Man accused of firing gun during argument, faking knife cut

LONDON (AP) — A Kentucky man who authorities say fired a gun at two men and faked a knife injury has been charged.

News outlets report the 22-year-old was arrested on Wednesday when Laurel County sheriff’s deputies responded to shots fired at a home. Deputies say Justin Hampton was dropping his two-year-old son off with the child’s mother when he got into an argument with two men and shot at them.

Deputies say Hampton then lied by putting blood on a knife and claiming he’d been cut during the altercation.

Hampton is charged with wanton endangerment, criminal abuse, tampering with physical evidence and falsely reporting an incident.

Sheriff John Root says the child’s presence and close proximity of other people led to the wanton endangerment charge.

It’s unclear if Hampton has a lawyer.

Disease found in dead deer in 8 W.Va. counties

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Deer in eight West Virginia counties have died from a disease that causes extensive bleeding.

The state Division of Natural Resources says in a news release that Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease was confirmed in the deer found in Boone, Brooke, Hancock, Lincoln, Marshall, Ohio, Tucker and Wayne counties.

The disease has also been confirmed this year in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The DNR says it is not contagious to humans and is not related to chronic wasting disease, which has been detected only in Hampshire and Hardy counties.

DNR game management chief Gary Foster says midges that spread the disease are killed when frost arrives.

Landowners and hunters are urged to report sick or dead deer to their nearest DNR district office.

Southern Indiana student missing 13 years declared dead

MADISON, Ind. (AP) — A southern Indiana college student who disappeared more than 13 years ago has been declared dead by a judge.

The judge’s order sets the date of death for Molly Dattilo of Madison as July 6, 2004, the day the 23-year-old went missing in Indianapolis. Dattilo was an Eastern Kentucky University student who was taking summer classes at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

No arrests have ever been made in her disappearance, but in 2010 the family won a $3.5 million civil judgment against two men they believe were responsible.

Dattilo’s family worked to publicize the search for her, but attorney Kerry Thompson tells The Madison Courier the family “decided it was time to close that chapter.”

The court order says Dattilo’s disappearance “cannot be explained other than that she is deceased.”

White nationalist flyers appear at University of Louisville

LOUISVILLE (AP) — Campus police in Kentucky are investigating a series of flyers promoting a white nationalist group at the University of Louisville.

The Courier-Journal reports that university police learned about the U of L Identitarians recruitment flyers Thursday morning, which have been appearing at bus stops around campus for the last three weeks.

The posters call for those “who feel alone in caring about the future of European people and the preservation of European culture” to contact the group at an email address.

Interim police chief Kenny Brown says security footage will be reviewed to see who’s been putting the flyers up. He says students shouldn’t worry as the flyers don’t seem to target a specific group.

University spokesman John Karman says the group has no official status on campus.

3 arrested in connection with funeral home burglary

LEITCHFIELD (AP) — Three people have been arrested in connection to a break-in at a funeral home in Kentucky where several items were taken from a man whose body was awaiting burial.

Leitchfield police told news outlets that multiple law enforcement agencies found items stolen from Watson and Hunt Funeral Home last week while searching a White Mills house Wednesday. Police detective Kevin Smith told WDRB-TV that drugs, a gun and detonation cords were also discovered while authorities served the warrant.

Police arrested 38-year-old Jennifer Kay Wills and 55-year-old Gary Hawks during the search. Police say the suspected burglar is 35-year-old James Neal Sullivan, who was arrested Thursday.

It’s unclear if they have lawyers.

Investigators say that surveillance video shows the suspect wearing a suit planned for use in the man’s funeral.

Wrongful death suit filed for boy who lost mom in van crash

PRINCETON, Ind. (AP) — A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a boy delivered after his mother died when an overloaded van overturned on a southwestern Indiana highway.

The suit was filed Thursday in Gibson County on behalf of the estate of Christela Georges and her son born after the September 2015 crash that killed the 29-year-old, who was 24 weeks pregnant.

The crash along Interstate 69 also killed 60-year-old Gena Moise and injured 20 other Haitian immigrant workers who were being transported to an Evansville factory.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports the defendants include the van’s owner, his son, the makers of the van’s tires and the immigrants’ employers.

Investigators say the van overturned with a total of 24 people inside when it blew a tire.

Indiana signs purchase deal on possible Ohio River port site

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (AP) — State officials say they’ve reached a purchase agreement for a former electric plant site in southeastern Indiana as a possible new Ohio River shipping port.

The Indiana governor’s office says the Ports of Indiana Commission will complete a review by the end of 2018 before finalizing its purchase of the 725-acre site near Lawrenceburg. The commission would pay $8 million to a redevelopment company for the site.

That company bought the land about 30 miles west of Cincinnati after Indiana Michigan Power Co. closed its Tanners Creek coal-fired generating plant in 2015.

The Indiana agency now operates Ohio River ports in Jeffersonville and Mount Vernon and a Lake Michigan port at Burns Harbor.

Gov. Eric Holcomb supports establishing a fourth port, but a timeline and funding source remain undecided.