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Today's News for February 22, 2007System NewsState News National News Legislative Update On the road 'Highway 41' featured in upcoming fundraiser Writer: DONNA B. STINNETT 2/22/2007 Henderson Gleaner When it came time to pick a name for their bluegrass band, a group of local musicians took geography into consideration. "Somebody said 'How about Highway 41? We all live on it'," recalls Bob Park, musician, humorist and member of the group. And so it was done. They'll be slightly off their highway when they perform Saturday evening at Henderson Fine Arts Center in "Highway 41 Bluegrass Show," but the band is well on the road to learning how to make joyful bluegrass music together. Park doesn't know exactly how to describe the band's music, because it pulls together some of the folk-oriented tunes played by Canoe Creek, another local bluegrass band that some of the members previously played with, along with new songs that have been steadily mixed in. "We've expanded quite a bit. We do more traditional bluegrass," Park said, adding that the level of musicianship in the band is strong. "We do some nice things." The band formed about two years ago, seeking a fresh start built on their long-time roots in bluegrass music and the love of playing it with a group in a relaxing setting. In addition to Park, Highway 41 includes: Guitarist Barry Denton of Henderson; banjo player Steve Moehler of Evansville (who also plays with Little Mo and the Atomic Two-Tones and occasionally River City Bluegrass); fiddler Steve Mayo of Evansville (who also plays with country-rock band The E-ville Doers); bass player Mike Rodenberg of Newburgh (who plays with various bands and alongside brother Carl Rodenberg); and mandolin player Mark Crowder of Daviess County (who also plays with bluegrass band Sassafras.) To date they've performed at Casino Aztar, for Derby parties at Keeneland Racetrack in Lexington, for Carl Hurley's Cavalcade of Comedy at the Galt House in Louisville, for conventions, and for lobbyists and legislators in Frankfort, as well as numerous other local events. This spring they'll be performing at the Glema Mahr Center for the Arts at Madisonville Community College and will be featured during a two-day bluegrass festival that will be held for the first time at Audubon State Park (on May 11-12). Saturday's event is a fundraiser for Operation Community Pride that also features a set by The Vincent Brothers (Jerry, Keith and Gary), and a special appearance by young vocalist Morgan Book. "It's really an important event for OCP," Park said. "They do a lot of good things for the community." Those things include establishing the RiverPark Walk in Atkinson Park, setting up the annual Christmas in the Park display in Central Park and the community's adopt-a-spots, as well as many other projects. It's also important for Highway 41, Park said. "It gives us a chance to play music in front of people we know," he said. "It's good exposure. A lot of people don't know what we're doing. "If you like to tap your toes, if you like music you'll like this concert," Park added. If you go ... Curtain time for "Highway 41 Bluegrass Show" is 7 p.m. Saturday at Henderson Fine Arts Center, located on the campus of Henderson Community College at 2660 U.S. 60-West. It is a two-act show with a 15-minute intermission. Tickets are $26 and $20 and are available at the Fine Arts Center box office, (270) 831-9800. The performance will also include a meet-and-greet after the show so people can talk with the musicians in the Stagg Room. Planning for festival under way Writer: DEANNA LEE-SHERMAN 2/17/2007 Harlan Daily Enterprise Plans are already under way for two of the county's most noted and successful festivals, one of which is the second oldest in the state. Members of the Harlan County Fiscal Court on Thursday approved a $22,000 cap for the 52nd annual Poke Sallet Festival and promised to consider another $10,000 in funding for Cumberland's Kingdom Come Swappin' Meetin' and Black Mountain Native American Indian Festival. Dan Mosley, special programs coordinator for Harlan County, discussed the budget for the Poke Sallet Festival, which brings droves of natives and visitors to Harlan County each year. It is among the most prestigious festivals in the state and was inherited by the fiscal court from the local Chamber of Commerce four years ago. Mosley said the festival is beginning to funnel money back into the county and that he is expecting a return of between $11,000 and $13,000 this year. He said the cost of the festival will be considerably less than last year's, when the fiscal court and city of Harlan had to shell out $17,000 for electrical infrastructure near the Harlan Center in downtown Harlan. "We should have more revenue this year," Mosley said, announcing that country artists Chris Knight and Scarekrow are scheduled to make performances. He also said that vendor space costs have increased. "It's bringing in more money every year. Our goal is to make it self-sustaining," Mosley said. Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop said the fiscal court has been "trying to keep the Poke Sallet Festival alive," noting that efforts to revamp the festival are starting to prove worthwhile. Because the festival also benefits the city of Harlan, Magistrates David Kennedy, Chad Brock and Jimmy Roark said a $1,000 charge to rent the Harlan Center should be cut from the festival's budget. The center displays photography and several other pieces of art during the festival. Excluding the $1,000 rent for the Harlan Center, the fiscal court accepted Mosley's budget for the festival, to be held May 31 to June 3 in downtown Harlan. Mosley said the festival's planning committee will hold a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the Harlan Center and is encouraging individuals who wish to promote an event during the festival to attend the meeting. Michael Corriston, speaking on behalf of the Kingdom Come Swappin' Meetin' and Black Mountain Native American Indian Festival, made the request for $10,000 for those festivals, $5,000 for each. He said the goal of the Black Mountain Native American Indian Festival is to send individuals into area schools to teach the Indian culture. Corriston said organizers of the Kingdom Come Swappin' Meetin', to be held Oct. 5 and 6 at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, have already begun to consider vendors and quality craftsmen for the 43rd annual event. In other news: Don Breeding, with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said tentative allocations have been made for repair work for portions of KY 510,KY 522,KY 987 and KY 1926, which fall into the state's rural/secondary roads program. Breeding said the work is estimated to cost close to $600,000 and asked fiscal court members to suggest other roads to be considered for resurfacing or other work. Kennedy recommended that attention be paid to KY 179, called Slope Hollow, which is used primarily by college students and coal miners. He said he would like to see more guardrails and gravel on the road. The fiscal court also passed a motion to accept a portion of the old U.S. 421 at Grays Knob into the county road system. Sandra Goodwyn, executive director of Pathfinders for Independent Living in Harlan, requested $10,000 in funding from the fiscal court for repairs she said need to be made to the agency's bus, which has no heat or air conditioning. That prevents some residents with certain disabilities from enjoying some of the outings that the agency offers. Grieshop said the request would be considered. A 5 percent match for a grant worth a little more than $200,000 was approved for the Cumberland Fire Department. Kennedy said the match would come to $10,000 and that the money would benefit Lynch and Benham as well, because the three cities work closely together in providing services to Tri-City residents. Elizabeth Powell, executive director of the Harlan Revitalization Association, presented information on a program that offers building owners a 50 percent discount on paint purchases at Porter Paints. She said applicants must be a member of the Harlan Revitalization Association's Main Street program and can obtain a voucher for paint at the association's office on 218 South Main St. A motion was passed to advertise for white beach sand and asphalt. Following an executive session, the fiscal court announced that David McGill would be hired as the county's emergency management director at $5,087 a year, pending state approval. It was also announced that the fiscal court will accept a deed from Appalachian Regional Healthcare for the old ARH clinic and land in Lynch, and return that deed to Lynch with "100 percent no strings attached," Kennedy said. He said the building could be a source of income once renovated. The city has considered leasing portions of it and using it for city services, he said. The next regular meeting of the Harlan County Fiscal Court will be 10 a.m. March 15 in the fiscal court conference room of the Harlan County Courthouse. WKCTC to honor retiring Puckett 2/21/2007 Paducah Sun West Kentucky Community & Technical College will honor longtime staff member Janice Puckett during a retirement reception set for 3 p.m. Feb. 28 in the College Bistro on the first floor of the Anderson Technical Building. Puckett began her career at the college in 1979 -- when it was known as Paducah Community College -- as a teacher's aid. She is now an executive administrative assistant in the president's office. Information: Laura Grumley, 534-3068. Black community leaders to be recognized at ball - Dr. Necia Desiree Harkless will be guest speaker at the African American Heritage Ball. 2/22/2007 Paducah Sun MURRAY, Ky. -- Several members of western Kentucky's black community will be honored for their contributions locally and throughout the commonwealth during the first African American Heritage Ball set for 7 p.m. Saturday in the Curris Center Ballroom at Murray State University. Dr. Necia Desiree Harkless of Lexington, an educator and author of the "Nubian Pharaohs and Meroitic Kings: The Kingdom of Krush," will serve as guest speaker. Tickets are $15 a person, including dinner. Tables can be reserved for $150. Dress is semi-formal. Tickets are limited. Phone the Marvin Mills Multicultural Center, 809-6836, for reservations. "What this is designed to do is galvanize the community," said S.G. Carthell, event organizer and MSU director of African American Student Services & Ethnic Programs. "There has been a lot of great things accomplished by African-Americans in western Kentucky, and Murray State has been somewhat of a hub for this, so it is appropriate to honor these people here. Plus, these people have greatly affected students here at Murray State, and we are wanting to recognize those things as well." Honored Saturday will be: (Paducah) Rev. W.G. Harvey; Cecil Ward; Geco Ross; Oscar Cross Boys & Girls Club; Kappa Alpha Psi Alumni Chapter, Arthur Boykin, president; W.C. Young Community Center; Greg Ross; Tina White; Ronald Alston and Cynthia Alston. (Murray) David Hudspeth, Virgil Boyd, Sheila Boyd and James Hornbuckle. (Hopkinsville) Bishop C.E. Timberlake. (Mayfield) Dr. Steve Jones. (Cadiz) George Scholar. (Barlow) Rev. Franklin Stone. Boone fire training center is nearer Writer: Shelly Whitehead 2/21/2007 Kentucky Post (Covington) A quarter-century after Boone County firefighters began their push for a training center, the first visible signs of the much-anticipated facility began appearing on the local landscape Tuesday. Prefabricated components of a four-story tower and residential annex that will be at the center of the facility began showing up at a Conrad Lane site in Burlington early Tuesday. Point Pleasant Fire Chief Mike Giordano said the components will soon come together to form a specially constructed building where firefighters can experience interior structure fires in a controlled atmosphere to learn how to do their jobs better. "This is actually the first real