http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com State 60 Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:17:20 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615965.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615965.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:16 EST
Windstream Communications, Lexington's local telephone provider, said Thursday it plans to cut 170 jobs across the nation by the end of the first quarter.

Company spokesman David Avery said the 170 jobs will be a combination of layoffs and voluntary resignations. No layoffs are expected in Kentucky, where the company employs 700.

The company isn't breaking down how many voluntary resignations it hopes to receive.

Windstream employs 7,400 people overall. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615451.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615451.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:05 EST
Kentucky is making small improvements for its children after several years of declines, according to the new Kids Count data book.

But they continue to face problems: Kentucky has low rates of breast-feeding and low achievement rates among disabled children, and some schools still use spankings . corporal punishment . as a form of discipline.

"We, as a state, are still 41st in terms of overall well-being," said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, the group that puts out the yearly report. "There is no way we Kentuckians can feel good about being in the bottom 10 for kids."

Brooks said it is unclear whether Kentucky's signs of improvement are the beginning of a new trend or a blip. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615013.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615013.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00 EST
The Kentucky Community and Technical College System's board of regents has launched a spirited debate over potentially abandoning the tenure system for future faculty members.

At their meeting Thursday and Friday, the regents are giving a first public airing of the idea of hiring new professors with contracts of up to four years, rather than the tenure track that essentially establishes faculty members for life.

The board can't approve such a move this month because it is up for discussion only and couldn't be acted upon until its March meeting at the earliest, said KCTCS spokeswoman Terri Giltner.

But it is an idea that is being floated as an option to help the system handle "rapid shifts in the job market, emerging new job markets, and state budget cuts which underscored the need for flexibility," according to the board of regents' documents attached to its meeting agenda. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615753.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615753.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:47 EST
LOUISVILLE . While other parts of the economy are suffering, Kentucky farms are seeing record gross receipts this year despite a difficult year for some of the state's traditional income drivers . horses and cattle.

Despite significant drops in some areas, farm cash receipts are predicted to be a record $4.7 billion for 2008, according to the University of Kentucky agricultural economists who presented their annual forecast Thursday at the Kentucky Farm Bureau convention.

Receipts this year are expected to be up 7 percent from 2007, and up by more than a third from 2001. Next year, receipts from sales of farm products are expected to drop only slightly, to about $4.6 billion.

Even with higher fuel, feed and fertilizer costs, net farm income for many farms is expected to be up about 10 percent for 2008, thanks to growth from corn, wheat, soybeans and tobacco. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616388.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616388.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:20 EST
LOUISVILLE . As the heads of the Big Three auto makers appeared before Congress to ask for financial help, Ford workers in Louisville rallied behind the industry, along with the governor and mayors of Louisville and Lexington.

More than four dozen Ford Motor Corp. employees cheered and applauded at the Kentucky Truck Plant Thursday as Gov. Steve Beshear called for federal lawmakers to pass $34 billion in emergency aid. The money would help a state where between 80,000 and 85,000 people are employed by the auto industry either directly or through suppliers and dealerships, Beshear said.

"We're not asking for a handout," Beshear said. "We're asking to partner with the federal government."

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says that without help, the auto industry could fail. That, in turn, would have a devastating impact on the Louisville area, where the truck plant, a Ford Assembly Plant and parts suppliers are located, Abramson said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616386.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616386.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:10 EST
LOUISVILLE . Ann Gotlib was 12 when she vanished while riding her bike near a suburban mall in 1983, a disappearance that rocked the city and made a generation of children think twice before venturing out alone.

Police announced Thursday that they have a suspect in the case . a dead felon twice convicted of abducting girls and injecting them with drugs in Alabama.

The evidence against Greg Lewis Oakley Jr. is so strong that he would be in custody if he hadn't died in 2002, Police Maj. Barry Wilkerson said.

"If I wasn't here talking to you and he was alive, I'd be talking to him right now," Wilkerson said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616385.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616385.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:03 EST
Gov. Steve Beshear doesn't want Kentucky to borrow its way out of a nearly half-billion-dollar shortfall by issuing bonds, he said Thursday.

So far, Beshear has given few other specifics about how he plans to resolve the shortfall, preferring to talk in generalities.

He remained non-committal about the possibility of calling for a cigarette tax increase, declining to immediately support a bill pre-filed Thursday by Rep. David Watkins that would raise the tax from 30 cents to $1 a pack.

Beshear, who is expected to make public next week his plan to deal with a projected $456.1 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, told the Lexington Herald-Leader editorial board that he does not want to propose a financial solution "that would make things worse over the long haul." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616382.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616382.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:39 EST
Thursday's funeral procession for former Lancaster Fire Chief Kenneth Adams in Lancaster included firetrucks from Danville, Stanford, McKee, Richmond, Lexington and elsewhere.

Adams, 69, who died Monday, was chief from 1964 to 2005. The procession went through downtown to Lancaster Cemetery.

Greg Kocher ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616361.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616361.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:38 EST
We've got to change our megawatt-wasting ways.

Kentucky's energy-efficiency problem, experts say, is that low electrical rates have lulled us into lackadaisical light-switch-flipping.

The average man, woman and child in Kentucky uses 70 percent more electricity than the average American, according to numbers compiled by Robert Ukeily, a Berea attorney who represents environmental groups.

The average Kentucky home uses 24 percent more electricity than the national average. The average Kentucky industrial customer uses 427 percent more . a testament to the state's history of using local electrical rates to draw aluminum smelters and other energy-hungry industries. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616029.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616029.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00 EST
Someday, when state officials have added up all of the taxpayer money that will be spent on the lawsuit filed this week by an atheist group, I hope they will send the bill to state Rep. Tom Riner.

To help him pay it, Riner could then take up a collection among the legislators who supported his floor amendment.

American Atheists Inc. sued the state because Riner, a Louisville Democrat and Baptist minister, inserted the amendment two years ago into legislation organizing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. The amendment designated the office's first duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

The amendment requires the office to publicize God's benevolent protection in its literature, and to post at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center a plaque with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615807.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615807.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:08 EST
Tater Knob Fire Tower near Morehead has been closed because it was damaged by fire, Daniel Boone National Forest officials said Thursday.

The cab at the top of the tower was burned. Officials said they did not know how the fire started.

It was the last fire tower left in the national forest, and it was listed on the National Historic Lookout Register.

The tower was built in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was staffed daily during fire seasons through the early 1970s. Now, planes provide lookout duties. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614033.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614033.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:13 EST
OWINGSVILLE . A Central Kentucky county still aching from the loss of an electronics manufacturing plant about a month ago was struck with harsher news this week when the county's second-largest employer announced plans to shut down.

Cintas Corp., which makes uniforms for businesses, will close two Kentucky plants . one in Owingsville, the other in Hazard . on Jan. 31 and lay off nearly 300 employees.

In Owingsville, the announcement that Cintas would close came about a month after Key Electronics, based in Jeffersonville, Ind., closed and 37 employees were laid off, said Bath County Judge-Executive Carolyn Belcher.

"It was a pretty tough day in Bath County yesterday," Belcher said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614724.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614724.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:23 EST
The veterinarian at the center of a notorious horse-racing medication case said on Wednesday that he never gave cobra venom to an active racehorse, let alone one in the care of top trainer Patrick Biancone.

