in the 2007-2008 academic year, according to corrected figures supplied through UK institutional research department.

That represents a 14.6 percent increase, which is still above the national rate of increase in international students on U.S. campuses. But UK's total of 212 international undergraduates falls short of other key universities of similar size, including the University of Louisville.

The university, last week, incorrectly released 387 as the number of 2008 international undergraduate population. That figure, which was incorrectly stated in the university's Office of International Affairs' 2008 annual report, actually represents the number of international undergraduate applicants. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/518760.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/518760.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:35 EDT
Lexington took a step toward building a new Urban County Government Center Tuesday.

The Urban County Council tentatively approved hiring FM Solutions to draft a request for proposal that includes a location study and specifications to begin the design phase for a new city hall.

Hiring FM Solutions, a Phoenix-based facilities management firm, still requires two official council readings for final approval. First reading is scheduled for Thursday.

The council also unanimously agreed to appoint a task force to work with FM Solutions as it prepares the draft proposal. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/517876.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/517876.html Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:55 EDT
The Urban County Council will decide Tuesday whether to adopt a resolution indicating it is willing to create a TIF district around the downtown CentrePointe hotel and condominium project.

If approved, the resolution will go to council for a first reading Thursday. Because the developers and the city administration want to hurry CentrePointe's tax increment financing application along to Frankfort, the council could suspend its rules Thursday and give the resolution a second reading.

A draft of the resolution, obtained Monday, directs the city's TIF consultant, Jim Parsons, to prepare a development plan for the Phoenix Park/Courthouse Development Area. The plan would outline the district boundaries and the proposed public improvement projects and costs, and give the overall rationale for establishing the district.

Tax increment financing is an incentive program to revitalize blighted urban areas. It works by capturing new taxes from a revitalized area to pay upfront for public improvements. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/490399.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/490399.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:01 EDT
Friday is Joe Rosenberg's last day at Joe Rosenberg Jewelers on South Upper Street. Monday will be his first day at Joe Rosenberg Jewelers on East Main Street.

The new store will be one block down and two over, on the ground floor of Barrister Hall, 163 East Main Street.

As he stood behind the counter of the emptying Upper Street store Thursday, the 54-year-old Rosenberg was not melancholy about leaving the only family business location he has known.

.This was an interim stop on our way to the next stop,. he said Thursday. .The institution is the business, not the building.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/481135.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/481135.html Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:10 EDT
Developers of the downtown CentrePointe project declined Tuesday to publicly identify the project's financial backers, a stance that led to some tense moments in front of a city task force.

Vice Mayor Jim Gray wanted a letter from the investors saying the money has been pledged to build CentrePointe. Previously, developers have said the project would cost $250 million, but a financial impact analysis released Tuesday put the cost at $205 million.

.We want to guarantee this project goes forward,. Gray said.

In answer to Gray's question about revealing the investors, attorney Darby Turner, representing developer The Webb Companies, said, .No, we won't do that.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/473269.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/473269.html Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:29 EDT
In five years, if you come downtown on a Saturday morning you might be able to park in an underground parking structure in Phoenix Park, then pass public art as you walk to the permanent facility for the Farmers Market.

These and other public improvements might come to pass if Lexington succeeds in getting tax increment financing in a partnership with developers of the $250 million downtown CentrePointe hotel complex.

How much money the city will get isn't known at this point, but it announced a wish list last week of six projects with a total price tag of $32 million. Any money available depends on the sale of the TIF bonds. With the city's prospects hinging on the tax increment financing plan, here are a few main points of just how TIF works:

Question: What's a TIF? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/472319.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/472319.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:39 EDT
.At this point, it.s a done deal,. said Hayward Wilkirson, leader of Preserve Lexington, on Saturday.

Last week, the group.s legal efforts stalled when a circuit judge declined to issue a temporary injunction halting the destruction of some of the buildings on the block.

A day later, a demolition crew destroyed the building once occupied by Rite Aid and has now begun stripping away portions of the exterior of the buildings that once held The Dame nightclub and Buster.s bar.

