EKB News

• A former Pikeville doctor faces up to four years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to fraudulently obtaining thousands of prescription pills for personal use. The plea comes after authorities found more than 19,000 prescription pills and $10,000 in a case in Nicholas Raschella's home during a 2007 search. Raschella admitted he ordered Valium and Xanax from a distributor in Florida to be sent to his clinic, then took those pills to his house for personal use. He also over-prescribed Oxycodone for a patient and told the patient to bring him the extra pills. Raschella will be sentenced in Lexington on October 29th.

• John P. Slone, 53, former director of planning and development at the Blue Grass Airport was ordered Friday by Fayette Circuit Judge Pamela Goodwine to serve 12 months in jail for violating the terms of his conditional discharge. He was arrested for driving under the influence in Bartholomew County, Indiana in November and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor on May 27th. In June 2010, Goodwine sentenced Slone to 12 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft by deception, a misdemeanor, for his role in the airport spending scandal. Goodwine conditionally discharged that sentence for two years. Under a conditional discharge, a person is not subject to supervision that comes with regular probation, and the person avoids jail time if he stays out of trouble with the law.

• The Tennessee-based heritage organization Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to make a Confederate flag license plate available in Kentucky. Groups applying for special plates have to receive approval for the design and collect 900 prepaid orders within two years. The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights board passed a resolution Friday against a proposed license plate bearing an image of the Confederate flag. Commissioners will ask the state Transportation Cabinet to deny such a design.

• West Virginia State Police in Mingo County have arrested Cristy Chafin, 26, and her boyfriend James Simpson, 44, and charged them with child neglect causing death. Authorities say Chafin's 2 year old son died after being rushed to Logan Regional Hospital Friday. A hospital employee notified police that the boy's death seemed suspicious. Chafin and Simpson were both taken to Southwestern Regional Jail. Chafin is being held without bond. Simpson's bond was set at $500,000.

• Nitro Police arrested Robert Foster II and charged him with wanton endangerment Friday evening after he allegedly broke into several cars, stole a gun and shot at an owner of one of the cars that followed and confronted him on First Avenue South. One of the shots hit a house, police say, but no one was injured.

• Brian William Pauley, 31, of St. Albans, is facing charges of impersonating a police officer after he allegedly rented a hotel room at the Charleston Marriott using the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office name. Police say hotel officials called the sheriff's department after Pauley rented the room for two nights. Hotel workers found Pauley to be suspicious and decided to confirm whether the room was legitimately being used for the sheriff's office. Pauley was arrested and charged with defrauding an innkeeper and impersonating a police officer.

• The union representing the bus drivers and mechanics at KRT has agreed to keep working under the terms of the current contract after its expires June 30th. The two sides are continuing their negotiations on a new deal. KRT Assistant General Manager Doug Hartley says another session will likely take place the week of July 18th. There is a no strike clause in the current agreement. The union represents 130 of KRT's drivers, mechanics and bus cleaners. The current contract is for four years but the new deal will be for two years. Issues being discussed include pay, benefits and work rules.

• Investigators had planned to search CAM Mining's No. 28 mine on June 17th after receiving a tip about miners smoking underground at the Pikeville mine which has a history of methane gas leaks. U.S. Labor Department officials say in a court action filed Thursday that miners were warned in advance of the search by the coal operator despite attempts by investigators "to reach the working places without detection." The legal action was filed under a little-used provision in federal mine safety law that allows regulators to seek an injunction from a federal judge against a mine operator.

• On Sunday June 19, 2011 at 7:34 PM, Post 9 Pikeville received a call of a robbery at Subway in Coal Run. The unknown male handed a note to the clerk demanding money and left the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash. Through the course of the investigation KSP Detective Jimmy Anderson obtained an arrest warrant for 39 year old Mark Watson of Pikeville. Watson was arrested and lodged in the Pike County Detention Center. He was also arrested and charged on an investigation conducted by Coal Run Police Department.

• KY 1426 at Banner will be closed from 8:00 A.M. until 8:00 P.M. Monday, June 27th, so that CSX workers can make improvements to the railroad crossing. Once the crossing is torn out, there is no way to allow traffic through. Motorists should plan with this in mind and allow time to travel 1426 in the other direction to US 23 or to KY 2030, depending on their destination.

• Less than one month after being designated for Individual Assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Commonwealth of Kentucky have approved more than $7.6 million in assistance to Kentucky residents affected by the severe storms, tornadoes and flooding from April 12th to May 20th. Approved funds help residents repair their damaged homes, replace uninsured personal property and find temporary housing following the disaster. Individual aassistance is available in 22 Kentucky counties: Ballard, Boyd, Carlisle, Carroll, Crittenden, Daviess, Floyd, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Livingston, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Pike, Union and Webster. To date, 1,767 Kentuckians in designated counties have registered for FEMA assistance. Aid has already been approved for 988 applicants. FEMA housing inspectors have conducted 1,441 inspections of damaged properties, including 99 in the last seven days. FEMA has approved $7,659,009 in Individual Assistance. This includes $6,879,407 in Housing Assistance: money for temporary housing for individuals whose homes were severely damaged and uninhabitable. It also includes funds for repairs to damaged homes. In addition to the Housing Assistance funds, FEMA has approved $779,602 in Other Needs Assistance. These funds help affected residents replace damaged or destroyed personal property, cover transportation expenses, and any medical or dental costs resulting from the disaster.

• West Virginia State Police have confirmed Brent Travis Collins, 41, was caught in West Hamlin around 8:30 A.M. Friday. State Police in Lincoln County were on high alert Thursday night when they learned a van, stolen from Huntington with two young children, ages 3-years and 9-months,  inside, was headed their way. The van, and it's suspected driver 41 year  old Brent Collins of Chesapeake, Ohio, was the subject of an Amber Alert issued out of Huntington about 7:00 P.M, Thursday night. State Police discovered the van pulled over alongside the road in West Hamlin about 4:00 A.M. Friday morning. The two children were inside the van, and the van had a passenger standing outside the van. Police secured the van and children and arrested the passenger identified as Steve Huffman who faces a charge of obstruction.  He told troopers Collins had about a 30-minute head start on them. Police launched a manhunt using the State Police helicopter. Around 8:00 A.M. Friday morning police had no luck and no more leads. Police then received a call that Collins was in West Hamlin near a BP Station. A trooper went there and found him outside, texting and he didn't have a clue the State Police was near him. Collins was arrested without incident. Collins faces a range of charges. 

• State officials have recognized the Public Service Commission's Transportation Enforcement Division for winning a national safety award in May. Each year, the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration presents the award to the most productive safety enforcement program for interstate and intrastate motor carriers.  This is the first award for West Virginia. State PSC Chairman Mike Albert says the leadership award shows the diligence of the officers and staff in keeping state roads safer for the general public. Albert says the number of fatal accidents on state roads was as high as 52 in 2007.  In 2008, 48 people died on state roads, and in 2009, that number fell to 36. Seventy-two officers conducted about 33,000 safety checks of trucks and other vehicles last year.

• Charleston photographer Stephen R. Ross is the target of a suit filed June 23rd in Kanawha County Circuit Court by West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw. McGraw sued Ross and his modeling agency because of several violations of the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act after consumers filed complaints saying Ross had failed to deliver photographs, portfolios, modeling jobs and other services promised to customers. The suit seeks to have the business cease illegal activities as well as pay full refunds to affected customers.

• Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin has named Keith Gwinn of Hurricane as the cabinet secretary of the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance. Gwinn is the first secretary to head the newly created department. His appointment will begin July 1st. Tomblin says Gwinn, who has worked in the Division of Veterans Affairs for the past 11 years, has the depth of experience and enthusiastic commitment to do all he can to assist West Virginia’s veterans in any way possible. Gwinn will be in charge of the Veterans Home in Barboursville, the Veterans Nursing Facility in Clarksburg, 17 field offices, two claims offices, the Veterans Outreach Program, the Veterans Van Transportation Program, and the new State Veterans Cemetery currently under construction in Institute. Gwinn is retired from the U.S. Navy and has worked for the Division of Veterans Affairs since 2000. He has served as the division’s director since 2009.

• The Remember the Miners Scholars Program got a financial shot in the arm Thursday from Little General Convenience Stores. The company used its annual golf outing as the backdrop for a check presentation to the program which grants a twice-yearly scholarship to a student pursuing higher education in the mining industry. Jason Parsons, director for Remember the Miners, says more than 100 golfers participated in the Little General Golf outing.

• Former Pike County Detention Center inmate Ray D. Hamilton has filed a lawsuit against the county, Jailer Rodney Scott, Southern Health Partners Inc., Dr. Waldridge and other unnamed defendants, alleging that he almost died due to negligence on behalf of the jail and its employees. Court documents show that, during his incarceration on or around September 7, 2010, Hamilton was not given medical attention despite requests from him, his family, and even fellow inmates. Hamilton was transported to Pikeville Medical Center where he was hospitalized in intensive care for several days. According to a copy of Pikeville Medical Center’s records included in the lawsuit, “The patient is a 56-year-old gentleman brought in by the local jailers with a week of declining health and being minimally responsive. He complained of diffuse pain, however, when he arrived he was essentially unresponsive and not breathing.” He was diagnosed with kidney failure, sepsis, and deep venous thrombosis in his right leg, among other maladies. Hamilton was transported to another hospital for further treatment and has since been released. He is asking for a trial by jury as well as actual and punitive damages.

• Four men have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Floyd and Pike counties. A trial is set for August 15th for Robert Darrell Bryant, Charles McCauley, Nick Short, and Morris Hall, four men indicted on drug charges. The four men were arraigned in federal court in Pikeville Tuesday morning. Police say they worked together to distribute five kilograms or more of a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine between January 2008 and May 2011 in both counties, and other unspecified locations in the region. If convicted, each could face a life sentence in federal prison and a fine of twenty million dollars.

• Governor Steve Beshear says Kentucky has received an intercontinental donation of $20,000 from the government of Taiwan. The donation will go to the American Red Cross to assist in relief efforts from spring storms that caused widespread damage and flooding. Beshear welcomed representatives from Taiwan's economic and cultural office in Atlanta. The office's director general, Anna Kao, said the donation shows the esteem Taiwan has for Kentucky. The two are trade partners, and Taiwan is a longtime U.S. ally. Beshear says federal emergency officials have distributed more than $13 million in assistance to Kentucky households hurt by the spring storms. So far, 21 counties are approved for individual assistance and 75 counties for public aid.

• Homes in and around Middlesboro suffered extensive damage as a result of Monday's flash flooding. The American Red Cross has set up shop in Bell County. The American Red Cross Relief Center is located at Faith Temple Church in Bell County, right off Highway 25E. Meals are available there at any time. They can also provide those affected with financial support if they meet the required criteria. You can reach them at 606-878-6333.

• Police say Christopher Ryan York and Emanual Jones got into an argument outside the Brown Derby Bar in Hazard, and after the argument, York got into his truck and ran over Jones two times. Jones suffered minor injuries but has since been released from the hospital. York is charged with attempted murder.

• A congressional hearing has been scheduled for July 13th to investigate lapses in homeland security that allowed Ramadan Alwan, 30, and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, 23, two Iraqi refugees recently arrested in Bowling Green on terrorism-related charges, to live freely in the United States. U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky., pushed for the hearing in the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which will focus on how the federal government tracks and prevents terrorists' travel. Alwan and Hammadi were indicted for plotting to send sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, explosives and money to their home country to be used in attacks on U.S. troops. The men pleaded not guilty. The Patriot Act and other laws bar refugees and asylum seekers from living and working in the U.S. if they supported or were members of an armed group in their homelands. Paul, a critic of the Patriot Act, says, "The fact that two Iraqi refugees, one who was previously held for attempting to bomb American troops, were allowed into our country raises many questions about federal immigration policies and their role in protecting our citizens."

• The State Medical Examiner says the body found in the Licking River on May 9th is that of 26 year old Jerry Rowe Jr., a Magoffin County man who was reported missing on February 5, 2011. Rowe was last seen alive on January 28th. Kentucky State Police and the Magoffin County Coroner’s office are still investigating the cause of Rowe's death.

• The Morehead Post of the Kentucky State Police is investigating an accident which put a murder-for-hire trial on hold. The trial of 62 year old Gary Robinson of Ashland taking place in Lewis County Circuit Court in Vanceburg was put on hold Thursday after a 2-vehicle accident involving Robinson and two relatives of the defendant, 47 year old John Jamison. All three people were taken to a hospital in Portsmouth, Ohio. Prosecutors say Robinson plotted to kill Jamison, by hiring 46 year old Wesley Allen to shoot him. Jamison remains unresponsive in a nursing home after being shot multiple times at his home in Lewis County in January 2010. In February, Allen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and first degree assault and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Part of his plea deal required him to testify against Robinson. After the lunch break, jurors were issued a gag order in the case and sent home.

• Police say a death investigation is being conducted at the University of Kentucky. UK Police Chief Joe Monroe says officers received a 911 call Thursday morning to report a man lying on the first floor of the campus parking structure. The Fayette County coroner's office says 38 year old Jonathan McIntyre was pronounced dead at UK Medical Center from head trauma. Monroe says it appears McIntyre fell in the stairwell from the 5th floor, and there is no indication of foul play. McIntyre, a geologist, had worked at UK since November 2005.

• Robin Mapel was convicted in April of kidnapping his estranged girlfriend, Melissa Patrick, from a home in Morgan County before shooting her to death with a 9mm pistol in November 2008 after he had escaped custody from the Montgomery County jail, where he was being held on charges he kidnapped the couple's  son, Billy Wyatt Mapel. He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Mapel was in a Harrison County courtroom Thursday morning set to plead guilty to other charges, but instead he coped an attitude, expressing that he was angry over being in segregation from other inmates. So, he refused to enter a plea.

• More than 3,100 nonprofits in Kentucky are targeted to lose tax-exempt status after not filing the proper paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service for three consecutive years. Until 2006, tax-exempt nonprofits with gross receipts of less than $25,000 didn't have to file with the IRS. Congress changed the law to require annual filing and to revoke nonprofit status for any organization that didn't file for three years. The first three-year period ended in May. Losing federal tax-exempt status will mean that any state tax exemption a nonprofit received may also now be revoked at the state level. For donors, it could mean  that what was thought to be a charitable donation isn't tax-deductible.

• Fifty-eight year old Javier Arce, an Elizabethtown, Kentucky cardiologist, and his ex-wife, 55 year old Cristina Mier Arce, pleaded not guilty Thursday after being indicted on charges of conspiracy and harboring an undocumented immigrant from Bolivia and having her work as a domestic servant without paying her. According to an indictment, the couple recruited a woman from Bolivia to work as a full-time domestic servant from 1994 through 2006. The two are charged with taking the woman's passport, then threatening her with arrest and deportation if she left. Javier Arce is also charged with harboring the woman for financial gain from 2006 through 2009. Both were released on $100,000 bond.  An August 30th trial date has been set.