Dr. Rodney J. Stewart, who told Kentucky racing authorities that three vials of powdered cobra venom found in a refrigerator in Biancone's barns at Keeneland were there by chance, the result of being in transit from Versailles back to Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Stewart, who has been suspended since Aug. 16, 2007, testified Wednesday in an appeal of his five-year suspension, evidently the harshest ever imposed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Cobra venom can be used to deaden nerves and has some legitimate use in non-racing horses, but is a banned substance on the tracks because of its potential for abuse. There is no test that can detect it. While Stewart doesn't dispute that the cobra venom and other drugs were at Keeneland, he said they weren't there to be given to a racehorse. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615155.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615155.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:36 EST
LOUISVILLE . The bad economy has led a record number of people to sign up for Kentucky's Medicaid program, leaving the state in a "dire" financial situation.

Enrollment in the health program for the poor and disabled is increasing by about 3,000 members a month, more than double what state officials had projected, The Courier-Journal reported.

That means extra costs for the state, which is already struggling with a projected $456 million revenue shortfall.

Costs for the program increase by $11.4 million a year for every 3,000 people added. The federal government provides 70 percent of Medicaid funding and states pay for the rest. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615123.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615123.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
Kentucky county attorneys said Wednesday that a 4 percent cut in their budget could mean reduced hours and the possible layoff of prosecutors.

County attorneys, who prosecute misdemeanors and help enforce child support collection, said that if their budgets were cut by 4 percent it would translate to a loss of $1.1 million dollars, said Christian County Attorney Mike Foster, a member of the Prosecutors Advisory Council. That $1.1 million cut could translate to cutting 77 staff in various county attorneys' offices, county prosecutors say.

Gov. Steve Beshear asked all state agencies to outline the impact of a 4 percent budget cut. He will consider the proposals as he creates a plan to deal with a projected $456 million shortfall in this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Foster called the potential cuts "devastating" to public safety, according to a press release from the Kentucky County Attorneys Association. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615122.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615122.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
The Council on Postsecondary Education has narrowed its search for a president to two candidates but put off making a pick Wednesday until members could dig further into both men's backgrounds.

"We have continued to discuss two people that we're very interested in but we need to do more reference checking and discussion," said John R. Hall, the retired chairman of Ashland Inc. who is leading the council's search committee.

The two candidates met with the council Wednesday morning for the first time in closed-door meetings. Council members deliberated in private at Lexington's Embassy Suites Hotel for most of the afternoon before finally breaking up at 4 p.m.

Hall and other council members remained tight-lipped about the identities of the finalists, saying only that both men . who hail from the Northeast . are qualified to lead the group that sets state higher education policy. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615110.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615110.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:31 EST
The Detroit automakers are making their case for federal government loans, which could have wide-reaching effects on Kentucky's network of suppliers. Toyota will cut more than half its 500 temporary employees from its Georgetown plant. One Toyota supplier, AK Steel in Ashland, will furlough almost all 1,100 workers until at least mid-January.

There are weak links in the chains of restaurants, retailers and car dealers. Lexington-based Thomas . King, which operates Applebee's and Carino's Italian Grill restaurants, is eliminating 17 jobs at its headquarters and cutting other costs. Jaguar and Land Rover is the fourth Lexington area dealer to go out of business this year. Circuit City, a prime outlet for Lexmark printers, is closing stores in Lexington, Louisville and Paducah as it goes through bankruptcy.

Kentucky is one of many states dealing with a budget crisis. A projected $456 million budget shortfall prompted the possibility of 4 percent across-the-board budget cuts in state government. Lexington's mayor talked of laying off 100 police officers and shutting down five fire stations. Lexington city government and the University of Kentucky have already frozen hiring except for UK's medical center.

Kentucky's seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate:. October 2008: 6.8 percent ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615104.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615104.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:48 EST
Kentucky

Keeneland sale headliner will be pregnant Azeri

The 2003 Horse of the Year, Azeri , will be making news at another auction soon. The three-time champion, in foal to 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper , is catalogued for the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, Jan. 12-17. The top money-earning Thorough bred filly, she won nearly $4.08 million in four seasons of racing. John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency will consign the broodmare for the Allen E. Paulson Living Trust . Azeri stunned the September sale crowd when her first foal, an A.P. Indy colt named Vallenzeri, failed to sell despite a top bid of $7.7 million. Azeri headlines the catalog of 2,379 horses, including 986 broodmares, 834 yearlings, 543 horses of racing age and 16 stallions. Catalogs will be available online at www.keeneland.com beginning Monday.

Lower Alpha earnings forecast ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615103.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615103.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. . Angry environmentalists launched an online campaign Wednesday urging President-elect Barack Obama to undo a federal rule that clarifies when coal companies can dump mining waste in streams, calling it a long-awaited "parting gift" from the Bush administration.

North Carolina-based Appalachian Voices and others blasted Tuesday's Environmental Protection Agency decision to endorse the mining rule as the death of freshwater streams and the likely start of a new surge in mountaintop removal surface mining across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Although the regulation would apply nationwide, mountaintop removal operations are of special interest in Appalachia, where surface mines now outnumber those underground.

An EPA study estimated 400,000 acres of forest were wiped out and nearly 724 miles of streams buried between 1985 and 2001 by mountaintop mining, in which forests are clear cut and holes are drilled to blast apart rock. Massive machines, some with buckets big enough to hold 24 compact cars, scoop coal from the exposed seams. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615100.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615100.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:51 EST
FRANKFORT . In his first year as governor of Kentucky, Democrat Steve Beshear said he was unprepared for the intensity of the job.

"No one who hasn't sat in this chair can appreciate the number of decisions and many times the enormity of the effects of those decisions that you make daily. There is so much going on that you have to say grace over," Beshear said during a wide-ranging interview Wednesday in the Capitol office he took over last Dec. 11.

Maybe the biggest decisions of Beshear's still-young administration will be made by the end of next week.

The 64-year-old governor will have to decide how to deal with a nearly half-billion-dollar shortfall in the state budget for this fiscal year. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:13 EST
The University of Kentucky would drain most of its reserve funds for classroom improvements and scholarships and freeze hiring for as many as 150 positions if forced to cut its budget by 4 percent.

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

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

UK's document doesn't put dollar amounts next to each item to be cut, but it foreshadows tough days ahead. The state has already scaled back funding to UK by $20 million in the last 11 months. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616558.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616558.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:41 EST
The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Oct. 23 the results of a 2006 mayoral race in a small southern Kentucky town should be set aside in favor of a new election.

Beverly McClendon, who has been serving as mayor, finished the Nov. 7, 2006, contest with 325 votes to Jerry Hodges' 324 votes. There were three other candidates in the race.

The Glasgow Daily Times reports McClendon filed a requested for a rehearing Nov. 12. Hodges filed Monday. The case was sent to Supreme Court justices for assignment Monday.

