News

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A member of Gov. Steve Beshear's cabinet, Tourism, Arts and Heritage Secretary Marcheta Sparrow, is retiring at the end of May.

A statement from Beshear's office on Friday said Sparrow plans to spend more time with her family, pursue new interests and become more involved in her hometown of Harrodsburg.

BALTIMORE -- Everything's a go for Orb.  The Kentucky Derby winner was in a playful mood the day before the Preakness, making faces for photographers between nibbles of grass outside his stall at Pimlico Race Course.

"He's really settled in well. He seems to be energetic about what he's doing so I couldn't be more pleased," trainer Shug McGaughey said on a warm and sunny Friday morning. "We're excited about giving it a whirl to see if we can get it done and go on to the next step."

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Humvee carrying six Navy SEALs and two other sailors overturned during a training exercise at Fort Knox in Kentucky, killing one of the SEALs and injuring the others, military officials said Friday.

Lt. David Lloyd, a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Group Two in Virginia Beach, Va., said the Humvee was part of a convoy on the post when it overturned Wednesday night. What caused it to flip remains under investigation, he said.

PIKEVILLE, Ky. - Colleges and universities in central Appalachia are struggling to retain students. Roughly half the freshmen at the University of Pikeville don’t come back the following year. For the students who stay, many wonder if there will be jobs available in a region that for decades relied on coal mining as its primary industry.

“We feel like if you can teach them in the mountains, train them in the mountains, they’ll stay in the mountains,” says James Hurley, President-elect of the University of Pikeville.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A city ordinance that would allow an increased presence of food trucks in downtown Lexington has cleared a major hurdle, but not without some tweaking.  The Lexington Parking Authority board of commissioners voted today to accept a proposal that authorizes food trucks to operate during specified hours in certain designated areas for an initial six month trial period.

FLEMINGSBURG, Ky. -- Officials in a northeastern Kentucky city are considering a ban on pit bulls. Flemingsburg Mayor Marty Voiers told The Ledger Independent that officials have had several complaints about the animals.

"We have had numerous complaints about the dogs running lose and we've had incidents with people being chased and bit," he said. "The council thought it would be best to ban the dogs before something more serious happened."

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Kentucky's unemployment rate dropped slightly to 7.9 percent in April, down from 8 percent in March.

The state Office of Employment and Training said Thursday that the preliminary April rate was an improvement from the 8.2 percent statewide rate in April 2012.

Kentucky's jobless rate remains above the national rate, which was at 7.5 percent in April.

BALTIMORE  -- The Preakness draw was over, and trainer Shug McGaughey listed a variety of reasons why he was OK with having Kentucky Derby winner Orb starting Saturday's race from the rail.  Then someone asked him, "If you had your choice, where would you want to be?"  Without hesitation, McGaughey responded, "The outside."

Despite getting the inside post in Wednesday's draw, Orb was made an even-money favorite to win the Preakness and keep alive his bid to become horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - A former Army Ranger who fled from Fayette County Circuit Court last summer just before being convicted of rape and sodomy has been caught in Wyoming.

Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts told the Lexington Herald-Leader that 29-year-old John C. Buckley IV was back in custody after he fled July 12.

FRANKFORT, Ky.-- Richie Farmer's federal trial on charges of misappropriating government resources when he was agriculture commissioner has been moved to this fall.

Farmer, who starred on the University of Kentucky basketball team in the late 1980s and `90s, had asked that the trial, previously set for July 2, be continued until February. His lawyer, Guthrie True, said he needed more time to prepare for what he expected to be a complex case.