Kentucky News Now – May 28th 2014

KENTUCKY-HEMP

Hemp seeds planted in Kentucky following dispute

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Hemp has turned into a legitimate test crop in Kentucky after a legal battle over imported seeds.

Researchers are planting seeds to start gauging the potential for the non-intoxicating cousin of marijuana.

University of Kentucky agronomy researchers planted a small plot Tuesday in central Kentucky.

The seeds were part of a shipment released after a legal standoff between Kentucky's Agriculture Department and the federal government.

Another test hemp plot affiliated with Murray State University in western Kentucky has also been planted.

Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says the research will eventually lead to new jobs and farm income.

The new federal farm bill allows state agriculture departments to designate hemp pilot projects for research in states that allow hemp growing. Kentucky is at the forefront of the comeback.

SNAKE HANDLING

Son of late Ky. snake handler recovering from bite

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The son of a snake-handling Kentucky preacher who died from a snakebite says he's recovering from his own rattlesnake wound.

Cody Coots tells the Lexington Herald-Leader he was bitten on a finger as he removed snakes from a cage on Monday.

The 21-year Coots says he declined medical treatment from an ambulance crew. Instead, he says he relied on prayer for healing.

Coots says he told the Lord he wouldn't go to the hospital.

He says his hand swelled and he vomited repeatedly, but by Tuesday the pain was gone.

Coots is a fourth-generation snake handler and had been bitten five times previously.

His father, Jamie Coots, died of a snakebite in February. Following his death, Cody Coots took over as pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name church in Middlesboro, Kentucky.

LITTER PICKUPS

Highway litter pickup effort planned for next week

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Volunteers will be out in force next week to pick up litter along Kentucky's highways.

The state Transportation Cabinet says its Adopt-a-Highway Summer Scrub Week is set for the week of June 2.

Nearly 700 groups participate in Kentucky's Adopt-a-Highway program, which began in 1988. The cabinet says volunteers clean about 4,800 miles of roadside annually, setting an example of responsible environmental stewardship.

Volunteers adopt two-mile sections of highway under a two-year, renewable contract with the Transportation Cabinet.

The cabinet says that each year, it spends about $5 million and 200,000 worker hours to remove 96,000 bags of highway litter. It says Adopt-a-Highway volunteers help save thousands of taxpayer dollars and demonstrate that a clean environment is a shared responsibility.

ARMY-SUSTAINMENT CENTER

Fort Campbell to cut ribbon on operations center

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — The 101st Sustainment Brigade is set to cut the ribbon and open a new headquarters at Fort Campbell.

The ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. CDT on the military post on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line at the Air Assault Sustainment Operation Center, located the 101st Sustainment Brigade "Lifeliners" headquarters

The center is expected to provide a one-stop logistic support hub to synchronize sustainment requirements, operations and stakeholders in the Fort Campbell community. The center gives the senior commander the ability to track and leverage sustainment functions throughout the Fort Campbell footprint and beyond

The ceremony is open to the public. Visitors must bring a photo ID, vehicle registration and insurance to enter the post at the Gate 4 visitor's entrance.

DIET DRUG-LAWYERS

US Supreme Court declines diet drug civil case

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A $42 million judgment against a group of former attorneys will stand after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal in the case.

The justices on Tuesday rejected a request from now-disbarred lawyers William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills to consider reversing the Kentucky Supreme Court, which reinstated the verdict in favor of a group of 431 people sickened by the diet drug fen-phen.

The former clients sued Gallion, Cunningham and Mills in 2005, claiming the lawyers mishandled a massive settlement stemming from litigation over the diet drug and improperly kept a significant portion of the funds for themselves.

Gallion and Cunningham are serving federal prison sentences after being convicted of bilking their clients out of millions from the settlement.

FRAZIER MUSEUM

Ky. museum's executive director stepping down

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The executive director of the Frazier History Museum is stepping down from the job after seven years of guiding the Louisville attraction.

Madeleine Burnside took over as executive director in 2007 after a national search.

During her tenure, the museum's name changed to better reflect its mission of presenting local, regional, American and international history.

Frazier Board Chairman Walter Crutcher says her leadership helped take the museum to a new level.

He says the museum's board will begin a national search for a new executive director.

The museum was opened by Owsley Brown Frazier in 2004.

The Frazier Museum is a member of the Smithsonian Affiliate Membership Program and the American Association of Museums.

UK-DEMOLITIONS

UK to raze 8 buildings over summer

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

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — The University of Kentucky plans to proceed with razing eight buildings over the summer to make way for new construction.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports the move comes despite some objections from preservationists, who have noted that some of the buildings are historic and iconic.

The school expects to spend $4 million to demolish buildings including Hamilton House, who was built in 1880 and Wenner-Gren Research Laboratory, which housed UK's early aeronautic research.

UK Vice President for Facilities Bob Wiseman says officials try to save historic buildings when possible, student recruitment and retention is hurt by aging and defunct dorms.