• The federal Mine Safety and Health Administration has scheduled a 10:00 A.M. public briefing for next Wednesday, June 29th, to share information about the ongoing investigation into the April 5, 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Raleigh County that killed 29 coal miners. MSHA began its underground investigation June 29, 2010. MSHA Chief Joe Main says federal investigators have not completed the investigation, and there remains information that can't be shared with the public. A federal criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office is ongoing. The briefing will be held at the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beaver and will be followed by a question and answer session for the public.

• Former Huntington Police Captain 81 year old Foster "Pete" Bowen appeared in Cabell County Circuit Court Thursday where he was sentenced to at least 302 years and no more than 590 years in prison. The sentence is a cumulative total for the 34 counts he was convicted on in April, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual abuse by a parent, guardian or custodian. Eight men said, between 1981 and 2003, they were abused as young boys.

• John Martin of Beckley was arrested on 1st degree felony murder charges and delivery of a controlled substance Thursday. The murder charge stems from the overdose death of James Michael Martin, which occurred earlier this year. Police served a search warrant at Martin’s home on Edgewood Drive where they found Oxycodone, Methadone, and Xanax pills in addition to two handguns. Further charges of possession with intent to deliver are pending.

• Kanawha County Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib has upheld a 30-year prison sentence for Antonio Summers, who recently turned 18 years old. Summers was 17 when he was convicted of fatally shooting 14 year old Damion Blaney in front of Glenwood Elementary School on Charleston's West Side last April. Police say Summers got into an argument with another boy before puling out a gun and shooting, hitting Blaney. Summers pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

• The State Supreme Court of Appeals has unanimously rejected Elizabeth Dawn Thornton's appeal after she was found guilty of child neglect causing death in 2009, and sentenced to three to 15 years in prison. Her son, Constantine Alexander Washburn, died in May 2008 after arriving at a hospital with a fatal head injury. A medical examiner concluded he had been beaten. Thornton's parole hearing is scheduled for August 1st. The boy's father, Christopher Washburn, was convicted separately in the case and sentenced to three to 15 years in prison.

• About a dozen members of the Sierra Club gathered outside of Representative David McKinley's office in Morgantown Thursday to protest before going in and presenting a request to dispose of coal ash safely. Representative McKinley is trying to pass bill H.R. 2273 that would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency for regulating coal ash. McKinley, who is in Washington, D.C., says, although they disagree on the issue of coal ash, he's glad they are engaging in the debate. McKinley says his legislation ensures the continued beneficial use of coal combustion residuals and actually strengthens state regulatory authority over these materials under the Solid Waste Disposal Act. The legislation would prevent the Obama administration’s attempt to reclassify these materials as a hazardous waste, a designation previous administrations have deemed inappropriate.

• Plaintiffs in several separate lawsuits filed Wednesday are hoping to stop Huntington from going froward with a new one percent sales and occupation tax set to take effect next Friday after the plan received approval from the state Home Rule Board. Those filing motions against the city include the Cabell County Commission, Bob Bailey, Tommie L. Kelley Sr., the Service Employees International Union Local 1199 and Steel of West Virginia Inc. Several Steel of West Virginia workers rallied in front of City Hall Wednesday in protest of the plan. The lawsuits name the city and the Home Rule Board as defendants.  More suits could be filed in the near future. If a court hearing is set for before July 1st, the plan will be delayed, otherwise, the taxes will be implemented as planned.

• Wednesday afternoon, retirees from Century Aluminum traveled to Charleston to talk with acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin about retirees losing their health coverage, something they say the company promised would never happen. Tomblin told them he will include their concerns in any meetings he has with Century Aluminum.

• The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bipartisan bill Wednesday aimed at “reining in the EPA’s overreach.” House Bill 2018, the Clean Water Cooperative Federalism Act of 2011, introduced by Representatives Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., and John Mica, R-Florida, will help speed up the permitting process for coal mines. Rahall says the Environmental Protection Agency has imposed new criteria for permits that have held up the process rather than paving the way toward balance. The bill is a reaction to the EPA’s controversial veto of a surface mine permit at Logan County’s Spruce Mine in January. The bill would place limits on the EPA’s ability to veto permits previously issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, as was the case in Logan County. It would also establish time limits for agency comments and reduce delays in the permitting process. Rahall says, when the EPA abuses its powers, the Congress has the constitutional responsibility to serve as a check on them, and this is clearly such a time.

• Charleston Police are investigating after someone fired shots through the door of a house on Richards St. on the city's east end about 3:45 A.M. Thursday morning. Charleston Police Sgt. Bobby Eggleton says two men knocked on the door of the house and asked for a person that didn't live at the home. The people who lived there told police a few minutes after they closed the front door, shooting started but no one was hurt.

• Daniel Allen Minesky, 22, was arrested just after 12:00 A.M. Thursday morning and charged with home invasion and attempted rape of a female in Beckley. Detectives say Minesky used a Taser on the victim. He was charged with malicious wounding, attempted first-degree sexual assault and burglary.

• Pike County Democratic judge-executive Wayne Rutherford says Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Bob Farmer is no longer welcome in Pike County because of jokes Farmer made about eastern Kentucky. Farmer issued an apology Tuesday after comments made years ago at a performance at a dinner theater in Danville, Indiana in which Farmer said eastern Kentucky was a place where the cars were on blocks and the houses were on wheels. Farmer also joked that the FBI had a hard time working in eastern Kentucky because the DNA was the same and there were no dental records. Farmer said he didn't think people in eastern Kentucky trusted him because he had all of his teeth and was wearing shoes. Rutherford says Farmer, a marketing executive who also gives performances and speeches across the country, was in Pike County in April before the May primary, and he was treated with the utmost respect." Rutherford said, "And, by the way, I don't know if he noticed but I had shoes on and all of my teeth."

•  FEMA officials say assessments in Knox County will take the next week or so. Simon Chabel with FEMA says the kind of damage officials are looking for is houses off their foundation and any kind of physical damage. They are encouraging those who have any damage from Monday's flooding  to contact county officials so it can be reported immediately.

• Cumberland River Coal Co. has agreed to pay Charles Scott Howard $1,753 a week, his salary for 40 regular and 20 overtime hours a week, continue other benefits and pay him retroactive to May 16th while he pursues a claim that he was fired for trying to improve safety. Howard, of Letcher County, was fired May 16th as he was preparing to return to work after being injured in a mine accident in July. A federal judge ordered the company to reinstate Howard on June 15th. Howard has filed numerous complaints about unsafe conditions and testified to a congressional panel about mine safety. He is to stay away from Cumberland River Coal's mine.

• A total of 22 Kentucky counties have now qualified for unemployment assistance due to severe weather that occurred beginning mid-April. The state Education and Workforce Development Cabinet says Floyd County is the latest county added to the list. The others are Ballard, Boyd, Carlisle, Carroll, Crittenden, Daviess, Fulton, Graves, Hardin, Henderson, Hickman, Jefferson, Johnson, Lawrence, Livingston, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Pike, Webster and Union. People who have lost work or whose businesses were damaged due to severe weather during the period covered may be eligible for unemployment insurance benefits. Farmers and self-employed people are normally not eligible for unemployment benefits but may qualify for the disaster assistance. The deadline for each county is different, but the first ones are Friday. For more information, visit http://www.kyem.ky.gov/aprilsevereweather.htm.

• At least five barns were damaged and horses were running loose Wednesday at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, after a powerful storm that spawned tornadoes blew through Louisville. The National Weather Service said radar was tracking a confirmed tornado near the track and the University of Louisville campus about 8:10 P.M. Track President Kevin Flanery says barn damage was on the backside of the track where workers live in the dorms.

