Kick Off The Week With Kentucky News – November 4th, 2013

BIDEN-SERVICE MEMBERS

Jill Biden attends Churchill Downs event

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The wife of Vice President Joe Biden participated in an event at Churchill Downs that recognized the families of military service members who have given their lives since the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

Jill Biden was part of the fourth annual Survivors Day at the Races held Sunday in Louisville.

Organizers say there were more than 600 attendees.

The highlight of the event was a race named in honor of the family members.

The vice president's oldest son Beau is Delaware's attorney general and an Army National Guard member who served a yearlong deployment in Iraq.

PEDESTRIANS KILLED

2 pedestrians killed in hit and run

EZEL, Ky. (AP) — Police are investigating a hit and run in Morgan County that left two people dead.

Kentucky State Police said 41-year-old Elizabeth Thornsberry of Ezel and 48-year-old Tony Ross of Clearfield were standing on the shoulder of Highway 10-10 when they were struck by a vehicle around 7 o'clock Saturday evening. The vehicle left the scene, and authorities are still looking for the driver.

Police said the victims had been at a nearby bar. Ross left the bar on foot and Thornsberry followed in her car. When she stopped the vehicle and got out to talk to Ross, police said the two were then struck by the vehicle.

FOLK MEDICINE

U of K exhibit features folk remedies

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — An exhibit at the University of Kentucky's special collections library showcases medical remedies from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, the folk remedies featured in the "Notions and Potions" exhibit were taken from the working papers of area residents and farmers.

The remedies include groundhog grease for burns, and a bitter apple for arthritis-like pain.

The exhibit also has some strange theories.

Megan Mummey is one of the archivists who helped put together the exhibition. She says her favorite part of the exhibit is the Kentucky man convinced that flannel was the cause of consumption, or tuberculosis.

Other ideas about the causes of consumption included poor diet, vigorous exercise, hereditary predisposition, the blowing of trumpets and tightly laced corsets.

POWER PLANT CLOSING

Harder times expected with loss of Ky. power plant

LOUISA, Ky. (AP) — For decades, the Big Sandy power plant near Louisa did more than keep the lights on. It supplied the Appalachian town with tax revenue and some of the best-paying jobs around as it converted coal into electricity.

Massive piles of coal are still stacked outside the Big Sandy complex in Lawrence County, but now its prospects are dim.

Kentucky Power Co. operates the two-unit Big Sandy complex and plans to close the larger 800-megawatt unit in 2015. Dozens of prime jobs will be lost in a county of 16,000 people with little other industry and a jobless rate around 10 percent.

The utility will pump more than $1.1 million into the area in coming years to try to soften the setback. The money is earmarked for economic development efforts, but local officials are skeptical the contribution will stimulate much growth.

APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM

Apprenticeship program growing in northern Ky.

ERLANGER, Ky. (AP) — When the recession hit in 2008, the bottom fell out of the housing market virtually overnight. Construction sites became ghost towns. New construction plummeted by 70 percent. Workers found themselves suddenly out of jobs, and many left the industry altogether.

While the economy and the housing market are on the rebound nationally and locally, many of those workers have not returned. The fledgling recovery is stunted by a serious shortage of skilled workers, but the Home Builders Association of Northern Kentucky is trying to fill that gap.

Its Enzweiler Apprentice Training Program is seeing record enrollment and turning out a record number of skilled workers in fields such as carpentry, plumbing, welding, roofing, electrical and remodeling.

TOURISM STUDY

Study: E. Ky. could be developed like Gatlinburg

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A tourism study suggests that eastern Kentucky could be developed like Gatlinburg, Tenn., in an effort to draw visitors from surrounding states.

The study, which was commissioned by a branch of the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, said that with the right mix of activities, the Appalachian region could become a "modern, well-planned Gatlinburg."

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports study was done as officials look for way to revitalize the area's economy, which has seen coal jobs decrease by 6,000 over the last two years.

The goal was to assess the potential for increased tourism in eastern Kentucky. A report shows the area is well-positioned for growth.