ERLANGER — For the second year in a row, Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America in Erlanger is the largest contributor to the United Way campaign in Northern Kentucky.

        Employees at the automaker's manufacturing headquarters raised $410,000, making the company the first in Northern Kentucky to surpass the $400,000 mark. according to the United Way.

        The Greater Cincinnati United Way campaign, which will provide money for more than 160 health and social service agencies, ends Friday. This year's fund-raising goal is $60.05 million.
       

Attorneys settle case, forget to tell judge

               LOUISVILLE — It was too late when a circuit court judge found out that a medical malpractice on its way to trial had been settled.

        Eighty jurors who had been summoned for the trial were already sitting outside the judge's courtroom.

        So when Jefferson Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman found out — after no one showed up for a trial expected to last three weeks — she ordered the attorneys to pay more than $2,000 in court costs.

        “The court is very disturbed by the parties' obvious disregard for the court, jurors and court personnel,” Judge McDonald-Burkman wrote in her order last month.

        “A simple telephone call would have sufficed. It is unfair to place the expense of this special jury panel on the taxpayers of this community.”

        The malpractice suit had been filed by Carla Jacobs against a Louisville surgeon and Baptist Hospital East. It was settled on Sept. 7.

        The attorneys apologized, and as of last week, they had paid their share of the costs.
       

Evangelist facing trial on sex charges

               MADISONVILLE — Jury selection began Monday in Hopkins Circuit Court for the trial of a local television evangelist facing charges of rape, sodomy and sexual abuse.

        The charges against the Rev. Johnny Price involve a female member of the Life Anew Ministries, where he was a former associate.

        The woman, now in her 30s, claims that the minister had sex with her at least 10 times before her 18th birthday.

        In testimony before a grand jury last fall, court records show the woman also claims that the Rev. Mr. Price, 46, who now lives in Charleston, Tenn., forced her to have sex in his church office six times between 1990 and 1992.

        The Rev. Mr. Price's sermons have been broadcast daily over Madisonville's local-access cable TV channel for more than a year.

        Programs broadcast include older ones when the Rev. Mr. Price was lead evangelist on pro grams originated by Life Anew Ministries, which then owned and operated a local television channel, as well as newer ones developed since his arrest in April 2000.
       

Plan to halt testing at firing range fought

               MADISON, Ind. — The Army has outraged local residents by proposing to stop health and environmental testing on a former firing range that holds more than 77 tons of spent uranium-based weapons.

        Although the uranium at the Army's shuttered Jefferson Proving Ground is not highly radioactive, some residents worry that it might break down in the soil or be washed away, possibly entering drinking water.

        “I don't know why we should be the guinea pigs,” Jefferson County Commissioner Julie Berry said. “A lot can be at stake here. There are a lot of unknowns.”

        Ms. Berry and other residents, local officials and environmentalists are fighting the Army's proposal that testing of the area for health and environmental hazards be halted, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported in a story published Monday.

        The Army also wants to close off the area and leave the depleted uranium rounds where they fell.
       

Anthrax scares not overwhelming state

               FRANKFORT — Despite the increasing number of anthrax scares across the state, the state Central Laboratory has been able to handle the volume, a spokesman says.

        “We've gotten requests for approximately 100 cases,” said Gil Lawson, spokesman for the Cabinet for Health Services.

        “But we aren't backlogged.”

        Over the past week, several cases of suspicious mail or white powder were found in state buildings and other areas in Frankfort.

        All the samples were packaged and taken to the Central Laboratory to be tested by the state Department for Public Health.

        So far, all the tests have shown there has been no anthrax in the state, Mr. Lawson said.
       

BellSouth seeking OK on long distance

               FRANKFORT — BellSouth Telecommunications, the company built on local telephone service, now wants to get into the long-distance business.

        The Kentucky Public Service Commission on Monday opened a weeklong hearing into the company's application.

        The Federal Communications Commission will decide the case. The PSC is taking testimony and will issue an opinion, as will utility regulators in several other states.

        BellSouth and other companies of the former Bell Telephone empire have been prohibited from offering long-distance service in their local territories.

        However, they have been ordered to open their local networks to competitors.

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