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by Michael Monks
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JUDGE ORDERS BENCH BILLBOARDS OUT OF COVINGTON
The benches that adorn many Covington corners and feature advertisements for a good divorce lawyer and other commodities have been ordered by a federal judge to be removed by August 12:
But that order may be put on hold because a lawyer for the firm says the business plans to appeal the order.However, the bench billboard company's lawyer believes that the decision to allow them to remain lies with TANK, not the City. Check out the full story at the link.
City Solicitor Frank Warnock called the Friday decision by Covington-based U.S. District Judge David L. Bunning a hard-won victory after years of battling the family-owned Bench Billboard Company, based in Columbia Township.
The city for several years has sought to clear items it deems unsightly, including the company’s benches that contain mini billboards that serve as the benches’ backrests, from its sidewalks. The city last decade used similar regulations to clear its sidewalks of unauthorized pay telephones and vending machines.
Cincinnati Enquirer/Mike Rutledge
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COVINGTON BUSINESS WEIGHS IN ON 911 FEE ON UTILITY BILL PROPOSAL
CORRECTION: In the original post, it was wrongly implied that the Covington Business Council opposes the 911 fee being collected on utility bills handled by Duke Energy. In fact, the Covington Business Council has not taken a position on the issue but was rather offering this statement as an educational tool on behalf of one of its members as the vote nears. The River City News regrets the misinterpretation of the statement.
As the Kenton County Fiscal Court prepares to vote on how to pay for a consolidated emergency dispatch center, the Covington Business Council offers this statement:
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COVINGTON BUSINESS WEIGHS IN ON 911 FEE ON UTILITY BILL PROPOSAL
CORRECTION: In the original post, it was wrongly implied that the Covington Business Council opposes the 911 fee being collected on utility bills handled by Duke Energy. In fact, the Covington Business Council has not taken a position on the issue but was rather offering this statement as an educational tool on behalf of one of its members as the vote nears. The River City News regrets the misinterpretation of the statement.
As the Kenton County Fiscal Court prepares to vote on how to pay for a consolidated emergency dispatch center, the Covington Business Council offers this statement:
Later this month the Kenton County Fiscal Court is scheduled to vote on passage of an ordinance that seeks a service fee for enhanced 9-1-1 Dispatch Services. You may remember the Covington City Commission recently approved joining Kenton County in consolidating their dispatch centers.The CBC then encourages residents to contact the Kenton County Judge-Executive and the Kenton Co. Commissioners and to attend the July 24 meeting in Covington when the vote is expected to take place.
This ordinance, if passed, would seek to levy a fee through Duke Energy Kentucky and Owen Electric Cooperative's Kenton County customers to pay for this service-an estimated annual increase of $72 per customer account. Additionally, this plan would require Duke and Owen to serve as the collection agent for the fee and then remit payment back to the Fiscal Court. The current method being used to fund 9-1-1 services is through a surcharge on land-based telephone lines with the monthly fee varying based upon the city where a person resides. With increased reliance on cellular telephone service, the land-based phone fee (which would be eliminated under the Court's plan) is a declining source of revenue to fund 9-1-1 services.
The Fiscal Court proposal is being strongly opposed by CBC-member Duke Energy Kentucky and by Owen Electric Cooperative. Both companies do not believe the Fiscal Court has the legal authority to impose a service fee upon their electric customers and then require them to serve as the collection agent for any such fee. The utilities have asked the county to seek an alterative funding and collection method. The Fiscal Court's position is that the utility service fee is the fairest way to spread the funding need to as many people as possible. Two other methods that have been discussed as possible options: 1. Increasing the ad valorem property tax to $48 per $100,000 assessed value; 2. Issuing a flat rate carfee on auto registration of $35 per car.
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REP. ARNOLD SIMPSON SPEAKS IN FRANKFORT ON LIQUOR SALES
State Representative Arnold Simpson (D-Covington) testified in Frankfort on Friday before the Joint Committee on Licensing and Occupations as part of his effort to overturn the ban on liquor sales on Election Day. Via cn|2:
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Full story: cn|2
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MEANWHILE... GROUPS GET BEHIND SIMPSON'S EFFORTS
Simpson said several organizations are backing his legislation, including the Kentucky Association of Counties, Kentucky League of Cities, Kentucky Restaurant Association and Kentucky Retail Federation.Full story: Herald-Leader/Jack Brammer
But the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems will fight the bill, its president, Don Cole, said in a telephone interview.
"This will create more problems than it helps," he said.
Cole said poll workers are not law-enforcement officials who are trained to handle alcoholics, and voters should feel safe when they go to the polls.
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KY COUPLE ACCUSED OF TRADING PICKUP TRUCK FOR A BABY
Like something out of a bad country song, a couple in Laurel County stand accused of giving away their pick-up truck in exchange for a woman's baby. It wasn't even a new truck...
A Corbin couple is accused of trading a woman a 1999 Dodge Dakota pickup truck for her infant child, Laurel County Sheriff John Root said.The baby's mama originally fled Florida because she was wanted on meth charges. Sad, sad story all around.
Officers with the department arrested Jeremy and Jamiee Brown on Thursday on charges of human trafficking, according to a release from Root's office. The couple had the baby, now 6 months old. The baby was placed in the care of state child-welfare workers, the release said.
The Browns allegedly made the trade soon after the baby was born. Root's office started investigating based on information from a confidential source, and officers were able to find the pickup truck.
Herald-Leader/Bill Estep
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But wait...
The mother has been located in the plains:
“I know she don’t care and she thinks it is their baby. She feels she gave it to them. The way they went about it was wrong,” Richard Haas said.WKYT
Kaminskey told Haas she’s in Kansas.
“She told me that she has already talked to the detective and that they can come and get me. This is where I’m at,” Haas said.
