http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com State 60 Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:36:06 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598007.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598007.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:23 EST
HARRODSBURG . Police will continue to have a presence in Mercer County schools on Thursday, repeating action taken Wednesday after the district's safety director became concerned about a recording left on her voice mail.

Harrodsburg police said no direct threats were made to any students or staff or to any particular school, and no incidents were reported Wednesday.

Betty Sims, district director of pupil personnel, said a recording of the song How Far We've Come by the rock group Matchbox 20 was left on her voice mail around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The song begins "I'm wakin' up at the start of the end of the world/ But it's feeling just like every other morning before/ Now I wonder what my life is gonna mean if it's gone." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598550.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598550.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:09 EST
The Old Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, which served as the official residence of Kentucky's lieutenant governor until 2002, will be redecorated as part of an interior design contest that will end with a gala in 2009, according to first lady Jane Beshear.

The home, built in 1798, underwent a $2.3 million renovation that was completed in 2004.

At a press conference Tuesday, Beshear said that although that renovation made the building structurally sound, "its walls and rooms are mostly bare and in need of a makeover."

The redecoration is being done in preparation for the 598550 in 2010 and will be called the Kentucky Mansion Celebration project. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/599001.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/599001.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:30 EST
FRANKFORT . Highly ballyhooed plans to build ZAP electric vehicles in Kentucky have stalled.

A key investor has pulled out of the project and backers now say they need $150 million to $200 million in federal assistance.

If additional funding for the $84 million factory . which Gov. Steve Beshear said in August would employ 4,000 workers . cannot be found, it may have to move to another state willing to provide richer incentives, one of its key partners said Wednesday.

"But I'm as confident as ever that we will build in Kentucky," said Randall Waldman, chief executive officer of Shepherdsville-based Integrity Manufacturing . ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598985.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598985.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:43 EST
ELIZABETHTOWN . A local official asked a judge on Tuesday to order a recount in a state legislative race in Hardin County after the losing candidate questioned the election's validity.

"Everything was above-board, and we want to prove that," Hardin County Clerk Kenneth Tabb said.

Democratic challenger Mike Weaver, who lost to Republican state Rep. Tim Moore, said Tuesday he plans to contest the Nov. 4 election, alleging improprieties at one precinct.

If he challenges the outcome, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives would determine whether the Democrat or the Republican is the legitimate winner in Hardin County's 26th District. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598675.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598675.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:43 EST http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598984.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598984.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:42 EST
LOUISVILLE . Country music singer Kathy Mattea will help deliver gifts when the Santa Train makes its 66th annual run Saturday through a stretch of Appalachia.

The train delivers more than 15 tons of Christmas gifts to children living along a 110-mile stretch in the rural mountain communities of Eastern Kentucky, western Virginia and northeast Tennessee. It is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce in Kingsport, Tenn.; CSX Transportation Inc.; and Food City Grocers of Abingdon, Va.

Kingsport merchants started the tradition to show their appreciation to customers and help families with little money around Christmastime. The gifts are collected through community donations.

Tori Kaplan of CSX said Mattea was invited to participate because of her Appalachian roots . she's from Cross Lanes, W.Va. . and her new CD is about coal and mining families. "Riding on the Santa Train gives me the opportunity to participate in the lives of the people I have been singing about," Mattea said. "There is a sense of community here, and a sense of place like nowhere else; riding a train through the mountains and visiting with the folks will be the highlight of my Christmas this year." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598983.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598983.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:39 EST
LOUISVILLE . The Kentucky Supreme Court has rejected two requests to halt the scheduled execution of Marco Allen Chapman, saying the Death Row inmate is competent to make his own decisions about whether to die.

The high court on Wednesday ruled that Chapman, who has asked to be executed, is competent to make his own decisions. Because of that finding, Chief Justice John Minton said, the court must dismiss the remaining appeals that were filed by the Department of Public Advocacy against Chapman's will.

Justice Mary Noble issued a one-page concurring opinion saying the court properly applied the law, but that she would be open to legislative action on the death penalty.

"If state executions are not the will of the people, then they must demand a different approach," Noble wrote. "I would welcome such legislation." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598982.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598982.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:33 EST
LOUISVILLE . John Delaney faced the toughest moment of his legal career . his condemned client wanted to drop his appeals and die by injection, an act Delaney opposed and had been trained to try to prevent.

"What do you say?" asked Delaney, a public defender in Northern Kentucky who represented Marco Allen Chapman.

It's a question that has arisen 131 times since states resumed executions in 1977. And each time it leaves defense lawyers struggling against their training to act in the best interest of their clients and justice.

"We're trained as lawyers to be an advocate for someone and fight as hard as we can," said Stephen Harris, a University of Baltimore law professor who represented execution volunteer John Thanos in Maryland in 1994. "Here's someone who says, 'I don't want you,' then, 'I want to die.'" ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598979.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598979.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:46 EST
FRANKFORT . The number of Hoosiers who smoke dropped by 20 percent after Indiana increased the tax on cigarettes to nearly a dollar last year, Indiana's top health official told a Kentucky legislative committee Wednesday.

Dr. Judy Monroe, health commissioner for the Indiana State Department of Health , said the state upped its cigarette tax 44 cents to 99 cents a pack on July 1, 2007. Since that time, the state has seen a 20.5 percent drop in the number of people who smoke.

"Every penny went to health programs," Monroe said of the proceeds from the tax.

Monroe's presentation to the Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare comes as Gov. Steve Beshear is again mulling the idea of asking lawmakers to boost Kentucky's cigarette tax to help deal with a growing projected budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597975.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597975.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:37 EST


In what they describe as a major undertaking, Kentucky officials are starting to work on regulations that would reduce the amount of mercury put into the air by coal-fired power plants.

John Lyons, director of the state Division of Air Quality , said 10 to 20 states already regulate mercury. Kentucky, he said, would be the first in the Southeast to do so.

Federal regulations proposed by the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency have been thrown out by the courts, and developing new ones could take a long time, Lyons said. Kentucky, which had planned to follow the federal lead, has to act on its own, he said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598680.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598680.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:42 EST
FRANKFORT . A search committee to find a new president for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education met for about 1 . hours Wednesday behind closed doors but made no formal announcement.

It tentatively is scheduled to meet again Dec. 2.

The council, which oversees all state colleges and universities, hopes to have a new president named by the end of the year.

Last May, the council hired Richard A. Crofts, a former commissioner of higher education in Montana and Mississippi, as its interim president. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596604.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596604.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:39 EST
HODGENVILLE . Speaking from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, first lady Laura Bush kicked off an initiative to raise money for the continued preservation of six key sites associated with the 16th president.

