Man arrested after stealing paddy wagon
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:33 EST
Lexington police have arrested a man accused of stealing a paddy wagon.
Police told WKYT-TV that the incident happened around 10 p.m. Friday night.
An officer left the keys in the vehicle when he went to pick up a prisoner. Police said the officer said he locked the vehicle, but apparently didn't realize there's a security feature that unlocks it if the keys are inside.
A suspect jumped in and took off. Police stopped the man a short time later and charged him with theft by unlawful taking and operating a vehicle with no license.
The man has not been identified.
Human rights for Native Americans should be a priority
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:09 EST
It didn't get much fanfare around here and I missed any mention on TV, but on Nov. 5, hundreds of Native American tribal leaders gathered in Washington, D.C., fulfilling a campaign promise President Barack Obama made.
One representative from each of the 564 federally recognized tribes was invited and nearly 400 came to the White House Tribal Nations Conference.
As perhaps the most forgotten Americans, they came hoping to be recognized, acknowledged and helped.
In his opening address, Obama called the leaders "our first Americans," and acknowledged that this country and this government had a violent history with Indians, one that was filled with broken treaties and broken promises.
In recent years, Washington decided what was best for the tribes, he said, without consulting them.
Ky. distillers seek simpler sampling law
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:35 EST
Kentucky's bourbon distillers are seeking a change in state law to promote more sampling of their whiskey.
The change would make it easier for distillers to set up sampling booths at conventions, conferences, liquor stores, restaurants and special events, said Eric Gregory, president of the Kentucky Distillers' Association.
Gregory told a recent legislative hearing that the proposal would bring Kentucky's laws regarding the promotional sampling of distilled spirits "up to date with modern marketing practices," The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported.
Under current law, liquor license holders can apply for special licenses to conduct samplings. Distillers themselves, however, are not permitted to offer samples outside their premises.
That means master distillers can't be on hand at samplings to discuss and promote their products, Gregory said.
Idle Hour to consider Bowie next week
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:09 EST
The Idle Hour Country Club board will discuss the membership application of former University of Kentucky basketball player Sam Bowie on Monday, said board chairman Phil Scott.
If accepted, Bowie would become the first African-American member at the country club on Richmond Road.
In the past, Idle Hour has been criticized for having no black members. Bowie said in an interview this week that he didn't seek membership to end the criticism.
Scott said Friday that current members at Idle Hour nominated the Bowie family, as is the club's policy in all cases.
"We have no restrictions with respect to race, color, creed, national origin," Scott said. "Membership is made up of a diverse group of folks that enjoy one another's company. That's the sum total of it."
Lexington mayor calls for 5% budget cut
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:10 EST
Lexington might consider layoffs, pay cuts, furloughs, eliminating city programs and other steps to make up for an estimated $12 million to $13 million revenue shortfall, Mayor Jim Newberry announced Friday.
He asked city division directors to propose ways to cut expenses.
Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for Newberry, said the directors were asked to find ways to cut their budgets by 5 percent "as a reference point."
But, she said, "our request is for them to come back with as many (cuts) as they can."
The directors were asked to report back by Dec. 2. A budget-reduction plan will be presented to the Urban County Council in January.
Ex-Garrard firefighter gets 10 years
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:18 EST
LANCASTER The former secretary and treasurer for the Buckeye Volunteer Fire Department was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for stealing thousands of dollars from the organization.
The amount Kenneth D. Tullar owes in restitution is still in dispute, but it's somewhere between $20,000 and nearly $73,000. However, one thing is not in dispute, as far as the fire department's board members are concerned.
"He left the fire department almost in financial bankruptcy," said Jerry Dick, Buckeye's current treasurer. "The board has managed to save that fire department by the hair of the chinny-chin-chin, so to speak."
"What he did, he put everybody in jeopardy," said Fred Lear, president of the department. "That was money we could have used for better equipment."
Tullar was indicted in March 2008 on 16 counts of theft by unlawful taking over $300. He was secretary and treasurer for the rural fire department from 2001 to 2008 and was accused of writing checks for personal purchases from the department's account.