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QUICKIES
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Pregnant woman killed on I-471 was not wearing a seatbelt WKRC
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PHOTO: SUV crashes on top of car in Covington parking garage WXIX
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More channels may soon be dropped by Insight Cable, including FOX News, the Food Network and several others Courier-Journal
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New KY law aims to curb scrap metal thefts Cincinnati Enquirer
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Personnel Board votes to open investigation into former Commissioner of Agriculture/UK basketball star Richie Farmer Bluegrass Politics
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Coal operators are being watched from above State-Journal
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13 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever Washington Post
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450,000 email passwords have been breached (Yahoo, Gmail affected) Business Courier
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Drought is affecting fish in KY streams press release
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Weekly newsletter from the Kenton Co Library click here
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Anthony Davis joins the US Olympics Team Courier-Journal
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UK will play no games in Louisville's Freedom Hall next season, and apparently very few people are upset about that Herald-Leader
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Miss Kentucky Pageant is stressful with a purpose Herald-Leader
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VIDEO: Miss KY Pageant preparations Herald-Leader
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FRANKFORT PAPER TAKES AMBIVALENT STANCE ON MEDICAL MARIJUANA
The State-Journal takes on the medical marijuana legislation proposed by a state senator from Louisville in a meandering, ambivalent editorial:
However, perceptions of harmlessness can be misleading. When the so-called “Miami Cannibal” allegedly attacked a man and literally chewed off his face in May, some suspected the assailant was under the influence of “bath salts,” a synthetic drug, or some hard narcotic. But the Huffington Post reported tests found no such substance in his system. Instead they detected traces of marijuana. The suspect had previously been diagnosed with schizophrenia, believed to be aggravated by pot use.So, Kentucky's marijuana crop should remain illegal in all ways because... people's faces will get chewed off? Wow. Click on the link not for the full editorial, which is awful, but for the amazing comments.
If medicinal marijuana is ever approved in Kentucky, there will need to be tight restrictions to ensure users don’t exploit the law for recreational purposes, as drinkers did during the Prohibition era with prescriptions written to purchase booze from drug stores.
Smoking, the delivery method by which the typical marijuana user absorbs the leaf’s purported benefits, is problematic. Frankfort, Franklin County and many other communities in this tobacco-growing state decided after long deliberation that smoking should be prohibited in public buildings. Marijuana smoke contains some of the same compounds as tobacco smoke.
State-Journal
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SHOPPING MALL TURNS 60, RETIRES
The first indoor shopping mall in America was first envisioned sixty years ago, but did you know that there has not been construction on a new one anywhere since 2006?
Gruen’s idea transformed American consumption patterns and much of the environment around us. At age 60, however, the enclosed regional shopping mall also appears to be an idea that has run its course (OK, maybe not in China, but among Gruen’s original clientele). He opened the first prototype in Edina, Minnesota, in 1956, and the concept spread from there (this also means the earliest examples of the archetypal American mall are now of age for historic designation, if anyone wants to make that argument).Full story: The Atlantic Cities
At the mall’s peak popularity, in 1990, America opened 19 of them. But we haven’t cut the ribbon on a new one since 2006, for reasons that go beyond the recession. As we imagine ways to repurpose these aging monoliths and what the next generation of retail should look like, it’s worth recalling Gruen’s odd legacy. He hated suburbia. He thought his ideas would revitalize cities. He wanted to bring urban density to the suburbs. And he envisioned shopping malls as our best chance at containing sprawl.
"He said great quotes on suburbia being 'soulless' and 'in search of a heart,'" says Jeff Hardwick, who wrote the Gruen biography Mall Maker. "He just goes on and on with these critiques. And they occur really early in his writing as well. So it’s not as if he ends up bemoaning suburbia later. He’s critiquing suburbia pretty much from the get-go, and of course the remedy he offers is the shopping mall."
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DOWNTOWN COVINGTON BINGO IS THRIVING
Out of curiosity, I went with my mama to Pike Place Bingo on Pike Street Friday night... and had an awesome time! The place was packed and probably is most nights that it is open.
Check it out some time.
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COVINGTON ARTS GROUPS AWARDED GRANTS FROM KENTUCKY
From a press release:
The Kentucky Arts Council has awarded more than $1.7 million in operational support funding to 104 nonprofit arts and cultural organizations for fiscal year 2013, through the Kentucky Arts Partnership (KAP) grant, the agency announced today.Local groups awarded funds:
The KAP grant provides support to nonprofit organizations offering year-round arts services and programs directly for the benefit of the public. The competitive grant process funds applicants based on operating revenues, a panel review of applications, and funds available for the program.
- Kentucky Symphony Orchestra ($19,623)
- The Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center ($30,697)
- Behringer-Crawford Museum ($18,328)
- My Nose Turns Red Circus Theater ($3,954)
DYING KENTUCKY MAN'S WISH FULFILLED THROUGH LARGE TIP
From the clip description:
My brother passed away July 7, 2012. His final wish in his will, if he left enough money, was that we have pizza and give the waiter or waitress a $500 tip. Aaron never had much money , and he didn't have enough to make this happen, so I started a website and took donations. On July 10 we were able to make his wish come true for the first time.
We think he just wanted to provide a random act of kindness and generosity for someone he thought was under appreciated; the kind of thing that would make a lasting impact they would never forget. If you want to keep his legacy going, please feel free to donate. So far we have collected over $1000 so we will definitely be doing this again, for another random waiter or waitress, very soon! Each time we have $500 we will do it again, even if that means going out to eat multiple times a day.Watch this:
If you want to give to the website's fund to keep passing out random acts of kindness, click here.
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COME GET A PET TODAY IN MAINSTRASSE VILLAGE
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This was submitted by reader David Klein who lives in Peaselburg.
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