Rick has been a member of the WFPL News team since 2001 and has covered numerous beats and events over the years. Most recently he’s been tracking the Indiana General Assembly and the region’s passion for sports, especially college basketball.
Drought-stricken Kentucky farmers in need of hay or other forages for their livestock can seek help through a state Department of Agriculture website.
Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says a forage sales directory is up and running that can match up farmers with forages for sale with those whose pastures and fields have been dried up by the drought. A similar program is also available for farmers in Indiana.
The ten-day fair begins next week and spokeswoman Amanda Storment says they’re hiring maintenance staff, admission gatekeepers tour guides and other personnel.
"We need as many as 800 temporary workers in addition to 200 full-time workers we have here," Storment said.
Wages start at $7.25 per hour and vary with position. Hiring will continue during the fair, which runs August 16 through 26.
The Kentucky State Fair begins its ten-day run next week and the summer drought is expected to have an impact on many of the fair’s agricultural entries.
Much of Kentucky has been in the grip of the hot, dry summer, with farmers in the western half of the state bearing the brunt of the disaster.
The 71-year-old Dickson is the longest-serving current member of the five-member Supreme Court and became the acting chief justice when Randall Shepard retired in March. He was sworn as chief justice by Gov. Mitch Daniels during a Statehouse ceremony today.
Dickson takes over a court in transition. After 10 years of no changes, the court has its third vacancy in the past two years.
The stretch will be shut down starting Friday evening to allow for interchange improvements.
"This section is commonly known by people in the area as Old Brownsboro Road, and it’s the section between U.S. 42 and Warrington Way," says Andrea Clifford with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
UPDATE: Several hundred LG&E customers were still without service across the Louisville area as of midday today. Duke Energy says several dozen southern Indiana residents were still without power.
Delta Air Lines is sending termination notices to Comair employees, as Delta begins shutting down its shrunken, 35 year old regional carrier and switches to bigger jets.
Comair is down to 290 flights a day. More than 1,000 of the carrier's remaining 1,700 Comair employees are in the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky region, some 700 of those in Kentucky.
Comair has slashed its fleet, flights and workforce in the last seven years. Delta said the smaller regional planes are expensive to fly because they are not as fuel-efficient and cost more to maintain as the fleet ages.
The Kennedy Memorial Bridge deck replacement project is nearly complete.
The $18 million repair job began June 21, forcing the closure of two or more lanes of traffic in each direction, shutting down several ramps and causing daily traffic delays.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Andrea Clifford says all lanes and ramps at the bridge are scheduled to be open by next Wednesday, August 1.
Indiana House Minority Leader Patrick Bauer says he won't resign from his leadership post and believes his fellow Democrats will be making a mistake if they try to oust him before the November election.
Bauer held a Statehouse news conference Wednesday amid reports his caucus would meet Thursday in Lafayette to vote to remove him as its leader.
