The River City News: NEWS ROUND-UP -- FRIDAY EVENING 6 JAN

by Michael Monks 
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STUMBO: REDISTRICTING OF LEGISLATIVE DISTRICTS IN 2013?

News just crossed that Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo may delay the redistricting of the state's House & Senate districts until 2013:

"As far as the House and Senate districts are concerned, it would be my opinion, not a suggestion, that yes, it could wait until 2013 from a legal perspective," said Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg.
(snip)
Several were upset with plans to put them in districts with other incumbent lawmakers or to carve up their districts. "There's going to be people who are unhappy. There always is," Stumbo said. "It's difficult on them, personally, because our districts are much smaller (than the Senate's). You have more feeling, more interaction with people on the precinct level." The House State Government Committee had planned to take up on Monday the House leadership's plan to redraw state House districts, but chairman Mike Cherry, D-Princeton, announced on the floor that his panel will not meet Monday.

The redistricting of Congressional Districts, however, must happen this session.
Herald-Leader/Jack Brammer
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The news tonight from Stumbo that redistricting would bolster his office's remarks to Covington City Hall that there were no plans on the table to redistrict Arnold Simpson's seat, which represents the city's urban core. That bombshell followed more than a week of on-the-record reports at The River City News from Simpson, Rep. Dennis Keene (D-Wilder, who was expected to take over representation of multiple Covington precincts) and all four Covington City Commissioners who believed House District 65 would inevitably be altered. Perhaps now that battle will be delayed until after the November elections.
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SEE ALSO: Resolution opposing redistricting passes unanimously at Covington City Commission The River City News
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RELATED: Editorial by Rep. Keene in the Community Press. Click Here.
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LAWSUIT AGAINST COVINGTON POLICE DISMISSED
Remember a few years ago when a paranoid/schizophrenic waved a loaded gun at Covington Police officers and then died after being tased? His family sued the Department and today, US District Judge David Bunning dismissed the suit:

Covington City Solicitor Frank Warnock called it an important legal victory for the city, but added he was very sympathetic to the family of Hughes. The city and five of its police officers were named as defendants in the suit. “The officers under these circumstances acted reasonably and with good faith,” Warnock said. “They meant no harm to Mr. Hughes. They acted professionally and in accordance with their training.”
While the final legal tab hasn’t been tallied, Warnock said it has been a costly suit to litigate for the city because of the number of defendants. “It is outrageous that these officers, who risk their lives to protect little children at two elementary schools, were sued,” said lawyer Phil Taliaferro, who represented officers Ron Allen and Robert Bacon. “They could easily have been killed by this man who was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenia. He was carrying a loaded weapon.”

Really great explanatory report from Jim Hannah at the link.
Cincinnati Enquirer
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MURDER OF COVINGTON VICE MAYOR SUBJECT OF NEW BOOK
Vice Mayor Carl Kiger was shot to death along with his 6-year old son while sleeping inside their Boone County country house. Kiger's own daughter went to trial, but was acquitted. The Vice Mayor was rumored to have ties to the mob:

A lot has been written about the murder “but nobody knew anything about the murder victim, Carl Kiger,” he said. Kiger was one of the most powerful politicians in Northern Kentucky at the time, both popular and controversial, Schrage said.
“Then right when he achieved the height of his political success, he was murdered,” he said. Schrage said he was interested that Kiger came from the “sort of the same neighborhood” he did – Kiger was born and raised on the west end of Covington while Schrage was born on the east end of Ludlow.

There are two planned public discussions of the book. Click the link for those details and more on this story.
Cincinnati Enquirer/Stephanie Salmons

SEE ALSO: More from NKY Views
BUY THE BOOK AT: Rabbit Hash USA
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LOOK AT THE TWO NEW FACES IN THE COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

Former Kenton Judge Frank Trusty (with cane) and
Covington attorney Bob Sanders are sworn in by Judge
Martin Sheehan
Image via

That's Frank Trusty and current Commonwealth Attorney Rob Sanders's dad, Bob Sanders. From Sanders's office:

Today, former Commonwealth's Attorney and Kenton County Judge Frank O. Trusty was sworn in as a pro-bono Asst. Commonwealth's Attorney by Kenton Circuit Judge Martin J. Sheehan, Trusty's former judicial office mate. Also sworn in was Trusty's former 1st Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Bob Sanders, father of current Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders. Bob Sanders previously volunteered as a prosecutor but had since re-retired. Trusty will begin handling preliminary hearing dockets next week. Trusty and the elder Sanders also plan to go to trial again as co-counsel for the Commonwealth! Rob Sanders said he is in the process of examining his current caseload, looking for "something meaty" to assign to the veteran prosecutors. Neither Trusty nor Bob Sanders will receive a salary and their services are provided at no cost to the taxpayers.