Preserve Lexington.s last option would have been a tentative Sept. 18 hearing before the city.s Planning Commission. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613982.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613982.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:42 EST
WPSD reports the packages were wrapped in Christmas paper, sealed with purple duct tape and addressed to two judges.

Jailer Adams says a man who has a criminal history dropped off the packages Tuesday and rushed out of the door. It turned out the packages were not a danger but the judges were concerned about the safety of inmates.

The Paducah Bomb Squad took X-rays of the packages and used a used a water cannon to blow them apart after it was unable able to determine what was inside.

Police are looking for the man who deliver the packages.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614113.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614113.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:12 EST
Alpha now expects earnings to range between $175 million and $185 million this year. That's down from an earlier range of $230 million to $270 million.

Blame for much of the Abingdon, Va.-based company's woes rests with the steel industry. The slowing economy has slashed demand for steel. In turn, that's hurting demand for raw materials such as iron ore and metallurgical-grade coal, which is used to fuel steel mill blast furnaces.

Alpha is trimming its fourth-quarter estimate of metallurgical coal shipments by 500,000 tons because customers are deferring delivery of shipments. One customer has asked to reopen negotiations for a 2009 metallurgical coal contract, the company said.

"Business has slowed. A lot of metals go into capital-spending related uses and if companies cut their capital spending, that has a meaningful impact," said Charles Bradford, a steel industry analyst with Bradford Research/Soleil Securities.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614215.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614215.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:27 EST
Metcalfe County Corner Larry Wilson says 14-year-old Colton Marshall of Summersville accidentally shot himself while hunting with his uncle in Metcalfe County on Thanksgiving Day.

The Glasgow Daily Times reports that Marshall tried to fire a single-shot shotgun but nothing happened so he turned the gun around and it discharged.

Metcalfe County Sheriff's Deputy Mark Jandt says a round struck Marshall in the neck.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614574.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614574.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:32 EST
Defense attorney Larry Mackey filed a motion Wednesday on behalf of Leonard Lawson, who was indicted in September along with one of his employees and a former top-ranking state official. Mackey said allowing prosecutors to introduce campaign contributions would be prejudicial and irrelevant.

A wealthy businessman, Lawson is widely known for his contributions to political and humanitarian causes in Appalachia. The Leonard Lawson Cancer Center in Pikeville is named in his honor. Lawson, his family and his companies have a long history of supporting political candidates running for state and federal offices.

Mackey supplemented his motion with references to newspaper articles about Lawson's philanthropy, including one from the Lexington Herald-Leader that said the road contractor, his family and employees have given at least $473,000 to candidates since 2004.

"The history of campaign contributions by Lawson, his family and employees already has become front page news, with the media treating the contributions as evidence of Lawson's guilt," Mackey said in the motion. He went on to say that he fears "the jury would similarly equate legal campaign contributions with guilt."]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614760.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614760.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:27 EST
The announcement represents a new challenge to the already splintering, 77-million-member world Anglican fellowship and the authority of its spiritual leader, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

The new Anglican Church in North America includes four breakaway Episcopal dioceses, dozens of individual parishes in the U.S. and Canada, and splinter groups that left the Anglican family years, or in one case, more than a century ago.

Its future status in the Anglican Communion is unclear.

It is unprecedented for an Anglican national province to be created where any other such national church already exists. But traditionalists say the new group is needed to represent the true historic tradition of Anglican Christianity.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:55 EST
The University of Kentucky would drain most of its reserve funds for classroom improvements and scholarships and freeze hiring for as many as 150 positions if forced to cut its budget by 4 percent.

The long-term effects would be severe, the university warned in a three-page draft of how it would carry out a $12.7 million reduction in state funds. Undergraduates "would bear the brunt of the consequences" with less availability of classes causing graduation delays and a possible double-digit tuition increase next year if the cuts are extended.

UK broadly outlined its reduction plan to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education late Wednesday after Gov. Steve Beshear's budget office requested plans from every state agency and pubic university. The state is scrambling to cope with an expected shortfall of $456 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009.