"The national parks have always relied on the contributions from individual citizens," Bush said. She noted that the memorial building that holds a symbolic Lincoln birthplace cabin was built "as part of a private movement with the help of donations as small as a quarter."

Likewise, the "Give a Lincoln For Lincoln" program announced Tuesday asks Americans to donate Lincoln-head pennies, $5 bills or larger contributions to preserve the birthplace and other sites across the nation.

Donations will also benefit the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana; the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Illinois; the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldier's Home, and Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, all in Washington, D.C. The last site is where the president was shot by an assassin in 1865. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597618.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597618.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
Thomas L. Preston

Title: Executive director of Homeland Security

Starting salary: $125,000

Background: Public relations executive; founder of Preston Global, a crisis-management firm; press secretary to Gov. Wendell Ford ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597604.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597604.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:49 EST
CARLISLE . There's little undisputed in this story, the tale of the tipped trailer.

Frances Barton's single-wide, the one she had fully paid $5,000 for and was hoping to move to a little piece of land she was buying on a $250-a-month land contract, is now literally in pieces on Jim Gaunce's front lawn.

And, everyone agrees, that leaves some 12 people . four adults and eight children ranging from 3 months to 12 years . facing Thanksgiving with no place to live.

How, exactly, the mobile home came to this odd resting place is where the story gets complicated. On Friday, Barton hired a guy to put her house on a trailer and move it up U.S. 68 in Nicholas County. When the trailer broke down and the house blocked the highway for hours on end, the sheriff got involved. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597600.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597600.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:00 EST
Gov. Steve Beshear's Office of Homeland Security is becoming a popular entrance to the state payroll for his friends, Democratic political activists and donors.

This month, Ralph Coldiron . who meets all three criteria . started a $100,000-a-year job at Homeland Security as executive director of emergency telecommunications services. Previously, he worked with Beshear chief of staff Adam Edelen at Thomas . King , a Lexington restaurant franchisee. He also worked for former Lexington Mayor Scotty Baesler and Gov. Wallace Wilkinson.

Coldiron joins several other political appointees at Homeland Security during Beshear's first year, some of whom stayed only a few months before taking other Frankfort posts. Previously, they drove Beshear's campaign car, raised money for Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, or handled labor issues for U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville.

Governors legally can appoint their friends and campaign supporters to state jobs outside the merit system. Most of the roughly two dozen jobs at Homeland Security fall into that category. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597582.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597582.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
Smoking ban starts Thursday

Thursday is the day that more than a dozen Lexington area hospitals and health care facilities go tobacco-free. The facilities will require patients, employees and family members to leave the property to smoke. The policy change will affect 13,000 employees and thousands of patients, visitors, physicians and medical students, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association. The providers have pledged to help those affected by the smoke-out to quit. Twenty-nine percent of Kentuckians smoke, the highest rate in the nation.



Advocacy group launches Web site ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597578.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597578.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he supports a Bush administration plan to make $25 billion in previously authorized loans to the auto industry as part of a bailout package that might come before Congress sometime this week.

McConnell's stance puts him at odds with the Big Three automakers and Senate Democrats, who want to carve out $25 billion for the auto industry from the $700 billion financial bailout package Congress approved last month.

The Kentucky senator, who was re-elected as Senate Republican leader Tuesday, said he supported using the $25 billion loan fund . created to improve fuel efficiency of Detroit automakers . for the bailout.

"A number of our members, which includes myself, think the proposal that the administration had made ... to basically change the qualifications of the money that we have already appropriated is a sound way to go forward," McConnell said Tuesday in a news conference. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597576.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597576.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
FRANKFORT . A Kentucky judge on Tuesday denied a request for an injunction that could have halted Friday's scheduled execution of a confessed child killer who has asked for lethal injection.

Marco Allen Chapman has fired his attorneys and is awaiting execution at the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said granting an injunction to stop the execution at the request of unrelated citizens and taxpayers "would violate the requirements of fundamental fairness" to Chapman and to relatives of his victims.

Attorney Philip Longmeyer had argued that the Kentucky Department of Corrections should have held public hearings before adopting regulations that specify how lethal injections are administered. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597575.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597575.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:17 EST
FRANKFORT . Kentucky's courts system is experiencing financial woes that could affect programs, personnel and new courthouses, Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. told lawmakers Tuesday.

If funding to the courts continues at the same level, the judicial branch expects a $37.8 million deficit in 2011, Minton said to members of the Interim Judiciary Committee. Minton also said the courts, with its $293 million annual budget and 3,700 employees, might be hit by a round of cuts this fiscal year.

He noted that Gov. Steve Beshear's administration has projected a revenue shortfall of $294 million in the executive branch this year, and on Friday a group of independent economists might increase that figure.

It's likely that Beshear will ask the judicial and legislative branches of government to bear the burden to meet the constitutional mandate of a balanced state budget, Minton said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597574.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597574.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. . A coal company fined $1.46 million last month for safety violations has sued federal mine regulators, the latest example of escalating tensions between coal operators and the U.S. Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The federal lawsuit was filed Monday by American Coal Co., a subsidiary of Murray Energy. That company, owned by Bob Murray, entered the national spotlight last year when nine people died in one of the company's Utah mines.

American Coal claims in its suit that federal inspectors issue citations according to quotas and engage in abusive monitoring. Other operators have said the agency has become heavy-handed to counter criticism of questionable oversight after a string of high-profile mine accidents that left dozens dead in recent years.

In the first 10 months of fiscal 2008, MSHA fined mine operators $97.4 million . a 141 percent increase over the previous fiscal year total. Citations and orders for various infractions are up almost 8 percent. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596998.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596998.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:08 EST
FRANKFORT . Gov. Steve Beshear has objected to a Bush administration proposal that would allow coal companies to dump dirt and rock blasted from Appalachian mountaintops into streams.

In a letter sent this week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Beshear said the proposal would threaten Kentucky's ability to protect its environment.

Other Kentucky political leaders, including U.S. Reps. Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth and Attorney General Jack Conway, wrote similar letters. All called for rejection of the proposal.

The Bush administration has advanced a proposal that would ease restrictions on dumping mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams, eliminating protections that have been in place for a quarter-century. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599430.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599430.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:31 EST
Riverside Downs co-owner Mark Bowling says the blaze at the former race track near Henderson broke out before dawn Thursday.

Bowling says a handful of horses escaped the barn, which was a total loss.

He says the cause of the fire wasn't immediately determined.

A fire on Jan. 4 at Riverside Downs killed 6 horses. Investigators said an electrical cord to a vending machine caused that blaze.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599494.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599494.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:25 EST
Chief Justice John Minton signed an order Thursday granting the transfer of a case from the Kentucky Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. The case questions whether the Kentucky Department of Corrections should have held public hearings before adopting regulations that specify how lethal injections are administered.

