The founder of Louisville-based USA Harvest is charged in federal court with mail fraud, money laundering and filing false income tax returns.

Stan Curtis is accused of stealing more than $183,000 in donations he solicited for the charity, which collects and distributes food for the needy. He’s also charged with failing to report the money as income with the IRS, along with more than $370,000 in travel expenses he allegedly charged to USA Harvest.

A.T. Simpson Jr., an associate professor at Bellarmine University, will teach a condensed version of his Music in the Black Church course through the Louisville Free Public Library next month.

The course will explore traditional African music, American folk music, European classical music and American pop music, and will touch on everything from traditional Negro spirituals to hip hop.

Louisville Gas and Electric has withdrawn its permit application for an additional coal ash landfill at its Cane Run plant.

Coal ash, its storage and its tendency to blow onto neighboring properties have all been headaches for LG&E at Cane Run and the company is planning on phasing it out to build a natural gas facility.

The landfill application, which has been pending since January 2010, was dropped due to the slated natural gas facility and to the building of an earthen wall that allows the existing landfill to hold more coal ash.

WFPL held its second Jefferson County Board of Education debate this week, featuring three of the five candidates vying for the open District 4 seat.

Candidates Eric Bullock, Chuck Haddaway and Lloyd "Chip" White discussed what student achievement means to them, and how the school board might develop the strongest structures to assure student achievement for all JCPS students.

Candidates Melissa "Missy" Smith and Chester Flake were unable to attend.

Stephen "Steve" Ryan withdrew from the race this week.

Louisville's annual IdeaFestival draws top thinkers to the city. Ideally, it gets people talking about the city as well. This year's festival did just that, but the most recent chatter isn't entirely flattering.

Fundraising numbers in the race for Kentucky's Third Congressional District seat have been wildly uneven. Accountant Brooks Wicker raised $2,600 during the second quarter, compared to the $184,000 raised by his opponent, three-term incumbent John Yarmuth. 

As the world's population becomes increasingly urbanized, a new nonprofit has been formed to make sure Louisville handles the changes appropriately.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer is among several municipal leaders from across the country pushing Congress to act now to address the upcoming fiscal cliff.

Several measures will take effect or expire at the end of the year, and if Congress doesn't act, $100 billion in spending cuts and $380 billion in tax increases will hit simultaneously. The U.S. Conference of Mayors, of which Fischer is a member, has sent congressional leadership a letter urging them to act.

A central Kentucky health official says a case of human West Nile virus has been confirmed in Bourbon County.

Bourbon County Health Department Director Tom Skeen told the Lexington Herald-Leader it's thought that the person contracted the mosquito-borne illness out of state, although he didn't believe it was in Texas.

That state has reported 1,225 cases and 50 deaths as of last week, the largest outbreak in years.  Many of the cases are in the Dallas area.