UK's document doesn't put dollar amounts next to each item to be cut but it foreshadows tough days ahead. The state has already scaled back funding to UK by $20 million in the last 11 months. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614719.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614719.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:30 EST
Defense attorneys for three men charged in connection with a scheme to tamper with $130 million in state road contracts say the federal government is keeping its investigators from interviewing witnesses in the case.

Lawyers for road contractor Leonard Lawson also say an April jury scheduled to hear arguments in the case should not be presented evidence involving Lawson's political donations because the information is irrelevant and could prejudice a jury.

Lawson, former Transportation Secretary Bill Nighbert and Lawson employee Brian Billings were indicted in September on a host of charges including conspiracy, bribery, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

In defense motions filed Wednesday, lawyers for the three men say that their investigator has been blocked from speaking to various witnesses, including current Transportation Cabinet employees. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614332.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614332.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:16 EST
NICHOLASVILLE . A Jessamine County man faces an attempted murder charge after he allegedly tried to fire a handgun at his estranged wife, police said.

Robert Gill, 54, of Nicholasville pleaded not guilty earlier this week during an appearance in Jessamine District Court.

The incident allegedly happened at 5:45 p.m. Friday at the Keene Springs Inn restaurant, 209 Keene-South Elkhorn Road. Gill's estranged wife, Deborah, 48, operates the restaurant, Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman said.

"He brandished a weapon and said something like, 'You remember me?' and then pulled the trigger a couple of times," Corman said. "For whatever reason, the gun didn't go off." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613711.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613711.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:58 EST
WASHINGTON . The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that environmentalists fear will lead to coal companies burying more Appalachian streams with excess rock and dirt from surface mining.


The change rewrites a 1983 rule that prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop mining within 100 feet of streams. Environmentalists argue that regulators have not properly enforced the rule, and there were some exceptions that allowed mine debris in stream areas. Government figures show that 535 miles of streams were buried or diverted between 2001 and 2005, more than half of them in the mountains of Appalachia.

The 11th-hour change before President Bush leaves office would eliminate a tool that citizens groups have used in lawsuits to keep mining waste out of streams. Mining companies had been pushing for the change for years, and Kentucky elected officials had weighed in on both sides of the debate in recent weeks.

The change also means that President-elect Barack Obama's administration will have to decide whether to try to restore and enforce the rule, a process that could take many months of new rule making. Obama's transition team declined to comment on its plans on Tuesday. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613710.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/613710.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 10:08 EST
More Kentucky students are being encouraged to enroll in college, showing up prepared and graduating, but the state still doesn't do enough to make college affordable, according to a new national report.

The independent report on American higher education flunks all but one state when it comes to affordability . an embarrassing verdict that is unlikely to improve as the economy contracts.

The biennial study by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education , which evaluates how well higher education is serving the public, handed out F's for affordability to 49 states, including Kentucky, up from 43 two years ago. Only California received a passing grade in the category, a C, thanks to its relatively inexpensive community colleges.

Still, the report shows that Kentucky has hoisted itself up to or above the national average in several key areas. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610739.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610739.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:55 EST
COPENHAGEN, Denmark . Joern Utzon, the Danish architect who designed the iconic Sydney Opera House, has died. He was 90.

Mr. Utzon died from a heart attack in his sleep early Saturday, surrounded by family members in Denmark, his son, Kim Utzon, said. "He had not been doing well these past few days, since Thursday. He had been undergoing a series of operations recently," Kim Utzon said. He declined to give details.

Mr. Utzon, who has been compared to architecture greats such as Alvar Aalto of Finland and Frank Lloyd Wright, drew up the design for the opera house in Sydney, Australia, in 1957. But he quit the project in 1966 . seven years before it was finished . after scandals about cost blowouts and design arguments. Government-appointed architects took over; the interior was not completed to Mr. Utzon's original plan.

Although considered an architectural masterpiece, the Sydney Opera House has been criticized for poor acoustics in the Concert Hall and a lack of performance and backstage space in the Opera Theater. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610740.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/610740.html Sun, 30 Nov 2008 02:55 EST
ALEXANDRIA, Pa. . The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97.

