FRANKFORT — The state Board of Education will decide later this year how to divide $22.4 million in bonus money earned by 618 Kentucky schools that met their goals on state tests.

        The board agreed on the total amount Wednesday after two days of contentious debate at a meeting in Prestonsburg. The board made an additional $600,000 available for schools that win appeals of their school ratings.

        The bonuses will be distributed according to the number of certified teachers and staff at each school that met its goal. The Education Department is verifying those numbers.

        Department officials announced last week that 52 percent of the 1,188 schools tested met their performance goals for the latest two-year cycle under the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System.
       

Homemakers to hold holiday craft sale

        COVINGTON — The Kenton County Extension Homemakers group is sponsoring its annual holiday craft sale Nov. 11.

        The sale will be 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Kenton County Cooperative Extension Service at 10990 Marshall Road, across from the YMCA.

        Each year, the homemakers donate part of their proceeds to the Marie Rich Scholarship Fund to help cover a graduating high school senior's college expenses.

        Information: (859) 356-3155.
       

Residents sue Tyson, farmer over odors

        MARION, Ky. — A Marion chicken farmer and his supplier, Tyson Foods, will stand trial Feb. 16 for allegedly allowing odor from 16 chicken houses to “trespass” into nearby subdivisions.

        This is the first time a criminal nuisance suit has been filed against Tyson Foods in Kentucky.

        Bud Wardlaw owns and operates the chicken houses under contract with Tyson. His company is called B&G Poultry Inc. Mr. Wardlaw grows young chickens, called broilers, to maturity and ships them to a Tyson processing plant at Henderson.

        Homeowners in Greenwood Heights subdivision filed complaints against Mr. Wardlaw and Tyson in August under a city public-nuisance ordinance that was toughened earlier this year by the Marion City Council.

        Each conviction could carry a fine of $10 to $25 per day per chicken. County Attorney Alan Stout said in August there were 416,000 chickens on the premises.
       

Officials' publicly funded trip raises ire

        GEORGETOWN, Ky. — Some residents of this Scott County town are not happy about a 10-day tour of Japan that was financed with public money.

        A group of 51 local representatives went on the trip, from Sept. 9 to Sept. 18. The group included 30 people whose expenses were paid directly or indirectly by tax dollars. The school district sent 12 representatives, including the school board chairwoman and the district's public relations director. The county paid for two representatives.

        The remaining 16 people, including Mayor Everette Varney, four city council members and the head of the Georgetown Water and Sewer Service, were paid for by the city and the Scott Education and Community Foundation, which is primarily funded by the city, county and Georgetown College. Community members, spouses and representatives from Georgetown College made up the rest of the travelers.

        Supporters of the trip, including Georgetown's mayor and Scott County's school superintendent, say it provided a valuable educational and cultural exchange.
       

Omitted from debate, LaDuke makes case

        DANVILLE, Ky. — Green Party candidate Winona LaDuke was set to make her case for why she should be included in the vice presidential debate Thursday when she was interrupted.

        Mr. LaDuke had her 8-month-old son, Gwekaanimad Gasco, with her.

        “My son is chewing on my hand as we speak,” Ms. LaDuke said. “I'm the only nursing vice presidential candidate.”

        Ms. LaDuke and running mate Ralph Nader are on ballots in 43 states. Neither are in the debates, sponsored by the Commission on Presidential Debates.

        Instead, Ms. LaDuke sat at a lonely table in the middle of a football practice field at Centre College, a few hundred yards from where the debate was to take place later between Republican Dick Cheney and Democrat Joseph Lieberman.
       

Immigrant visa lottery relocates to eastern Ky.

        WILLIAMSBURG, Ky. — The Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery, which gives individuals from countries not represented in legal immigration a chance to live in the United States, has relocated to eastern Kentucky.

        The lottery was established by Congress in 1990. It issues 55,000 visas a year that allow permanent residency in the United States.

        The lottery's operations were formerly based in Portsmouth, N.H., but have moved to the Kentucky Consular Center in Williamsburg, creating 65 jobs.

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