PRESIDENTIAL VISIT

Obama to visit Louisville on Thursday

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama will visit a Louisville-based technology company on Thursday for an event on the economy.

The stop at Indatus will be Obama's first visit to Kentucky since 2011 when he went to Fort Campbell near the Tennessee border to greet soldiers returning from Afghanistan.

While Obama has not been in Kentucky for a few years, he has loomed large over the state's politics. Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell won a landslide victory in November based largely on tying his opponent to Obama. Polls routinely show about 60 percent of Kentucky voters disapprove of Obama as president.

Kentucky will be in the political spotlight again in November with one of the country's few governors' races in what is traditionally an off year for elections

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POLICE SHOOTING

Man fatally shot by police outside Elizabethtown grocery

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky State Police say a man has been fatally shot by an Elizabethtown police officer during an altercation outside a grocery.

Police were called to the Kroger just before 8 p.m. Sunday with a report of a disturbance. State police said Elizabethtown Officer Josh Burris arrived and confronted a man who had a handgun and was assaulting a woman in the parking lot.

State police say the man fired his weapon and that Burris responded with gunfire, hitting the man.

The man was pronounced dead at a local hospital.

State police said the man, whose name hasn't been released, had additional weapons and ammunition at the scene.

RURAL HOSPITALS

Report: Kentucky's rural hospitals struggling financially

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Nearly one quarter of Kentucky's 66 rural hospitals are in danger of closing according to one of the first broad examinations of the financial health of the state's medical system.

Democratic Auditor Adam Edelen identified 15 rural hospitals that are in poor financial health. Overall, 68 percent of the hospitals fell below the national average in assessed financial strength. Those hospitals treated 838,000 patients last year.

Fourteen hospitals did not participate in the audit. Edelen said the report is not a rebuke of the state's Medicaid managed care system or Gov. Steve Beshear's decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The review did not include numbers from 2014, the first year of the state's expanded Medicaid program, because the audited numbers were not available yet.

HOUSE FIRE-DEATHS

Veterans group adds reward in southeastern Kentucky deaths

LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A veterans organization has increased the reward for information in the deaths of a southeastern Kentucky couple found shot to death after a house fire.

The Laurel County sheriff's office says AMVETS Post 116 in southern Laurel County is offering a $2,200 reward for information leading to arrest and conviction in the deaths of Donnie and Sharon Jackson of the Lily community.

The London-Laurel County Crime Stoppers organization previously offered a $1,000 reward, which remains in effect, bringing the total offered to $3,200.

The sheriff's office says the investigation continues.

The Jacksons' bodies were found March 8 at the scene of the house fire about eight miles south of London.

Detective Charlie Loomis can be reached at (606) 864-6600 or (606) 878-7000.

STATE FAIR

Kentucky State Fair launches redesigned website

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky State Fair has an updated online look with the launch of its redesigned website and logo.

State fair officials say the website highlights new information about the 11-day event, including new promotions.

Officials say Carload Day will be offered until 5 p.m. on both Thursdays of the fair. Fairgoers pay $20 for an entire vehicle, including parking.

Also, Aug. 23 will be Military Sunday, when military families get 50 percent off admission with valid military IDs. Officials say the event was changed to the weekend to accommodate more military personnel and their families.

Clifford "Rip" Rippetoe, president and CEO for the Kentucky State Fair Board, says the redesigned website highlights an effort to update everything about the fair from "top to bottom."

This year's state fair is Aug. 20-30.

KENTUCKY GOVERNOR-COMER

Comer: Kentucky's Medicaid enrollments not sustainable

Republican gubernatorial candidate James Comer says Kentucky's Medicaid enrollments aren't financially sustainable, and says his focus is to shift people into the private health-care market.

Comer unveiled his health-care plan Monday in Louisville, the hometown of two of his rivals in the GOP primary.

Comer didn't offer specifics on changing Medicaid eligibility standards, saying all options are on the table. He says many recipients deserve benefits, but says "able-bodied adults" have been added as part of Medicaid expansion.

Kentucky was among 28 states that expanded its Medicaid program under the federal Affordable Care Act. Nearly 400,000 people signed up for the expanded service, meaning about 25 percent of the state's population is on Medicaid.

Republicans worry about how much the state will have to pay for the expansion beginning in 2017.

KENTUCKY LAWMAKER INDICTED

Former lawmaker asks for trial to be postponed

(Information in the following story is from: Appalachian News-Express, http://www.news-expressky.com )

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former Kentucky lawmaker facing a bribery charge has asked that his trial be postponed following a guilty plea by a co-defendant.

Former state mine inspector Kelly Shortridge pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this month to taking bribes from former lawmaker Keith Hall. The plea agreement said Shortridge, who worked for the Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement, took about $46,000 in bribes over two years from Hall, a coal mine owner who was also a state representative from Phelps.

The Appalachian News Express reports Hall's attorney, Brent Caldwell, filed a motion last week asking to reschedule the April 20 trial to a later date. Prosecutors have opposed the request.

Caldwell says he needs extra time to prepare after learning that prosecutors intend to call Shortridge to testify.

 

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press.

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