Kentucky News Now – July 22nd 2014

ARCH COAL-MINE IDLED

Arch Coal idles mine complex in Va., Ky.

APPALACHIA, Va. (AP) — Arch Coal says it is idling the Cumberland River Coal Company complex in Wise County, Virginia, and Letcher County, Kentucky.

Officials said Monday that more than 210 full-time positions are being eliminated by the move.

Arch Coal CEO John Eaves says the company is responding to market challenges for metallurgical coal used to make steel. Eaves said the company's strategy is to shift its portfolio toward higher-margin, lower-cost metallurgical coal operations. The mining complex had previously shuttered two contract mines during the second quarter of 2013.

Idling the operations will reduce the company's 2014 metallurgical coal sales volumes by about 200,000 tons. Arch Coal now expects to ship between 6.3 million and 6.9 million tons of metallurgical coal for 2014.

COAL-CARBON CAPTURE

Project at Ky. coal plant to catch carbon dioxide

HARRODSBURG, Ky. (AP) — Political leaders and researchers are touting a project to capture carbon dioxide at a central Kentucky power plant as a crucial step to continue burning coal for electricity amid tougher environmental regulations.

The $19.5 million facility under construction at the E.W. Brown Generating Station near Harrodsburg would capture and separate the carbon dioxide from the emission stream after the coal is burned. The developing technology is seen as a fix to keep old coal-fired power plants operating under stricter government rules.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear called the project "a big step forward for solving one of the biggest challenges facing the Commonwealth today, and that challenge is carbon emissions."

The Kentucky project is one of about 15 around the country that is getting support from the U.S. Department of Energy.

WILDFIRES-KENTUCKY FIREFIFGHTERS

40 Kentucky firefighters sent to battle western U.S. wildfires

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Two fire crews from Kentucky are heading west to help battle wildfires there.

The Daniel Boone National Forest says the Kentucky Interagency Coordination Center mobilized two fire crews Sunday. The crews were joined in Knoxville, Tennessee, by three more crews from Virginia.

They will report for duty in Redmond, Oregon, and then be assigned to various wildfire locations.

Twenty firefighters were sent from the Kentucky Division of Forestry. Another 20 federal agency firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service make up the second crew.

LOUISVILLE BREWERY

Ky brewery adding new Louisville location

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky brewery plans to boost production by more than 400 percent with a new facility in Louisville.

Gov. Steve Beshear's office said Monday that Against the Grain Brewery is expanding with a new production and packaging facility in the Portland neighborhood in western Louisville. The addition will include a barrel brewhouse and a number of barrel fermenter tanks.

The expansion also will allow the company to eventually develop an area to include a tasting room and retail space.

The company expects to create 20 new jobs as a result of the expansion.

Its current location at Slugger Field produces about 1,500 barrels annual, primarily servicing the pub located at the ballpark.

The state has given preliminary approval for the company to receive performance-based tax incentives of up to $200,000.

IMMIGRATION OVERLOAD-FORT KNOX

Fort Knox role in housing young migrants surfaces

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says Fort Knox has been talked about as a possible site to temporarily house immigrant children pouring across the country's border. But a Democratic congressman indicates the Army post is not under consideration as a place to shelter young migrants.

Paul said in a speech Monday that "it looks like" some of the unaccompanied youngsters might end up at Fort Knox temporarily.

The Kentucky Republican said the children should be treated humanely but returned to their home countries.

Paul spokesman Dan Bayens says Paul's office was notified that Fort Knox has been talked about as a potential place to provide shelter.

A spokesman for U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth says the congressman was informed by the Department of Health and Human Services that Fort Knox is not under consideration.

MISSING MARINE-WWII

Military burying of Marine missing since WWII

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The remains of a Marine from northeastern Kentucky unaccounted for since last being seen on an island in the Pacific Ocean during World War II and will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Department of Defense says the remains of Marine Pfc. Randolph Allen of Rush, Kentucky, were located in November on the island of Betio.

The military says four sets of remains belong to Japanese soldiers were found along with Allen's.

Allen was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division, which landed on Betio in the Tarawa Atoll. Over several days, roughly 1,000 Marines were killed and more than 2,000 were wounded. Allen was reported killed in action on Nov. 20, 1943.

He will be buried July 29 in Arlington National Cemetery, Washington D.C.

MULTI-STATE TRAILS

Groups want multi-state trails in Ky, Tenn, Va.

MIDDLESBORO, Ky. (AP) — Several groups on the Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia borders want to connect the trial systems in the area and create one large trail in an effort to draw more adventure tourism into the area.

Project backer Rick Stowe told WYMT-TV in Hazard that a single trail system could incorporate hiking, biking and horseback riding.

Both private and public groups in the three states along with representatives from the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park are working together on the proposed trail system.

Stowe says trails in Damascus, Virginia, which has the Creeper Trail and the Appalachian Trail, are a model of what's being proposed.

Stowe says public input will be sought on the proposed ideas.

Officials say they are submitting grant applications in August.

AMBER ALERT-APPEAL

Appeals court set to hear case of Maine man

OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) — A federal appeals court is set to hear the case of a Maine resident serving 30 years in prison for transporting a 13-year-old Owensboro girl across state lines to engage in sexual activity.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has scheduled arguments for Aug. 5 in the case of 47-year-old Archie Whalen of Hancock County, Maine.

A jury in Kentucky convicted Whalen in 2012 of taking the girl in 2009 from her home in Owensboro 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 being held in a federal prison in Marion, Illinois. His projected release date is Nov. 15, 2035.

GENDER NEUTRAL RESTROOMS

Murray State designates gender neutral restrooms

MURRAY, Ky. (AP) — Murray State University has designated three single-person restrooms as gender neutral restrooms available to any person regardless of gender identity or expression.

The Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay and Transgender program coordinator at the school, Jody Cofer Randall, says these restrooms are important to a segment of the university population.

Randall told the Murray Ledger & Times that it's "an indisputable fact" that transgender and gender non-conforming students attend Murray State.

Last September, the Student Government Association passed a resolution for LGBT equality that called for gender neutral bathrooms and other policy changes.

The university updated its policy regarding preferred first-name choices and promotion of diversity and tuition waivers for spouses and partners of university employees shortly after the resolution passed.

ACC KICKOFF-PETRINO

Petrino returns to Louisville for 1st ACC season

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Bobby Petrino turned Louisville into a top-10 team nearly a decade ago. Now, more than two years after a scandal derailed his career, Petrino is back with the Cardinals as they enter the Atlantic Coast Conference.

He said Monday at the ACC's preseason media days that he will handle things differently this time around.

Petrino said he must "prove to myself and everybody else on a daily basis" that Louisville made the right decision in bringing him back.

Petrino left Louisville in 2007 to coach the NFL's Atlanta Falcons for less than one season before going to Arkansas. Then he was fired in 2012 after a scandal involving a motorcycle accident with his mistress as a passenger.

He coached last season at Western Kentucky.