EKB News

Women and minorities will play a larger role in House leadership during the legislative session that began this week according to House Speaker Jody Richards. Richards said today that House Democrats selected Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, as chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee; Tanya Pullin, D-South Shore, as chairwoman of Seniors, Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee; and Joni Jenkins, D-Shively, as chairwoman of Licensing and Occupations Committee.

A former ally of Gov. Ernie Ernie Fletcher is now an official political challenger. Paducah businessman Billy Harper filed candidacy papers Friday to run against his old friend, who is a first-term Republican governor. Harper has already spent nearly $2.5 million on his campaign for governor, primarily on television advertising. Harper, saying Fletcher is too politically weak to win a second term, is running on a slate with fellow Paducah businessman Dick Wilson. Harper, a construction company owner, is the only Republican so far to announce plans to challenge Fletcher for the GOP nomination next year.

Even without a body state police have arrested three people on suspicion of the murder of a Salyersville woman who has been missing since Dec. 23. Police arrested 42 year old Don Reed; 41 year old Paul Arnett; and 40 year old Linda Risner charging all of them with the murder of 28 year old Brandy Rowe of Salyersville. Even without the body, police “have discovered enough evidence to substantiate a charge of murder,” according to a statement from Trooper Elliott Gollihue, an acting spokesman for the Pikeville post of the Kentucky State Police. An acquaintance of Rowe’s contacted the Magoffin County sheriff’s office Monday to report that she had been shot and her body dumped near a rural area according to police. Searchers in Magoffin County have still yet to find Rowe’s body. Rowe was last seen two days before Christmas, when she left a Magoffin County home to go for a ride with some people she knew, police said. The group allegedly was headed to a rural area near the Magoffin-Breathitt county line.

An inmate at the Big Sandy Penitentiary in Inez was indicted today by a federal grand jury on charges that he tried to kill a fellow inmate with a homemade knife, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Lexington said. 25 year old Muhammad Abdul-Rahman of Washington, D.C., allegedly stabbed Terrell Johnson on Oct. 24 last year, the same day another Washington inmate, Calvin L. Speight, was stabbed to death at the same prison. A prison spokeswoman said Thursday that she did not know whether the stabbings were related. The indictment, issued in Lexington, charged Abdul-Rahman with assault with intent to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon and knowingly possessing a prohibited object designed and intended to be used as a weapon. The weapon was described in a news release as a six-inch piece of metal, sharpened to a point. A third Big Sandy inmate, Shamoni Peterson, 32, also of Washington, was stabbed to death on Nov. 13.

A Michigan man has amassed a long list of charges after being stopped by an officer with the Pikeville Police Department early this morning. 49 year old Mathew Pryor Jr. Of Detroit Michigan was traveling on US 23 shortly before five o'clock when an officer with the Pikeville PD observed him driving at a slow rate of speed and weaving back and forth across the fog line. Officer David Adkins stated in the arrest citation that Pryor had red glassy eyes and was unsteady on his feet. The citation goes on to state that Pryor admitted to snorting heroin. A search of Pryor's person uncovered two plastic baggies one containing several pills some of which Officer Adkins identified as oxycontin, the other contained a brown powder which Pryor allegedly stated was his personal heroin. Pryor was lodged in the Pike County Detention Center on charges of driving under the influence, operating on a suspended license, two counts of 1st degree possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Pryor plead not guilty to the charges this morning in front of Pike County District Judge Kelsey Friend and has been ordered by the judge to be held without bond as the court investigates a possible probation violation. He is scheduled to appear again in court on January 8th.

State police are still looking for clues in Magoffin County as the search continues for a missing Salyersville woman. The Kentucky State Police are now saying that the woman may be dead even though her body has yet to be discovered.According to Police say Brandi Rowe was last seen December 23rd when she left a residence in Magoffin County to go riding on an all terrain vehicle.Their investigation started as a missing persons case, but it's since turned into a murder investigation. An acquaintance of Rowe's told state police recently that Rowe was shot and that her body was dumped in a secluded area. Those tips led them to search the woods near the Magoffin / Breathitt County line.Officers are continuing their search and are reaching out to the public to help crack this case. Anyone with information regarding the case is urged to contact the Kentucky State Police at 1-877-416-1230.

