LEXINGTON — The FBI is investigating a possible link between Thursday's robbery of a Lexington Bank One and 10 other robberies in Kentucky and Ohio.

        The description of the robber and his methods in those 10 robberies, which occurred mostly in Louisville and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area, are similar to the robbery of the Bank One, said Bob Foster, a special agent at Lexington's FBI office.

        It was the first robbery in Lexington similar to those 10 other robberies in the past six months, Mr. Foster said.

        About 10:30 a.m., the robber walked into the bank, handed a teller a note demanding money, then walked out the door with the money and fled on foot.

        FBI would not comment on how much money was stolen.

        Authorities describe the suspect as a white man in his late 30s to mid-40s, 5-foot-10 and 230 to 250 pounds with sandy hair.
       

Road bonuses questioned

               FRANKFORT — A $5.3 million bonus paid to a contractor for completing renovations to Interstate 64 in Jefferson County two months ahead of schedule may force the state to track such bonuses more closely.

        State Transportation Cabinet officials estimated the I-64 project, which began in early August, would take 1,000 hours to finish by closing the interstate up to 15 weekends and some weekday nights.

        Gohmann Asphalt & Construction, based in Clarksville, Ind., just across the Ohio River, finished the job in 410 hours. Instead of taking 15 weekends, Gohmann did it in eight.

        Gary Sharpe, the Transportation Cabinet's manager of the project, acknowledged the state was too generous when it calculated how long the job completed on Sept. 30 would take.

        “Hindsight is 20-20,” Mr. Sharpe said.

        “In retrospect, our numbers were too big,” he added. “I don't know how to address that in any other fashion, other than to say we gave it our best effort.”
       

Laurel Co. woman dies at age 110

               LONDON — A Laurel County woman who was born in the 19th century and lived to see the new millennium died Saturday. She was 110.

        Della Ann Bales Pope was born March 9, 1891 and did everything for herself until almost two years ago, when she moved to a nursing home, said her daughter Edith Barnett, 87.

        Ms. Pope grew her own food into her late 90s. After she retired from the farm, her hobbies were gardening and quilting.
       

Postal car bomb explodes; none hurt

               CYNTHIANA — The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is investigating a car bombing in Harrison County.

        No one was injured when the bomb planted under a sport-utility vehicle exploded on White Oak Drive at 3:40 a.m.Sunday, according to Kentucky State Police.

        The truck was privately owned and used by Mary Vance to deliver mail for the U.S. Postal Service, state police said. The explosion occurred at the home of her father, Gilbert Vance. The white truck has a U.S. Mail decal on its door.

        Another vehicle and a barn were also slightly damaged by the blast, according to Don York of the ATF. “Both vehicles were slightly damaged.”

        “The initial investigation, which is still ongoing, doesn't indicate that her employment with the Postal Service had anything to do with the damage to that particular vehicle,” Mr. York said.

        Cynthiana Postmaster Bob Kyser said the U.S. Postal Inspection Service also said the blast did not appear to be related to the Postal Service.
       

Kenton women's GOP club to meet

               CRESTVIEW HILLS — The Kenton County Republican Women's Club will hold its annual holiday dinner and installation of officers Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Four Seasons Country Club on Thomas More Parkway in Crestview Hills.

        Registered Republican women and men are invited. To make reservations call (859) 331-7862.
       

Grant for fair housing given

               LOUISVILLE — The Kentucky Commission on Human Rights received a $99,833 grant to try to protect the state's growing Hispanic population from housing discrimination.

        The grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will be used to distribute fair-housing information — in Spanish — throughout the state. HUD awarded $14.2 million for fair-housing initiatives nationwide.

        The commission plans to give out 500 copies of a fair-housing information video in Spanish; conduct English-Spanish fair-housing workshops; develop a statewide translator list and service for handling housing complaints; and hold a one-day symposium on the issue.

        The state's Hispanic population has almost tripled to about 60,000 in the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Census.

        The Kentucky Fair Housing Council was the only other Kentucky group to be awarded a grant and plans to use the $95,956 to publish newsletters focusing on disability and accessibility problems, according to HUD.
       

CSX gives workers holiday weekend off

               HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — CSX Transportation is giving its employees much of the Thanksgiving weekend off.

        The railroad has announced it will not originate any bulk commodity trains, which haul coal, grain, steel, rock and other goods, or mixed freight trains after 4 p.m. Wednesday unless the crews are headed for their home terminals.

        Mixed freight trains will resume at 1 a.m. Saturday.

        “This plan is simply a way for CSX to give our crews a chance to be home with their families over the holidays,” said David Hall of Louisville, director of corporate communications for CSX's Central Region.

        “It's something we try to do every year at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's,” he added.

        The company will close major terminals between 7 a.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Saturday, except those where CSX exchanges cars with other railroads, such as New Orleans, Memphis, St. Louis and Chicago.

        “Crew availability drops off around the holidays anyway because folks want to be home with their families,” Hall said. “This plan makes it a little easier to accommodate them.”

        Norfolk Southern will cut back for the holiday but not as extensively as CSX.

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