Birds in 8 counties test positive for virus

        FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Department for Public Health said Monday that 19 birds in eight counties tested positive for the West Nile virus.

        The birds have been found in Fayette, Jefferson, Oldham, Daviess, Boone, Hardin, Clark and Woodford counties.

        There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in humans in Kentucky and only one confirmed equine case, reported Aug. 31.

        The tests were conducted at the University of Kentucky Livestock Disease Diagnostic Laboratory.

        The department for public health urges Kentuckians to take precautions against mosquito bites, but says the risk of contracting the West Nile virus is very low. The department is also asking that people continue to report dead birds, especially crows, blue jays and raptors.
       

Governor to meet with transplant recipients

        LOUISVILLE — Gov. Paul Patton plans to meet with the world's first two recipients of totally implantable artificial hearts today.

        The University of Louisville surgeons who implanted the hearts will also give an update on the patients' conditions today at 2:30 p.m., Jewish Hospital officials said.

        Robert Tools, a 59-year-old former telephone company employee from Franklin, Ky., received the first totally implantable artificial heart July 2.

        Tom Christerson, 70, of Central City, received the AbioCor device Sept. 13. Last week, doctors said Mr. Christerson was taking short walks and breathing on his own.

        Mr. Tools was removed from the intensive care unit at Jewish Hospital just before Mr. Christerson's operation.

        The device is made by Abiomed, a Danvers, Mass., company.
       

2 die, 2 injured in one-vehicle crash

        SCOTTSVILLE — A woman and her daughter died as the result of a single-vehicle crash that also left two people injured, Kentucky State Police said.

        Shawta Birge, 25, and her daughter Bethany, 6, died of injuries received when the 1976 Mustang in which they were passengers ran off a curve Sunday night and swerved into a utility pole, a police report said.

        Bethany died at the scene of the 10:10 p.m. crash 16 miles north of Scottsville. Ms. Birge died a short time later at the Medical Center at Bowling Green.

        Amy Birge, 3, was reported in fair condition Monday at the same hospital and Shawn Page, 23, was reported stable. David Page, 30, identified by state police as the driver, was treated and released.

        All the injured from the crash were residents of Scottsville. State police said no seat belts were in use.
       

Enrollment way up for "virtual university'

        FRANKFORT — The number of students taking classes through the Web-based Kentucky Virtual University more than doubled this fall to 5,034, the Council on Postsecondary Education said Monday.

        The agency attributed the increase to the addition of 24 programs at the associate's, bachelor's and master's degree levels. The virtual campus now offers 48 programs entirely online.

        The additions include a master's of business administration from the University of Baltimore. Morehead State University and Sullivan University also offer MBA degrees through the virtual university.

        Enrollment last fall was 2,372.
       

UofL boosts tuition rates by 6 percent

        LOUISVILLE — The University of Louisville board of trustees voted on Monday to increase tuition rates by 6 percent for the next two years.

        The new rates will take effect in the 2002 fall semester and run through 2004's spring semester.

        The raises will give financial support to an initiative, called Challenge for Excellence, to move UofL into the ranks of the country's top metropolitan universities, a statement from UofL said.

        Undergraduate students who live in Kentucky will pay $2,016 per semester in the 2002-2003 school year, up from $1,897. The rate will increase to $2,136 for the 2003-2004 year.

        The school's graduate, law, medical and dental schools will have similar tuition increases, the statement said.

Ky. forensic expert on loan to New York

        FRANKFORT — Emily Craig, an expert at identifying bodies, left Monday for New York to join a team trying to identify those killed in the attack on the World Trade Center.

        Ms. Craig, a forensic anthropologist in the state medical examiner's office, is being loaned indefinitely. She likely will be in New York for weeks, perhaps months, David Jones, administrator of the medical examiner program, said in a telephone interview. Ms. Craig is to be part of a team with expertise in identifying body parts.
       

Hilliard, community leader, dies at 85

        LOUISVILLE — Henning Hilliard, a longtime business and community leader whose grandfather founded the J.J.B. Hilliard, W.L. Lyons investment firm, died Saturday at his home after a long illness. He was 85.

        Born James Henning Hilliard, he led the financial-services company from the late 1950s to 1982 and spearheaded a 1965 merger between J.J.B. Hilliard and W.L. Lyons & Co.

        The grandson of John James Bryon Hilliard, Henning Hilliard was born in Louisville, the son of Isaac and Helen Donigan Hilliard. He earned undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Virginia.

        His retirement in 1982 ended a stretch of 110 years in which a Hilliard had been a manager. He continued to serve as a senior executive until March 2001.

        While at the helm, Mr. Hilliard guided the firm's expansion that made it the largest Ohio Valley-based securities firm. In 1998, Hilliard-Lyons was acquired by PNC Bank Corp., now PNC Financial Services Group.
       

Ex-Ky. official denied insurance license

        FRANKFORT — A former Kentucky official who provided the weapon that killed a Florida drug prosecutor has been denied a Kentucky insurance license.

        Insurance Commissioner Janie Miller followed the recommendations of a hearing officer, who had said the license should be denied to Henry Vance Jr.

        Mr. Vance, of Lexington, spent nine years in federal prison for conspiring to murder Eugene Berry, a prosecutor in Charlotte County, Fla.

        Mr. Berry had prosecuted Mike Kelly, a friend of Mr. Vance, on drug-running charges. Mr. Kelly's wife, Bonnie Kelly, killed Mr. Berry with a handgun supplied by Mr. Vance. She remains in prison.

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