Douglas Gambrel was shot while visiting friends in the 200 block of Deverill Street in Ludlow, according to court records. Mr. Gambrel was treated at University Hospital for gunshot wounds to his abdomen and released early Wednesday.

        Xavier Smith, 18, and two female juveniles were arrested in Florence a short time after the shooting. Mr. Smith has been charged with attempted murder and is being held at the Kenton County Detention Center.

        The juveniles were charged with criminal facilitation to the attempted murder and are in the juvenile facility in Campbell County.
       

Sexual predator gets 12-month sentence

        COVINGTON — Clyde Herald was sentenced to 12 months in jail after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to solicitation of first-degree sexual abuse, a misdemeanor, in Kenton County District Court.

        Mr. Herald will be required to undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender in Kentucky as part of his plea agreement.

        Mr. Herald, 49, of downtown Cincinnati, is a registered sexual predator in Ohio. His criminal record dates to a 1978 public indecency conviction.

        He was arrested in January after he repeatedly tried to approach a minor at Value City Department store in the Latonia neighborhood of Covington.

        Mr. Herald has also been convicted of failing to register as a sex offender, a felony, and is awaiting a transfer to Ohio on charges that allege he stalked girls in department stores there.
       

Ky. man indicted in kidnappings, rapes

        A Hamilton County grand jury Wednesday indicted a 41-year-old Newport man on 24 counts in the kidnapping and rapes of seven women from August to January.

        Paul Hearld, of the 1000 block of Brighton Street, was previously indicted in February in four other rapes, plus two kidnappings and one count of impersonating a police officer. He returns to court on those charges June 28.

        Officials said a serial rapist took his victims from Over-the-Rhine to spots such as the East End or off Spring Grove Avenue in Winton Place.

        Prosecutor Mike Allen said the rapist used handcuffs and a box-cutter type blade, and sometimes indicated he was a police officer or informant.

        Mr. Hearld is a convicted sex offender. In 1980, he was sentenced to 16 years for committing rape and sodomy in Campbell County. He threatened the president while in prison and, in 1990, served another two years for promoting contraband material, Kentucky Department of Corrections officials said.

Churchill Downs gets big tax break

        LOUISVILLE — Churchill Downs was declared a special taxing district by the city Board of Alderman, a decision that will help the track defray the $100 million cost of a second expansion project.

        The district encompasses the track's primary grounds, including parking lots and barns. The district includes the Kentucky Derby Museum, but no tax revenue from it would go to the track.

        The ordinance approved Tuesday night clears the way for the city, Jefferson County, state and racetrack to sign contracts that will give the Downs up to 80 percent of the tax revenue — including sales and occupational taxes — generated by the planned expansion.

        That could mean as much as $250,000 a year, said Mike Miller, Churchill Downs' corporate senior vice president of finance.

        Meanwhile, work is under way on the $27 million first phase of the track's make-over.
       

Humana selling individual coverage

        LOUISVILLE — Humana Inc. has started selling health coverage to individuals, expanding from its focus on group coverage.

        The managed-care company moved into the individual health-insurance market because “more and more employers are either offering limited or no health insurance for their employees,” said Humana spokesman Dick Brown.

        Humana's new individual health plan, called HumanaOne, has been offered since June 1 in Illinois and Ohio, and will be introduced in other Humana markets later this year and next year.

        In Kentucky, the company hopes to start selling it this summer, Mr. Brown said.

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