Kentucky News Now – August 13th 2014

MCCONNELL BUS TOUR

McConnell to campaign in western Kentucky

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell will have campaign stops in five western Kentucky counties on Wednesday.

The Senate minority leader will hold events in Ohio, Muhlenberg, Hopkins, Henderson and Union counties. The stops in Muhlenberg and Hopkins counties will feature fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

McConnell has represented Kentucky for nearly 30 years in the U.S. Senate. But he is facing the toughest re-election campaign of his career against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. Libertarian candidate David Patterson is also on the ballot.

Last week, McConnell toured 10 counties in eastern Kentucky while Grimes spoke at an event in Hazard featuring former Democratic President Bill Clinton. The two candidates are scheduled to participate in a forum next week in Louisville moderated by the Kentucky Farm Bureau.

TEEN COOKING CONTEST

Teen cooks to compete at Kentucky State Fair

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's top teen cooks will put their skills to the test during the state fair in Louisville.

Teams will compete for scholarship money at the second annual Kentucky Farm to School Junior Chef State Tournament.

State Agriculture Department officials say the tournament will begin on the opening day of the fair and conclude with the championship matchup at 10 a.m. EDT Aug. 22. All cook-offs will take place at the Gourmet Garden Stage in the lobby of South Wing A.

Teams will compete for more than $70,000 in scholarship money from Louisville-based Sullivan University.

The Junior Chef competition is part of the state Agriculture Department's Farm to School Program.

Junior Chef encourages high school students to learn how to cook by using local ingredients to prepare healthy meals.

TOBACCO COMPANY-PLEA

Tobacco company to pay $750,000 after plea

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky-based tobacco company that makes Golden Harvest, Millennium and Red Buck cigars will pay $750,000 in restitution and forfeitures after pleading guilty to conspiracy to engage in contraband cigarette trafficking.

U.S. District Judge Joseph McKinley sentenced Tantus Tobacco of Russell Springs, Kentucky, on Monday. The company will pay $200,000 to the Kentucky Revenue Cabinet in lost taxes and $60,000 to the Kentucky attorney general's office for its assistance in the investigation. Tantus Tobacco forfeited $490,000 to the United States.

The company admitted to helping cigarette brokers Jerry Burke and Charles Wells in avoiding taxes. Burke and Wells pleaded guilty to making false statements in reports to the U.S. government and the state of Mississippi. Both were sentenced in 2011 to two years in prison.

FOOD VENDOR-ROAD RAGE

Louisville hot dog vendor charged with murder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Jefferson County grand jury has indicted a Louisville hot dog vendor on a murder charge in a suspected case of road rage.

The circuit court clerk's office says 67-year-old Donald Hayes was indicted Tuesday and charged with killing 57-year-old Danny Wilson on June 21.

Police believe the men, who were driving separate vehicles, got into an altercation and pulled into a parking lot, where Wilson was gunned down.

Hayes operates a hot dog stand near the Jefferson County and Louisville government buildings.

FARMERS TAKE CONTROL

Record crops predicted; farmers market carefully

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Farmers will produce a record-breaking corn harvest this year, surpassing earlier expectations of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which has revised upward its estimate of this year's corn harvest to 14 billion bushels.

That exceeds last year's 13.9 billion bushel record.

Soybean production also will set a new record at 3.8 billion bushels, beating the 2009 harvest of 3.4 billion bushels.

Farmers are blessed with an abundant crop but cursed that it has driven prices lower. They are taking more control of their grain marketing by building more on-farm storage, holding onto the crop and timing the sale to maximize profit.

Rain fell at the right times and a cooler summer made for favorable growing conditions in the 18 states that produce 91 percent of the nation's corn.