News

BALTIMORE — Pretty much the last post position trainer Shug McGaughey would have wished for Orb heading into Saturday's Preakness Stakes was the inside rail in the nine-horse field. In what may be the bay colt's first downer in weeks, the No. 1 slot is exactly where the Kentucky Derby winner landed for the start of his quest to secure the second leg of the Triple Crown. True to his nature, McGaughey didn't flinch even as a smattering of groans cropped up around him.  Read more...

  A new collaboration between a bourbon distillery and the military will give soldiers a place to relax—and introduce them to one of Kentucky's signature products. Liquor producer Brown-Forman has teamed up with the U.S. Army to open a Woodford Reserve bourbon lounge at Fort Knox. Soldiers and Brown-Forman executives opened the Woodford Reserve Room on Wednesday afternoon.  Read more...

Everything is coming together financially for a major expansion of Lexington’s Living Arts and Science Center. A milestone in a fundraising effort came this week.  Director Heather Lyons says school buses are a common site outside the historic Living Arts and Science Center.  She says they drop off some of the 40-thousand children and adults who visit her center each year.

Using G-P-S technology, Lexington’s garbage collectors hope to improve their efficiency.  Speaking to Lexington’s council, Technical Project Manager Brittney West says the high tech should accelerate waste collection and hopefully lead to move recycling.  “We’ve put in a group of containers and we’re gonna see where the drivers are picking up and where they’re not picking up and if they’re not picking up in an area, we can focus on that and see if we can promote recycling,” explained West.

Over the next few weeks, the state is offering free GED testing to eligible Kentucky residents . The GED Testing Service hasn’t updated the high school equivalency exam in nearly a decade. Beginning in January 2014, the new test will be more closely aligned with the common core standards many states have already adopted. The testing fee will also double to $120. Read more...

A lawyer for former Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer wants federal prosecutors to turn over all documents that might used against Farmer at trial and all criminal records of any potential government witness. In documents filed in federal court Monday, lawyer J. Guthrie True asked a judge to compel prosecutors to turn over reams of information to Farmer's defense team. Federal prosecutors have already turned over 16 compact discs to Farmer's lawyers, according to previous court filings. Farmer has pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the alleged misuse of approximately $450,000 in taxpayer funds. Read more...

Washington, DC – The U.S. Senate has passed bill which contains Sen. Mitch McConnell’s measure protecting access to critical Kentucky fishing waters, according to a news release from the Kentucky senator's Washington office.

Kentucky's new exchange for people on the market for healthcare now has a name and  a website.  It'll be called Kynect—pronounced "connect." People can access it at kynect.ky.gov. A phone line will be running in August. Kynect will be fully operational in time for October open health insurance enrollment.Once running, Kynect will help Kentucky residents or employers find and compare prices for health insurance coverage. It's part of the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.

MSNBC host Chris Matthews is predicting the scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservatives will benefit Republican Mitch McConnell, and could result in an easy re-election for Kentucky's senior senator. The agency has apologized for flagging political organizations with "tea party" and "patriot" in their name, but Republicans and Democrats have jabbed the Obama administration for not responding forcefully enough.  Read more...

Persistent precipitation continues to stymie Kentucky farmers’ efforts to plant their 2013 corn and soybean crops. As of Sunday, just 39 percent of the state’s corn crop had been planted, barely half the pace of the five-year average and far behind last year, when corn planting was nearly finished, according to the USDA’s Agricultural Statistics Service’s Louisville field office. Just 23 percent of corn plants have emerged so far; normally, half the corn is out of the ground by now. Read more...

Kentucky Utilities Co. is alerting customers of a recent telephone scam asking customers to pay their bills over the phone. The caller claims to be a KU employee and asks for immediate bill payment by credit card or prepaid money card. If the targeted customer does not cooperate, the caller threatens to disconnect the person’s electric service. KU said it will never call and ask for credit or debit card numbers or other personal information. KU has more than a half-million customers across Kentucky. Read more...

The Nicholasville City Commission passed the first reading of an ordinance that would require hotels and motels operating inside the city limits to turn over their customers’ information at the request of the Nicholasville public safety officials. “A lot of cities have this, and it’s (become) a burden to us at times when we need to know when we’re looking for somebody, and we go to the hotels and (look at) their registers to see if they’re there,” police chief Barry Waldrop said. “Sometimes we see stolen vehicles out in the parking lot.” Waldrop said area hotels and motels are “reluctant” to release the information to police. Read more...

With fundraising having begun for the $3.6 million Casey County Education and Community Center in downtown Liberty, a local bank has stepped up in a big way. The board of directors at Casey County Bank presented Mayor Steve Sweeney and Casey County Judge-Executive Ronald Wright with a check for $100,000 on Tuesday at a ceremony at the bank. Construction is expected to start in the fall.  Read more...

The Family Foundation has filed response briefs with the Kentucky Supreme Court laying out its argument for allowing discovery in the instant racing case. In January, the high court agreed to review a ruling by the state Court of Appeals that would send the instant racing lawsuit back to Franklin Circuit Court. The Franklin court ruled in 2011 that historical wagering, a form of electronic gambling on anonymous old horse races, is legal and pari-mutuel even though it resembles a slot machine. Slots are not legal in Kentucky. But the conservative Family Foundation, which challenged the legality, appealed and argued it was not allowed to pursue questions about how the games actually work.  Read more...

More Kentucky students attend Indiana colleges and universities where they can get in-state tuition than the other way around. Kentucky and Indiana officials have announced that they're extending the agreement that allows students to pay in-state tuition at certain colleges and universities across the Ohio River. The extension was approved by the two states' higher education agencies as its expiration date approached this summer. Read more...