•  There are 590 long-term care and 101 assisted living facilities in Kentucky. Kentucky has received a $3 million federal grant to bolster background checks of those applying for jobs to care for the vulnerable and the elderly. Governor Steve Beshear's office said Wednesday the grant will be used to purchase equipment for digital fingerprint background checks. Last year, Beshear ordered the state to make changes to curb nursing home abuse after it was found that only seven of 107 serious citations issued at Kentucky nursing homes in a three-year period were prosecuted as crimes.

• During a Senate hearing, U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky, squared off with Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole Wednesday over a controversial pat-down of a 6 year old girl from Bowling Green, Kentucky. Paul criticized the TSA's random searches of travelers saying, "They're still quite unhappy with you guys as well as myself and a lot of other Americans who think you've gone overboard, you're missing the boat on terrorism because you're doing these invasive searches on six-year-old girls." Pistole responded that searches help secure the nation's transportation system, but conceded that agents also need to use common sense, but unfortunately terrorists have used children under 12 years old as suicide bombers in other locations. Selena Drexel, the girl's mother, said earlier this year her daughter Anna was selected for a pat-down when they went through a New Orleans airport. She asked why but wasn't given a reason.

• Kentucky State Police say David Marshall, 43, of Grayson, has died from injuries he received in an ATV crash in Elliott County. Police say Marshall was traveling north on Ky. 409 on June 12th when he lost control of his ATV, ejecting him and causing him to land in the road, hitting his head. Marshall was airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Huntington where he died Tuesday night.

• Eugene Burnett and his son, Kelly Burnett, both of Monticello, Kentucky, pleaded guilty earlier this month to conspiracy to grow or attempt to grow marijuana plants in Iowa. At a plea hearing in federal court in Cedar Rapids, the Burnetts admitted they were unloading marijuana to plant in a corn field in Iowa County on June 23, 2008, when a farmer drove up. The Burnetts fled, and were later arrested. Authorities seized more than 1,900 plants they said were connected to the Burnetts. No sentencing date is set. They face up to 40 years in prison.

•  Jerry Helton, his wife, and the couple's four young daughters were all inside their home on Mitchell Hill Road near Corbin in Whitley County around 7:00 P.M. Tuesday afternoon when powerful storms caused a tree to crash through the roof, crashing through the bathroom where Helton's wife had been taking a bath, just seconds earlier. No one was hurt

• Sixty year old John Locke of Louisville  has become the first person to sell more than a million books at Amazon/Kindle. Locke has sold his books by using Kindle Direct Publishing, which uses no publicist or agent. He also has no marketing budget, and has relied on word of mouth to sell his books. He has nine books, one of which remains one of the all-time best selling ebooks in history. According to Amazon, a John Locke novel is downloaded every 7 seconds.

• “Ladies and gentleman, Pat Sajak and Vanna White” is one of the most famous lines on television. Jim Thornton, the new voice on Wheel of Fortune, grew up in Huntington, graduated from Huntington High School and spent some time at Marshall University before moving to southern California. Thornton got his foot in the door in radio. Now more than 20 years later, he's working side-by-side with Pat Sajak and Vanna White.

• Putnam County Sheriff’s Deputies had to capture an alligator in Scott Depot Tuesday after motorists reported seeing the animal on Teays Valley Road, causing problems for several drivers. The alligator is about 3-feet long. No one was injured, but one motorist had to swerve to avoid hitting the alligator, and two other drivers ended up in a nearby ditch. 

• Huntington Police are investigating a stabbing death which occurred Tuesday night. Police say Joshua Porter, 25, went to a home on 10th St. West to confront a man about a woman with whom both were having a relationship. Police say witnesses at the scene saw Porter try to get the unnamed resident out of his home to fight. During an altercation, Porter was stabbed in the lower chest. He was taken to Cabell Huntington Hospital, where he later died.

• Neil Hasen, 31, of Alkol, in Lincoln County, was sentenced Tuesday to three years probation and six months of community confinement for lying on an on-shift examination form. Hasen admitted to signing a form in February 2009 that indicated pre-shift and on-shift mine examinations had been properly completed when he was not authorized to do so. Hasen was working as an assistant foreman at the Broad Run Mine in Mason County when he used another foreman's number to certify that examinations had been completed. Hasen admitted to using an unauthorized foreman number more than two dozen times, violating the federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977.

• Luke W. Pugh, 49, of Jane Lew, a former employee of Carter Roag Coal Co., Inc., at the Pleasant Hill Mine in Randolph County, has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by three years supervised release after pleading guilty on March 8th to one count of making false statements, representations, and certifications in MSHA documents. Pugh admitted that on 387 occasions from June 18, 2007 to April 28, 2009, he knowingly and falsely stated and certified in a report that he was certified by the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Education to conduct pre-shift and/or on-shift safety examinations when he knew he had never been certified.

• Chad J. Ferrell, 40, of Nettie, a former employee of Brooks Run Mining Company at the Poplar Ridge No. 1 Deep Mine in Webster County, has been sentenced to five years probation with the first year to be served in home detention. Ferrell entered a guilty plea on March 8th to one count of making false statements, representations, and certifications in MSHA documents. Ferrell admitted that on 489 occasions from September 15, 2008, to June 5, 2009, he knowingly and falsely stated and certified in a report filed and required to be maintained that he was certified by the West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and Education to conduct safety examinations, when he knew he had never been certified.

• House of Delegates Speaker Rick Thompson has appointed five members to serve on a Marcellus Shale committee that will look at possible regulations for natural gas drilling. Barbara Fleischauer, D-Monongalia, Tom Campbell, D-Greenbrier, Woody Ireland, R-Ritchie, and Bill Anderson, R-Wood, will serve on the committee that will be chaired by Tim Manchin, D-Marion. Last week, acting Senate President Jeff Kessler appointed five senators to the 10-member committee. Thompson says the House has been very deliberative in working on guidelines for the relationship between oil and gas extractors and the owners of surface rights and mineral interests that protects the environment and ensures proper labor practices, and the Select Committee will continue that effort in preparation for a special session which will likely come in early August.  It's unclear whether Marcellus regulations will be a part of that session.

• Two Buckhannon men were sentenced in United States District Court in Elkins on counterfeiting charges. Gary W. Moran II, 31, was sentenced to two years in prison to be followed by three years supervised release, while William B. Hitt II, age 41, was sentenced to one year in prison to be followed by three years supervised release and was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $3,000. Moran and Hitt entered guilty pleas to one count of conspiring to counterfeit money from July 2009 to August 2009 in Upshur County and Lewis County. Moran and Hitt will self-report to designated federal institutions.  

• Charleston Mayor Danny Jones has threatened to cut funding to the Charleston Area Alliance if the economic development group approves a proposed $10,000 salary hike for President and CEO Matt Ballard. The Alliance's executive committee recently discussed increasing Ballard's pay from $112,000 to $122,000 a year. Kanawha County Commissioner Dave Hardy, who serves on the Alliance's executive committee, says Ballard deserves a salary hike since he has received only one pay increase, from $105,000 to $112,000, during the past six years and done an excellent job. The Charleston Area Alliance is expected to finalize Ballard's $10,000 pay raise by July 1st. 

• Charleston City Council has set a hearing date for July 21st to allow members to examine evidence, hear from witnesses and decide what will happen with an election challenge filed by failed mayoral candidate Janet "JT" Thompson who claims the city and county committed several election law violations during the May 17th municipal election. Mayor Danny Jones beat Thompson by a 70 to 30 percent margin. Thompson filed numerous motions asking Kanawha County Circuit Court to take up the matter, but  Kanawha County Judge Jim Stucky dismissed that request at a Tuesday morning hearing. During the July 21st hearing, Jones and Thompson will represent themselves and will make arguments in front of council members. The deadline for subpoena requests is July 13th, and a decision on the issue will come on or before August 25th.

