Wednesday, February 16, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...2-17-'11
- In an effort to prevent a possible $400,000 end-of-the-year budget shortfall, the Pike County Fiscal Court voted unanimously Tuesday to freeze $600,000 in coal severance funds. Pike County Judge Executive Wayne Rutherford presented two options to the court, saying last years floods and an extremely tough winter leaves them a choice to freeze the funds used for district-by-district infrastructure projects or furlough county employees. Rutherford says, as part of a 13 percent match on more than than $5.6 million FEMA contributed to flood recovery, the county must pay about $400,000 this year and again next year. Assistant Pike County Attorney Roland Case told magistrates another $100,000 earmarked for shortline water extensions for Mountain Water District can also be frozen.
- Mike Lyons, Pike County Solid Waste Commissioner, says now is the time for Pike County residents to take advantage of the Pike County Government’s Tire Amnesty Program. Lyons says people and businesses with old tires can take them to the Pike County Landfill or, depending on the amount of tires, can make arrangements with their local magistrate’s office to have the tires picked up by Pike County Solid Waste. Belfry, Belcher and Robinson Creek solid waste lots will not accept tires. The Belfry lot has never accepted tires and the Belcher and Robinson Creek lots are not accepting this year. The Pike County Tire Amnesty Program will last until Saturday, March 19th. The program saves the county between $75,000 and $100,000 because the cost to dispose of the tires is waived by the state during the amnesty period.
- Two pain clinics in Paintsville, in Johnson County, were raided and more than 30 people were arrested Wednesday morning. Dr. Richard Albert was not charged with any crime as agents from the DEA, attorney general's office, Paintsville Police, Johnson County Sheriff and KSP seized medical files and computers from his Route 321 offices. Less than a mile away, Dr. Rano Bofill's Care More Medical Management Center on Tays Branch Road was raided, and officers made about 30 parking lot arrests. Earlier this week, the county Judge-Executive Tucker Daniel was handed more than 2,000 names on petitions demanding a local law banning unethical pain clinics. The doctors at these locations have not been arrested or charged. Albert, who on February 2nd took out an advertisement in the Paintsville Herald saying he would retire on February 28th and patients had 30 days to pick up their records, surrendered his Kentucky medical license Wednesday. Albert was reprimanded last year by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure for illegally advertising prescriptions for Suboxone.
- April Williams, 34, of Baxter, in Harlan County, died early Wednesday in a three-vehicle crash in the Putney community. KSP say Williams was stopped in the northbound lane of U.S. 119, waiting to turn left to a side road, when a truck driven by Michael Southerland, 19, of Wallins, hit her from the rear. knocking her car into the path of a vehicle driven by Kim Simpson, 34, of Totz. Simpson's vehicle hit Williams' in the passenger side and knocked it into a guardrail. Williams died at the scene. Southerland and a passenger, Steven Coots, 18, of Cumberland, and Simpson and her passenger, Bradley Simpson, 16, were all taken to the Harlan Appalachian Regional Hospital for treatment.
- The Beshear administration and the Kentucky Coal Association filed suit last year in U.S. District Court in Pikeville challenging the EPA's decision to block 11 new mines in five eastern Kentucky counties. Lawmakers in Kentucky are now threatening to give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the boot. Senate Energy and Environment Committee Chairman Brandon Smith, a Republican from Hazard, said Wednesday the EPA has put Kentucky's economic security and thousands of jobs at risk. Smith is sponsoring a resolution that would declare Kentucky a "sanctuary state" out of reach of the EPA. He said the intent is to send a clear message to the Obama administration that the EPA needs to stop penalizing an industry that employs some 18,000 Kentuckians. The initial vote on what appears to be a popular but unenforceable resolution is set for Thursday morning. Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., has proposed a sweeping $1.9 billion cut, about 18 percent, to the amount of money requested for EPA this year by President Barack Obama. Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Bissett says the mining industry hopes EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson won't ignore the state resolution as a blank threat but will instead listen to what is a serious concern in the state. Demonstrators staged a sit-in at Governor Steve Beshear's Capitol office over the weekend in protest of his support for the mining industry. And about 1,000 protesters gathered for a mass outdoor rally at the Capitol on Monday calling for an end to mountaintop removal mining.
- Payday lenders won't be facing a new cap on interest rates in Kentucky after a proposal that would have capped the interest rates at 36 percent failed to pass in the House Banking and Insurance Committee which voted 10-13. Democratic state Representative Darryl Owens of Louisville said Wednesday he wouldn't try to revive the legislation in this year's legislative session. If the legislation had passed, Kentucky would have joined the District of Columbia and at least 17 other states that have already imposed caps.
- The federal government says MSHA mine inspectors issued 141 citations at seven coal mines in Kentucky in January. Manalapan Mining Co. Inc.'s RB No. 12 Mine in Harlan County was issued 24 citations and three orders. The Labor Department said inspectors found some defective handheld multi-gas detectors at the mine, which it said increases the risk of undetected explosive mixtures of methane or low oxygen. The inspections involve mines that have poor compliance history or other concerns, including high numbers of violations and accidents.
- Two members of the Kentucky Parole Board did not come to a decision Wednesday about parole for Elizabeth Zehnder Turpin, a woman incarcerated for nearly 25 years for her role in the murder of 22 year old Michael Turpin of Lexington. Turpin is considered the mastermind behind the slaying of Michael Turpin, to whom she had been married for less than six months when he was killed February 3, 1986. Authorities say the motive was $60,000 in life insurance Elizabeth Turpin wanted to collect. Keith Bouchard was convicted of fatally stabbing Michael Turpin, with assistance from Karen Brown. Turpin's body, with 19 stab wounds, was recovered from a pond at Lexington's Lakeside Golf Course. Elizabeth Turpin was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility for parole after 25 years. The slaying is considered among the most sensational murders in state history. The full nine-member parole board will meet again Monday in Frankfort to make a decision.