Attorney Philip Longmeyer said he will ask the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments on the issue. Longmeyer said he intends to hand deliver the request to the Supreme Court early Thursday afternoon.

If the execution is carried out, Chapman would become the first Kentucky inmate put to death since 1999.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599548.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599548.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:30 EST
The results of the study were announced Thursday at a meeting of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board in Bowling Green.

The report largely praises the way Kentucky has spent its $209 million share of the settlement. It particularly praises the $86 million invested directly into agribusiness, where every dollar spent returned nearly two dollars.

Researches concluded the settlement has produced 1,300 new jobs and created some 500 new animal and crop-based products in Kentucky. New markets ranged from naturally cured hams to glue made out of low-quality wheat.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599258.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599258.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:09 EST
The Kentucky Enquirer quoted Grayson saying his office has asked the vendor which supplied the voting machines to appear before the state board of elections to find a way to prevent future errors in programming the devices.

Lexington-based Harp Enterprises sold the E-slate machines.

Election officials in Kenton County had to shut down about 80 of them when voters reported they were unable to vote straight ticket ballots.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599391.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599391.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:49 EST
The Evansville Courier & Press reported the blaze broke out before dawn Thursday at Riverside Downs, a former race track near Henderson.

The newspaper quoted Baskett Fire Chief Bill Shaw saying only four horses escaped the barn, which was a total loss.

Shaw said emergency dispatchers received a call reporting the fire about 4:30 a.m. CST.

The cause of the fire wasn't immediately determined.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599437.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599437.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:36 EST
The 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, also known as "Thunder Brigade," cased its colors during a ceremony Tuesday that signals the beginning of a 12-month deployment to Afghanistan. They will be relieving the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.

Col. Ron Lewis, commander of the 159th, says the brigade's responsibilities is to move soldiers by air and avoid improvised explosive devices. Other jobs are to perform attack missions and support soldiers on the ground.

The brigade includes about 3,000 troops and will leave over the next two weeks. Their last deployment was to Iraq in 2006.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599506.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599506.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:39 EST
It was the second deadly blaze this year at Riverside Downs in western Kentucky, near the Indiana border. Among the horses killed was Kept Lady, which won a race Sunday at Churchill Downs.

Investigators did not know what caused the blaze, which started between 5 and 5:30 a.m. EDT.

"It's just a terrible thing," said Jack Hancock, a manager at Riverside, which is now used to stable and exercise horses. "The worst thing a horseman could ever hear is the word 'fire.'"

Five of the 31 horses in the barn that caught fire survived, but one was later euthanized. About 70 horses remain at the stables.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599636.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599636.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:55 EST
That wish will be granted Friday night, barring a last-minute change of heart by Chapman or the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Chapman is scheduled to be executed at Kentucky State Penitentiary, which would make him the first Kentucky inmate to die at the hands of the state since 1999.

"The only thing I could says is I'm sorry. Even though they shouldn't accept it, my heartfelt apologies for their loss and what I've done," Chapman told The Associated Press in May. "I'm ready. I'm ready and I'm sorry. There's nothing else I can say."

Chapman's aunt, Donna Rumburg of Mount Airy, Md., said his family is a little less certain about his decision. Rumburg, who raised Chapman for a short time, said she hasn't forgiven Chapman for what he did because it's not her place.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599225.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599225.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:09 EST
The high court on Wednesday ruled that Chapman, who has asked to be executed, is competent to make his own decisions. Because of that finding, Chief Justice John Minton said, the court must dismiss the remaining appeals that were filed by the Department of Public Advocacy against Chapman's will.

Justice Mary Noble issued a one-page concurring opinion saying the court properly applied the law, but that she would be open to legislative action on the death penalty.

"If state executions are not the will of the people, then they must demand a different approach," Noble wrote. "I would welcome such legislation."

Barring a last-minute change of heart by Chapman, the ruling could clear the way for Chapman to die by lethal injection at the Kentucky State Penitentiary on Friday.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599271.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599271.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:16 EST
The Kentucky Enquirer reported police in Covington charged the youngster with arson in the blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon.

It took 15 firefighters more than two hours to contain the fire that was whipped by high winds.

The two-story building was being used for storage.

Detective Gwendolyn Kelley said police arrested the boy quickly after receiving many tips that led to him.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599419.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599419.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:21 EST
Beshear unveiled an energy plan for the state on Thursday that also calls for carbon sequestration projects and development of a coal-to-liquid industry in the state.

The governor says he wants the state to reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and its reliance on foreign fuel.

Beshear says he wants Kentucky to be a leader in energy production and technology.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599471.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599471.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:02 EST
U.S. Attorney David Huber said in a statement Thursday that Veterans Affairs service representative Jeffrey Allan McGill, 12 veterans and one civilian have been indicted.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday filed charges of conspiring to defraud the United States of nearly $2 million through the submission of false disability claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A phone message left for McGill was not immediately returned Thursday morning.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599529.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599529.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:01 EST
Bush is scheduled to give a speech at the Army base on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line on Tuesday. No other details on his visit were released. Bush last visited the base in 2005 and 2004.

During his 2004 visit, Bush welcomed home soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who participated in the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

This year's visit is also timed to coincide with the return of the division from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, which was the second or third deployment for many of the soldiers.

Additionally, one of the division's units, 2nd Brigade, is returning home from Iraq earlier than expected and just in time for the holidays after a continued decline in violence.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599246.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599246.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:34 EST
WKYT-TV quoted the Republican lawmaker saying his proposal would also drop the state sales tax from 6 percent to 5 percent.

Farmer said eliminating the sales tax would make the state more attractive to businesses.

He said the revenue would be made up by taxing services such as plumbing, car repair and haircuts.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599365.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599365.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:29 EST
The Lexington Herald-Leader quoted a key partner in the project as saying if additional funding can't be found, the project may be moved to another state willing to provide stronger economic incentives.

The plant would build ZAP electric vehicles and was projected to cost $84 million.

Gov. Steve Beshear said in August the proposed plant would employ 4,000 workers.

Randall Waldman, chief executive officer of Shepherdsville-based Integrity Manufacturing, told the newspaper General Electric Capital has pulled its $125 million commitment.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597489.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597489.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:05 EST
Kentucky State Police Trooper Larry Pavey says 40-year-old Larry Brent Childress was indicted on rape and sodomy charges Tuesday. Pavey says a woman told police Childress forced her to have sex with him when she was a juvenile and he was a coach at North Bullitt High School.

