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Press Release « Result #1 on Oct 19, 2009, 5:05am »
KENTUCKY SHEEP AND GOAT PRODUCERS APPROVE CHECK-OFFS
Richie Farmer
Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer announced that Kentucky sheep and goat producers voted in favor of check-offs to assess themselves at a rate of one-half of one percent (.50%) of the net market price of their animals. In separate referenda held in county Extension offices throughout the Commonwealth, goat producers approved check-offs by a 75-41 vote, and sheep producers approved by a 32-12 count.
A date when check-off funds will begin to be collected has not been determined. Ray Bowman, executive director of the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office, said the start date will be set after consulting with stockyards. The collection of check-off funds will be mandatory, but reimbursement of funds paid will be an option to the producer. The Kentucky Sheep and Wool Producers Association and the Kentucky Goat Producers Association will administer the funds in the areas of promotion, consumer information, producer communication, industry information and research.
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Press Release « Result #2 on Oct 17, 2009, 11:54am »
PROGRAM PROVIDES INCENTIVES FOR NEW LARGE/FOOD ANIMAL VETS
Richie Farmer
A new program aimed at helping new large/food animal veterinarians is accepting applications, Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer has announced. The Kentucky Large/Food Animal Veterinary Incentive Program may repay up to $6,000 a year of outstanding student loans of eligible veterinarians, veterinary technicians and veterinary technologists who practice mostly large/food animal medicine.
“This program is important to Kentucky’s animal agriculture industry and our food supply,” Commissioner Farmer said. “Veterinarians are leaving large animal practices faster than they can be replaced. Livestock account for about $3 billion a year in farm cash receipts, so it’s important to Kentucky’s economy that we have enough veterinarians to serve the large food animal industry.”
Veterinarians, veterinary technicians and technologists may apply within the first two years after they graduate. Preference will be given to Kentucky residents who are working in an area of defined need. A committee made up of representatives of livestock groups and other agricultural organizations involved in the initiative will select up to three recipients a year. Recipients may receive payments up to three years as long as they continue to practice mostly large/food animal medicine.
A completed application and supporting materials must be submitted to the Kentucky Farm Bureau State Office in Louisville for an applicant to be considered for the program. Applications must be postmarked no later than Dec. 1 or delivered to the KFB State Office by that date. For more information, or to download an application, go to
The Kentucky Large/Food Animal Incentive Program is funded with a grant from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Fund and made possible by the KADF, Kentucky Farm Bureau, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Foundation, the Kentucky Dairy Development Council, the Kentucky Pork Producers Association, the Kentucky Poultry Federation, the Kentucky Sheep & Goat Development Office, and the Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association.
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Press Release « Result #3 on Oct 17, 2009, 11:43am »
Former University of the Cumberlands Student Sentenced to 145 Months Child Pornography, Identity Theft, Extortion & Computer Fraud
A former University of the Cumberlands student was sentenced today to 145 months in prison for possession of child pornography, identity theft, extortion, and computer fraud. In April of this year, a federal jury in London convicted 23-year-old Sungkook Kim of Williamsburg on one count of possession of child pornography.
Evidence at Kim’s trial determined that he possessed four videos of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct with adults. A week prior to the trial, Kim pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated identity theft, extortion, and felony computer fraud. Testimony confirmed that in the fall of 2008, Kim sent more than 20 threatening emails to a female student at the college. Kim possessed sexually explicit images of the student, and through e-mail, threatened to distribute the images to others if the student didn’t produce additional sexual images of herself.
In addition, the evidence proved that in 2007 Kim was in the university’s science lab and noticed that a student had forgotten to log off a computer. Kim observed sexually explicit images of this student and loaded them onto his thumb drive. Also, the proof at the trial established that Kim installed "keylogging" software on computers in the university computer lab to capture students’ login names and passwords to view private information. Keylogging software allows you to record keys that are typed.
Kim will have to serve at least 85% of his prison sentence. Following his release, he will have to register as a sex offender as required by federal law. The Office of the Attorney General, Cyber Crimes Unit, investigated Kim last November for identity theft and extortion and discovered the child pornography images on Kim’s computer.
