Kentukcy News Now – June 18th 2014

HEALTH OVERHAUL-INSURANCE

2 new insurers interested in joining kynect

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — At least two new health insurance companies say they want to sell policies on Kentucky's health insurance exchange.

The exchange, named kynect, is the website where people can sign up for the state's Medicaid program or purchase discounted private health insurance plans, depending on their income.

Ohio-based CareSource and Florida-based WellCare have filed paperwork with state regulators indicating their interest in selling policies through kynect. Both companies provide Medicaid plans in Kentucky but have not sold on the individual market.

Kynect just finished its first open enrollment. Officials say more than 421,000 people signed up for health insurance. About 338,000 signed up for Medicaid and about 83,000 purchased private health insurance plans.

Two companies currently sell statewide policies on kynect. Louisville-based Humana sells policies on kynect only in certain areas.

MOTHER CHARGED

Mother accused in death of 5-year-old boy in NY

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — A 26-year-old Kentucky woman has been charged in New York with killing her 5-year-old son, possibly by poisoning him with sodium.

The Westchester County district attorney says Lacey Spears of Scottsville, Kentucky, is accused of murder in the death of Garnett-Paul Spears.

Lacey Spears, who at the time was living in Chestnut Ridge, had brought her son to Nyack Hospital on Jan. 17, reporting he was having seizures. On Jan. 19, with no medical explanation, Garnett-Paul's sodium levels rose to an extremely dangerous level. His mother was sharing his room.

The boy was transferred to the Westchester Medical Center, where he died. The district attorney says doctors there suspected Spears was harming her son and an investigation was begun.

Spears pleaded not guilty Tuesday. Calls to her lawyer weren't immediately returned.

HEALTH FORUM

Lt. gov.'s forum to focus on health care policy

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson is hosting a forum on health care policy in Frankfort this week.

Abramson chairs the kyhealthnow Oversight Team, which is holding a Stakeholder Engagement Forum on Thursday in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Building on Main Street.

The forum members will "discuss the health and wellness of Kentucky's children, families and workforce," according to a release. Abramson says the team wants to hear from stakeholders and organizations from the health care field about specific changes state government can undertake to move toward its goals.

The forum is part of the kyhealthnow initiative, which is seeking to meet seven health goals over the next five years.

BABY WOLF

Red wolf born at Land Between the Lakes

GOLDEN POND, Ky. (AP) — There's a new arrival at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area — a baby red wolf.

The recreation area in western Kentucky says the three-quarter-pound female wolf was born early last month. The parents are a pair of captive, endangered red wolves at the Woodlands Nature Station.

The female pup is just now emerging from her den and stretching her legs, followed by her attentive parents. Officials say she will remain with her parents for at least 18 months and then be transferred to a zoo or nature center to start her own pack.

Darrin Samborski, facility manager for the Nature Station, says the pup will become more visible as she gets older and braver.

The Nature Station has been involved with the Red Wolf Recovery Program since 1991.

ROAD CONTRACT

Contract awarded to upgrade stretch of parkway

Gov. Steve Beshear says a highway contract has been awarded to make improvements needed to bring a portion of the Pennyrile Parkway up to interstate standards in western Kentucky.

Beshear said Tuesday the contract is another step toward the goal of an Interstate 69 corridor from the Ohio River to the Tennessee border.

State officials say the new project will result in improvements to a 36.4-mile stretch of the parkway in Hopkins, Webster and Henderson counties.

Hall Contracting of Kentucky Inc. was awarded the contract on a low bid of $11.93 million.

The contract has a completion date of Aug. 1, 2015.

Once complete, I-69 in Kentucky will run north from Henderson to the Tennessee border at Fulton.

Completion of the corridor requires improvements to portions of three Kentucky parkways.

MASON SCHOOLS-AUDIT

Former school superintendent pleads not guilty

(Information in the following story is from: The Ledger Independent, http://www.maysville-online.com )

MAYSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The former superintendent of a northeastern Kentucky school district has entered a not guilty plea.

The Ledger Independent reports former Mason County Schools Superintendent Tim Moore entered the plea last week in Mason Circuit Court.

He was indicted by a grand jury in May on one count of abuse of public trust over $10,000.

Moore retired in 2012 after auditors found nearly $200,000 in expenses over a four-year period that seemed excessive, lacked oversight or documentation or had no clear business purpose.

The indictment said Moore "failed to make the required payment or disposition" of money or property, which was more than $10,000 but less than $100,000.

GAY MARRIAGE ARGUMENTS

Federal appeals court to weigh gay marriage cases

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court has scheduled oral arguments in gay marriage fights in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Though each case is unique, they all deal with whether statewide gay marriage bans violate the Constitution.

The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Aug. 6 on whether to uphold gay marriage victories in the four states it oversees.

The 6th Circuit is the third federal appeals court to weigh challenges to state gay marriage bans.

Arguments were held in the 4th Circuit in Virginia in May and the 10th Circuit in Denver in April. Rulings are expected soon.

More than a dozen federal and state judges have struck down part or all of state-level bans in recent months. No rulings have gone the other way.