Kentucky News Now

PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS

Kentucky House passes public-private partnership bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky House has passed a bill that would authorize the creation of public-private partnerships for projects including mega-dollar transportation work.

The debate Wednesday evening was overshadowed by the estimated $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge project, which calls for building a new bridge linking northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. Kentucky officials want to pursue a public-private partnership as a way to finance the project.

The House passed the measure on an 84-13 vote after considering a series of amendments. The partnerships would apply to state agencies and transportation projects.

In a key vote, the House defeated an amendment that would have banned the use of tolls to fund a new Brent Spence Bridge. Similar anti-tolling language was attached to last year's public-private partnerships bill, prompting a veto by Gov. Steve Beshear.

MINIMUM WAGE

Lawsuit filed over Louisville's minimum wage increase

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A move to raise the minimum wage in Kentucky's largest city has resulted in a lawsuit.

The Louisville Metro Council voted in December to increase workers' wages to at least $9 per hour. In doing so, the city became the first in the state to increase minimum wages above the federal level of $7.25 per hour.

Now, business groups have filed suit asking a judge to void the ordinance. The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/1Fs8Zgd) reports the Kentucky Restaurant Association, the Kentucky Retail Federation and local business Packaging Unlimited filed the lawsuit this month.

Attorney Brent Baughman, who represents the business groups, said the council lacks the legal authority to raise the minimum wage.

Democratic council members and County Attorney Mike O'Connell disagree, saying they believe the county acted within its authority.

RACING COMMISSION

Bill would extend ethics laws to Horse Racing Commission

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky Senate panel has approved a bill that would extend the reach of executive branch ethics laws to apply to the state Horse Racing Commission.

The measure easily cleared the State and Local Government Committee on Wednesday and now heads to the full Senate.

Sen. Whitney Westerfield said afterward that his bill wasn't prompted by any actions by the racing commission or its members. The Hopkinsville Republican said he can't think of a reason why any arm of state government isn't subject to ethical oversight.

Under the bill, racing commission members and its employees would be subject to oversight by the Executive Branch Ethics Commission.

TAILGATING

Lawmaker: More time needed to study tailgating proposal

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky lawmaker says more time is needed to study the issue of licensing alcohol consumption at tailgating events before college games.

The tailgating language proposed by Rep. Mary Lou Marzian was removed from her bill by the House Licensing and Occupations Committee on Wednesday.

She floated the idea of creating a new liquor license to provide a legal framework for tailgating.

The Louisville Democrat says the issue was more complex than she expected. Marzian says she'll work on the issue ahead of next year's legislative session.

She says one question deals with enforcement of alcohol consumption at tailgating on private property near a university stadium.

The part of the bill that remains intact would allow passengers on certain cycle taxis to drink alcohol.

The committee approved that portion of the bill.

HIGHWAY SHOOTING

Police: Man shot to death in car on Louisville highway

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville police have a suspect in custody in connection with a fatal shooting on Interstate 71 that shut down part of the busy highway.

WDRB-TV reports the shooting happened around 9 a.m. Wednesday near mile marker seven on I-71. A man's body was found inside a black Lexus SUV. He had been fatally shot.

Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell says it's too early to call the incident a road rage shooting. Video from the TV station shows police escorting a man who was in the van being taken in handcuffs from a police car.

Images posted by media showed the car in the median with a bullet-sized hole in a passenger-side window.

Officials closed both southbound lanes of I-71 at the scene, and it was reopened about three hours later.

BARN BLAZE

2 central Kentucky barns catch fire, 6 horses killed

VERSAILLES, Ky. (AP) — Six horses have died in a blaze at Chanteclair Farm in Woodford County.

According to media reports, the fire began Wednesday morning in one barn, and then spread to the other one.

The farm used to be known for its champion thoroughbreds before it was sold four years ago. It wasn't immediately clear whether the horses killed were thoroughbreds.

One of the barns that burned contained hay and the other housed the horses.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

OBIT-LAMBERT

Jockey Jerry Lambert, 3-time Hollywood Gold Cup winner, dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jerry Lambert, a leading jockey on the Southern California circuit in the 1960s and '70s who rode Native Diver to three consecutive Hollywood Gold Cup victories, has died. He was 74.

He was found dead Monday at Magali Farms in Santa Ynez, California, where he worked, according to daughter Lacey, who also works at the breeding and training facility. Santa Anita Park in suburban Arcadia announced his death Wednesday.

Lambert was the regular rider of Hall of Fame gelding Native Diver, and together they won Gold Cups in 1965, '66 and '67. He won 2,535 races and retired with 42 stakes wins at Santa Anita, 54 at Hollywood Park and 30 at Del Mar. He won his first race on a half-mile bullring in Shelby, Montana, in 1958.

Lambert, who went by "Clyde," was Santa Anita's leading rider in 1967-68 and won another title at the track's fall meet in 1972. He was Del Mar's leading rider in 1967. He was born in Clyde, Kansas, on Dec. 27, 1940.