The National Transportation Safety Board says the January 2012 allision between the cargo ship the Delta Mariner and the Eggners Ferry Bridge resulted from poor bridge span lighting and crew inattention to available navigational tools. The ship sheared off a 300 foot span of the bridge. No one was injured. 

In anticipation for the Dalai Lama's visit next week, Louisville is offering several events centered around compassion. Below are several events open to the public (some include tickets) throughout the next week.  Read more...

A modification in a compromise over Lexington’s Food Truck proposal is in the works.  The pilot project gets another review tomorrow morning.  The six month pilot project, allows food truck vendors to set up in designated downtown zones during the day.  Since they’ll be in metered parking spots, the Lexington Parking Authority must first approve.  But, as Council member Diane Lawless explains, there could be a lot of competition over the best spots.  “I’m not clear about what was decided about those spaces.  Is it first come, first serve, etc.  And that certainly is a very big issue if the Parking Authority does permit these,” said Lawless.

If they’re not careful, Lexington’s budget writers say their expenses could outrun city revenues.  The council’s now reviewing the mayor’s spending plan for next year.  Council member Chuck Ellinger says there’s no guarantee Lexington will collect enough tax money to cover their costs.

As the scandal surrounding the targeting of tea party groups by the I.R.S. continues, some Kentucky tea party activists are upset with Senator Mitch McConnell's role in the process—even as the state party is asking them to support him. In Kentucky, only the statewide 9/12 project has come forward to acknowledge that they were targeted and that they were rejecting the IRS' apology on the matter.

The City of Frankfort is drafting an ordinance that would seek to protect lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people from discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations. But if you were among the more than 40 residents who left after the first two-and-a-half hours of Monday night’s City Commission meeting, you probably missed that. That’s because Commissioner Lynn Bowers changed her mind on the issue after the board took a brief break.

FRANKFORT – A ceremony of remembrance Tuesday marked the re-interment of the remains of 178 individuals that were exhumed in 2011 on the Eastern State Hospital Campus in Lexington, now home to a new Bluegrass Community and Technical College education facility.

A loud snap echoed through a building at Western Kentucky University on Monday as another pair of leather reins finally split in two. Civil engineering professor Matt Dettman helped destroy numerous horse-racing reins as part of a project aimed at finding the weak points of those products. The testing could help set an industry standard for reins to better protect horses and their riders. Representatives of the Jockeys’ Guild, The Jockey Club and the National Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association gathered at WKU to watch a variety of reins being tested in an effort to help refine a standard. ”If they’re going to be instigating a new rein, they want to be comfortable with it,” Dettman said. To his knowledge, WKU is the only university doing this kind of testing, he said.  Read more...

An independent candidate for the vacant 56th House District seat proposed a series of debates Monday leading to the June 25 special election. John-Mark Hack, a founding partner in Marksbury Farm Market in Lancaster and chairman of the anti-gambling group Stop Predatory Gambling, suggested a series of June debates in Franklin, Woodford and Fayette counties and on cn|2’s Pure Politics program.  Read more...

What began Monday afternoon as an outdoor adventure for two Bowling Green friends attempting to shoot video inside a secluded cave ended in one of the men being rescued by Bowling Green Fire Department firefighters. Brian Ahlers, 20, and his 22-year-old friend, who declined to give his name to the Daily News, were exploring the cave off Industrial Drive near Cameron Park Apartments, which has a body of water passing through it. The men swam across the water to get to the other side, but one of them couldn’t get back. Read more...

The chairman of Youngstown State University’s board of trustees says the board wants Murray State University President Dr. Randy Dunn to start his new job on the Youngstown, Ohio campus as soon as possible. On Friday, the YSU trustees voted 8-0 to authorize the board's chair and vice chair to negotiate and execute an employment contract with Dunn to start as YSU’s next president. In an emailed statement Monday, Dunn said he and his wife, Dr. Ronda Dunn, hoped to get started at YSU in about two months. Read more...

FRANKFORT - The Kentucky Public Service Commission will hold a meeting today and teleconferences Wednesday to take public comments on the proposal by Kentucky Power Co. to purchase replacement electric-generating capacity in order to retire the Big Sandy generating facility near Louisa. Both the meeting and the teleconference will begin with a presentation by PSC staff on the regulatory processes governing the case and an overview of the Kentucky Power proposal.
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Walton Mayor Philip Trzop submitted a letter of resignation to city council that was read at Monday night's council meeting. Trzop did not attend the meeting. Earlier this year Trzop was indicted by a Boone County grand jury on a charge of abuse of public trust in regard to a position he held as manager of the Boone County Water District. He was later fired from the position. Trzop was accused of selling scrap metal belonging to the water district for $34,000 between 2009 and November 2012, about $10,000 of which was unaccounted for.  Read more..

More could have been done to prevent the death of 2-year-old Watson Adkins, said members of a panel reviewing deaths from child abuse in Kentucky. Watson, who was removed from his home and placed with a maternal aunt, was later found dead at his aunt and uncle's home in Floyd County in September 2011. Gladys and Jason Dickerson have been charged in his death and are scheduled for trial in August. Read more...

A new report takes a comprehensive look at the numerous factors behind the decline in Central Appalachian coal production, and predicts that more production declines are in the future.  The report was released today byDownstream Strategies, a West Virginia-based environmental consulting company. Lead author Rory McIlmoil says over the past few years, the most commonly-cited reasons for problems in the coal industry have been regulatory challenges and declining coal reserves. And while those play a major role, there are other factors, too.  Read more...