Author: Associated Press

$1M grant announced to help Kentucky hemp processing company

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky company that specializes in storing and processing Kentucky-grown hemp for the purpose of cannabidiol oil extraction and refinement will benefit from a $1 million grant. Gov. Andy Beshear and the Department for Local Government announced the Community Development Block Grant to Mount Vernon on Tuesday. Beshear’s office said in a news release that the…

Fleeing driver fatally shot near deadly Kentucky crash site

DORTON, Ky. – Kentucky State Police say they fatally shot the driver of a vehicle fleeing from authorities and heading toward a separate fatal crash scene. State police were at the scene of a fatal crash in eastern Kentucky on Tuesday morning when they were notified of a fleeing vehicle heading in their direction. Troopers went to pursue the vehicle…

Beshear backs spending increases for education, health care

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has proposed spending increases for public education from kindergarten through college and for health care in his first budget plan. Beshear’s proposal avoids spending cuts and counts on limited new revenues from taxes on cigarettes and sports betting. The Democratic governor unveiled his budget in a speech Tuesday evening to the Republican-led legislature….

Magnitude 7.7 earthquake hits between Cuba and Jamaica

HAVANA, Cuba (AP) — The U.S. Geological Survey says a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. It was centered 139 kilometers (86 miles) northwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica, and 140 kilometers (87 miles) west-southwest of Niquero, Cuba. It hit at 2:10 p.m. (1910 GMT) and the epicenter was a relatively shallow 10 kilometers…

Churchill Downs executive addresses surge in horse deaths

NEW ORLEANS, La. — The corporate owner of a New Orleans horse racing track has met with Louisiana’s Racing Commission to address a surge in horse deaths there. The Times-Picayune/The News Orleans Advocate reports an executive director for Kentucky-based Churchill Downs Inc. presented the commission with a list of reforms to consider on Monday. The proposals include restrictions on certain…

Man charged in death, sexual assault of girl, 3, in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Police in Kentucky have arrested a man in the 2018 death and sexual assault of a 3-year-old girl. Lexington police spokeswoman Brenna Angel says officers on Monday charged 33-year-old Andrew Charles Buster Jr., with murder and sodomy. A police statement says officers in December 2018 responded to an apartment where the girl was found unresponsive. She died…

Kentucky Imam pleads guilty in kidnapping, money laundering plot

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky Islamic leader accused of involvement in a murder for hire plot pleaded guilty Monday to some of the charges against him. Court records obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader show Mahmoud Shaker Shalash entered guilty pleas in federal court to conspiring to kidnap someone and two counts of money laundering. The Islamic Center of Lexington’s…

ER physician to head Kentucky’s Dept. of Public Health

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Dr. Steven Stack has been named commissioner of Kentucky’s Department for Public Health. Stack is an emergency physician at Saint Joseph Hospital East in Lexington. He has also worked at other Kentucky hospitals and in Tennessee and Ohio. He is also a former president of the American Medical Association. Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services…

Federal agency would protect coalfields habitat for crayfish

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A federal agency has proposed designating habitat areas for two protected crayfish species in the coalfields of Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. The proposal announced Monday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would protect 362 stream miles for the Big Sandy crayfish and 83 miles for the Guyandotte River crayfish. According to the Center for…

Bill aims to move more people off assistance, into workforce

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Kentucky House Republican leaders have introduced sweeping legislation aimed at shifting more people off public assistance and into the workforce. The measure, introduced Monday, is designated a top priority as House Bill 1. House GOP leaders say it takes aim at a long-running problem _ the state’s low workforce participation rate. The bill seeks to resolve situations…