Today’s Kentucky News – October 15th

TEENS-GUN ARRESTS

Teens arrested after gun found in backpack

(Information in the following story is from: WHAS-TV, http://www.whas11.com )

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police arrested two Jefferson County high school students after a gun was found in a backpack.

According to WHAS-TV, school officials received a call Monday from a family member concerned that a student at Valley High School may have been carrying a weapon.

When the security staff confronted the student, they said he dropped the backpack he was carrying and ran. Officials searched the backpack and found two guns.

Police caught up with the student in a neighborhood near the school and arrested him. Another student he was talking to was also arrested.

Both are charged with unlawful possession of a weapon on school property, and one juvenile is facing an additional charge of fleeing or evading police.

Police are not releasing the students' names because of their ages.

SCHOOL AUDITS

Special audits point to lack of accountability

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — State Auditor Adam Edelen has found a lack of accountability and transparency to be common themes in 14 school districts that have been the focus of special reviews by his staffers in the past year.

Edelen told the Interim Joint Committee on Education on Monday that in one case a former superintendent was found to have received $224,000 in unauthorized payments in a district where 90 percent of students are so poor they qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

In other cases, Edelen said administrators have been freely spending on dinners and travel while teachers and parents pick up costs for classroom materials.

He said some teachers are spending $2,000 to $3,000 a year on supplies out of their own pockets. Edelen told lawmakers he's outraged by that.

KENTUCKY SENATE-ENDORSEMENT

McConnell gets nod from Fraternal Order of Police

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has received the endorsement of the Kentucky Fraternal Order of Police in his bid for re-election to a sixth term.

Officers announced their decision Saturday at a state convention in Bowling Green.

County Sheriff Burl Purdue, who serves as president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the dangers officers face are too serious not to have McConnell working on their behalf in Washington.

McConnell said he's humbled by the endorsement. And he pledged to continue working alongside police to protect Kentucky families.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Special election set for Dec. 10 to replace Arnold

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Gov. Steve Beshear has set a special election for Dec. 10 to replace former Democratic state Rep. John Arnold of Sturgis, who resigned last month after being accused of sexual harassment.

Legislative Research Commission staffers Yolanda Costner and Cassaundra Cooper alleged that Arnold had touched them inappropriately and made vulgar comments. Arnold said in his resignation letter that he had been "destroyed politically" and could no longer be an effective voice for his constituents.

Arnold, a retired chiropractor, had served in the House since 1995.

Beshear also set a special election for Dec. 10 to replace Democratic state Sen. Kathy Stein of Lexington, who resigned to accept a judicial appointment in Fayette County.

The elections will be held under the state's newly drawn legislative districts.

KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE

Stein appointed to judgeship in Fayette County

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Democratic state Sen. Kathy Stein has been appointed to an open judgeship in Fayette County, which removes one of Kentucky's most liberal lawmakers from the Legislature.

Gov. Steve Beshear made the appointment on Monday.

Stein had been in the state Senate since 2009. She also served in the House for 11 years, including a stint as chairman of the Judiciary Committee.

Beshear chose Stein over Lexington attorneys Carl David Devine and Christian Renau Worth who also were recommended by a judicial nominating committee. That committee was called on to review resumes of people interested in the judgeship and forward three names to Beshear.