FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Students won’t have to dig deeper to pay tuition at Kentucky’s community and technical colleges after the system’s governing board voted Friday to cancel a planned tuition increase for the next school year.
By holding tuition steady, regents chose student access over the extra revenue the higher tuition would have generated, said Jay Box, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
“It will be a little bit painful for us,” Box said in a phone interview. “We will have to tighten our belts. But we think that’s important to do to benefit our students.”
As a result, the college system’s campuses will have to look for ways to reduce spending, Box said. The belt-tightening could potentially lead to staff reductions at some schools, he said.
Enrollment last fall was 87,027 in the system, comprising 16 colleges and more than 70 campuses.
Last June, the system’s regents approved tuition increases for this academic year and the upcoming 2015-16 school term. The tuition hike for the current year was applied to students’ bills.
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MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) - The remains of a Korean War soldier have been returned home 64 years after he died.
WPSD-TV (https://bit.ly/1Ccwjjr) reports Pfc. Anthony Massey died in a prison camp in North Korea at the age of 21. His remains were found and identified last year, and now they have been returned home to Mayfield.
His aunt, Lennie Simmons, told the station that she “never gave up hope” that her nephew would be found.
Simmons said he will be buried next to his mother, who always hoped her son’s remains would be sent home.
“I can’t cry because I’m so happy,” she said. “Sorry of the circumstances that he had to die over there but he done it for his country. That makes me proud.”
Strangers and flags greeted the procession bringing his remains home.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Louisville Metro Police are investigating after a report of a shooting involving a school bus.
Authorities say no one was injured, but the bus has an indentation in the back that appears to be from a bullet.
A spokeswoman for Jefferson County Public Schools told media there were four students aboard the bus Friday morning when the driver heard gunshots being fired. Spokeswoman Mandy Simpson said the bus was “apparently shot at from another vehicle.”
The driver radioed the bus garage and was told to get to a safe place and wait for police. Simpson said the driver picked up three more students in the vicinity, then drove to a safe location.
Officers cleared the scene and the bus continued its route before taking students to Buechel Metropolitan High School.
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HICKMAN, Ky. (AP) - Rising floodwaters on the Mississippi River have led operators of another western Kentucky ferry to close down temporarily.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says the Dorena-Hickman Ferry will close at the end of normal service Friday and won’t reopen on Saturday, based on the river forecast. The cabinet says the closure will last until floodwaters recede to allow safe access to the ferry landing.
The ferry connects Kentucky 1354 at Hickman, Kentucky, with Missouri Route A and Route 77 near Dorena, Missouri. It is the only direct route between the two states.
On Thursday, the cabinet said the Cave-In-Rock Ferry between Crittenden County, Kentucky, and Hardin County, Illinois, was closing due to the rising Ohio River.
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