Kentucky News Now – November 19, 2013

ESCAPEE SENTENCING

US Supreme Court rejects escape appeal

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A federal inmate with Mafia ties who escaped custody while in Kentucky has lost an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The justices on Monday turned away the case of 40-year-old Derek Albert Capozzi. Capozzi was sentenced to 51 months for escaping while being transferred to a federal prison in Pennsylvania. Capozzi later pleaded guilty.

He is also serving 23 years for his role in the 1996 killing and dismemberment of a potential government witness in Massachusetts and time in another case.

Capozzi had been in Kentucky to testify at a trial before bolting from a U.S. marshal's van in Lexington.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Capozzi's conviction and sentence in July.

Capozzi is in a federal prison in Florence, Colo. His projected release date is Jan. 13, 2050.

OPEN MEETING-VIOLATION

Spring Mill found in violation of open meeting law

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The attorney general's office has concluded that the tiny city of Spring Mill in Jefferson County violated the state Open Meetings Act by holding special meetings in the mayor's home.

Assistant Attorney General James M. Herrick wrote in an opinion released Monday that Spring Mill officials also violated the law by not alerting the public to the meetings and by not posting the agenda.

Herrick said the question presented to the attorney general's office was whether Spring Hill City Commission violated the law failing to hold regular public meetings, opting instead to meet at Mayor Joseph Henning's residence.

Henning said the issue was resolved after an objection was made. Now, he said, the city commission is meeting at the courthouse on the second Wednesday of each month.

WHOOPING CRANES

Whooping crane migration enters Kentucky

MORGANFIELD, Ky. (AP) — A flock of whooping cranes who are being guided by an aircraft on their way to Florida have arrived in Kentucky.

The endangered birds began a migration in early October from a wildlife area in Wisconsin.

A release from the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership this week says the cranes have entered Union County. It is the 13th group of birds that have been involved in a project that is working to reintroduce the species in eastern North America.

The birds are following two ultralight aircraft on a journey through Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia to reach their wintering habitat at St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in the Gulf Coast.

The birds can be viewed on a live webcam at http://www.ustream.tv/migratingcranes.

COMMUNITY COLLEGE PRESIDENT

President named for Hopkinsville Community College

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The new president of Hopkinsville Community College has been selected. He is Jay S. Allen, who has been vice president of the Perkinston Campus and George County Center of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College system since 2011.

Kentucky Community and Technical College System President Michael B. McCall announced Allen's appointment on Monday and said Allen's qualifications and leadership skills will keep the western Kentucky school successful.

McCall's office said the college's board of directors unanimously recommended Allen for the post from among four candidates who were considered.

Allen, who has 18 years of experience as a community college administrator, will begin his duties Jan. 1 and said he and his family are looking forward to moving to Kentucky.

AUNT STABBED

Jackson man gets 37 years in aunt stabbing

JACKSON, Tenn. (AP) — A Jackson man has been sentenced to 37 years in prison, a year after the fatal stabbing of his aunt.

Jackson police say 20-year-old Caleb Mullins was sentenced Monday. Mullins pleaded guilty in September to second-degree murder, theft of property and tampering with evidence in the death of 43-year-old Karen Mullins.

Mullins was arrested Nov. 12, 2012, in Louisville, Ky., where authorities say they found him with his aunt's sport utility vehicle.

Karen Mullins' body was found on the kitchen floor of her home in Jackson the day before the arrest. Authorities said she died of multiple stab wounds.

Investigators said they found a knife and bloody clothes during a search of a trash bin at apartments where the victim and her nephew formerly lived together.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Wingate to rule soon in sexual harassment case

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky judge could rule by the end of the month on motions to dismiss two of the defendants in a sexual harassment lawsuit.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate said Monday he may decide next week whether to drop the state and House Speaker Greg Stumbo as defendants in the case.

That would leave the Legislative Research Commission and former Democratic state Rep. John Arnold of Sturgis as defendants.

The case involves two legislative staffers who filed sexual harassment complaints against Arnold and later filed the lawsuit.

Arnold denied the allegations but resigned shortly after they were made.

A House investigative committee is looking into the allegations. If confirmed, that panel could recommend that Arnold be reprimanded or fined.