Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader

Harlan Coal to Plead Guilty for Mine-Safety Violations

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:50:06 +0000

A Harlan County coal company and two supervisors will plead guilty to charges that they willfully violated federal mine-safety laws. Attorneys for Manalapan Mining Co. and the employees filed court motions, including two on Monday, saying the three will plead guilty. The alleged illegal acts happened in the weeks before an employee at the mine, David Partin, 49, of Pineville, was killed when a large section of the mine wall fell on him.

Kentucky Circuit Judge Died of Fungal Meningitis

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Sun, 07 Oct 2012 22:06:39 +0000

A longtime circuit judge from Southern Kentucky might have been the first victim of a fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed five people and sickened dozens of others in several states. The judge, Eddie C. Lovelace, of Albany, died Sept. 17 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. He was 78. The Tennessean reported Friday that unnamed hospital spokespeople had confirmed the first reported casualty of the meningitis outbreak was a 78-year-old man who died Sept. 17 at the facility. Jennifer Wetzel, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said later Friday that the facility does not confirm causes of death of people who die there. However, Lovelace's widow, Joyce Lovelace, told the Herald-Leader that Lovelace had been treated at a Nashville clinic that has been implicated in the outbreak.

Somerset Oil Refinery to Resume Production

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:38:43 +0000

Production is set to resume this fall at a decades-old oil refinery in Somerset that was largely offline the past few years because of a management dispute and bankruptcy. Demetrios Haseotes, a New York entrepreneur with interests in convenience stores, truck stops and other businesses, bought the idled Somerset operation in December.

Benefits Fairs set in Eastern Kentucky

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:32:51 +0000

An Eastern Kentucky employment program has scheduled two benefits fairs to help more than 2,000 people laid off from coal mines and factories in the region this year. The events will provide people an opportunity to get help with unemployment insurance, learn about mortgage and tax assistance, and get information on training for new careers and other services. The benefits fairs are scheduled for 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept. 10 at the East Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville.

More of Kentucky Designated Drought Disaster Areas

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 13:58:28 +0000

More Kentucky counties have been designated as drought disaster areas, Gov. Steve Beshear announced Wednesday. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack notified Beshear that Breckinridge and Grayson counties have been upgraded to primary disaster areas. Both were classified as contiguous areas before, Beshear's office said.

New Rules Require Mine Owners to Find, Fix Hazards

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 14:32:02 +0000

A new safety standard that took effect Monday is aimed at better protecting underground miners from the types of conditions that contributed to a deadly blast at a West Virginia mine in April 2010, according to federal regulators. Mine operators are required to look for and correct hazardous conditions in mines during pre-shift and on-shift examinations, and at other times. The new rule requires them to also look for violations of nine specific health and safety standards, according to a news release from the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Safety Agency Cites Coal Company in Death of Miner

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 12:52:42 +0000

A personnel carrier involved in a fatal coal-mining accident in Letcher County had been altered so it no longer had an original safety feature, according to the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. The agency cited the coal company in relation to the modification, and for using the carrier in a way that was dangerous. A mine foreman, Jerry E. Britton, 47, died in the Nov. 7 accident, which happened at the Hubble Mining Company LLC Mine No. 9, an underground mine about three miles west of Eolia.

Safety Agency Fines Harlan Coal Company

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:43:46 +0000

Federal mine-safety regulators want to fine a Harlan County coal company nearly $600,000 for alleged safety violations that led to the death of a miner last year. The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration announced the fine for Manalapan Mining Co. Inc. on Thursday. The fine is a proposed penalty because the company is contesting the citations that led to the fine.

Retiring Professor Helped Thousands Get Free Dental Care

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 13:41:25 +0000

At age 84, the man who has helped teach every graduate of the University of Kentucky's College of Dentistry since it was founded in 1962 — all 3,227 of them — is set to retire at the end of the month. Mink would have retired last month except for the chance to take part in one of his pet projects at UK: the mobile dental clinic that provides free dental care in rural parts of the state. Mink was instrumental in efforts to start the clinic in the 1990s, and for at least the past 20 summers he has gone with other staffers and students to Eastern Kentucky and set up the 40-foot-long clinic to treat children and teens.

UK Develops Spray-On Concrete

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 14:34:28 +0000

An ultra fast-drying, spray-on concrete developed at the University of Kentucky could be used to stabilize buildings damaged in terrorist attacks or natural disasters, but also has commercial uses, according to researchers. Officials demonstrated the product Tuesday at UK's Center for Applied Energy Research, which developed it in partnership with Minova North America, a company headquartered in Georgetown that supplies products to the mining and construction industries.

EPA Alleges Miners Bury Streams Without Permits

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 13:27:33 +0000

Mining companies buried sections of streams in Eastern Kentucky without getting proper permits, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.The companies should restore the sites or pay for mitigation projects elsewhere, or both, the agency said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court in Pikeville Wednesday.The EPA suit also seeks damages that could, in theory, run into the millions of dollars.