sign that this thing is going to occur. This project has been in the works for the last 25 years," Giordano said. "Soon we'll have a groundbreaking and we hope to have the tower and building erected by the latter part of the summer." Giordano said eight of Boone County's 10 fire departments are helping to pay for the $1.4 million first phase of the training center through an inter-local agreement. The facility is being constructed on a plot of land across from the recently built Boone County Sheriff's Department and jail. Campbell and Kenton counties already have fire training centers. Boone County's 450 firefighters have used them when they were available, Giordano said. But Boone County's need for its own training center has grown as the county's population has increased and firefighting has become a more complex and regulated profession. "There will eventually be various other training properties on this site as well, like an area for extrication training and draft pits and so on," Giordano said. The once-popular practice of using acquired vacant properties for fire training has become less common. Giordano said it is not only more difficult to obtain such structures, but environmental regulations have made using them for live fire training far more difficult and costly. Giordano said site preparation for the new center should begin shortly. He hoped that firefighters could begin training at the Burlington center in late summer. The training center was first deemed a priority for Boone County in 1981, but land acquisition and funding difficulties repeatedly delayed the project. But seven years ago, the county acquired land off Conrad Lane for construction of the public safety complex. Column: The things that really matter are really expensive Writer: Bob Hill 2/22/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal I just took my own highly accurate "Bobgrass Poll" and determined four things that really matter in life are good health, good education, good housing and affordable college basketball and football tickets. So what are four things whose costs have greatly outpaced the income growth of most Americans? A -- Health costs. B -- Higher education. C -- Housing -- although it's dropped some. D -- College athletic tickets. Not that those more personal and emotional matters such as religion, family life and job satisfaction should be ignored. But I'm mostly talking economics, the opening up the billfold for ever-higher medical premiums and co-pay costs. I'm talking the fact that college education costs have escalated so much faster than income -- or inflation -- that many students are beginning life anywhere from $40,000 to $100,000 in debt. And who knows how many more don't even try to pay the price, or drop out early because of job-related issues. I'm talking about housing costs that have doubled and tripled -- and even with a recent leveling off which was both necessary and inevitable, only longtime homeowners remain ahead of the game. I'm talking about the amount of money that college sports fans must now pay just for the "right" to buy tickets -- even before the recent escalation in seat prices. I know there are waiting lists, but I seriously wonder how many totally devoted middle- to lower-income fans are already priced out of the ticket market as universities add more and more facilities, expensive coaches and athletic eye candy to lure 18-year-old kids to higher education. And how many of them come from areas where their neighbors couldn't afford the tickets? You want to talk health care? Recent news stories suggested that by 2010 we will be spending $1 of every $5 on health care, with co-payments and health insurance rising much faster than most income levels. The reason for some of those costs can be found in other stories, such as Merck & Co. suspending its nationwide campaign to lobby state legislatures to require adolescent girls receive its $360 vaccine against a virus that may cause cervical cancer. Its overarching lobbying effort -- no vaccine, no school -- was very expensive, got in the way of the real debate over the use of the vaccine and was another example of drug companies spending hundreds of millions in marketing campaigns to push products outside the doctor's office. I could feel a little better about all this if Americans were becoming healthier -- but we are not. Every survey shows we are more overweight, more badly fed, more depressed, have a higher baby mortality rate and are less exercised than most of the free world -- and with a life expectancy well below Andorra, Luxembourg and Iceland. Listen to the conversations in doctor's waiting rooms; there are older Americans choosing between paying bills or buying food or medicine. There are people who work only for family medical insurance -- and 40 million of us with none. I don't understand what gives college administrators and board members the idea they can continually raise tuition fees well above inflation and still attract enough of the students who most need and can least afford their educations. Maybe they've already purchased all the houses they need -- or forgot what it's like to be young, working two jobs and worried about paying college costs. Maybe they don't have to stand in line for football or basketball tickets they can't really afford. It's deep into the game, and the "Haves" have pulled well ahead of the "Have Nots." Is there a doctor in the house? County officials say high-tech jobs offer best hope for areas long-term prosperity Writer: VINCE TWEDDELL 2/22/2007 Frankfort State Journal The loss of almost 400 jobs the past two days is termed by one local economic development leader as a cause for "concern, but not panic." And officials say those losses could cut local tax revenues $100,000 a year. "Products, businesses have life cycles," said Phil Kerrick, executive director of the Capital Community Economic/Industrial Development Authority. He added that "unfortunately" the county has seen two such examples the past two days. Topy Corp. announced Tuesday it was closing it aluminum wheel manufacturing division and with it, cutting 250 jobs. Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems announced Monday it was closing its local operation and relocating the remaining 124 jobs to plants in Glasgow, Ky., and Mexico. Even before the losses, leaders have been looking to bring in new forms of business, including the recruitment of a more high-tech industry to replace an area filled with manufacturing. Its a difficult transition to move from manufacturing to more technology-based jobs, said Magistrate Jill Robinson, but one she believes must be pursued. "I think we've hit our peak on them (manufacturing jobs)," she said. Kerrick said "hopefully" the county will see two new businesses locate here in the near future. One of those is what he termed a low-skill assembly job offering about a $10-an-hour wage. But the other is an office-type industry like a data or call center in which the average salary is between $40,000 and $60,000, Kerrick said. He declined further comment because of the sensitivity of industrial recruiting. Robinson said those white-collar jobs are the type this area needs to recruit more intensely. Part of her reasoning is the kind of worker offered in Franklin County an area saturated with retired state workers schooled in computer or office work who want to get back into the job market. "We have a unique employee profile here that you dont have in other communities," she said. After two days of job losses in auto parts manufacturing, Judge-Executive Ted Collins said local government should look at technology jobs more closely, adding "something outside of the automotive industry" should be considered. He also said the top priority is finding work for those laid off, and that will be done by bringing new industry. Also, the Chamber of Commerce will be holding a job fair soon, he said. But on a governmental level, Collins acknowledged the job cuts will cause about a $100,000 dent in Fiscal Courts yearly revenue stream from losses in occupational license fees. "Were talking about $100,000 per year unless we can find those folks other jobs," he said. The 374 "good-paying" jobs lost Monday and Tuesday will not only have an impact on payroll taxes, but also affects the ability of consumers to purchase local goods and services, Kerrick said. Kerrick said his job is to continually hunt business and industry opportunities for the community, noting that he has worked on 34 projects this past year to do just that. A third of those, he said, were the office-type industries. The remaining were in the fields of manufacturing and distribution, including metal-related and plastics industry. Generally it is difficult for an industry to remain in an area for long periods of time, Kerrick said, noting that assets tend to decrease and labor costs go up, while in other areas of the world such as China and Mexico it costs less to do business. "Unfortunately, its something thats inevitable," he said. He boiled it down. "It has to do with the cost of doing business and the ability of the company to make money." Kerrick said hes been to trade shows around the country to promote the area and "Well continue to do that." He said for every opportunity that seems appropriate, "Were out there beating our drum." Meanwhile, Holly Spade, executive director of legal services for the Cabinet of Economic Development, said Topy was approved for tax credits in 2006 under the Kentucky Industrial Revitalization Act. Companies that qualify are eligible to receive state income tax credits, corporate license fee credits and job assessment fees for up to 10 years. However, Spade said Topy will not receive any incentives until 2008. To qualify, a company must save or create 25 jobs and be in danger of closing. The credits are limited to 75 percent of the cost of rehabilitation, construction or refurbishment work for which Topy sought to receive credits. The baseline for calculating the incentives is 604 jobs, so if they drop below that, Spade said Topy could be suspended. They must restore the cuts and hire 15 new employees by 2008 to be eligible for the incentives, she said. "They have to have 619 jobs to be eligible for incentives at all," she said. "If they are suspended they can come back if they get their numbers back up within a year." In addition, Topy has applied for wage assessment tax credits. If its payroll decreases, the incentives are also reduced, Spade said. Editorial, Feb. 21: No room at the inn for this plan 2/22/2007 Elizabethtown News-Enterprise Louisville, our big-city neighbor to the north, has huge, expensive plans for its waterfront, anchored by a skyscraper at one end, a new sports arena on the other, connected by parks, plazas and a pedestrian bridge. Estimated cost of the planned 62-story Museum Plaza complex: more than $450 million; of the sports arena: about the same. Development of the six blocks between Second and Eighth streets, between Main Street and the Ohio River, will change the skyline of Louisville forever, as the state's best-known city once again re-invents itself, this time to take advantage of its natural asset with the most potential for development, the waterfront. That's a great idea. The metropolitan government, business and community leaders are to be applauded for their vision. They should be discouraged, though, from pursuing taxes collected from hotel guests as a source of financing their dreams. That's a very bad idea. Members of the General Assembly representing Louisville-Jefferson County metro districts are in Frankfort as you read this piece, trying to convince their colleagues from across the state to approve House Bill 393. If they succeed, the change would allow tax funds presently collected specifically for tourism activities to be diverted to other purposes, such as helping pay construction costs for privately owned facilities. Tourism officials here and elsewhere across the state fear that if the law is amended to allow Louisville to redirect the room tax revenue, the result