MSHA to target black lung's cause
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:23 EST
The nation's new top mine-safety regulator plans to move quickly on a plan to lower coal miners' exposure to dust that can cause crippling black-lung disease.
Joseph Main, head of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, did not release specifics of the plan during a telephone news conference Friday.
However, he referred to longstanding calls for the agency to cut by half the limit on breathable dust in mines.
Main also discussed providing devices to miners that would allow them to constantly monitor the level of dust where they are working. Measures used to test dust now don't give immediate results, Main said.
"I think you'll see our comprehensive plan on ending black lung unveiled" in about two weeks, Main said.
Keeneland to convert muck into biofuel
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:18 EST
With at least 300 horses stabled at Keeneland at any time, and as many as 1,900 during peak horse sales, disposing of tons of straw and manure shoveled every day from barn stalls becomes a major environmental challenge for the racetrack.
On Friday, Keeneland received a conditional-use permit from the Board of Adjustment to establish a processing plant to convert muck into biofuel on property zoned for agriculture.
"It's a somewhat experimental idea. We thought we ought to give them a shot," said Jim Marx, senior planner for the Board of Adjustment.
Keeneland is in negotiations with Three Seconds To Oil of Albany, Ga., to set up two mobile units that would convert muck or any carbon-based product including grass, paper, pine needles or vines into a liquid biofuel.
A contract has not been signed, "but we're considering it very, very strongly," said John Howard, Keeneland's projects administrator. The track wanted to have zoning in place, assuming the deal will be approved.
Iraq vet gets 12 years on child-porn case
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:20 EST
An Army veteran who pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography was sentenced Friday in federal court to 12 years and seven months in prison.
Patrick Michael Reilly, 31, of Clarksville, Tenn., sent five videos of child pornography to a woman in Mercer County during online chats in January and February of 2008, according to a plea agreement. Reilly also asked a Hardin County woman to send him a disc of child pornography while he was stationed in Iraq in 2006. Reilly then asked these women to help him set up sexual encounters with children.
"I don't know how I got so far off the beaten path," Reilly said during sentencing in U.S. District Court in Lexington.
Reilly was arrested on child pornography charges in March 2008 at his home in Tennessee, according to the plea agreement. Federal investigators seized a computer that had more than 1,000 photos and about 70 videos that contained children involved in sexual acts. Some of the children involved were as young as 4 to 6 years old, the plea agreement stated.
Reilly also had been involved in more than 300 online chats with about 49 people with whom he traded child pornography, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hydee R. Hawkins said during sentencing.
Report pins riot on lockdown, restrictions
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:24 EST
The main cause of the fiery riot at Northpoint Training Center near Danville in August was inmate anger over a lockdown and restrictions imposed following a fight, according to a 22-page report released Friday by the state Department of Corrections.
"The riot was a spontaneous and uncoordinated reaction by inmates to the news that their movement would be controlled for security reasons," J. Michael Brown, secretary of Kentucky's Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, said after the report was released.
The report, based on an investigation by a four-person team of current and former corrections employees, said the facility, built as a mental hospital in 1940, "did not provide the level of security necessary to prevent inmates from participating in a destructive disturbance."
Previously, some inmates' families and a corrections officer had said that bad food led to the riot. However, the report said that interviews with inmates determined that while there was a general concern about the quality of food, that was not the primary cause.
Inmates set fires that destroyed six buildings, including those containing the kitchen, canteen, visitation center, medical services, sanitation department and a multipurpose area. Several dorms were heavily damaged, and eight guards and eight inmates were injured.
Studio's 'Marley' a risky holiday show
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:15 EST
The sound of Dickensian carolers lured the opening-night audience from the lobby of the Carriage House at Bell Court into the theater for Studio Players' latest production, Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol .
As patrons found their seats, four Victorian-clad singers finished their carols by wishing the crowd a "Merry Christmas" before slipping into the audience to find their own seats.
Their exit suddenly drained all of the obvious Christmas cheer from the room, mostly because it revealed the first unobstructed view of the stage. The minimalist set stood spookily empty and gray, with a few basic building blocks of black furniture dotting the landscape. On a wall hung a display of chains and restraints. There were no red bows, no pretty lights, no jingle bells, no indication whatsoever that we were anywhere other than a colorless void in the middle of nowhere.