- Kentucky State Police say a total of 1,100 meth labs were found in the state last year. A bill that would require a prescription for current over-the-counter cold medicines that contain the drug pseudoephedrine has sat in the Senate for 10 days awaiting a vote. Supporters saythe bill would curb the scourge of meth in Kentucky, making it more difficult for manufacturers to get what they need to make the toxic and highly addictive meth. Senator Tom Jensen, R-London, who sponsored the Senate bill, says they're going to leave it up a little bit longer, but time is running out, and he doesn't think there are enough supporters to get the bill passed, leaving the real tragedy on the horizon. Only two states have passed similar laws, Oregon and Mississippi.
- Under a bill backed by Republican senators, all Kentucky schools would have to set aside time each day for students to face the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Senate Bill 15, which sponsors call the Kentucky School Patriot Act, was filed last week and is scheduled for a vote Thursday in the Senate Education Committee. Students who don't want to participate in the pledge may quietly stand or remain seated but shall respect the rights of those pupils electing to participate.
- A proposal that would extend Nashville city government's anti-discrimination ordinance to contractors on city projects has passed a second reading. If adopted again at a March 15 meeting, the proposal would extend workplace protections to employees of city contractors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. The proposal passed second reading on a 21-16 vote, reported The Tennessean. Measure co-sponsor Mike Jameson said 181 U.S. cities and counties have similar laws. Nick Wilkerson of the Kentucky Fairness Alliance said after Louisville, Ky., adopted such an ordinance, the local governments in Lexington, Ky., and Covington, Ky., followed suit.
- Workers have begun the task of repairing miles of railroad track in Kentucky, starting in Frankfort. Officials from R.J. Corman Railroad Group and Gov. Steve Beshear kicked off the first of the improvements this week in Frankfort, replacing the switch in front of the city's Old Depot. Company Vice President Noel Rush says the project will assist industrial customers who ship sand and aluminum ingots and could one day benefit a proposed passenger rail service. Improvements that began this week will cost $16.2 million, with $13 million covered by stimulus funds, $3 million from the company and $200,000 from the state. The improvements in Kentucky will be made to rails in Bullitt, Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Jefferson, Logan, Nelson, Shelby, Scott, Todd, Warren and Woodford counties.
- Alpha Natural Resources says it has started the process of planning how to blend its operations with those of rival Massey Energy Co. Alpha Chief Executive Kevin Crutchfield and President Kurt Kost wrote to Alpha employees this week saying the company has started the first step of its planned takeover of Richmond-based Massey. The letter was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The two say Alpha and Massey officials met last week in West Virginia to begin the process of becoming better acquainted. The talks are to ensure Alpha's business practices are in place at Massey operations when the purchase is expected to be completed later this year. The Abingdon, Va., mining company has proposed purchasing Massey for $7.1 billion.
- Crews in Bullitt County have dismantled a mobile meth lab that was brought to law enforcement officials at the county courthouse. Director Danny Thompson of the county Drug Task Force says a man found the materials inside a cloth suitcase Tuesday and carried it to law enforcement authorities at the courthouse. When officers realized what it was, they escorted the man outside and emptied out the front half of the first floor while the lab was dismantled. Thompson says people who find such materials should leave it alone and call police to come to them because the materials are dangerous.
- Nonviolent prisoners in Kentucky would serve shorter sentences under fast-tracked legislation. The House Judiciary Committee passed the measure late Tuesday evening. It now goes to the full House for consideration with the support of some key players, including Kentucky Chief Justice John D. Minton and Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown. Democratic Rep. John Tilley and Republican Sen. Tom Jensen are pushing companion bills in both chambers. The House version was the first to receive a committee vote. Jensen said he's hopeful the Senate can begin deliberations on the legislation next week. The governor's budget office estimated the savings at $422 million over 10 years.
- A northern Kentucky man who stabbed to death two cats has been denied parole for at least two more years. The Kentucky Parole Board on Tuesday said it will reconsider the case of 32-year-old Russell Andrew Swigart of Highland Heights in 2013. Swigart has served about two years and five months of a 12-year sentence. A jury convicted Swigart of torturing animals and burglary. The owner of the cats, Bridgett Wright, submitted 15,700 signatures from an online petition to the parole board on Monday in an effort to keep Swigart in prison. The animals were killed in 2008. After the hearing Tuesday, Wright told the Kentucky Enquirer she was relieved by the decision. Swigart's attorney, Ashley Bellamy, says her client has taken responsibility for his actions and has been a model prisoner.
- Sen. Ken Winters has gotten legislation through the Senate that would allow some high school students to graduate early so that they can enter college. The Murray Republican, a former college president, said only students with high ACT scores and a 3.2 grade point average would be eligible. About $2,500 in state funding that would have gone to their school district would instead go to the college where they enroll for tuition. Winters said the proposal, which passed 35-1, also requires participating students to have high achievement test scores and to have 18 credits, including two advanced placement or international baccalaureate classes.
- On Monday, February 21, at about 7 a.m. the traffic pattern on US 23 south of Pikeville at Sookey’s Creek will change, reducing the four-lane highway to a two-lane, one lane in each direction, north and south. These lane reductions are necessary to build the interchange that will connect US 23 with new US 460. From Monday through Wednesday next week the passing lanes will be closed so the contractor, Bizzack, can work on installation of a median barrier wall that will remain in place for the duration of the project.
Davis
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:24 PM 