Election Problems Minimal, Turnout "Abysmal"

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:39:25 +0000

Turnout in Tuesday's primary election appears to be low in most places around Kentucky. Secretary of State Allison Lundergan Grimes had predicted a statewide turnout of 10 percent to 12 percent. She'd seen nothing by mid-afternoon to indicate that was going to be way off. "It's been a very light election," Grimes said. "The interest appears to be moderate to minimal." However, Grimes noted that polls don't close until 6 p.m. local time. She urged people to vote after work. On the plus side, she said, people aren't having to wait in long lines to vote.

ARH Hospital Chain Seeks Emergency Injunction

Wed, 02 May 2012 15:49:52 +0000

A hospital chain serving Eastern Kentucky is seeking an emergency order to avoid disruptions to patients and widespread layoffs it says will occur in the state's poorest region unless a judge intervenes. Attorneys for Appalachian Regional Healthcare on Tuesday asked a federal judge to issue an injunction ordering Coventry Cares to let its members continue to receive services through the hospital chain. Coventry Cares is one of three companies approved by the state to provide managed-care services to poor, disabled and elderly people throughout most of the state under Medicaid. Coventry said it would cancel its contract with ARH after Friday.

Economy Discussed at East Kentucky Leadership Conference

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:34:12 +0000

Set up a permanent endowment to fund projects in Eastern Kentucky's coal counties. Improve access to broadband Internet service. Provide clean water to every resident. Use biomass grown on old surface mines to generate power. Those were a few of the ideas discussed Thursday at the annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference, held this year in Prestonsburg. It was an exercise in coming up with ideas to transform the economy of Eastern Kentucky, home to the largest cluster of counties in Appalachia classified as economically "distressed" by federal officials.

Kentucky Teens Plead Guilty to Hate Crime

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:46:13 +0000

Two teens have pleaded guilty to helping assault a Letcher County man who was targeted because he is gay. Alexis Leeann Jenkins and Mable Ashley Jenkins, both 19 and residents of Harlan County, pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and aiding others in causing bodily injury to the victim because of his sexual orientation, according to court documents.

Task Force Approved to Study Death Penalty

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:33:28 +0000

State representatives on Thursday approved setting up a task force to study possible changes in how Kentucky administers the death penalty. The American Bar Association released a study last year that cited problems in the system, including a lack of protections against executing seriously mentally ill people; no rule to preserve evidence for as long as someone is in prison, meaning they might miss a chance for DNA tests that could exonerate them; and confusion among jurors about their role in deciding whether to recommend a death sentence.

4 deaths, 'Lots of Injuries' in Laurel County

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 16:33:56 +0000

At least four people died in the East Bernstadt area of Laurel County Friday night after a severe storm moved through the area, according to county officials. At least 27 people were transported to Saint Joseph Hospital in London, said Albert Hale, director of emergency management for Laurel County.

Nine Tornadoes Confirmed in Kentucky

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 21:00:23 +0000

The National Weather Service has confirmed nine tornadoes touched down Wednesday across Kentucky. Most were classified as EF-2 in strength. That means they had estimated wind speeds of 111 to 135 mph. State and local officials also were working Thursday to get a preliminary assessment of the damage from the tornadoes and high winds. The storm system caused damages in several counties and some injuries, but no deaths.

Revised Anti-Meth Bill Introduced

Jack Brammer, Lexington Herald-Leader and Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:49:21 +0000

Kentuckians could buy far less of most cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine without a prescription under a revised anti-methamphetamine bill introduced Tuesday in the state Senate. The sponsor of SB 3, Senate Majority Leader Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, said the legislation was an alternative to SB 50, a measure he withdrew last week. It would have required a prescription for most cold medicines.

Watershed Protections Blocked by Appeals Court

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:58:14 +0000

An appeals court has struck down a rule that state regulators used to restrict surface mining in a Floyd County watershed where some residents fought to block coal companies from stripping the hills. The regulation had been put in place so the state could impose additional safeguards rather than ban mining altogether, said Tom FitzGerald, head of the Kentucky Resources Council. The three-judge panel of the Kentucky Court of Appeals said the regulation made state law more stringent than federal mining rules. That is barred under a separate state law.

Judge Criticizes Beshear for Records

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:01:50 +0000

A Western Kentucky judge criticized Gov. Steve Beshear in a newspaper commentary published this week for fighting full disclosure of child-abuse death records. Without the records, the public can't know whether the state properly protects children in abuse and neglect cases, Circuit Judge Tyler Gill wrote in a commentary provided to several newspapers. State laws on confidentiality in child-abuse and other cases are used more to hide "state incompetence or misconduct" than to protect citizens, Gill wrote. "While we can always find some downside to open government, the consequences of government secrecy are far worse."

