News

New York Times national columnist Gail Collins speak tomorrow night at the Louisville Free Public Library.

Collins will discuss her new book, As Texas Goes…, which looks at how Texas has historically influenced federal government policies but in recent years has been a hotbed of anti-Washington sentiment.

Collins said she decided to write the book after attending a Tea Party rally in 2009.

An internal audit has found half of the grant from the Louisville Metro Council lacked sufficient documentation to determine if the discretionary funds were spent as intended.

Last year, Council President Jim King, D-10, ordered the review in the wake of the ethics controversy involving former Councilwoman Judy Green, who was booted from office over misuse of Neighborhood Development Funds.

The audit looked at 117 grants over the past two fiscal years totaling more $1.9 million in taxpayer dollars and found no wrongdoing. However, it showed the majority of the council’s Neighborhood Development Funds had missing proof of payment, unallowable expenditures or poor documentation to account for the grants.

"The audit was difficult to conduct in that there was a lack of monitoring in place prior to the new administration being there," says Internal Auditor Ingram Quick, adding the lack of documentation of the grants is troubling.

Among the findings are approximately $238,000 of expenditures in which proof of payment was not provided to the city. It also found inconsistencies and a vague criteria for non-profit groups receiving city funds, including over $6,500 in funds that were spent out of compliance with Metro Government rules.

Shakespeare fans have two very different programs to choose from at The Bard’s Town this Friday with back-to-back performances that show the reverence and irreverence Louisville has for the Bard.

First up, a showcase of Walden Theatre students celebrating the end of the Summer Shakespeare Intensive program starts at 7:30 p.m. The 14 teens will perform scenes and monologues they prepared during the three weeks they’ve spent immersed in Shakespeare’s First Folio.

Construction has begun on another phase of the Parklands of Floyds Fork, the nearly 4,000 acre park system under development in eastern and southeastern Louisville.

Ground was broken today on a section that will include a half-mile, tree-lined walk called the Humana Grand Allee .   It’s being funded with an $8 million donation from Humana and its employees.

The Parklands’ Scott Martin says this is the third of the project’s four major phases along the Floyds Fork watershed.

Legislative leaders are going to take another crack at approving payments to lawyers who fought to defend last year’s redistricting maps.

The Legislative Research Commission hired the attorneys earlier this year to fend off challenges to new district maps. The attorneys were unsuccessful.

At the last scheduled LRC meeting, absences allowed minority leaders to block approval of payment to the attorneys.

So a new meeting has been scheduled for Thursday, and  officials hope to reverse the decision.

A heat wave that will linger over the region for the next several days will produce high temperatures in the triple digits.

That has health officials cautioning those who have to be outside to consume plenty of liquids and avoid overexertion.

University of Louisville Hospital emergency department physician Laura Tudor says low humidity levels will make coping with the heat a bit easier.

Several Jefferson County elementary schools will continue participating in the fresh produce program offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture next school year.

JCPS has taken part in the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program(FFVP) since 2008, according to district officials.  Schools participating in the program offer students fresh produce three times a week.

General Electric is hiring more employees than expected to manufacture its new bottom-freezer refrigerator at Louisville's Appliance Park.

GE officials previously announced a total of 600 production line employees would build the new product.  The company currently employs around 400 workers on the first shift, according to spokeswoman Kim Freeman. When the second shift begins later this summer, a total of 772 employees will be working on the appliance, she said.

The addition of 172 production line employees is a testament to the product, said Freeman.

Former mayoral candidate Connie Marshall was arrested by Louisville Metro Police after allegedly leading officers on a pursuit.

Marshall ran a bizarre campaign for mayor in 2010, but she is better known as a conspiracy theorist who has alleged local and federal officials are harassing her via electronic surveillance.

Congressman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., believes the U.S. Supreme Court will uphold the Affordable Care Act.

The justices are expected to rule on President Obama’s chief legislative accomplishment on Thursday to determine whether the law is constitutional. According to polling, at least 37 percent of Americans want the law struck down while other surveys show 35 percent want it upheld.