Kentucky News Now – September 17th 2015

HEALTH OVERHAUL-KENTUCKY

Kentucky leads nation in drop of uninsured

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The number of people in Kentucky without health insurance fell 5.8 percent last year, the largest drop of any state in the country according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Kentucky was one of 31 states that chose to increase the number of people eligible to receive taxpayer-funded health insurance in 2013. Since then, Kentucky has added about 400,000 people to its Medicaid program and has been held up as an example by President Barack Obama of the success of his health care law.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear said the report shows Kentuckians are not waiting until they are sick to access health care benefits, a fact that will improve the state's overall health.

Republicans question whether the state can afford the expansion, noting that a quarter of the state's population is now receiving government assistance.

VETERAN CARETAKER CHARGED

Caretaker charged with fraud after veteran found dead

DAYTON, Ky. (AP) — Police in northern Kentucky have identified a man found dead in a vacant home and say they have charged the man's caretaker with collecting his Air Force veteran benefits.

Media report the body discovered Saturday in a Dayton home was identified Wednesday by police as 55-year-old Steven Reis. Dayton Police Chief David Halfhill said it looked like Reis probably died in early January, but the cause of death hasn't been determined.

Police charged 40-year-old Christy Russell of Dayton with tampering with evidence and fraud. She was being held in the Campbell County jail on $7,500 bond. Online jail records did not indicate whether she is represented by a lawyer.

Halfhill said Russell knew Reis was dead and used his credit card to steal between $24,000 and $30,000 in Reis' veteran benefits.

MINING DEATH

Miner crushed to death in underground western Kentucky mine

SEBREE, Ky. (AP) — A coal miner has died after a heavy piece of mining machinery fell on him in an underground mine in western Kentucky.

Rickey Thorpe of Dawson Springs was working on a continuous mining machine early Wednesday morning in the Sebree Mine in Webster County when he was crushed. The mining machine is a broad, flat vehicle that uses cutting teeth to quickly dig into a coal seam.

Officials with the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet say the 29-year-old Thorpe was working on the equipment when the accident occurred at 2:20 a.m. CDT. No one else was hurt.

The mine, owned by Alliance Resource Partners, has been closed while officials investigate the incident.

It was the second mine-related death in Kentucky this year.

MOIST ELECTION-MIDDLESBORO

Unofficial tally: Middlesboro votes in favor of "moist vote"

MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (AP) — An unofficial tally shows that Middlesboro residents have voted to approve the "moist" sales of alcohol.

The Middlesboro Daily News reports the unofficial vote tally Tuesday night showed that 1,298 residents voted for the referendum while 1,179 voted against it. The so-called "moist vote" means restaurants can sell alcohol by the drink.

The debate has been an ongoing point of contention in Middlesboro for generations, but the town is not alone in its debate. Twenty-eight other cities and three counties have voted in recent years to approve "moist" sales of alcohol, including Pineville in 2005.

The liquor-by-the-drink vote has also been trending in Tennessee, with around 80 communities voting in favor of the referendum.

A petition was launched in April in Middlesboro to put the issue on the ballot.

TROOPER KILLED-KENTUCKY

Motorist stopped to assist slain police trooper in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A police scanner recording indicates that a motorist stopped to help a Kentucky State Police trooper who was shot during a high-speed chase.

On the recording, wounded Trooper Joseph Cameron Ponder is heard telling the dispatcher he had been shot and was passing out.

Soon, the motorist comes on the scanner traffic and tells the dispatcher he heard gunshots and the trooper wasn't breathing well.

Ponder was shot Sunday night while pursuing a man who fled from a traffic stop along a rural stretch of I-24 near Eddyville.

Ponder died at a hospital. The suspect was shot and killed during a confrontation with police Monday following a manhunt.

Trooper Jay Thomas said Wednesday the scanner recording was authentic. Thomas said two people stopped to assist Ponder but didn't identify them.

KENTUCKY PENSION PLAN

More transparency shows more fees for state pension plan

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — After promising more transparency in its expenses, Kentucky's pension plan for public employees has reported investment fees that are more than double what's been previously made public.

According to WFPL's Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting in Louisville, the Kentucky Retirement Systems Board of Trustees made the disclosure last week in a meeting.

A memo to board members said the agency revised the amount it paid to outside investment firms as part of a "proactive transparency change."

KRS Chief Investment Officer David Peden said the system's net income was not affected.

WFPL reports the numbers give the nearly 350,000 public employees and retirees that depend on the pension system a better idea of how much the board pays to firms to invest about $16 billion in assets.

OFF-GRID FAMILY

Custody showdown looms for 'off-grid' couple, their 10 kids

GARFIELD, Ky. (AP) — A custody case highlighting the controversy over "off-grid" families is headed back to court.

Joe and Nicole Naugler will ask a Kentucky judge Thursday to award them legal custody of their 10 children.

Child protection workers removed the children from the family's tumbledown shack in central Kentucky back in May. The state returned physical custody of the children in July but retained legal custody.

The Nauglers insist that they are not neglecting the children. They say they are loving parents who have chosen to raise their children in an "off-grid" lifestyle without public electricity, running water or a flushable toilet.

The case has exposed the tightrope state officials must walk between parents' rights to raise their children as they choose and the state's responsibility to keep them safe.

MUHAMMAD ALI SCHOLARSHIP

Muhammad Ali launches University of Louisville scholarship

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

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Muhammad Ali, along with his wife, Lonnie, has made a donation to the University of Louisville baseball team for a scholarship in the legendary boxer's name.

The university announced Tuesday that the Muhammad Ali Leadership Baseball Scholarship will consist of a $50,000 honorarium the Louisville native will receive, in addition to a $50,000 anonymous matching donation.

According to the news release, eligible players for the Ali scholarship include student-athletes in good academic standing who are active in community service.

Ali's son, Assad, was a catcher on the baseball team from 2009 through 2012.

The former boxing champion is scheduled Thursday to receive the university's first Grawemeyer Spirit Award, including a $50,000 honorarium Ali will put toward the scholarship.