How cool. And what a great name for a judge: Trusty.
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NORTHERN KENTUCKY MAGAZINE LIVES!
In digital print, anyway. Click the link and check it out. It's really quite nice.
NKY Magazine
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KY TO PROMOTE 1-OF-A-KIND MUSEUMS; WHY NOT THE CREATION MUSEUM?
In the Commonwealth's new strategic marketing plan, the bureau of tourism or whatever it's called wants to highlight unique museums in Kentucky. They've picked six... but I would guess that the Creation Museum is the only one of its kind. We gave tax money to its operators for them to build an epic tribute to Noah's Ark (complete with rides!), so why not bolster its attendance? I bet Muhammad Ali never walked with dinosaurs!
press release
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LOL FROM TWITTER:

jon_bois Jon Bois

if Tebow wins the Super Bowl, I hope he says he's going to the Creation Museum

3 hours ago Favorite Retweet Reply

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Oh, we kid the Creation Museum...
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CONWAY WARNS KENTUCKIANS OF NEW TELEMARKETING SCAM
These things never seem to end:

Attorney General Jack Conway is alerting consumers about a new telemarketing scam that is making its way across Kentucky. General Conway's Office of Consumer Protection has received more than two dozen complaints since mid-November about a "Tech Support" telemarketing scam. Consumers report that the scammers impersonate tech support specialists who claim to have detected a virus on the victims' computer. "This is just another attempt by scammers to gain access to personal financial information and for the purpose of identity theft," General Conway said. "Never share personal information over the telephone with a stranger."

Click the link for all the details on what to do should you receive one of these calls. Also, alert your older relatives who tend to be more vulnerable to these things.
press release
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in case you missed...
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THIS MORNING'S NEWS
New homes development discussed that would be stronger link between Licking Riverside & River's Edge @ Eastside Point (old Jacob price); More evidence that a Popeye's is opening at Mainstrasse entrance -- but the building is for sale with a million dollar price tag?; Those stories and much more at the link!

News Round-Up -- Friday Morning

THREE LATONIA CHURCHES BROKEN INTO

Three churches in Latonia have been broken into in the past two weeks. Covington Police think the same group of suspects may be responsible. Click the link for details.

The RC News: Churches Targeted by Thieves in Latonia

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|IMAGINE GETTING FIRED AFTER LOSING TO A TEAM WITH 6 PLAYERS!
That's what happened today to Western Kentucky University men's basketball head coach Ken McDonald. The Hilltoppers are off to a rough start at 5 - 11, but last night's loss was particularly ridiculous. Tie ballgame with just seconds left and Louisiana-Lafayette sinks a last-second shot -- but the refs never noticed that the Ragin' Cajuns had six men on the court! Outrageous! Count the red jerseys, including the guy set to inbound the ball:

LOL: The announcer's tone: "Puts it up and in... and the Ragin' Cajuns have won." So subdued. But even they in the press box didn't catch the error.

Report from the Courier-Journal here.

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IS THE AVENUE LOUNGE TRYING TO GET LOCAL TEACHERS DRUNK?

They're just back from winter break and already they need to be liquored up? That's one tough job. Check out this promotion:

The Avenue Lounge and Patio The Avenue Loves Educators! Today, we open at 3pm and to show our appreciation, all of you who work in education get 50% off your drinks today! Just show some sort of school ID or verification you work in teaching to our bartender, Aubrey. Our regular happy hour specials still apply to all until 8pm $1 off Wells & Import Bottles $2 off Calls, Drafts, Cocktails & Wines $2 Domestics

As of this writing, it's 7:30PM. How many teachers do you think are still sitting at the bar, sloshed?
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COVINGTON ARTS DISTRICT BEGINS ITS REINVENTION
After the City Commission voted a few months ago to rid the City of the zoning that created the Arts & Technology District, it was unclear what would happen to the City's arts initiatives. Maybe we're seeing the beginning of those changes with the launching of a new Facebook page for Covington Arts. There is no profile pic yet and that's part of the fun:

Dear Art Lovers,As we kick off this New Year, Covington Arts is embracing some change…at least in the Social Media realm. We are getting a Facebook facelift. This new Facebook page will make information to the public more easily accessible so that they will be able to hear about all the creative events, people and initiatives that Covington has to offer. Though our Facebook Group has served us well, we will be saying good-bye to it soon and embracing our new cyberspace home. With this New Year, and new page, we also need a new look. In order to do that, we are calling on the creativity of the Covington Arts Community. There is blank bellowing blue space on our new page that needs a new image. In order to find that new image, we are going to have a fun competition. Anyone who becomes a member or “likes” our new page can enter. It can be a photograph, a graphic design or a digital image. The only rule is that it should not have any business logo in the composition. Think vibrant, visual, vivid, and any other cool “v” word you can think of. Send your image to krentzke@covingtonky.gov by January 16, 2012. The images will then be uploaded to the Facebook Page and shared them with the community. Whichever image ends up receiving the most “likes” will be the new face of our page until the end of February when we will have another competition.
So come on over, and join the fun.

So, it seems clear that it's the end of the road for this logo: