Whitney Jones

Murray State University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs has bestowed a retired Kentucky Council on Post-Secondary Education official with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sherron Jackson of Frankfort served as CPE’s associate vice president for budget, policy and planning. He retired in December after 34 years of service. The award honors African Americans for their contributions to their communities and the Commonwealth.

A morning traffic stop led to what seems to be a hostage situation in Fulton. Kentucky State Police spokesman Jay Thomas says after police stopped a Fulton man this morning he fled to an apartment on Vernon Avenue where he held a woman and two children for several hours.

Kentucky State Auditor Adam Edelen says there's a lack of oversight by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services over Medicaid Managed Care Organizations.

In the second part of the statewide audit released today, Edelen says the MCOs didn't provide enough information to ensure grievances from members and providers were handled timely or that federal compliance requirements were met.

The Madisonville City Council has a new Ward 2 councilman. Madisonville’s Customer Service Director Leslie Curneal says longtime banker Tom Morgan was named to the position after a 4-1 vote yesterday Thursday. The council nominated two candidates, Morgan and C.D. Palmer.

The McCracken County School Board is considering whether or not to put stand alone metal detectors in the new consolidated high school. Board members made the decision at last night’s monthly meeting. School Safety and Security Supervisor Larry Zacheretti says school officials aren’t sure if those types of metal detectors are necessary.

“And that’s that was the reason for the proposal last night to put together a committee to put together a feasibility study,” he said.

A wet-dry vote for McCracken County’s Maxon Road precinct has been postponed after officials examined the petition calling for the vote and found it was five signatures short. The county’s Deputy Judge Executive Doug Harnice says 323 valid signatures were necessary for the vote that was scheduled for May 7.

“I looked at the signatures on all of them, and found that some didn’t have the last name in it and some didn’t have a telephone, address and some of them were actually in another precinct,” he said.

The United States Enrichment Corporation and several other companies have sent proposals to the Department of Energy to continue enriching uranium at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. USEC is currently operating at the plant but is scheduled to end its work there May 31. USEC spokesperson Paul Jacobson says the corporation is discussing a several month extension at the plant, but that doesn’t change its statement that the high costs and old technology makes continuing commercial endeavors beyond 2013 difficult.

A Tennessee House committee has stripped student identification cards issued by public universities from a bill about photo IDs that can be used to vote. Tuesday's change comes less than a week after the full Senate passed the bill allowing student IDs 21-8. Republican Rep. Jeremy Durham of Franklin made the change, arguing that "there's a public policy good in making sure that the right people are voting."

The Hopkins County Board of Education begins its search for a new superintendent this week. Kentucky Association of School Administrators Senior Search Consultant Phil Eason says the board will post the open position Wednesday that should remain open for 30 days.

Current Superintendent James Stevens announced Feb. 28 that he plans to retire no later than June 30.

While Eastern Kentucky University is working to cut spending by $23 million, its Board of Regents will promote early retirements to before instituting layoffs. Chairman Craig Turner says a plan the regents approved Tuesday morning offers incentives to professors willing to work part-time and staff members who qualify for early retirement.

“The objective here again is to treat everybody as fairly as possible, providing incentives for them to potentially retire, and based upon those numbers, then that will determine how deep cuts go on the reduction plan itself,” Turner said.