Turned out, that is what hell is like.
And Jacob Marley, the character barely seen in Charles Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol , is stuck there, floating around in the nothingness, suffering in his chains for all eternity. Unless, that is, he can get his old partner, Scrooge, to have a complete and irreversible change of heart within 24 hours.
$6M verdict in strip search case upheld
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:25 EST
A Kentucky appeals court upheld a $6.1 million award to a former fast food worker who was forced to strip in a McDonald's restaurant office after someone called posing as a police officer.
The appellate court on Friday ruled that Illinois-based McDonald's Corp., knew about a series of hoax calls to restaurants around the country, but didn't warn employees before Louise Ogborn was strip searched and sexually assaulted as the result of such a call in 2004.
The appeals court ruled that to reverse the verdict would cut against the weight of the evidence.
Ogborn was 18 at the time of the call to the store about 20 miles south of Louisville. A Kentucky man, Walter Nix Jr., the fiance of a McDonald's assistant manager, served a prison sentence for sexually abusing Ogborn during the call. A Florida man, David Stewart, was acquitted of making the hoax call. Police have said similar calls stopped after Stewart's arrest.
McDonald's spokeswoman Danya Proud said the company doesn't dispute what happened to Ogborn, but is disappointed with the decision of the appeals court.
Proton beams circulate in Big Bang machine
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:35 EST
Scientists switched on the world's largest atom smasher for the first time since the $10 billion machine suffered a spectacular failure more than a year ago, circulating beams of protons in a significant leap forward for the Large Hadron Collider.
The European Organization for Nuclear Research has taken the restart of the collider step by step to avoid further setbacks as it moves toward new scientific experiments - probably starting in January - regarding the makeup of matter and the universe.
It has undergone a year of repairs after it was heavily damaged by a simple electrical fault.
Progress on restarting the machine, on the border between Switzerland and France, went faster than expected Friday evening and the first beam circulated in a clockwise direction around the machine at about 10 p.m. local time, said James Gillies, spokesman for the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
"Some of the scientists had gone home and had to be called back in," Gillies told The Associated Press.
Coal gives big money to candidates
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 06:27 EST
A coal company whose president helped raise $7 million for a new athletics dorm at the University of Kentucky has been a major contributor to state political campaigns.
The Courier-Journal reports that officials of Alliance Resource Partners and its political action committee have given at least $400,000 to Kentucky candidates and political committees since the beginning of 2005.
Donations have gone to Democrats and Republicans.
The newspaper reports that Joe Craft, Alliance's president and chief executive officer, and members of his immediate family have contributed $169,200 of the total.
Recent controversies, including naming the UK athletic dorm "Wildcat Coal Lodge," have raised questions about the influence Alliance and other coal companies exert over public policy in Kentucky.
Coal mine blast kills 42 in China, 66 trapped
Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:46 EST
Rescuers working in frigid cold and darkness tried to reach 66 people believed trapped a third of a mile (half a kilometer) underground after a huge gas explosion Saturday ripped through a coal mine in northern China, killing at least 42 people.
The pre-dawn blast at the state-run Xinxing mine in Heilongjiang province near the border with Russia is latest to hit China's mining industry, the world's deadliest. Authorities say parlous safety is improving, but hundreds still die in major accidents each year.
Large state-owned coal mines, such as Xinxing, are generally considered safer than smaller, private ones that account for the bulk of production. The blast underscores the difficulties the government faces in trying to boost safety while maintain output. Coal is vital to the vast population and booming economy, as China uses it to generate about three-quarters of its electricity.
Television footage showed smoke billowing out of the mine after the explosion went off, caused by a gas build- up. It caused a building to collapse nearby.
Some 528 miners were underground at the time. The State Administration of Work Safety said 389 of them managed to escape.
New leader of Rural Development for Kentucky
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:14 EST
A veteran government official has been named Kentucky director of Rural Development for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the White House announced Friday.
Thomas Fern headed the office from 1993 to 2001 and worked a total of 36 years for USDA, according to a news release.
Fern worked at the Kentucky Department of Parks from 2001 to 2003 and is on the Kentucky Water Resource Development Commission and the Kentucky Appalachian Commission.
