Kentucky News Now – July 7th 2014

Farmland in Kentucky shrinking, USDA says

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture says farms and land devoted to farming in Kentucky has drastically decreased in recent years.

The Census of Agriculture says between 2007 and 2012, Kentucky had the greatest percentage decrease in farmland of any state in the U.S.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports (http://bit.ly/1pJVK7o ) farmland declined in the state over that time by 943,000 acres, or 6.7 percent. The number of farms in Kentucky also declined, from 85,260 in 2007 to 77,064 in 2012.

Daniel Smaldone, a spokesman for Kentucky Farm Bureau, says the state probably saw a decline because some land was unproductive and some was intentionally rotated out of production.

Other states with the largest percentage declines in farmland were Alaska (5.4 percent), Georgia (5.2 percent), Mississippi (4.6 percent) and Wisconsin (4.1 percent).

Automotive part executive set to plead guilty

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — An executive with G.S. Electech is scheduled for arraignment and to plead guilty to conspiracy to rig bids and fix prices for automobile antilock brake parts installed in American cars.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning in Covington, Kentucky, on Wednesday will oversee the hearing for Shingo Okuda, who is accused of agreeing to coordinate bids and fix prices of automotive parts submitted to Toyota.

According an indictment, Okuda's involvement in the conspiracy lasted from at least as early as January 2003 until at least February 2010.

In May 2012, G.S. Electech Inc. pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay a $2.75 million criminal fine for its role in the conspiracy.

G.S. Electech Inc. makes, assembles and sells a variety of automotive electrical parts, including speed sensor wire assemblies.

Official: Human leg found in Ohio River

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — A human leg has been recovered from the Ohio River in western Kentucky prompting officials to search for other remains in the waterway.

Henderson County Rescue Squad chief Bryant Woodard says cadaver dogs and dive teams were searching the river Friday afternoon.

Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer told The Gleaner (http://bit.ly/1sdPXEi ) his office took custody of the leg and hopes to extract DNA from it.

As of Friday night, no more body parts were recovered from the river.

Owensboro wants to be on Americana Music Triangle

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — A city in western Kentucky is shooting to become the northern-most point on the Americana Music Triangle.

The Messenger-Inquirer (http://bit.ly/1qv7Pgj ) reports Owensboro, Kentucky, wants to join other cities on the 1,500-mile trail that includes nine music genres.

Currently, New Orleans serves as the southern point while the northern points are in the Tennessee cities of Memphis and Nashville.

Aubrey Preston and the Franklin, Tennessee-based Americana Music Association created the trail and recently visited Owensboro to discuss with local officials the possibility of including it.

The city has because a hub for bluegrass music and tourism. It is home to the International Bluegrass Music Museum and holds an annual bluegrass festival that draws about 20,000 people.

94-year-old man Kentucky's longest serving mayor

BOONEVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A 94-year-old Owsley County man is Kentucky's longest serving mayor.

According to WYMT-TV (http://bit.ly/TMl8ui), Booneville Mayor Charles Long, a World War II veteran, was first elected in 1958 and is still serving. As a matter of fact, he plans to seek re-election.

Long says revamping the county's water and sewage lines is his greatest accomplishment. He says he hopes he has bettered the lives of those in the community that raised him.

Says Long: "Life has been ... good to me and I thank the Lord every day for living,"

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