• Putnam County Sheriff Mark Smith says it was welcomed news that his county has been added to a list of High Intensity Drug Traffic Areas.  The sheriff says that designation has been obvious to him ever since he was elected sheriff. Smith says Putnam County is nearly the halfway point on a lot of drug routes. Dealers use I-64 and U.S. Route 35 for a lot of the transport of drugs from Detroit, Cleveland, and Columbus to points south in Atlanta and Florida, and trafficking between Charleston and Huntington splits his county. In recent months, Putnam County deputies have been strong partners with the Metro Drug Unit from Kanawha County. The partnership has funneled some drug funding into the Putnam County Sheriff's Department, but Smith says the new HIDA designation will open the stream of federal dollars for many more efforts. He says the funds will allow  extra overtime for drug interdiction on the highways and marijuana eradication.

• Tuesday, Governor Steve Beshear declared a state of emergency in Bell, Breathitt, Knott, Knox, Lee and  Perry, six counties hit by flooding on Monday. Among other things, the declaration authorizes mobilization of Kentucky National Guard troops and equipment to help in flood-damaged areas. The designation also is necessary if the state is to seek a presidential disaster declaration. If granted, the declaration would bring federal assistance to deal with the damage in the counties. Jerry Rains, Area 9 manager for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management, says officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, could begin work to confirm damage in Knox County on Wednesday. FEMA officials are set to begin tallying damage in Bell County Thursday. Bell, Knox and Perry counties appeared to suffer the worst of the damage from Monday's flooding. Officials in Knott, Breathitt and Lee counties say most of the damage there was to roads, bridges and culverts.

• Flooding in Knox County Monday washed some houses and mobile homes off their foundations. High water swept 55 year old Donnie Joe Pate from the mobile home he shared with his mother at Kayjay around 4:00 A.M. Monday, carried him about three-quarters of a mile down the creek, where his body lodged against a bridge. A resident spotted Pate's body Monday after the floodwater started to recede, but it took several hours to confirm his identity. Pate's mother, Wilma Ruth Pate Hamilton, 79, was injured when the roiling creek picked up the mobile home and smashed it against a bridge. Rescuers pulled her from debris, and she was recovering at a hospital in Knox County Tuesday.

• Fayette Circuit Judge Pamela Goodwine is trying to decide whether jurors in the murder trial of former state lawmaker Steve Nunn should get to see documents found in the car authorities say Nunn was driving just before his arrest. The writings include a handwritten document that sets forth a version of events and trial preparation regarding a February 2009 assault charge against Nunn and a typewritten letter to Diana Ross, the mother of Amanda Ross. The letter, which begins "Dear Diana," alleges relationships between Amanda Ross, who at one time was engaged to Nunn, and other people besides Nunn. Another handwritten document found in the car contains a definition and description of narcissism. In a hearing Tuesday, prosecutors argued against allowing jurors to see the writings. Defense attorneys argued for allowing the documents to be presented during the trial, saying they reflect Nunn's state of mind at the time Amanda Ross was shot to death on September 11, 2009, outside her home in Lexington. Nunn, the son of former Kentucky Governor Louie B. Nunn, is scheduled to go on trial August 1st. Several hundred potential jurors are expected to be considered before a jury panel of 14 is selected to hear the case. Nunn could face a death sentence if convicted.

• Tuesday, a prosecutor in Hardin County was in court to ask a judge to drop the charges against Brent Burke without prejudice, but court was adjourned for the day without the judge reaching a decision. Burke was accused of killing his estranged wife, Tracy Burke, and her former mother-in-law, Karen Comer, in 2007. Despite four trials, prosecutors were never able to convict Burke. Two of those trials ended with a hung jury, and the other two never made it to the jury.

• State safety officials are investigating a rainwater diversion system at Bell County Coal’s Jellico No. 1 Mine near Middlesboro where flooding trapped miners Pernell Witherspoon, Doug Warren and Russell Asher underground for 14 hours Monday. Tracy Stumbo, a chief investigator for the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, says Jellico likely complied with regulations, but investigators will review the engineering plans and conduct visual inspections to determine what changes are needed. In a press conference Tuesday morning, Governor Steve Beshear said it’s too early to know if regulatory changes are needed to prevent a similar incident in the future.

• Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear sent a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan asking for a waiver that would allow the state to use a different method to measure whether students are making adequate progress under the federal No Child Left Behind law. Beshear is asking that Kentucky be allowed to use a statewide accountability system that's still under development. If approved, it would give Kentucky more of a say in determining whether schools make enough academic progress each year. Beshear says he believes federal law should set high expectations for education goals but grant power and judgment to states and districts with regard to the means of achieving those goals. Just over half of the state's 1,158 schools met all academic goals required by No Child Left Behind last year. That's a decrease from 60 percent in 2009.

• More than 130 Kentucky high schools have enrolled in a free service called StudentTracker that allows them to follow their graduates’ progress. With StudentTracker, schools can determine if former students attend college, where they enroll and if they earn degrees. The service is offered at no cost to schools through funding by the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, but schools must enroll individually to access StudentTracker. For an application or for more information, call (800) 928-7495.

• With new laws beginning next month, insurance premiums for Kentuckians with pre-existing conditions are expected to fall. As part of President Obama’s health-care law, the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan will lower premiums and relax eligibility for some people with pre-existing conditions, ranging from low blood pressure to cancer. Kentucky will have the fifth largest decrease in premiums, with payment for a standard policy going from $377 a month to $226 a month. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services looked at data and has found that premiums will fall as much as 40%.

• State Police say after losing Drug Enforcement Agency dollars earlier this year, Kentucky has been chosen as one of 5 states that will continue to receive funding for meth lab cleanup. Last year, Kentucky law enforcement seized 1,080 meth labs across the state, the third highest number in the country. After police bust a meth lab, a costly cleanup process follows, which is vital to ensuring the surrounding areas are inhabitable. The DEA has always funded meth lab disposal, and when they announced there was no more money for meth lab disposal, communities were left to find ways to pay for the clean-up. In recent weeks, however, the DEA has restored funding to five states for meth lab clean-up, including Kentucky.

• Bob Farmer, the Democratic nominee for Kentucky agriculture commissioner, apologized Tuesday for jokes he made about eastern Kentucky during a comedy performance several years ago. The Republican Party demanded that Farmer apologize. Kentucky Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said without the apology, the Democratic Party would lose credibility. Farmer's Republican opponent, state Representative Jamie Comer of Tompkinsville,  posted a video clip in which Farmer jokes that eastern Kentucky is a place where "cars are on blocks and houses are on wheels" and said people in the region don't trust him because he has shoes on and has all his teeth. Farmer said he didn't want to offend anyone. He said he has done the comedy routine for nearly 25 years and no one has ever complained. Farmer is the spokesman for the Farmers' Almanac and frequently travels the country giving speeches and doing comedy routines.

• Philip Doran Taback, the man who threatened to blow up then-Senator Carte Goodwin D-W.Va. was sentenced Monday to six months in prison after pleading guilty in April to a charge of transmitting a threat across state lines. Authorities say he called Goodwin's Washington D.C. office from California and threatened to blow up Goodwin and his family. In addition to the prison term, Taback will serve a year in a mental facility and be monitored by the court for three years. Taback's threat centered on Congress' vote on unemployment benefits. Orange County, Calif. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe McNally says Taback, who has a lengthy mental health history, probably would not have acted on his threats, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be punished. McNally says once Taback is released he will be watched closely, and, if he violates any court orders, he will be taken back into custody.