James Zerhusen, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Timothy Cox, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Jack Conway, Kentucky Attorney General jointly made the announcement after Kim was sentenced.
London Resources Company Pleads Guilty Violating the Clean Water & Endangered Species Acts
The United States Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency jointly announced today that a resources company based out of London, Ky. pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that it discharged pollutants into a water source in Knox County that killed two fish on the threatened species list. Nami Resources Company, LLC pleaded guilty to an information filed by the U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky in August that charged the company with violating the Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts.
The company admitted that in 2007 it discharged drilling and fracturing fluids without a permit into a water source in Knox County that killed two Blackside Dace and effected other aquatic life. Blackside Dace is a fish less than three inches long and primarily found in Kentucky’s Cumberland River. Both of the fluids that were discharged are typically used in the production of natural gas. The company was fined $50,000 for the charges ($25,000 for violating each act).
The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney Roger West.
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Press Release « Result #4 on Oct 17, 2009, 11:30am »
Baucus Health Care Bill Tramples On American Freedom And Liberty
Jim Bunning
Senator Jim Bunning issued the following statement opposing the health care bill that was approved in the Senate Finance Committee.
"I think everyone would agree that health care reform is needed, but this bill is clearly not the answer," said Bunning. "It puts too much control in Washington, D.C., tramples on American freedom and liberty, and raises taxes.
"This is a deeply flawed piece of legislation that will spend more, add hundreds of billions of dollars more in new taxes on the middle class, and yet 25 million people will still remain uninsured under this bill. And it only adds insult to injury by forcing the millions without insurance to pay a penalty tax. The actual cost is hidden by delayed effective dates. Since most of this bill doesn’t go into effect until 2014, the true 10-year cost of the fully implemented bill is $1.8 trillion.
"We know that the hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes in this bill will drive up the cost of health care. A recent study suggests that American families will be paying $4,000 more for health insurance in 2019 because of this bill. Yet, CBO was not given enough time to determine whether premiums will increase or decrease under this bill, or whether national health spending will increase or decrease.
"I am deeply troubled by the lack of transparency that has surrounded the process of crafting this bill. The American people have a right to know exactly how the provisions in this legislation will impact their lives and how much these reforms will truly cost. But that information has yet to be provided to them because the Congressional Budget Office was not given the legislative language or the time that it needed to make a final and complete cost estimate.
"This bill breaks almost every single promise President Obama has made to the American people -- it raises taxes, will force people to give up the coverage they currently have, and it will raise the cost of health care for millions of Americans. Honestly, I think we should take a step back and start this whole process over. For a bill this big and important we have an obligation to make sure we get it right.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the Democrats’ health care reform proposal which will increase government spending:
“Sometime in the coming days, the Treasury Department will make an announcement that should startle all of us. It will announce that, in the fiscal year that ended just two weeks ago, the federal government spent $1.4 trillion more than it actually had. What this announcement means, is that lawmakers in Washington ran up a federal deficit in 2009 greater than the deficits of the last four years combined.
“This is a staggering statistic. It’s impossible for most of us to imagine sums of money this large, let alone the unprecedented amount of money we’ve borrowed this year alone. But one way to think of it is to realize that, since January 20th of this year, the federal government has borrowed $1.2 trillion or more than $10,500 for every household in the United States.
“Let me repeat that. Just since January, the federal government has borrowed more than $10,500 for every single household in the United States.
“As you can imagine, there’s a limit to how much we can borrow without facing serious consequences, such as dramatically higher interest rates that will further hamper job creation and massive spending cuts and taxes down the road. That’s precisely why Congress sets a limit on how much debt the government can carry at any one time. But the administration has decided to worry about all these things at a later date. For now, it just wants to continue to borrow and spend, borrow and spend, just as it’s done all year.
“But we’re in dangerous territory. And, as a result of all this borrowing, Congress is about to reach the limit on the amount of debt it can legally carry. The administration expected this would happen, and that’s why it recently asked Congress to raise the debt ceiling. Rather than cut spending or implement reforms that would reduce costs, the administration is proposing that we borrow even more to finance its industry bailouts and now its health care proposal. What this amounts to is a public admission that it can’t live within its own means.