Tompkinsville, with a population of more than 2,600 people, is located about 140 miles south of Louisville, near the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The race is nonpartisan.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616608.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616608.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:16 EST
Department of Health state epidemiologist Dr. Kraig Humbaugh says he expects the bacteria-caused illness called pertussis will infect more than 100 people this year. Kentucky has had at least 62 cases since October.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the state has seen eight to 60 cases of whooping cough in recent years.

This year's outbreak is most severe in counties surrounding Elizabethtown.

The illness is most severe for young children and those with compromised immune systems. It can be deadly to children not vaccinated.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616567.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616567.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:05 EST
Whitley County Jailer Ken Mobley says Brittany Lynch was arrested Tuesday and charged with four counts of unlawful taking.

The Times-Tribune reports Mobley says Lynch has admitted to taking a jail two-way radio, bond money and cash from a co-worker's purse.

Lynch had worked at the Whitley County Detention Center for about four months but it is unclear what her job entitled.

Kentucky State Police, Williamsburg Police and Mobley began investigating when bond money and jail property went missing.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616332.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616332.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:21 EST
The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports the Board of Regents for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System is also planning Friday to discuss ending health insurance for new retirees as another way to save money.

Spokeswoman Terri Giltner said that the board will discuss the measure, but that no vote is scheduled. If the board asks for a more formal proposal, a final version would not be adopted until March.

But educators say eliminating tenure and benefits will keep them from hiring talented professors, especially at rural schools.

"What is there to attract high-quality, well-trained teachers to the rural colleges like Somerset, Hazard, Harlan, if you don't have good retirement and tenure?" said Dexter Alexander, a retired dean of institutional effectiveness and research at Somerset Community College.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616572.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616572.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:11 EST
Police say the robber in the second case was armed, while the man accused of stealing beer was not.

Just the same, the legal plights of the two clerks highlight the uncertain impact of National Rifle Association-backed laws sweeping the nation that make it easier to justify shooting in self-defense.

In 2006, Mississippi adopted its version of the so-called castle doctrine, which lifts requirements that individuals first try to flee before using deadly force to counter a threat in their homes, vehicles or, in Mississippi's case, at work.

Gun rights advocates who have helped pass the law in 23 states since 2003 say it removes an unfair legal penalty for people exercising a constitutional right in a life-or-death emergency, though some police and prosecutors are skeptical of self-defense claims under the law.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615311.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615311.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:42 EST
Each firefighter gets $3,100 per year from the state as a benefit for completing a certain amount of training.

The Courier-Journal reports officials say the city could no longer afford incentive pay after a lawsuit firefighters filed resulted in a ruling that Louisville was underpaying them by not including it in the amount used to calculate overtime.

Fire commission division director Bruce Roberts says firefighters did not receive the $134 in their last two-week paycheck because Louisville did not send the required monthly request.

Firefighters union Craig Willman president says the union plans to give the city a document Thursday that offers to exclude the incentive pay from the overtime calculations to allow members to continue receiving the extra money.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615643.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615643.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:37 EST
More than four dozen Ford Motor Corp. employees cheered and applauded at the Kentucky Truck Plant Thursday as Gov. Steve Beshear and other officials called for federal lawmakers to pass $34 billion in emergency aid. The money would help a state where between 80,000 and 85,000 people are employed by the auto industry either directly or through suppliers and dealerships, Beshear said.

"We're not asking for a handout," Beshear said. "We're asking to partner with the federal government."

The heads of Ford, General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC were on Capitol Hill Thursday in a second attempt to persuade Congress to help the ailing industry. Congress turned away an initial attempt by the automakers last month to get financial help from the federal treasury.

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says without help, the auto industry could fail. That, in turn, would have a devastating impact on the Louisville area, where the truck plant, a Ford Assembly Plant and parts suppliers are located, Abramson said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615814.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615814.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:31 EST
Police announced Thursday that they have a suspect in the case - a dead felon twice convicted of abducting girls and injecting them with drugs in Alabama.

The evidence against Greg Lewis Oakley Jr. is so strong that he would be in custody if he hadn't died in 2002, Police Maj. Barry Wilkerson said.

"If I wasn't here talking to you and he was alive, I'd be talking to him right now," Wilkerson said.

Police believe he killed Ann by injecting her with an overdose of the painkiller Talwin.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615954.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615954.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:06 EST
The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports the Board of Regents for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System is also planning Friday to discuss ending health insurance for new retirees as another way to save money.

Spokeswoman Terri Giltner said that the board will discuss the measure, but that no vote is scheduled. If the board asks for a more formal proposal, a final version would not be adopted until March.

But educators say eliminating tenure and benefits will keep them from hiring talented professors, especially at rural schools.

"What is there to attract high-quality, well-trained teachers to the rural colleges like Somerset, Hazard, Harlan, if you don't have good retirement and tenure?" said Dexter Alexander, a retired dean of institutional effectiveness and research at Somerset Community College.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615407.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615407.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:42 EST
Bullitt County Sheriff's Department Lt. Scotty McGaha says 25-year-old Jessica Smith repeatedly raped a 15-year-old boy. His mother says she paid Smith to watch her children.

WLKY reports McGaha says the boy may be the father since the relationship was ongoing.

Smith's attorney made arrangements Wednesday for her to surrender to police Friday. She faces rape and sodomy charges.

The boy's mother says the teen now has serious mental health issues.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615666.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615666.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:46 EST
Net farm income - the amount left after expenses - was projected to be about $1.5 billion in 2008, up slightly from a year ago, said University of Kentucky agricultural economist Lee Meyer.

"It's an even year, with some positive shifts on the crop side of things and some negative shifts on the livestock side," Meyer said as UK ag economists offered their prognosis for 2008 and the coming year.

The projected $4.7 billion cash receipt total would be up $1.2 billion, or 34 percent, from 2001, according to Meyer. Last year, farm cash receipts in the Bluegrass state totaled $4.4 billion.

Corn and soybeans yielded sharply higher overall income this year due to increased production along with escalating prices fetched by farmers earlier in the year, Meyer said. Those prices have since fallen.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615820.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615820.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:02 EST
The flight of 14 whooping cranes to Florida's eastern gulf coast, led by an ultralight aircraft was interrupted by weather conditions after a Kentucky stop over Nov. 29. The Paducah Sun reports they landed near the community of Hardin in western Kentucky's Marshall County, but the forecast is now favorable for a Friday departure.

Spokeswoman Heather Ray of Operation Migration says a ground and flight crew of 12 accompany the endangered birds.

She says at predetermined stops, a large pen is set up to protect the cranes that eat and drink from a specially adapted van.

The birds will migrate to Florida's gulf coast, then be allowed to find their way home without an escort.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616053.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616053.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:46 EST
The western Kentucky coal county made famous by the Prine song "Paradise" has received a multi-million dollar gift from a resident who quietly built the fortune before he died.

The Community Foundation of Louisville announced Thursday in a news release that Felix E. Martin Jr. left $50 million to the county. The Foundation says it will distribute the money every year through grants.

Martin, 80, a native of Muhlenberg County, died in November 2007. According to the Web site for his foundation, he lived modestly and built his fortune through private investing after inheriting more than $8 million from his mother in 2001.

