Kentucky News Now

POST-ELECTION AUDIT

6 counties chosen for post-election audit in Ky.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Attorney General Jack Conway says six Kentucky counties have been chosen in a random drawing to undergo independent inquires for any potential irregularities during this month's election.

Conway said Thursday the counties are Owsley, Gallatin, Simpson, Bourbon, Metcalfe and Mercer.

The post-election audits are required by state law and will be conducted by the attorney general's office.

The counties are selected in a public drawing and must be done within 20 days of the election.

Counties selected during the post-election audit following this spring's primary election were Meade, Allen, Clark, Warren, Breathitt and Russell. Conway's office says no irregularities were discovered during the last audit.

FORT CAMPBELL-CUTBACKS

Combat aviation unit deactivated at Fort Campbell

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Army says a 2,400-soldier combat aviation unit that recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan will be deactivated at Fort Campbell and its members sent elsewhere, as overseas wars wind down and the military continues to reorganize and downsize.

Army spokesman Matthew Bourke said the 159th Combat Aviation Brigade is the only deactivation being announced Thursday.

Army spokesman Lt. Col Donald Peters told The Associated Press the decision stemmed from "the need to organize aviation assets to best support operational requirements under significant fiscal constraints."

The unit's shutdown will leave the military post on the Kentucky-Tennessee state line with a total population of 26,500 soldiers by the end of Fiscal Year 2015 next October.

COLLEGE ACCOUNTABILITY

Ky. colleges graduate more as financial aid dips

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A new report shows more students are graduating from Kentucky's public colleges and universities but are having a tough time getting financial aid from the state.

The Council on Postsecondary Education's annual accountability report shows state colleges and universities conferred more than 62,400 degrees and certificates in the 2012-13 school year, a 13 percent increase from four years ago.

But more than 107,000 students who qualified for financial aid were denied because the state did not have enough money to give it to them — a 57 percent increase from four years ago.

Council President Robert King urged state lawmakers to protect student financial aid money in future budgets. State Sen. Stan Humphries, chairman of the higher education budget subcommittee, said lawmakers need to carefully watch the scholarship money.

TERRORISM CHARGES

Judge to review sealed evidence in terror case

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — A federal judge wants to review sealed evidence against an Iraqi man convicted in a Kentucky terrorism case who hopes to gain access to his complete case file.

U.S. District Judge Thomas B. Russell has ordered attorneys in the case of 27-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi to submit the evidence to him.

Hammadi is seeking access to his file, hoping to withdraw his guilty plea to taking part in a plot to ship thousands of dollars in cash and weapons from Bowling Green, Kentucky, to al-Qaida in Iraq.

A co-defendant, 33-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan, pleaded guilty in 2010. The pair was working with an FBI informant who squelched their plans.

Alwan is serving a 40-year sentence and Hammadi is serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Florence, Colorado.

PRISON ESCAPE-CHARGES

2 federal inmates charged with attempted escape

LONDON, Ky. (AP) — Two federal inmates serving time on drug charges have been charged with trying to break out of a prison in southern Kentucky.

A federal grand jury on Thursday charged 29-year-old Corey Adam Baker and 42-year-old Delman Demetrius Davis with attempted escape from the United States Penitentiary McCreary in Pine Knot, Kentucky.

Grand jurors say the two tried to escape on Aug. 10, but gave no details about what happened.

Baker is serving 14 months in prison after having his probation revoked. He was convicted in London, Kentucky, of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

Davis is serving 21 years in prison after being convicted in Greeneville, Tennessee, of conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Court records did not list an attorney for either man.

MINE EXPLOSION-INVESTIGATION

Ex-coal exec pleads not guilty in W.Va. mine blast

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) — Former coal company chief executive Don Blankenship has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges in the deadliest U.S. coal mine accident in four decades.

Blankenship entered the not guilty plea Thursday and has been released on $5 million bond. It was his first appearance in federal court since he was indicted last week.

Blankenship is accused of conspiring to violate safety and health standards at the Upper Big Branch mine. In April 2010, an explosion at the mine killed 29 men.

The 64-year-old Blankenship faces up to 31 years in prison if convicted.

Four investigations found worn and broken cutting equipment created a spark that ignited coal dust and methane gas. Blankenship has said natural gas was at the root of the explosion.

TRANSYLVANIA GIFT

Transy gets $2 million gift to renovate building

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Transylvania University has received a $2 million gift from a retired CSX Corp. executive and his wife to help renovate one of its main academic buildings.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Alvin R. "Pete" Carpenter and his wife, Marilyn, will help finance a renovation of the Haupt Humanities Building. The renovation is expected to cost $4 million to $6 million.

Transylvania officials say construction will start once the total amount is raised.

Pete Carpenter is a Kentucky native from Mount Vernon and a 1964 alumnus of Transylvania. He retired in 2001 as vice chairman of CSX Corp.

He has been an active alumnus of Transylvania, having served on the school's board of trustees from 1993 to 2000.