Morning News – 02/03/15

CYNTHIANA / HARRISON

Harrison County Schools will be hosting the March 9 meeting of Champions for a Drug Free Harrison County. The March 9 meeting will include a presentation by Pendleton County Sheriff Craig Peoples, as well as an informational update on the Healthy Teens: Beautiful Minds program grant. The meeting/presentation will take place at the Harrison County High School Auditorium, at 5:30pm.

http://www.harrison.k12.ky.us/virtual/co/hatter/?p=599

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KENTUCKY

Recent poll findings are showing that many Kentuckians beginning to favor the federal health-reform law after gaining further information as to how the Affordable Care Act works, and what benefits the act brings to them. The Kentucky Health Issues Poll, conducted for the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, found that 39 percent view it favorably while 41 percent view it unfavorably. Notably, 51 percent of those polled said they didn’t have enough information to know how the law would affect them personally. Most of those who reported not having enough information, 64 percent, had not graduated from high-school.

Opinions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, often called “Obamacare”, are still driven partly by politics. The survey found that 58 percent of Democrats had favorable views of the law and 64 of Republicans had unfavorable views. Among independents, 42 percent had unfavorable views and 31 percent were favorable.

The poll was also conducted for Interact for Health, formerly the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati.

http://www.kyforward.com/many-kentuckians-support-health-reform-but-say-they-dont-know-how-it-may-affect-them/

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Gun owners in Kentucky can now apply for permits to carry concealed weapons online, allowing for a quicker response than the 60-day processing period allowed for paper applications; the Courier-Journal reports that the online filing process requires state police to either issue or deny a license within 15 days of receiving an electronic application. Supporters say the change improves access to concealed-carry permits at a time when demand is high; critics, however, say it endangers the community and invites more opportunities for violence. Online applicants are still required to complete an in-person training course on Kentucky law and gun safety, and pass a background check.

http://wuky.org/post/kentucky-accepting-online-concealed-carry-permit-applications

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President Barack Obama’s new budget proposal, released Monday, includes more than $3 billion worth of tax credits and other spending to help the Appalachian region recover from the declining coal industry. The largest new spending would be $1 billion to redevelop abandoned coal mines, going to states and tribes in $200 million increments over five years. The proposal also includes $20 million from the Department of Labor for states to help workers who lost their coal mining jobs and $25 million to the Appalachian Regional Commission for the creation of community economic development plans.

Republicans in Congress blame Obama’s energy policies for the job losses in coal states. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has pledged to continue to fight those policies. McConnell also released a statement regarding Obama’s budget proposal:

“It is cold comfort for the Obama Administration to suddenly propose easing the pain they’ve helped inflict on so many Kentucky coal families, but anything aimed at aiding these communities should be seriously considered. Meanwhile, I will continue to offer ways to help Kentucky’s struggling communities under the Obama economy, particularly those in coal country. The best way to help these Kentuckians is to prevent anti-coal efforts in the first place, which is one reason I’ve joined the Senate subcommittee charged with overseeing spending at the anti-coal EPA.”

http://wuky.org/post/obamas-budget-includes-billions-coal-states

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Fire department crews responded to Georgetown Tool and Manufacturing at Bourbon Street and Chambers Avenue around 4 a.m, this morning. Firefighters say there was cardboard and other items burning in the office when they arrived, but they can’t say for sure if the fire started there. The blaze didn’t cause any structural damage, but did damage some equipment inside. Officials say investigators will examine the scene later Tuesday to try to determine what caused the fire.

http://www.lex18.com/story/28008839/fire-damages-georgetown-machine-shop

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A Louisville-Metro Police officer is accused of punching and kicking his wife and spitting on a sheriff’s deputy in Clark County, Indiana. Prosecutors say Metro Police Officer Jonathon Osborne punched his wife in the face while she was driving Sunday night in Clark County.

“It is alleged that he punched his wife who was driving a car which did result in the car leaving the roadway, striking a tractor and resulting in injuries to her that required her hospitalization,” said Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull.

Osborne’s bond is set at 30,000. He is scheduled to be back in court on Wednesday morning.

http://www.wdrb.com/story/28002340/louisville-metro-police-officer-arrested-in-clark-county-ind

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WORLD

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is recalling about 230,000 Jeep Grand Cherokees worldwide to fix a software problem that could cause the vehicles’ airbags to deploy even when there’s no real risk of a crash. The vehicles involved are about 170,000 model year 2014 and 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokees in the U.S. as well as roughly 20,000 in Canada, 4,000 in Mexico another 36,4000 outside North America. There have been a few cases in which the side airbags have deployed during “extreme driving maneuvers” such as those encountered in off-road terrain. New software will make the side airbags less likely to inflate in these sorts of situations.

Fiat Chrysler (FCAM), which makes Jeeps, will notify owners of the need to bring their vehicles to a dealer for the software upgrade. Customers with questions have been asked to call 800-854-1403.

http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/02/autos/jeep-grand-cherokee-recall/

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THIS DAY IN HISTORY

1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British forces seize the Dutch-owned Caribbean island Sint Eustatius.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: Spain recognizes United States independence.
1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crush the remnants of Shays’ Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.
1809 – The Territory of Illinois is created by the 10th United States Congress.
1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to citizens regardless of race.
1900 – Governor of Kentucky William Goebel dies of wound sustained in an assassination attempt three days earlier in Frankfort, Kentucky.
1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.
1917 – World War I: The United States breaks off diplomatic relations with Germany a day after the latter announced a new policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
1943 – The USAT Dorchester is sunk by a German U-boat. Only 230 of 902 men aboard survived. The Chapel of the Four Chaplains, dedicated by President Harry Truman, is one of many memorials established to commemorate the Four Chaplains story.
1944 – World War II: During the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, U.S. Army and Marine forces seize Kwajalein Atoll from the defending Japanese garrison.
1945 – World War II: As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1,000 B-17s of the Eighth Air Force bomb Berlin, a raid which kills between 2,500 to 3,000 and dehouses another 120,000.
1945 – World War II: The United States and the Philippine Commonwealth begin a month-long battle to retake Manila from Japan.
1947 – The lowest temperature in North America, −63.9 °C (−83.0 °F), is recorded in Snag, Yukon.
1959 – Deaths of rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.
1961 – The United States Air Forces begins Operation Looking Glass, and over the next 30 years, a “Doomsday Plane” is always in the air, with the capability of taking direct control of the United States’ bombers and missiles in the event of the destruction of the SAC’s command post.
1966 – The unmanned Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft makes the first controlled rocket-assisted landing on the Moon.
1967 – Ronald Ryan, the last person to be executed in Australia, is hanged in Pentridge Prison, Melbourne.
1969 – In Cairo, Yasser Arafat is appointed Palestine Liberation Organization leader at the Palestinian National Congress.
1971 – New York Police Officer Frank Serpico is shot during a drug bust in Brooklyn and survives to later testify against police corruption. Many believe the incident proves that NYPD officers tried to kill him.
1972 – The first day of the seven-day 1972 Iran blizzard, which would kill at least 4,000 people, making it the deadliest snowstorm in history.
1984 – Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B is launched using Space Shuttle Challenger.
1995 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
1998 – Karla Faye Tucker is executed in Texas, becoming the first woman executed in the United States since 1984.
1998 – Cavalese cable car disaster: a United States Military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.