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Kentucky.com: State
News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com

• Report: Kentucky schools need to help minorities
  The state has made strides in increasing access to higher education for minorities, but major work still needs to be done, according to a report commissioned by the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. The 156-page report by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA says the preparation of black and white students for college remains highly unequal. The report recommends considering race for admission to competitive campuses like the University of Kentucky and Louisville. It also says the state should expand its definition of diversity to include Hispanics and American Indians. The report also suggests the state focus on helping students from poor counties in eastern Kentucky regardless of race. "It is no longer sufficient to focus only on black students," the report states.
• Hunting-dog owners try to keep opponents at bay
  In a state considered the American birthplace of hunting with hounds, George Washington's favorite sport has become a target for some Virginia landowners who say baying dogs and their owners are trampling property rights. Even other hunters object to a Virginia right-to-retrieve law viewed as the most absolute in the nation: Hunters have free reign to chase after dogs that stray onto posted private property. Proponents are rising to protect their right to hunt, mindful that other Southern states have already limited or eliminated certain forms of the sport because of complaints from property owners. Courtly fox hunters and down-home bear and coon hunters - an unlikely coalition - contend their heritage is at stake. "If we have a major defeat in Virginia, I think it would hurt hunting with hounds in every state. Therefore, we will fight it at every turn," vowed Kirby Burch of the Virginia Hunting Dog Alliance, an umbrella group for 450 hunt clubs claiming more than 30,000 members.
• Poll: McCain leading Obama in Kentucky
  A new poll shows Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain leading Democratic U.S. Sen. Barack Obama in Kentucky. The Courier-Journal's Bluegrass Poll found that McCain would get the support of 53 percent of likely voters in Kentucky to Obama's 41 percent if the election were held today. The poll has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points. The telephone survey of 717 Kentuckians was conducted Sept. 22-25 for The Courier-Journal by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington D.C.
• Ky. painter to capture Revolutionary re-enactment
  An influential battle from the Revolutionary War may soon have a fresh perspective on canvas. Kentucky painter Richard Luce has joined re-enactors on the Overmountain Victory Trail as they recreate the 1780 march that led to the Battle of Kings Mountain. A militia of mountain frontiersmen worked their way from Virginia to South Carolina to defeat British troops and help set up the final American victory at Yorktown. There are only two paintings of the campaign. Luce intends to do a series of battle paintings and is taking photos and making notes of the re-enactment as part of his research. He told the Kingsport Times-News during a stop in Bluff City, Tenn., last week that the re-enactors help him gather "magic moments" of action and emotion.
• Ky. residents worry aging bridge will give out
  Residents are trying to rescue an aging covered bridge in northeastern Kentucky they say is at risk of giving out. County officials have told residents Thomas Hughes and Steve Hampton that the Cabin Creek Covered Bridge is "next in line for restoration." "We want to know what that means in a time frame," Hampton said. The bridge, Lewis County's only covered bridge, had been stabilized by steel braces by the Kentucky Transportation Department until the restoration could be completed, but those braces were damaged by heavy rains in early spring. Hughes and Hampton are worried the bridge might not survive until the state's restoration.
• Sour economy tied to psychology that fed gas panic
  As anxiety on Wall Street led banks and other investors to hoard cash last week, a different kind of market fear gripped cities across the Southeast. A hurricane-related disruption in gasoline supplies prompted jittery drivers from Atlanta to Nashville to top off their fuel tanks more than usual, causing sporadic shortages and temporary shutdowns of stations. These closures only magnified the problem, of course, leading to more shortages, which sent local prices skyrocketing. "It's a wonder people didn't go out and empty all of the grocery store shelves, too," said Larry Lamb, of Nashville. "All you need to do when something like this happens is just calm down." Perhaps - in hindsight - that is the sensible thing to do. But economists and other experts say individuals - not just Americans - are hard-wired to respond quickly when they are scared, and in a way that is not always in their own, or their neighbors', best interests.
• Report: Truck explodes at eastern Ky. Wal-Mart
  London police say a propane tank in the back of a pickup truck exploded outside a Wal-Mart on Friday, setting off ammunition that was in the glove compartment and sending the driver to the hospital. London police detective Stewart Walker tells WYMT-TV in Hazard that London resident Michael Mize was taken to St. Joseph hospital after the 4 p.m. EDT incident and his condition was unknown. Walker says Mize had just pulled up to the tire and lube center at the Wal-Mart when the full propane tank, which was in the bed of the truck, began to smoke. Walker says ammunition in the glove compartment fired, and Mize escaped from the truck just before the vehicle exploded.
• Ky. city, school taking applications for ZAP plant
  Franklin Mayor Jim Brown got tired of fielding questions about when the ZAP electric car plant would start accepting applications. So, he decided the city should do it. The city has been taking applications for jobs at the electric car plant, which is under construction in the southern Kentucky city. Bowling Green Technical College Franklin campus is expected to start taking them at the end of the month. "We're receiving them and putting them in a box and forwarding them on," Brown told The Daily News in Bowling Green. Integrity Manufacturing CEO Randall Waldman said school officials are working with Integrity - the company that will produce ZAP vehicles and owns a majority of the Franklin plant.
• Historic Somerset Refinery sells for $2.2 million
  The historic Somerset Refinery sold at auction for $2.2 million and could be back in operation by early next year. The Lexington Herald-Leader reported Saturday that Michael Grunberg, managing principal of Grunberg Realty in New York, will pay a total of $2.42 million, with sales costs, for the parent company of the refinery, PHS Group. The refinery is off U.S. 27 in Somerset and has a 5,500-barrel per day refining capacity. The property includes offices, dozens of tanker trucks, a pipeline easement across six counties and 12 Somerset Oil service stations in southern and eastern Kentucky. The refinery had been turning crude oil into gasoline for generations before it ran into financial trouble and shut down in late 2006. At one time, it employed 150 workers. The auction was part of a bankruptcy proceeding that began in May 2007.
• Residents told to take shelter after chlorine leak
  People in a two-block area of Raceland were advised to take shelter because a tank car was leaking chlorine fumes. Fire Department spokesman John Rowe told the Daily Independent that a four-hour advisory was issued Friday after CSX officials reported that a tank car near the Vine Street crossing showed signs of leakage. No one was hurt. The tank car was empty except for a residue of chlorine but was leaking vapors. Rowe said a valve on the car caused the leak. Technicians tightened the valve to cut it off.
• Officials in 11 Ky. counties accused of nepotism
  Kentucky's Executive Branch Ethics Commission has charged 11 property valuation administrators with ethics violations for hiring or promoting family members. The commission can issue penalties up to a $5,000 fine if it finds someone guilty of a violation. The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reports that one of them, Oldham County PVA Ron Winters, is charged with promoting his wife to chief deputy. Winters said he's never tried to hide the fact that he promoted his wife, Barbara. He said the move was approved by the state Revenue Cabinet. The Commission also charged Fayette County PVA Renee True, Laurel PVA Joy