Childress is being held at the Bullitt County Detention Center and has arraignment scheduled Wednesday. It's not clear whether he is represented by a lawyer.

Bullitt County school board attorney Eric Farris says Childress was employed by the school system from 1991 to 2006 in various roles and resigned on good terms. Farris says no abuse reports were made to the school system about Childress.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597861.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597861.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:45 EST
Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. spoke to the Interim Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, telling members the courts could also face cuts in the current fiscal year.

The Lexington Herald-Leader quoted Minton saying Gov. Steve Beshear will likely ask the legislative and judicial branches to make spending reductions to meet the constitutional requirement of balancing the state budget.

Minton said most of the money problems come from personnel costs and building new courthouses.

The state courts employ 3,700 people and have an annual budget of $293 million.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597995.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597995.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:20 EST
The Leaf-Chronicle reported two planes had landed by dawn on Wednesday and a third was anticipated.

The first two flights carried about 300 soldiers each.

Many of the soldiers are coming home early after the military reduced their previously announced 15-month deployment.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598097.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598097.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:25 EST
Police Chief Lee Russo has recommended that officers work four-day weeks and 10 hours each day. He told the Kentucky Enquirer that the current schedule of working six days and being off for two increases stress.

City commissioners have approved the proposal. The Fraternal Order of Police is expected to vote on it next week.

Chris Gangwish, president of Covington FOP Lodge 1, said he expects strong support. If the program doesn't work out during a six-month trial, he said it can be reversed.

If it is approved, officers would start working a new schedule next year.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598315.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598315.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:35 EST
"What do you say?" asked Delaney, a public defender in northern Kentucky who represented Marco Allen Chapman.

It's a question that has arisen 131 times since states resumed executions in 1977, and each time it leaves defense lawyers struggling against their training to act in the best interest of their clients and justice.

"We're trained as lawyers to be an advocate for someone and fight as hard as we can," said Stephen Harris, a University of Baltimore law professor who represented execution volunteer John Thanos in Maryland in 1994. "Here's someone who says, 'I don't want you,' then, 'I want to die.'"

The first volunteer after the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976 was Gary Mark Gilmore, put to death a year later by a firing squad in Utah for killing a gas station attendant. The 128 men and two women who have followed suit often gave similar reasons - mainly remorse, a desire for atonement and not wanting to spend their lives in prison - according to the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-capital punishment group that compiles statistics on executions.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598517.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598517.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:47 EST
The high court on Wednesday ruled that Chapman, who has asked to be executed, is competent to make his own decisions. Because of that finding, Chief Justice John Minton said, the court must dismiss the remaining appeals that were filed by the Department of Public Advocacy against Chapman's will.

Justice Mary Noble issued a one-page concurring opinion saying the court properly applied the law, but that she would be open to legislative action on the death penalty.

"If state executions are not the will of the people, then they must demand a different approach," Noble wrote. "I would welcome such legislation."

Barring a last-minute change of heart by Chapman, the ruling could clear the way for Chapman to die by lethal injection at the Kentucky State Penitentiary on Friday.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598781.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598781.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:49 EST
The U.S. attorney's office said Wednesday that 42-year-old Bill Perkins of Barbourville admitted that in June, he conspired with his brother to commit the crime. Charges are still pending for the brother, Randall Perkins, a Whitley County jail inmate.

Prosecutors allege that Randall Perkins wanted to hire a hit man to murder a witness in a state drug trafficking case against him.

The prosecutor's office says Bill Perkins admitted providing a firearm and giving $500 to a cooperating witness as a down payment for committing the murder. His sentencing is set for March 12 in Lexington.

A criminal complaint filed in June alleged that Randall Perkins tried to persuade a cellmate to murder the witness and that the cellmate told authorities.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599419.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599419.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:21 EST
Beshear unveiled an energy plan for the state on Thursday that also calls for carbon sequestration projects and development of a coal-to-liquid industry in the state.

The governor says he wants the state to reduce the levels of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 and its reliance on foreign fuel.

Beshear says he wants Kentucky to be a leader in energy production and technology.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599471.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599471.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:02 EST
U.S. Attorney David Huber said in a statement Thursday that Veterans Affairs service representative Jeffrey Allan McGill, 12 veterans and one civilian have been indicted.

A federal grand jury on Wednesday filed charges of conspiring to defraud the United States of nearly $2 million through the submission of false disability claims to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

A phone message left for McGill was not immediately returned Thursday morning.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599529.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599529.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:01 EST
Bush is scheduled to give a speech at the Army base on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line on Tuesday. No other details on his visit were released. Bush last visited the base in 2005 and 2004.

During his 2004 visit, Bush welcomed home soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division who participated in the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003.

This year's visit is also timed to coincide with the return of the division from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, which was the second or third deployment for many of the soldiers.

Additionally, one of the division's units, 2nd Brigade, is returning home from Iraq earlier than expected and just in time for the holidays after a continued decline in violence.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599246.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599246.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:34 EST
WKYT-TV quoted the Republican lawmaker saying his proposal would also drop the state sales tax from 6 percent to 5 percent.

Farmer said eliminating the sales tax would make the state more attractive to businesses.

He said the revenue would be made up by taxing services such as plumbing, car repair and haircuts.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599365.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599365.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:29 EST
The Lexington Herald-Leader quoted a key partner in the project as saying if additional funding can't be found, the project may be moved to another state willing to provide stronger economic incentives.

The plant would build ZAP electric vehicles and was projected to cost $84 million.

Gov. Steve Beshear said in August the proposed plant would employ 4,000 workers.

Randall Waldman, chief executive officer of Shepherdsville-based Integrity Manufacturing, told the newspaper General Electric Capital has pulled its $125 million commitment.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599430.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599430.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:31 EST
Riverside Downs co-owner Mark Bowling says the blaze at the former race track near Henderson broke out before dawn Thursday.

Bowling says a handful of horses escaped the barn, which was a total loss.

He says the cause of the fire wasn't immediately determined.

A fire on Jan. 4 at Riverside Downs killed 6 horses. Investigators said an electrical cord to a vending machine caused that blaze.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599494.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599494.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:25 EST
Chief Justice John Minton signed an order Thursday granting the transfer of a case from the Kentucky Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court. The case questions whether the Kentucky Department of Corrections should have held public hearings before adopting regulations that specify how lethal injections are administered.

Attorney Philip Longmeyer said he will ask the Supreme Court to hear oral arguments on the issue. Longmeyer said he intends to hand deliver the request to the Supreme Court early Thursday afternoon.

If the execution is carried out, Chapman would become the first Kentucky inmate put to death since 1999.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599548.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599548.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:30 EST
The results of the study were announced Thursday at a meeting of the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board in Bowling Green.