The Rev. Docherty died Thursday at his home in central Pennsylvania, according to his wife, Sue Docherty.

She said her husband of 36 years had been in failing health for about three years.

"George said he was going to live to be a hundred and he was determined," she said in a telephone interview Saturday. "It's amazing that he was with us this long." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/609048.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/609048.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:07 EST
Prasad Krishna Kadaba, a retired electrical engineering professor at the University of Kentucky and a two-time Fulbright Scholar who survived an airplane hijacking in 1970, died Thursday. He was 84.

Mr. Kadaba died of heart failure at his home in Newtown Square, Pa.

Mr. Kadaba won Fulbright Scholarships in 1973 and 1989 to pursue research at the University of Ljubljana in the former Yugoslavia, now Slovenia.

He spent nearly five decades on the faculty of UK's engineering school, remaining a professor emeritus after moving to Pennsylvania to be near his daughter's family. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/609319.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/609319.html Sat, 29 Nov 2008 02:47 EST
NEW YORK . Playwright William Gibson, whose The Miracle Worker has thrilled audiences for nearly half a century with the true story of the deaf and blind Helen Keller's rescue from a world of ignorance, has died. He was 94.

Mr. Gibson died Tuesday in Stockbridge, Mass., according to the Finnerty . Stevens Funeral Home in Great Barrington.

Mr. Gibson wrote a dozen plays, including the Tony-winning Two for the Seesaw , but would be forever known for The Miracle Worker . First written for television, the story of a young Keller forging a relationship with her teacher, Annie Sullivan, made its Broadway debut in 1959.

"Nothing in the theater this season is so overwhelming as the last inarticulate but eloquent scene in which a frantic little girl for the first time understands the meaning of a word and realizes that the teacher is not a fiend but a friend," New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote. "One small but blinding ray of light has penetrated the frightening darkness." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/785/story/613414.html http://www.kentucky.com/785/story/613414.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:43 EST
Well, the economists finally made it official this week: We're in a recession. And, guess what? They said it began a year ago.

If you're like the three-fourths of Americans who consider themselves to be "middle class," this probably didn't come as a surprise. Many people feel as if they've been losing economic ground for years. That's because many of them have been.

America has been a generally prosperous nation since World War II, achieving the highest overall standard of living in the planet's history. The reasons are many, including advances in technology and global economic trends that have made goods cheap and available. Americans have been innovative, entrepreneurial and they have worked hard. At times, the nation has made significant public investments in physical infrastructure, such as highways, and social infrastructure, such as schools.

But the pain being felt in this recession has brought new attention to a trend economists have been watching for years: The rich really are getting richer, the poor really are getting poorer and the middle class has been shrinking steadily since the late 1970s. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/612579.html http://www.kentucky.com/139/story/612579.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:43 EST
Earl Washington knows what it is like to be 18 and itching to be free of the constraints of the foster care system he called home for 10 years.

Jeff Culver knows what it is like to help young people like Washington who age out of foster care but who have very little support to help them succeed in life.

With experiences on both sides of the foster care fence, the two men have established a non-profit agency called Fostering Goodwill, which focuses on the youth who are legally adults but who might not have the skills to maneuver in the adult world.

"We always talked about starting something for older foster youth," Washington said, "those who are about to age out and up to 23 or 24. People just want to get rid of them." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614947.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614947.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:30 EST
David Brannen is thrilled at the forming of the new Anglican Communion in North America.

The rector of St. Andrews Anglican Church in Versailles said his church is part of a denomination that is forming the new communion.

St. Andrews was formed about three years ago and has about 250 members. It is under the authority of the Anglican Church of Uganda, which has split recently with other Anglican communions over homosexuality and other issues.

Brannen is a former priest in the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the United States with ties to the Church of England. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614807.html http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/614807.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:55 EST
The University of Kentucky would drain most of its reserve funds for classroom improvements and scholarships and freeze hiring for as many as 150 positions if forced to cut its budget by 4 percent.

