Society

A contest is on to bring the controversial movie “Bully” to 10 towns around the U.S. for a free premiere and Paducah is one of the top contenders. The Demand It! contest website has Paducah in 3rd place for the movie, which goes to the top ten cities with the most votes. The contest ends Friday at 2 pm.

The warmer than usual March weather is prompting a fast start to Kentucky’s camping season.  Kentucky Department of Parks spokesman Gil Lawson says many of the 31 campgrounds across the Commonwealth are open for business..

“Typically on most years we open on April first but, with this warm weather we’ve had lots of demand for camping so most of our campgrounds have opened up early in March to allow people to camp,” said Lawson.

Lawson adds the March 2nd tornadoes outbreak didn’t impact state parks to any great degree..

The man who held a bus full of Henry County students hostage with a bomb threat this morning is undergoing a mental evaluation. Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew says 26 year old Steven Decker boarded the bus during a stop on Guthrie Road. He told the bus driver he had a gun and a bomb and demanded $25 thousand  in cash. Belew says the bus driver called 9-1-1 during the incident. He says,

The US Department of Transportation will award a $9 million dollar grant to the Kentucky for repairs to the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge. Kentucky 1st District US Representative Ed Whitfield says the grant is authorized under the Emergency Relief program within the Federal Highway’s Administration. Whitfield says the money will help to restore the span crossing Kentucky Lake in a timely manner.  Governor Steve Beshear says repairs should be complete by the Memorial Day holiday weekend or the contractor performing repairs faces hefty fines. 

The Governor’s office announced Tuesday that Kentucky will sign an agreement with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy to join the InterConnect, a network of prescription monitoring programs across the country. The Commonwealth joins 20 other states taking part in the InterConnect.

“Indiana, Ohio, and Virginia are up and running and sharing, and West Virginia is very soon to come on board. Which means that four of border states, hopefully we’ll be sharing data with very soon.”

A Murray State student accused of possessing bomb-making supplies in his dorm room has pleaded not guilty to four charges of wanton endangerment. Police found a pipe, wicks, and black powder during a search of 18-year-old David Wilson's room in February. A status hearing for Wilson’s case is scheduled for April 23rd.