Prescription Abuse Top Priority for Beshear

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:20:57 +0000

Curbing Kentucky's increasing problem with prescription-drug abuse will be one of the top priorities of the current legislative session, Gov. Steve Beshear said Wednesday. Beshear said a bill will be introduced soon that will call for tighter controls on pain clinics and wider use of the state's prescription-monitoring system, among other things. One goal will be to crack down on so-called "pill mills" — offices where doctors give prescriptions for powerful painkillers and other drugs to addicts, usually with little or no real physical examination.

Judge Lets State Withhold Abuse Details

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:49:04 +0000

An appeals court judge has granted an emergency request by a state agency to temporarily withhold more details from records it must release on children killed or hurt as a result of abuse or neglect. The order by Chief Court of Appeals Judge Jeff Taylor came minutes before a noon deadline Friday for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to release at least 1,000 pages of child abuse records that contained only limited redactions. Instead, the cabinet began providing documents that were expected to exclude a broader range of information about Kentucky children who were killed or severely hurt during 2009 and 2010.

Johnson County Pain Clinic Raided

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:27:18 +0000

Wednesday was a bad day to show up impaired at a Johnson County pain clinic. As state and federal authorities searched the clinic in an investigation of potential improper drug prescribing, police arrested 29 people who had come to the office, according to a news release from the Kentucky Attorney General's Office. Charges against the people included public intoxication and driving under the influence. A number of people also were arrested on outstanding warrants. The raid was the second in less than a year at the Care More Pain Management clinic.

Six Months after Flood, East Kentucky Struggles

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 15:58:24 +0000

Bonnie Mills had 35 years of memories in her old coal-camp house in Knox County, so she hoped she could make repairs and stay in it after it was damaged by flooding last June. Mills started clearing away gooey mud the day the water receded and kept at it for weeks while staying in a rented place nearby, but relief officials and others eventually convinced her the house couldn't be fixed. She used federal disaster aid to buy a new mobile home, 48 feet long by 14 feet wide, and had it set up a few yards from her old house.

Factory Builds Energy Efficient Houses

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:21:38 +0000

Dennis Reynolds' new house isn't just a place to live. It's an experiment. The 1,000-square-foot modular home is one of two prototype structures built during the past year in a project to develop highly energy-efficient, relatively low-cost houses that may be built at southern Kentucky factories that ordinarily produce houseboats. Those factories have been hit hard by the recession. Several have closed, and employment is down significantly from before the economic downturn.

Private University Could Become State School

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader and Beth Musgrave, Lexington Herald-Leader — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 17:57:05 +0000

There is a move afoot to make the private University of Pikeville a state-supported school, and lawmakers could be asked to consider the proposal in the upcoming legislative session. It's been four decades since the legislature last took a private, four-year university — the University of Louisville — into the state's public higher-education system, so adding Pikeville is a significant public-policy issue. The idea raises concern among officials at other state universities that bringing Pikeville into the system could eat into their funding.

Judge Plans to Release Guidance for Children

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:20:59 +0000

A circuit judge plans to release new guidance on what information the state can withhold when it releases files on children who died or nearly died as a result of abuse or neglect. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said Wednesday that it seemed almost certain that rules the state had proposed to use would result in information being withheld that should be public under the law. Shepherd's ruling comes after the Lexington Herald-Leader and The (Louisville) Courier-Journal filed complaints against the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Shepherd also ordered the cabinet to give him unaltered copies of the internal reviews of fatalities and near-deaths by the end of Thursday. Shepherd will review those and decide whether the newspapers should get additional information that the cabinet initially withheld from them.

Berea College Recieves Education Grant

Bill Estep, Lexington Herald-Leader — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:59:22 +0000

Three Eastern Kentucky counties that are among the poorest in the nation will benefit from a federal education grant of up to $30 million to Berea College. The college announced Tuesday it had won one of five grants awarded nationally under a U.S. Department of Education initiative aimed at improving education and students' development in poor areas. The money will be used for a range of services in Clay, Jackson and Owsley counties such as reading programs, after-school tutoring, arts and cultural offerings and expanded recreation.

Drugs, Alcohol Fuels Child Abuse in KY

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:11:46 +0000

When a little boy reportedly fell off the deck of a house in Lincoln County in July 2009 and hit his head, his mother and her boyfriend were drunk, according to a report by a state child-protection worker. There was no food in the filthy house, but there were pill bottles, beer cans and needles lying around, and blood on the child's bed. The case points to a troubling reality: When children are abused or neglected in Kentucky, substance abuse often plays a role. A Lexington Herald-Leader review of files released this week on children killed or nearly killed because of abuse or neglect over a two-year period found that more than half mentioned suspected or confirmed substance abuse by parents or caregivers.