Kentucky News Now

EBOLA-AIRMEN RETURN

National Guard members returning from Ebola duty

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Air National Guard says about 50 members are returning to Louisville from Africa where they were helping battle the spread of Ebola.

The 123rd Contingency Response Group established a cargo processing hub in Senegal during its deployment. The hub is designed to accept large quantities of cargo arriving on C-17 and C-5 aircraft, process the material and then ship it to affected areas.

The Air National Guard says the members were stationed in Senegal, hundreds of miles away from areas affected by Ebola outbreaks. They will not have to undergo a quarantine upon their return but are undergoing symptom monitoring as a precaution.

Members of the 123rd Contingency Response Group have been involved in previous humanitarian missions, including the Haiti earthquake in 2010.

HIGHWAY DEATHS

Campaign aims to reduce traffic deaths in Ky.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky State Police officials say the state is at its lowest highway fatality rate in nearly 50 years.

Now a KSP campaign is aimed at reducing highway fatalities even more. The "Finish Strong" campaign urges motorists to wear seat belts, reduce speed, refrain from distractions and never drive impaired.

The project began Nov. 1 with a data-driven strategy that places enforcement details in high crash zones where fatalities have occurred.

State police say the effort will continue through the holidays.

KSP is partnering with the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety and the Federal Highway Administration to promote the campaign. The agencies will use social media platforms to send traffic safety messages with the hashtag FinishStrongKY.

ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE

Campbellsville U. fined over videographer safety

(Information in the following story is from: Lexington Herald-Leader, http://www.kentucky.com )

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Campbellsville University will pay $4,000 after an investigator found a workplace-safety violation during a charity event where a firefighter was fatally injured.

The Lexington Herald-Leader said a state Office of Occupational Safety and Health investigator issued a citation because someone videotaping the Aug. 21 event from atop a raised maintenance lift wasn't wearing a safety harness.

The Campbellsville firefighter, Capt. Tony Grider, died a month after he and another firefighter were injured when they came in contact with a high-voltage power line while in the bucket of an aerial ladder truck.

The firefighters were spraying water on band members taking part in an Ice Bucket Challenge to raise research money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

State Labor Cabinet spokesman Daniel Lowry said the cabinet is investigating the accident that resulted in Grider's death.

SOLDIER-FRAGGING DEATHS

Military court to hear appeal in fragging attack

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A former U.S. soldier sentenced to death for killing two fellow soldiers and injuring 14 others in an attack in Kuwait is pinning his hopes of staying alive on an argument that his defense attorneys were deficient.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington heard the case of 43-year-old Hasan Akbar on Tuesday. Akbar was a sergeant with the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, when he was sentenced to death in 2005 for killing Army Capt. Christopher S. Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory L. Stone in Kuwait two years earlier.

Army Lt. Col. John Potter told the judges the defense failed to prepare witnesses and errantly let jurors see Akbar's diary, which contained multiple anti-American passages.

SENATE-LOUISIANA-RUBIO

Rubio to rally with Senate candidate Bill Cassidy

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will campaign with Republican Senate candidate Bill Cassidy on Saturday, as early voting opens for the Dec. 6 runoff.

Cassidy's campaign announced Tuesday that Rubio will attend two rallies this weekend, in Gonzales and Kenner, to urge people to vote early and to cast those ballots against Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu.

Louisiana's last Democratic statewide elected official, Landrieu faces a difficult path to a fourth term. Fifty-eight percent of voters selected someone else in the Nov. 4 primary in a state trending more heavily Republican.

Rubio isn't the only prominent GOP official and possible presidential contender to head to the state to campaign for Cassidy. In the first week after the primary, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was the headliner at a Cassidy rally.

UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS-KENTUCKY

Numbers living in Ky without legal permission drop

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A new study ranks Kentucky among the states with big declines in the number of people living in the U.S. without legal permission.

The Pew Research Center research shows Kentucky's population of people living in the state without legal permission dropped from an estimated 50,000 in 2009 to 35,000 in 2012. That matches the estimated population in 2005.

The study says the recent decline is due to fewer people coming from Mexico.

The study says people without legal permission to live in the state make up less than 1 percent of Kentucky's population and 1.2 percent of its labor force. Both numbers are well below the national average.

State Sen. Paul Hornback says the construction slowdown contributed to the decline, as did a greater reliance on a temporary visa worker program by farmers.

CLEAN WATER-COAL

Groups say Ky. mine filing false reports again

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Environmental groups say an eastern Kentucky coal company that was caught falsifying water quality reports several years ago is at it again.

The groups sent a court notice Monday that they intend to sue Frasure Creek Mining and affiliate Trinity Coal Corp. The notification is required for lawsuits alleging violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

The groups say Frasure Creek stopped submitting false reports after activists first notified state regulators of the problem in 2010, but then resumed the false reporting last year.

According to media reports, the notice also accuses state mining regulators of failing to properly police the company.

A spokesman for the state Energy and Environment Cabinet says regulators saw violations on water-monitoring reports from Frasure Creek this year and were processing enforcement actions.

MAMMOTH CAVE-FEES

Mammoth Cave proposes user fee increase

(Information in the following story is from: Glasgow Daily Times, http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com )

MAMMOTH CAVE, Ky. (AP) — Officials at Mammoth Cave National Park are considering a proposal to increase fees for camping and cave tours.

The Glasgow Daily Times reports the park is accepting comments on the proposal through Dec. 5 on its website at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/MACA .

Park Superintendent Sarah Craighead says the increases are expected to generate $350,000 for multiple purposes, including paying tour guides and improving the hotel.

The park increased fees for some cave tours in 2013, but others haven't been changed in seven years.