Rural Development administers and manages more than 40 housing, business and community-development programs.
"Thomas Fern will be an important advocate on behalf of rural communities throughout the state and help administer the valuable programs and services provided by the USDA that can enhance their economic success," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
Natural-gas plant consultant pleads guilty to forgery
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:26 EST
A consultant for a natural gas plant in Magoffin County has pleaded guilty to forging a state air quality permit for the plant.
Peter Grimes, who worked for Energy Management and Services Co., delivered an air quality permit to the owner of Newpoint Midstream plant, when in fact the Division of Air Quality had not issued any permit, said a press release Energy and Environment Cabinet.
The state recommended that Grimes be sentenced to three years, with pre-trial diversion possible, and restitution of $5,000 to the plant. Also, prosecutors recommended that for five years, Grimes may not work for anyone seeking state permits or operating natural gas processing facilities, and he may not hold himself out to be a licensed engineer.
Suspect in double murder is caught
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:16 EST
Authorities have arrested a Western Kentucky man charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of a couple whose bodies were found in their home last month.
Kentucky State Police say 23-year-old Dustin McKinney of Paducah was arrested early Friday in Graves County.
The Messenger of Madisonville reports that McKinney is accused in the deaths of Lynn and Mary Anne Moore, who were found dead in their western Kentucky home on Oct. 30. Hopkins County Coroner Dennis Mayfield has said Lynn Moore died of a gunshot wound and Mary Ann Moore died of multiple injuries.
Authorities have charged another Paducah man, 40-year-old Eddie Joe Goodnight, with first-degree robbery in the case. McKinney is also charged with one count of first-degree robbery.
2 men arrested in Lexington break-in
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:40 EST
Two men suspected in a Lexington break-in were arrested Friday morning at their home, Lexington police spokesman Lt. Doug Pape said.
Negotiators talked Jeremy Hersey, 23, and Christian Cox, 18, out of two separate apartments at 2101 Fontaine Road where the men had retreated for about four hours after the break-in. Hersey's brother, Justin, was released, police said. Jeremy Hersey and Cox were charged with first-degree burglary.
Pape said Lexington police's emergency-response unit went to the scene, but negotiators got the men to surrender and they were arrested. Traffic near Richmond Road was tied up until the men were arrested.
Police say that at 4:30 a.m., the two men broke the door of Thomas Henke's home on Pleasant Ridge Way in Lexington. Henke told police that one man was armed with a gun. The victim knew the suspects, which led police to the Fontaine address, Pape said.
Nothing was taken during the break-in, but Henke was hit in the head with the handgun. He was taken to UK Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Lawrenceburg man charged with assaulting infant
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:45 EST
A Lawrenceburg man has been arrested in connection with the abuse of a 2-month-old child, Kentucky State Police said.
Derek N. Heartley, 26, was charged Thursday with two counts of first-degree assault, state police said in a news release.
The arrest stems from an investigation that began Nov. 4 when state police received a complaint about abuse against the baby. The alleged abuse was first reported by the Kentucky Children's Hospital in Lexington to the Anderson County office of the Cabinet for Families and Children.
The child is now in the care of relatives, state police said.
Heartley was being held in the Fayette County jail.
New county data shows Ky. has high rates of obesity and diabetes
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:15 EST
November 20, 2009
A link to the Kentucky News Review is available throughout the day on Kentucky.com, under the Find It Now tab, in the black navigation bar above.
More confirmation that Kentucky is unhealthy: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released county-level data on obesity and diabetes across the United States. The results show distinct geographic patterns of high prevalence rates for diabetes and obesity in the Southeast, particularly in the Appalachian counties of Kentucky and Tennessee. The CDC explains why: Diabetes and obesity are thought to coexist in specific geographic patterns because of a convergence of prevailing social norms, community and environmental factors, socioeconomic status, and genetic risk factors among ethnically similar groups.
A stuck accelerator pedal, a problem that has been reported before and is part of a continuing investigation under way by both
Toyota Motor Sales Inc. and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is believed to have caused a crash. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on an incident in Pennsylvania where a woman started her 2007 Toyota Camry and it began accelerating until she crashed. Four people were killed in the incident. The floor mats that come in some Camrys can entrap the accelerator pedal. The floor mats have been recalled and Toyota has said to remove them from the car . Toyota Camrys are manufactured in Georgetown.