He stated in his will he wanted the money to be distributed for the benefit of the education, civic and cultural needs of Muhlenberg County residents.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615293.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615293.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:35 EST
At the University of Kentucky, administrators are predicting possible cuts could lead to double-digit tuition hikes and the draining of a fund for classroom improvements. Other schools may see a drop in faculty scholarships and student services - even a cap on students, university presidents say.

"We will work hard and do the best we can to stay on track to meet the mandate given to us," University of Louisville President James Ramsey told The Louisville Courier-Journal. "But you know how painful this will be."

Kentucky's state government is facing a budget shortfall of more than $456 million in the current fiscal year that ends June 30. Gov. Steve Beshear has ordered public university presidents and state agency officials for proposals on how to slash 4 percent from their current budgets.

Beshear has not settled on a plan for handling the expected budget shortfall and has said he will use the proposals in developing an overall strategy.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615458.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615458.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:27 EST
Covington police Lt. Col. Spike Jones says officers were responding to reports of a man with a gun when he became combative and threw a box of bullets at them.

The Enquirer reports officers fired Tasers at the man to control him.

Covington Fraternal Order of Police president Chris Gangwish says the man pulled the electrical probes out of his body to stop the shock.

Jones says he then began having "physical difficulties" and an ambulance was called. Medics were unable to revive the man, whose name has not been released.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615748.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615748.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:32 EST
The governor said Thursday his goal is to make strategic investments in education, health care and economic development to help the state "take off" when an economic turnaround takes place.

Beshear told an audience at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Convention in Louisville that his administration is doing everything it can to soften the impact from the economic downturn.

Afterward, Beshear told reporters he'll be making decisions in coming days on how to close an estimated $456 million shortfall in the current state budget. Beshear said his priority is to make spending cuts, but he left open the option of finding more revenues.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615840.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615840.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:01 EST
Abingdon, Va.-based Alpha says in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday that $25 million of the pretax charges covers property and equipment at its Whitetail Kittanning mine in Preston County.

Alpha says another $4 million comes from the write-off of prepaid royalties and $4 million more is related to severance and other benefit costs. A final $2 million is related to reclamation at the site.

Alpha plans to stop producing coal at the mine this month and close it by the end of February. The company has approximately 60 mines in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614574.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614574.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:32 EST
Defense attorney Larry Mackey filed a motion Wednesday on behalf of Leonard Lawson, who was indicted in September along with one of his employees and a former top-ranking state official. Mackey said allowing prosecutors to introduce campaign contributions would be prejudicial and irrelevant.

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

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

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

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

Its future status in the Anglican Communion is unclear.

It is unprecedented for an Anglican national province to be created where any other such national church already exists. But traditionalists say the new group is needed to represent the true historic tradition of Anglican Christianity.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614913.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614913.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 22:12 EST
The Fayette County coroner's office says the toddler was assaulted Nov. 25 in a Lexington home. An autopsy is pending.

Charged with first-degree rape, first-degree sexual abuse and first-degree assault is 18-year-old Brian Matthew Crabtree. He is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center.

The Lexington Herald-Leader cites court documents in which police say Crabtree admitted raping the child, plus dropping her several feet to the floor.

The girl died Tuesday at Kentucky Children's Hospital.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613885.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613885.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:57 EST
The one-car accident happen late Tuesday, about three miles west of Versailles.

Police say the driver lost control and veered off the road, hitting the tree.

Both victims were airlifted to the University of Kentucky Hospital.

Authorities have not released any names but say speed and alcohol may have been factors in the crash.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614005.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614005.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:27 EST
Enrollment in the health program for the poor and disabled is increasing by about 3,000 members a month, more than double what state officials had projected, The Courier-Journal reported.

That means extra costs for the state, which is already struggling with a projected $456 million revenue shortfall.

Costs for the program increase by about $11.4 million per year for every 3,000 people added to the program. The federal government provides 70 percent of Medicaid funding and states pay for the rest.

Kentucky was facing a projected Medicaid deficit of $183 million for the budget year that began July 1 before enrollment began shooting up, Medicaid Commissioner Elizabeth Johnson said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616572.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616572.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:11 EST
Police say the robber in the second case was armed, while the man accused of stealing beer was not.

Just the same, the legal plights of the two clerks highlight the uncertain impact of National Rifle Association-backed laws sweeping the nation that make it easier to justify shooting in self-defense.

In 2006, Mississippi adopted its version of the so-called castle doctrine, which lifts requirements that individuals first try to flee before using deadly force to counter a threat in their homes, vehicles or, in Mississippi's case, at work.

Gun rights advocates who have helped pass the law in 23 states since 2003 say it removes an unfair legal penalty for people exercising a constitutional right in a life-or-death emergency, though some police and prosecutors are skeptical of self-defense claims under the law.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616558.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616558.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:41 EST
The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Oct. 23 the results of a 2006 mayoral race in a small southern Kentucky town should be set aside in favor of a new election.

Beverly McClendon, who has been serving as mayor, finished the Nov. 7, 2006, contest with 325 votes to Jerry Hodges' 324 votes. There were three other candidates in the race.

The Glasgow Daily Times reports McClendon filed a requested for a rehearing Nov. 12. Hodges filed Monday. The case was sent to Supreme Court justices for assignment Monday.

Tompkinsville, with a population of more than 2,600 people, is located about 140 miles south of Louisville, near the Kentucky-Tennessee border. The race is nonpartisan.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616608.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616608.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:16 EST
Department of Health state epidemiologist Dr. Kraig Humbaugh says he expects the bacteria-caused illness called pertussis will infect more than 100 people this year. Kentucky has had at least 62 cases since October.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the state has seen eight to 60 cases of whooping cough in recent years.

This year's outbreak is most severe in counties surrounding Elizabethtown.

The illness is most severe for young children and those with compromised immune systems. It can be deadly to children not vaccinated.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615407.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615407.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:42 EST
Bullitt County Sheriff's Department Lt. Scotty McGaha says 25-year-old Jessica Smith repeatedly raped a 15-year-old boy. His mother says she paid Smith to watch her children.

WLKY reports McGaha says the boy may be the father since the relationship was ongoing.

Smith's attorney made arrangements Wednesday for her to surrender to police Friday. She faces rape and sodomy charges.

The boy's mother says the teen now has serious mental health issues.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615666.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615666.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:46 EST
Net farm income - the amount left after expenses - was projected to be about $1.5 billion in 2008, up slightly from a year ago, said University of Kentucky agricultural economist Lee Meyer.

"It's an even year, with some positive shifts on the crop side of things and some negative shifts on the livestock side," Meyer said as UK ag economists offered their prognosis for 2008 and the coming year.

The projected $4.7 billion cash receipt total would be up $1.2 billion, or 34 percent, from 2001, according to Meyer. Last year, farm cash receipts in the Bluegrass state totaled $4.4 billion.

Corn and soybeans yielded sharply higher overall income this year due to increased production along with escalating prices fetched by farmers earlier in the year, Meyer said. Those prices have since fallen.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615820.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615820.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:02 EST
The flight of 14 whooping cranes to Florida's eastern gulf coast, led by an ultralight aircraft was interrupted by weather conditions after a Kentucky stop over Nov. 29. The Paducah Sun reports they landed near the community of Hardin in western Kentucky's Marshall County, but the forecast is now favorable for a Friday departure.

