Religious leaders and others from across the Louisville area will hold their annual Hunger Walk and vigil on Wednesday evening.

The event marks the anniversary of the death of Bobby Ellis. The nine year old died of starvation at his west Louisville home in 1969.

Interfaith Paths to Peace Executive Director Terry Taylor says the tragedy led to the creation of the Dare To Care Food Bank and other anti-hunger initiatives in the community.

Mayor Greg Fischer has announced the recipient of Louisville’s 2012 Healthy Hometown grants. 

The grant program has been around for eight years. This year 13 organizations will receive a total of $35,000, which is a slight drop from the year before.

The grants are between $1,000 to $3,000 and will be used for a range of programs and services that all promote healthy lifestyles.

Here are the winners:

There's nothing magical about Kentucky's smurfs, state leaders say.

Gov. Steve Beshear and State Sen. Robert Stivers -- a contender for senate president --  will help unveil an "anti-smurfing" campaign with the CHPA today. The campaign will include signs that pharmacies have the option to display, warning people to not buy pseudeoephedrine products to sell to others who want to make meth.

In drug culture, a "smurf" is someone who buys pseudoephedrine for someone else with the intent it will be used for meth.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced Monday he’ll make a concerted effort to support the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership offered by the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.

Prichard has hosted the program for several years, educating and mentoring hundreds of parents to become involved in their child’s education.

At its inception on the late 1990s the organization offered up to six institutes, but it was being supported by national foundations, said Prichard Committee’s Bev Raimondo who helped create the parent institutes.

The former chief of the McMahan Fire Department has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for embezzling nearly $200,000 from the Crusade for Children charity and the fire district.

Fifty-five year old Paul Barth pleaded guilty in June to mail fraud, money laundering and other charges.

Prosecutors say Barth, who was also chairman of the Crusade’s board of directors, directed charity funds donated through the fire department to his personal bank account, with some of the money used for vacations and expenses related to his Corvette car collection.

After a week off, the University of Louisville football team returns to action this Saturday.

The Cards will host Connecticut in their last home game of the season.

U of L is coming off a disappointing loss at Syracuse, the first defeat of the season, but coach Charlie Strong believes his players have put it behind them.

To date, the chatter over who'll challenge U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell in 2014 has centered around actress/activist Ashley Judd.

And, if not Judd, then Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Kentucky secretary of state.

A top Kentucky Democrat is saying that McConnell's Democratic challenger will be neither of the women.

In a recent interview, House Speaker Greg Stumbo said Judd's candidacy would face an obstacle from her position against mountaintop removal coal mining. In fact, he said her name shouldn't even be in discussion.

A new person is joning the Beshear administration to tend to the state's budget, but she's familiar face to Lt. Gov. Jerry Abramson in his last government role as mayor of Metro Louisville.

Gov. Steve Beshear has hired a new state budget director with nearly three decades of government service so far.

Jane Driskell has served in various government roles over 27 years, including a stint as chief financial officer for Louisville Metro government.

The escalating violence in the Middle East and has sparked a series of pro-Palestinian protests in Louisville.

Last week, the Israeli government launched airstrikes that killed top Hamas military leaders in response to rocket launches that killed three civilians, and the conflict has approached full-scale war.

Several local peace groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine and Louisville Committee for Peace in the Middle East, have pointed out that over 90 Palestinian civilians have been killed thus far and that densely populated areas are being targeted by the Israeli military.

At least two protests have been held in Louisville, including one Monday at the University of Louisville.

Pro-Palestinian activist Ibrahim Imam has helped organize the local demonstrations. He says residents should be aware that the U.S. gives Israel $3 billion in foreign aid, and are therefore complicit in the country's military actions.

"I want people to realize that the crimes that are being committed are being committed against Palestinians," he says. "The Palestinians are the victims in this, and I want people to look deeply into this and not buy the cliche that are being fed to them. And Israel should not be rewarded for its aggression at the tune of $15 million a day."