The report largely praises the way Kentucky has spent its $209 million share of the settlement. It particularly praises the $86 million invested directly into agribusiness, where every dollar spent returned nearly two dollars.

Researches concluded the settlement has produced 1,300 new jobs and created some 500 new animal and crop-based products in Kentucky. New markets ranged from naturally cured hams to glue made out of low-quality wheat.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599258.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599258.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:09 EST
The Kentucky Enquirer quoted Grayson saying his office has asked the vendor which supplied the voting machines to appear before the state board of elections to find a way to prevent future errors in programming the devices.

Lexington-based Harp Enterprises sold the E-slate machines.

Election officials in Kenton County had to shut down about 80 of them when voters reported they were unable to vote straight ticket ballots.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599391.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599391.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:49 EST
The Evansville Courier & Press reported the blaze broke out before dawn Thursday at Riverside Downs, a former race track near Henderson.

The newspaper quoted Baskett Fire Chief Bill Shaw saying only four horses escaped the barn, which was a total loss.

Shaw said emergency dispatchers received a call reporting the fire about 4:30 a.m. CST.

The cause of the fire wasn't immediately determined.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599437.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599437.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:36 EST
The 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, also known as "Thunder Brigade," cased its colors during a ceremony Tuesday that signals the beginning of a 12-month deployment to Afghanistan. They will be relieving the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade.

Col. Ron Lewis, commander of the 159th, says the brigade's responsibilities is to move soldiers by air and avoid improvised explosive devices. Other jobs are to perform attack missions and support soldiers on the ground.

The brigade includes about 3,000 troops and will leave over the next two weeks. Their last deployment was to Iraq in 2006.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599506.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599506.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:39 EST
It was the second deadly blaze this year at Riverside Downs in western Kentucky, near the Indiana border. Among the horses killed was Kept Lady, which won a race Sunday at Churchill Downs.

Investigators did not know what caused the blaze, which started between 5 and 5:30 a.m. EDT.

"It's just a terrible thing," said Jack Hancock, a manager at Riverside, which is now used to stable and exercise horses. "The worst thing a horseman could ever hear is the word 'fire.'"

Five of the 31 horses in the barn that caught fire survived, but one was later euthanized. About 70 horses remain at the stables.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599636.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599636.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:55 EST
That wish will be granted Friday night, barring a last-minute change of heart by Chapman or the Kentucky Supreme Court.

Chapman is scheduled to be executed at Kentucky State Penitentiary, which would make him the first Kentucky inmate to die at the hands of the state since 1999.

"The only thing I could says is I'm sorry. Even though they shouldn't accept it, my heartfelt apologies for their loss and what I've done," Chapman told The Associated Press in May. "I'm ready. I'm ready and I'm sorry. There's nothing else I can say."

Chapman's aunt, Donna Rumburg of Mount Airy, Md., said his family is a little less certain about his decision. Rumburg, who raised Chapman for a short time, said she hasn't forgiven Chapman for what he did because it's not her place.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597868.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597868.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:00 EST
Twenty-three-year-old Brandon Rousey was arrested Monday and charged with unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual or other prohibited activities.

WKYT-TV in Lexington reported police were investigating complaints from parents of girls who attend Madison Middle School.

The station reported Rousey had been a teachers aide and assistant volleyball coach at the school for about a year.

Authorities said there was no indication that sex acts took place.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598042.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598042.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:45 EST
A grand jury charged Hopkins County Magistrate Wesley Lynn on Tuesday with a string of incidents running from May through August involving five women while he was a paramedic.

The 40-year-old Lynn was a paramedic at Regional Medical Center at the time of the incidents listed in the indictment. He resigned from his job in July. His paramedic license has been temporarily suspended by the state licensure board.

Lynn told The Messenger on Tuesday evening that he was unaware of two charges. Lynn said he has been advised by his attorney not to comment on the allegations.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598179.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598179.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:19 EST
Bob Stogner said the ailing kidney recipient, Thomas Clendenen, owes him more than $4,167 for construction work performed on Stogner's home.

Stogner agreed to move up the date of the kidney transplant if Clendenen agreed to help Stogner cover some costs of construction work being done on Stogner's home, according to the suit filed last month in Calloway District Court.

Stogner, of Murray, said he needed to hire a contractor to free him up for the transplant surgery.

Clendenen has argued in court filings that the suit should be dismissed, since it is unlawful to trade a human organ for money.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598488.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598488.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:29 EST
Luallen wants the panel to see whether the funds are being used and whether unused money should be reallocated to need-based recipients.

The merit-based scholarship program was created in 1998 as a way to get more Kentucky high school students to go to college and to keep the best students in the state.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598589.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/598589.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:40 EST
The U.S. attorney's office in Nashville said in a statement Wednesday that the last defendant, Ronald D. Bowen of Ayden, N.C., was sentenced to 51 months in prison by a federal judge. He and co-defendant Christopher L. Sutton were found guilty of conspiring to transfer more than $4.5 million in cash to avoid federal reporting requirements. Sutton, who owned two tobacco companies in North Carolina, was sentenced on Nov. 12 to 60 months in prison.

According to the indictment, other defendants in the case participated in the sale of thousands of pounds of excess burley tobacco that was in violation of the USDA's tobacco allotment program. The remaining seven defendants pleaded guilty and were given jail time or probation and ordered to forfeit money.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597853.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597853.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 07:20 EST
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Circuit Judge Ernesto Scorsone ruled Tuesday the manner police obtained Manny Erevia's statement admitting guilt wasn't voluntary and violated his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

The judge's decision bars prosecutors from presenting Erevia's confession to police at his scheduled March 10 complicity to murder trial in the December slaying of Luis Quiroz Guzman in what authorities said was a gang-related killing.

Six other men and juveniles are also charged.

Scorsone faulted detective Matt Brotherton, saying he didn't let Erevia take a phone call from his mother during the interrogation and allegedly threatened to deport Erevia's parents.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597950.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/597950.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:26 EST
The Kentucky Enquirer reported the plea deal involving 19-year-old Justin Stahl of Walton and said Stahl apologized for throwing a firebomb into the Independence home of a juvenile who he claimed had failed to pay him for marijuana.

Stahl pleaded guilty to second-degree arson and wanton endangerment - the latter because a 13-year-old girl was in the room into which the device was thrown.

Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders said charges are pending against a juvenile involved in the case.

The government wants a 25-year sentence for Stahl.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/599001.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/599001.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:30 EST
FRANKFORT . Highly ballyhooed plans to build ZAP electric vehicles in Kentucky have stalled.

