Texas 10 Most Wanted suspect captured in Murray

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — A convicted felon on the Texas 10 Most Wanted fugitives list has been arrested in Kentucky.

The Texas Department of Public Safety says 35-year-old Herman Henry Fox was captured Monday near an apartment complex in Murray, Kentucky.

A DPS statement says Fox, who’s from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, area, was wanted for trafficking of persons and compelling prostitution by force/threat. Court records show Fox also has a history of arrests for assault, robbery and drug-related crimes, plus weapons counts.

Fox was arrested last year in College Station on a charge of possession of marijuana. Investigators say Fox allegedly was involved with human trafficking by forcing a woman into prostitution.

He was released on bond, then failed to appear in a Central Texas courtroom in July.

UK moves toward demolishing towering residential complex

LEXINGTON (AP) — The days are numbered for a housing complex towering over the University of Kentucky.

UK trustees approved a plan Tuesday to begin moving toward demolition of the Kirwan-Blanding complex on the Lexington campus.

University officials say the demolition price tag is estimated at $15 million, compared to an estimated $126 million to renovate the 50-year-old complex.

The complex — which includes two 23-story towers, eight low-rise buildings and a dining hall — sits on nearly 13 acres (5 hectares) on UK’s central campus.

In the past five years, UK has constructed nearly 7,000 new residence hall beds as well as modern dining facilities.

Along with the demolition, UK officials say about $5 million to $6 million will be spent to create green space in the area where the towers now stand.

Prosecutor: Jailer under malfeasance investigation

CATLETTSBURG (AP) — A prosecutor says four law enforcement agencies are investigating possible malfeasance by a Kentucky jailer following problems at the facility.

The Independent reports Commonwealth Attorney Rhonda Copley detailed the investigation of Boyd County Detention Center Jailer Joe Burchett during a public meeting of the county Fiscal Court on Tuesday.

Copley said once the investigation is completed, they’ll present it to a grand jury that can indict him.

The probe comes after several incidents at the jail. They include several maximum-security inmates fighting with guards and setting fire to items in August, and the escape of four inmates in July.

Burchett said he doesn’t think an indictment against him can be secured, adding that problems at the facility are being addressed.

5 interested in replacing judge who objects to gay adoptions

FRANKFORT (AP) — At least five attorneys have submitted their names as possible replacements for a Kentucky judge who announced his resignation after declaring his conscientious objection to handling adoption cases involving gay and lesbian adults.

The Glasgow Daily Times reports a judicial nominating commission for the 43rd Circuit meets Dec. 20 to review information from those interested in the position currently held by W. Mitchell Nance, whose resignation takes effect Saturday.

The panel will send three names on to Gov. Matt Bevin, who will choose one to serve as an interim judge for Barren and Metcalfe counties.

Voters will decide in the 2018 general election who will finish the last half of Nance’s eight-year term.

Nance announced his resignation in an effort to end a disciplinary case against him stemming from his objections to handling same-sex adoption cases.

Deputy coroner: Death at Ford plant will be ruled accidental

LOUISVILLE (AP) — A deputy coroner has ruled that the death of a man at a Ford plant in Kentucky will be ruled accidental.

Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Steve Moran said in an email Wednesday evening that 41-year-old Ivan Bridgewater of Seymour, Indiana, died of blunt force trauma. Moran said the cause of the injury remains under investigation.

Police responded to Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville early Saturday and found emergency personnel and Ford security trying to save the man.

Ky. distillers’ group adds new heritage member

LEXINGTON (AP) — A western Kentucky distillery has quickly risen to the highest rank of “heritage” member in the Kentucky Distillers’ Association.

KDA says O.Z. Tyler Distillery in Owensboro becomes the eighth heritage member in the nonprofit trade group that leads the state’s bourbon and distilled spirits industry.

KDA President Eric Gregory says that to qualify as a heritage member, distilleries must have at least 25,000 barrels of distilled spirits aging in Kentucky warehouses.

O.Z. Tyler joined KDA last year as a craft-level member soon after it began production in the renovated Charles W. Medley Distillery.

Gregory says as a heritage member, O.Z. Tyler will have an expanded leadership role in the KDA’s management and the direction of Kentucky’s distilled spirits industry.

Heritage members are eligible to join the Kentucky Bourbon Trail tour.

Tennessee Valley Authority worker dies after plant accident

WEST PADUCAH (AP) — A worker at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Shawnee Fossil Plant in Kentucky has died.

Scott Brooks with the TVA told The West Kentucky Star that the man was injured in an accident in the rail yard Sunday evening. He died at a hospital Monday.

Brooks said the man was an employee at G.UB.MK— a contractor that has worked at TVA plants for several years.

Brooks says they will conduct an investigation since the accident took place on TVA property. Further details have not been released.

Indiana trooper narrowly survives gunshot wound to head

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (AP) — A 79-year-old suspected drunken driver shot a state trooper in the head as the officer tried to handcuff him during a traffic stop in southern Indiana, police said.

The bullet skimmed the top of Trooper Morgenn Evans’ head Tuesday night in the city of Jeffersonville, state police Sgt. Jerry Goodin said Wednesday. Evans was released after being treated at the University of Louisville Hospital in Kentucky and could soon return to duty.

“The smallest measure you can have either way, it could have been a fatal shot to him,” Goodin said. “He’s very, very fortunate.”

A judge set bail at $1 million for Oscar Kays during a Wednesday court hearing after he was charged with attempted murder. When reporters asked Kays after the court hearing what happened the night before, he replied, “Well, I think I crossed the line.”

Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull said the high bond was justified because Kays could be a danger to law enforcement.

“This is a man who tried to kill a state trooper,” Mull said after the hearing. “He has no business being out in the street.”

The trooper had stopped Hays for driving left of center and was trying to take him in for a breath test on suspicion of drunken driving when they scuffled and Kays pulled out a small gun, Goodin said. Evans fired at Kays as the man fled in his pickup truck and briefly chased him before losing sight of the vehicle.

Other officers tracked Kays down at his Jeffersonville home where he came outside with a long gun before surrendering, Goodin said.

Kays was treated at a hospital for injuries from the confrontation and had a large bandage around his left forearm during the court hearing.

Goodin said Kays was not known to area police agencies before the shooting.

Kays told investigators he shot the trooper because “he didn’t want to go to jail,” Goodin said. “He said he didn’t think it was wrong, that he wanted to be able to drink a couple of beers and not get in trouble.”

Court in Kentucky approves needle exchange program

GLASGOW (AP) — A court has approved a needle exchange program in a Kentucky county, moving the proposal closer to becoming a reality.

The Daily News of Bowling Green reports the Barren County Fiscal Court narrowly approved the needle exchange Tuesday.

The needle exchange program would allow drug users to trade dirty needles for clean ones, and offer them opportunities to be tested.

District 1 Magistrate John Benningfield said users will also learn about local treatment opportunities. He said such programs don’t promote drug use.

District 6 Magistrate Carl Allen voted against the measure, and said he believes the exchange sends the wrong message.

Barren River District Health Department director Dennis Chaney has said the Glasgow City Council must approve the program because the exchange would be in that city.