• Jury selection began Tuesday morning in Beckley in the case of 38 year old Christopher Bowling of Daniels, in Raleigh County. Bowling is charged with the January 2010 shooting death of his wife Tresa.  Raleigh County Circuit Judge John Hutchinson declared a mistrial in May after an issue with one of the jurors left only eleven people on the panel. The jury had already heard a week of testimony. Prosecution witnesses testified during the first trial that Bowling physically and emotionally abused his wife, and the two were heard arguing just minutes before Tresa was killed, but Bowling claims he accidentally shot his wife while cleaning a gun at their home.

• In a  letter Tuesday, Senator Joe Manchin urged President Barack Obama to end nation-building efforts in Afghanistan and step up reducing troop levels. Manchin also wants a more rapid timetable than what Obama plans to outline Wednesday. Obama is expected to withdraw roughly 10,000 troops this year, and may announce steps toward recalling 20,000 more. The White House plan would return Afghanistan's control of its own security by 2014.

• Two people died Monday afternoon in a collision on Sand Hill Road in the Letart area of Mason County. West Virginia State Police say 34 year old Steve Jordan, of New Haven, crossed the center line and hit 63 year old Floyd Knapp's car head on, causing both cars to burst into flames. Knapp was from Letart.

• Keri Amanda Winnell, 31, of Dunbar, has been charged with child neglect with the risk of injury and possession of methamphetamine. Police say her five year old son was found about 3:00 P.M. Saturday wandering in the streets alone near the 7-11 store at the intersection of West Washington Street and Roxalana Drive. Deputies took the boy to his home about a mile away where they found Winnell asleep, and they could not wake her up. The child told Kanawha County Sheriff's Deputies his mother was asleep at his house so he walked to the store to get milk.

• Drew Allen Paugh, 27 of Lesage, in Cabell County, has pleaded guilty to federal drug and weapons charges, admitting that last July he went to the Smokin' Aces store in Huntington to arrange a drug deal involving Oxycodone. He also admitted to making a telephone call to an acquaintance who came to the store to complete the transaction, as well as taking one of the pills from the acquaintance. The acquaintance then sold the pills to an undercover agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Paugh also admitted to participating in 20 more drug sales, including Oxycodone, crack cocaine and heroin, at the Smokin' Aces store between May and September of 2010. Paugh admitted to selling a revolver to an undercover ATF agent for $75. He faces up to 30 years in prison when sentenced in October.

• Lamont Honeycutt, 40, of Charleston has been sentenced to 42 months in prison for aiding and abetting the possession of marijuana with the intent to sell. Metro Drug Unit officers say, on  April 23, 2009, they witnessed a person putting luggage in Honeycutt’s backseat before leaving a bus terminal. A uniformed officer then stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation and smelled marijuana. Officers seized seven vacuum-sealed bundles of marijuana, weighing more than 18 pounds.

• Verizon Wireless has completed fourth-generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) network in Charleston and South Charleston. The network offers cell phone speeds that are 10 times faster than Verizon's 3G network. Mark Frazier, president of Verizon Wireless' Ohio-Pennsylvania-West Virginia region, says it gives users the ability to move large files faster and enjoy smooth mobile video conferencing. Verizon 4G network users will have access to download rates of five to 12 megabits per second, and upload speeds of two to five megabits. The company plans to make 4G available to its entire 3G coverage area by December 2013.

• The University of Charleston has hired Dr. Charles Stebbins, a former UC provost and dean of faculty, as the new dean of the business school. Stebbins will begin his new job July 1st. Since 2005, Stebbins has served in a variety of roles at UC. Prior to that Stebbins had a career in the Air Force as a brigadier general. Stebbins, a Charleston native, taught seven years at the U.S. Air Force Academy, served a year in Vietnam and spent four years at the Pentagon as a military planner. He also served four years on the National Security Council Staff at the White House, specializing in arms control and nuclear policy. He also spent 12 years as a corporate vice president of the Northrop Grumman Aerospace Corp. Stebbins returned to Charleston in 2002.

• Michael Riley, a member of the staff of the state Insurance Commission who played a key role in the privatization of workers' compensation in West Virginia, has been named acting state insurance commissioner. Riley will take over for longtime state Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline who will retire June 30th. Riley, who joined the Insurance Commission in 2001 and worked his way up the ladder to become Assistant Commissioner of Regulation, was project manager of the workers' comp privatization efforts a few years ago.

• Independent Marla Ingels of Mason County and Harry Bertram of the American Third Position Party have gathered enough voter signatures to obtain spots on the October 4th ballot for governor. They join acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin, a Democrat, Morgantown businessman Bill Maloney, a Republican, and former Richwood mayor Bob Henry Baber, a member of the Mountain Party. Ingels is a public school counselor and former special educator. This is her first campaign for statewide office. Bertram, who rejects such terms as "white supremacist,'' says he is a white nationalist.

• Knox County Sheriff John Pinkard says flash flooding in Knox County early Monday killed one person, seriously injured another and left one person missing. Numerous houses and roads along Ky. 225 in Knox County flooded as strong storms and heavy rains continued to cause problems in southeastern Kentucky Monday morning. After up to six inches of rain in some areas, Brush Creek overflowed its banks. Several homes were washed off their foundations in the Kajay area. Rescuers were called there to reach people trapped in homes that had been washed away. Whitley County motorists were stranded in vehicles along HWY 92E, about 1 mile from the Bell County line, where about a foot of water was covering the road. Rain that lasted 4 and one half hours dumped 5.71 inches of rain at Yellow Creek Raws in Cumberland Gap where more than an inch fell in one hour. The Middlesboro Airport reported 4.42 inches of rain as of 8:00 A.M. Monday. The National Weather Service in Jackson says another two inches of rain fell Monday in places on top of a half-inch to almost six inches that fell overnight. The judge-executives of Knox and Perry counties have declared a state of emergency due to flooding.

• State officials have identified the three miners trapped in a flooded southeastern Kentucky mine owned by Richmond, Va.-based James River Coal and operated by Bell County Coal as Parnell Witherspoon, Doug Warren and Russell Asher. Dick Brown, a spokesman for the state Energy and Environment Cabinet, says the miners were working Jellico Number 1 mine near Middlesboro when they were trapped due to high water from overnight rains. Amy Louviere, a spokeswoman for the Mine Safety and Health Administration, says the miners were rescued unharmed late Monday afternoon.

• State police say an initial call to Knox County 911 as a domestic dispute turned into a double shooting  that left a woman dead. The incident happened at Blue Gable Straight in Barbourville. Police say Randy Hale, 42, of Barbourville sustained a gunshot wound and was flown to University of Kentucky Medical Center. Francis Elliott, 54 of Barbourville sustained a fatal gunshot wound and her body was sent to the State Medical Examiners Office for an autopsy.

• On June 23rd, 2002, Patrick Calvin Blackburn's car was found over a hill on Trace Fork in Martin County. Blackburn was in the back seat covered in blood. Police say he was fatally beaten, and his car was staged to look like a wreck. The case went cold until last year when police indicted Joey Stepp, David Jude and Jimmy Cornette, Jr. on murder charges. Friday, Jude pleaded guilty to 1st degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Thursday, Stepp accepted a plea deal, reducing the murder charge to manslaughter in exchange for his testimony against Cornette, whose murder trial started Monday morning.

• A trial got underway Monday morning in Lewis County Common Pleas Court for Gary Robinson, 62, of Ashland, the man prosecutors say was behind a murder-for-hire case in Lewis County, Kentucky. Robinson is charged with attempted murder and conspiracy murder. Prosecutors say Robinson plotted to kill 47 year old John Jamison by hiring Wesley Allen to shoot him. Jamison remains unresponsive in a nursing home after being shot seven times at his home in Lewis County. Allen was also shot during the shootout with Jamison. Earlier this year, Allen pleaded guilty to conspiracy murder and first degree assault and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. He is expected to testify against Robinson. Investigators say surveillance video from a Greenup County convenience store shows money changing hands between Allen and Robinson about a hour before the shooting.

