The suspension of Trooper William Herald will be for the duration of an internal investigation into whether the gun was stolen, an agency statement said.

        Trooper Herald, who lived in Lexington, was transferred to the Bowling Green post after the incident last week. Until then, he had been part of Gov. Paul Patton's security detail.

        Trooper Herald, on the job for 17 years, reportedly said he did not realize the handgun was missing until his superiors told him about its discovery last week. It was kept at his house in Lexington, and he used a different, state-issued weapon when on plainclothes duty, officials said.

        Trooper Herald said a second gun, his personal weapon, also was missing. That also figures in the investigation, the statement Thursday said.

        A 16-year-old male allegedly had Trooper Herald's state-issued 10mm Smith & Wesson while the juvenile and a 19-year-old companion were being chased by police through a wooded area near Covington late on June 18. The 16-year-old was charged with assault for allegedly throwing the gun at a Covington officer, striking him on the hand.
       

Justice Lambert sets new spending plan

        FRANKFORT — Chief Justice Joseph Lambert issued an emergency spending plan for the judicial branch Thursday, a day after Gov. Paul Patton took a similar step for the executive branch.

        Both branches were left in a lurch when the Kentucky Senate and House, in a standoff over campaign finance law, failed to enact a budget for the two-year budget period that begins Monday.

        The one-year spending plan totals $212 million. A judicial budget bill for the same amount in the next fiscal year was passed by both chambers, but there were differences in details that required conferees to negotiate a final version. No final bill reached a vote.

        The General Assembly did pass its own budget, including a 2.7 percent pay raise for everyone in the legislative branch, Justice Lambert's order noted.

        The Kentucky Constitution says only the General Assembly can appropriate money from the state treasury. But it also requires courts to be open and guarantees defendants the right to bail and a speedy trial, Justice Lambert said.

        The constitution “does not give exclusive control of the treasury to the General Assembly,” Justice Lambert wrote. The legislature's appropriation power “was not for an end in itself but merely to provide a safer and more expedient means of accomplishing an end,” he wrote.

        State Treasurer Jonathan Miller filed suit Wednesday in Franklin County Circuit Court to get a ruling about whether he can honor the administration's requests for payments after Sunday, when the fiscal year ends.

        Justice Lambert said one of his top aides, Cicely Jaracz Lambert, executive director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, would seek to intervene in Mr. Miller's suit.

        An aide to Joseph Lambert said the chief justice would remove himself from the case when it reached the Kentucky Supreme Court.
       

West Nile virus kills Fayette County horse

        FRANKFORT — West Nile Virus has killed a thoroughbred horse, the first such fatality reported this year.

        State Agriculture Department officials said Thursday the yearling colt in Fayette County had twice been vaccinated for the disease.

        Also this week, public health officials reported that dead birds in Oldham and Metcalfe counties tested positive for the disease.

        The virus, which is transmitted by mosquito bite, killed six horses and dozens of birds in Kentucky last year. In humans, the virus usually produces nothing more than mild, flulike symptoms but in rare cases has led to fatal encephalitis.
       

Wilkinson moved to intensive care

        LEXINGTON — Former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson, hospitalized for nearly a month for cancer treatment, has been moved to intensive care, his attorney said Thursday.

        Mr. Wilkinson, 60, is breathing with the aid of a ventilator and cannot walk or feed himself, attorney Robert Brown said in a statement to The Associated Press.

        “He had a downturn last night and was removed to ICU. He is on a ventilator. ... He is extremely weak,” Mr. Brown said.

        Mr. Brown is one of Mr. Wilkinson's attorneys in a much-publicized bankruptcy of Mr. Wilkinson's business empire, the cornerstone of which was a college textbook sales company.

        Mr. Wilkinson claims debts of $418 million. His wife, Martha Wilkinson, also has declared bankruptcy, claiming debts of $58 million.

        Mr. Wilkinson was governor from 1987 to 1991, during which he was diagnosed with a lymphatic cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

        The family previously announced that Mr. Wilkinson's cancer had recurred. He underwent surgery at St. Joseph's Hospital in Lexington on June 5 for removal of a mass from his chest. He began chemotherapy treatments June 14.
       

Bingo promoter goes to court over fliers

        CATLETTSBURG — An American Legion post commander who wanted to promote bingo at his Legion hall in Catlettsburg is suing the city over an ordinance against handbills on parked cars.

        “We advertised by the old Tom Paine method of pamphleteering,” said Leonard F. Jobe.

        Mr. Jobe, 66, found himself in court after defying a police warning not to leave handbills on windshields of parked cars.

        A judge suspended a $500 fine, but Mr. Jobe decided to press the issue. He went to the American Civil Liberties Union, which took his case. The lawsuit was filed this week in U.S. District Court in Ashland.

        “We believe it's a classic free speech case,” said David A. Friedman, general counsel of the ACLU of Kentucky.

        The ordinance, which Mayor Roger Hensley said has been on the books for years, says no “handbill, sign, poster, advertisement or notice of any kind whatsoever” can be placed on a vehicle without the vehicle owner's written consent.

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