Friday’s Kentucky News Now

MUHAMMAD ALI-AWARDS

Carter among Ali Humanitarian Award winners

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter headlines the list of first-ever winners of humanitarian awards bearing Muhammad Ali's name.

The nation's 39th president was selected for the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Lifetime Achievement Award. Other recipients will include singers Christina Aguilera and Michael Bolton for the awards that promote achievements in the fight for social justice.

Ali, a former three-time heavyweight champion, plans to be in his hometown of Louisville, Ky., for the awards presentations on Oct. 3.

The winners were announced Thursday by the Muhammad Ali Center.

Aguilera will receive the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian of the Year Award, while Bolton was chosen for the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Gender Equality.

The winners also include a six young adults and teenagers who are being recognized for exemplifying core principles espoused by Ali.

PLEA AGREEMENT-ETHICS

Ky. high court weighing plea deal ethics issue

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court is weighing whether federal prosecutors can require someone to drop all future appeals of their attorney's performance as part of a plea agreement.

The Kentucky Bar Association issued an ethics advisory opinion in November barring defense attorneys from advising a client about a plea agreement requiring them to waive their right to challenge the attorney's performance at a later date. In the same opinion, the bar association ruled that prosecutors may not propose a plea agreement that requires someone to waive the right to attack a defense attorney's performance on appeal.

The U.S. attorneys in Louisville and Lexington challenged the opinion, saying it could affect plea negotiations.

In Kentucky, ethics opinions that pass muster with the high court are binding on all attorneys in the state.

JOBLESS RATE

Ky. jobless rate improves slightly in August

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The state unemployment rate declined slightly in August despite significant job losses in some key labor market sectors.

The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training reported Thursday that the rate fell to 8.4 percent, down from 8.5 percent in July.

State economist Manoj Shanker said the trade, transportation and utilities sector shed 2,100 jobs in August. The financial services sector lost 700 jobs. The government sector fell by 500 positions. The information sector, which includes newspapers, lost another 500 workers. And the mining and logging sector declined by another 100.

Those losses were offset by gains in the state's professional and business services sector, which added 2,700 jobs. The construction sector added 1,700 jobs. The manufacturing sector grew by 1,500 jobs. Education and health services increased by 1,300 jobs.

COURIER-JOURNAL EDITOR

Neil Budde named Courier-Journal executive editor

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Neil Budde, who spent eight years at The Courier-Journal before eventually becoming publisher of The Wall Street Journal Online and later general manager and editor in chief of Yahoo News, is returning to Kentucky's largest newspaper as executive editor.

Budde replaces Bennie Ivory, who spent 16 years at the newspaper before retiring in July.

The Courier-Journal said president and publisher Wes Jackson introduced Budde to the newspaper staff Thursday, and he starts work on Monday. The newspaper said he will oversee print and digital news-gathering operations, the editorial page and Gannett's Louisville Design Studio, which designs and edits nearly two dozen newspapers.

The 57-year-old Budde is a Western Kentucky University and University of Louisville graduate and a member of the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame.

COAL JOBS

McConnell pushes again to ease regs on coal mining

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell is calling on Congress to pass legislation to ease federal regulations on coal mining.

McConnell blamed those regulations for creating an economic depression in the Kentucky coalfields, which he said have lost more than 5,000 jobs over the past five years.

He is proposing what he dubbed the Saving Coal Jobs Act. The measure would streamline the permitting process for proposed new mines and for expanding existing ones by setting a deadline for the Environmental Protection Agency to act. It also would block any new EPA carbon pollution mandates on coal-fired power plants.

McConnell said Kentucky is facing "a genuine emergency," pointing to news earlier this week that Virginia-based James River Coal is idling mines and laying off some 525 miners.

BRIDGE DEMOLITION

Last piece of Ohio R. Madison-Milton span blasted

MILTON, Ky. (AP) — Explosives have brought down the final section of the old Madison-Milton Bridge over the Ohio River.

The demolition of the last 600-foot section of the 84-year-old span was moved up by a half hour Thursday morning to avoid poor weather conditions.

The remaining piers will be reinforced and widened at the top before a new bridge superstructure is put into place. The new 40-foot-wide bridge will be twice the size of the old span.

The new bridge is currently resting on temporary piers downstream from the old bridge.

Crews will pull pieces of the truss from the river, dismantle them and sell them for scrap.

The Indiana Department of Transportation and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet are working together on the bridge replacement.