News

A federal grand jury has indicted former Agriculture Secretary Richie Farmer for allegedly misusing property and funds during his eight years at the helm of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. A grand jury charged Farmer, 43, with four counts of misappropriating property and one count of soliciting property to influence agriculture department business. Each charge has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The indictment follows a string of ethical and legal troubles for the former University of Kentucky basketball standout and one-time Republican candidate for lieutenant governor.

All our comments this week relate to coverage of last week’s tragic events in Boston. 

Governor Steve Beshear says he's still considering whether to call a special legislative session for later this year.  A few issues remain unresolved from the last regular session, mainly redistricting and further tax reform. And Governor Beshear has been pushing for tax reform to pay for the state's education system.

Following recent expansions at Ford in Louisville and the General Motors Bowling Green Assembly Plant, an announcement of Toyota’s expansion further augments the automotive industry’s place in providing Kentuckians with jobs. Toyota’s $360 million expansion to build the Lexus ES 350 will mean 750 jobs for the Georgetown plant but will have ripple effects in the automotive supply industry that could touch southcentral Kentucky. Toyota will spend an additional $171 million to refurbish other parts of the plant.

Two Illinois workers injured in a fire during the October clean-up of a derailed Paducah & Louisville Railway train in southwestern Louisville have filed suit against the railroad and its contractors. Leonardo Anthony Carrillo and Gregory Powers claim that P&L, CSX and a contractor failed to properly monitor dangerous contaminants while the men—employed by clean-up contractor RJ Corman—worked at the site near West Point, Ky.

For the first time, a Lexus vehicle will be produced in the United States and it will be made at the Georgetown Toyota plant.  The formal announcement came this morning from officials in New York and Scott County.  Governor Beshear says it means 750 new Kentucky jobs at Toyota.  “We realize the care and the pride that you take in that vehicle and that it requires the utmost in a skilled workforce, not to mention top quality components.  Your confidence in the quality of Kentucky’s workers, especially our team here in Georgetown is appreciated and well placed,” said Beshear.

For the third year in a row, residents and visitors will converge on downtown Frankfort for the Governor’s Derby Celebration, the traditional local precursor to the Kentucky Derby. The event, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 4, is free to the public.

The Paul Laurence Dunbar High School marching band has been selected to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2014. Wesley Whatley, creative director for Macy's, flew from New York City to Lexington to make the surprise announcement during a concert Thursday night. Whatley said more than 175 bands applied to participate in the parade, and just 10 were selected.

Toyota executives and state officials announced Friday morning that the automaker’s flagship North American plant in Georgetown will begin building the Lexus ES 350 luxury sedan in 2015. It will be the first Lexus model to be manufactured in the United States. The project is expected to add 750 jobs, which will include temporary and contract workers. State documents suggest 570 of the 750 new jobs will be full-time employees.

The Council on Postsecondary Education will limit tuition increases at state schools to 3 percent next fall, the smallest uptick in 15 years. The decision was made to help families struggling to pay for college, officials said, but they acknowledged the move will create a nearly $30 million shortfall for schools still reeling from state cutbacks over the past few years.

Her personality, the times and her background gave Mary Todd Lincoln a place in history and made her one of the more controversial first ladies to occupy the White House.  The Lexington native is the subject of a documentary airing Monday on C-Span.  Producer Mark Farkas says his documentary fills gaps left by Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film “Lincoln.”  Reporter Stu Johnson spoke with Farkas.

The latest in Tween-literature is recreated this weekend by the Lexington Public Library.  “Night Circus” author Erin Morgenstern helps in a fundraiser at Red Mile’s Round Barn.  Here with a preview of it and the weekend’s other events is Rich Copley, who covers culture for the Lexington Herald Leader. 

Thousands of people converge on Pike County this weekend for the 37th annual Hillbilly Days Festival.  It will feature crafts, food, and games plus a good dose of Appalachian heritage in downtown Pikeville.  Some 300 vendors have set up for the event.  Southeast Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President Jared Arnette says it’s a time to show their pride and products.

When conducting a background check on a person buying a gun, Kentucky’s Attorney General says they’re still limited by the information available in the system.  And, with many mental health care providers already under a financial strain, Jack Conway says inputting all that data can be a hardship.  “Not only do those agencies have to provide mental health services, they have to interface with the data bases and law enforcement and provide the information and make sure it gets captured, make certain it’s available to people that need to access the information.  So, we’re in the process of looking, making certain that all of our information is getting into the system,” said Conway.

Senator Max Baucus, who as Senate Finance Committee chair helped write the health-care reform law, has become the highest-ranking Democrat to publicly voice concerns about its implementation, saying he thinks it’s headed for a collision with itself. “I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” the Montanan told Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius during a budget hearing.