A key investor has pulled out of the project and backers now say they need $150 million to $200 million in federal assistance.

If additional funding for the $84 million factory . which Gov. Steve Beshear said in August would employ 4,000 workers . cannot be found, it may have to move to another state willing to provide richer incentives, one of its key partners said Wednesday.

"But I'm as confident as ever that we will build in Kentucky," said Randall Waldman, chief executive officer of Shepherdsville-based Integrity Manufacturing . ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598985.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598985.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:43 EST
ELIZABETHTOWN . A local official asked a judge on Tuesday to order a recount in a state legislative race in Hardin County after the losing candidate questioned the election's validity.

"Everything was above-board, and we want to prove that," Hardin County Clerk Kenneth Tabb said.

Democratic challenger Mike Weaver, who lost to Republican state Rep. Tim Moore, said Tuesday he plans to contest the Nov. 4 election, alleging improprieties at one precinct.

If he challenges the outcome, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives would determine whether the Democrat or the Republican is the legitimate winner in Hardin County's 26th District. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598675.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598675.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:43 EST http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598984.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598984.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:42 EST
LOUISVILLE . Country music singer Kathy Mattea will help deliver gifts when the Santa Train makes its 66th annual run Saturday through a stretch of Appalachia.

The train delivers more than 15 tons of Christmas gifts to children living along a 110-mile stretch in the rural mountain communities of Eastern Kentucky, western Virginia and northeast Tennessee. It is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce in Kingsport, Tenn.; CSX Transportation Inc.; and Food City Grocers of Abingdon, Va.

Kingsport merchants started the tradition to show their appreciation to customers and help families with little money around Christmastime. The gifts are collected through community donations.

Tori Kaplan of CSX said Mattea was invited to participate because of her Appalachian roots . she's from Cross Lanes, W.Va. . and her new CD is about coal and mining families. "Riding on the Santa Train gives me the opportunity to participate in the lives of the people I have been singing about," Mattea said. "There is a sense of community here, and a sense of place like nowhere else; riding a train through the mountains and visiting with the folks will be the highlight of my Christmas this year." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598983.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598983.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:39 EST
LOUISVILLE . The Kentucky Supreme Court has rejected two requests to halt the scheduled execution of Marco Allen Chapman, saying the Death Row inmate is competent to make his own decisions about whether to die.

The high court on Wednesday ruled that Chapman, who has asked to be executed, is competent to make his own decisions. Because of that finding, Chief Justice John Minton said, the court must dismiss the remaining appeals that were filed by the Department of Public Advocacy against Chapman's will.

Justice Mary Noble issued a one-page concurring opinion saying the court properly applied the law, but that she would be open to legislative action on the death penalty.

"If state executions are not the will of the people, then they must demand a different approach," Noble wrote. "I would welcome such legislation." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598982.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598982.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:33 EST
LOUISVILLE . John Delaney faced the toughest moment of his legal career . his condemned client wanted to drop his appeals and die by injection, an act Delaney opposed and had been trained to try to prevent.

"What do you say?" asked Delaney, a public defender in Northern Kentucky who represented Marco Allen Chapman.

It's a question that has arisen 131 times since states resumed executions in 1977. And each time it leaves defense lawyers struggling against their training to act in the best interest of their clients and justice.

"We're trained as lawyers to be an advocate for someone and fight as hard as we can," said Stephen Harris, a University of Baltimore law professor who represented execution volunteer John Thanos in Maryland in 1994. "Here's someone who says, 'I don't want you,' then, 'I want to die.'" ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598979.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598979.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:46 EST
FRANKFORT . The number of Hoosiers who smoke dropped by 20 percent after Indiana increased the tax on cigarettes to nearly a dollar last year, Indiana's top health official told a Kentucky legislative committee Wednesday.

Dr. Judy Monroe, health commissioner for the Indiana State Department of Health , said the state upped its cigarette tax 44 cents to 99 cents a pack on July 1, 2007. Since that time, the state has seen a 20.5 percent drop in the number of people who smoke.

"Every penny went to health programs," Monroe said of the proceeds from the tax.

Monroe's presentation to the Interim Joint Committee on Health and Welfare comes as Gov. Steve Beshear is again mulling the idea of asking lawmakers to boost Kentucky's cigarette tax to help deal with a growing projected budget shortfall of nearly $300 million. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597975.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597975.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:37 EST


In what they describe as a major undertaking, Kentucky officials are starting to work on regulations that would reduce the amount of mercury put into the air by coal-fired power plants.

John Lyons, director of the state Division of Air Quality , said 10 to 20 states already regulate mercury. Kentucky, he said, would be the first in the Southeast to do so.

Federal regulations proposed by the Bush administration's Environmental Protection Agency have been thrown out by the courts, and developing new ones could take a long time, Lyons said. Kentucky, which had planned to follow the federal lead, has to act on its own, he said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598680.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598680.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:42 EST
FRANKFORT . A search committee to find a new president for the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education met for about 1 . hours Wednesday behind closed doors but made no formal announcement.

It tentatively is scheduled to meet again Dec. 2.

The council, which oversees all state colleges and universities, hopes to have a new president named by the end of the year.

Last May, the council hired Richard A. Crofts, a former commissioner of higher education in Montana and Mississippi, as its interim president. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596604.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596604.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:39 EST
HODGENVILLE . Speaking from the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, first lady Laura Bush kicked off an initiative to raise money for the continued preservation of six key sites associated with the 16th president.

"The national parks have always relied on the contributions from individual citizens," Bush said. She noted that the memorial building that holds a symbolic Lincoln birthplace cabin was built "as part of a private movement with the help of donations as small as a quarter."

Likewise, the "Give a Lincoln For Lincoln" program announced Tuesday asks Americans to donate Lincoln-head pennies, $5 bills or larger contributions to preserve the birthplace and other sites across the nation.

Donations will also benefit the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Indiana; the Lincoln Home National Historic Site in Illinois; the Lincoln Memorial, Lincoln's Cottage at the Soldier's Home, and Ford's Theatre National Historic Site, all in Washington, D.C. The last site is where the president was shot by an assassin in 1865. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597618.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597618.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
Thomas L. Preston

Title: Executive director of Homeland Security

Starting salary: $125,000

Background: Public relations executive; founder of Preston Global, a crisis-management firm; press secretary to Gov. Wendell Ford ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597604.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597604.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:49 EST
CARLISLE . There's little undisputed in this story, the tale of the tipped trailer.

Frances Barton's single-wide, the one she had fully paid $5,000 for and was hoping to move to a little piece of land she was buying on a $250-a-month land contract, is now literally in pieces on Jim Gaunce's front lawn.