Spokeswoman Heather Ray of Operation Migration says a ground and flight crew of 12 accompany the endangered birds.

She says at predetermined stops, a large pen is set up to protect the cranes that eat and drink from a specially adapted van.

The birds will migrate to Florida's gulf coast, then be allowed to find their way home without an escort.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616053.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616053.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:46 EST
The western Kentucky coal county made famous by the Prine song "Paradise" has received a multi-million dollar gift from a resident who quietly built the fortune before he died.

The Community Foundation of Louisville announced Thursday in a news release that Felix E. Martin Jr. left $50 million to the county. The Foundation says it will distribute the money every year through grants.

Martin, 80, a native of Muhlenberg County, died in November 2007. According to the Web site for his foundation, he lived modestly and built his fortune through private investing after inheriting more than $8 million from his mother in 2001.

He stated in his will he wanted the money to be distributed for the benefit of the education, civic and cultural needs of Muhlenberg County residents.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615293.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615293.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 15:35 EST
At the University of Kentucky, administrators are predicting possible cuts could lead to double-digit tuition hikes and the draining of a fund for classroom improvements. Other schools may see a drop in faculty scholarships and student services - even a cap on students, university presidents say.

"We will work hard and do the best we can to stay on track to meet the mandate given to us," University of Louisville President James Ramsey told The Louisville Courier-Journal. "But you know how painful this will be."

Kentucky's state government is facing a budget shortfall of more than $456 million in the current fiscal year that ends June 30. Gov. Steve Beshear has ordered public university presidents and state agency officials for proposals on how to slash 4 percent from their current budgets.

Beshear has not settled on a plan for handling the expected budget shortfall and has said he will use the proposals in developing an overall strategy.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615458.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615458.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:27 EST
Covington police Lt. Col. Spike Jones says officers were responding to reports of a man with a gun when he became combative and threw a box of bullets at them.

The Enquirer reports officers fired Tasers at the man to control him.

Covington Fraternal Order of Police president Chris Gangwish says the man pulled the electrical probes out of his body to stop the shock.

Jones says he then began having "physical difficulties" and an ambulance was called. Medics were unable to revive the man, whose name has not been released.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615748.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615748.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:32 EST
The governor said Thursday his goal is to make strategic investments in education, health care and economic development to help the state "take off" when an economic turnaround takes place.

Beshear told an audience at the Kentucky Farm Bureau Convention in Louisville that his administration is doing everything it can to soften the impact from the economic downturn.

Afterward, Beshear told reporters he'll be making decisions in coming days on how to close an estimated $456 million shortfall in the current state budget. Beshear said his priority is to make spending cuts, but he left open the option of finding more revenues.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615840.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615840.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:01 EST
Abingdon, Va.-based Alpha says in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing Thursday that $25 million of the pretax charges covers property and equipment at its Whitetail Kittanning mine in Preston County.

Alpha says another $4 million comes from the write-off of prepaid royalties and $4 million more is related to severance and other benefit costs. A final $2 million is related to reclamation at the site.

Alpha plans to stop producing coal at the mine this month and close it by the end of February. The company has approximately 60 mines in West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615311.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615311.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:42 EST
Each firefighter gets $3,100 per year from the state as a benefit for completing a certain amount of training.

The Courier-Journal reports officials say the city could no longer afford incentive pay after a lawsuit firefighters filed resulted in a ruling that Louisville was underpaying them by not including it in the amount used to calculate overtime.

Fire commission division director Bruce Roberts says firefighters did not receive the $134 in their last two-week paycheck because Louisville did not send the required monthly request.

Firefighters union Craig Willman president says the union plans to give the city a document Thursday that offers to exclude the incentive pay from the overtime calculations to allow members to continue receiving the extra money.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615643.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615643.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:37 EST
More than four dozen Ford Motor Corp. employees cheered and applauded at the Kentucky Truck Plant Thursday as Gov. Steve Beshear and other officials called for federal lawmakers to pass $34 billion in emergency aid. The money would help a state where between 80,000 and 85,000 people are employed by the auto industry either directly or through suppliers and dealerships, Beshear said.

"We're not asking for a handout," Beshear said. "We're asking to partner with the federal government."

The heads of Ford, General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC were on Capitol Hill Thursday in a second attempt to persuade Congress to help the ailing industry. Congress turned away an initial attempt by the automakers last month to get financial help from the federal treasury.

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says without help, the auto industry could fail. That, in turn, would have a devastating impact on the Louisville area, where the truck plant, a Ford Assembly Plant and parts suppliers are located, Abramson said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615814.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615814.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 00:31 EST
Police announced Thursday that they have a suspect in the case - a dead felon twice convicted of abducting girls and injecting them with drugs in Alabama.

The evidence against Greg Lewis Oakley Jr. is so strong that he would be in custody if he hadn't died in 2002, Police Maj. Barry Wilkerson said.

"If I wasn't here talking to you and he was alive, I'd be talking to him right now," Wilkerson said.

Police believe he killed Ann by injecting her with an overdose of the painkiller Talwin.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615954.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/615954.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:06 EST
The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports the Board of Regents for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System is also planning Friday to discuss ending health insurance for new retirees as another way to save money.

Spokeswoman Terri Giltner said that the board will discuss the measure, but that no vote is scheduled. If the board asks for a more formal proposal, a final version would not be adopted until March.

But educators say eliminating tenure and benefits will keep them from hiring talented professors, especially at rural schools.

"What is there to attract high-quality, well-trained teachers to the rural colleges like Somerset, Hazard, Harlan, if you don't have good retirement and tenure?" said Dexter Alexander, a retired dean of institutional effectiveness and research at Somerset Community College.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613947.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/613947.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:17 EST
The area in eastern McLean County is about 30 miles east of Henderson.

The Gleaner reports VorTek, a small research and engineering company, analyzed National Weather Service data from 1950 through 2007.

The Huntsville, Ala.-based company says 32 tornado track segments touched down or passed within 20 miles of Maxwell.

VorTek develops software that assesses tornado threats.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614006.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614006.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:52 EST
Seven militants were killed during a clash with a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol in the Nad Ali district of the southern Helmand province on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.

"The combined forces were conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol when they were engaged by militants from multiple fighting positions using small-arms, indirect and rocket fire," the statement said.

Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency. The U.S. military has said it will continue its operations against insurgents throughout the winter.

In another clash Tuesday, three militants were killed during a firefight with U.S. troops in the Andar district of Ghazni province Tuesday, another military statement said.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614131.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614131.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:17 EST
Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Jon Gassett told The Courier-Journal that he intends to meet with park officials to discuss having the state operate Otter Creek as a wildlife-management area.

Abramson announced Monday the park would close Dec. 14 in an effort to help offset a projected $20 million city budget shortfall this fiscal year because it loses about $500,000 annually.

The city decided Tuesday to delay the closing until Jan. 1, so people can use the park's lodging and facilities over the holidays.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614508.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614508.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 17:12 EST
North Carolina-based Appalachian Voices and others blasted Tuesday's Environmental Protection Agency decision to endorse the mining rule as the death of freshwater streams and the likely start of a new surge in mountaintop removal surface mining across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Although the regulation would apply nationwide, mountaintop removal operations are of special interest in Appalachia, where surface mines now outnumber those underground.

