Around Kentucky | Lexington Herald Leader

Louisville

State will investigate Louisville gas prices

Gov. Steve Beshear says his administration will investigate why gasoline prices are higher in Louisville than in other parts of the state. Beshear says he wants to put pressure on the oil industry to find out why motorists in Louisville are paying 30 to 40 cents more per gallon. Atty. Gen. Jack Conway's office will assist in the probe. Beshear gave no timetable and did not accuse petroleum dealers of any wrongdoing during a news conference Wednesday. Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson says Jefferson County does require that reformulated gasoline be sold in the county, but that should only raise the price by 5 to 8 cents more per gallon. Abramson says Northern Kentucky is also required to sell reformulated gasoline, but fuel prices there are about 18 cents lower than those in Louisville.

Safety barriers being added

Gov. Steve Beshear announced plans Wednesday to add some 44 miles of median cable barriers along sections of two heavily traveled Kentucky highways, including an area where five people were killed in a crash earlier this year. Beshear said cable barriers will be installed in four sections of about 34 miles of Interstate 65 in Hart, Bullitt, Hardin and Barren counties. Barriers also will go up on a 10-mile stretch on the western end of the Gene Snyder Freeway in Jefferson County, the only part of the Snyder now lacking median barriers. Beshear said the $10.8 million project will save lives and prevent many serious injuries. Median cables are a form of guardrail designed to prevent crossover wrecks on divided highways.

Lexington

Police still probing bus crash

Police in Dothan, Ala., are looking into whether criminal charges are warranted in Sunday's fatal wreck between a church bus from Lexington and a pickup truck. Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska said it's likely the findings will be presented to a grand jury for review. A passenger in the pickup, 11-year-old Rippen Upton of Moriarty, N.M., died Monday. His 9-year-old brother, Brody, was listed in critical condition Wednesday. Two adults aboard the bus also remain in a Dothan hospital. A total of 19 people were treated for minor injuries. The church bus from Lexington's Centenary United Methodist Church was transporting students to a camp in Panama City, Fla.

Man dies after hit-and-run

A pedestrian who was struck by an unidentified vehicle Sunday night on Walden Drive died early Wednesday morning, the Fayette County coroner said. Anthony Gay, 30, died at 2:46 a.m. of a traumatic brain injury. He had been at UK Hospital since the hit-and-run accident Sunday night. Police are still investigating the incident.

Wheeling, W.Va.

Ky. man will be tried in W.Va.

A Kentucky man accused of abducting and raping an 11-year-old West Virginia girl has lost his bid to have his federal trial moved to another city. Joshua Ridings of Owensboro had argued that media coverage would prevent him from receiving a fair trial in Wheeling, W.Va. Last week's ruling by U.S. Magistrate Judge James Seibert also denied motions to dismiss the indictment and suppress DNA evidence. Ridings allegedly grabbed the girl from her North Wheeling neighborhood in February 2007 and took her into Belmont County, Ohio, where she was sexually assaulted. Trial is set to begin Aug. 12. If convicted, Ridings faces up to life in prison.

Staff, wire reports