And, everyone agrees, that leaves some 12 people . four adults and eight children ranging from 3 months to 12 years . facing Thanksgiving with no place to live.

How, exactly, the mobile home came to this odd resting place is where the story gets complicated. On Friday, Barton hired a guy to put her house on a trailer and move it up U.S. 68 in Nicholas County. When the trailer broke down and the house blocked the highway for hours on end, the sheriff got involved. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597600.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597600.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:00 EST
Gov. Steve Beshear's Office of Homeland Security is becoming a popular entrance to the state payroll for his friends, Democratic political activists and donors.

This month, Ralph Coldiron . who meets all three criteria . started a $100,000-a-year job at Homeland Security as executive director of emergency telecommunications services. Previously, he worked with Beshear chief of staff Adam Edelen at Thomas . King , a Lexington restaurant franchisee. He also worked for former Lexington Mayor Scotty Baesler and Gov. Wallace Wilkinson.

Coldiron joins several other political appointees at Homeland Security during Beshear's first year, some of whom stayed only a few months before taking other Frankfort posts. Previously, they drove Beshear's campaign car, raised money for Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway, or handled labor issues for U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville.

Governors legally can appoint their friends and campaign supporters to state jobs outside the merit system. Most of the roughly two dozen jobs at Homeland Security fall into that category. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597582.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597582.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
Smoking ban starts Thursday

Thursday is the day that more than a dozen Lexington area hospitals and health care facilities go tobacco-free. The facilities will require patients, employees and family members to leave the property to smoke. The policy change will affect 13,000 employees and thousands of patients, visitors, physicians and medical students, according to the Kentucky Hospital Association. The providers have pledged to help those affected by the smoke-out to quit. Twenty-nine percent of Kentuckians smoke, the highest rate in the nation.



Advocacy group launches Web site ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597578.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597578.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he supports a Bush administration plan to make $25 billion in previously authorized loans to the auto industry as part of a bailout package that might come before Congress sometime this week.

McConnell's stance puts him at odds with the Big Three automakers and Senate Democrats, who want to carve out $25 billion for the auto industry from the $700 billion financial bailout package Congress approved last month.

The Kentucky senator, who was re-elected as Senate Republican leader Tuesday, said he supported using the $25 billion loan fund . created to improve fuel efficiency of Detroit automakers . for the bailout.

"A number of our members, which includes myself, think the proposal that the administration had made ... to basically change the qualifications of the money that we have already appropriated is a sound way to go forward," McConnell said Tuesday in a news conference. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597576.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597576.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
FRANKFORT . A Kentucky judge on Tuesday denied a request for an injunction that could have halted Friday's scheduled execution of a confessed child killer who has asked for lethal injection.

Marco Allen Chapman has fired his attorneys and is awaiting execution at the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville.

Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said granting an injunction to stop the execution at the request of unrelated citizens and taxpayers "would violate the requirements of fundamental fairness" to Chapman and to relatives of his victims.

Attorney Philip Longmeyer had argued that the Kentucky Department of Corrections should have held public hearings before adopting regulations that specify how lethal injections are administered. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597575.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597575.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 09:17 EST
FRANKFORT . Kentucky's courts system is experiencing financial woes that could affect programs, personnel and new courthouses, Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. told lawmakers Tuesday.

If funding to the courts continues at the same level, the judicial branch expects a $37.8 million deficit in 2011, Minton said to members of the Interim Judiciary Committee. Minton also said the courts, with its $293 million annual budget and 3,700 employees, might be hit by a round of cuts this fiscal year.

He noted that Gov. Steve Beshear's administration has projected a revenue shortfall of $294 million in the executive branch this year, and on Friday a group of independent economists might increase that figure.

It's likely that Beshear will ask the judicial and legislative branches of government to bear the burden to meet the constitutional mandate of a balanced state budget, Minton said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597574.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/597574.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:43 EST
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. . A coal company fined $1.46 million last month for safety violations has sued federal mine regulators, the latest example of escalating tensions between coal operators and the U.S. Labor Department's Mine Safety and Health Administration.

The federal lawsuit was filed Monday by American Coal Co., a subsidiary of Murray Energy. That company, owned by Bob Murray, entered the national spotlight last year when nine people died in one of the company's Utah mines.

American Coal claims in its suit that federal inspectors issue citations according to quotas and engage in abusive monitoring. Other operators have said the agency has become heavy-handed to counter criticism of questionable oversight after a string of high-profile mine accidents that left dozens dead in recent years.

In the first 10 months of fiscal 2008, MSHA fined mine operators $97.4 million . a 141 percent increase over the previous fiscal year total. Citations and orders for various infractions are up almost 8 percent. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596998.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596998.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 03:08 EST
FRANKFORT . Gov. Steve Beshear has objected to a Bush administration proposal that would allow coal companies to dump dirt and rock blasted from Appalachian mountaintops into streams.

In a letter sent this week to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Beshear said the proposal would threaten Kentucky's ability to protect its environment.

Other Kentucky political leaders, including U.S. Reps. Ben Chandler and John Yarmuth and Attorney General Jack Conway, wrote similar letters. All called for rejection of the proposal.

The Bush administration has advanced a proposal that would ease restrictions on dumping mountaintop mining waste near rivers and streams, eliminating protections that have been in place for a quarter-century. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596986.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/596986.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:08 EST
Kentucky State Police are offering a reward for information that could lead to the arrest of the person responsible for the murder of a Shelby County man.

James Carl Duckett, 43, was found dead in his home on Nov. 10. State police have not said publicly how he died. A pickup taken from Duckett's driveway was recovered hours later.

Police hope somebody saw someone driving the 2004 Dodge Ram pickup or recalls seeing Duckett with someone else in the days or hours before he was found dead, Trooper Ron Turley said.

The amount and source of the reward are being withheld, Turley said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/599008.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/599008.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:37 EST
WASHINGTON . Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a veteran of Capitol Hill and a backer of the Clinton administration's failed health-care effort of the early 1990s, is President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be secretary of health and human services.

The HHS secretary will play a major role in working with Congress on Obama's campaign promise to expand health-care coverage for Americans through a combination of broader eligibility, more subsidies and employer mandates.

The Obama transition team made no announcement Wednesday regarding Daschle, but several well-placed insiders confirmed it. The campaign announced that Obama's chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod, will serve as senior adviser to the president.

Obama aides also confirmed that Greg Craig, a former Clinton administration lawyer and Obama foreign-policy adviser, will serve as White House counsel. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597614.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597614.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
WASHINGTON . President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has signaled to Eric Holder, a senior official in the Justice Department in the Clinton administration, that he will be chosen as attorney general, but no final decision has been made, people involved in the process said Tuesday.

