Thursday’s Kentucky News Now, November 14, 2013

USA HARVEST-FOUNDER

Judge set to rule on charity founder's competency

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge is set to rule on whether the founder of the food charity USA Harvest is competent to face charges that he used money from the organization for personal expenses.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Dave Whalin plans to announce his decision Thursday afternoon about the mental capacity of 63-year-old Hugh "Stan" Curtis. An attorney for Curtis has said if his client is found competent, a guilty plea could quickly follow the ruling in U.S. District Court in Louisville.

Curtis is charged with taking $183,354 from the charity and charging another $370,000 in personal travel expenses. Curtis has been in poor health since being charged in September 2012.

Curtis founded the organization in 1989 as Kentucky Harvest of Louisville.

HORSE TAXES

Farm Bureau wants exemption to equine sales tax

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Farm Bureau President Mark Haney is again calling for lawmakers to provide an exemption from the state sales tax for products used in the horse industry.

Haney raised the issue in testimony to the Kentucky Legislature's Interim Agriculture Committee on Wednesday.

Advocates for the equine industry have pushed for tax relief for years, and they have support from some leading lawmakers.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, a Georgetown Republican, is among those who want to exempt horse farmers from paying sales taxes on products like feed and fencing.

Such an exemption, they contend, would allow horse farmers to invest more in the industry that pumped almost $3 billion into the state's economy last year.

Haney urged lawmakers to take action in the legislative session that begins in January.

LESSYA'S FACE

Woman disfigured by radiation to undergo surgery

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A woman left disfigured by radiation treatments for a cancer she never had will undergo surgery in Louisville as doctors start reconstructing her face.

The procedure on Thursday at University of Louisville Hospital is expected to last about two hours. It's a prelude to a longer surgery early next year for Lessya (less'-uh) Kotelevskaya (Ko-te-lev-SKY-uh). The surgeries will be performed by a team from University of Louisville Physicians led by Dr. Jarrod Little.

Kotelevskaya lost her home, husband and business after being diagnosed with jaw cancer at age 19 in Kazakhstan. It took years to find out the diagnosis was wrong. The radiation caused a gaping hole in her right cheek.

Her cousin brought her to Kentucky in July. Now 30, she hopes to someday become a nurse but for now is focused on her health.

HEALTH OVERHAUL-KENTUCKY

50,000-plus insurance applications finished in Ky.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A federal report shows Kentuckians have completed 50,279 applications for health coverage through the state's online insurance marketplace, a part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed that 28,676 of the applicants qualify for Medicaid. It also shows that 5,586 people have signed up for traditional insurance coverage.

Kentucky, which operates its own health care exchange, hasn't had the technological glitches that have plagued the federal system. As a result, the state has processed more applications than most others.

Gov. Steve Beshear estimates four out of five Kentuckians will be eligible for federal subsidies to help cover the cost of coverage. Those subsidies, based on income, range from less than $100 to more than $500 monthly.

BAPTISTS-HIRING GAYS

Baptists vote no confidence in Sunrise president

(Information in the following story is from: WPSD-TV, http://www.wpsdlocal6.com )

LONE OAK, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Baptists have expressed their opposition to a proposal to allow gays to work at a church-affiliated agency that cares for abused children around the state.

Members at the Kentucky Baptist Convention's annual meeting on Tuesday voted "no confidence" in Sunrise President Bill Smithwick, who had proposed that the agency begin hiring gays. He says the agency could lose tens of millions of dollars in state and federal funding if it continues to turn away gay job applicants.

WPSD-TV in Paducah reports the no confidence vote doesn't affect Smithwick's employment. Sunrise's board is in charge of hiring the president.

Last week Sunrise's board of directors voted to keep the current hiring policy.

Kentucky Baptist Convention Executive Director Paul Chitwood said Smithwick's recommendation simply went against Baptist beliefs.

ATV GETAWAY

Police: Bank robber flees on ATV

VIRGIE, Ky. (AP) — Police are looking for a couple of men who may be planning to use proceeds of a bank heist to come up with a more comfortable getaway vehicle after fleeing on an ATV.

The getaway was apparently effective, at least for now. Kentucky State Police issued descriptions of the men after the US Bank in the Virgie community of Pike County was robbed Wednesday.

Witnesses told police that a man entered the bank, showed a weapon and demanded money. He was wearing tan pants, dark jacket, blue bandanna and white cap.

Police say when he left, he climbed on the back of a green Honda Foreman operated by a man described as wearing tan Carhartt-type coveralls, hoodie, tan ski cap and gloves.

Contact police at (800) 222-5555 or (606) 433-7711.