Kentucky News Now

AG-PREDATORY LENDING

Conway backs stricter rules to protect military members

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway has joined in calling for stricter regulations to protect military members from predatory lending.

Conway joined attorneys general from Tennessee and 20 other states who submitted a joint letter to the Defense Department urging the stricter regulations.

The federal Military Lending Act was intended to shield service members from predatory lending practices by capping interest rates and fees on loans to service members and providing other protections.

Conway's office says since rules implementing the act were adopted in 2007, some lenders have changed tactics to avoid complying with the law.

The Defense Department responded with new proposed regulations aimed at providing more protections for service members. In their letter, the attorneys general praised the department for closing some loopholes in current rules but highlighted weaknesses in the revised regulations.

AMBULANCE-FATAL WRECK

2 killed in central Kentucky wreck with ambulance

(Information in the following story is from: The Winchester (Ky.) Sun, http://www.centralkynews.com/winchestersun)

WINCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — Two people have died in central Kentucky, where their vehicle ran into an ambulance, injuring two others.

Clark County Sheriff Berl Perdue told The Winchester Sun that two people inside the passenger vehicle were killed.

One ambulance employee was flown to University of Kentucky Medical Center and the other taken to a local hospital. Their names haven't been released.

The ambulance wasn't carrying a patient at the time of the wreck, around 2:15 p.m. EST Monday.

The wreck happened on the Mountain Parkway. Perdue said he wasn't sure why the westbound passenger vehicle's driver lost control. The sheriff said the driver crossed the grassy median and hit the eastbound ambulance.

FIRE DEATH

Woman dies in central Ky. blaze

HODGENVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The central Kentucky woman killed in a fire has been identified.

The Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet issued a release Monday afternoon identifying her as 76-year-old Helen Fields of Hodgenville.

The cabinet said an investigation by the state fire marshal's office and Kentucky State Police determined the fire was accidental. A news release from the cabinet said the origin of the fire Saturday night was smoking materials but that the exact cause remains unknown.

Hodgenville Police Chief Steve Johnson said earlier the woman's daughter told officers that her mother was having trouble lighting a cigarette and hit the lighter against a table several times. The woman says she heard a noise after that and turned around to see her mother engulfed in flames.

JUSTICE RESIGNING

Scott stepping down from Ky. Supreme Court

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott says he is resigning from the high court later this week.

Scott said in a statement Monday that serving on the Supreme Court has been a "great honor," but says the job "restrains" the court's members from helping find solutions to Kentucky's problems.

Scott declined comment on his reasons for stepping down. The 67-year-old Republican has been considering a run for governor in 2015. He told the Lexington Herald-Leader last month that if he decided to run, he would immediately resign his seat on the court.

Scott's statement says he will step down from the court effective midnight Friday. The eastern Kentuckian has served on the court for 10 years.

Two Republicans are already in next year's governor's race — James Comer and Hal Heiner.

HAZARD STABBING

1 dead, 1 charged after eastern Kentucky fight

HAZARD, Ky. (AP) — An eastern Kentucky man has died after an altercation, and another man has been charged with murder.

Kentucky State Police said 21-year-old Edward M. Hughes of Hazard died early Monday at Hazard Appalachian Regional Hospital, where he was taken a couple of hours earlier for a stab wound.

Police arrested 29-year-old Alan Williams of Hazard, and he was being held in the Kentucky River Regional Jail in Hazard. Information was not available from the jail Monday afternoon as to whether Williams is represented by a lawyer.

Police said Hughes and Williams had an altercation in the parking lot of an apartment complex.

An autopsy was planned.