Clerk performs Heimlich Maneuver

        INDEPENDENCE — A deputy clerk at the courthouse here took time out from handling driver's license duties to save a fellow employee's life Monday.

        Diana Scherder performed the Heimlich Maneuver on fellow deputy clerk Bert Kidwell, when Ms. Kidwell began choking in the employees' lunchroom.

        Then she went back to taking driver's license pictures, said Kenton Circuit Clerk Mary Ann Woltenberg. Ms. Scherder teaches 4-H club members the Heimlich Maneuver as part of a babysitting class.
       

Plea puts killer in prison for life

        COVINGTON — Jeffrey Gabbard will spend the rest of his life in prison for the October 1998 killing of Jennifer Harber, 17, of Fort Thomas.

        The 31-year-old Price Hill man had already plead guilty to the murder. Kenton Circuit Judge Steve Jaeger approved the plea agreement Monday in which Mr. Gabbard agreed not to appeal any aspect of his case in exchange for prosecutors not seeking the death penalty.

Georgetown links with English college

        Community and technical college students will be eligible to study abroad at one of the world's most prestigious universities through a new partnership between Georgetown College and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

        “The British Experience in Learning and Living” will allow community and technical college students who transfer to Georgetown to attend Regent's Park College of England's University of Oxford.
       

Covington joins "recall roundup'

        FRANKFORT — The Covington fire department is among 10 in the state who are working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in a “recall roundup” of home fire hazards.

        The roundup is an annual campaign to get people to discard hazardous products such as frayed extension cords, non-child-resistant lighters and hair dryers without built-in shock preventers. Each department serves as a collection site.
       

Henry F. Wallace signs over farm

        PROSPECT, Ky. — Former journalist Henry F. Wallace gave development rights of his 600-acre farm to a conservation group to protect it from urban sprawl, marking the most valuable gift of its kind in the state, the organization said.

        Mr. Wallace signed over the conservation easement on the property — valued at $11.7 million — to the River Fields Inc. conservation group. He also gave the group $65,000 to help the organization enforce the agreement.

        Mr. Wallace said he took such a move to honor his father, Louisville Times editor and conservationist Tom Wallace, who successfully fought against converting Kentucky's Cumberland Falls into a power dam.

Governor's income rises, taxes keep up

        FRANKFORT — Gov. Paul Patton's income rose slightly in 2000, and so did his tax bills.

        Mr. Patton reported total income of $576,594 on his 2000 income tax returns and paid $136,256 to the Internal Revenue Service. And Mr. Patton and his wife Judi also paid $27,115 in state and local income taxes. Mr. Patton's gubernatorial salary of $96,906 was supplemented by dividends, capital gains, rentals and royalties. Much of his income comes from a company that gets rent and royalties as proceeds of the coal company he sold in 1978.
       

State investigates "prevailing wage'

        FRANKFORT — The General Assembly's investigative arm is undertaking a study of a law, much cherished by labor, that requires payment of a “prevailing wage” on all public construction projects.

        The law, broadened in 1996 to eliminate an exemption for school boards, had the effect of requiring higher wages, though not necessarily a union scale.

        Sen. Katie Stine, R-Fort Thomas, chairwoman of the Program Review and Investigations Committee, said there is much debate about whether the law increased the cost of public construction projects.
       

Killer of 2 women gets life sentence

        LOUISVILLE — Kim Harris, convicted of murdering two women outside a Louisville nursing home in 1997, was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.

        Judge James Shake followed the recommendation of a Jefferson County Circuit Court jury in handing down the punishment for Mr. Harris, 27, of Elizabethtown. Deborah Bell, 46, and Patty Eitel, 43, were each shot multiple times on April 29, 1997.

Heating bill moratorium ends; thousands likely to be cut off
Execution is halted
SAMPLES: Birth control
12th-grade test pass rate hits 50 percent
Giving rescues Scouts post
All-day kindergarten gets OK
Chapel built in public school
CROWLEY: Kentucky politics
District chief to retire
Judge OKs Wilkinson assets sales
Judge sends spousal death case to Butler grand jurors
More Warren road projects in works
Mrs. Sadat has peace offerings
Newport Steel layoffs to cost Wilder
Old home, new home
Other jail solutions are still on table
Proposed telephone rules alarm consumer advocates, 2 major Ohio cities
Sex with boys brings one year
Turnout low for elk hunt lottery
Warren prepares for move
Kentucky News Briefs
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