Thursday, April 14, 2011
EKB Capsule News...Kentucky...4-15-'11
In Kentucky, 82 people die every month from drug overdoses, while West Virginia has the nation’s highest rate of overdose deaths based on population and most are from prescription drugs. Florida Governor Rick Scott and Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear urged Congress on Thursday to help states fight the rise of so-called “pill mills” and the abuse of prescription painkillers hurting their states’ communities. Scott and Beshear told lawmakers the illegal distribution of prescription drugs has exploded out of control in their states in recent years despite efforts to shut them down and their states need help. Nearly all the top 100 doctors dispensing Oxycodone nationally are based in Florida, and more doses of Oxycodone are dispensed in Florida than the rest of the nation. Scott, a Republican elected last year, said Florida was coordinating its law enforcement to target physicians and pharmacies that improperly dispense the painkillers, and unethical and criminal dispensing must be put to an end. Lawmakers in Florida are considering legislation to strengthen a database to monitor prescriptions. Scott wanted the database repealed and raised concerns about patient privacy but recently said he would support the tracking system.
- Jackson County magistrate Doug Rose was arrested early Thursday morning for public intoxication, his second arrest in three weeks. Rose was also arrested on March 26th for public intoxication of a controlled substance, not alcohol. Rose has bonded out of jail and is scheduled to be in court on Monday.
- Lloyd Steven Pigg of Jenkins pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon to complicity to tampering with physical evidence in connection with the 2008 beating death of 70 year old Ralph Marcum, who was killed with a hammer. Pigg is sentenced to five years in prison with credit for the 806 days he has served in jail after his arrest. Pigg is also expected to testify against John William Pigg and Christina Hall Collins when their murder trial begins Monday.
- On Wednesday evening, Kentucky State Police were contacted by the Bowling Green Medical Center after a woman showed up falsely claiming to have given birth. During the course of the investigation, detectives with the KSP and Bowling Green Police Department responded to a wooded area off of US 68 and KY80 in the Oakland, Kentucky, community where the body of Jamie Stice, 21, of Bowling Green was located. Early Thursday morning, Kathy Michelle Coy, 33, of Morgantown, Kentucky was charged with the kidnapping and murder of Stice. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday in Warren County.
- Newly released FBI documents show that KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders received a death threat in the 1970s that prompted a federal investigation. The hand-written letter addressed to Sanders and his wife told the restaurant entrepreneur from Kentucky that he was in "grave danger of being murdered." The letter was signed by someone identified as "The General." The envelope containing the letter was postmarked December 5, 1973, and had a return address in Los Angeles. Sanders died in 1980 at the age of 90 after being stricken with leukemia.
- The court hearing in Rebecca Farmer's divorce suit against her husband, state Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer, is set for May 26th. That is nine days after the May 17th primary election in which Farmer is a candidate for lieutenant governor on the Republican ticket of gubernatorial candidate David Williams. Rebecca Farmer, 37, filed for divorce on April 5th, two days after the couple separated. She has given no reason for the filing but has claimed Farmer "has limited her access to the parties' finances" and that the only money she has comes from her net monthly income of less than $1,100 as a teacher's aide in the Franklin County school system. Farmer has responded in court that he disagrees with her statements that their marriage of 13 years cannot be reconciled and that she should have custody and control of their three children.
UK Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart has told a task force studying the future of Rupp Arena and the Lexington Center complex that the arena used by the University of Kentucky men's basketball team "must be the gold standard." The 45-member Arena, Arts & Entertainment District Task Force appointed by Mayor Jim Gray in March to make recommendations on whether to renovate Rupp Arena or replace it with a new facility held its first organizational meeting Thursday. The group will be financed with $350,000 in private donations, which have not been raised. Attorney Brent Rice, chairman of the task force, said he was not asking anyone in the room for money Thursday. Gray, who announced Tuesday he would suspend six months of his salary in light of the city's glum financial situation, kicked off the fund-raising effort by making a personal contribution of $20,000.