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

The rock and dirt left behind is dumped into adjacent valleys, changing the natural shape of the earth, lowering the height of the mountain and covering streams.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614614.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/614614.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 18:12 EST
A posting on the newspaper's Web site Wednesday says 17 of the employees volunteered for a severance package.

Citing a letter from newspaper President and Publisher Arnold Garson, the posting said 18 other positions won't be filled.

In the memo, Garson called the layoffs "necessary" and "very painful."

Executive Editor Bennie L. Ivory declined to say Wednesday how many of the cuts involved the newsroom's staff.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615013.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615013.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00 EST
The Kentucky Community and Technical College System's board of regents has launched a spirited debate over potentially abandoning the tenure system for future faculty members.

At their meeting Thursday and Friday, the regents are giving a first public airing of the idea of hiring new professors with contracts of up to four years, rather than the tenure track that essentially establishes faculty members for life.

The board can't approve such a move this month because it is up for discussion only and couldn't be acted upon until its March meeting at the earliest, said KCTCS spokeswoman Terri Giltner.

But it is an idea that is being floated as an option to help the system handle "rapid shifts in the job market, emerging new job markets, and state budget cuts which underscored the need for flexibility," according to the board of regents' documents attached to its meeting agenda. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615753.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615753.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:47 EST
LOUISVILLE . While other parts of the economy are suffering, Kentucky farms are seeing record gross receipts this year despite a difficult year for some of the state's traditional income drivers . horses and cattle.

Despite significant drops in some areas, farm cash receipts are predicted to be a record $4.7 billion for 2008, according to the University of Kentucky agricultural economists who presented their annual forecast Thursday at the Kentucky Farm Bureau convention.

Receipts this year are expected to be up 7 percent from 2007, and up by more than a third from 2001. Next year, receipts from sales of farm products are expected to drop only slightly, to about $4.6 billion.

Even with higher fuel, feed and fertilizer costs, net farm income for many farms is expected to be up about 10 percent for 2008, thanks to growth from corn, wheat, soybeans and tobacco. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616388.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616388.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:20 EST
LOUISVILLE . As the heads of the Big Three auto makers appeared before Congress to ask for financial help, Ford workers in Louisville rallied behind the industry, along with the governor and mayors of Louisville and Lexington.

More than four dozen Ford Motor Corp. employees cheered and applauded at the Kentucky Truck Plant Thursday as Gov. Steve Beshear called for federal lawmakers to pass $34 billion in emergency aid. The money would help a state where between 80,000 and 85,000 people are employed by the auto industry either directly or through suppliers and dealerships, Beshear said.

"We're not asking for a handout," Beshear said. "We're asking to partner with the federal government."

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says that without help, the auto industry could fail. That, in turn, would have a devastating impact on the Louisville area, where the truck plant, a Ford Assembly Plant and parts suppliers are located, Abramson said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616386.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616386.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:10 EST
LOUISVILLE . Ann Gotlib was 12 when she vanished while riding her bike near a suburban mall in 1983, a disappearance that rocked the city and made a generation of children think twice before venturing out alone.

Police announced Thursday that they have a suspect in the case . a dead felon twice convicted of abducting girls and injecting them with drugs in Alabama.

The evidence against Greg Lewis Oakley Jr. is so strong that he would be in custody if he hadn't died in 2002, Police Maj. Barry Wilkerson said.

"If I wasn't here talking to you and he was alive, I'd be talking to him right now," Wilkerson said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616385.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616385.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:03 EST
Gov. Steve Beshear doesn't want Kentucky to borrow its way out of a nearly half-billion-dollar shortfall by issuing bonds, he said Thursday.

So far, Beshear has given few other specifics about how he plans to resolve the shortfall, preferring to talk in generalities.

He remained non-committal about the possibility of calling for a cigarette tax increase, declining to immediately support a bill pre-filed Thursday by Rep. David Watkins that would raise the tax from 30 cents to $1 a pack.

Beshear, who is expected to make public next week his plan to deal with a projected $456.1 million budget shortfall this fiscal year, told the Lexington Herald-Leader editorial board that he does not want to propose a financial solution "that would make things worse over the long haul." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616382.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616382.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:39 EST
Thursday's funeral procession for former Lancaster Fire Chief Kenneth Adams in Lancaster included firetrucks from Danville, Stanford, McKee, Richmond, Lexington and elsewhere.

Adams, 69, who died Monday, was chief from 1964 to 2005. The procession went through downtown to Lancaster Cemetery.

Greg Kocher ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616361.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616361.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:38 EST
We've got to change our megawatt-wasting ways.

Kentucky's energy-efficiency problem, experts say, is that low electrical rates have lulled us into lackadaisical light-switch-flipping.

The average man, woman and child in Kentucky uses 70 percent more electricity than the average American, according to numbers compiled by Robert Ukeily, a Berea attorney who represents environmental groups.

The average Kentucky home uses 24 percent more electricity than the national average. The average Kentucky industrial customer uses 427 percent more . a testament to the state's history of using local electrical rates to draw aluminum smelters and other energy-hungry industries. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616029.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/616029.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00 EST
Someday, when state officials have added up all of the taxpayer money that will be spent on the lawsuit filed this week by an atheist group, I hope they will send the bill to state Rep. Tom Riner.

To help him pay it, Riner could then take up a collection among the legislators who supported his floor amendment.

American Atheists Inc. sued the state because Riner, a Louisville Democrat and Baptist minister, inserted the amendment two years ago into legislation organizing the Kentucky Office of Homeland Security. The amendment designated the office's first duty as "stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth."

The amendment requires the office to publicize God's benevolent protection in its literature, and to post at the entrance to the state Emergency Operations Center a plaque with an 88-word statement that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615807.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615807.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:08 EST
Tater Knob Fire Tower near Morehead has been closed because it was damaged by fire, Daniel Boone National Forest officials said Thursday.

The cab at the top of the tower was burned. Officials said they did not know how the fire started.

It was the last fire tower left in the national forest, and it was listed on the National Historic Lookout Register.

The tower was built in 1934 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. It was staffed daily during fire seasons through the early 1970s. Now, planes provide lookout duties. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614033.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614033.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:13 EST
OWINGSVILLE . A Central Kentucky county still aching from the loss of an electronics manufacturing plant about a month ago was struck with harsher news this week when the county's second-largest employer announced plans to shut down.

Cintas Corp., which makes uniforms for businesses, will close two Kentucky plants . one in Owingsville, the other in Hazard . on Jan. 31 and lay off nearly 300 employees.

In Owingsville, the announcement that Cintas would close came about a month after Key Electronics, based in Jeffersonville, Ind., closed and 37 employees were laid off, said Bath County Judge-Executive Carolyn Belcher.

"It was a pretty tough day in Bath County yesterday," Belcher said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614724.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614724.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:23 EST
The veterinarian at the center of a notorious horse-racing medication case said on Wednesday that he never gave cobra venom to an active racehorse, let alone one in the care of top trainer Patrick Biancone.