Kentucky received $1.3 million from the federal government to identify opportunities to create green jobs , according to a report in Business First of Louisville . The U.S. Department of Labor awarded $55 million nationwide in the program. According to a press release , This funding gives us the resources we need to more formally and definitively identify green jobs in Kentucky, and link dislocated, new workers and the unemployed with these jobs as well as help them develop the skills they need, said Energy and Environment Cabinet Secretary Len Peters.
The S KY BLUE House designed and created by a University of Kentucky team for a national competition for designing solar homes was featured on The Today Show , according to a press release from the university. The segment on the show featured the UK entry which came in at 9th place in the competition. The Herald-Leader reported on the home.
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Sam Bowie applies to be first black member at Idle Hour
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:44 EST
Former University of Kentucky men's basketball player Sam Bowie said Thursday that he has applied for membership in Lexington's Idle Hour Country Club, which has never had an African-American member.
Bowie said that he approached Idle Hour, not the other way around, and that he expects to hear whether he has been accepted within the next week.
In the past, Idle Hour has been criticized for having no black members.
"No one had contacted us as far as the country club was concerned, trying to get the barrier broken," Bowie said in an interview Thursday.
Bowie said he expects critics to say he is a "token" member who was accepted "to end the criticism." But that is not the case, he said.
History of CentrePointe block lives thanks to man's obsession
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:59 EST
Richie Wireman saw the green shiny stone on a Sunday when he was 17 feet below street level. Wireman had been photographing the demolition of the businesses on the downtown block bounded by Vine, Main, Limestone and Upper streets for weeks. It was a documentary of destruction, at turns beautiful and eerie, tragic and luminous.
"I wanted to see the beyond the surface of the chaos," the photographer said, referring to all of the chaos, material and otherwise, surrounding the CentrePointe project.
The green stone would not turn out to be the emerald he had hoped for, given that the rock was found under Joe Rosenberg's jewelry store and "just maybe" some woman had dropped her jewel down the privy (read that: toilet) and hadn't wanted to go looking for it.
Alas, it was just pretty colored glass, but Wireman's enthusiasm for the retrieval project wasn't the slightest bit dampened.
Ever since the demolition company found a large cache of seemingly ancient and perfectly intact dirt-filled bottles in another antique privy, the photographer had become something more than a documentarian. Asked to help dig out the bottles, in that moment, he became an urban archeologist, a man obsessed by the minutia lost or forgotten on this block.
Lexington sewer rates rise, but few understand the reasons why
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:53 EST
Paying for sewers is taking an increasing bite out of the wallets of Lexington residents, but most of us are blissfully unaware of what is going on beneath our feet.
A survey commissioned by local officials shows, for example, that three out of four people don't know the difference between sanitary and storm sewers.
(In the sanitary sewer system, water from a toilet, sink or shower goes into one set of pipes and then to a treatment plant before reaching a creek. Rainwater that runs off lawns and driveways goes into the storm sewer system, then directly into a creek.)
Officials released the survey Thursday as they announced a new education campaign to explain how sewers work.
The action comes as sewer costs are rising significantly.
UK hopes smoking ban will help some people kick the habit
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:12 EST
Guy Hamilton-Smith, a second-year law student at the University of Kentucky, smoked for 10 years before quitting last summer in preparation for the UK tobacco ban that went into effect Thursday.
"I knew I didn't want to have to quit right around finals time, so I made the decision (last) summer," Hamilton-Smith, 26, said at a morning press conference to usher in the new tobacco-free policy.
UK officials hope the ban on using tobacco products anywhere on campus indoors and out will lead more smokers to follow suit.
"Going tobacco-free may not be the easiest thing to do. It may not be the most politically popular thing to do, but in my mind it's the right thing to do for this campus and this commonwealth," said UK President Lee T. Todd Jr.
"As Kentucky's land-grant university, I believe it is our inherent responsibility to chart a new course for the commonwealth of Kentucky."
