Kentucky News Now – October 5th 2015

GAY MARRIAGE-KENTUCKY CLERK

Law firm labeled hate group leading Kim Davis' crusade

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Liberty Counsel, the law firm that revealed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis' secret meeting with the pope, has been accused by advocacy groups of peddling misrepresentations before.

Yet it has become the main source of details about the controversial pope meeting.

The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Liberty Counsel among its anti-gay hate groups for spreading false information. The day before the meeting with the pope, Mat Staver, the group's founder, showed a full auditorium a photo of a packed Peruvian stadium and said 100,000 gathered there to pray for Davis, the defiant clerk who spent five days in jail for defying a court order and refusing to license same-sex marriages.

Online sleuths quickly debunked the story.

The Liberty Counsel claims the Pope thanked Davis for her courage.

BODY IN FREEZER

Pulaski man's body found in freezer, girlfriend in jail

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

SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) — A Pulaski County woman is under arrest after her boyfriend's body was discovered in a freezer inside the couple's living room.

WLEX-TV reports a missing person report was filed on 68-year-old Gary Ray Jenks last Tuesday. Fifty-one-year-old Teresa Owens was arrested the following day after deputies searched the couple's home.

The arrest citation says Jenks' arms were tied with pieces of string. And it says Owens had poured lye and fertilizer over Jenks' body to dispose of it.

The Pulaski County Coroner positively identified the body but has not yet determined the cause of death.

Owens is charged with tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse. She is in custody at the Pulaski County Detention Center on a $75,000 bond.

She declined an interview with the television station.

BLUEGRASS STUDIES

Owensboro schools planning to offer bluegrass degree

(Information in the following story is from: Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, http://www.messenger-inquirer.com)

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — Owensboro Community & Technical College and Brescia University are planning to join forces to offer degrees in bluegrass music.

The Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer reports the college is working to create an associate degree program that officials hope to have up and running by spring 2017.

The idea is that students could study two years at the college and then transfer to Brescia to earn a bachelor of fine arts degree in bluegrass.

The schools hope to take advantage of the resources at the International Bluegrass Music Center, a $15.4 million project also slated to open in 2017. The center will be the new home of the International Bluegrass Music Museum and also include a concert hall, restaurant, teaching rooms and a library.

BREASTFEEDING COMPETITION

Competition brings awareness about breastfeeding in public

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

COLD SPRING, Ky. (AP) — It is safe to say Cold Spring did not win a recent international competition to see which site could gather the most moms breastfeeding their babies at the same time.

The Kentucky Enquirer reports only three mothers showed up for Northern Kentucky's Breastfeeding Challenge on Saturday morning. But organizers said winning wasn't the point.

Nancy Merk, of the Northern Kentucky Health Department, said the event was a fun way to celebrate breastfeeding moms and to bring awareness to breastfeeding.

Alison Montoya spoke at the event to share her concerns as a first-time mother. She said she still feels uncomfortable breastfeeding in public because it is frowned upon.

Kentucky is consistently in the bottom 10 ranking of states with the lowest percentage of breastfeeding moms.