Holder would be the first African-American to serve as the nation's top law enforcement official. As a top adviser to Obama, he has long been considered the front-runner for the job because of his extensive record as a prosecutor and a judge, and a well-honed reputation inside Washington.

Obama's advisers appear to have overcome concerns that Holder's involvement in President Bill Clinton's controversial pardon of fugitive Marc Rich in 2001 might cloud his nomination for the job.

Word that Holder was likely to be nominated as attorney general leaked out as Obama also began settling on other members of his team and signaling his policy priorities upon taking office. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597611.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597611.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
ANCHORAGE, Alaska . Sen. Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in Senate history, narrowly lost his re-election bid Tuesday, marking the downfall of a pillar of the U.S. Senate and Alaska icon who apparently couldn't survive his conviction on federal corruption charges.

Stevens' defeat to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich moves Senate Democrats closer to a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority.

Stevens' ouster on his 85th birthday marks an abrupt realignment in Alaska politics and will alter the power structure in the Senate, where he has served since the days of the Johnson administration while holding seats on some of the most influential committees in Congress.

The crotchety octogenarian's involvement in politics dates to the days before Alaska statehood. He was esteemed for his ability to secure billions of dollars in federal aid for transportation and military projects. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597610.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597610.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
WASHINGTON . Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who this fall campaigned hard for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, got only a mild rebuke Tuesday from Senate Democrats.

On a 42-to-13 secret ballot, Senate Democrats agreed to let Lieberman keep the chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, but they sharply criticized him for comments he made about Barack Obama during the campaign.

Lieberman, who before running as an independent in 2006 was a lifelong Democrat, was stripped of a minor subcommittee chairmanship within the Environment and Public Works Committee, but he was allowed to keep the helm of the Armed Services Committee's AirLand panel.

The vote followed what Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., one of Lieberman's chief supporters, called a "robust debate." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597607.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/597607.html Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:44 EST
WASHINGTON . Barack Obama's 8.5 million-vote margin over John McCain was fueled by a more than 20 percent surge in minority voting and a decline in white turnout, a new analysis of exit polling data suggests.

The analysis estimated that about 5.8 million more minorities voted in this year's presidential election than in 2004, while nearly 1.2 million fewer whites went to the polls.

Separate opinion polls and election results themselves indicate that an overwhelming majority of African-Americans and Latinos backed Obama.

The surge in minority voting was even more pronounced in some election swing states, including Ohio, the liberal-leaning non-profit group Project Vote reported. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/596125.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/596125.html Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
CHICAGO . President-elect Barack Obama and former Republican rival John McCain pledged Monday to work together on ways to change Washington's "bad habits," though aides to both men said it was unlikely McCain would serve in an Obama Cabinet.

The two men met in Obama's transition headquarters in Chicago for the first time since the Illinois senator vanquished McCain in the presidential election Nov. 4. Obama said they wanted to talk about "how we can do some work together to fix up the country," and he added that he would offer his own thanks to McCain "for the outstanding service he's already rendered."

Obama has said he is likely to invite at least one Republican to join his Cabinet, but McCain was not expected to be a candidate. The Arizonan is serving his fourth term in the Senate.

Obama and McCain sat together for a brief picture-taking session with reporters, along with Rahm Emanuel, Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., McCain's close friend. Obama and McCain were heard briefly discussing football, and Obama cracked that "the national press is tame compared to the Chicago press." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599225.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599225.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 06:09 EST
The high court on Wednesday ruled that Chapman, who has asked to be executed, is competent to make his own decisions. Because of that finding, Chief Justice John Minton said, the court must dismiss the remaining appeals that were filed by the Department of Public Advocacy against Chapman's will.

Justice Mary Noble issued a one-page concurring opinion saying the court properly applied the law, but that she would be open to legislative action on the death penalty.

"If state executions are not the will of the people, then they must demand a different approach," Noble wrote. "I would welcome such legislation."

Barring a last-minute change of heart by Chapman, the ruling could clear the way for Chapman to die by lethal injection at the Kentucky State Penitentiary on Friday.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599271.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/599271.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:16 EST
The Kentucky Enquirer reported police in Covington charged the youngster with arson in the blaze that broke out Tuesday afternoon.

It took 15 firefighters more than two hours to contain the fire that was whipped by high winds.

The two-story building was being used for storage.

Detective Gwendolyn Kelley said police arrested the boy quickly after receiving many tips that led to him.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598007.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598007.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:23 EST
HARRODSBURG . Police will continue to have a presence in Mercer County schools on Thursday, repeating action taken Wednesday after the district's safety director became concerned about a recording left on her voice mail.

Harrodsburg police said no direct threats were made to any students or staff or to any particular school, and no incidents were reported Wednesday.

Betty Sims, district director of pupil personnel, said a recording of the song How Far We've Come by the rock group Matchbox 20 was left on her voice mail around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The song begins "I'm wakin' up at the start of the end of the world/ But it's feeling just like every other morning before/ Now I wonder what my life is gonna mean if it's gone." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598550.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/598550.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:09 EST
The Old Governor's Mansion in Frankfort, which served as the official residence of Kentucky's lieutenant governor until 2002, will be redecorated as part of an interior design contest that will end with a gala in 2009, according to first lady Jane Beshear.

The home, built in 1798, underwent a $2.3 million renovation that was completed in 2004.

At a press conference Tuesday, Beshear said that although that renovation made the building structurally sound, "its walls and rooms are mostly bare and in need of a makeover."

The redecoration is being done in preparation for the 598550 in 2010 and will be called the Kentucky Mansion Celebration project. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/599046.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/599046.html Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:38 EST
WASHINGTON . Republicans in the House of Representatives Wednesday gave their bloc a decidedly more conservative . and outspoken . tone, as they voted in new leaders who have reputations as sharp-edged partisans.

Ohio's John Boehner fought off a last-minute challenge by California's Dan Lungren for the minority leader post, but his new deputy will be Eric Cantor, a tough-talking Virginian who led this fall's fight to stall a financial rescue plan crafted by the White House, Democrats and Boehner loyalists.

The party's third-ranking House slot, conference chairman, went to Indiana's Mike Pence, a former radio talk-show host who had challenged Boehner for the leadership job two years ago and is a favorite of hard-line conservatives.

Democrats, too, signaled that they might be bracing for a shakeup, as longtime liberal gadfly Henry Waxman of California won the first round in his battle to unseat veteran Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell of Michigan. Waxman won the endorsement of the House Steering and Policy Committee, a panel stacked with leadership loyalists, by a 25-to-22 vote. He now needs the backing of the full Democratic caucus, which is expected to vote Thursday. ]]>