Kentucky News Now – May 29th 2014

EPA GRANTS

Kentucky communities get $1 million in EPA grants

ATLANTA (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $1 million in brownfield grants to revitalize two Kentucky communities. Brownfield sites are properties where expansion and redevelopment is complicated because there is the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant.

The EPA announced this week that the city of Frankfort is getting $200,000 to assess for petroleum and another $200,000 to assess for the presence of hazardous substances. The Northern Kentucky Area Development District will also be getting a $600,000 grant to assess for hazardous substances.

Federal officials say the grant money provides the funding to clean and redevelop contaminated properties, and boosts local economies while protecting human health.

GAY RIGHTS-DANVILLE

Danville alters proposed gay rights ordinance

(Information in the following story is from: The (Danville, Ky.) Advocate-Messenger, http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews )

DANVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Danville City Commission has altered a proposed gay rights ordinance to exempt religious groups after a Baptist-affiliated organization threatened to leave the city.

The City Commission changed the proposed ordinance on Tuesday. The Advocate Messenger reports the commission voted 3-2 in favor of the revised ordinance on its first reading Tuesday.

At the commission's meeting last month, an attorney for Sunrise Children's Services said it would move its child care center out of Danville if the ordinance did not include an exemption. The Baptist-affiliated agency receives a significant portion of its funding from the government, but it refuses gay job applicants.

The commission will vote on a second reading next month.

GLI PRESIDENT

Louisville chamber names new president

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville's chamber of commerce will have a new president beginning next month.

Greater Louisville Inc. announced this week that Kent Oyler will become the organization's new president and CEO, effective June 1. Oyler, an entrepreneur, most recently served as managing partner of OPM Services, Inc., a financial-services and investment firm and has founded or co-founded over 18 other businesses.

Kerry Stemler, the chairman of Greater Louisville Inc.'s board says Oyler will help the group "chart a new course of action for a truly regional approach to driving business growth and economic prosperity."

Oyler will take over for Eileen Pickett, who has been serving as acting CEO.

PLANT HABITATS

Fish and Wildlife seeks comment on plant habitats

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is seeking public comment about critical habitats for three rare plants found in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In a news release, the service says it's seeking comment about the potential effect on tracts of land designated as habitats for the Short's bladderpod, the whorled sunflower and the fleshy-fruit gladecress.

The fleshy-fruit gladecress is found in only two counties in Alabama. The whorled sunflower is found in four counties in Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. The Short's bladderpod is found in 11 counties in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.

About 2,400 acres on 30 parcels of land have been identified as habitat critical to the plants' survival.

The service proposed in August 2013 to list the plants as endangered species. A final decision is pending.

MILITARY CONSUMER PROTECTION

Tenn. creates military consumer protection guide

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) — Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper is travelling to Fort Campbell to announce a consumer protection guide for U.S. military personnel.

According to a news release, it was through a relationship with Fort Campbell's consumer affairs counselors that the attorney general's office recognized the need for information about common scams targeting the military. The guide covers topics that include automobile purchases, lending, identity theft and debt collection.

Cooper will discuss the new guide during a presentation at the sprawling Army base on the Tennessee-Kentucky border on Thursday morning.

The guide will be available for download from the Attorney General's website at www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral.

FAYETTE AUDIT-EDELEN

Edelen to examine Fayette County Public Schools

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic State Auditor Adam Edelen says he will examine financial mismanagement allegations at Fayette County Public Schools.

Edelen announced the probe Wednesday, one week after finishing an audit of Jefferson County Public Schools that concluded the district's inefficient operations cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year.

The Fayette County inquiry will focus on allegations from the district's budget director that an accounting error created a $20 million deficit at the school district. District officials have denied the allegations and asked Edelen to audit the district's finances.

This will be the 17th school district Edelen has audited since he took office in 2012. Audits in two school districts - Mason and Dayton counties - led to criminal indictments of their superintendents.

Edelen is considering running for governor in 2015.

FALSE BILLING-SETTLEMENT

Hospital reaches $40 million settlement with feds

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A hospital in northeastern Kentucky has reached a $40.9 million settlement with the federal government over claims that it made millions of dollars by falsely billing federal health care programs.

The settlement announced Wednesday ends an investigation into whether King's Daughters Medical Center in Ashland performed heart procedures that the patients didn't medically need between 2006 and 2011. The procedures included unnecessary coronary stents and diagnostic catheterizations performed by doctors at the hospital.

U.S. Attorney Kerry Harvey in Lexington says the settlement is the largest of its kind involving a hospital in the history of the 67 counties in the Eastern District of Kentucky. The settlement total roughly doubles the amount of money King's Daughters received as a result of the alleged fraudulent billing for the services.