Kentucky News Now – May 2nd 2014

ARMY-TATTOO LAWSUIT

Kentucky guardsman sues over tattoo rules

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky National Guard soldier with aspirations of joining a U.S. Army special operations unit wants a federal judge to overturn the military's new regulations concerning soldiers with tattoos.

Staff Sgt. Adam C. Thorogood of Nashville, Tennessee, said the ink covering his left arm from the elbow to the wrist isn't harmful, but the Army is using the body art against him and stopping him from joining the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Thorogood sued Thursday in U.S. District Court in Paducah, Kentucky, seeking to have the new rules declared unconstitutional.

The regulations went into effect in March and ban any soldier with tattoos from seeking a promotion to warrant officer or commissioning as an officer.

An Army spokesman did not immediately return a message Thursday.

DRINKING WATER

Cabinet offers ways to conserve water

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Next week is Drinking Water Week in Kentucky, and residents are being offered a few ways to conserve water inside and outside their homes.

The state Energy and Environment Cabinet says homeowners should check for leaks in toilets and pipes as well as in garden hoses and nozzles. Also fill washing machines and dishwashers when running a load rather than running a partial load.

Replace old showerheads with high-efficiency models, and keep drinking water cooling in the refrigerator.

Outdoors, you can mulch bushes and trees to retain moisture, recycle rainwater with barrels and buckets for watering plants, water early or late when temperatures are low to reduce evaporation and plant drought-tolerant plants to reduce the need to water.

The cabinet says this is the 40th anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

ROAD CONSTRUCTION-DERBY

Lane closings on I-65 suspended on Derby weekend

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Construction work on Interstate 65 south of Louisville has been causing weekend lane closures, but the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says that will be suspended this weekend to help motorists traveling to and from Kentucky Derby events.

The right lane is currently closed in each direction on I-65 between the Bullitt-Hardin county line and Lebanon Junction Road, a distance of about 2 1/2 miles. The cabinet says the lanes will remain closed to allow concrete poured this week to cure and strengthen.

Two lanes of traffic will remain open in each direction this weekend through the work zone. The stretch of highway has been reduced to one lane in each direction on weekends but will be left with two lanes each way this weekend.

The speed limit in the work zone is 55 mph. Double fines are being enforced.

DISABILITY FRAUD

Ex-W.Va. law judge faces disciplinary charges

(Information in the following story is from: The Herald-Dispatch, http://www.herald-dispatch.com )

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (AP) — A retired Social Security administrative law judge accused of participating in a scheme to improperly award disability benefits is facing state disciplinary charges.

The Lawyer Disciplinary Board alleges that David B. Daugherty approved claims that didn't meet government guidelines and falsified time sheets.

The board also says Daugherty improperly assigned Kentucky disability lawyer Eric Conn's cases to himself.

The Herald-Dispatch reports that the board filed formal charges against Daugherty earlier this month. He faces a possible loss of his law license.

Daugherty tells the newspaper that he hasn't practiced in law in about 25 years. He declined to comment on his actions as an administrative law judge.

KENTUCKY VOTERS

Kentucky sets voter registration record

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The secretary of state says a record 3.1 million Kentuckians are registered to vote for the May 20 primary elections.

The number beats the previous record of just over 3 million registered voters for the 2012 general elections.

Registered Democrats grew by 0.41 percent while registered Republicans grew by 3.9 percent. Democrats still outnumber Republicans by more than 476,000 voters.

Independent voters increased 7.5 percent to more than 236,000. More than half of the voters are women.

BIDEN-COMMENCEMENT SPEECH

Jill Biden to give commencement speech in Ky.

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — The wife of Vice President Joe Biden will be back in Kentucky later this month.

A statement from the White House says Dr. Jill Biden will give the commencement speech at Owensboro Community and Technical College on May 13.

It will be her second appearance in western Kentucky in less than a month. She accompanied first lady Michelle Obama on April 23 for a visit to Fort Campbell, where they announced a Veterans Employment Center and spoke to soldiers.

Owensboro Community and Technical College has about 4,500 students from Daviess, Ohio, Hancock and McLean counties.

CHEERLEADER LIBEL LAWSUIT

Internet giants eye cheerleader's defamation suit

CINCINNATI (AP) — An appeals court is considering whether an Arizona-based gossip website should have been allowed to be sued for defamation by a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader convicted of having sex with a teenager.

Attorneys for both sides argued their case Thursday before the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The court could rule any time.

Internet giants including Google and Facebook are watching the case to see how it may affect their immunity from many types of lawsuits under a federal Internet law passed in 1996.

In 2012, former Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones sued Nik Richie, the owner of thedirty.com, over posts about her sex life. In July, a jury found that Richie had acted with malice or reckless disregard, and Jones was awarded $338,000.

CONFEDERATE SUBMARINE

Confederate submarine getting a chemical bath

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A new phase in conserving the first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship is beginning.

Conservators at a lab in North Charleston are for the first time putting the Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley in a chemical bath designed to remove salts and encrustation from the hull of the hand-cranked sub.

One Hunley scientist says the process is the end of the beginning of the work of conserving the sub, which sank a Union blockade ship off Charleston in 1864.

The Hunley was discovered off the coast in 1995 and raised in 2000.

It will sit in the solution for about three months and scientists each day are to remove the encrustation. It's expected the entire hull will be cleaned in a year.