Kentucky News Now

KENTUCKY EXECUTIONS-WILLOUGHBY

Judge rejects Kentucky inmate's new trial bid

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky death row inmate has lost his bid for a new trial and to overturn his death sentences in the slayings of three people in central Kentucky.

U.S. District Judge David Bunning on Friday found no errors in the case of 55-year-old Mitchell Willoughby that would warrant overturning his convictions.

Willoughby was sentenced to death Sept. 15, 1983 in Fayette County for the participation in the murder of three people with 60-year-old Leif Halvorsen, who also faces execution.

Prosecutors say the two men shot to death Jacqueline Greene, Joe Norman and Joey Durham in a Lexington apartment on Jan. 13, 1983.

Prosecutors say that night they attempted to dispose of the bodies by throwing them from the Brooklyn Bridge in Jessamine County.

FIRE TRUCK REFRIGERATORS

Kentucky department puts coolers on fire trucks

BENTON, Ky. (AP) — A western Kentucky fire department has installed a refrigerator on one of its trucks with the goal of keeping firefighters hydrated.

Palma-Briensburg Fire Department Assistant Chief Todd Devine says the cooler will hold water so firefighters can battle flames while keeping cool.

Devine told WPSD-TV in Paducah the department plans to install more refrigerators on other trucks in the near future.

Devine says the heat of summer, when temperatures can reach 100 degrees, and the weight of 35 to 40 pounds of equipment take a toll on the bodies of firefighters. Devine says the water can help drop the body temperature before problems arise.

The Palma-Briensburg Fire Department covers about 50 square miles in central Marshall County.

AMBER ALERT-FOUND

Appeals court rejects Amber Alert case

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and prison sentence of a 47-year-old Maine resident for transporting a 13-year-old Owensboro, Kentucky girl across state lines to engage in sexual activity.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday let stand the 30-year sentence for Archie M. Whalen of Hancock County, Maine.

A jury convicted Whalen on July 26, 2012 of taking the girl in 2009 from her home in western Kentucky to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The girl was found a day after an Amber Alert was issued.

Officials said Whalen met the girl when she and her mother lived briefly in Maine.

Whalen is currently serving his sentence at United States Penitentiary Marion in southern Illinois.

BRIDGE WEIGHT-ADJUSTED

Kentucky adjusts max load limit on US 60 bridge

SMITHLAND, Ky. (AP) — New signs will go up in the next few days to tell truckers of new maximum load limits on the U.S. 60 bridge over the Cumberland River in Livingston County.

WPSD-TV in Paducah reported that the enhanced enforcement was in response to a number of recent complaints about overweight trucks crossing the bridge and vehicles exceeding the 35 mile per hour bridge speed limit.

By law, load limit information is posted at the end of all Kentucky bridges. It is the responsibility of the Commercial Driver's License holder to obey bridge weight restrictions.

The new limits replace old measures that had been in place since April 1988.

The 1,817 foot through truss structure was opened to traffic in 1931. About 5,200 vehicles cross the bridge in an average day.

WKU-INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Western Kentucky wants more international students

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Western Kentucky University wants to double its international student population within five years.

There are currently just over 1,300 full-time international students at Western Kentucky. The university's chief for international enrollment management, Raza Tiwana, told The Daily News she foresees 2,100 international Hilltoppers within five years, or 10 percent of the 21,000-student population.

Final international student numbers for the fall 2014 semester, as with all enrollment numbers for the semester, are still being compiled by university officials.

Tiwana has traveled more than 130,000 air miles since January in recruitment efforts. Just like domestic student recruitment efforts, Tiwana and other staff in his 12-person department attend college fairs in gymnasiums or cafeterias and meet with guidance counselors and parents.

USA HARVEST FOUNDER

USA Harvest founder set for sentencing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The founder of USA Harvest is set to be sentenced after pleading guilty to tax evasion, mail fraud and money laundering after admitting that he spent donations to the charity on himself.

Chief U.S. District Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr., will hand down the punishment for 65-year-old Hugh "Stan" Curtis on Thursday in Louisville.

Curtis entered a guilty plea in June to taking $183,354 in donations he solicited on behalf of the nonprofit USA Harvest. Curtis acknowledged depositing $164,620 into his personal account and cashing donation checks totaling $18,734 and using the funds for his personal benefit.

The now-defunct USA Harvest used volunteers to pick up surplus food from restaurants, hotels, hospitals and various other food suppliers and delivered it to missions, soup kitchens, shelters and people in need.

CHILDREN KILLED

US Supreme Court to weigh Kentucky case next month

SMITHLAND, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court will consider on Sept. 29 whether to take the case of a former Fort Campbell soldier sentenced to death for killing three children and attacking a woman in southwestern Kentucky.

The justices set 42-year-old Kevin Wayne Dunlap's appeal for its conference a week before the 2014-15 session of the court begins.

Dunlap, a former soldier with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment unit known as the "Night Stalkers," pleaded guilty in February 2010 to attacking a woman and her three children at their Trigg County home 16 months earlier. Dunlap killed the three children and repeatedly stabbed their mother before lighting the house on fire. He was sentenced to death and sought expedite his execution.

Dunlap and defense attorneys later reached an agreement allowing the appeal.

LIBRARIES-E PUBLISHING

Libraries helping authors with e-publishing

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — A partnership between the Henderson County Public Library and the Daviess County Public Library is aiming to help new writers find a market with electronic publishing.

Library officials say the effort will also help published writers sell more books.

Interested authors can access a website — epublishorbust.com — and do the publishing themselves.

Henderson library Director Essy Day tells The Gleaner that the library will provide the resources to help authors and give them a chance to book a date at the library to promote their work.

Day says Bowling Green would probably be the next participating library system in the new e-publishing network.

Organizers say the goal is to create a circuit of libraries where authors can promote their books and give other authors feedback.