Kentucky News Now – January 10th, 2014

BID-RIGGING DOCUMENTS

Contractors nearly traded punches over state work

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A newly released document reveals that a politically connected highway contractor in Kentucky nearly exchanged punches with a competitor decades ago as they argued over whose turn it was to get the latest work from the state.

The 39-page transcript released by the state attorney general's office Thursday stems from an interview investigators had with the contractor, Leonard Lawson, and his attorney at the time, John Reed. Lawson ran a blacktopping company and became a prominent political fundraiser.

Media reports say Reed told an investigator that Lawson and another contractor almost exchanged punches and had to be separated. Reed said they were fighting over whose turn it was to get a 1979 state road contract.

Media including The Courier-Journal, the Lexington Herald-Leader and The Associated Press asked for the statement.

HIGHWAY FATALITIES

Ky. highway deaths drop to lowest mark since '49

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky's highways were safer last year. The state Transportation Cabinet says the number of fatalities on roadways dropped to 635 in 2013, the lowest number since 1949.

The Kentucky Office of Highway Safety says the preliminary total for last year was down more than 100 from 2012, when 746 people were killed on Kentucky roads. The number in 1949 was 573.

Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock says the Governor's Executive Committee on Highway Safety aims to continue reducing the number as it implements Kentucky's Strategic Highway Safety Plan, called "Toward Zero Deaths."

Highway Safety Director Bill Bell says there were zero fatalities on 75 days in 2013.

A final report on the 2013 figures is expected by April after all highway crash data is collected.

KENTUCKY SENATE

Bevin criticizes McConnell on issues including health care, coal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Republican Matt Bevin is blasting Mitch McConnell's long Senate record and says the Senate minority leader "dilly-dallied" as Kentucky's coal sector suffers and undermined efforts to cut off funding for the health care overhaul despised by both candidates.

Bevin laid out his position on a range of issues Thursday in his long-shot bid to unseat McConnell in the GOP primary, then asked reporters when McConnell has "fought for coal" or "gone to battle for the people of Kentucky."

McConnell's campaign scoffed at Bevin's claims and said the five-term senator has been at the forefront of fights against the health care overhaul and regulations limiting carbon pollution from power plants, seen as a key contributor to the coal sector's downturn by people in the eastern Kentucky coalfields.

Bevin came out swinging in his speech, portraying McConnell as part of the "elite class" in Washington, out of touch with issues back home in Kentucky.

The winner of the GOP primary will likely face Democratic front-runner Alison Lundergan Grimes in the November election. Grimes officially filed paperwork Thursday for her Senate bid.

STATE PARKS-WATER

2 state parks affected by water problems

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Two state parks have been affected by water problems brought on by recent cold weather, temporarily closing one of the parks and leaving the other with no food service until the issue is resolved.

The Kentucky Department of Parks says Greenbo Lake State Resort Park in Greenup County is temporarily closed due to a lack of water. The park can't get additional water because of water line breaks in the area and will be closed until water service is restored.

The Parks Department says Carter Caves State Resort Park, which is near Greenbo, is open and has a lodge, restaurant and cottages.

In Bell County, Pine Mountain State Resort Park's restaurant is temporarily closed because of water issues. Lodge rooms and cottages remain open.

For updates, visit http://www.parks.ky.gov .

JUDGE THREATENED

Judge halts sentencing for man in judicial threat

LONDON, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge halted the scheduled sentencing of an eastern Kentucky man after declining to accept his guilty plea to charges he threatened to kill another federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove had been set to hand down a sentence for 18-year-old Michael Alexander Collins on Thursday. Van Tatenhove stopped the proceedings in London and declined to accept the guilty plea from Collins.

Van Tatenhove's reasons were not immediately available.

Collins, who lives in Greenup County, is charged with plotting to shoot Judge David Bunning and others because they handled the case of his father, who pleaded guilty to a charge of receiving child pornography.

The father, John Nelson Collins, is serving an 11-year prison sentence.

GRANDMOTHER CHARGED

Woman pleads guilty in deaths of child, grandchild

(Information in the following story is from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com )

WINCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — A central Kentucky woman has pleaded guilty to two counts of murder in the deaths last year of her daughter and toddler granddaughter.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports 49-year-old Lillie Stanton of Winchester avoided the death penalty by pleading guilty Thursday in Clark County Circuit Court. She faces a recommended sentence of life in prison without parole when she is sentenced Feb. 20.

Stanton was indicted last year in the deaths of 23-year-old Danel Korrey Stanton and 22-month-old Kaydence Ray Miers.

Court records show Lillie Stanton told police she slashed the victims' throats because she feared that Kaydence's father was about to be given more visitation time. Police said she also said she cut her own throat and wrists after the May 20 killings.