Rock slide closes interstate

Lu-Ann Farrar - Online Content Manager

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Interstate 40 near the Tennessee-North Carolina state line is closed because of a rock slide blocking the highway. Gov. Beverly Perdue has declared the area an emergency in the hopes of getting the federal government to pick up the repair bill, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. The rock slide, 150 feet high and 200 to 300 feet wide, occurred at 2 a.m. Sunday morning and left rocks as large as mobile homes closing I-40 in both directions, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. The tab for clearing the highway is expected to be between $2 million to $10 million.

Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain will be speaking at the University of Louisville Nov. 11. According to the university, McCain will speak at 9 a.m. in Cardinal Arena, Swain Student Activities Center. Tickets are required for the free talk and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis via the McConnell Center's website, said Gary Gregg, McConnell Center director.

South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation has received a $9.5 million grant from the federal government to upgrade the electric metering system for more than 66,000 families and businesses in rural Kentucky, according to the U.S. Dept. of Energy. The grant awards total $3.4 billion and are part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. The funding will be matched by industry for a total public-private investment worth over $8 billion, according to the release.

The U.S. Department of Labor and the National Mining Association recognized 20 U.S. coal and mineral mines for their 2008 safety record, including two companies in Kentucky. 2008 was "the safest year in the history of American mining," according to a press release. Three Rivers Quarry, Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. in Smithland, Ky. and Clas #4, Clas Coal Company, Inc. in Kite, Ky. were named among the "Sentinels of Safety," awarded annually to the nation’s safest mines with a minimum of 4,000 injury-free hours.

Susan Weston, on the Prichard Committee blog, takes a look at child poverty in Kentucky. The data is taken from the newest American Community Survey from the U.S. Census Bureau. Weston points out that the highest child poverty rates in Kentucky are found in one part of Jefferson County and in a set of Appalachian counties and the lowest rate is found in other parts of Jefferson County and in relatively suburban areas adjacent to Louisville and Cincinnati.