• Campaign Manager Bill Hyers says the re-election campaign of Democratic Governor Steve Beshear has raised $1.5 million for the general election since the May 17th primary. Beshear and running mate Jerry Abramson also filed a 30-day post-primary finance report that shows the campaign raised $134,605 over the past month. Because Beshear had no opponent in the Democratic primary, most of the $4.9 million he raised for that election is expected to be transferred to to his general election fund. Republican gubernatorial nominee David Williams and running mate Richie Farmer reported raising $92,787 for their primary election effort during the May 3rd to June 16th time period, bringing their total for the primary election to $1.37 million. The Williams-Farmer campaign has not yet said how much it has raised for the general election, but the campaign held a fund-raiser in Lexington last week and raised more than $500,000. Tthat fund-raiser will not be reported to the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance until October.

• Special Judge Thomas O. Castlen cited "overwhelming" evidence of guilt earlier this month when he rejected a claim by death row inmate 61 year old Roger Dale Epperson that he deserved a new trial because a hair found at the scene didn't match him or his co-defendants. Epperson and 59 year old Benny Lee Hodge were condemned to death for the June 17, 1985 robbery and slayings of Ed and Bessie Morris. Epperson also lost on a claim that DNA test results were withheld from defense attorneys for nearly a decade. Castlen ruled that DNA testing would not have changed the outcome of the trial.

• Thirty-two year old Steven Price of London has been arrested after Laurel County Sheriff’s Deputies say he used gear bought at a local flea market to pose as a police officer and steal a gun from the owner of the Buffalo Walk Trading Store Saturday morning. Price is charged with impersonating a police officer, theft by unlawful taking and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

• Churches in Pulaski and McCreary counties are being asked to pay over $450,000 in legal fees after the counties lost a decade-long battle to display the Ten Commandments in their courthouses. Christian radio host David Carr has asked churches in those counties to donate $1,000 each and pastors to donate $100 each to help pay the bill. Pulaski County officials support the effort and say they’ve already received some donations.

• A traveling evangelist pleaded guilty Monday to 17 counts of wire fraud. A federal trial was set to begin  Monday  in U.S. District Court in Louisville for 60 year old Ernest Cadick, a traveling evangelist accused of defrauding church-goers of more than $700,000 over 15 years. A federal indictment accused Cadick of soliciting $719,150 for oil and gas ventures and foreign investments, but then spending the money on himself. Sentencing will be September 12th. Investigators say Cadick used the apocalyptic prophecies in the Book of Revelation to fleece churchgoers at Louisville's Evangel World Prayer Center allegedly telling them that when President Barack Obama was elected, the dollar's value would plummet to 3 cents as it was replaced with a new currency. If they gave him their saving, the indictment alleges, he would fly it to Switzerland, where it would earn double their investment back each month. In addition to the federal charges, Cadick faces a July 11th trial in state court on on three counts of theft for swindling $29,500 from elderly victims. The government says that, since 1995, Cadick solicited investments from dozens of other investors in addition to those named in the indictment.

• Tuesday, visitors to Mammoth Cave National Park can enjoy a free tour as part of the National Park Service's "fee-free days." The park is offering free passes for the Discovery and Mammoth Passage tours. Visitors must pick up Discovery tickets at the visitor center ticket office between 10:00 A.M. and 2:00 P.M. CDT, then walk to the Historic Entrance to begin the tour. Free tickets for the 4:45 P.M. Mammoth Passage tour may be picked up prior to departure from the visitor center. The tour is limited to 40 people. The Discovery tour is self-guided but will take at least 30 minutes. The Mammoth Passage tour is 1 1/4 hours.

• A mother was killed and her husband and two children taken to the  Logan Regional Medical Center Hospital following a crash between a coal truck and car on Dingess Road near the Dingess Tunnel in Mingo County about 10:00 A.M. Monday. The Mingo County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.

• West Virginia leads the nation in the number of prescriptions per person at 18.4. West Virginia also leads the nation in overdose fatalities related to non-medical use of prescription drugs. The Cabell County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership and the Huntington Police Department is sponsoring a Prescription Drug Take Back event at the United Way of the River Cities office in Huntington Saturday. The event will take place from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. In Cabell County, 16.8 percent of students in 6th through 12th grades report using prescription medications without a prescription.

• Tuesday, the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration will publish the final rule on rock dust in underground coal mines in the “Federal Register,” replacing MSHA’s Emergency Temporary Standard that was published September 23rd. The final rule requires mine operators to maintain the incombustible content of combined coal dust, rock dust and other dust to at least 80 percent in underground areas of coal mines, as well as an additional 0.4 percent for each 0.1 percent of methane where methane is present in any ventilating current. The final rule increases the total incombustible content for all areas of the mine, other than return air courses, from 65 to 80 percent.

• Monday, Alpha Natural Resources, which recently purchased Massey Energy, announced a pledge of $250,000 to the Upper Big Branch Mining Memorial Group as a match to the first $250,000 the group raises for the memorial. The proposed UBB Miners Memorial, which will honor the 29 miners who died in an explosion last April 5th at the Upper Big Branch mine, is expected to cost a total of $500,000. The Mining Memorial Group started to raise funds for a memorial plaza in Whitesville in February.

• Police have charged Shavan Vondale Collins, 24, of Charleston, with malicious wounding after he allegedly shot 21 year old Dakarri White of Detroit Monday morning at a house on Delaware Avenue on Charleston's West Side. White suffered three gunshot wounds and was taken to Charleston Area Medical Center in serious condition. Police say the crime scene extended outside the house where the shooting took place. Chief of Detectives Steve Cooper says some of the people involved are known to the police department as drug users, and that may well play a part in the shooting.

• Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman says before Monday his most memorable West Virginia Day came in 1963 when he heard President John F. Kennedy speak at the state Capitol as part of the state’s Centennial celebration. Monday afternoon, Tod Kaufman was present for the renaming of the 35th Street Bridge to the Kaufman Memorial 35th Street Bridge in honor of his father, mother and younger brother who died in a car wreck in December 1980. Kaufman's father, Paul Kaufman, served in the state Senate in the 1960s and sponsored several key pieces of legislation. His wife, Rose Jean, was a community leader, and their son Steven was just 20 years old and a sophomore in college when the family was killed by a drunk driver. Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said the Kaufmans decided to help others and their commitment to helping others was evident not only to their family and friends but to Charlestonians and all West Virginians.

• Construction on a long-awaited project in Nitro is set to get started Tuesday. Mayor Rusty Casto says 10 years ago he learned the state was looking for more boat launching facilities on the Kanawha River and he pitched his city's World War I-era location. Casto believes it will make Nitro an attractive place for boaters with a spacious facility to both launch boats and park boat trailers. He says it's capable of holding 55 cars with trailers and room for expansion. Casto says, with the Nitro-St. Albans bridge closing a year from January, people are going to need a place to launch on the Nitro side of the river, and the city has been contacted about the chances of hosting fishing tournaments on the river.

• West Virginia Consumer Advocate Byron Harris says his office will be immersed in the battle between West Virginia American Water Company and the state Public Service Commission. American Water has until the end of the month to file testimony with the PSC explaining why they laid-off 31 employees last month, shortly after the Commission granted the company a much smaller rate increase than it had requested. The company says it was forced to cut 10% of its workforce in order to cover rising costs. The PSC, concerned the company won't be able to provide adequate service because of the lay-offs, forced American Water to put the lay-offs on hold, at least until after an evidentiary hearing set for July 26-27th at their Charleston offices. The water company argues the PSC has overstepped their authority, but Harris disagrees.

