EKB News

• The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Wagering Integrity Committee will meet Wednesday May 18, 2011 in Lexington. The locations, times and agendas follow.

I. Call to order, roll call
II. Approve Minutes of Oct. 4, 2010, Oct. 11, 2010,  Nov. 19, 2010, Nov. 30, 2010, and Jan. 31, 2011
III. Proposed regulation re: Licensing Totalizator Companies 
IV. Proposed ADW Licensing Regulation
V. Comments regarding proposed ADW Licensing Regulation
VI. Other Business
VII. Adjournment

AGENDA
I. Call to order and roll call
II. Vote to approve the minutes of April 6,  2011 
III. New Business

a. Request from The Red Mile to amend 2011 Race Dates
b. Approve Players Bluegrass Downs Roster of Officials for 2011
c. Request from Churchill Downs to run Arabian race June 18,  2011
d. Request from Churchill Downs  to approve reimbursement for Backside Improvement Projects 
e. Amendment to Riding Crop Rule 
f. Amendments to Jockey Weights Regulation 
g. Approve Payment to KY Colt Association
h. Recommendations from the KBIF Advisory Committee

IV. Other Business

a.    Report from Chief Steward  - John Veitch  
b.    Reports from Veterinarian Division       
c.    Report from Supervisor of Pari-Mutuel Wagering – Greg Lamb  
d.   Updated Administrative Regulations Promulgation Schedule 

V. Executive Session
VI. Adjournment    

• Now that the site prep work is complete, construction on EQT’s regional headquarters at Scott Fork has begun. “People need jobs, and we are ‘America’s Energy Capital,’” Pike County Judge-Executive Wayne T. Rutherford said. “Our signature industries are coal and natural gas, which we depend on to keep our county going and with the opening of EQT’s regional headquarters we will be on the forefront of leading the country in both the coal and natural gas industries. Pike County produces more natural gas – 53 percent – than all other counties in Kentucky combined.” Construction is well under way at Scott Fork on U.S. 119 and EQT will be the first corporation to establish an office in the future energy park. Rutherford feels EQT’s locating in Pike County will attract other independent firms with whom they contract to locate at the energy park in the near future.

• The economic impact of tourism in Kentucky amounted to $11.3 billion in 2010, Governor Steve Beshear and Tourism, Arts and Heritage Secretary Marcheta Sparrow announced today.  The economic impact figure is a 4.8 percent increase from 2009. “Thanks to events like the World Equestrian Games and the many other excellent tourism attractions we have in Kentucky, our state is benefitting with jobs, wages and tax revenue,” Gov. Beshear said. “This study is encouraging and shows how important the tourism industry is to our communities and the entire state.” The release of the figures coincides with National Travel and Tourism Month, celebrated May 7-14 this year. “Kentucky’s central location and the variety of attractions continue to help us weather the economic downturn,” said Sparrow, who made the announcement at the Kentucky Tourism Industry Association Tourism Development Symposium in Cave City today. Tourism provides jobs for Kentuckians and supports a variety of businesses across the state.

• A former Fort Campbell, Ky., soldier has been sentenced to a year in prison after an undercover agent caught him selling machine guns and distributing explosive materials without a license. Eric D. Waldman, a former soldier assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, had pleaded guilty to selling two machine guns and distributing a Claymore mine. The U.S. attorney's office in Paducah said in a release Waldman was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell. Prosecutors say in January 2010 Waldman sold a machine gun to an undercover agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for $5,500 in Christian County. Later in June 2010, he sold another machine gun and a mine to an ATF agent for $10,000.

• An assistant baseball coach in northern Kentucky is being hailed as a hero after bringing a school bus to a stop after the driver suffered a heart attack while transporting the varsity team to a game. Nicholas County Schools district administrator Doug Bechanan says the bus was traveling on Kentucky 9 in Mason County on Wednesday when driver Jerry Edwards slumped over the wheel. Bechanan says assistant coach Josh Earlywine was able to stop the bus before it hit a rock wall. Driver Jerry Edwards of Carlisle later died, but no one else on the bus was injured. Mason County Coroner Robert Brothers told The Ledger Independent that it a "miracle" and said things could have turned out much worse.

• Police and state highway officials are investigating after barriers were removed from a flooded highway in western Kentucky. Kentucky Department of Highways spokesman Keith Todd says a gravel berm and barricades that kept traffic off a flooded section of U.S. 60 at the Crittenden-Union County line were removed Thursday night. Todd says several vehicles unsuccessfully attempted to cross after the barriers were removed until police officers were stationed at each end of the flooded road. Todd says flood waters from the Tradewater River are still about 3 feet over the road, which is too deep to cross. Anyone with information about the removal of the barriers is asked to contact Crittenden County Central Dispatch at 270-965-3500 or Kentucky State Police at 1-800-222-5555.