Kentucky News Now – June 3rd 2014

GLOBAL WARMING-KENTUCKY

Coalfield residents worry about new regulations

PRESTONSBURG, Ky. (AP) — News of stricter federal emissions standards on coal-fired power plants is being met with groans in eastern Kentucky, where locals are worried about keeping their coal industry jobs.

Twenty years ago, more than 150 coal mines were active in Floyd County. Now, Floyd County Judge-Executive R.D. "Doc" Marshall says there are fewer than five.

The new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency require Kentucky to reduce its carbon emissions by about 18 percent by 2030.

Railroad worker Gary Whitt says his job depends on transporting coal and worries he could be laid off.

Libby Lawson says her husband got a job last month after losing his coal job last year. She wonders how long it will last and thinks the regulations may be too stiff.

OBIT-KELLER

James Keller, former Kentucky justice, dies

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice James Keller has died in Lexington.

Tom Morton of Kerr Brothers Funeral Home in Lexington said Keller died Monday at Saint Joseph Hospital. Morton did not know the cause of death.

The 71-year-old jurist practiced law in Lexington after leaving the bench in 2005.

Then-Gov. Paul Patton appointed Keller to the Supreme Court in 1999. He won a full term in 2000.

Keller graduated from Eastern Kentucky University and earned his law degree from the University of Kentucky. He spent 10 years in private practice, then served as master commissioner for Fayette County Circuit Court. He became a circuit judge in 1976, serving until 1999.

He joined the Lexington law firm of Gess Mattingly & Atchison in 2005.

WEATHER NETWORK

Mesonet weather network seeks support base

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Mesonet, a network of automated stations providing weather information across the state, put in its first station seven years ago and has stations in 64 counties.

The Mesonet is being developed by the Kentucky Climate Center at Western Kentucky University. Western says the Mesonet now is trying to build a broad base of funding and support.

Stuart Foster is the state climatologist and director of the Mesonet. He says organizers are trying to partner with local governments to support stations in their counties.

Foster is contacting judge-executives in counties that are home to Mesonet sites to seek funding and says Western will match funding.

Information gathered by the Mesonet stations is sent to the Climate Center at Western every five minutes and is available at http://www.kymesonet.org.

PAIN PILL APPEAL

Appeals court set to hear pain pill clinic case

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court is set to hear the appeal of a Louisiana businessman serving 15 years in federal prison for distributing oxycodone and methadone illegally through pain clinics in eastern Kentucky.

A three-judge panel from the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati will take up the case of 48-year-old Michael Leman of Slidell, La. A jury in Lexington convicted Leman in March 2012 of using pain clinics in Kentucky's Appalachian region to distribute medications to bogus patients. The hearing is scheduled for June 19.

A judge also ordered Leman to pay $1 million in restitution to an agency handling crime victim compensation and one dealing with substance abuse.

Leman is housed at Forrest City Correctional Complex in Forrest City, Ark.

LAWMAKERS COMPENSATION

Review prompted by lawmakers' pay disparity

(Information in the following story is from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com )

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A disparity in lawmakers' pay has led to a review of how Kentucky lawmakers are compensated for expenses.

The Courier-Journal reports some lower-ranking lawmakers actually made more than higher-ranking ones due to a patchwork of laws and policies.

According to records the newspaper got from the Legislative Research Commission, Rep. Keith Hall had the highest compensation of any House member in 2013 at $86,514. House Speaker Greg Stumbo came in second at $83,602.

The records show that Republican Caucus Chairman Dan Seum of Louisville had a total compensation of $79,352 while higher-ranked Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer of Georgetown received $57,440.

The disparities led Senate President Robert Stivers to put a directive in the budget bill that staff review policies on paying expenses and make a recommendation by July 1.

TRIPLE FATALITY

3 die in southern Missouri traffic accident

MANSFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man and two women from Kentucky were killed and four other people were injured in a head-on collision in southern Missouri.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says the accident occurred late Sunday on U.S. 60 about 3 miles east of Mansfield.

The patrol says a pickup truck driven by 22-year-old Austin Branham of Mansfield crossed the highway median and collided head-on with a van driven by 54-year-old Melanie Hays of Melber, Kentucky. After the impact, Branham's truck overturned and caught fire.

Branham, Hays and a passenger in her van, 76-year-old Shirley Phillips, of Bardwell, Kentucky, died in the accident.

Four other passengers in Hays' van suffered serious injuries and were airlifted to a Springfield hospital.

MISSING SHOES

Police confiscate $3M worth of shoes from Ky. home

RADCLIFF, Ky. (AP) — Police are investigating after finding $3 million worth of missing shoes at a central Kentucky home.

Media outlets report that officers with the Radcliff Police Department confiscated thousands of pairs of Nike shoes that were scattered in front of the home.

According to a search warrant filed last week, the shoes were supposed to be shipped in 2009 from a Nike distribution center in Tennessee to another one in Texas, but never made it.

The women who were in possession of the shoes said they had purchased them from someone else and didn't know they were stolen. They said they were selling them at a flea market.

Police are investigating. No arrests have been made.