“Think about the message this sends to the American people. At a time when millions of Americans are experiencing a financial hangover from overusing their own credit cards, the government is still at it. Rather than pay down some of the principal, the government is asking the credit card company to increase its limit. And what does it plan to buy with the room it gets on its credit card: more government spending programs.
“This is fiscal madness. The primary reason we’re in so much trouble financially is the fact that we can’t afford our current spending patterns. The projected deficit for 2009 is nearly twice as large as the previous postwar record from 1983. Yet, instead of reforming existing programs like Medicare and Social Security in order to make them financially sound and stable, the administration doesn’t want to make the hard choices.
“And this is one of the reasons the administration has a problem on its hands with the American people when it comes to health care. Most of the health care bills the administration supports would raise our debt by hundreds of billions of dollars. And, yet, the administration knows that Americans are concerned about all this spending and debt. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have touted a report last week saying that a conceptual version of one of the several health care bills being discussed in Congress could cut the deficit by some $80 billion over 10 years.
“Leaving aside the fact that this particular bill will never see the light of day, an important question arises: How can an administration that’s asking Congress for a $1 trillion increase on its credit card limit claim with a straight face to be excited about $80 billion in deficit savings?
“ That’s like putting a new Mercedes on the government credit card, and then calling a press conference on frugality because the dealer threw in a complimentary cup holder. Americans don’t buy any of it, and that’s why they’re overwhelmingly opposed to the administration’s health care proposals. At the outset of this debate, there was one criterion for success: reform would lower the cost of health care. And yet no one outside Washington believes that creating a new trillion-dollar entitlement will do anything but increase costs and increase our debt.
“We’re heading down a dangerous road. It’s long past time for the administration and its allies in Congress to face the hard choices that Americans have had to face over the past several months. No more spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need. No more debt. Real reform will lower costs and debt, not raise both when we can least afford it.”
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Press Release « Result #5 on Oct 6, 2009, 6:25am »
October is Civics Month in Kentucky
Trey Grayson
October is Civics Month in Kentucky, and there will be events throughout the Commonwealth to remind citizens, both young and old, about the importance of being engaged in the democratic process. Civics Month developed out of the Civic Literacy Initiative of Kentucky (CLIK), chaired by Secretary of State Trey Grayson, and was made official by the passage of House Joint Resolution 109 during the 2005 session of the Kentucky General Assembly.
“Civics month is a perfect opportunity for citizens to focus on the importance of being engaged in their local community as well as participating in the democratic process,” stated Secretary Grayson.
Civics month in Kentucky has opportunities abounding for Kentucky students. Students across the Commonwealth are participating in the Office of the Secretary of State Voter Slogan and Essay Contest. The contest, which is also sponsored by the Kentucky Education Association (KEA), KEA Retired, and the University of Kentucky Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, invites Kentucky 6th - 8th graders to participate in the slogan contest and 9th -12th graders to participate in the essay contest. Prizes of up to a $1,000 U.S. Savings Bond and four $1,500 U.S. Savings Bonds are available for winning slogans and essays, respectively.
Across Kentucky, at local festivals and other civic celebrations, various organizations will be hosting voter registration drives and information sessions about voting in Kentucky. These voter registration drives are important as Kentuckians will have the opportunity to vote on thousands of races in 2010. Interest is already high in those elections as the Office of the Secretary of State has already received hundreds of phone calls for information about seeking political office.
The Office of the Secretary of State will be traveling to speak to a variety of organizations about the importance of civic engagement and education. Later in the month, the Office will launch a new website focusing on Kentucky children and providing them with important information about government and the Commonwealth. Finally, Secretary Grayson will release an updated version of United We Stand: Encouraging Diversity in Kentucky's Leaders, a report about diversity in Kentucky’s elected leadership. The report is the second update to Grayson’s original report from 2006.
“Even though we do not have regularly scheduled elections this year, it is our hope to more fundamentally get Kentucky citizens engaged in their communities and government across the Commonwealth,” noted Grayson. “Civics month is an easy avenue to get citizens involved.”
CLIK is a multi-year effort that will determine a strategy for enhancing long-term civic engagement and civic literacy within the Commonwealth. As part of that effort, CLIK released a report, Rediscovering Democracy: An Agenda for Action, that calls upon the state to take tangible steps to increase civic literacy. The report, which details four principle recommendations and scores of additional recommendations, was developed from the work of the Kentucky Workgroup on Civic Literacy and the CLIK. For more information about CLIK or to find out how to get your school, organization, or family involved in any civic activities taking place across Kentucky during the next month, please visit:
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Press Release « Result #6 on Oct 5, 2009, 6:33pm »
Governor Recognizes Sacrifice of Fort Campbell Casualty
Gov. Steve Beshear today recognized the sacrifice of a Fort Campbell soldier who died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. According to the Department of Defense, Spc. Russell S. Hercules Jr., 22, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., died Oct. 1, 2009 in Wardak Province, Afghanistan of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell.
The governor will order that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset on the day of Spc. Hercules's interment for which arrangements are still pending.
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Press Release « Result #7 on Oct 2, 2009, 6:08am »
Governors Raise the Alarm on Trillion-Dollar Health Bill
Mitch McConnell
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday regarding the importance of getting it right on health care reform:
“Americans have been watching the health care debate play out in various committees in Congress, and they’re wondering where it’s all headed. Well, I’ll make it easy for them. The final bill is going to cost about a trillion dollars. It’s going to include half-a-trillion dollars in cuts to seniors’ Medicare in order to create a new government program. It’s going to raise hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes on individuals and businesses. And it’s going to expand the government’s role in the health care of every single American, whether they like it or not, limiting choices and leading to the same kind of denial and delay we’ve seen in other countries.
“And then there’s the issue of rushing through a bill and denying the American people the chance to read it. Imagine that. A trillion dollars out of the taxpayers’ wallets for a bill that will affect the health care of every single American, and the Majority has already voted to deny a mere 72-hours of public review before voting on it. This is outrageous, and hopefully this is not the way the majority decides to go forward.
“One group that’s become increasingly vocal in its criticism of this legislation is our nation’s governors. Over the course of this debate, at least one in three of them have issued statements expressing their urgent concerns about a proposed expansion of Medicaid, which will force them either to cut services, raise taxes, or both. That’s on top of the tax hikes that come about on the federal level as a result of this bill.
“One Democrat governor had this to say of the Medicaid proposal: ‘… it’s very scary for governors to be saying as soon as the revenues get back there, the federal government is going to come in and say here’s how you’re going to spend your new money.’
“Governor Schwarzenegger of California says he won’t support federal health care reform proposals that impose billions of dollars in new costs on California.
“Governor Crist of Florida says the proposed Medicaid expansion would have a crippling effect on Florida’s state economy.
“Governor Linda Lingle of Hawaii says the proposed Medicaid expansion would be tantamount to mandating a tax increase on every resident … and further harm residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
“Idaho Governor ‘Butch’ Otter calls the proposal ‘an … irresponsible effort to shift a substantial and unmanageable financial burden to the states.’
“Those are just a few of the comments we’ve heard from governors. They’re issuing the same kind of dire warnings about the proposed health care legislation that Americans have been sounding for months.
“The fact is, supporters of this legislation know that most Americans oppose it. That’s why they’re not listening. And that’s why they’re trying to rush it through without giving anybody a chance to study the details. The American people understand these proposals. They understand the strategy. And they’re not happy about either.”
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Press Release « Result #8 on Oct 1, 2009, 5:57am »
McConnell: ‘The Situation in Afghanistan is Urgent’
Mitch McConnell
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding the McChrystal Counterinsurgency Plan:
“The situation in Afghanistan is urgent, and we’re told that action is necessary soon. But to better understand the need for action, the American people need to know all the details. And they should have those details explained to them by the man who knows them best.
“It’s hard to deny the urgency of General McChrystal’s assessment, parts of which have already been made public. And it’s impossible to ignore his depiction of a grave and deteriorating situation in the same part of the world where a group terrorists plotted the 9/11 attacks. General McChrystal’s assessment of Afghanistan should worry all of us. As the President told a Turkish audience in April, ‘The world has come too far to let this region backslide, and to let al Qaeda terrorists plot further attacks.’
“Earlier this year, President Obama expressed his confidence in General McChrystal by appointing him to his current post. Following the President’s lead, the Senate expressed its confidence in General McChrystal by confirming him for his current mission without dissent. Now it’s time for Congress to hear his detailed assessment of the mission that we confirmed him for, and to give him an opportunity to explain why he’s concluded that additional troops are needed to avert failure.”
Bunning Says Obama’s Excessive Spending Is Placing Added Strain On Our Nation’s Banks
Senator Jim Bunning issued the following statement on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) proposal to require banks to prepay $45 billion of regular quarterly assessments in order to help cover the cost of banks that fail.
"It’s unfortunate that the FDIC had to do this today," said Bunning. "Banks are already dealing with extremely tight balance sheets and they don’t have the money to lend to consumers and small businesses. This decision by the FDIC is only going to add to the strain on our nation’s banks.
"I don’t think it’s fair to be penalizing our community banks because President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner have been spending like drunken sailors. The FDIC was basically forced to do this because Treasury is going to run up against the debt ceiling soon and doesn’t have the money to cover it, despite the fact Congress approved the use of funds for just this purpose. We are projected to have $1.8 trillion in debt for the year under the President’s budget. How irresponsible do you have to be to not to be able to stay within the $12 trillion debt our nation already has? The American people deserve better leadership from the president and his administration during these difficult economic times."
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Operation Enduring Freedom « Result #9 on Sept 30, 2009, 9:27pm »
Governor Beshear Recognizes Sacrifice of Kentucky Casualty
Gov. Steve Beshear recognized the sacrifice of a Kentucky native solider who died while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. According to the Department of Defense, Spc. Kevin J. Graham, 27, of Benton, Ky. died September 26 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Wash.
Gov. Beshear will order that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff from sunrise to sunset on the day of Spc. Graham’s interment for which arrangements are still pending.
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Press Release « Result #10 on Sept 30, 2009, 9:18pm »
Prescription drug use increases in nearly all KY counties
The rate of prescriptions dispensed for controlled substances increased in 118 of Kentucky’s 120 counties between 2005 and 2007, according to a recent report of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, and five Kentucky counties – Clinton, Magoffin, Whitley, Bell and Owsley – averaged more than four controlled substance prescriptions dispensed per resident.
This data, provided by the Kentucky All Schedule Prescription Electronic Reporting System (KASPER), is included in the recently released Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics in the Commonwealth, 2007. The Sourcebook is an annual publication of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s Kentucky Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) which brings together data from all components of the criminal justice system. One of the selected crime categories highlighted in the 2007 edition of the Sourcebook is prescription drug abuse.
“Despite enhanced law enforcement efforts and the many successes of KASPER, the misuse, abuse and illegal sale of prescription drugs continue to plague the Commonwealth,” said Justice and Public Safety Secretary J. Michael Brown. “Although we remain vigilant in our efforts to curtail illegal use and abuse, this remains a significant challenge for the Commonwealth.”
According to the Sourcebook, the rate of prescriptions dispensed for controlled substances increased by more than 20 percent in 32 counties. The counties with the highest rates of increase were Carroll (41.9%) and Hancock (54.1%).
Official law enforcement statistics compiled in the Sourcebook also illustrate the rise in illegal prescription drug activity. According to the Kentucky State Police, prescription drug related offenses rose 23.6% and arrests rose 6.3% between 2006 and 2007. The greatest percentage of prescription drug-related offenses and arrests were related to possession. Data from the Administrative Office of the Courts mirrors this increase in prescription drug related activity. The total number of prescription drug related cases in Kentucky’s court system increased 22% between 2003 and 2007, reaching a five-year high of 7,136 cases in 2007, according to the report.
The implications for an already over-burdened corrections system are significant. The number of new Department of Corrections commitments for prescription drug related offenses increased to a five-year high of 72 in 2007, the Sourcebook indicates, up from 56 in 2003. The number of new commitments for offenses that were committed either under the influence of prescription drugs and/or for the purpose of supporting their drug habit are unknown.
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