Dr. Rodney J. Stewart, who told Kentucky racing authorities that three vials of powdered cobra venom found in a refrigerator in Biancone's barns at Keeneland were there by chance, the result of being in transit from Versailles back to Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Stewart, who has been suspended since Aug. 16, 2007, testified Wednesday in an appeal of his five-year suspension, evidently the harshest ever imposed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Cobra venom can be used to deaden nerves and has some legitimate use in non-racing horses, but is a banned substance on the tracks because of its potential for abuse. There is no test that can detect it. While Stewart doesn't dispute that the cobra venom and other drugs were at Keeneland, he said they weren't there to be given to a racehorse. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615155.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615155.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:36 EST
LOUISVILLE . The bad economy has led a record number of people to sign up for Kentucky's Medicaid program, leaving the state in a "dire" financial situation.

Enrollment in the health program for the poor and disabled is increasing by about 3,000 members a month, more than double what state officials had projected, The Courier-Journal reported.

That means extra costs for the state, which is already struggling with a projected $456 million revenue shortfall.

Costs for the program increase by $11.4 million a year for every 3,000 people added. The federal government provides 70 percent of Medicaid funding and states pay for the rest. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615123.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615123.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
Kentucky county attorneys said Wednesday that a 4 percent cut in their budget could mean reduced hours and the possible layoff of prosecutors.

County attorneys, who prosecute misdemeanors and help enforce child support collection, said that if their budgets were cut by 4 percent it would translate to a loss of $1.1 million dollars, said Christian County Attorney Mike Foster, a member of the Prosecutors Advisory Council. That $1.1 million cut could translate to cutting 77 staff in various county attorneys' offices, county prosecutors say.

Gov. Steve Beshear asked all state agencies to outline the impact of a 4 percent budget cut. He will consider the proposals as he creates a plan to deal with a projected $456 million shortfall in this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Foster called the potential cuts "devastating" to public safety, according to a press release from the Kentucky County Attorneys Association. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615122.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615122.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
The Council on Postsecondary Education has narrowed its search for a president to two candidates but put off making a pick Wednesday until members could dig further into both men's backgrounds.

"We have continued to discuss two people that we're very interested in but we need to do more reference checking and discussion," said John R. Hall, the retired chairman of Ashland Inc. who is leading the council's search committee.

The two candidates met with the council Wednesday morning for the first time in closed-door meetings. Council members deliberated in private at Lexington's Embassy Suites Hotel for most of the afternoon before finally breaking up at 4 p.m.

Hall and other council members remained tight-lipped about the identities of the finalists, saying only that both men . who hail from the Northeast . are qualified to lead the group that sets state higher education policy. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615110.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615110.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:31 EST
The Detroit automakers are making their case for federal government loans, which could have wide-reaching effects on Kentucky's network of suppliers. Toyota will cut more than half its 500 temporary employees from its Georgetown plant. One Toyota supplier, AK Steel in Ashland, will furlough almost all 1,100 workers until at least mid-January.

There are weak links in the chains of restaurants, retailers and car dealers. Lexington-based Thomas . King, which operates Applebee's and Carino's Italian Grill restaurants, is eliminating 17 jobs at its headquarters and cutting other costs. Jaguar and Land Rover is the fourth Lexington area dealer to go out of business this year. Circuit City, a prime outlet for Lexmark printers, is closing stores in Lexington, Louisville and Paducah as it goes through bankruptcy.

Kentucky is one of many states dealing with a budget crisis. A projected $456 million budget shortfall prompted the possibility of 4 percent across-the-board budget cuts in state government. Lexington's mayor talked of laying off 100 police officers and shutting down five fire stations. Lexington city government and the University of Kentucky have already frozen hiring except for UK's medical center.

Kentucky's seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate:. October 2008: 6.8 percent ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615104.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615104.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:48 EST
Kentucky

Keeneland sale headliner will be pregnant Azeri

The 2003 Horse of the Year, Azeri , will be making news at another auction soon. The three-time champion, in foal to 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper , is catalogued for the Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale, Jan. 12-17. The top money-earning Thorough bred filly, she won nearly $4.08 million in four seasons of racing. John Sikura's Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency will consign the broodmare for the Allen E. Paulson Living Trust . Azeri stunned the September sale crowd when her first foal, an A.P. Indy colt named Vallenzeri, failed to sell despite a top bid of $7.7 million. Azeri headlines the catalog of 2,379 horses, including 986 broodmares, 834 yearlings, 543 horses of racing age and 16 stallions. Catalogs will be available online at www.keeneland.com beginning Monday.

Lower Alpha earnings forecast ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615103.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615103.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. . Angry environmentalists launched an online campaign Wednesday urging President-elect Barack Obama to undo a federal rule that clarifies when coal companies can dump mining waste in streams, calling it a long-awaited "parting gift" from the Bush administration.

North Carolina-based Appalachian Voices and others blasted Tuesday's Environmental Protection Agency decision to endorse the mining rule as the death of freshwater streams and the likely start of a new surge in mountaintop removal surface mining across Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Although the regulation would apply nationwide, mountaintop removal operations are of special interest in Appalachia, where surface mines now outnumber those underground.

An EPA study estimated 400,000 acres of forest were wiped out and nearly 724 miles of streams buried between 1985 and 2001 by mountaintop mining, in which forests are clear cut and holes are drilled to blast apart rock. Massive machines, some with buckets big enough to hold 24 compact cars, scoop coal from the exposed seams. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615100.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615100.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:51 EST
FRANKFORT . In his first year as governor of Kentucky, Democrat Steve Beshear said he was unprepared for the intensity of the job.

"No one who hasn't sat in this chair can appreciate the number of decisions and many times the enormity of the effects of those decisions that you make daily. There is so much going on that you have to say grace over," Beshear said during a wide-ranging interview Wednesday in the Capitol office he took over last Dec. 11.

Maybe the biggest decisions of Beshear's still-young administration will be made by the end of next week.

The 64-year-old governor will have to decide how to deal with a nearly half-billion-dollar shortfall in the state budget for this fiscal year. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614807.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:13 EST
The University of Kentucky would drain most of its reserve funds for classroom improvements and scholarships and freeze hiring for as many as 150 positions if forced to cut its budget by 4 percent.

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

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

UK's document doesn't put dollar amounts next to each item to be cut, but it foreshadows tough days ahead. The state has already scaled back funding to UK by $20 million in the last 11 months. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614719.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/614719.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:42 EST
Defense attorneys for three men charged in connection with a scheme to tamper with $130 million in state road contracts say the federal government is keeping its investigators from interviewing witnesses in the case.

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

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

In defense motions filed Wednesday, lawyers for the three men say that their investigator has been blocked from speaking to various witnesses, including current Transportation Cabinet employees. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/615117.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/615117.html Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
WASHINGTON . Barack Obama, soon to be the first black U.S. president, is on the road to making good his pledge to have a Cabinet and White House staff that are among most diverse ever, although some supporters are asking him to go even further.

He added to the minority representation at the top of his administration Wednesday when he named New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Hispanic, as Commerce Secretary.