Cyanide leak at Ky. copper plant contained
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:26 EST
Authorities say a cyanide leak at a copper manufacturing plant in Henry County has been contained.
The Kentucky Emergency Management Agency said the leak at Hussey Copper LTD Company in Eminence started around 10 p.m. on Thursday.
WAVE-TV in Louisville reported that two employees were treated at the scene after the leak.
Cyanide is used in the production process at the plant.
Ex-Cat now charged with cheating 19 people in alleged UK ticket scam
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:15 EST
A former University of Kentucky men's basketball player accused of running a ticket scam totaling more than $70,000 has been indicted on 23 counts of theft by deception.
Lexington police had originally charged Ed E. Davender, 43, of Georgetown, with taking money from at least three people after promising them UK basketball season tickets that he didn't have. But a Fayette County grand jury has indicted Davender on charges that he unlawfully obtained money from 19 people "with the intent to permanently deprive them of the money" between May 2003 and August 2009.
Victims in the indictment are identified by their first initial and last name. The amount of money stolen ranges from $300 to $23,900, according to the indictment, which was handed down on Wednesday. The $300 theft charge is the only one that is classified as a misdemeanor; the other charges are felonies because each involves more than $300.
The indictment deals only with Lexington charges. Davender was indicted by a Harrison County grand jury Nov. 3 on three counts of theft by deception involving more than $300.
Davender's attorney, Stephen McFayden, has said that the matter is a big misunderstanding and that Davender has the ability to produce the tickets. McFayden did not return calls for comment.
Senate hopefuls squabble about terrorism, coal
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:25 EST
LOUISVILLE Republicans Trey Grayson and Rand Paul exchanged sharp words on the issue of Guant namo Bay, and Democrats Jack Conway and Daniel Mongiardo squabbled about their alliances with coal.
During a heated forum for U.S. Senate candidates Thursday at a Kentucky Association of Counties conference, Secretary of State Grayson criticized Bowling Green eye surgeon Paul for supporting President Obama's policy of closing the $200-million detention facility for terrorists at Guant namo Bay in Cuba.
Grayson's supporters distributed copies of a page on Paul's campaign Web site in May that said Paul "couldn't agree more" with a comment by U.S. Military Chief Mike Mullen that Guant namo should be shut down.
Paul, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who ran unsuccessfully for president last year, responded that Grayson should learn how to read.
In a later interview, Paul said the Web site Grayson referred to did not accurately state his position on Guant namo.
State jobless rate rises to 11.2 percent
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:04 EST
Kentucky's unemployment rate rose in October to 11.2 percent, but the state saw an overall net gain in jobs.
Justine Detzel, chief labor market analyst for the state Office of Employment and Training, said that the state's economy showed some improvement in the month but that hiring tended to be "indicative of temporary hiring and strength in the employment services industry."
Kentucky's unemployment rate rose above 10 percent in May and has stayed above that ever since. The state had a slight reprieve in September, when the jobless rate dipped to 10.9 percent from 11.2 percent. But that happened because people who had been out of work for a long time were "becoming discouraged and dropping out of the labor force," Detzel said at the time.
The rate a year ago was 6.9 percent.
Seven of the 11 major industries tracked showed employment increases during the month while four decreased. Overall, the state added 2,900 jobs in the month.
Louisville man suspected of calling threat to Lawrenceburg day-care center
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:25 EST
The Anderson County Sheriff's Office is looking for a Louisville man who is suspected of calling a bomb threat to a Lawrenceburg day-care center Thursday.
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Craig E. Nokes, according to the sheriff's office.
On Thursday morning, an anonymous person called WLEX-TV in Lexington and said that he had planted a bomb at the Anderson County Head Start Day Care.
The Lawrenceburg-Anderson County dispatch center received information identifying the suspect as the husband of an employee at the day-care center.
The day-care employee told dispatch that she had received a call from her husband saying he was going to blow up the day-care building.
Scott murder trial is rescheduled amid debate about confession
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:24 EST
GEORGETOWN The trial of a Scott County man accused of killing his parents was moved to April on Thursday after a judge gave attorneys a month to submit written arguments on a motion to suppress statements the defendant made to police.
