The Commonwealth

A group of volunteers are bringing the Special Olympics to the Danville area. Lonnie Jones, 34, is developmentally disabled and has lived in Danville for about a decade. He has fond memories of participating in the Special Olympics as a teenager in Ohio. Jones asked his local case workers about bringing the event to Danville. With the help of Tina Scott and Mary Carol Porter from A1 Case Management, and Judy Bayless from A Brighter Choice, Jones’ dream will come true this year.

Although it will be years before vehicles cross it, the cost to pass over a new Ohio River bridge near Louisville is being discussed now.  A consulting firm announced Tuesday toll rates for the Ohio River Bridges Project include a likely one dollar fee for frequent users.  Other assumed rates are two dollars for other two axle vehicles, five dollars for medium trucks and ten dollars per heavy loads.  Official toll rate setting will be the job of a Kentucky-Indiana Joint Tolling Board.

Kentucky transportation officials have a hunch that thousands of people will descend onto Lexington's Rupp Arena for first and second round games of the NCAA Tournament, starting Thursday. And, of course, there's roadwork on state highways to contend with. Here's some advice issued Tuesday morning by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet:

The state is offering a new program to educate and train skilled minority and female workers for careers in construction.  ‘Bridges to Opportunities’ is a training program aimed at filling a need for women and minority workers in the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project.  Governor Beshear notes the Ohio River Bridges will be finished in a few years.  He adds ‘those who complete our program will be armed with the skills for a lifetime career.’ 

Their lives are delineated by a great divide: Before the tornado, and after the tornado. Yet survivors of the storms that tore through Eastern and Southern Kentucky on March 2, 2012, causing 25 deaths and millions of dollars in damages, have refused to allow personal tragedies to define their lives. They remember, but they move on. They grieve, but they live. Here are the stories of some survivors, one year after their lives were turned upside down.

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of severe weather which took the lives of many Kentuckians and caused millions of dollars in structural damage.  The March second, 2012 tornadoes caused vast devastation with the bulk of the damage in communities like West Liberty, Salyersville, East Bernstadt, and Piner.  Statewide, 25 people were killed and more than 45 hundred homes impacted.  671 of those houses were destroyed.

Kentucky's incarceration rate for youth has decreased in the past several years—but not by as much as the national average, said an Annie E. Casey Foundation report released Wednesday. And Kentucky and two other states are responsible for 60 percent of the nation’s juvenile incarcerations because of court order violations for status offenses—crimes applied to youth such as truancy and alcohol consumption.

Joined by Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson, the Kentucky Habitat for Humanity foundation celebrated their 20th year of service in the commonwealth with a Capitol rally. Founded in 1993, Kentucky Habitat for Humanity works with affiliations across the state to build homes in much needed areas. They also have helped rebuild West Liberty and other affected areas from the March 2012 tornadoes.

The Kentucky Senate approved a bill Tuesday designed to improve school safety, hours after a House member unveiled a similar bill he said was "a common-sense approach" and "cost-effective." The proposals do not call for new spending, although state funding for school safety has dropped by 60 percent in recent years, Gov. Steve Beshear said in his State of the Commonwealth speech last week. Only 241 Kentucky schools, or 19 percent, have a trained law enforcement officer on staff, according to Jon Akers, director of the Kentucky Center for School Safety.

WEST LIBERTY – Gov. Steve Beshear and Congressman Hal Rogers Monday joined federal, state and local officials to announce a unique $29.3 million funding effort to help Morgan County rebuild from the disastrous storm and tornado damage suffered in March 2012. The funds, supported by both public and private sectors, will support the reconstruction of five major building projects in the county – projects that are critical to stabilizing services and restoring a sense of permanency to the community.

Kentucky is one step closer to enacting a statewide smoking ban after legislation sailed Thursday through the House Committee on Health and Welfare. House Bill 190, sponsored by Rep. Susan Westrom, a Democrat of Lexington, would prohibit smoking in public places and places of employment.

Many Kentucky county leaders would say having sufficient funds to maintain government services remains one of their biggest worries. County officials from across the Commonwealth are in Lexington for the 31st Kentucky County Judge Executive Association Winter Conference.   ‘County Consolidation’ is a term which has been uttered at the state capital, but never gotten much traction.   Mason County Judge, James Gallenstein believes some regionalization would produce savings.

A recently released poll shows that a majority of Kentuckians favor the expansion of gambling in the state. Sixty percent of Kentuckians said they support expansion when asked a broad yes or no question about it, The Courier-Journal’s Bluegrass Poll said.

Sheriffs in southcentral Kentucky have varied positions on President Barack Obama’s gun control proposals. Some, such as Simpson County Sheriff Chris Cline, completely oppose the proposals, saying such laws would infringe on Americans’ Second Amendment rights. The intention behind Obama’s gun control proposals was to ensure people are safe, Warren County Sheriff Jerry “Peanuts” Gaines said. “Different people will go to extremes about what the president has said,” Gaines said. “But I think he’s just trying to protect the people.”

Louisville Metro Government departments are urging gun owners to use common sense now that firearms are allowed in city-owned buildings. The General Assembly passed a state law forbidding cities from enacting stricter gun laws than the state in 2012, and the Metro Council changed its definition of deadly weapons last week as a result.