HARDIN, Ky. (AP) - A distillery owner and one of his employees are suing a still-maker after an explosion last month that killed another worker.
WPSD-TV reports (https://bit.ly/1F1VWAi) the April 24 explosion at Marshall County’s Silver Trail Distillery left employees Jay and Kyle Rogers with burns over 80 percent of their bodies. Kyle Rogers died from his injuries and Jay Rogers continues to recover.
Rogers and Silver Trail owner Spencer Balentine filed their lawsuit against the Oregon-based Revenoor Company on Monday.
The station tried to contact Revenoor, but its phone is disconnected.
The Kentucky Fire Marshal is still investigating the explosion, which it has said was caused by a “catastrophic equipment failure.”
The Silver Trail Distillery produces “LBL Moonshine,” named for the nearby Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
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WEST LIBERTY, Ky. (AP) - Three years after a tornado destroyed much of West Liberty, proposals submitted by architecture students have residents thinking optimistically about the rebuilding effort.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reports (https://bit.ly/1IRiXNGhttps://bit.ly/1IRiXNG ) ideas that have caught residents’ attention include a 200-foot-tall vertical greenhouse that could be illuminated and become an icon for the city.
West Liberty residents held a town hall meeting recently to hear proposals by University of Kentucky architecture students for how to rebuild the downtown.
Speaking of the food tower, West Liberty retiree Brent Engle said he liked it because “it’s an ’in your face’ to a tornado.”
“It’s the craziest thing, but by its essence, it’s also the most interesting thing,” Engle said. “Maybe it’s too outrageous for a lot of people to think of such a thing.”
More traditional ideas included a bike park and trail, a cultural heritage center and a fresh food market.
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Ryan Quarles has some streaks of gray in his hair, which can seem odd when he tells people why they should vote for him.
“We need to put a millennial in office,” he told a voter at the Jefferson County Lincoln Day dinner last week.
The 31-year-old state representative is the Republican nominee for state agriculture commissioner. If he wins in November, he would be one of the youngest statewide officeholders in the country and Kentucky’s first millennial to join the executive branch of government. His is one of several distinctions possible this fall in an off-year election likely to garner national attention as a precursor to the 2016 presidential contest.
Republican Matt Bevin’s ticket for governor could make history if his 83-vote margin over James Comer in Tuesday’s Republican primary survives a state review this week. His lieutenant governor running mate, Jenean Hampton, could become the state’s first black statewide officeholder.
And voters are likely to elect a governor from the state’s largest city of Louisville for the first time in more than a century, a shift in the state’s political dynamic that has long favored rural candidates and issues. Democratic nominee Jack Conway is from Louisville. Bevin lives there.
Quarles, along with 33-year-old Republican nominee for treasurer Allison Ball and 34-year old Republican Attorney General nominee Whitney Westerfield are exceptions to the trend of younger people avoiding public office. Shauna Shames, a political science professor at Rutgers, said her research shows millennials don’t believe politics is where they can produce social change.
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SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. (AP) - An inmate is dead after he was found unresponsive in his cell at the Bullitt County Detention Center.
Sgt. Jason Rives of the Shepherdsville Police Department told WHAS-TV (https://bit.ly/1Lqm4JS) the inmate was a male in his 50s. He was found on Friday morning and taken by ambulance to the Jewish Hospital Medical Center South. He was pronounced dead upon arrival at 10:59 a.m.
The man was in a single-inmate cell when he was found by a correctional officer performing a standard welfare check. State Law requires correctional facilities to check inmates every hour.
Rives said the death is under investigation but so far there are no indications of foul play.
Police have not yet released the man’s name.
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