Kentucky News Now

JACKSON, Ky. (AP) — State police say they have charged an eastern Kentucky man who was behind the wheel in a deadly crash with three counts of murder, two counts of assault and driving under the influence.

Media cited Kentucky State Police in reporting the charges against 19-year-old Shawn Hardin of Jackson.

Police say he lost control and overcorrected while driving a pickup truck Wednesday night in Breathitt County on Kentucky 3193. The vehicle flipped before hitting an unoccupied house.

Three men — 31-year-old Adam Fugate, 24-year-old Lee Campbell and 19-year-old Pearl Armstrong — were killed in the crash. Two others were injured.

Hardin was taken to Three Forks Regional Jail. He declined to speak to media. It wasn't immediately clear if he has an attorney.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes has released a new TV ad focusing on her roles as Kentucky's secretary of state and as an attorney defending victims of domestic violence.

In the 30-second ad debuting Friday, Grimes touts her push for a state law that created a new ballot delivery system for military voters.

The law allows military members to receive their ballots by Internet but requires them to return the ballots through the regular mail.

Kentucky is home to two Army posts at Fort Campbell and Fort Knox.

Grimes also says she volunteered her time as an attorney to assist victims of domestic violence. She says she knows how to fight for people with "no voice" and win.

Grimes is challenging five-term Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell in November.

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) — The international student population at Murray State University has increased for the third straight year.

The university registered 1,094 international students as of Aug. 22, which includes exchange students and students studying English as a second language.

The Paducah Sun reports (http://bit.ly/1t7iuis ) three years ago, MSU had about 795 international students. That jumped to 936 students in 2012, and to 1,039 students last year.

Bill McKibben, the school's associate director for International Student and Scholar Services, says a number of factors are contributing to the growth, including new technology that is expanding the university's reach to foreign students.

The school has also focused heavily on attracting students from India. This fall, 134 Indian students were registered at Murray State, compared with just 37 last year.

HARLAN, Ky. (AP) — A doctor practicing at Harlan ARH Hospital has been suspended by the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure after receiving an anonymous tip he was prescribing diet pills to the nursing staff.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reported (http://bit.ly/1n91vVZ ) that the federal Drug Enforcement Administration concluded that Dr. Donald Ramsey, of Knoxville, Tennessee, did not have a Kentucky DEA registration, which meant that he was "illegally prescribing controlled substances in Kentucky."

The suspension came after the board began investigating a complaint in February that Ramsey was prescribing twice the daily recommended dose of the appetite suppressant phentermine to hospital employees and their spouses.

The board on Tuesday filed an emergency order of suspension that prohibits Ramsey from practicing in Kentucky.

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A northern Kentucky teacher has been charged with having a shipment of cocaine sent to Holmes Middle School in Covington.

Arin Staples resigned Aug. 15 after being questioned by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

A Kenton County Grand Jury indicted Staples on a felony drug charge Thursday.

Kenton County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Sanders told The Kentucky Enquirer (http://cin.ci/1pcq6bL ) that Staples also purchased cocaine from a dealer on school property.

Covington Independent Public School District Superintendent Alvin Garrison says the district is reviewing its policies.

Garrison says DEA agents visited the middle school twice since classes started Aug. 13 and interviewed three employees.

Sanders says all of those employees have resigned or been suspended.

Staples is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 8. Court records did not list an attorney for Staples.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — An Iraqi man convicted of trying to ship arms and cash to Al-Qaida in Iraq is being moved to a new federal prison.

The Bureau of Prisons listed 33-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan as currently incarcerated at the federal transfer center in Oklahoma City. Alwan had spent several years at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Alwan is serving a 40-year-prison sentence after pleading guilty to taking part in a plot to ship thousands of dollars in cash and weapons from Kentucky to al-Qaida in Iraq in 2010 and 2011.

Prosecutors said Alwan worked with the Mujahidin Shura Council, a group that claimed responsibility for the deaths of three soldiers from the Fort Campbell-based 101st Airborne Division while they were patrolling about 60 miles south of Baghdad in June 2006.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Indiana Department of Transportation officials are warning drivers to be prepared for delays on Interstate 65 in southern Indiana as wrok begins on the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Northbound and southbound I-65 will narrow from three lanes to two from the Kennedy Bridge north for nearly 1 1/2 miles starting Tuesday in what transportation officials are calling the "Big Squeeze." Southbound I-65 is scheduled to be reduced to two lanes on Tuesday, while northbound will be squeezed Wednesday.

The lane closures are expected to be in place late 2016.

The Ohio River Bridges Projects suggests motorists adjust travel plans to avoid peak times and consider alternate routes, including the Sherman Minton Bridge and the Clark Memorial Bridge.

                                                           Copyright 2014 The Associated Press