Kentucky News Now

CONGRESS-McCONNELL

McConnell: 'Hard work awaits'; Senate to move to Keystone

WASHINGTON (AP) — New Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has told his colleagues that "a lot of hard work awaits." McConnell took the helm of the Senate Tuesday after Republicans formally assumed the majority.

McConnell's first order of business was to shepherd through several routine resolutions. One of them named Utah Republican Orrin Hatch as the Senate's president pro tempore, making him third in the line of presidential succession.

In brief remarks, McConnell said that along with the work "many important opportunities await too." He has said that the Senate's first bill would approve construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf Coast.

Becoming majority leader has been the Kentucky senator's longtime goal after 30 years of service in the Senate.

KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE

House Republicans, Democrats re-elect leaders

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — House Republicans re-elected their longtime leader on Tuesday despite growing frustration in the party that Kentucky remains the only southern state with a Democratic-controlled legislature.

Rep. Jeff Hoover won by a 2-to-1 margin over Rep. Adam Koenig in an election behind closed doors on the first day of the 2015 legislative session. The election marked the first time Hoover faced meaningful opposition in his 14 years as the Republican leader. It came after a disappointing election season where Republicans made major gains in state legislatures nationwide but failed to cut into the Democrats' eight-seat majority in Kentucky.

Democrats re-elected House Speaker Greg Stumbo, who faced no opposition. Stumbo said he has no plans to run for governor in 2015.

MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Kentucky House speaker to file medical marijuana bill

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he is putting forward a bill that would make it legal for people to smoke marijuana in Kentucky for medical purposes.

Stumbo said the bill would require doctors to be trained before they could prescribe the drug to patients. And Stumbo said the state would have a strict oversight system in place to make sure prescriptions were not abused.

State lawmakers have softened their stance toward the cannabis plant in recent years. Last year, the state harvested its first hemp crop in decades and the state Legislature approved a bill allowing researchers to experiment with cannabidiol.

Stumbo said he filed the bill because he believes lawmakers need to discuss the issue.

HEROIN

Pilot project announced to combat heroin overdose deaths

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Combating heroin use has quickly emerged as an overarching issue as Kentucky lawmakers convene at the Capitol to start their annual legislative session.

Gov. Steve Beshear and Attorney General Jack Conway on Tuesday announced a pilot program to provide heroin overdose reversal kits at hospitals with the state's highest rates of heroin-related deaths.

The two Democrats say the kits will be provided free of charge to every overdose victim being discharged from participating hospitals in Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky.

Meanwhile, state Senate President Robert Stivers says legislation aimed at curtailing heroin use will be put on a fast track in the Republican-led Senate.

Heroin overdose deaths have increased tenfold since 2011.

Lawmakers from both political parties say it is a priority to pass legislation this year combating heroin use.

KENTUCKY GOVERNOR-SCOTT

Scott says he's seeking GOP nomination for governor

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Former state Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott says he is running for governor.

Scott said Tuesday he will disclose his running mate at his official campaign kickoff next week.

The eastern Kentuckian becomes the third Republican in this year's wide-open race to succeed Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear.

Other Republicans in the race are state Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and former Louisville councilman Hal Heiner. The Democratic hopefuls are state Attorney General Jack Conway and former congressional candidate Geoff Young.

Beshear is in the final year of his second term and can't serve again because of term limits.

Scott says there's a lot of hate in politics in both parties. He says he's running for governor on "hope and promise and good ideas for good government."

PLANE CRASH-KENTUCKY-SAYING GOODBYE

Town copes after plane crash kills family, spares 7-year-old

NASHVILLE, Illinois (AP) — The tiny southern Illinois town of Nashville is preparing to say goodbye to four members of a local family killed in a Kentucky plane crash.

The crash killed local furniture store owner Marty Gutzler and his wife, Kim, along with their 9-year-old daughter, Piper. It also killed Piper's cousin, 14-year-old Sierra Wilder, whose funeral will be held Wednesday.

The Gutzlers' other daughter, 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler, survived. She managed to crawl from the wreckage and endure bone-chilling cold during a nearly mile-long trek through woods before finding help.

Funerals for the Gutzlers will be held Friday.

TODDLER TIED

Mother sentenced to 5 years for tying child to bed at night

LAWRENCEBURG, Ky. (AP) — A central Kentucky woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for tying up her 3-year-old daughter for hours at a time.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports Anderson County Circuit Judge Charles Hickman sentenced 32-year-old Rebecca Medley on Tuesday. She pleaded guilty in September to complicity to first-degree criminal abuse.

Medley was arrested in 2012 along with the girl's stepfather, 55-year-old Herbert C. Medley, and grandmother, 66-year-old Carolyn Case. Case was sentenced last year to five years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree criminal abuse.

Court files said Case reported tying the girl to the bed with a curtain sash because she got into things at night and tried to leave the house while others were asleep.

Hickman overruled Herbert Medley's motion to move his trial because of pretrial publicity.

CANCER SCREENING

Effort launched to raise $1 million for cancer-screening van

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A new campaign has been launched hoping to raise $1 million for a mobile cancer-screening unit in underserved areas of Kentucky.

Kentucky first lady Jane Beshear announced the effort Tuesday and said Churchill Downs has committed $90,000 and Kroger $25,000 for the van.

The mobile unit will provide free or reduced-cost cancer screenings.

Beshear appeared in Frankfort with representatives of the Kentucky Cancer Program, the University of Louisville<s James Graham Brown Cancer Center and KentuckyOne Health.

A portable mammography unit already serves the state with breast cancer screenings. Beshear said the new effort intends to expand the service to screen for six additional forms of cancer.

Beshear's office said the van will focus on cancer prevention education and offer screenings for breast, cervical, colon, lung, prostate, skin and head/neck cancer.

VIDEO GAME SCHOLARSHIPS

Good news for gamers: Video scholarships at Kentucky college

PIKEVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A private liberal arts college in Kentucky says it will make video games an official sport and start offering scholarships to gamers in the fall.

WYMT-TV reports that the move makes the University of Pikeville one of only a few schools in the nation to provide scholarships to those who play "League of Legends," a multiplayer online battle arena game.

Pikeville graduate Eric VanHoose says he is ready to coach the game, in which 10 players compete on teams of five.

The school says it will offer 20 scholarships and begin "League of Legends" competition play in the fall.

New Media Director Bruce Parsons says that the game takes skill, practice and teamwork, and that giving it official status is becoming a worldwide trend.