A single vehicle crash has resulted in the death of a Marrowbone woman. Shortly after noon yesterday officers with the Kentucky State Police were dispatched to Wolfpit Branch Road, where 62 year old Anna Justice had driven over a ten foot embankment and into a creek. Justice sustained injuries in the crash and a passenger in the vehicle, 67 year old Letha Rasnick was pronounced dead on the scene by the Pike county coroner’s office. The wreck remains under investigation by the Kentucky State Police.

The Bluegrass state is ahead of the curb in implementing regulations to improve mine safety according to lawmakers who released a statement on the issue on Wednesday January 3. According to a statement by State Senator Ray Jones (D-Pikeville) though safety measures have passed in other states and on the federal level, Kentucky has already implemented many of the safety measures called for in the emergency legislation while other states continue to lag behind. "I'm pleased that many of the important changes called for in our new mine safety law are already in place," said Jones, who was one of the authors of the legislation.
"Obviously, it doesn't do any good to change the law if the changes are not implemented underground," Jones said.
Kentucky does share the problems other mining states are having in providing additional self-contained, self-rescue devices, as mandated by the new laws according to the State Democratic Office. Although Kentucky mines have ordered the safety equipment, there is a backlog because of the increased demand across the country. Kentucky's new law requires that additional caches of the devices be readily accessible in main escape-ways, with attached reflective signage and strobe lights.

1. Comair flight crashes at Lexington, Ky., airport, killing 49 people.
2. A special grand jury indicts Gov. Ernie Fletcher on charges of violating state hiring laws. The charges are dismissed later in a settlement with prosecutors.
3. Deadly year for coal miners. Five miners die in a single Harlan County tragedy in a year when state and federal regulators work on better safety laws and regulations.
4. Lt. Gov. Steve Pence leaves Gov. Ernie Fletcher's slate. Governor chooses Robbie Rudolph as his running mate for 2007 re-election bid.
5. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell selected as Senate minority leader by his GOP colleagues.
6. Democrat John Yarmuth unseats Anne Northup, the only member of Kentucky's GOP congressional delegation to lose as Democrats win back control of Congress.
7. Jefferson County court case on school desegregation policy makes it to U.S. Supreme Court.
tie-8. General Assembly passes $18 billion budget without a special session.
tie-8. Judge approves settlement between sex abuse victims and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington.
10. Western Kentucky social worker found dead after taking infant to his mother's house for a visit.

One of the top-ranking Democrats in the state Senate apparently will keep his leadership position despite his guilty plea last month to a misdemeanor vote-buying charge. According to a report from the Associated Press No one has stepped forward to challenge Johnny Ray Turner of Drift for the job of Senate minority caucus chairman, the second highest Democratic position in the Senate. Lawmakers returned to Frankfort today for the start of a 30-day session of the General Assembly which got underway shortly afternoon. House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, D-Sandy Hook, said the race to replace former Rep. Joe Barrows as the majority whip was perhaps "the hottest contested" leadership contest. Adkins said he anticipated leadership posts would be determined sometime today so legislative leaders could make committee assignments - including four chairmanships - later in the week.

Thanks to stepped up efforts from local law enforcement, the New Years holiday was one of the safest driving holidays for Eastern Kentucky in recent memory. Preliminary statistics indicate that nine people died in seven separate crashes on Kentucky’s roadways during the News Year’s holiday period. One double fatality crash occurred in Breathitt County and one double fatality crash occurred in Woodford County. Two single fatality crashes occurred in Jefferson County. Single fatality crashes also occurred in Laurel, Pulaski and Spencer counties but none in Pike County or in the immediate area. The total number of fatalities for the year is down from last year as there have been 78 fewer deaths than in 2005. Those statistics were released today by the Kentucky State Police’s media relations office in Frankfort and are still considered preliminary as not all local agencies have reported yet.