RICHMOND — Northern Kentucky University's new degree to bring more folks to teaching got its final approval Monday.

        Kentucky's Council on Postsecondary Education approved the master's degree in teaching at a meeting in Richmond. The new program will begin this fall.

        To meet a growing demand for teachers, NKU created the degree to bring outsiders into education. The program allows students to keep their day jobs while earning a teaching degree for middle and high school.

        It's aimed at people with bachelor's degrees in other fields who want to change careers but don't want to quit working for 18 to 24 months to complete a conventional education degree.

        The first four semesters in the program involve part-time studies. Only the fifth and final semester is full time.
       

Students see world
during YMCA program
The Associated Press
               LOUISVILLE — Nearly 1,000 Kentucky high school students are learning about world diplomacy this week at a mock United Nations session sponsored by the Kentucky YMCA Youth Association.

        Students opened the three- day event Sunday with a parade of nations as representatives of more than 80 countries — from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe — in a ballroom at the Executive West Hotel to show off their flags and native garb.

        Kentucky YMCA central regional director Julian Bond encourages students to attend by promising them an opportunity to go around the world in three days.

        “A lot of these kids have never been out of Kentucky,” he said.

        Students learn how the United Nations operates by drawing up proposals, arguing for and against them, and voting on them — just as U.N. members would. The proposals cover topics that require students to research issues and understand how people in another part of the world might think.
       

License upgraded
for Paducah plant
The Associated Press
               WASHINGTON — The Nuclear Regulatory Commission upgraded the license of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant on Monday, rebuffing congressmen who asked that a decision be delayed.

        Without the license improvements, the U.S. Enrichment Corp. would not have been able to stick to its schedule for ending production in June at its Piketon, Ohio, plant and consolidating operations in Kentucky.
       

Administrators' pay
raises questions at UK
The Associated Press
               LEXINGTON — Some University of Kentucky faculty members are questioning how the school can have a $5.6 million budget shortfall, but still can provide raises for high-level administrators.

        The shortfall over the past two years has forced department chairmen to cut back on hiring, travel expenses and faculty raises. Over the same period, the combined salaries of the 21 administrators who surround President Charles Wethington have jumped 11.2 percent.

        Faculty members believe the apparent contradiction could affect the administration's goal to earn Top 20 national recognition.

        “I think this kind of thing hurts morale, and when morale is hurt, the quest to get Top 20 is hurt,” said Michael Kennedy, a geography professor and member of the UK Faculty Senate.

        While departments can give some people higher raises than others, any raise over 6 percent must be approved directly by Mr. Wethington. He approved raises above 6 percent for several members of his inner circle between the 1999-2000 school year and the current academic year.
       

Incest law may not
include all relatives
The Associated Press
               LOUISVILLE — The lawyer for a 24-year-old Louisville man charged with incest has asked that the case be dismissed because state law doesn't specifically prohibit sexual intercourse between uncles and nieces.

        The state's incest statute forbids it only between parents or grandparents and children or grandchildren, and brothers or sisters.

        Jefferson County Circuit Judge Stephen P. Ryan said he was surprised when he read the statute and it didn't specifically refer to uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews.

        “I thought I knew it pretty well,” he said in court. “To me, Steve Ryan, incest is an uncle and a niece having sex, but the statute doesn't appear to say that.”

        Judge Ryan is expected to rule soon.

        The man is accused of having sex with his niece last year when she was 16 — the age of consent in Kentucky. Therefore, the uncle could not be charged with statutory rape, said Prosecutor Anne Haynie.

        In a nine-page brief, defense attorney Michael Ferraraccio noted that Kentucky's highest court has held that words in statutes must be given their ordinary meaning. Ordinarily, he wrote, “ancestor” and “descendant” refer to a “lineal blood relationship” as between a parent and a child.

        “If these terms are to be given their ordinary meaning they cannot be read to include aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces,” Mr. Ferraraccio wrote.

        In court last week, Mr. Ferraraccio said that, logically, everyone would agree that a niece is a descendant of someone's brother or sister.

        But Ms. Haynie quickly added, “On the flip side, if you ask, "Is having sex with your niece incestuous,' you'll get 100 percent yes.”
       

Fisherman tackles
Ohio River cleanup
The Associated Press
               PADUCAH — Chad Pregracke hated the mess he saw along river shores as a commercial fisherman, so he started going after another catch.

        Mr. Pregracke and four friends last weekend trudged into the woods just beyond the banks of the Ohio River to haul in their latest catch. It included car tires, a couch, a washing machine and a baby carriage.

        Mr. Pregracke, 26, is the founder of Living Lands and Waters and the Mississippi River Beautification and Restoration Project. Last November, he began the Ohio River Beautification Project that will clean up the shorelines near Paducah for the next two weeks.

        The group will take the trash to a barge and sort it for recycling. They plan to clean the entire river, from Cairo, Ill., to as far north as Pittsburgh. It will take two years.

        “It's a few individuals trying to tackle a huge job,” Mr. Pregracke said. “It's a beautiful river, and it needs to be treated like a national treasure. You wouldn't go to Yellowstone and see barrels and pink recliners lying around.”

Metro plans $100M-plus expansion
Mayor faces ethical bind in house deal
Many embrace new racial descriptions
Reds ballpark behind schedule
Few minority bids on ballpark
Funding plans for schools debated
PULFER: Principal shuts down newspaper
Racial profiling ban sought
Avondale, police plan crime crackdown
Burglar accused in Warren Co. rape
Donations, road work unrelated
Kids lobby lawmaker: We need database
School board lets principal keep job
Schools' fix-up at top of list
Teaching degree approved for NKU
Thomas More announces its new president
Tristate's senators split on reform issues
Dispute focuses on farm value
Farm's owner battles agency
Hamilton addresses bias issue
Hamilton schools claim property
Local Digest
Quilting project offers help to needy
Shoes' project makes difference to children
Board rejects tuition based on course load
Coaches buyouts prompt criticism