Dems schedule political picnic

        COVINGTON — The Kenton County Democratic Club has scheduled a July 22 political picnic at Mills Road Park in southern Kenton County.

        The picnic will be noon to 6 p.m. Food and drinks will be provided. Tickets are $25 a person, $15 for members of the Young Democrats Club. Children 15 and younger are admitted free. Table sponsorships are also available.

        Activities, including a fishing derby, are being planned.

        U.S. Rep. Ken Lucas will speak.

        For more information contact Steve Hoffman at 859-292-8883.
       

Light rail topic of open house

        The first in a series of open houses to explain the benefits and operations of a light rail transit system will be held 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 14 at the Florence Government Building, 8100 Ewing Blvd.

        The open house will discuss how light rail will affect neighborhoods in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky and is hosted by the I-71 project team. One of the goals at the forum is to obtain feedback from Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky residents on where to set up alignment and station locations.

        To learn more about the I-71 Light Rail Transit Study, visit www.cincylightrail.org.
       

Developer joins NKU regent board

        HIGHLAND HEIGHTS — A prominent Northern Kentucky home builder is the newest member of Northern Kentucky University's Board of Regents.

        Gov. Paul Patton appointed Crestview Hills developer Bill Erpenbeck to a six-year term on the board, beginning June 30. Mr. Erpenbeck replaces James Poston Jr., of Fort Thomas, whose term expired.

        Mr. Erpenbeck is also an active political fund raiser for Northern Kentucky Republicans.
       

City schools to get writing teacher

        COVINGTON — Teachers in the city's schools will get some extra writing help next year.

        Covington Independent Schools is hiring a districtwide writing resource teacher to work with teachers on developing students' writing portfolios, part of the state's testing system.

        The new teacher's first job will be to retrain every staff member on ethical portfolio development — in response to a state investigation that found some administrators had improperly edited students' work.

        State guidelines restrict editing on portfolio writing pieces, which are supposed to be solely the work of students.
       

NKU to host music workshop

        HIGHLAND HEIGHTS — Northern Kentucky University's Music Preparatory Department is hosting its first Summer Chamber Music Workshop next week.

        Led by the internationally acclaimed Amernet String Quartet, the workshop is open to violinists, violists, cellists and pianists, ages 12 and up with at least two years of experience.

        The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through June 15, in the Fine Arts Center. It will wrap up with arecital on June 15 at 4 p.m. in Greaves Concert Hall.

        Applications will be accepted through Saturday. Call Diana Belland at (859) 572-5274 or visit www.nku.edu/~music/nku_cmw.html.
       

Jefferson Co. schools not "wired"

        FRANKFORT — The Jefferson County school district, Kentucky's largest, also is the lone holdout in a statewide campaign to get schools wired for the Internet and other technology, officials said Tuesday.

        Forty-eight of the district's 150 schools have yet to be wired. Even the others are not part of the Department of Education's state network, the agency's technology chief told members of the Kentucky Board of Education.
       

Commandments cited in lawsuit

        VINCENNES, Ind. — A civil rights group filed a federal suit demanding that a Ten Commandments monument be removed from the lawn of a county courthouse.

        The Indiana Civil Liberties Union claims that the display at the Knox County Courthouse violates the First Amendment separation of church and state.

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