Latest Kentucky News Briefs
LAWMAKER INJURED UPDATE
Bunch injured in fight at Whitley Co. high school
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Authorities say a state lawmaker was critically injured Tuesday when he was knocked unconscious after trying to break up a fight between two students at a southeastern Kentucky high school where he is a teacher.
Whitley County Sheriff Colan Harrell says State Representative Dewayne Bunch was knocked down by a punch that appeared to be aimed at another student.
The sheriff says the 49-year-old Bunch hit his head on a tile floor in the Whitley County High School cafeteria.
Bunch was in “extremely critical” condition at a hospital before being taken to the University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. A spokeswoman there said Bunch’s family had requested no information be released about his condition.
INMATE-ANTHRAX
Inmate accused of false information on anthrax
PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) – A prison inmate has been charged in a federal indictment with falsely telling the governor and other officials that they had been sent packages containing anthrax, smallpox or explosives.
An indictment in U.S. District Court in Pikeville charges 48-year-old Marshall DeWayne Williams with 21 counts of falsely telling federal judges and several Kentucky congressmen that whoever opened a letter would be exposed to anthrax or smallpox, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
Williams was incarcerated at Big Sandy Penitentiary at Inez in 2009 for killing his stepfather with a pipe bomb in 1984 in Texas. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison in federal court in Tennessee in 2009 for mailing a white powder and a threatening message to a federal judge in Memphis.
The Bureau of Prisons website said Williams in “in transit” between prisons, the newspaper reported.
KENTUCKY GOVERNOR-FARMER
Candidate asks that divorce petition be dismissed
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Republican lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Richie Farmer asked Tuesday that his wife’s divorce petition be dismissed, but, if not, that he receive joint custody of their three children.
Rebecca Farmer filed for divorce last week in the midst of a GOP gubernatorial primary battle that involves her husband, who is state Senate President David Williams’ running mate. She asked for primary custody of their sons and that Richie Farmer be required to pay child support.
Richie Farmer filed a response on Tuesday asking that, if the divorce petition isn’t dismissed, that joint custody be awarded with reasonable time-sharing for both.
Franklin County Family Court Judge Squire Williams the Third said Tuesday he will soon schedule an initial hearing in the case.
Political opponents have been careful not to make the divorce case an issue in the governor’s race, adhering to Richie Farmer’s request to respect his family’s privacy. It remains unclear what the political ramifications will be.
MINE SAFETY
Feds target 2 US coal mines for extra enforcement
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is continuing its get-tough approach against scofflaw mines.
On Tuesday, MSHA singled out two coal mines for near-constant scrutiny by its inspectors.
New West Virginia Mining’s Apache Mine in McDowell County and Bledsoe Coal’s Abner Branch Rider Mine in Kentucky are the first to be designated as persistent violators.
Under the designation miners can now be required to leave the mines and production must come to a halt if MSHA inspectors find serious safety violations.
The action is the latest crackdown by MSHA since 29 miners were killed in last year’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion.
MSHA rewrote the pattern of violations rules after criticism that it missed violations during inspections of the Virginia-based Massey Energy mine.
IPADS-ABCS
A, B, C, i: Maine kindergartners getting iPads
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Kindergartners are using iPads to help with their ABCs and 1-2-3s, and detractors worry districts are spending too much on students too young to appreciate it.
Next fall, nearly 300 kindergartners in the central Maine city of Auburn will be given their own iPad2 touchpad tablet computers to learn the basics about letters, numbers, drawing and even music.
They will be the latest batch of youngsters around the country using the newest technology to supplement their crayons, finger paints and flash cards.
Auburn approved the plan Wednesday. Superintendent Tom Morrill says iPads are ideal for young pupils because they are easy to use.
But some people question whether iPads are appropriate for children so young. Sue Millard of Auburn says “a 5-year old is a little too young to understand.”
MISSING IN LIBYA
Ky. businessman missing in Libya since March
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – A central Kentucky businessman has been missing in war-torn Libya since mid-March, prompting fears by his family that forces loyal to Colonel Moammar Gadhafi have arrested the man.
Asma Ghoneim told the Lexington Herald-Leader that her husband, Zeyad Ramadan, hasn’t been seen or heard from since his Lufthansa flight out of Libya was cancelled on March 16 amid the establishment of a United Nations Security Council imposed no-fly zone over the country.
Ghoneim, who is 33, said she was later told that her 39-year-old husband and two associates were arrested at a Tripoli apartment. Neighbors in the area told her the arrests were made by Libyan Internal Security Agency officials.
Ghoneim said the last time she spoke to her husband on March 15th it was a typical family conversation and he expressed no concerns.
KENTUCKY GOVERNOR
Democratic leader calls for release of tax returns
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – State Democratic Party Chairman Dan Logsdon is calling on two Republican gubernatorial candidates to release their tax returns.
Logsdon questioned at a press conference Tuesday what state Senate President David Williams and Louisville businessman Phil Moffett are trying to hide.
Both Williams and Moffett have declined to release their tax returns, while a third Republican candidate, Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, is planning to unveil hers later this week.
Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, who is running unopposed in his party’s primary, routinely releases his tax returns each year and says he will do the same this year.
Logsdon particularly criticized Williams who had called on former gubernatorial candidate Larry Forgy to release his tax information during a 1991 primary race.
CIVIL WAR 150TH
Fort Sumter: Somber 150th anniversary of Civil War
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Booming cannons, plaintive period music and hushed crowds ushered in the 150th anniversary of America’s bloodiest war on Tuesday, a commemoration that continues to underscore a racial divide that had plagued the nation since before the Civil War.
The events marked the 150th anniversary of the Confederate bombardment of Union-held Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, an engagement that plunged the nation into four years of war at a cost of more than 600,000 lives.
Several hundred people gathered on Charleston’s Battery in the pre-dawn darkness, much as Charleston residents gathered 150 years ago to view the bombardment of April 12th, 1861.
About 4 a.m., a single beam of light reached skyward from the stone works of Fort Sumter. About a half hour later, about the time the first shots were fired, a second beam glowed, signifying a nation torn in two.
Nearby, a brass ensemble played a concert entitled “When Jesus Wept” as hundreds listened, some in folding chairs, others standing.
Fifty years ago during the centennial of the Civil War, there was a celebratory mood. But on Tuesday, the 150th anniversary events were muted. Even the applause seemed subdued.
At the White House, President Barack Obama captured the somber mood in a proclamation that the date would be the first day of the Civil War Sesquicentennial.
