DOG-FAMILY REUNION

Dog reunited with Utah family after 2 years apart

(Information in the following story is from: KUTV-TV, http://www.kutv.com/)

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — A dog has been reunited with a Utah family, two years after it went missing in Lexington, Kentucky.

Jennifer Lowe of Ogden says her family was thrilled to learn the Beagle mix named Tilly was found in Lexington days ago and identified through an implanted microchip with information about the animal's owners.

She told KUTV-TV of Salt Lake City the family thought they would never see Tilly again after they moved from Lexington to Ogden.

After the dog wandered away in 2013, nobody turned Tilly in to an animal control center. But after the beagle recently got loose again, someone took her to a facility where she was identified.

Christine Stoops of the Facebook group "Lost and Found Pets of Lexington, KY" drove to Utah with Tilly and gave her to the Ogden family on Friday.

The dog was a gift to Lowe's daughter, Phoenix, after her father returned from military duty in Afghanistan.

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Man faces 20 counts of child pornography charges

(Information in the following story is from: The Kentucky Enquirer, http://www.nky.com)

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A northern Kentucky man has been charged with 20 counts of possessing child pornography.

The Kentucky Enquirer reports 31-year-old Richard Ray Washington, of Covington, was arrested last week after a search warrant was executed at his home.

According to the attorney general's office, investigators found computers and other equipment in Washington's residence that he allegedly used to distribute images and videos of children.

Officials say Washington faces one to five years in prison on each count.

Washington was being held Sunday on $10,000 bond in the Kenton County Detention Center. It's unclear if he has an attorney.

FROG BREEDER

Owensboro woman breeds dwarf frogs as pets

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — Samantha Lester did not become a breeder of small amphibious frogs by choice.

She said her niece chose dwarf frogs as her science project when she was in the fourth grade. And when the project was over, she volunteered Lester to take them.

In two years, the science subjects have produced 50 frogs. Lester kept two of them. She has identical tanks on matching bedside tables in her bedroom for the original pair and for two of their offspring.

She has decorated them with plants and small clay pots turned on their side where the little swimmers hang out during the day.

PRESERVING PERRYVILLE

Officials want to turn battlefield into national park

(Information in the following story is from: The (Danville, Ky.) Advocate-Messenger, http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews)

PERRYVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Officials in central Kentucky are trying to rally community support for turning Perryville Battlefield into a national park.

Boyle county Judge-Executive Harold McKinney told the Danville-Boyle County Economic Development Partnership last week that he'd like to see the entire community get behind the proposal.

The Advocate-Messenger reports Danville Mayor Mike Perros echoed the sentiments while lamenting that there hasn't already been wider support in the past for the Civil War site.

It would take an act of Congress to turn the 7,000-acre site, which has already been designated as a national landmark, into a national park.

The state historic site was established in 1954 and has about 100,000 visitors each year.

JAIL EXPANSION-HEROIN

Jail expansion to include substance abuse program

(Information in the following story is from: The Kentucky Enquirer, http://www.nky.com)

NEWPORT, Ky. (AP) — Campbell County officials say a planned jail expansion will include a substance abuse program intended to help curb the county's heroin problem.

The Kentucky Enquirer reports the northern Kentucky county expects to seek bids by the end of April on the estimated $7 million project at the Campbell County Detention Center

Reconstruction is expected to take 18 months, and Jailer Jim Daley says he hopes to have a substance abuse program operating when the space opens, likely around January 2017.

The expansion will add 104 beds in three pods as well as 32 isolation beds, a control area, training room and multipurpose room for programs including substance abuse treatment.

Daley says the jail needs space because it is continuously over its capacity of 425 regular jail beds.

HORSE EVENT-QUEEN'S GRANDDAUGHTER

Queen's granddaughter withdraws from equestrian event

(Information in the following story is from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com)

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — An equestrian competition in Kentucky lost some star power when British rider Zara Phillips, a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, withdrew after her horse suffered a minor injury.

Phillips told the Lexington Herald-Leader she was looking forward to riding the course at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event in Lexington. She says the course would have suited her horse, High Kingdom.

It would have been Phillips' debut at the Rolex Kentucky, an annual Olympic-level competition held at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Phillips and High Kingdom won team silver at the 2012 Olympics and team silver at the 2014 World Equestrian Games.

As she was preparing for dressage Friday, High Kingdom got hurt when he kicked while in the stable.

Phillips withdrew just before she was to go into the dressage arena.

LOGGING CONTROVERSY

Land Between the Lakes prepares for public meetings

(Information in the following story is from: Murray Ledger & Times, http://www.murrayledger.com)

GOLDEN POND, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service is preparing for a series of public hearings next month over logging and management plans at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

The meetings come on the heels of the federal agency halting new timber sales projects after several months of public outcry.

Forestry officials told the Murray Ledger & Times that logging and burning, which also has raised concerns, are tools the agency is using to improve the health of the woodland areas.

Land Between the Lakes spokeswoman Jan Bush blames much of the outcry on bad communication between the forest service and local residents. She says officials at Lake Between the Lakes are looking forward to improving communication with surrounding residents.

 

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press

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