The long-term effects would be severe, the university warned in a three-page draft of how it would carry out a $12.7 million reduction in state funds. Undergraduates "would bear the brunt of the consequences" with less availability of classes causing graduation delays and a possible double-digit tuition increase next year if the cuts are extended.

UK broadly outlined its reduction plan to the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education late Wednesday after Gov. Steve Beshear's budget office requested plans from every state agency and pubic university. The state is scrambling to cope with an expected shortfall of $456 million this fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2009.

UK's document doesn't put dollar amounts next to each item to be cut but it foreshadows tough days ahead. The state has already scaled back funding to UK by $20 million in the last 11 months. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/518694.html http://www.kentucky.com/834/story/518694.html Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:55 EDT
A resolution to move forward with a tax-increment financing project related to CentrePointe, a 35-story hotel, condominium and retail complex, was narrowly passed by Lexington city council members Tuesday. While the vote to officially adopt the resolution comes Thursday, much of the fighting was done at the Urban County Council work session.

In an 8-to-7 vote, council members agreed to place a resolution on their Thursday docket to direct the city to create a plan stating boundaries for the Phoenix Park/Courthouse Development Area, the projects to be included and their costs.

Some questions about the CentrePointe development were answered Tuesday. J.W. Marriott will be the hotel in the CentrePointe complex, The Webb Companies attorney Darby Turner said. The reduction of office space in CentrePointe from 85,000 square feet to 50,000 was because Marriott wanted an additional 30,000 square feet for meeting space.

Turner said the builder will be Bovis construction company and to expect footers to be coming out of the ground in December for the parking garage. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613866.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613866.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:07 EST
North Carolina-based Appalachian Voices and others blasted Tuesday's Environmental Protection Agency decision to endorse the mining rule as the death of freshwater streams and the likely start of a new surge in mountaintop removal surface mining across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Although the regulation applies to all coal mines, mountaintop removal operations are of special interest in Appalachia, where surface mines now outnumber those underground.

An EPA study estimated 400,000 acres of forest were wiped out and nearly 724 miles of streams buried between 1985 and 2001 by mountaintop mining, in which forests are clear cut and holes are drilled to blast apart rock. Massive machines, some with buckets big enough to hold 24 compact cars, scoop coal from the exposed seams.

The rock and dirt left behind is dumped into adjacent valleys, changing the natural shape of the earth, lowering the height of the mountain and covering streams.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/215/story/613681.html http://www.kentucky.com/215/story/613681.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
In a story on Page D3 in Saturday's City | Region section about a Ten Commandments case in Grayson County, The Associated Press reported erroneously that two attorneys would split more than $44,000 in attorneys fees awarded by a judge. U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley awarded the attorney fees to the plaintiffs . Raymond Harper, Ed Meredith and the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky. The judge's order did not specify the disposition of the fees. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614812.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614812.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:00 EST
A Nicholas County High School student has been diagnosed with whooping cough, according to a letter sent home to parents. The letter also notified parents of a case of chicken pox.

The student with whooping cough has been treated with antibiotics for five days and is now considered non-contagious.

The announcement comes on the heels of Tuesday's news that a student at Shannon Johnson Elementary School in Berea may also have whooping cough.

Whooping cough, formally called pertussis, is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through tiny drops of fluid from an infected person's nose or mouth. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/613682.html http://www.kentucky.com/219/story/613682.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
Robert D. "Bob" Bell, who served in the administrations of several Kentucky governors and is credited with fostering education reforms, died Nov. 28.

Mr. Bell, 83, was involved with the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education, the Governor's Scholars Program, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence and other education-related organizations.

"He was a public servant to the core," said Bob Sexton, executive director of the Prichard Committee. "He ... understood fully that you can get a lot done if you don't care who gets the credit."

Mr. Bell's son, Larry Bell, said his father was a lifelong Democrat who served under governors Bert Combs, Ned Breathitt, Wendell Ford and Julian Carroll. He was appointed to a number of positions including secretary of natural resources and environmental protection, revenue commissioner, parks commissioner, director of state planning and deputy commissioner of highways. ]]>