Lisa Autry

A deadly motorcycle crash early Monday morning in Warren County is under investigation.  

According to a Kentucky State Police news release, a Bowling Green police officer noticed the motorcycle operator driving recklessly on Lovers Lane.  The officer attempted a traffic stop but the motorcyclist refused to pull over and took off at a high rate of speed.  The operator lost control of the motorcycle and hit a rock fence on Ewing Ford Road. 

The driver was 22-year-old Timothy Madison of Bowling Green and his passenger was 24-year-old Sandrice Parker also of Bowling Green.  Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

Four finalists vying for the presidency of Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College will visit the Bowling Green campus this week for interviews and public forums. 

Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College Provost Phillip Neal is the only in-house candidate. Dr. Lynn Moore from Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon is Vice President for Administrative Services and Student Development. Dr. George Sehi is Executive Director of University Relations from the Warren and Butler County, Ohio Educational Service Centers, and Dr. Ralph Sony is the publisher and editor of the North Carolina Community College Journal. 

Current Southern Kentucky Community and Technical College President Nathan Hodges is retiring after eight years at the helm. Under his leadership, the school change its named from Bowling Green Technical College to reflect an expansion of the school’s offerings and reach. 

Hodges’ successor will be named by July first.

Barren County Sheriff Chris Eaton, a deputy sheriff, and a detective go on trial Monday on charges of civil rights violations and lying to federal investigators.  The case stems from a 2010 arrest in which the three officers were accused of using excessive force. 

Jury selection begins Monday at 9:00am in U.S. District Court in Bowling Green for Sheriff Chris Eaton, Deputy Aaron Bennett, and Barren-Edmonson County Drug Task Force Detective Eric Guffey. 

According to the federal indictment, a 13-year old girl was at a Glasgow church on the night of February 24, 2010, when she looked out the window and saw suspect Billy Randall Stinnett struggling with the local sheriff and several deputies. 

In testimony to the FBI, the girl and four other teenagers present say they saw Eaton and the deputies beating Stinnett to the point where they thought he was being murdered. 

A financially troubled school district in southern Kentucky has voted to merge with the county school system. 

The Monticello school board approved a plan Monday night that calls for merging with the Wayne County School District, effective July 1st. 

Monticello schools went under state management in February after borrowing more than a million dollars from the state just to keep its three schools open for the rest of the academic year. 

The Wayne County School Board has called a special meeting Tuesday night and members are expected to sign off on the merger.

Kentucky Governor Beshear has put his signature on a bill that clears the way for a new statewide teacher evaluation system. 

In a private ceremony in his office on Monday, the governor signed into law House Bill 180.  The legislation is intended to move educators from simply being qualified to being highly effective.

“Current evaluation systems in Kentucky do not provide our educators the information they need to support their professional growth and effectiveness and in turn, to support increases in student achievement,” Education Commissioner Terry Holliday said.

The new evaluation system calls for multiple measures of effectiveness.  The system, which is being field-tested in 54 school districts this school year, will be piloted statewide in the 2013-14 school year.