Man to be sentenced for Sen. Rand Paul attack

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s neighbor is set to be sentenced in federal court over an attack last year in the lawmaker’s yard.

Rene Boucher pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress. Boucher says the attack was triggered by Paul stacking yard debris near his property line. Paul suffered broken ribs in the November attack.

A federal judge will sentence Boucher on Friday in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where the two men live.

Federal prosecutors have signaled they’ll seek a 21-month prison sentence, but Boucher has asked for probation.

In a statement this week, Paul dismissed the notion the men had a yard dispute. He says that “justifies such violence and misses the point.”

Governor appoints new county judge-executive

ELKTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin has made an appointment to fill an open seat for a county judge-executive.

Democrat Michael Todd Mansfield will take the job as Todd County’s top official.

Mansfield is a former bank president who works for an appraisal company in Hopkinsville. He is also a Hopkinsville Community College Foundation board member.

He was appointed to serve out the term of former Todd County Judge-Executive Daryl Greenfield, who resigned earlier this year.

Mansfield won the Democrat primary race in May, and he has no general election opponent in the fall.

Artwork may have water damage after arts center fire

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Officials at a Kentucky performing arts center say they’re worried about one piece of art that may have been damaged by water during a fire.

The Courier Journal reports much of the $18 million in artwork at the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts survived the fire Wednesday. Kentucky Center President Kim Baker said at a news conference Thursday that John Chamberlain’s “The Coloured Gates of Louisville” is the staff’s main concern. Experts are being brought in to examine the piece.

No injuries were reported in the fire.

Most of the water damage is in the main lobby, but Baker said a little got into two entertainment spaces.

The center is expected to remain closed to the public at least through Friday.

Louisville Fire Capt. Salvador Melendez said the department has determined the fire was accidental.