Lisa Autry

A Hardin County man who recovered from COVID-19 is urging other survivors to donate plasma to help in research and healing. 

Douglas Frederick, 63, of Elizabethtown, spent nearly 30 days in the hospital during October and November.  He doesn't know where or how he contracted the virus, despite taking precautions. 

The U.S. Army veteran received convaslescent plasma as part of his treatment. Recovered patients have developed antibodies, which researchers think can more quickly fight the infection in sick patients.  Frederick, who is retired from the Elizabethtown Independent School District, says he thinks plasma helped save his life.

“Someone who was very gracious enough to donate so that I could get two bags of plasma, which I believe wholeheartedly helped me out," Frederick told WKU Public Radio. "If they can donate, if they’ve had COVID and recovered from it, then by all means, donate and help someone else.”

The memory of a young girl from Allen County who was murdered five years ago is helping bring alleged child predators to justice.

On Monday, federal prosecutors announced the arrests of seven men following undercover stings in Elizabethtown and Louisville in late 2019.

The investigation was dubbed “Operation Gabbi Doolin.”  The seven-year-old from Scottsville was kidnapped and murdered while at her brother’s football game on November 14, 2015. 

During a news conference, Russell Coleman, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, held up a cell phone and said child predators are taking advantage of more kids at home  who are unsupervised during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Any registered voter in Kentucky fearful of contracting or spreading COVID-19 was eligible to request an absentee ballot, but many of those ballots haven’t been returned.

According to data from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office, 654,397 registered voters requested an absentee ballot, but 79,823 of those ballots have not been returned.

Unlike in the June primary, voters will not be allowed to cancel their absentee ballot and vote in-person.  Secretary of State Michael Adams says as long as voters received their ballot, they’re required to vote that way.

Voters in Daviess County are deciding several races for the Kentucky legislature.  Perhaps the most high profile contest on the ballot is a rematch between State Representative Jim Glenn and DJ Johnson for the 13th District House seat.  Their last contest was a nail-biter.

Glenn, a Democrat, held the office for ten years before he was defeated by Johnson, a Republican, in 2016.  Two years later, Glenn won the seat back by one vote. 

Johnson requested a recount, which resulted in a tie.  But a lawyer for Glenn filed a complaint with the office of the Kentucky Attorney General, claiming an attorney for Johnson illegally influenced the recount process. Johnson’s lawyer denied the charge, but Johnson later announced he was dropping his challenge in order to end the controversy.

One of the state’s top federal prosecutors says promises made to better protect residents of south-central Kentucky from crime are being kept.

Two full-time U.S. attorneys began working out of the federal courthouse in February.  Since then, the work of that office has resulted in 30 indictments in cases related to firearms, narcotics, and fraud.

Russell Coleman, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, said during a news conference in Bowling Green on Monday that two of those 30 cases involved child exploitation.

Bowling Green voters will soon have a new mayor for the first time in nearly a decade. 

On September 1, the local mayor’s race got more interesting.  Incumbent Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson announced he was withdrawing from the contest due to medical reasons.  That’s also when he endorsed retired Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Alcott, who is the only candidate on the ballot.  Businessmen Tom Morris and Chris Page are running as write-in candidates. 

Morris and Page are making their first bids for public office. Alcott entered politics two years ago when he ran for State Rep. Jody Richards’ seat in the legislature. Alcott lost the Republican primary in that race.

"No one wants to lose a campaign, but when you lose, you persevere and you grow from it," Alcott told WKU Public Radio.

Kentucky is re-launching its online health exchange known as Kynect to provide new features and services, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Monday.  

The original Kynect was launched in 2013 under Beshear's father, Gov. Steve Beshear, and allowed the expansion of Medicaid to some 400,000 Kentuckians. 

The new version of the online portal will allow people to apply for Medicaid and enroll in health insurance on the federal exchange.

Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson is facing an ethics complaint over his use of City Hall to endorse mayoral candidate Todd Alcott. 

Speaking to media inside the City Commission chambers last month, Wilkerson announced he was withdrawing from the mayor’s race for health reasons and endorsing Alcott. 

The anonymous complaint says the mayor doesn’t have the right to use city property or city resources for political purposes.  City Clerk Ashley Jackson says the complaint can’t be made public at this time.

A Kentucky attorney says he believes the grand jury that decided whether to bring charges against the police officers who killed Breonna Taylor made the right decision based on the facts that have been made public in the case. 

A Jefferson County grand jury this week indicted former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison, who was one of the officers at Taylor’s apartment in March to serve a search warrant.  Taylor’s boyfriend said he believed they were intruders and fired at police first. 

Hankison was only indicted on wanton endangerment for firing shots that ended up striking a neighbor’s apartment.  He was not indicted in Taylor’s death.  Attorney General Daniel Cameron said that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to suggest any of the bullets Hankison fired hit Taylor.  The two other officers involved in the drug raid were not indicted. 

Warren County Public schools will continue with a hybrid schedule of classes through the end of the calendar year. 

The decision is based, in part, on the state’s new system that tracks the number of coronavirus cases in K-12 schools. 

Under the state’s new metric for reopening schools to in-person classes, Warren County is in the Red category, meaning a daily rate of 25 individuals per 100,000 have a confirmed case of COVID-19. 

Gov. Andy Beshear is recommending any county in the Red category postpone all in-person learning until it reaches Yellow status, meaning less than ten confirmed cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 individuals.