Kentucky News Now

KENTUCKY REVENUE

General Fund receipts up nearly 13 percent in Nov.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Tax collections for Kentucky's General Fund grew by nearly 13 percent in November compared with a year ago.

State Budget Director Jane Driskell said Wednesday that total revenues for November reached $905.7 million, compared with $802.9 million in the same month a year ago. She says higher sales and individual income tax receipts account for most of the increase.

Driskell says overall receipts have now risen 4.2 percent for the first five months of the state's fiscal year. She says receipts need to increase 3.2 percent over the final seven months to achieve the official revenue estimate.

Officials say individual income tax collections rose 13.7 percent in November, while sales and use tax receipts increased 11.8 percent.

Cigarette tax receipts fell 24.3 percent in November and coal severance tax receipts were down 3.9 percent.

BELLE OF LOUISVILLE CEO

CEO of Belle of Louisville retiring in January

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The executive who oversaw the Belle of Louisville's centennial celebration this year as well as improvements to the Ohio River steamboat is retiring in January.

Linda Harris has been CEO of the Belle since 2005, when the Waterfront Development Corp. began operation of the Belle.

Waterfront Development says Harris helped usher in changes such as improved customer service and a new financial reporting system.

The Belle has also gotten a complete engine rebuild, air conditioning on the Ballroom Deck, a lift to the Ballroom Deck and general reconditioning.

The Belle's 100th birthday was celebrated in October at the Centennial Festival of Riverboats, with visitors from 47 states and seven countries.

A search for a new CEO is underway.

NOAH'S ARK PARK

Kentucky: No tax breaks for Noah's Ark project

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky has withdrawn its offer of tax breaks for a religious-themed park that would feature a 500-foot-long wooden ark.

Tourism Secretary Bob Stewart says the planned project had evolved from a tourism attraction into an outreach for the Christian ministry that is building it. Stewart wrote in a letter Wednesday to the group's lawyer that "state tourism tax incentives cannot be used to fund religious indoctrination."

He said the group was no longer honoring its pledge to not discriminate in hiring for the ark park.

The long-planned Ark Encounter attraction is being built by a nonprofit subsidiary of Answers in Genesis, the Kentucky-based Christian ministry that operates the popular and controversial Creation Museum.

The ark project got preliminary approval in July for up to $18 million in tax rebates.

COUPLE SLAIN

Parole denied for Kentucky woman in torture-slaying of Tenn. Woman

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A parole board has denied release for a Kentucky woman convicted of facilitation in the 2007 torture-slaying of a Knoxville woman.

WATE-TV in Knoxville reports Coleman, of Lebanon, Kentucky, was denied parole on Wednesday at a hearing in Nashville. She is serving a 35-year sentence.

The station said more than 45 people attended the hearing to oppose parole for the 26-year-old Coleman. She will not be up for parole again until December 2020.

Deena and Gary Christian described the pain they feel over the loss of their 21-year-old daughter, Channon. Gary Christian said he would "give anything" for time with her.

Coleman told the board she made a mistake and is a "changed person."

Coleman was acquitted of any crimes against Christian's boyfriend, Christopher Newsom, who was raped and shot and his body set on fire.

BOURBON-LOUISVILLE

Bourbon tourism gets new shot of momentum

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The world's leading bourbon maker is giving another shot of momentum for bourbon tourism in Louisville.

Beam Suntory, the company behind the Jim Beam brand, has announced plans to open an attraction featuring a small working distillery.

The company said Wednesday the Jim Beam Urban Stillhouse is expected to open next year in a downtown entertainment district. Its request for tax incentives related to the multimillion-dollar project has won preliminary approval from the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority.

Beam Suntory vice president Kevin Smith says the venture will offer a hands-on opportunity to experience bourbon's heritage and craftsmanship.

It becomes the latest big name in bourbon to open or roll out plans for projects in Louisville to tap into the growing popularity of Kentucky's $3 billion bourbon industry.

GAY PRIDE SHIRTS

Business appeals commission's ruling

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Lexington business has appealed a ruling by the city's Human Rights Commission that it discriminated against an organization by refusing to print T-shirts for a gay rights festival.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the owners of Hands On Originals filed the appeal Monday in Fayette Circuit Court claiming the ruling violates the company's freedom of religion and expression.

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Human Rights Commission decided in October that the business discriminated against the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization of Lexington in 2012 by refusing to print the shirts. The decision was based on the city's adoption of an ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The appeal asks the court to overturn the commission's ruling. It does not seek monetary damages.

FIRE-DEATHS

Prosecutors to seek death penalty in slayings

INEZ, Ky. (AP) — Prosecutors in eastern Kentucky say they plan to seek the death penalty in a triple slaying.

Jack D. Smith and Amanda Bowen are charged with murder and robbery in the deaths of two women and a young girl who were found in the ruins of a house fire in Inez. Autopsy results found that 46-year-old Cainie Johnson Jr., 42-year-old Tina Yvonne Goble, and her granddaughter, 8-year-old Trinity Janae Maynard, died before the blaze was set. All three were shot and stabbed.

Police said in an arrest warrant that Smith and Bowen took items from the home including medication and jewelry.

Smith and Bowen have pleaded not guilty in the case.

WYMT-TV reports prosecutors said in a filing notice that they would seek the death penalty due to aggravating circumstances.

SOLICITING HOMEBUYERS

Recent Ky. homebuyers warned of solicitation

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway says recent homebuyers in the state are being targeted by solicitations that try to sell them copies of their property deeds for excessive fees.

The Kentucky Real Estate Commission and Kentucky County Clerks Association are joining Conway in warning homebuyers to be on the lookout for the official-looking mailings being sent by "Record Transfer Services."

Conway said Tuesday the direct-mail solicitations ask homebuyers to pay an $83 document fee to obtain copies of their current deeds. He says the mailings are confusing and misleading. Conway says property deeds and other public records are available at local county clerk's offices for a nominal fee.

Conway says the mailing — which is titled as a "Recorded Deed Notice" — attempts to look official.

BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL

John Prine to headline bluegrass festival

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — The International Bluegrass Music Museum says John Prine will headline next year's Bluegrass Roots & Branches Festival in Owensboro.

Museum Director Gabrielle Gray told the Messenger-Inquirer that she's tried to book Prine for the festival for years, but he usually goes to Ireland during the summer.

The festival, which is the museum's biggest fundraiser, is June 24-27 at Yellow Creek Park.

Prine, 68, is typically described as a country or folk singer-songwriter, but Gray says he also does progressive bluegrass.

Prine has ties to western Kentucky. His grandparents lived in Muhlenberg County, and he visited them frequently in the summers when he grew up. He is also known for the song Paradise, which is about strip mining in Muhlenberg County.