Early Bird Special

Here are some of the stories hitting the waves this early morning in Kentucky:

Dakota Meyer an ex-marine from Greensburg will receive the Medal of Honor today from President Barack Obama for his outstanding service in Afghanistan in 2009. Meyer took five death defying trips into a hostile combat zone where fellow comrades had been ambushed by Taliban insurgents.  He saved 36 lives while providing cover for others to withdraw in a 6 hour firefight. Although Meyer was wounded during the fighting, he personally killed 8 insurgents, according to the military.  He will be the first Marine to be given the Medal of Honor, and the first recipient to receive the honor in 41 years.

The Lexington Herald Leader is reporting that Friends of Coal, an offshoot of the Kentucky Coal Association, will be the top sponsor for this year's UK - UofL football game. Friends of Coal paid $85,000 to sponsor three athletic events this year according to Kentucky Coal Association President, Bill Bissett. In addition, Friends of Coal will present a check to the UK mining engineering department for students that want to enter the program. The Sponsorship means that the organization will be represented on billboards throughout Commonwealth Stadium and on video clips on the scoreboard. These efforts are being made so that the coal workers receive the well-deserved recognition they deserve, and for Kentucky Coal to release factual information about their organization to those in attendance.

The big headlines in both the CJ and Herald Leader this morning concern a year-long audit conducted by the Liberty Consulting Group which shows that Kentucky Utilities (KU) and Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E) customer service has deteriorated significantly in recent years. The audit makes more than 50 recommendations for improving their services. The reason for the many customer complaints has been attributed to switching software. LG&E is responsible for 396,000 electric customers in nine counties and  321,000 natural gas customers in 21 Kentucky counties, while KU has 515,000 electric customers in 77 counties. 

Kentucky Downs in Franklin, KY has launched expanded gambling with its opening of instant racing or "historical wagering" Thursday. Instant racing which was approved by the Kentucky Horse Commission less than 14 months ago, allows players to wager on horses finishing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in a previously run race. If the courts hold up the ruling that wagering is 'pari-mutuel' it's believed that the Red Mile in Lexington will soon follow suit. In addition, Churchill Downs and Turfway Park are closely watching the experiment. In reality, instant racing is slot machine based, and payoffs are determined by the lineup of symbols i.e. 3 Teddy Bears, Golden Nuggets etc. If you don't really understand then I'm right there with you...so its probably best we all go to Kentucky Downs and check it out for ourselves.