Union backing Owen for governor

        FRANKFORT — Charlie Owen's unofficial candidacy for governor was endorsed Tuesday by the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council.

        The council, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, claims to represent 33,000 workers in Kentucky. Its president, Gary Seay, said the council wanted to back a candidate early in the governor's race. The election is in 2003.

        Mr. Owen, who made a fortune in the cable-television industry, said last week he intends to run for the Democratic nomination. He has previously attempted races for U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
       

Kentucky Derby bans sun block due to 9-11

        LOUISVILLE — A sun block company will have a captive audience to introduce a new line of sun block at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Oaks Day and Kentucky Derby Day.

        In a partnership with Churchill Downs, Banana Boat announced on Tuesday that it will give out 250,000 free samples of sun block to visitors to the track on those two days, May 3 and 4.

        Derby Day alone brings in an estimated 150,000 people, none of whom will be allowed to bring in sun block under security restrictions announced as a result of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        Other banned items include bottled water, cans, coolers, backpacks, umbrellas and anything than can be used as a weapon.

        “Our fans will have to deal with some changes as they come through our admission gates on Derby and Oaks days, but we're working hard through our hospitality and customer service efforts to ensure that they have a terrific time once they're inside,” Churchill Downs president Alex Waldrop said in a statement.

        Banana Boat will also be selling sun block throughout the track and in the infield.

        The free samples are a half-ounce of VitaSkin, a line introduced this year. The packets will be given out at four spots in the infield.
       

Suit over boys hoops dismissed

        JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed a youth basketball league caused “irreparable horror” to a 10-year-old boy by preventing him from joining a team because he lives outside the league's area.

        U.S. District Judge David Hamilton dismissed the case after both sides agreed last week that they did not wish to pursue it.

        The parents of Christopher Nolan of Sellersburg had contended that the league's eligibility requirements illegally discriminated against their son and violated his equal-protection rights under the state and federal constitutions.

        The suit said that because the private, nonprofit league used public-school gymnasiums, it should not be allowed to exclude players.

        The league is designed to develop players for the Jeffersonville High School team.

        Its rules require that players live in the attendance zones of nine elementary and two middle schools that send students to the high school.

        Chris Nolan, the boy's father, said the family dropped the lawsuit because he did not want to identify other out-of-area players who he insists have played in the league.

        The league had asked for the list as proof that it had discriminated.

        Mr. Nolan said he was uncomfortable giving names out because he did not want other children to be mistreated.

        “This guy operates a private league for who he wants, in a public facility, and has to answer to nobody,” Mr. Nolan said. “I just wanted to make sure all the kids are treated equally.”
       

Board chair adds self U of L search team

        LOUISVILLE — The chairwoman of the University of Louisville board of trustees has appointed herself to the search committee for a new president.

        Jessica Loving's decision to add herself as a voting member of the committee came a few days after she appointed Malcolm Chancey, chairman of the U of L Foundation, to the committee at the urging of the foundation board of directors.

        Ms. Loving said she named herself to the committee after its chairmen, Junior Bridgeman and Chester Porter, asked her to do so.

        “I thought about it for a while because I wanted it fairly clear from the beginning that I'm not running the show in any way,” Ms. Loving said.

        The search committee, which now has 17 members, is responsible for finding a successor to John Shumaker, who is leaving to become president of the University of Tennessee.

        Last month, foundation secretary Burt Deutsch and treasurer H. Scott Davis sent Ms. Loving a letter urging her to appoint Mr. Chancey.

        The letter said the foundation, which oversees the university's $503 million endowment, would pay for the presidential search “provided that the foundation fully and fairly participates” in the process.

        The letter also said Mr. Chancey should be added to the search committee because the foundation agreed to pay Mr. Shumaker a $1.5 million bonus had he remained at U of L through 2008, that it has funded more than 70 percent of the U of L president's annual compensation and benefits package and that it has supplemented the pay of other U of L administrators at the request of the trustees.
       

Presbyterian church ponders staff layoffs

        LOUISVILLE — The General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will consider budget cuts that would cost the jobs of 45 people who work at the church's headquarters here.

        The job cuts would be the largest in several years and represent about 8 percent of the 600-person work force at the headquarters.

        The proposal would cut a total of 66 staff positions, but 21 are already vacant.

        “I realize this has been a long period of anxiety for people,” said John Detterick, executive director of the denomination.

        But he credited deputy executive director Kathy Lueckert with shaping the details of the budget.

        Ms. Lueckert said she originally expected to have to cut an additional eight to 10 jobs.

        The church's General Assembly Council, an 87-member governing body, will vote on the budget this weekend.

        The General Assembly, the denomination's main legislative body, will take the final vote in June.

        The church blames the cuts on lower donations due to the struggling U.S. economy, as well as lower income from wills, bequests and earned income.

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