could be the possible dilution of the already meager amounts of money they receive to promote local tourism. Or, they fear, local governments would figure out a way to deposit the money in general funds to finance operations unrelated to tourism. Tourism is Kentucky's third-largest industry and its second- largest source of jobs, although we are outspent by surrounding states. Reducing the funds available to promote opportunities for tourists would hand over further advantage to our neighbors. Since the late 1960s when the tax revenue was earmarked for promotion of local tourist attractions, the law has been challenged twice and upheld by the state Supreme Court. Louisville's waterfront development projects will enhance the city's profile, but to grant it an exception to tap funds intended to finance tourism would set a bad precedent that would haunt state and local tourism efforts. Amending the room tax law might be a good move for Louisville, although even that is debatable. But it certainly would not benefit the rest of the state. Lawmakers meeting in Frankfort should muster the courage to stand up to the tax attack from the river city and protect what little money is available today for tourism promotion. They should encourage Louisville and its representatives to find other ways to pay for their city's future. This editorial represents a consensus of The News-Enterprise editorial board. Fayette prosecutor is honored Writer: Brandon Ortiz 2/22/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader A Fayette prosecutor active in truancy prevention and prosecuting domestic violence cases was named Kentucky assistant county attorney of the year yesterday. Last year Jennifer True, 34, restarted the Truancy Intervention Program, which brings prosecutors into 10 elementary schools and two middle schools in Lexington to counsel students against skipping school. The program had lapsed about four years ago after a federal grant expired. It helps students find tutors and make up credits, and it stresses to parents the importance of attending class. "For the most part, there are a lot of kids who have fallen behind, they show up late to school, and they think, 'what's the point,' and they lose hope," said True, a 1998 University of Kentucky law school graduate. "We try to give them hope." True was given the award yesterday at the Kentucky County Attorneys Association's annual conference in Lexington. Her boss, Fayette County Attorney Larry Roberts, called her a sharp, well-rounded attorney. She's worked at the county attorney's office for seven years. In the nomination letter, First Assistant County Attorney Brian Mattone wrote that True is a natural leader known for her "unique ability to connect with victims and gain their trust while victims appreciate her special compassion for children caught in the middle of domestic disputes." KFC tries Kentucky fried fish - Chain hopes sandwich will reel in business during Lenten season Writer: Alex Davis 2/22/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal After building a fast-food empire on a secret chicken recipe, Louisville-based KFC Corp. is hoping to cash in on the Lenten season with its first national fish menu item. The 99-cent KFC Fish Snacker was rolled out at the chain's domestic restaurants Monday, and will be promoted through Easter Sunday. Rick Maynard, a KFC spokesman, said the company conducted a trial run of the Fish Snacker in June 2005 in the Columbus, Ohio, market, followed by another trial that reached about three-fourths of all stores during Lent last year. KFC's parent company, Yum! Brands Inc., has been looking for ways to boost U.S. restaurant sales, which have been slow compared with those in its overseas markets. Ron Paul, president of Technomic, a restaurant consultancy in Chicago, said the fish campaign makes sense for KFC, even if it temporarily cuts into sales at Yum's seafood chain, Long John Silver's. "You don't want anybody to not come to your place because you don't have something for them to eat," Paul said in an interview. "I don't think it's going to be a huge deal, but given how complex and competitive the industry is right now ... trying to get some oomph out of KFC probably makes a lot of sense." Long John Silver's has about 1,500 domestic locations compared to 5,500 for KFC. Maynard declined to comment on the potential impact of the fish promotion on Long John Silver's. Whayne Hougland, executive director of the Association of LJS Franchisees Inc., said the Lenten season is "the most important sales event of the year" for Long John Silver's, and a critical time for introducing new products. "I think it's something we'd prefer not to happen, but they certainly have a right to do it," Hougland said of the fish promotion at KFC. "Everybody sells fish during Lent -- they're doing it to compete with McDonald's and Arby's." Germantown resident Kenny Shanks said he wasn't aware of the fish sandwich but was interested in ordering one. "I do buy fish during Lent," said Shanks, 54, who visited a KFC on Preston Highway yesterday for lunch. "I'm not Catholic; I just like fish." Scott Adams, who picked up lunch at the restaurant's drive-through window, said he is a fan of chicken and fish, but prefers to eat at places that specialize in one type of food. Still, he said, the fish sounded tempting. The rectangular sandwich is the fifth menu item to carry the Snacker name since KFC launched the category two years ago. A receipt for two of the sandwiches purchased at the Preston Highway store yesterday described them as "Catfish." But Maynard said that the notation was a mistake and that the Fish Snackers are made of 100 percent breaded Alaskan Pollock. They are cooked using existing fryers at KFC restaurants, he said. An estimated 1.5 million metric tons of Alaskan Pollock were caught last year in the Bering Sea and off the Aleutian Islands, more than any other type of fish in the area, according to the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. Laura Fleming, a spokeswoman for the institute in Juneau, said the biggest fast-food clients for Alaskan Pollock in the past have been McDonald's, Burger King and Long John Silver's. Roman Catholic parishes typically hold fish dinners on Fridays during Lent, when members of the church abstain from eating meat. The Rev. Jim Mudd, senior associate pastor at St.Gabriel the Archangel Church, said that he welcomed the addition of a fish menu item at KFC but that it wouldn't change his plans for Friday evenings over the next couple of months. "To be honest with you," Mudd said, "I'm going to come to my own fish fry here." LTADD officials hear BRAC update Writer: ERICA WALSH 2/22/2007 Elizabethtown News-Enterprise ELIZABETHTOWN -- When the money comes in and how much arrives determines when and how fast BRAC will happen. Members of the Governor's BRAC Task Force heard that statement Wednesday during a meeting at Lincoln Trail Area Development District in Elizabethtown. Twenty-six task force members received updates on funding, education, transportation and work force development concerning Fort Knox's role in Base Realignment and Closure. Daniel London, chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis, R-Cecilia, opened the meeting by assuring that the deficit in BRAC funding is a top priority for Lewis. "We are very confident that issue is going to be solved," he said. BRAC funding was cut by $3.1 billion in the 2007 spending bill. Lewis' office is confident the funding will be restored in the upcoming supplemental spending bill after receiving commitments from the Democratic majority. Debates on the supplemental bill are scheduled to begin in mid-March, London said. After a BRAC update from Fort Knox garrison commander Col. Mark Needham, task force members were briefed by various subcommittees on recent activities. Patty Dunaway of the District 4 transportation office updated the task force on three projects being pursued as part of the Defense Access Road Program, which is a program designed to assist transportation needs in communities affected by BRAC. A Veterans Way-North Logsdon Parkway connector road that will attach Ky. 313 and Ky. 1646. Intersection improvements at Elm and North Wilson roads in Radcliff. It will include the addition of turn lanes. A public commuter transportation project which is a ride and park system for Fort Knox employees. The task force has asked Kentucky's congressional delegation to reinforce the need for funding those three projects. The work force development subcommittee plans to apply for a Workforce Innovation for Regional Economic Development -- WIRED -- grant through the U.S. Department of Labor, said Commissioner Beth Smith with the Department of Workforce Investment. The grant could provide $5 million for work force training and to improve economic development in the state. The subcommittee also is working on programs for spouses of incoming soldiers and civilian employees. Initial wish lists for school districts in the region carried an almost $150 million price tag, said Education Cabinet Secretary Laura Owens. Since those numbers came in higher than expected, the subcommittee is reevaluating the requests and revisiting available funding. They remain in contact with local education officials and constantly are studying funding and facility needs. Owens plans to have specific projects prepared by October for inclusion in the next state budget. Also, a new subcommittee has been formed to focus on health and social services. The next task force meeting will take place in May in Frankfort. Singing for a cause - Blue Apple chief plucks local celebs for fundraiser Writer: Tamara Ikenberg 2/22/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal Paul Lenzi, executive director of the Blue Apple Players, can be very crafty when it comes to recruiting local celebs to sing and dance for the annual fundraiser for his children's theater company. "He was very wise," said Tori Murden McClure, who in 1999 became the first woman and first American to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean and who'll be on stage for this year's Louisville Salutes Blue Apple on Broadway revue. "He had a mutual friend ask me. She asked me at a dinner party. I'd do anything for that particular friend." The seafaring McClure, backed up by the University of Louisville's Varsity rowing team, will sing the Blue Apple original "On the Sea" at Saturday's event. She'll be joined by about 25 more local luminaries singing songs from the company's vast repertoire. "I'm playing a young Benjamin Franklin, which would seem a little strange, though I admire all the founding fathers and Franklin always wanted to go to sea," McClure said. "He crossed the ocean many times but never went to sea as a career. He also talks about being interested in everything, and that certainly fits me." Sure, she'll be a little nervous while she's performing, she said, but "as long as the boat's not flipping upside down and I'm not in the middle of the Atlantic, that's OK." It's easy to see why the volunteer performers consider Blue Apple worth a potentially awkward moment. The nonprofit regional theatre company, which produces original plays and musicals for K-12 audiences, has been in operation since 1976. Currently, they conduct more than 160 touring performances a year, and reach almost 100,000 kids throughout Kentucky and 10 additional states. The money earned from this yearly revue goes into funding future productions. "We hold in our power the ability to turn children into theatergoers, or turn them completely off to it," Lenzi says. "We've always taken great pride in making sure our shows work for adults as well as children. If the show doesn't hold my attention, it's certainly not going to hold the attention of a five or six year old." In addition to McClure, this year's glittering guest list includes U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth; Steve and Kelly Kuerzi, hosts of "Big Talk on Small Business" on WKJK-AM; legendary local band The Monarchs; and Joe Reagan, president