Thursday, March 17, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...3-18-'11
Repairs to the stretch of KY 292 in Martin County which suffered a pavement collapse this past Saturday begins Friday, March 18th, at 7:00 A.M. Darold Slone, Engineering Branch Manager for Highway District 12 said, weather permitting, the repairs should take four to six weeks. The fast action to begin permanent repairs is due to excellent cooperation among several state agencies and the private sector. ICG, a coal company with operations in Martin County, agreed to provide necessary rock material for the repairs. The Office of Surface Mining offices in Prestonsburg and Frankfort agreed to allow the company to provide the rock. And Jigsaw, the highway district equipment rental contractor, agreed to start the work immediately. Approval from OSM came about 4:00 P.M. Thursday, March 17th. About 500 feet of pavement along KY 292 is damaged. The actual pavement collapse accounts for about half of that. The portion of the highway that is closed is about one mile from the Pike County line. While repairs are under way, this section remains closed to all traffic.
- Fifty-two year old Croatian-born Azra Bašic (BOSH), a woman who was arrested by U.S. Marshals Tuesday in Stanton, Kentucky made her first appearance in federal court in Lexington Thursday accused of war crimes against ethnic Serb civilians during the Bosnian Civil War in 1992. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert E. Wier set an April 1st date to decide when to hold an extradition hearing. Assistant U.S. Attorney James Arehart wrote in a complaint requesting extradition that Bašic is wanted in Europe on charges of murder and torture. Bašic is accused of killing at least one person and torturing others at three camps from April to June 1992. Witnesses say Bašic forced one man to drink gasoline, another to drink human blood and carved crosses into the flesh of a third man. Bosnian authorities charged Bašic in January 1993 as an unknown, using witness statements, medical examinations and forensic experts between 1992 and 2001 to identify her. Interpol traced Bašic to Kentucky in 2004 and an international arrest warrant went out in 2006. Witness said the Croatian military took ethnic Serbs from the Cardak settlement around April 26, 1992 and subsequently tortured them.
- Jason Singleton, 34, who is facing murder charges in the death of his wife, 25 year old Angela Frazer Singleton, was indicted by a Pulaski County grand jury March 7th on four counts of kidnapping, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of first-degree criminal mischief and one count of theft by unlawful taking of an automobile. On January 20th, he took several people hostage at the Super Service in Somerset before he surrendered to police after a stand-off of around 20 to 25 minutes. Singleton is now being held on a $500,000 cash or $1 million property bond. When he is extradited to jail in Madison County for murder, Singleton will be held on a $1 million bond.
- While in Perry Circuit Court Thursday, Lonnie Standafer, 56, of Scuddy, admitted to selling Oxycodone, Methadone and Alprazolam to a cooperating witness on several occasions in June 2010. Standafer was one of 14 people arrested during an Operation UNITE roundup in November. A superseding indictment returned on November 19th charged Standafer with three counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance second offense, a Class B felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and one count of third-degree trafficking second offense, a Class D felony which calls for up to five years in prison. Under a plea agreement, Standafer will be sentenced to 10 years for each amended first-degree trafficking charge. The sentences will run concurrently. Circuit Judge Bill Engle postponed sentencing to allow the probation office time to issue a pre-sentence investigation report. His sentencing hearing is set for April 21st.
Rescinding a previous endorsement of independent challenger Gatewood Galbraith, United Mine Workers of America leaders voted unanimously, during a meeting in Lexington Thursday, to support Democratic Governor Steve Beshear for re-election. UMWA Vice President Steve Earle says the decision was made after "very long and thoughtful discussions" with rank-and-file members across the state. Earle said the decision was based on Beshear being the "best opportunity" for working families in Kentucky, a major coal-producing state that is home to some 18,000 active miners.
- Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell has called on the government to take action against increasing gas prices. After a crackdown on protesters in Bahrain Thursday, oil prices soared more than 3 percent, climbing back above $101 per barrel. The rebellion in Libya has forced the country to halt oil shipments of about 1.5 million barrels per day. Prices are also rising as Japan recovers from its earthquake and tsunami and is expected to boost fuel imports. The U.S., the world's largest oil consumer, reported Thursday that unemployment claims dropped to the lowest level since July 2008, raising hopes that oil and gasoline demand will soon increase. Gasoline pump prices dipped for a third day, to $3.546 per gallon, though the national average is still up about 42 cents per gallon since the middle of February. A gallon of regular unleaded is 75.7 cents more expensive than last year.
- The Senate has passed a bill that will allow the state’s public schools to receive an additional $133 million in federal funding this year. The measure involves a simple fund transfer that shifts $19 million from next year’s higher education appropriation to be used this year. That move, under rules attached to federal stimulus funding, will allow the state to capture the additional money for public schools. A similar measure is pending in the House as part of a bill that includes a proposal to balance the Medicaid budget.
Forty-three year old Edward Cheatham of Frankfort was arrested by U.S. Marshals in Lexington Wednesday after being on the run from authorities in two Kentucky counties as well as police in Texas. An indictment says Cheatham was previously convicted of burglary in Woodford Circuit Court in 2005, burglary in Franklin Circuit Court in 1990, trafficking in a controlled substance within 1,000 yards of a school in Franklin Circuit Court in 1999, attempted burglary and attempted escape in Woodford Circuit Court in 1999.
- Thursday, the Harlan County Sheriff's Chaplain Corps, along with deputies and others in the community, came to the fiscal court meeting uninvited after the Corps received an eviction notice last month from Harlan County Judge Joe Grieshop. Attorney Otis Doan tried to speak on their behalf even though they were not on the agenda, but Doan said he had made efforts to be put on the agenda. Things got heated, and Grieshop walked out. After consulting with the county attorney, Magistrate David Kennedy presided over the remainder of the meeting. Grieshop said later he left the meeting because he felt threatened.
- Governor Steve Beshear vetoed one House bill and one Senate bill Wednesday over concerns that the provisions in the bills would be too costly for the state to implement. Beshear vetoed Senate Bill 143, a bill dealing with tax liens and other aspects of the state's uniform commercial code, because parts of the measure conflicted with federal law and would cause problems for county clerks, where tax liens are filed. He also vetoed House Bill 107, which would allow a legislative contract oversight committee to review more executive branch contracts. Beshear said, because the legislature passed Senate Bill 7, which requires more information about contracts to be posted online, HB 107 is not needed.
House Republican Leader Jeff Hoover met privately Wednesday afternoon with Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo to try to craft a proposal that would balance the state Medicaid budget. Hoover is searching for middle ground between two plans aimed at heading off cuts to Medicaid providers and hopes to have a proposal ready to be voted on by early next week. Stumbo says he and Hoover have been looking at targeted spending cuts to selected government agencies as a possible compromise. One aspect they have already agreed upon is that education would be spared any additional cuts. Republican state Representative Alecia Webb-Edgington said Thursday that while GOP lawmakers in the House oppose cuts to public schools as a way to bolster the Medicaid budget they would be open to cuts at the Department of Education. Webb-Edgington says the agency is "top heavy" and could withstand some budget reductions, and the $21 million used to operate the Department of Education's Frankfort headquarters should be on the table.
- In a report to the Food and Drug Administration, the tobacco industry argues menthol cigarettes aren't riskier than regular cigarettes. The industry is trying to defend a lucrative business as the agency weighs whether to ban the minty flavoring. The industry says it believes there's no scientific basis to regulate the menthol any differently. It concludes that menthol cigarettes don't make it easier for people to start, harder for them to quit or raise their risk of disease. An FDA advisory panel says, while menthol cigarettes may not be more risky, use is high among minorities, teenagers and low-income people.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:14 PM 
