Kentucky News Now

COVERED BRIDGE RESTORATION

Cabin Creek bridge restoration ahead of schedule

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

VANCEBURG, Ky (AP) — Officials say the more than $1 million restoration of the Cabin Creek covered bridge in Lewis County is ahead of schedule.

Construction was expected to be finished by mid-summer of 2014. But Judge-Executive Todd Ruckel told The Ledger Independent that workers could finish sooner based on the weather.

Arnold Graton specializes in the restoration of covered bridges.

He says the Cabin Creek bridge, which was originally built in 1873, is one of 13 surviving covered bridges in Kentucky. One of those bridges is privately owned.

All have been restored with the exception of Cabin Creek, Beech Fork, Ringo Mills and Grange City.

The cost to restore Cabin Creek is about $1.2 million and has been fully funded through a transportation enhancement program.

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Information from: The Ledger Independent, http://www.maysville-online.com

CAPITOL GUIDE

History has a hold on Capitol tour guide

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Annie Denny loves history.

Not in the read-a-couple-of-historical-biographies-a-year way, the History-Channel-devotee way or even the Civil-War-battle-re-enactor way.

Annie loves history — specifically Kentucky history — so much that after retiring from nearly three decades of guiding tours at the Old Capitol and the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, she decided to fill her days with guiding tours at the new Capitol.

It's only a part-time gig though, so the 60-year-old still technically counts herself as retired.

TRAFFIC FATAL

2 killed, 2 injured in wrong-way traffic accident

(Information in the following story is from: WAVE-TV, http://www.wave3.com)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Authorities say alcohol may have been a factor in a traffic accident on Interstate 71 in Oldham County that left two people dead and injured two others.

According to WAVE-TV, 71-year-old Donald Pickett of Flat Rock, Ind., was traveling the wrong way on I-71 when he struck another vehicle head on around 9:20 p.m. Saturday.

Officials say Pickett was injected from his car and died at the scene.

The driver of the vehicle Pickett hit was 27-year-old Victor Chavez of Louisville. Chavez and two passengers were taken to a local hospital where one of the passengers, 27-year-old George A. Chavez of Louisville, died from his injuries.

Twenty-nine-year-old Julio Chavez of Louisville was identified as the second passenger. His condition and Victor Chavez's have not been released.

Authorities are still investigating why Pickett was driving the wrong way, but believe alcohol was a factor.

SUMTER ASSAULT

Union attempt to storm Fort Sumter observed

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Monday marks the 150th anniversary of the only Union attempt to storm the South Carolina fort where the Civil War began. But the Sept. 9, 1863, attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor was a dismal failure.

The nighttime fight was doomed by rivalries between the Union commanders, a lack of planning and the fact that the Confederates, with the help of a captured Union code book, knew exactly what was coming.

The federals suffered 120 casualties, most of them captured. The Confederates didn't lose a man.

The historian at the Fort Sumter National Monument says the attack was national news at the time. Now, Rick Hatcher says, it's been lost amid other events, including the major Union victory at Gettysburg earlier in the summer of 1863.

JAIL MATTRESSES

Daviess inmates make mattresses

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

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — Inmates at a western Kentucky jail have begun making their own mattresses.

Daviess Jailer David Osborne told the Messenger-Inquirer that he expects the move to save the jail about $10,000 a year, which can be spent on other items such as food.

Osborne said he made the change last month after researching the idea.

He used to purchase mattresses at about $100 each, but ended up having to replace about 200 every year. He said the kits to make mattresses cost half as much and are more durable and more comfortable.