Meeting aims for feedback on I-75

        COVINGTON — The North South Transportation Initiative project team is holding public meetings to explain possible highway and transit alternatives for the Interstate 75 corridor and to get feedback from nearby residents.

        The first meeting will be 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at the Kenton County Public Library at 502 Scott Blvd. in Covington.

        Each meeting will discuss how the I-75 corridor affects neighborhoods. Members of the North South Transportation Initiative project team will talk with residents and listen to any concerns regarding the I-75 corridor.

        The North South Transportation Initiative is a study of the I-75 corridor by representatives from the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Council of Governments and the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission. It is the first cooperative initiative by the two groups to address transportation issues in the region.

        Information: (513) 621-6300.

Crit Luallen to talk at Chamber forum

        COVINGTON — Crit Luallen, Cabinet Secretary for Gov. Paul Patton, is the scheduled speaker for Friday's Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Government Forum.

        Ms. Luallen, a potential candidate for the Democrats 2003 gubernatorial nomination, will discuss the Kentucky General Assembly session taking place in Frankfort.

        For more information or reservations, contact Pam Allen, (859) 578-6384.

Post offices in soup-can food drive

        COVINGTON — Four Kenton County post offices are competing to collect the most soup cans for a food drive that benefits the needy.

        The Covington Main Post Office has challenged the Latonia Station on Southern Avenue, the Dixie Branch on Buttermilk Pike in Lakeside Park and the Erlanger Branch on Dixie Highway in the annual Soup-er Bowl.

        Each of the post offices tries to collect the most cans of soup from patrons. Cans can be dropped off at any of the offices through February. The food will be donated to area food banks, said Covington Postmaster Carl Ramey.

        “The winner of the 2002 Soup-er Bowl challenge will be the local food banks,” Mr. Ramey said. “This is another way that we, both our customers and employees, can help those that are less fortunate.”
       

Event to offer look at Ky. museums

        FRANKFORT — Museums across Kentucky will be featured at Kentucky Museum and History Day at the state Capitol building on Feb. 21.

        A variety of displays on the second floor of the building's rotunda will provide a hands-on look at the programs of more than 50 organizations, including Civil War sites, historic houses, historical societies and museums. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

        Throughout the day, there will be museum theater performances, living history demonstrations and musical performances.

        Organizations represented will include the Kentucky Historical Society, the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Benham, the Louisville Science Center, the Louisville Slugger Museum and the National Corvette Museum. Also taking part are the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, the Museum of the American Quilter's Society in Paducah, the Georgetown-Scott County Museum, and the University of Kentucky Museum.

Warning letters sent to parents of truants

        LOUISVILLE — Jefferson County is sending another round of letters warning parents that their children's school attendance must improve or the adults may face prosecution.

        County Attorney Irv Maze said Tuesday that he will mail 215 warnings this week to parents of the Jefferson County Public Schools' most persistent elementary truants.

        School officials said the program was expanded because last year's effort spurred improvements while requiring fewer prosecutions than expected.

        “We weren't sure how it would work,” said Pat Todd, the school district's executive director of student assignment, health and safety. “It has exceeded our expectations.”

        About two-thirds of the 85 pupils who were the subject of warning letters last spring for absences ranging from 25 to more than 50 days have improved to fewer than three apiece.

        Children of the only two parents prosecuted now have nearly perfect attendance.

        The latest batch of 215 includes about 20 pupils whose parents were sent warnings last spring. Those pupils showed improvement in attendance but have since relapsed.
       

KKK plans rally in Owensboro

        OWENSBORO — The Ku Klux Klan has informed Owensboro officials that the group plans a rally in the city on March 23.

        Scott Smith, imperial wizard of the SS Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said in a letter to the city that the rally is set for noon to 2 p.m. Mr. Smith listed his address as a Louisville box number.

        Owensboro City Manager Ron Payne told the city commission on Tuesday about the rally.

        The letter said the rally will include speeches, music and the distribution of literature.

        “It's a legitimate letter, and we're taking it as such and that the KKK is coming,” Mr. Payne said.

        Daviess County Judge-executive Reid Haire said he was worried about the potential for problems, but he said Daviess County Sheriff Keith Cain is already at work preparing for the rally.

        “I hope they are few in number,” Mr. Haire said. “... I want to minimize their presence in the city.”
       

USEC moving units to Paducah plant

        WASHINGTON — Uranium enrichment company USEC Inc. said Wednesday it would eliminate 440 jobs over a six-month period beginning in June at its idled uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio.

        USEC spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said the company was moving its transfer and shipping operations from the Piketon, Ohio, facility to its enrichment plant in Paducah, Ky. She said the company only needed to add 30 to 50 jobs at the Kentucky facility.

        “Much of the people that are needed already exist at Paducah. Right there you can see business 101, (there will be) tremendous economic savings,” Ms. Stuckle said.

        USEC currently sends low-enriched uranium from the Kentucky plant to the Ohio facility. The Ohio workers then test, purify and ship the material to facilities that prepare it for use in nuclear power plants.

        Through consolidation, USEC hopes to save $40 million a year, Ms. Stuckle said.

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