The Commonwealth

Louisville has been named one of the most dangerous midwestern cities for pedestrians by the group Transportation for America. The organization looked at pedestrian deaths from 2000 to 2009 and concluded that Louisville is the 19th most dangerous metro area in the country, and second in the Midwest, behind Detroit.

State officials are moving forward with a plan to establish alcohol sales at four Kentucky state parks, including General Butler State Resort Park in Carrollton. Also included in the plan are Lake Barkley State Resort Park in Cadiz, Jenny Wiley State Resort Park in Prestonburg and John James Audubon State Park in Henderson. The plan originally was announced last summer as part of a strategy to reduce costs generate revenue for the park system in light of state budget cuts.

FRANKFORT — Officials from the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet and the Federal Emergency Management Agency Tuesday announced that 11 Kentucky counties have qualified for Disaster Unemployment Assistance. Kentuckians in Boyd, Crittenden, Graves, Hardin, Hickman, Jefferson, Livingston, Marshall, McCracken, Webster and Union counties who have lost work or whose businesses were damaged due to severe weather that occurred April 22 – May 20 may be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits.

When two female Greenwood High School students decided to take their war of words to the next level and throw punches, the fight landed a Bowling Green woman in jail and the two girls in juvenile court. The fight was captured on video and uploaded to the website YouTube, where the adult can be seen smiling as she turned and looked at the camera, according to court records.

The remnants of the storm that devastated Joplin, Mo., on Sunday caused moderate damage in Calloway County early Monday morning and Monday afternoon. A Murray-based weather observer said the system that came through early Monday was a weakening straight-line wind storm left over from the same system that hit Missouri on Sunday. He said the highest winds were 48 mph. High winds knocked down trees and power lines.

Eight people died in eight separate crashes on Kentucky roadways from Monday, May 16, through Sunday, May 22. Five of the fatalities involved motor vehicles and three of the victims were not wearing seat belts. Single-fatality crashes occurred in Bell, Carlisle, Daviess, Washington, and Wolfe counties. Alcohol was a factor in the Daviess County crashes.

Homeowners, renters and businesses in 11 Kentucky counties — including Union and Webster counties — who suffered damages in the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding on April 22 and continuing can apply for federal and state disaster assistance by phone or online, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The acting head of the Louisville Department of Health and Wellness says the city’s recent poor showing in the American Fitness Index is not a reflection of his department’s programs. Louisville and the surrounding counties were ranked next to last in the index, which measured the general fitness of residents of various metropolitan areas.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in a case out of Kentucky could give law enforcement officers more power to enter homes without warrants. The case came from Lexington, where law enforcement officers burst into Hollis King’s home after smelling marijuana and having reason to believe he was destroying evidence. The police, however, were not looking for King. They were chasing another suspect who had ducked into a different apartment.

FRANKFORT – Over 50,000 standard-issue license plates with the national motto “In God We Trust” have been sold since the plate was introduced in January. This year, for the first time, Kentucky motorists registering passenger vehicles are able to choose between two standard-issue license plates. Both feature the “Unbridled Spirit” brand, but one plate also bears the national motto, “In God We Trust.”

FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Historical Society will dedicate a historical marker to memorialize the crash site of Trans World Airlines flight 128 at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 at the 900 block of Petersburg Rd. in Hebron.

Six people died in six separate crashes on Kentucky roadways from Monday, May 9, through Sunday, May 15.  All of the fatalities involved motor vehicles and four of the victims were not wearing seat belts. Single-fatality crashes occurred in Carlisle, Estill, Jefferson, Oldham, Perry, and Spencer counties. Alcohol was a factor in the Estill and Spencer county crashes, according to a Kentucky State Police press release.

As floodwaters recede in western Kentucky, homeowners are reminded that furnaces, water heaters, electric panels and liquefied petroleum gas tanks that have been underwater may need to be inspected after repairs are complete.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is conducting an exercise this week in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which covers much of Kentucky. FEMA will conduct various simulations and drills to test the federal, state and local response to a devastating earthquake on the New Madrid Fault. Among the participants will be about 30 of the University of Louisville’s standardized patients, who act out various maladies during disaster drills. Program director Carrie Bohnert says the patients have been trained to simulate common earthquake-related injuries.

The Vatican today released a letter presenting some guidelines for dealing with sex abuse in dioceses around the world. The letter didn’t change much on the policy outlined last summer by Pope Benedict XVI…and the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, says the new guidelines don’t go far enough.

According to the United States Postal Service, 40 letter carriers in Louisville were attacked by dogs in 2010. That makes us 4th on the list of cities with the most attacks. The Postal Service says 5,669 postal workers were attacked nationwide in 2010. The announcement coincides with National Dog Bite Prevention Week (May 15-21).  The annual event seeks to raise awareness for attack prevention and responsible pet ownership. Around 4.7 million Americans are bitten annually, most of them being children.