But some Latinos are grumbling it is not enough after all the support they gave him in the campaign, and gays and Asian-Americans are pushing for some representation in remaining Cabinet announcements. But overall Obama is allaying some early concerns that a black president wouldn't need to put so much importance on diversity of those working under him.

"The question was: Because he's black, how much pressure would he feel to be more traditional with appointments?" said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant who worked with the Obama campaign. "The leadership of the campaign in the beginning wasn't very diverse, so there were questions about that. But I don't hear those questions anymore." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613720.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613720.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
WASHINGTON . Turns out Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wasn't the only candidate with donor-financed duds.

At least five candidates used campaign money for clothing, according to a complaint that a watchdog group filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said the campaigns of Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez of California and Rob Andrews of New Jersey, Republican candidates Bill Dew of Utah and William Breazeale of North Carolina and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr each spent hundreds of dollars on clothing.

The group says that violates a ban on personal use of campaign money. Earlier, the group filed a complaint against the Republican National Committee for buying tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothing for Palin, the party's vice presidential nominee. The RNC and Palin have said they did nothing wrong. And the McCain-Palin campaign has said some of the clothing was returned to stores soon after its purchase. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613719.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613719.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
ATLANTA . Saxby Chambliss, a first-term Republican senator, was re-elected by Georgia voters Tuesday, ending Democratic hopes for a 60-vote majority in the Senate that would make it difficult for Republicans to filibuster the Obama administration's legislative agenda.

With 96 percent of the vote counted in Tuesday's runoff election, Chambliss had 57 percent of the vote, and his Democratic challenger, Jim Martin, had 43 percent. The margin was far greater than the 3 percentage points that separated the two men in the Nov. 4 election, when neither got the required 50 percent. Many of the Democrats who turned out last month in enthusiastic support of Barack Obama apparently did not show up at the polls on Tuesday.

"For a lot of African-American voters, the real election was last month," said Merle Black, an expert in Southern politics at Emory University. "The importance of electing the first African-American president in history generated enormous enthusiasm. Everything else was anticlimactic."

Polling stations across Georgia reported low to moderate voter turnout. At the Atlanta Public Library on Ponce de Leon Avenue, where more than 1,600 people voted in the general election, only 400 people had voted by noon. Only 9.2 percent of registered Georgians cast early votes in the runoff, compared with 36 percent in the general election. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613717.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613717.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
CHICAGO . President-elect Barack Obama plans to name New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as his choice for Commerce secretary on Wednesday, adding another former campaign rival to his Cabinet, Democratic officials said.

The incoming chief executive has chosen another adversary-turned-ally, Hillary Rodham Clinton, to be his secretary of state. Obama has moved quickly to fill out his Cabinet, having named more than half of it in the month since he was elected.

Richardson's nomination has been all but announced for several weeks. The Democratic officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the announcement had not been made, said Richardson will join Obama at a news conference Wednesday in Chicago.

Richardson is one of the nation's most prominent Hispanic politicians. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613716.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/613716.html Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:41 EST
WASHINGTON . In Richard Nixon's time, all the president's men fretted about threats on every front: disquiet out on the streets, disloyalty inside the administration and trouble from political opponents who had to be discredited at any cost.

Documents released Tuesday show Nixon's operatives dishing dirt on the president's critics and public figures, including their marital, mental and drinking problems, and struggling to contain growing public unrest over the war in Vietnam.

Alabama Gov. George Wallace was branded a "psychotic" who could be useful in making trouble for his fellow Democrats. Thomas Eagleton's treatments for mental illness were reported to Nixon's secretary before that disclosure forced him to resign from the 1972 Democratic ticket.

The Nixon Library, run by the National Archives, opened nearly 200 hours of White House tape recordings and 90,000 pages of documents in its latest release of material from his administration. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/612550.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/612550.html Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:34 EST
Susan Elizabeth Rice

Nominated U.N. Ambassador Born: Nov. 17, 1964

Experience: Senior foreign policy adviser, Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008; senior fellow in foreign policy, Brookings Institution, 2002 to present; senior adviser for national security affairs, John F. Kerry presidential campaign, 2004; assistant secretary of state for African affairs, 1997-2001; special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs, National Security Council, 1995-97; director for international organizations and peacekeeping, National Security Council, 1993-95; management consultant, McKinsey and Co., 1991-93.

Education: Bachelor's degree in history, Stanford University, 1986; master's in philosophy in international relations, Oxford University, 1988; doctorate in philosophy, Oxford University, 1990. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616567.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616567.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:05 EST
Whitley County Jailer Ken Mobley says Brittany Lynch was arrested Tuesday and charged with four counts of unlawful taking.

The Times-Tribune reports Mobley says Lynch has admitted to taking a jail two-way radio, bond money and cash from a co-worker's purse.

Lynch had worked at the Whitley County Detention Center for about four months but it is unclear what her job entitled.

Kentucky State Police, Williamsburg Police and Mobley began investigating when bond money and jail property went missing.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616332.html http://www.kentucky.com/471/story/616332.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:21 EST
The Courier-Journal of Louisville reports the Board of Regents for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System is also planning Friday to discuss ending health insurance for new retirees as another way to save money.

Spokeswoman Terri Giltner said that the board will discuss the measure, but that no vote is scheduled. If the board asks for a more formal proposal, a final version would not be adopted until March.

But educators say eliminating tenure and benefits will keep them from hiring talented professors, especially at rural schools.

"What is there to attract high-quality, well-trained teachers to the rural colleges like Somerset, Hazard, Harlan, if you don't have good retirement and tenure?" said Dexter Alexander, a retired dean of institutional effectiveness and research at Somerset Community College.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615965.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615965.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:16 EST
Windstream Communications, Lexington's local telephone provider, said Thursday it plans to cut 170 jobs across the nation by the end of the first quarter.

Company spokesman David Avery said the 170 jobs will be a combination of layoffs and voluntary resignations. No layoffs are expected in Kentucky, where the company employs 700.

The company isn't breaking down how many voluntary resignations it hopes to receive.

Windstream employs 7,400 people overall. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615451.html http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/615451.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:05 EST
Kentucky is making small improvements for its children after several years of declines, according to the new Kids Count data book.

But they continue to face problems: Kentucky has low rates of breast-feeding and low achievement rates among disabled children, and some schools still use spankings . corporal punishment . as a form of discipline.

"We, as a state, are still 41st in terms of overall well-being," said Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, the group that puts out the yearly report. "There is no way we Kentuckians can feel good about being in the bottom 10 for kids."

Brooks said it is unclear whether Kentucky's signs of improvement are the beginning of a new trend or a blip. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/616369.html http://www.kentucky.com/329/story/616369.html Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:39 EST
NEW YORK . Depending on your political tastes, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sarah Palin or even Tina Fey could be considered Woman of the Year. But here's the harder question: Was this the Year of the Woman?

Some touted it as such, and in many ways it was a watershed election season: The first viable female presidential candidate . and she almost won. A female vice presidential nominee . and she was a Republican.

Yet talk to women's advocates, and you'll get differing views as to just how well things turned out.

Interviews with women's advocates yield a consensus on a few points of clear progress. The historic run of Clinton has probably inspired a generation of young women to get involved in politics, says Marie Wilson, president of the White House Project, which trains women to run for office. ]]>