• A rally will be held at 3:30 P.M. Wednesday in front of Huntington City Hall. John O’Connor, vice president of Steel of West Virginia, says he plans to file a lawsuit in Kanawha County Circuit Court Wednesday to stop Huntington from implementing an occupation tax. O’Connor says it's not fair to employees, many of them who do not live in Huntington, or utilize the services of the city, to increase their taxes from $156 to $500 a year. O'Connor says he would like to see the court declare the tax unconstitutional and stop the city from implementing it. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit will include Service Employees International Union, District 1199, General Teamsters Local Union No. 505, the Cabell County Commission; Cabell County Commissioner Bob Bailey.

• Bill Stewart, who walked away from his job as West Virginia's head football coach, will get $1.65 million from the university. In announcing Stewart's resignation on June 10th, WVU athletic director Oliver Luck said the former coach would be paid only those sums owed him in his latest contract. Stewart signed an agreement last November that replaced what remained of a six-year contract he signed in September 2008. Under the terms of that agreement, he was to be paid $750,000 in liquidated damages. He was later retained as the school's coach for one more year at a salary of $950,000, along with mention in that agreement of a 30-month position with the university following his eventual termination that would pay him $375,000.

• Bidding for 2011-21 state Limited Video Lottery licenses has raised a total of nearly $70 million for the West Virginia Lottery. The third round of bidding, for the final 657 licenses available, brought in nearly $8 million, with one bidder accounting for more than half that amount. Derrick Video and Music of Charleston, owned by Jerry Derrick, submitted a winning bid for 350 licenses at $12,000 each, for a total of $4.2 million. Derrick Video and Music is one of two video lottery machine distributors holding the maximum 675 licenses allowed under the state Limited Video Lottery law. On March 18th, excised a match option to obtain licenses at an amount equal to the highest winning bid for the second round of bidding. He bought 200 licenses at a cost of $15,003 each, for $3,000,600. Having spent more than $7.2 million, Derrick will be licensed to operate 550 video machines when the new licenses go into effect on July 1st, nearly 20 percent fewer than he currently holds.

 Less than 12 hours after she disappeared, police say they found 34 year old Deloris Porter, a missing Martin County woman, in the Big Creek area of Pike County a little after 11:00 Saturday night. Police say Porter had wandered away from her parents' house in the Beauty community Saturday morning.


Police are searching for a suspect who entered the Union Plaza Branch of Commercial Bank in Knox County Friday afternoon wearing a red t-shirt, khaki shorts, sunglasses and what is believed to be a black curly wig and robbed it. Police say they left in a small black car, possibly a Dodge Neon, with the money in a black gym-type bag.


Rain hit the Bluegrass pretty hard Sunday morning, but the Perryville area of Boyle County was hit especially hard. The downpour caused flash flooding in Perryville, where water got dangerously close to several homes. Severe thunderstorms carrying high winds, that peaked between 55 and 65 miles per hour in some areas, and lightning knocked out power for as many as 38,000 people at one point, mostly in the Louisville area, along with downed trees and power lines Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon, the Kentucky Public Service Commission reported about 24,000 Louisville Gas & Electric customers without power in Jefferson, Bullitt, Meade and Oldham counties.


Incoming University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto says much of what UK needs stems from more and better funding. Capilouto says he looks forward to telling lawmakers there are a lot of states starting to do some aggressive things in higher education, and we've got to remain competitive. It circles back to facilities and talent, and we've got to have that state support. Capilouto says he has recognized a number of needs at UK, and opping the list is facilities. A recent study identified $500 million in building needs on campus. He also wants to see continued recruitment and retention of the best faculty, staff and students. He says he has heard clearly that everyone at UK wants accountability, transparency and shared governance for everyone on campus.


Dozens of people rallied at the Hazard Pavilion pool Saturday in support of two gay men. Hazard officials said Saturday city employee Kim Haynes will be suspended for five days without pay after telling two disabled gay men to leave the public pool on June 10th. Haynes told investigators the two men were engaged in an excessive display of affection, and that he would have told any other couple to leave had he seen similar behavior. Haynes also acknowledged he said, "We don't tolerate that kind of activity around here" and cited the Bible in an argument with Laura Quillen, a member of the social service group Mending Hearts, which was overseeing the group. Quillen told investigators the men did nothing inappropriate. City attorney Paul R. Collins says at least one witness saw the men "standing 'man to man' or 'belly to belly' in the pool splashing each other with water and pushing each other under the water, and he observed them hugging each other on at least one occasion and giving each other a kiss. Jordan Palmer, president of the Kentucky Equality Federation, says one of them sat on the other's knee and that was it. Palmer says the men were discriminated against.


The attorney general's race promises to be one of the most-watched this fall. Attorney General Jack Conway says he's ready for a fight after keeping a low profile in recent months as Republican opponent Todd P'Pool  traveled the state, relentlessly attacking him. In Northern Kentucky three months ago, P'Pool said, "I have the opportunity to write the final chapter to Jack Conway's political career. Rand Paul knocked him down, and we're going to knock him out." Conway said in an interview last week. "I start with near-universal name ID and a 26-point lead." Conway says it's his job as attorney general, not federal issues, that will define the race. Conway intends to make the race about his record over the past three and a half years, such as cracking down on cybercrime, child pornography and prescription drug abuse.


The tax rate on gasoline in Kentucky will go from 25.9 cents a gallon to 27.8 cents on July 1st, meaning motorists will pay 1.9 cents more per gallon. Increases in the gas tax are the results of a 1980 law tying the state's gas tax to the average wholesale price of gasoline. Greg Harkenrider, acting deputy executive director for the Governor's Office for Policy Research, says an April survey showed an increase in the wholesale price of gas. Although the tax changes often, the July increase will be one of the bigger hikes. Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe says the tax increased by 0.3 cents in January.

A doctor’s office and several apartments were destroyed after fire started at about 1:45 A.M. Sunday morning at the Red Jacket Medical Clinic on Main Street in Matewan in Mingo County. The apartments, which housed six to eight people, were located on the floor above the doctor’s office. No one was injured, but dispatchers confirmed the building was a total loss.


Raleigh County sheriff's deputies arrested 28 year old Brian Daniel Hayslett of Pemberton and charged him in the stabbing death of 36 year old Rhonda McCoy of Midway. Deputies responded to a report of a murder shortly after 8:00 A.M. Sunday morning at the intersection of Pemberton Road and Coal City Road, just north of Coal City. When they arrived, they found the body of McCoy in an abandoned trailer, along with a blood trail that led them to the home of Hayslett, who confessed to killing McCoy. Police say the two got into an argument at the trailer, Hayslett went home to get a hunting knife, returned to the trailer and stabbed McCoy to death.


Police in Putnam County are investigating after a man pulled a gun during a bar fight at the Dew Drop Inn just before 1:00 A.M. Saturday morning and fled the scene before officers arrived.


U.S. Representative Nick Rahall wants to resurrect a scholarship program founded by the late Robert Byrd in 1985 but ended in April as part of spending cuts to fund the federal government through September. Rahall says the federal government should preserve good funding investments, and he can't think of a better investment than helping educate young people with stellar academic records. The $42 million program provided an annual $1,500 award to 28,000 recipients attending four-year colleges last year, including 146 West Virginians. Rahall is seeking to restore the program as part of the fiscal year 2012 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill.


Scott Rhodes with the West Virginia Fire Marshal's office says at least five of six fires dating back to March in the Bluewell community of Mercer County are the result of arson. The sixth fire hasn’t been ruled out as a possible arson. It’s still under investigation by Rhode’s office. He’s urging anyone with information to call the state’s arson hotline: 1-800-233-FIRE.