In his new book, Muzzled: The Assault on Honest Debate, the journalist Juan Williams argues that his contract was terminated by NPR as part of a larger pattern of the suppression of unwelcome opinions.

In its latest list of Fittest and Fattest States, the online medical reference resource WebMD placed Kentucky in the top ten ‘fattest states’. Kentucky’s obesity rate for adults is 31.5%, placing the state at number six on the list.  But the rate of 10-17 year old kids came in at 21%, which is third in that category. The list makes reference to the 2.8 mile stretch of Broadway that’s populated by 24 fast-food restaurants, as well as the Mayor’s Healthy Hometown Movement.

Mayor Greg Fischer announced on Wednesday that The Kentucky Derby Festival will add another week to its schedule. It’s called Give a Day and for one week before Thunder Over Louisville it asks individuals, businesses and non-profits to volunteer their service throughout the week.

After a southern-Indiana teen died of heat stroke last week, questions arose about the accusation that he was denied treatment at an immediate care center.  According to accounts, the boy’s stepfather took him to the Norton Immediate Care Center in Lyndon before calling EMS at the center’s advisement. A Norton Spokesperson said this week that the boy was not denied care and was not actually brought into the clinic. Rather, his stepfather described his symptoms to the doctors, who referred the man to an emergency room.

A recent quarterly report issued by the state found 291 deficiencies in Kentucky's nursing homes and advocates say they see see little change each quarter. The information, obtained through an Open Records request by Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform, shows only one nursing home, Tanbark Health Care Center in Lexington, boasting no deficiencies. Meanwhile, nine facilities had 10 or more. 

As the U.S. teeters closer to the brink of debt default, the political stalemate is being watched closely by its biggest foreign creditor, China. At last count, Beijing owned almost $1.2 trillion of U.S. Treasury debt.

Chinese officials have been quietly expressing their concern, but Beijing's options are limited.

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met senior Chinese official Dai Bingguo in Shenzhen on Monday, the mood was friendly. But behind the scenes, anxiety in China is rising as the minutes tick closer toward that Aug. 2 deadline.

Here's an incredible story of survival from New Zealand: Two goldfish, named Shaggy and Daphne after characters from Scoby Doo, survived the 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand in February and then after authorities declared the area off limits, they were trapped in their office tank for 134 days without food or a working tank filter.

The AP reports:

FRANKFORT – Gov. Steve Beshear announced Wednesday that the state closed Fiscal Year 2011 with a $156.8 million General Fund surplus, on the strength of positive revenues that exceeded budgeted levels.  More than 75 percent of that surplus - $121.8 million - will be deposited into the Budget Reserve Trust Fund, the state’s so-called “rainy day fund.” This is the largest such deposit in state history from an end of year surplus.

Authorities are on the lookout for those responsible for a recent epidemic of storm-drain and sewer grate thefts going on in Corbin. In the past three weeks, 16 different sized grates, valued at more than $3,000, have been removed from their matching drains, city officials said. "This has become a bad problem," Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney said. "This could cause someone to wreck, bust a tire or tear the whole front end off your car."

Corbin's top city official is mired under the weight of an ever-increasing pile of unpaid property taxes, owing more than $4,500 to Knox County on three separate properties - and some of the unpaid bills date back a decade. Based on a News-Journal assessment of Knox County tax records, Corbin City Manager Bill Ed Cannon currently owes roughly $4,561 in property taxes to the county.