Kentucky Space, a nonprofit focused on space research and education, has announced plans for a program to assist businesses with similar goals. Called Space Tango, the program will see investments in as many as six companies from across the country. Among the resources offered are technical and ground operations centers at the Morehead State University Space Science Center and the University of Kentucky Space Systems Laboratory. Kentucky Space also offers the ability to work with various NASA sites.

Churchill Downs is revising the items people can bring into the racetrack during the Kentucky Derby and Oaks because of security concerns raised from Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon. Add to the list of banned items are coolers, fireworks, noisemakers, laser lights/pointers, mace/pepper spray and purses larger than a foot in any dimension. You'll be able to buy a Styrofoam cooler and ice at the track at "comparable" prices to retailers, Churchill Downs says.

An attorney for former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer said Wednesday that a federal grand jury in Lexington has subpoenaed former employees of the department to appear before it on Friday. Frankfort attorney J. Guthrie True said Farmer, who has been accused of more than 40 ethics violations while in office, has not been called to appear before the grand jury. True declined to identify any of the witnesses subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury.

Time magazine has issued its 100 "most influential people in the world" with two Kentuckians on the list. Actress Jennifer Lawrence—an Academy Award winner and star of The Hunger Games franchise—is listed among influential artists, alongside Steven Spielberg, Frank Ocean and Jimmy Fallon. Though she now lives in California, Lawrence was born and raised in Louisville and her family is still in town. (And she was recently spotted at a Louisville coffeeshop.)

A memorial run will be held in Lexington on Saturday in honor of those injured and killed in a terrorist attack during the Boston Marathon. Walkers and runners are invited to meet at John's Run Walk Shop on South Ashland Avenue at 7 a.m. Saturday to take part, said Keith Cunningham, an avid runner and organizer of the event.

Toyota is planning an ambitious new project for its flagship Georgetown plant that might see it producing a new vehicle and adding 750 jobs. The news came Wednesday when the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority gave preliminary approval to $146.5 million in tax incentives for the project, which is shrouded in mystery. Katie Smith of the state's Cabinet for Economic Development told the KEDFA board that the project is a vehicle model that is new to the plant, which would produce 50,000 of them annually beginning in fall 2015. She declined to name the vehicle model.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday that it would block generic, crushable versions of OxyContin from coming to the market and approve the reformulated, non-crushable OxyContin, which deters abuse of the powerful painkiller.

The General Assembly’s passage of pension reform last month raised hopes 2013 might be the first in seven years without a special session. But some would like the governor to call lawmakers back to Frankfort this year to tackle tax reform and redistricting.

Madison Circuit Judge William G. Clouse Jr. ruled Tuesday that Eastern Kentucky University must release the majority of documents the Herald-Leader is seeking related to the departure last June of EKU Center for the Arts director Debra Hoskins. The university and Hoskins have 14 days to appeal the ruling or produce the documents.

Governor Steve Beshear is criticizing the secret recording of a campaign meeting of U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell  that was leaked.   Two members of Progress Kentucky, Shawn Reilly and Curt Morrison, have been implicated by a Jefferson County Democratic official as being behind who secretly recorded the McConnell meeting.  Kentucky Democratic leaders have been largely silent on the situation since the news broke last week. But after being asked Wednesday about the recording, Beshear said he found the whole situation—both the secret taping and McConnell's remarks — to be awful.

Hundreds of Kentucky young people could get a feel for jobs well established in their communities.  It’s the first ‘Career Craze’ event offered by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.  32 hands on camps will be held at 16 K-C-T-C-S colleges across the state.   Chancellor Jay Box says participants will be introduced to ‘potential careers.’  “It’s an opportunity to expose young students to careers in business and industry and entirely focusing on the five major sectors of employment here in Kentucky,” said Box.

Kentuckians concerned with agriculture, business and education spoke out in favor of the latest federal immigration proposal during a phone conference organized by the Partnership for a New American Economy. The immigration proposal is being considered in the U.S. Senate, thanks to a compromise by a group of eight senators from both political parties.  The plan would create a 13-year path to citizens, expand work visas and attempts to tighten border security.

Heavy rains shut down some roads in Southeast Kentucky earlier today.  National Weather Service Meteorologist Sean Harley says some communities received as much as three inches of rain overnight.  He says waters are expected to recede, easing the threat of more flooding today.  “Not in the near term.  We do expect some heavy rain again later in the week, so we will have to watch that real close,” said Harley.

There’s still no consensus among Lexington leaders over changing traffic flow in downtown.  Another study into converting some one-way streets to two-way travel is in progress.  Vice Mayor Linda Gorton says it remains an issue up for debate. “There’s still lots of answers that we need and I don’t want people in the public to think ‘this is a done deal because I don’t believe it is,” said Gorton

Nightmarish, drug-resistant bacteria that cause deadly infections are becoming more common in Kentucky hospitals, and a leading legislator on health issues says they should be required to report each case. The state Department for Public Health and hospital officials are investigating the presence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, at Kindred Hospital Louisville, a long-term and transitional care facility.