and chief executive officer of Greater Louisville Inc. "Joe's doing a song called 'Big City' from 'City Mouse and Country Mouse.' It's a duet with the country mouse, who's being played by Vickie Yates Brown, a partner at Greenebaum Doll & McDonald. If you've ever met Joe, he's kind of this hulking guy, very serious, very focused on business," Lenzi said. "I got him to do a number last year from our production of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf,' and it was the wolf's song, called 'Wolf on the Prowl.' Some of the numbers we do in our costumes, but in this case, I said, 'Don't wear a costume. What I want you to do is wear a tuxedo, and I want you to sing it like a lounge lizard.' He did it, and people were just blown away." Lenzi lured Reagan into taking the stage at a Greater Louisville Inc. networking event. "Paul was doing exactly what he should be, which is networking," Reagan said. "He just walked up and asked me at that event, and I would say he got me at a weak moment, and I said, 'Sure, I'll give it shot.' So I did it last year and had a great time. So when he called me this year, I said I'd love to do it, but I didn't want to do it alone this time." Reagan wasn't completely freaked out by the idea of crooning for a crowd. "In another life, when I was younger, I did do some musical theater. But I hadn't done it for many years." Approaching would-be belters with acting chops makes the process of pulling them in much simpler for Lenzi. He had no problem signing up WLKY personality Jim Bulleit, for instance. "A couple years ago, we did a morning remote with the Players, and he first asked me about it then," Bulleit said. "He said, 'I have a perfect song for you.' I said, 'Great -- I've got a theater background. I was a high school musical star.' So he gave me a song and I had one word in it and it was 'Honk.' The other three people would sing, and on cue I would honk. I was the Ugly Duckling." Nonetheless, Bulleit said, "It's fun to get up there. ... It's good to get out and act silly. It's like a big family reunion every year ... and the worse you screw up, the better the show is." Tech research pays off at Marshall Writer: MIKE JAMES 2/22/2007 Ashland Daily Independent HUNTINGTON -- Marshall University officials showed off a lighting product on Wednesday developed by faculty members as an example of the university's new focus on research-based economic development. The product, called ElectroCeramescent Lighting, was invented by chemistry professor Michael Norton and Richard Begley, associate director of the Nick J. Rahall II Appalachian Transportation Institute at Marshall. Also called a light-emitting ceramic device, the product is a sheet of steel with a ceramic coating that emits a green light. Already in use in some commercial applications of the transportation industry, the light source penetrates fog and smoke. Now licensed to Ecer Technologies LLC, a Lewisburg, W.Va., company, the product has generated $292 in royalties for Marshall. Though small, the amount is significant as the first payment from faculty research, Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp. Kopp predicted the payment would be the first of many as Marshall "intensifies its commitment to research-based economic development." Marshall researchers already are working on future developments, he said. Ecer is in the early stages of planning a production facility in the Huntington-Charleston area, said Don Osborne, a partner in the company. The facility, which would manufacture the panels, could potentially bring 500 to 1,000 jobs to the area, he said. Firefly Lighting Innovations of Roanoke, Va., is marketing and distributing consumer products using the technology, starting with a lighted bedside tray. The light is useful for that and other consumer applications because it doesn't generate heat and uses a minuscule amount of electricity, Anna Guardipee, Firefly vice president, said. Development and marketing of products based on faculty research has the potential to boost Marshall's standing in the academic world, Kopp said. Focus on research with practical applications is part of Marshall's vision as a "destination university," with research opportunities unique to it, he said. There's an incentive for faculty as well, Norton said, because the inventor gets a share of the royalties. That should spur more innovation, he said. "We should be making new similar discoveries once a month." Veterans history project at NKU 2/22/2007 Kentucky Enquirer (Covington) Northern Kentucky University will host a Library of Congress Veterans History Project from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday on the fourth floor of the Landrum Academic Center. Interviews will be conducted of veterans interested in having their stories preserved for future generations. The Veterans History Project relies on volunteers to collect and preserve stories of wartime service. Its primary focus is first-hand accounts from World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War and the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. U.S. citizen civilians actively involved in supporting war efforts (war industry workers, USO workers, flight instructors, medical volunteers, etc.) also are invited to share their stories. The project is seeking first-hand oral histories, memoirs, photographs, letters, diaries, official separation documents and other historical documents. Materials may also be submitted on behalf of deceased war veterans. Any veteran interested in being interviewed, or anyone interested in being an interviewer, should contact Jeff Foster at fosterje@nku.edu or 859-572-6356. Vision for a campus - 20-year plan calls for expanded U of L health center Writer: Patrick Howington 2/22/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal An "urban forest" near University Hospital, a landscaped pedestrian mall and added space to train more medical students. Those are among the highlights of a new 20-year master plan approved yesterday for the University of Louisville's health sciences campus, in hopes of bringing a campus feel to the downtown medical center. That's something some students say is needed. "Definitely this place needs a tune-up here and there," said Jason Wells, a first-year medical student. He said a grassy courtyard and the Flexner Way pedestrian mall would be "more aesthetically pleasant" than the concrete dominating much of the campus. U of L's trustees yesterday approved the plan, a nonbinding guide for developing its Health Sciences Center, which is roughly bounded by Floyd, Gray and Clay streets and Muhammad Ali Boulevard. The campus includes the schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry and public health and information sciences, as well as University Hospital and other patient-treatment facilities. The master plan identifies where U of L could add or expand buildings so it could treat more patients, accommodate more researchers and train more students. Possible expansions of University Hospital, which has been operating at near capacity in recent years, and the James Graham Brown Cancer Center are included in the plan. Building all the research buildings, parking garages and other features of the 20-year plan would cost hundreds of millions of dollars over that time span, but the plan doesn't come with a price tag because much of it might never happen. The plan is basically a set of concepts to guide growth. What is actually built will depend on future demands and the availability of funds. U of L President James Ramsey said he would like to increase the number of students entering the School of Medicine each year by at least 25 percent, from its current level of about 150, but there's no room. That increase would be in line with last year's recommendation by the Association of American Medical Colleges that schools grow enrollment 30 percent by 2015. "Right now, there are shortages in key areas of medicine," Ramsey said in an interview. "We cannot expand our freshman class in the medical school because of space limitations. This plan helps us address that." The master plan suggests that a new classroom building be added in the Health Sciences Center's instructional quadrangle on South Preston Street. It would be at the base of the quadrangle's research tower. The quadrangle courtyard's concrete paving would be replaced with grass and trees, responding to students' desire for a more traditional campus environment. "I used to be at (the University of Kentucky), and there, the environment was more green. And I moved here and it wasn't so green," said Rex Asare, a post-doctoral student in microbiology. It would be nice, he said, if the center had trees where "you can sit under the shade and relax." The master plan was created by a team of five consulting firms hired by the university and University Hospital, which paid about $300,000 for the study. Work on some elements of the plan is expected to begin in a year or so, while other elements are longer-range. One early project is likely to be greatly expanded patient drop-off areas at University Hospital and the Brown Cancer Center. They would be on Jackson Street, just north of the Chestnut Street intersection where a cluster of trees -- called an "urban forest" by a consultant -- would create a sort of gateway into the medical campus. Another early project could be the east-west pedestrian mall. It would run between Floyd and Clay streets, along portions of Flexner Way and East Madison Street that now are essentially alleys. "I think that's one of the most exciting parts of this whole plan, because it creates a user-friendly environment for something that's now predominantly concrete," said Dr. Larry Cook, U of L executive vice president for health affairs. Features would include distinctive paving, outdoor seating and green space. The mall's eastern end eventually could include a clock tower on Clay Street, envisioned as part of a new research building. The mall would cross through each of the three zones of the campus -- the schools on the west side, the hospital area in the middle and a planned cluster of research buildings on the east side. Consultants said they want to use building clusters, courtyards and green spaces to better define those three zones. The plan calls for new parking garages around the campus -- both to accommodate more faculty and patients and to replace parking lots and street parking as they are displaced by new buildings and green space. Sites for four new research buildings are shown on the plan, in addition to the two biomedical research buildings already under construction on Hancock Street near Muhammad Ali Boulevard. But the four buildings would not be built for several years -- if at all -- and their construction would depend on state money as well as federal grants to attract researchers. A blend of tax dollars, donations and patient-care revenue might be needed to carry out the plan, Ramsey said. He and Cook said the Kentucky General Assembly has been willing to help U of L pay for its expanded research mission in recent years. State and federal lawmakers "realize how important Louisville is to Kentucky, and how important U of L is to the economic success of Louisville," Ramsey said. "Our job is to continue to make that case." But there is no guarantee of state funding, as was shown last year when Gov. Ernie Fletcher vetoed several U of L projects from the state budget -- including a 1,500-car parking garage for the health sciences campus. It's "very important to us to have that restored," Ramsey said. Vocab sends teen to national competition Writer: WILLIAM CROYLE 2/22/2007 Kentucky Enquirer (Covington) Don't know what a word means? "L-I-U," said Anita Sena. "Look it up." That advice, given to her son, Kenton, has paid off. Kenton, 16, is one of 50 national finalists who will compete March 5 for a $40,000 scholarship in the National Vocabulary Championship in New York City. The competition will be aired on GSN (formerly Game Show Network) at 8 p.m. April 15. Kenton took a 30-minute