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Smoke Signals: As Rick Redding reported yesterday, both UK and U of L instituted sweeping tobacco bans today, with UK going so far as to ban any tobacco products anywhere on campus, according to The Courier-Journal.
U of L is still allowing smoking in designated areas, but plans to go cold turkey in about a year. Oddly enough, both are ahead of Bellarmine University in this, with the school that seems to be trying to be the Notre Dame of the South lagging behind and going smokeless at the beginning of the new year.
Talk About the Evil Step-Father: A Spencer County man has admitted to police that he killed his 15-year-old stepdaughter, according to WLKY.
In other, earlier reports, another family member said the two had been feuding for some time, but killing a 15-year-old because you can't get along with her? Well, this asshat should have a looooong time to think about it.
Driving With Force? WLKY is teasing a report scheduled for its 6 o'clock broadcast called “Driving with Force,” about a new wonder product that's apparently supposed to help improve a car's mileage and be good for the environment. And since there's a former UK basketball player involved, it must be good, right? I wonder what kind of snake oil these folks are selling?
More Swine Flu Vaccinations: Metro government is holding another H1N1 vaccination clinic. The city's next walk-in clinic is set for next Tuesday, Nov. 24th, at New Zion Baptist Church, 1501 S. 34th St., from 3-7 p.m. or as long as supplies last. No appointments are necessary.
What if the Mayor Died? And speaking of Rick, he's got an interesting piece on Louisville's mayoral succession plan, which former mayoral candidate Kelly Downard says needs to be changed.
We Want You: And we're still looking for people to start blogging the news on our site. If you've got a blog somewhere else and it's getting no traffic, try it here. Thousands of people come by this site every day, and if you can manage verb and subject agreement, we might feature you on the homepage and put your words in front of them.
Or even better, if you see something happen, or happening, in your neighborhood that people should know about, start writing. If you're interested, get in touch with me here.
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With Old Man Winter bearing down on us, the Kentucky Public Service Commission has some ideas to help the Commonwealth better weather the storms.
Of course, these recommendations won't do us much good this year, but they may spur local and state officials to take steps to better prepare for next winter.
The KPSC issued a report today with more than 60 findings and recommendations for utility companies in Kentucky. The report is based on a review of the September 2008 wind storm and January 2009 ice storm, the causes of the two largest power outages in the history of the commonwealth.
Commission Chairman David Armstrong said today that the report is just the first step in addressing weaknesses in Kentucky's electrical and utility infrastructure exposed by the two storms. Utilities under the commission's jurisdiction will have until March of next year to respond to the report, and their responses will then be evaluated by the commission, according to Armstrong.
“The PSC is directing each jurisdictional utility in the state to respond to the applicable recommendations in the report,” Armstrong said. “We are directing the utilities to tell us what they are doing to implement each recommendation and – if they disagree with it and do not intend to implement it – to explain their objections.”
Highlights of the report include recommendations to bury power lines in specific circumstances, such as lines that are prone to repeated damage (It would cost more than $200 billion to place all of the lines under PSC jurisdiction underground, according to the PSC.); strengthening or “hardening” overhead lines to critical facilities and outage prone circuits; improving emergency preparedness; and providing customers better information about outages and restoration efforts.
The full report is available on the KPSC website.
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A U.S. Marshals task force today arrested the man who allegedly shot two people in Louisville on Saturday.
U.S. Marshals arrested Randall K. Kiper early Thursday morning in West McHenry County, near Beaver Dam, Ky.
Police say Kiper shot a man and a woman sitting inside a car in the 1700 block of Lytle Street in the Portland neighborhood, nearly hitting a 2-year-old in the back seat.
For more on the story, go to WLKY.
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He's not scheduled to start hiking till April, but Troy Yocum already has a long haul ahead of him.
Yocum, a former soldier who returned three months ago to Louisville from a deployment in Iraq, wants to hike and drum across America to raise $5 million for military families in need.
His planned trek will take him through 25 states and 7,000 miles and take 15 months, and Yocum hopes to raise the $5 million for USA Cares, an organization that provides financial assistance to military families.
USA Cares has received more than 16,000 requests for assistance in the last six years, and has provided more than $6 million in grants, according to Yocum's website. USA Cares grants are given to the families themselves but are made in the form of payments directly to mortgage lenders and utility companies, according to the site.
Yocum says the $5 million figure is the amount needed to help the rest of the families that USA Cares has not yet been able to afford to help.
The drum hike is scheduled to start next April, on the same day as Thunder Over Louisville, and Yocum has secured the assistance of Louisville Slugger and Bionic Gloves to help him gain entre to 20 major and minor league baseball stadiums along the hike route to drum up support. He's also in talks with the University of Louisville Marching Band to start the hike with him, Yocum said.
Sponsors Sabian Cymbals, Yamaha Drums and Latin Percussion are helping Yocum with drums and equipment, and he plans to drum with every step he takes. Yocum said he plans to hike with several drums strapped to him and change them out as circumstances warrant.
But he's still got a ways to go before he's ready. Yocum leaves today to fly to his girlfriend's family's home near the Black Forest in Germany for seven weeks to train for the hike, and then he'll be back in Louisville to continue the fundraising he needs to do before he takes a single step.
To make the drum hike feasible, Yocum said he needs to raise about $75,000 – or about $30,000 or $35,000 and a donated RV – before leaving. He plans to use the RV as a mobile headquarters for fundraising (and showering) along the trip route.
Part of the inspiration for Yocum's proposed trek comes from fellow soldiers he's seen come home, have trouble finding work and instead find themselves facing foreclosure.
After serving as an infantryman after 9/11 but never being sent overseas for duty, Yocum was called up from Inactive Ready reserve to go overseas and spent almost a year providing convoy security from Kuwait into Iraq and back.
“I think it's important to respect the military families like they have respectfully donated their time, sacrificed their lives, sacrificed being with their families, by going overseas and putting their lives on the line,” he said. “I think you almost have to thank these people as an American for keeping us safe… and now when they come back and it's their time of need, this is what I can do to help them.”
To donate, or to find out more, go to www.drumhike.com.
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desert lion
thu nov 19 2009
at 4:12 pm
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Well if it isn't my long lost soldier. I still have the letter you to sent me at Logan's when you were deployed right after 9/11. Get in touch, if you like, Troy. And of course, I'll donate. |
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Ashums
fri nov 20 2009
at 12:12 am
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any ladies out there that want to host a jewelry show i am a independent Lia Sophia Advisor and i will donate 15% of the show profit to this benefit, when you host a show, check out my website or email me. Nicholsan1@gmail.com or http://www.liasophia.com/sites/ashleynichols |
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Ashums
fri nov 20 2009
at 12:17 am
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any ladies out there that want to host a jewelry show i am a independent Lia Sophia Advisor and i will donate 15% of the show profit to this benefit, when you host a show, check out my website or email me. Nicholsan1@gmail.com or http://www.liasophia.com/sites/ashleynichols |
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christopher hall
send msg
This is the next step in developing our own brand of citizen journalism.
I'm here to report on what I see going on in Louisville, to look for stories wherever and whatever they are, and to get you to help me.
If you know of something going on that's good, or something that's going on that shouldn't be, let me know. We want to shout it from the rooftops, or - even better - help you to do it.
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sent Thu Nov 19 @ 10:15 PM
