360 Fireworks Party

Monday, December 19, 2011

NEWS ROUND-UP -- MONDAY MORNING 19 DEC

by Michael Monks 
Find us on Facebook: The River City News @ Facebook
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COVINGTON POLICE CHIEF'S CONTRACT TO BE VOTED ON TUESDAY
Chief Lee Russo
Chief Lee Russo has been criticized rabidly by one commissioner publicly but is also very popular in the neighborhoods, and can point to many successes in crime reduction since taking over the department. The recent controversy over Sergeant Steve Sweeney, Sweeney's brother's drunk driving incident, and Sweeney being placed full-time at the City's impound lot, have been points of contention in the behind-the-scenes negotiations. The RC News readers will remember that a hearing on that matter was canceled recently and the chief's status in the department may have played a role in that. Multiple sources have indicated to The River City News that the Commission has at least considered a month-to-month contract option (in addition to the other scenarios) but that Russo has requested at least a year-long extension. 
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WEBB-EDGINGTON ANNOUNCES FOR CONGRESS
The Kenton County state representative and former  law enforcement officer is in it to win it:
“Congressman Geoff Davis leaves big shoes to fill. I applaud him for his effective leadership and wish him well as he returns to the private sector. He and Jim Bunning both served the Fourth District with an exceptional commitment to conservative principles. I will seek to follow the examples they set for principled leadership and effective constituent services. “Congress as a whole currently has an historically low approval rating for good reason. We need more leaders who are problem solvers willing to work towards consensus on very difficult decisions. It is essential for our future that we act now to get our fiscal house in order, turn back the tide of ever-increasing debt and deficits and avoid the crippling economic effects that will result from unrestrained government spending,” said Webb-Edgington.
Read the full statement at the link.
Alecia Webb-Edgington Campaign Announcement  
SEE ALSO: The Republican floor leader in the KY House of Representatives predicts more announcements for lots of offices:


 Jeff Hoover 

Big week politically. Can expect lots of announcements of interest!!

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GOV. BESHEAR AND LT. GOV. ABRAMSON MAY BUCK DISHARMONY TREND
It's not common for Kentucky's Governor and Lieutenant Governor to get along if you examine all the recent cases since KY changed its Constitution to allow the top candidate to pick his or her running-mate:
Former Gov. Brereton Jones has said that when he was lieutenant governor, the last time he was in Gov. Wallace Wilkinson’s office was three months into their term when they split on the issue of education. “He said to me, ‘If you do what I tell you to do, you’ll have an excellent chance of being governor,’” Jones told me a decade ago. “I told him, ‘Governor, I was elected the same as you.’ That's when he and I broke off, and I was never in the governor’s office again until I was elected governor.'”
Really terrific article by Joe Gerth. Go read the whole thing.
Courier-Journal 
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KENTUCKY WILL TRY AGAIN FOR EDUCATION GRANT
Kentucky's 'race to the top' never seems to end as we've been denied again, but will try again:
KDE learned last week that it will not receive any of the $500 million of federal funding for early childhood education. Kentucky is now one of seven states, which have failed to win a grant in the first two phases that will potentially share some of the $200 million available in phase three, said Lisa Gross, spokeswoman with the Kentucky Department of Education. “The states that were invited to apply for phase three of Race to the Top did have very deep, very good applications they just weren’t quite good enough to receive funding for phase one or phase two,” Gross said.
WFPL  
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STATE BUYS LAND FROM BIG POLITICAL DONOR
A man who donates a large sum of money to politicians on both sides of the aisle, was able to sell some valuable land to the Commonwealth. Coincidence?
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources paid $6.24 million this month to a company co-owned by one of the state's biggest political donors to buy a piece of undeveloped land in Scott County. The deal was initiated about four years ago by the seller, RLF Lexington Properties, co-owned by Stanford banker Jesse Correll. Correll has, along with his wife and parents, given nearly $900,000 in political donations since 1998 — mostly to Republicans but also to several Democrats, and more than $30,000 to the Kentucky Democratic Party. The Corrells gave at least $67,000 to campaigns and funds for former Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who was in office and naming the bipartisan, nine-member Fish and Wildlife Resources Commission in 2007, when RLF bought the Scott County land.
Maybe we should just teach our kids that that's how you 'race to the top': Get a bunch of money and buy your way there! Yee-haw, Kentucky!
Herald-Leader  
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NKU CREATING DIALOGUE ABOUT REGION'S DIVERSITY
This survey was written about at The River City News here last week where you were encouraged to participate in the questioning, though I found some to be loaded or just strange. The Enquirer has a story this morning:
Because collecting data from a wide representation of people living in the area is crucial to the program’s success, the group is looking to the community for help as well. Residents of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are being asked to complete an online survey about the topic at www.surveymonkey.com/s/cincinnatidiversity.
“It basically asks (participants), ‘How much do you interact with people who are different from you…and how do you feel about it?’” McNally, who coordinates NKU’s public relations program, said of the survey.
Cincinnati Enquirer/Sarah Hardee  
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INSIGHT CABLE DOWN TO LAST MINUTE IN LOUISVILLE
The contract negotiation between Insight and Louisville has a deadline set for today:
The city wants Insight to continue providing free cable to government buildings and schools, to keep giving free cable boxes to disabled and elderly customers and to keep the Insight call center in Louisville. Last month, the mayor said unless Insight agreed, the city would end its contract and seek a new cable provider. Insight says the threat indicates a misinterpretation of federal law, and there are many more steps that have to be taken before the contract can be thrown out.
WFPL/Gabe Bullard  
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PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE TORMENTS EASTERN KY
Surprised?
Despite a population of only about 24,000, smaller than that of Jeffersontown, it had the 11th-highest number of drug-overdose deaths last year and for the first half of 2011, among the state’s 120 counties. Three Paintsville doctors have been convicted during the past decade of illegally prescribing narcotics, and at least one other currently practicing there is under investigation. Local pain clinics regularly generate complaints and attract authorities’ attention.
Read the whole thing.
Courier-Journal/RG Dunlop   
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BETHLEHEM, KY POST OFFICE POPULAR THESE DAYS
People from all over the world want to send their Christmas cards from the tiny Kentucky town:
Requests for the festive flair for holiday cards come from all over the world. On a recent morning, Postmaster Susan Leopold got requests for the postmark from Iowa, Italy and France. Leopold figures the post office handles about 52,000 cards during the Christmas season. Application of the Bethlehem postmark is done by volunteers, who come to the post office and stamp each holiday card by hand.
Herald-Leader/Jack Brammer  
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'A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS' ALMOST NEVER AIRED
Can you imagine Christmas without it?

When CBS executives previewed A Charlie Brown Christmas, they were vastly underwhelmed. There was just so much wrong with it. There was not enough action. It moved too slow. The voices had been done by real kids, not adult actors. There was no laugh track. And Linus read from the Gospel of Luke in one scene. (“You can’t read from the Bible on network television!”) At the end of the meeting, Mendelson was told: “Well, you gave it a good shot. Believe me, we’re bigPeanuts fans, but maybe it’s better suited to the comic page.”
Great story at the link.

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