Circuit Judge Paul F. Isaacs scheduled the trial of James Anthony Gray, 40, to begin on April 5. It was previously set to begin on Jan. 4.
Gray testified Thursday during a continuation of a hearing from last week. Defense attorney Rodney Barnes asked the judge last week to suppress confessions Gray gave the Scott County Sheriff's Office.
It is not clear what happened in the interview room the day Gray confessed to the killings and was subsequently arrested, because the defendant's recollections differ from those of law enforcement.
For example, Gray says detectives took a phone call from a judge during the interview, then told him the judge would take the death penalty off the table if he confessed. Investigators testified that they never mentioned the death penalty during the interview or took any phone calls.
WLEX creates channel to air classic UK games, prep sports
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:05 EST
Classic University of Kentucky men's basketball and football games, as well as live high school sports, are now airing on a digital subchannel of Lexington NBC affiliate WLEX (Channel 18).
The station announced Thursday that it is partnering with online sports site Wazoo Sports to air the Wazoo Sports Network.
The new channel available on Insight's digital cable lineup on Channel 524 or over the air as Channel 18.2 will broadcast 24/7.
It's part of a push by Wazoo Sports, which has been broadcasting high school sporting events online, to reach a larger audience, said Jeff Sheppard, the former UK basketball player who is Wazoo's vice president of business development.
Sheppard said the firm has reached a similar deal with Louisville affiliate WHAS to air the network there and hopes to expand to other stations in the state.
Nunn pleads not guilty to Fayette murder charge
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:18 EST
Former lawmaker Steve Nunn pleaded not guilty Thursday in Fayette Circuit Court to charges stemming from the shooting death of Amanda Ross, his ex-fianc e.
Nunn, 57, remained at the Fayette County Detention Center during the arraignment but appeared before Judge Kim Bunnell via video. Nunn's indictment on charges of murder and violating an emergency protective order came nearly two months after his arrest in Ross's death. Ross, 29, was shot to death Sept. 11 outside her downtown Lexington townhome.
On Thursday, Nunn's attorney, Warren Scoville, entered a not guilty plea on Nunn's behalf.
Fayette Circuit Judge Pamela Goodwine has been assigned to handle Nunn's case. A status hearing was scheduled Jan. 15.
Several of Ross's family members and friends and advocates for domestic violence victims attended Nunn's arraignment, including House Speaker Greg Stumbo's wife, Mary Karen Stumbo. They were wearing badges with photos of Ross that said "Remember."
PSC: Don't bury all power lines
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:20 EST
The state Public Service Commission will give the utilities it regulates until March to respond to 64 findings and recommendations included Thursday in a report on how to avoid a repeat of problems caused by two huge storms that socked the state.
The 170-page report is called "Ike and Ice" because it deals with the high winds that caused problems as the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through the state in October 2008, and the ice storm that came along in January 2009.
When the PSC hears from the utilities, it could change its regulations or ask the General Assembly to tweak laws, PSC Chairman David Armstrong said.
The January ice storm cut much of Kentucky off from the rest of the world and raised a cry to bury power lines, but the report said that shouldn't happen on a large scale.
"Based on the added cost, it is not economically justifiable to require burying all or even a substantial portion of the electric transmission and distribution facilities," the report said.
Stanford's almost 'Top Model' sets sights on runway career
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:20 EST
Getting through Wal-Mart is nearly impossible; people have lots of free time to celebrate America's Next Top Model on the Web; and while there is no place like home, New York is looking pretty good about now.
Those are just some of the lessons that Stanford's Laura Kirkpatrick took away from her experience on Tyra Banks' model/reality show. In the CW show's finale, which aired Wednesday night, Kirkpatrick, a favorite of fans and other contestants, came in second to Nicole Fox, 19, a red-headed waif from Louisville, Colo.
Caught at her home the day after a good portion of Lincoln County turned out to watch the show's finale, Kirkpatrick, 20, said she has been overwhelmed by the response the show has generated.
"On the Internet, I've seen people make cartoons, I've seen them re-enact things from the show with, like, Barbie dolls. I've gotten letters," she said. "The funniest is the little boys and little girls that just google at you like you are a rock star."
Even going to Wal-Mart has become an ordeal, she said.