OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man charged with murder in the “execution-style” slayings of three people has been found mentally competent to stand trial. The Messenger-Inquirer reports Judge Jay Wethington ruled Monday that 32-year-old Cylar L. Shemwell is able to understand the charges against him and participate in his defense. Shemwell and his 31-year-old co-defendant, Arnett B. Baines, are…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democrat Andy Beshear offered a vigorous defense of Kentucky’s Medicaid expansion, warning Monday that health care policy is at stake when voters choose between him and Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. After touring an addiction treatment center, Beshear said increasing Medicaid rolls made rehabilitation programs available to more people in a state fighting severe drug-abuse problems. The…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Two of the biggest U.S. coal mines have been sold, raising the possibility that miners in Wyoming could return to work. Tennessee-based Contura Energy announced Monday that Blackjewel closed Friday on the sale of the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines to a subsidiary of Alabama-based FM Coal. Contura participated in the deal as the mines’…
Photo credit: facebook.com/BigSouthForkNPSONEIDA, Tenn. (AP) — Free camping is being offered on Veterans Day at a national park that sits along the Tennessee-Kentucky border. Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area said in a news release that Superintendent Niki Stephanie Nicholas authorized a night of free camping at the Alum Ford Campground as well as all backcountry permits for…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The agriculture commissioner of Kentucky wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture to issue a disaster declaration for parts of the state suffering from extreme heat and drought. The Courier Journal reports Commissioner Ryan Quarles requested the declaration last week in a letter to the state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency,…
NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police in Kentucky have arrested a man they say held a grocery store employee at gunpoint, forced his way into a pharmacy and pointed a gun at officers before being shot and wounded. Kentucky State Police said in a news release that Nicholasville police officers shot Brandon Welsch early Sunday. He was taken to a hospital…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democrat Andy Beshear has picked up an endorsement from a Republican who ran against Gov. Matt Bevin in the GOP primary. William Woods says his endorsement of Beshear in next month’s gubernatorial election is the “right thing to do.” Woods finished far back in the May primary, receiving more than 14,000 votes. Woods says Kentucky needs…
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Police in Kentucky say two teenagers have died and a third was injured in a shooting in Lexington. Lexington police spokeswoman Brenna Angel says in a news release that witnesses saw shots fired from an SUV into a passenger car on Saturday along a street. Angel says three occupants in the car were taken to a…
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The University of Kentucky plans to expand its newly-opened Gatton Student Center to increase dining and student support space. News media reports say the university’s trustees approved the $25 million project Friday. The university says growing enrollment and “high participation levels in UK meal plans” made the expansion necessary. The student center reopened last year on…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police say a Kentucky man hit his sister with a frying pan and then fatally shot his father with a crossbow. News outlets report 23-year-old Gerald Beavers III was taken into custody hours after the Thursday attack. Police say they responded to a Louisville home that afternoon and found Beavers’ father dead. The sister was found…
