Friday, March 04, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...3-5-'11
- Thomas Marsillett of Floyd County will be sentenced March 17th after pleading guilty to the lesser charge of facilitation of murder during a hearing last month. He was originally charged with complicity to murder in the death of 46 year old Thomas Bentley, who was found dead in his burned home in Bull Creek in May 2008. Police say Marsillett drove Richard Lee Adkins to the house and knew what he was planning to do. Adkins is currently serving a life sentence. Marsillett is expected to serve 14 years on the facilitation plea.
- The search for 26 year old Jerry Rowe Junior of Magoffin County has continued since he disappeared in January. Acting on a tip that Rowe was at a party on an abandoned strip mine on the Magoffin-Breathitt County line before he disappeared on January 28th, police and search crews went to the site where, Friday afternoon, a search dog found his scent near a burned out camp fire. John Cruse with the Johnson Co. Rescue Squad said Rowe has been in the area at some point since he went missing, but the canine lost the scent at a rock formation more than one and a half miles away.
- During a Capitol press conference Friday, Governor Steve Beshear defended his plan for balancing the Medicaid budget without making additional cuts to state agencies. Beshear said his administration can save $425 million next year by privatizing some Medicaid services, providing enough to balance the budget of the program that provides medical care to more than 800,000 poor, disabled and elderly Kentuckians. The Democratic-controlled House supports Beshear's plan, but the Republican-controlled Senate favors a proposal for 2.26 percent cuts to all government programs, including the state's public schools.
- On a 79-11 House vote Friday, Kentucky lawmakers gave final approval to a bill requiring the state licensing of companies that allow people to make phone or online wagers on horse races in the state. The intent of the bill is to let state officials get a better handle on advance deposit wagering operations. The bill calls for licensing of ADW operators by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Another key section would require ADW providers to submit quarterly reports on all wagers made on Kentucky races.
- A bill aimed at blocking someone convicted of abusing or exploiting an elderly person from inheriting from the victim sailed through the Senate without debate Friday, then received final passage on a 95-0 vote in the House. If there are no other heirs, the inheritance would go into a trust fund used to support efforts to prevent elder abuse. It's part of several bills being considered by Kentucky lawmakers to protect the elderly from abuse.
- The House voted 95-0 Friday for final passage of a bill which would ban the sale, manufacture or possession of synthetic drugs marketed as bath salts in Kentucky. Violators would face misdemeanor charges that could result in jail time and fines.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 9:51 PM 