online vocabulary test in October and advanced to the regional final, a 90-minute pencil-and-paper exam at Cincinnati Country Day School. Most questions were multiple choice analogies. There was also an essay question. "I got a call that I was one of the top scorers in the country," said Kenton. "I was surprised because I had mixed feelings coming out of that test. I felt I did well, but I did have to make a couple guesses." Anita and her husband, Mark, home-school Kenton and his younger siblings, Matt, 10, and Olivia, 9. The Boone County couple also home-schooled their oldest son, Ira, 18, and knew they were doing the right thing when Ira scored in the top 4 percent in the nation on the SAT exam. Kenton took the PSAT in October and scored in the top 1 percent. "Home-schooling doesn't work for everybody, but it has for us," Mark said. At the start of each school year, Mark and Anita lay out the curriculum and let Kenton learn at his own pace. "We help him out when he needs it, but mostly he cruises along himself," Mark said. Kenton says he doesn't watch much television or play video games. Instead, he reads, which is why his vocabulary is so strong. "I like the classics, like Dickens and Tolstoy, and when I see a word I don't know, I look it up." Kenton will graduate in May, take a year off to work, then go to college. He doesn't know what he wants to be, but in just eight months he's worked his way up from bag boy to pharmacy technician at Remke Markets. "Maybe I'll go into something medical," Kenton said. Right now, though, he's focused on the National Vocabulary Championship. He knows nothing about his competitors, but is going in with the attitude that he can win. "I'll give it my best shot and see what happens," he said. WKU, IU make music pirates list - Purdue is second of top 25 offenders Writer: Robert Schoenberger 2/22/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal Students at Western Kentucky University and Indiana University are illegally downloading more music through their schools' networks than students at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville, according to a report from the Recording Industry Association of America. Responding to a request from The Associated Press, the RIAA released a list of 25 schools it has sent the most theft complaints. Western Kentucky was the only school in the state on the list, with 353 complaints so far this year. In Indiana, Purdue University has the second-highest number of complaints in the nation at 1,068. IU matched WKU with 353. The RIAA long has pressured colleges to act more aggressively against online pirates on campus. "It's something we feel we have to do," RIAA President Cary Sherman said. "We have to let people know that if they engage in this activity, they are not anonymous." The top five schools are Ohio University in Athens, Purdue, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of Tennessee and the University of South Carolina. The RIAA complained about almost 15,000 students at those 25 universities, nearly triple the number for the previous school year. "I get the whole spectrum of excuses," said Randall Hall, who polices computers at Michigan State University, seventh on the list with 753 complaints. "The most common answer I get is, 'All my friends are doing this. Why did I get caught?' " Policies vary from school to school on what to do if a student downloads copyrighted material. At WKU, IU, UK and U of L, the first step is a notice from the school's computer team and cancellation of Internet access until the file has been deleted. "We have been working over the past few weeks on student education and awareness on the ramifications of sharing copyrighted information," said Richard Kirckmeyer, WKU's vice president for information technology. School policy is to reinstate Internet access for students after files have been deleted, he said, but officials are considering harsher punishments for violations. At IU, a student's access to the network is blocked indefinitely and he or she is referred for disciplinary action after three notices. At UK, students face disciplinary action in the dean's office for multiple violations of downloading policies, said Tony Blanton, UK's associate dean for student affairs. So far, he has only seen a handful of cases. "Typically, all it takes is a conversation with the student to explain they can't continue doing this," Blanton said. When asked why UK students aren't downloading as many files as those at WKU, he said UK has fewer students living on campus using the school's network from their dormitory or apartment. At U of L, students have their Internet access shut off until the file in question is removed on the first offense. On the second offense, the school blocks access for a week. After the third violation, the student loses on-campus Internet access for the rest of his or her time at the school, said spokeswoman Denise Fitzpatrick. Purdue said it rarely even notifies students accused by the RIAA. "In a sense, the (complaint) letter is asking us to pursue an investigation and as the service provider we don't see that as our role," spokesman Steve Tally said. "We are a leading technology school with thousands ... of curious and talented technology students." College fundraising up sharply - Wealthiest schools benefit the most Writer: Justin Pope, Associated Press 2/22/2007 Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer Prosperous alumni helped make 2006 a record fundraising year for colleges and universities, which hauled in an all-time high of $28 billion -- a 9.4 percent jump from the year before. There were increases across the board, but as usual it was the already wealthy who fared best. Stanford's $911 million was the most ever collected by a single university and raised the staggering possibility of a billion-dollar fundraising year in the not-too-distant future. "There were a set of ideas and a set of initiatives that the university is undertaking that people wanted to invest in," said Martin Shell, Stanford's vice president for development. "This is an unbelievably generous response from an unbelievably philanthropic set of alumni, parents and friends." Nationally, donations from alumni rose 18.3 percent from 2005, according to new figures being released Wednesday by the Council for Aid to Education. Alumni donations account for about 30 percent of giving to higher education. Giving from other groups, such as corporations and foundations, increased by much smaller amounts. Survey director Ann Kaplan said the strong economy played a role, but universities also were asking more aggressively as part of formal fundraising campaigns. Colleges "are making a good case for support," Kaplan said. "The level at which they can receive contributions will have something to do with the economy, but they have to be out there asking for it." Stanford had about 300 full-time fundraising employees asking for money in 2006, finishing one formal campaign early in the year and starting another. It was a demonstration of how fundraising campaigns now run virtually full time. Still, the timing did give Stanford's annual numbers an artificial boost, because more money is collected at the beginning and end of such campaigns. The CAE survey contains good news for a number of schools with small endowments that saw large percentage jumps, such as Wagner College in New York and the University of La Verne in California -- both of which raised about $10 million and more than doubled 2005's collections. Fault Lines on Accreditation Writer: Doug Lederman 2/22/2007 Inside Higher Education Technically, not a lot happened Wednesday as the U.S. Education Department kicked off the process by which it will consider changing federal rules that govern higher education accreditation. In fact, the only real agenda item that got done was, well, approving an agenda for the three-day meeting -- and even that had an asterisk by it (more on that later). But despite the relative lack of concrete action, the opening day of the much anticipated (and in some quarters dreaded) process of "negotiated rule making," as it is called, offered a preview of the battles that are to come. Two issues were particularly contentious: Accreditors pushed back (albeit somewhat gently) against the Education Department's aggressive campaign to prod them to judge how well individual colleges are educating their students by comparing them to other similar institutions, for instance, and officials of for-profit and nonprofit colleges skirmished over whether the department should consider rules that might dictate accreditors' or colleges' policies on what academic credits they accept from transfer students. At the core, though, the primary tension underlying those debates and the entire afternoon was the same one some college officials (and members of Congress) have been raising ever since the department announced last fall that it planned to review federal rules on accreditation: whether the Education Department has the legal authority to seek changes in those rules to try to accomplish many of the recommendations of the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. "As it stands now, I would have trouble accepting this on the agenda, because I think it goes way beyond what the law says we should be all about," said Steven D. Crow, head of the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. He was arguing against having the rule making committee take up the issue of having accreditors hold colleges to minimum levels of performance on what their students learn. Crow opposed putting transfer of credit policies on the agenda for similar reasons, calling it a "problem seeking a legislative rather than a regulatory solution." Education Department officials asserted repeatedly that they had a solid legal basis for all of the regulatory changes -- most of which are publicly vague at this point -- that they are contemplating. "We are operating within the constraints of the current law; this is not about using this process to change the law," said Vickie L. Schray, the department's point person on accreditation and its lead negotiator at this week's session. And while Schray acknowledged that the education secretary can ultimately "write what she wants to write in the regulations," as Thomas L. Corts, interim chancellor of the Alabama College System, put it, she insisted that the rule making process aims to "provide a forum for a very open and collaborative process.... The department is very interested in hearing from the members of this committee on all of these issues," Schray said. Some quick background on negotiated rule making: Typically, federal agencies undertake such processes to carry out changes made by recent passage of a law. In this case, the Education Department was required to enter into negotiated rule making to figure out how to carry out changes in student grant and loan programs made in the Higher Education Reconciliation Act that became law a year ago. Although that law did not enact any changes in accreditation, Education Department officials decided to stage a separate rule making process on accreditation issues, because the rules governing higher education's quality assurance process had been overtaken, they said, by major changes in the industry since they were last reviewed. Department officials also said they would use the rule making process to consider recommendations proposed by the Spellings Commission, which took a dim view of the effectiveness of accrediting agencies. Although department officials insist that they are on solid legal ground in reviewing the accreditation rules, members of Congress have vowed to watch closely to make sure the executive branch does not try to use regulatory changes to do things that would be more appropriately done through legislation, potentially trampling on Congressional prerogative. In this rule making process, like others, the department brings together a collection of officials to consider an agenda federal officials have proposed. Over several meetings over a several week period, the group will aim to reach consensus about how federal rules might be changed. Only proposals on which every negotiator agrees get forwarded to the education secretary for possible action, which means that any individual negotiator can sink any particular proposal. But if the negotiators fail to reach agreement, the Education Department has the latitude to propose its own rules. (The education secretary can also change regulatory language that the negotiators have agreed on, with a "written explanation" for doing so.) That dynamic has the tendency to put pressure on negotiators -- fearful of what the department might do if left to its own devices -- to compromise on a proposal that they can live with. That dynamic was clearly in play on Wednesday, as accrediting officials who were clearly uncomfortable with several of the department's proposed agenda items threatened to withhold their support for keeping those items on the committee's plate. That happened fleetingly on the transfer of credit issue, as some regional accrediting officials questioned whether the problem of rejected academic credits is a significant one, and whether the department has a legal basis for exploring it. Supporters of for-profit colleges, which most frequently complain that their students' credits are turned down by officials at regionally accredited colleges, argued that transfer of credit falls under federal rules governing institutions' admissions policies, and their view won the day. The transfer of credit issue stayed on the agenda for the rest of the meeting. The closest the committee members came to fighting to keep something off the committee's agenda was the department's tentative proposal on "institutional accountability." The "issue paper" describing it said that the department is "considering requiring accrediting agencies to group the institutions they accredit on the basis of criteria defined by the accrediting agency including, for example, type of students served, the overall mission, size and setting. The accrediting agency and institutions would agree to a core set of student achievement measures, both quantitative and qualitative, focused on those things the institutions have in common, and also on an acceptable level of performance for certain of those measures." Crow said he had "strong concerns and strong reservations" about that idea, which he said he believed would be "going beyond regulating according to existing law." A department lawyer advising the panel said that "we do have authority to regulate in the area," and Schray said she believed it was important for accreditors not only to ensure that the colleges they oversee are measuring their success in educating students, but also to hold them accountable for meeting an acceptable level of success. "How do you know when your institutions or programs actually are meeting your benchmark for quality? How do you define quality?" she said. With Crow threatening to withhold his support for putting the learning outcomes issue on the agenda, Judith S. Eaton, president of the Council on Higher Education Accreditation, suggested a compromise in which the group would revise how it described the agenda item and a smaller group of officials would rewrite the issue paper that described it. Corts, the Alabama official who was a longtime president of Samford University, then made his point about the education secretary being able to regulate virtually at will. Given that reality, "maybe we're smart" to leave the controversial proposal on the agenda, he said, "so we can let you know what we like about it and what we don't like about it." Crow sought affirmation from department officials that voting to leave the issue on the agenda meant only that the committee was agreeing to discuss it further, rather than being a commitment to regulate in that area. "I don't want someone to come back and say, 'You agreed to develop regulations about this.'" Schray sought to reassure him (a bit), saying that having an issue on the agenda "does not necessarily mean that the department will ultimately regulate on each and every one of these. We may determine it's not in our best interests to regulate." With that, Crow joined the others in leaving the learning outcomes issue on the agenda for the meeting. But the issue is likely to be among the most contentious when the committee actually gets around to debating what the department might do in this area, which could happen as early as today. FDA orders warning 'guides' for ADHD drugs Writer: Rita Rubin 2/22/2007 USA TODAY Pharmacists will soon begin handing out consumer-friendly "medication guides" about cardiovascular and psychiatric problems linked to widely prescribed attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder drugs, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. Tom Laughren, director of the FDA's Division of Psychiatry Products, said makers of the 15 products approved to treat ADHD have 30 days to finalize the language in the medication guides. Meanwhile, drafts written by the FDA are posted online at www.fda.gov/cder/drug/ infopage/ADHD/default.htm. About 3% to 7% of school-age children and about 4% of adults have attention disorders, the FDA says. In 2006, U.S. sales of ADHD drugs totaled about $3.5 billion, according to IMS Health, a health care information company. Laughren said the new guides reflect changes ordered last May in the warnings section of the drugs' physician labeling. Two FDA advisory committees a year ago recommended adding information about new data on cardiovascular and psychiatric problems in children and teens who took the ADHD drugs. From 1993 to February 2005, the FDA received 27 reports of unexpected death in patients under 18 who had taken one of the medications, Laughren said. It's not clear whether the deaths were the result of the ADHD drugs or underlying cardiovascular problems, he said. In addition, since 2000 the agency has received hundreds of reports of psychosis or manic behavior, particularly hallucinations, in patients who had no known risk factors, according to an agency memo given last year to one of the advisory committees. Also, a pooled analysis of trials that compared an ADHD drug with a placebo found a higher rate of hallucinations, delusions and mania in patients who were given the medication, Laughren said, putting the risk for such problems at one in 1,000 patients. "Despite this new warning language in the medication guides ... we continue to view ADHD as an important illness that benefits from treatment," Laughren said. In other news, the FDA announced a "black box" warning for an asthma drug and a letter alerting doctors to a fracture risk seen in women taking a diabetes drug: *The FDA has asked Genentech to add a black-box warning -- the strongest type -- to the label of Xolair, which is used to treat patients with asthma related to allergies. The warning emphasizes that the drug may cause anaphylaxis, which could include trouble breathing, chest tightness, dizziness, fainting, itching, hives and swelling of the mouth and throat. The agency has also ordered a medication guide for Xolair. *GlaxoSmithKline notified doctors that a study comparing its Avandia with metformin and glyburide in patients with recently diagnosed type II diabetes found a higher risk of fractures in female patients who took Avandia. The FDA says doctors should consider fracture risk when deciding whether to treat women with Avandia. Governors' Plans Offer Good News for Higher Education Writer: PETER SCHMIDT 2/22/2007 The Chronicle of Higher Education With most states' economies in healthier shape than they have been in years, public colleges and their students are finding plenty to cheer in the State of the State and budget addresses that governors have delivered in recent weeks to kick off legislative sessions. Among the 44 governors who have given their customary year-opening speeches so far, more than a dozen proposed pumping large sums of money into academic research for the sake of promoting the growth of new industries, especially in the fields of energy and medicine. Arguing that their states must do more to develop well-educated work forces, an even larger number have proposed giving public colleges large infusions of additional cash to expand or improve their academic offerings or to hold down tuition. The governors' proposals to spend more on public colleges come at a time when enrollment in many states is leveling off, so that their appropriations per student stand to rise significantly. In addition, well over a third of the governors have called on legislatures to substantially increase spending on financial assistance to college students. Proposals to give high-school students access to college courses, beef up high-school instruction to increase college-going rates, and provide community colleges with money to retrain workers also are part of many governors' plans for the new year. An interim analysis of half of the governors' speeches, released this month by the National Governors Association, concluded that state chiefs "are taking advantage of flush revenues to achieve progress toward an ambitious goal: strengthening their state economies around innovation and knowledge-based enterprises." "These state-led initiatives cut across traditional boundaries to include K-12 education, higher education, and economic development," says the analysis, prepared by Thad R. Nodine, vice president of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Many governors face political resistance to their proposals, especially governors whose economic-development plans call for the financing of controversial research using human embryonic stem cells. By and large, however, it appears that, barring a severe economic downturn, higher education is in for a good year in terms of state financial support. Fueling Research While many governors voiced concerns in their speeches about high fuel costs and global warming, several expressed confidence that the need to come up with new energy sources offered their states great opportunity for economic development. Among them, Gov. Chet Culver of Iowa said he would ask lawmakers to set aside $25-million as the first installment toward the creation of a $100-million Iowa Power Fund to promote research into alternative sources of power and the development of related new businesses. "Let's put Iowa in a position to win the race to become the energy capital of the world," Governor Culver, a Democrat, declared in the State of the State and budget address he delivered in late January. He did not specify how much of the fund's money he wanted to go toward financing university research, but a spokeswoman said she expected laboratories and business incubators on campuses to get a substantial share. Iowa State University already operates a research program in biorenewable energy, involving 140 faculty members and financed over the past five years with $45-million in federal and private funds. "We have researchers moving in extraordinarily different directions," said the program's director, Robert C. Brown. The researchers are studying materials as varied as corn, grass, and algae as possible sources of fuel. Elsewhere around the nation, the governors of Arkansas, Colorado, Michigan, and Vermont have talked of seeking to position their states as leaders in the production of alternative forms of energy. Charles Merritt, who is monitoring State of the State addresses as vice president for external relations at the Education Commission of the States, said each of the governors who had offered up such a proposal proclaimed his or her state to have the advantage. Mr. Brown, at Iowa State, acknowledged that "research is always a high-risk venture," and that "only a small fraction of it directly produces a commercially viable product." He added, however, that it was entirely possible that an array of new energy sources would be developed, allowing different states to become leaders in different niches. Banking on Biomedicine Many governors have announced plans to try to position their states as hubs of research and development in medicine, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Among them, Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania, a Democrat, has proposed establishing a $500-million fund to promote research in biomedicine, mainly by renovating and equipping existing facilities and building new laboratories around the state. "This unprecedented commitment to the cause of scientific research in Pennsylvania will solidify our leadership position in the field of biosciences -- right up there with our major U.S. competitors New Jersey and California," Governor Rendell said in the budget address he delivered this month. In neighboring Maryland, Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has proposed creating a state board that would be responsible for developing a plan to expand the state's life-sciences industry. His proposed budget for the coming fiscal year contains $25-million for stem-cell research. In New York, Gov. Eliot Spitzer's proposed budget contains $100-million to establish a fund for research on stem cells and other areas of biomedicine. He hopes eventually to persuade the state's voters to approve $1.5-billion in bonds to help finance the construction of new research facilities. "This investment will repay itself many times over in increased jobs, economic activity, and improved health," he told legislators in January. On a related note, several governors have proposed large expenditures to help train people to work in fields related to science and engineering. Among them, Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, a Democrat, has proposed increasing state spending on graduate medical education by $44-million to expand the supply of doctors. Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, a Democrat, has asked lawmakers to approve money to support new efforts to train engineers, biologists, and experts in fields such as nanotechnology. Gov. Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, a Democrat, has proposed a plan to train 3,000 nurses in three years. And Gov. Linda Lingle of Hawaii, a Republican, has proposed establishing high schools that would concentrate on science, technology, engineering, and medicine, and giving college scholarships to their graduates. Helping Students College students may directly benefit from the largess of lawmakers in many states where governors have proposed big increases in spending on financial aid for higher education. In Kentucky, Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a Republican, has proposed spending an additional $20-million on need-based financial aid, enough to offer such assistance to 11,800 state residents who were not getting it before. He also has asked lawmakers to appropriate $5-million to provide aid to part-time students for the first time, to help working adults complete their college educations. Among the other governors who have called for their states to spend substantially more on need-based student aid are M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut, a Republican; Dave Heineman of Nebraska, a Republican; and Matt Blunt of Missouri, a Republican. Proposals to increase spending on merit-based aid seem equally popular among governors. In North Carolina, Gov. Michael F. Easley, a Democrat, has called for legislators to make new scholarships available to low- and moderate-income students, provided the students work 10 hours a week to help pay for their education and keep up their grades. "This is no free lunch," Mr. Easley declared in his State of the State speech on Monday. Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, a Democrat, expressed a desire to help the middle class in calling for lawmakers to appropriate more money for merit-based scholarships. In at least a half-dozen states, including Michigan, New Mexico, and Washington, governors have made it clear that they plan to ask colleges to limit tuition increases as a condition for receiving additional state support. Increasing the proportion of young people going to college is a top priority of governors in much of the nation. Many have proposed plans to make public-school curricula more demanding, to improve the quality of high schools in rural areas and the inner cities, and to give students an opportunity to earn college credits while in high school. Summaries of the governors' proposals related to education are available on the Web site of the Education Commission of the States. High school test scores unimpressive yet grades, transcripts improving Writer: Nancy Zuckerbrod, Associated Press 2/22/2007 USA TODAY WASHINGTON -- Large percentages of high school seniors are posting weak scores on national math and reading tests even though more of them are taking challenging courses and getting higher grades in school, two reports released Thursday show. "The reality is that the results don't square," said Darvin Winick, chair of the independent National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the national tests. Nearly 40% of high school seniors scored below the basic level on the math test. More than a quarter of seniors failed to reach the basic level on the reading test. Most educators think students ought to be able to work at the basic level. The reading scores show no change since 2002, the last time they were given. "We should be getting better. There's nothing good about a flat score," Winick said. The government said it could not compare the math results to old scores because the latest test was significantly different. The National Assessment of Educational Progress -- often called the nation's report card -- is viewed as the best way to compare students across the country because it's the only uniform national yardstick for how well students are learning. The tests were given in 2005. The government released the scores along with a report examining the high school transcripts of 2005 graduates. The transcript study shows high school students are earning more credits, taking more challenging courses and getting higher grade-point averages than in the past. In 2005, high school graduates had an overall grade-point average just shy of 3.0 -- or about a B. That has gone up from a grade-point average of about 2.7 in 1990. It is unclear whether student performance has improved or whether grade inflation or something else might be responsible, the report said. More students are completing high school with a standard curriculum, meaning they took at least four credits of English and three credits each of social studies, math and science. More students also are taking the next level of courses, which generally includes college preparatory classes. But the study showed no increase in the number of high-schoolers who completed the most advanced curriculum, which could include college-level or honors classes. On the math test, about 60% of high school seniors performed at or above the basic level. At that level, a student should be able to convert a decimal to a fraction, for example. Just one-fourth of 12th-graders were proficient or better in math, meaning they demonstrated solid academic performance. To qualify as "proficient," students might have to determine what type of graph should be used to display particular types of data. On the reading test, about three-fourths of seniors performed at or above the basic level, while 40% hit the proficient mark. Seniors working at a basic reading level can identify elements of an author's style. At the proficient level, they can make inferences from reading material, draw conclusions from it and make connections to their own experiences. As in the past, the math and reading scores showed large achievement gaps between white students and minorities. Forty-three percent of white students scored at or above proficient levels on the reading test, compared with 20% of Hispanic students and 16% of black students. On the math test, 29% of white students reached the proficient level, compared with 8% of Hispanics and 6% of blacks. The gap in reading scores between whites and minorities was relatively unchanged since 2002. The federal No Child Left Behind law has put added emphasis on math and reading, largely in the elementary- and middle-school grades. It also requires states to separate out their test scores by race so officials can track and try to narrow achievement gaps between groups of students. Legislative briefs 2/21/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader SENATE APPROVES HIGHER SPEED LIMIT The Senate approved a bill yesterday that would let the state Transportation Cabinet raise the speed limit to 70 miles an hour from 65 mph on interstates and four-lane parkways. Sen. Brett Guthrie, sponsor of Senate Bill 83, said Kentucky is the only state where drivers on Interstate 65 can't drive 70 miles an hour. The Senate vote was 34-2. The bill now goes to the House. House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said he did not know whether the House would approve the bill. "That's not a bill we've talked very much about as a body," he said. Sen. Tom Buford, R-Nicholasville, put the bill in perspective for his colleagues. If it becomes law, he said, "we will all have to slow down." HELP WITH DEBT MANAGEMENT The House Education Committee approved a bill yesterday that would require Kentucky's public universities and community colleges to provide students with information about personal debt management and using credit cards. State Rep. Jim Glenn, D-Owensboro, said he sponsored House Bill 373 because "we need more financial literacy" as personal bankruptcies continue to increase -- up 11 percent in his area of the state last year, he said. Glenn, who teaches personal finance and corporate finance at Owensboro Community and Technical College, said banking corporations are constantly using incentives to attract student credit-card holders. On average, a college student graduates with about $16,000 of debt from student loans and $3,500 of credit card debt. The bill was passed unanimously and sent to the House for final action. MATCHING CASH FOR AWARDS A bill that would allow the state to match any cash award that a teacher wins got the unanimous approval of the House education committee yesterday. House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said he sponsored the bill because the matching money "tells our educators and schools that we appreciate excellence." Richards said the fund, which would total about $200,000, could not be used to match grants. The bill now goes to the House for a debate and a vote. CELL-PHONE CRACKDOWN A driver who used a cell phone while operating a school bus would face stiffer penalties under a bill that the House Education Committee passed unanimously yesterday. House Bill 230 would increase the penalty to $50 for the first offense and $100 for the second offense as well as losing clearance to drive a school bus for six months. The bill now goes to the full House. CREDIT FOR HIRING DISABLED Companies would get a $25,000 tax credit for hiring blind and severely disabled people, under a bill approved yesterday by the House Budget Committee. The total credit would be capped at $4 million. House Bill 23, sponsored by Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, now goes to the House for its consideration. TASK FORCE ON FUNDING JAILS A 25-member task force to study the funding of county jails will be created under a bill the House Budget Committee approved yesterday. The task force would have to present its recommendations in December for consideration in the 2008 General Assembly. House Bill 187, sponsored by House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, also would prohibit insurers from terminating a county jail inmate's health insurance before final sentencing. The bill now goes to the House. SELF-EXTINGUISHING CIGARETTES The Senate unanimously approved a bill yesterday that would have Kentucky join a number of states requiring the sale of cigarettes specially made to self-extinguish if not puffed on regularly. Sen. Gary Tapp, the sponsor of Senate Bill 134, said cigarettes are the leading cause of house fires and that his legislation would save lives. The bill now goes to the House. WHERE TO FILE SUITS AGAINST STATE Legal actions against the state could be filed in courts where the plaintiffs reside instead of having to take them to Franklin Circuit Court, under a bill the Senate approved yesterday on a 34-2 vote. Senate Bill 75, sponsored by Sen. Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, now goes to the House for its consideration. FAKE DEGREES WOULD BE FORGERIES People who make or use fake academic degrees could be charged with forgery under legislation that was approved by House lawmakers yesterday. The measure, which passed on a vote of 98-0, now goes to the Senate for consideration. State Rep. Susan Westrom, D-Lexington, said House Bill 175 would protect Kentuckians who have legitimate diplomas and degrees from having to compete with people with fraudulent credentials for jobs. Rally urges mine safety - HOUSE COMMITTEE CHAIR DISPUTES ALLEGATIONS BY LABOR LEADER Writer: Jack Brammer 2/22/2007 Lexington Herald-Leader FRANKFORT - A top labor leader accused a House committee chairman yesterday of delaying action on a coal-mine safety bill because of his ties to the industry. State AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan told reporters after a rally in the Capitol Rotunda for a coal-mine safety bill that House Natural Resources and Environment Committee Chairman Jim Gooch has received about $25,000 in campaign contributions from the coal industry and that he does private business with the industry. Londrigan said House Bill 207 is being held hostage in Gooch's committee. The bill's sponsor, State Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, said he had hoped the committee would have considered the bill earlier this week, but that did not occur. He did not know why. Gooch, D-Providence, said there is a "good chance" his committee will hear the bill today and that he resented Londrigan's comments. It is on the committee's agenda. "I'm going to do my job here," Gooch said. "If that means we have time to pass this bill, we may very well. But if doing my job means we don't have time, then we won't. "I can tell you right now all the pressure in the world is not going to make me not do my job. I take it very seriously. I'm the type of person, if you push a little too hard, you're not going to like what happens." Londrigan distributed to reporters campaign finance reports that showed Gooch has received $25,000 worth of contributions from the coal industry since 1997. He also produced documents that he said show Gooch has private business with the coal industry. The labor leader said he distributed the documents about Gooch "to move the bill and get a fair hearing. "We don't see the bill moving unless some real strong action is taken and we don't see that coming about. That's why we are here, and that's why we are turning up the heat." Of his business with the coal industry, Gooch, who is an insurance agent, said, "I don't think you can have anyone that's in the coalfields that's in business that somehow doesn't do business with some coal company." He said he passed three mine-safety bills out of his committee last year. The bill under consideration this year "has been written by an attorney who makes his business suing coal companies. That's the real conflict of interest," Gooch said. "It would be a farce if this committee allowed someone like that to write legislation to benefit his own pocket. I'm not going to do that." Gooch said he was referring to Tony Oppegard, an attorney and mine safety advocate. Oppegard, who participated in yesterday's rally for HB 207, said he helped draft the bill. "It's not unusual for the coal industry to draft parts of bills. That's part of the legislative process." Oppegard added that the key provisions in the bill "have nothing to do with filing lawsuits. They have to do with mine safety." The bill, among other things, would require at least two mine emergency technicians on every working shift who must be underground at all times when miners are working in the mine, increase the number of safety inspections of mines from three to six a year in 2009, and allow spouses of miners killed in mine accidents to intervene in disciplinary proceedings before the state Mine Safety Review Commission. House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, said in a statement that he supports the mine safety legislation and it "appears to be moving along pretty well." Natural Resources Commissioner Susan Bush said lawmakers need to appropriate money to cover the cost of implementing the bill. Besides attracting a crowd of miners and their family members, the rally participants included Jefferson County's Irv Maze, who is running for lieutenant governor with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jonathan Miller. He said he supported the bill. THE BLUEGRASS POLL: 47% oppose mandatory shots - 38% believe they are a good idea for girls Writer: Laura Ungar 2/22/2007 Louisville Courier-Journal As the mother of an 11-year-old girl, Marie Mazzotta doesn't like the idea of requiring Kentucky's middle school girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that may cause cervical cancer. "It should be my choice," she said. The latest Courier-Journal Bluegrass Poll shows that more Kentuckians agree with her than disagree. The survey of 801 Kentucky adults, conducted between Feb. 8-14, showed that 47 percent oppose making the vaccine mandatory, while 38 percent favor it and 15 percent are undecided. The poll asked about the issue as Kentucky legislators consider a bill that would require public and private middle school girls to receive three shots of a vaccine called Gardasil, but would let parents opt out by completing a form. The controversial bill is similar to those introduced in about 20 other states. Such legislation had been the subject of a lobbying campaign by vaccine-maker Merck & Co. until the company suspended its effort earlier this week. In Indiana, the state Senate has approved legislation requiring schools to send home information about Gardasil to the parents of girls entering sixth grade. Proponents of mandatory vaccination in Kentucky say it would save lives and reduce suffering in a state with the second-highest cervical cancer death rate in the nation. "If you can prevent cancer -- and that's what this does -- then why not?" asked poll respondent Thomas "Ken" Bolton, 74, of Louisville. "It just makes sense to me. It's a no-brainer." The poll showed that among certain demographic groups -- such as African Americans and Jefferson County residents -- more people favor than oppose requiring the vaccine. Women were more likely than men to favor it, although more oppose than favor it in both gender groups. People 18-34 were also more likely to support mandatory vaccination than people 35 and older. Opponents say requiring the vaccination would take away parental rights and possibly give girls implicit permission to have sex. Some also express concerns about the long-term safety of Gardasil, approved by the federal government last June for girls and women ages 9-26. "It's a new vaccine," said Mazzotta, a 41-year-old stay-at-home mother from Louisville. "I'm not going to play around with my child's health." She said Gardasil is unlike many other vaccines required for school attendance because it doesn't target a disease that can easily be spread in the classroom. Instead, it protects against strains of human papillomavirus that cause 70 percent of all cervical cancer cases and are only transmitted through sexual contact. "It all comes down to morals," said Mazzotta, who was a poll respondent who agreed to a follow-up interview. Many know of issue The poll, which has a 3.5 percentage point margin of error, showed wide recognition of the issue, with 80 percent of residents saying they were aware of the issue or that Kentucky lawmakers were considering a bill. That percentage was higher for women than men -- 87 percent compared with 72 percent. The bill has undergone changes since the poll questions were written, and the latest version of the legislation, House Bill 345, includes an easier way to opt out than the original version. Dr. Diane D. Davey, of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Kentucky, said including information about opting out in the survey questions might have brought different poll results. But opponents interviewed said having an opt-out provision doesn't change their view. Respondents were also asked whether they believe vaccinating middle school girls would make them more likely to have sex earlier or not make much difference. Almost three-quarters -- 73 percent -- said it wouldn't make much difference, although that number was a slightly lower 67 percent for respondents who attend religious services weekly or almost every week. Still, some opponents raised moral objections, in addition to saying that a mandate would wrongly supersede parents' rights. "I don't think it should be mandated. I think young girls should be discouraged from having premarital sex," said respondent Julia Walker of Louisville, the 42-year-old mother of two teenage girls. "Young girls should be taught to keep themselves healthy." Making it mandatory Davey, co-author of the American Cancer Society's recently published human papillomavirus vaccine guidelines, said she understands why some people may think it's too early to make the vaccine mandatory. But she favors legislation requiring the vaccine as long as there is a way to opt out. "Requiring the vaccine is the best way to protect the largest number of women from cervical cancer in the long term," she said. She added that there's no evidence of safety problems, although there isn't enough evidence to evaluate its safety in pregnant women. Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plan to present data today about side effects in people who got the vaccine. According to the Associated Press, there have been 542 adverse health complaints, including injection site soreness, fainting or dizziness and fever or nausea, but government health officials say no additional warning labels are needed. Overall, Davey said, the vaccine has been extensively studied, with commercial development beginning in 1993, following a decade of academic research. "There's no evidence, to my knowledge, that this vaccine" was rushed through the federal approval process, she said. Like Davey, poll respondents favoring mandatory vaccinations stressed the health benefits of Gardasil, which is considered most effective when given before girls become sexually active. "It might save somebody's life," said Louise Brown, 59, of Hopkinsville. Brown was among the 49 percent of African-American respondents in favor of requiring the vaccine, who outnumbered the 44 percent opposing the idea. The difference was well within the 15 percentage point margin of error for African Americans. Among Jefferson County residents, 42 percent favor making the vaccine mandatory, compared with 40 percent in opposition. Those figures also fell within the margin of error. "I've had some of my family that's died with cancer. I think that it's wonderful to have this vaccine," said Shirley Elliott, 71, of Louisville. And she doesn't believe it would encourage earlier sex among teens. "My God, they're doing it now," she said. State Rep. Kathy Stein, the Lexington Democrat who sponsored the first version of the vaccine bill, said she believes more people would support the current legislation now before the House if they realized "it is in no way mandatory" because parents can easily opt out. To opt out of other required vaccines, parents must get a written sworn statement. She said she wished the poll results showed more people in favor of requiring the vaccine, but that vocal opponents such as the Family Foundation of Kentucky may have swayed public opinion. Still, Stein said she thinks the bill has a chance of becoming law. "I certainly hope so," she said. |