Kentucky News Now – July 21st 2014

TAXI DRIVER KILLED

Man arrested in killing of Kentucky taxi driver

LA GRANGE, Ky. (AP) — Authorities say a man has been arrested in New York in the killing of a Kentucky taxi driver.

The Oldham County Police Department says 27-year-old Miles J. Matthews was arrested Sunday in Watertown, New York.

Matthews, of Corydon, Indiana, had been wanted by Oldham County authorities in connection with the death of 34-year-old Adam Gregg.

WLKY-TV reports that Gregg's body was found in the driveway of a home on Thursday night.

Police said Matthews was driving Gregg's car when he was arrested during a traffic stop.

Matthews has been charged with murder and theft. It was not immediately known if he had a lawyer Sunday.

KENTUCKY ARTS PROJECTS

NEA awards grants to 4 Kentucky projects

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The National Endowment for the Arts is giving $300,000 to four community development projects in Kentucky.

The grants come from the federal agency's Our Town program, which awards funds to arts-based projects that contribute to the livability of communities nationwide.

In Cumberland, Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College is getting $100,000 for a conference that focuses on emerging artists in southeast Kentucky.

The Appalachian Artisan Center of Kentucky in Hindman is receiving $75,000 for a project celebrating the history and artisanship of the dulcimer.

In Lexington, the North Limestone Community Development Corporation is receiving $75,000 to support the development of a cultural plan and public art for the North Limestone Corridor.

In Louisville, $50,000 will go toward the development of a model for integrating artists into the corporate sector.

ESCAPED INMATES

2 inmates walk off work detail in Pulaski County

SOMERSET, Ky. (AP) — Authorities say two inmates have escaped from the Pulaski County Jail.

The Pulaski County Sheriff's Office says deputies are looking for Shane Delay and David Tomlinson, who are accused of walking off work release detail on Saturday afternoon.

Officials say Delay has been serving a sentence for burglary and theft. Tomlinson has been jailed on a probation violation.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff's office.

WATER AID

Kentucky student helps African village with water

HENDERSON, Ky. (AP) — The usually poised Addie Farley was a little nervous.

The day in June had arrived for her to deliver 300 personal water filtration straws ("life straws"), 25 family dwelling filters, and 4 community water filters to the Ugandan village of Kankoole.

But the Henderson County High School student, on her sixth mission trip to the East African village, jumped in with both feet, just as she did last year when she set the goal of raising the $8,000 to purchase the water purification devices.

Farley expected to visit homes to help install the family units and individually show the people how to use them.

Instead, the families — more than she had filters for — were called to the village for an assembly to unpack, demonstrate and distribute the equipment.

COLD CASE-FAMILY

Family hoping for justice 18 years after slaying

(Information in the following story is from: The Paducah Sun, http://www.paducahsun.com)

SHARPE, Ky. (AP) — When it comes to degrees of cold cases, Kentucky State Trooper Dean Patterson considers the death of Bobbi Holman Williams among the warmer ones.

Patterson told The Paducah Sun  that investigators are exploring several recent leads in Holman William's death 18 years ago in Benton. Patterson says the information has been received during the last 18 months.

Neil Williams found the 35-year-old Holman Williams, his estranged wife, dead on July 16, 1996, in the bathroom of her home in Sharpe in Marshall County in western Kentucky.

Family members continue to hope for a breakthrough.

In 1999, Neil Williams was convicted of conspiracy to commit the murder of his wife and was sentenced to 12-years in prison.

Williams maintained his innocence throughout his conspiracy case.