- The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training released figures Thursday showing the jobless rate for March at 10.2 percent. Labor market analyst Justine Detzel says nonfarm employment is at its highest level since January 2009. Seven of the 11 major nonfarm job sectors reported employment increases, while three decreased. The leisure and hospitality sector led the way with 5,100 jobs, followed by the transportation and utilities sector that added 2,100 jobs, and the construction sector added 1,900 jobs. The professional and business services sector lost 1,300 jobs, while the manufacturing sector lost 300 jobs and the financial activities sector lost 200 jobs.
- A chain of health clubs based in Lexington, Ky., is downplaying consumer complaints that have earned it "F" failing grades from the Better Business Bureau in Ohio. The consumer group's central Ohio branch says in the last year it received more than 200 complaints from Urban Active Fitness members. The bureau says most claimed they continued to be billed after their gym contract had expired or was canceled. The president of the Better Business Bureau serving northwest Ohio says his office has heard from more than 60 unhappy Urban Active customers. Urban Active issued statements to media outlets this week saying the complaints represent less than 1 percent of its customers in the Columbus and Toledo areas.
Governor Steve Beshear says he and first lady Jane Beshear have already signed the backs of their driver's licenses to be organ donors and have signed up with the Kentucky Organ Donor Registry. Beshear urged others to do the same during a ceremony Wednesday at the Capitol to recognize four years of work by the registry and Kentucky circuit court clerks to register more than 1 million Kentucky residents. Several people who have received organ transplants were in attendance as Beshear said more than 700 people in Kentucky are waiting for organ transplants.
- A Kentucky man has been charged in the beating death of a Cumberland Gap store owner on his 66th birthday. Harvey Fuson died on January 25th after receiving several blows to the head while at his business, the Old Drug Store and Antiques, a pharmacy turned knick-knack shop. Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray says 33 year old Donnie Smith of Middlesboro was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he was indicted by a grand jury on Wednesday. Smith is being held in the Claiborne County Jail on a $1 million bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on April 18th.
- The state Board of Education has approved the first phase of a new accountability system for Kentucky's public schools. Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said the action Wednesday by the board in Frankfort was the first of many steps the state will take to replace CATS testing and begin a new era of education reform this fall. While the new reforms will still use test scores to measure progress, they will also take into account whether schools are closing learning gaps among disadvantaged students. Schools and districts will be classified under the new system as distinguished, proficient, needs improvement or persistently low achieving.
Republican gubernatorial candidate David Williams has picked up the endorsement of Kentucky Right to Life, the state's leading anti-abortion group. Right to Life executive director Margie Montgomery said Williams, the state Senate president, has been 1 of Kentucky's most important abortion foes. Montgomery said Williams has made "extraordinary efforts to protect innocent human life" as a state lawmaker. And she said Kentucky voters can trust Williams to stand up for their values. Williams faces Louisville businessman Phil Moffett and Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw in the May 17th GOP primary. Another anti-abortion group, the Northern Kentucky Right to Life, previously endorsed Williams and Moffett.
- Attorney General Jack Conway has announced a newly designed 'I Care About Kids' license plate in Kentucky. Proceeds from the sale of the license plate will go to the Child Victims' Trust Fund (CVTF) to assist in funding child sexual abuse prevention programs and to help offset the portion of child sexual abuse medical exam expenses not covered by private insurance or Medicaid.
- The Tennessee Valley Authority board is phasing out 300 to 400 jobs at its oldest coal-fired plants and will pay a $10 million penalty in a clean air agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, several states and environmental groups. TVA chief executive Tom Kilgore said the agreement stems from long-running private negotiations. Coal-unit shutdowns announced at a Thursday board meeting in Chattanooga start in 2012 and include two units at John Sevier Fossil Plant in East Tennessee, six units at Widows Creek Fossil Plant in north Alabama and all 10 units at Johnsonville Fossil Plant in Middle Tennessee. TVA executives said efforts will be made to provide other jobs. Kilgore said TVA cannot guarantee that every displaced employee will be offered a job at the same location.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 10:50 PM 
