WASHINGTON — At a swearing-in ceremony Thursday for a Kentuckian picked to head the Agriculture Department's Rural Utilities Service, officials announced that the Bluegrass State had been awarded millions of dollars in new loans and grants.

        Topping the list was a $23.6 million loan package for NorthStar Technologies to provide digital telephone service in southeastern Kentucky.

        “It's the catalyst that will get us started,” said Gregg Harper, vice president of marketing for NorthStar. The startup company is temporarily based in Corbin, Ky., but plans to move to Somerset.

        Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman was on hand to swear in Hilda Legg as the head of the Rural Utilities Service in a largely ceremonial event.

        The development agency helps rural communities finance electric, telecommunications, water and waste-water projects. It also provides loans and grants for distance learning and telemedicine.

        Ms. Legg, was hurriedly sworn in this month, but Thursday was an opportunity to celebrate the occasion with friends in Washington and those back home in Ken tucky.

        Supporters in eight Kentucky counties joined the ceremony via teleconference. Among them was Ms. Legg's 87-year-old father, Chester Humphress, who saw the event from a video screen in Campbellsville.

        As the former head of the Somerset-based Center for Rural Development, Ms. Legg was instrumental in bringing video-conferencing to those communities.

        She said one of her top goals will be to encourage the use of similar technology in other parts of America.

        “There is a human side to technology. Sometimes it is just so technical that it scares some of us who didn't grow up with computers and play stations in our hand,” said Ms. Legg, who grew up on a farm in Adair County.

        Rep. Hal Rogers, a Somerset Republican, praised Ms. Legg's emphasis on technology.

        “This technology has allowed our region to take a huge technological leap into the 21st century,” Mr. Rogers said.

        Rep. Ernie Fletcher, R-Ky., and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., also were on hand.

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