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Earlier this week, Mayor Greg Fischer and Gov. Matt Bevin joined company leaders to break ground on LINAK U.S. Inc.’s 145,000-square-foot plant expansion, which will allow the company to double the size of its current facility that manufactures linear actuators for hospital beds, office desks and farm equipment.
“LINAK’s expansion and investment in Louisville is a testament to our city’s strength in advanced manufacturing, which is a key component to our economic success – today and in the future,” Mayor Fischer said. “Louisville is proud to be the home of LINAK’s U.S. headquarters, and we look forward to helping the company achieve more for its customers, our city and our state.”
The $33 million investment, which will create more than 400 full-time jobs, includes the purchase and installation of new production equipment. The expansion project will allow LINAK to improve efficiency, generate higher profits and make more reliable deliveries to customers, while lowering production costs by 25 percent. The company expects to double output and sales over the next five years.
“Since locating in the commonwealth more than 20 years ago, LINAK has steadily grown its business and presence, in Louisville,” Gov. Bevin said. “We are witnessing another great investment in Kentucky as ground breaks today on the expansion of LINAK’s Louisville-based manufacturing facility. Kentucky is on the rise, and I thank LINAK for its decision to select Kentucky to support its expansion. We hope to see continued growth for years to come.”
LINAK, headquartered in Denmark, operates facilities in 35 countries and maintains its Americas headquarters in Louisville. The company introduced linear actuators to many existing products, improving ease of operation. Linear actuators use low-voltage DC motors to convert rotational movement into linear motion. Uses for actuators include in hospital beds, agricultural appliances, adjustable workstations and office desks. LINAK’s other products include lifting columns, control boxes, controls and a wide range of accessories.
“With this expansion LINAK will significantly increase the domestic production footprint which we know is highly valued by our customers,” said Jan Peterson, vice president of operations at LINAK. “Since day one, both the city of Louisville and the commonwealth of Kentucky have been a great home for us. We are excited to continue our partnership with this community for years to come.”
LINAK opened a sales office in Louisville in 1994 and established its manufacturing facility in 1999, which currently employs 300 people.
To encourage the investment and job growth in the community, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) in December 2016 preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $3.5 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.
Additionally, KEDFA approved LINAK for up to $350,000 in tax incentives through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act (KEIA). KEIA allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing.
For more information on LINAK, visit www.linak-us.com.
Taking your kids to catch some hand-sized bluegill is another great aspect of this time of year in our state.
“A lot of your bigger male bluegill are moving up into the shallows,” said David Baker, Central Fisheries District biologist for the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources. “It is an excellent time to take kids out and get them excited and hooked on fishing.”
Baker took his wife, daughter and son on a trip to a pond on a central Kentucky wildlife management area last weekend. “They caught so many fish; I couldn’t keep up with them,” he said. “My wife and daughter had one on at the same time. It was like that for a solid hour.”
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
Bluegill in the shallows doing their reproductive dance brings some of the fastest fishing found. “Bluegill are close to spawning and definitely willing to strike bait suspended under a bobber,” Baker said. “I’ve been to several of our central Kentucky lakes recently and received good reports on the bluegill fishing. We manage the smaller state-owned lakes in our district for good panfish populations. Boltz Lake, Corinth Lake, Beaver Lake, Elmer Davis Lake and McNeely Lake are all fishing really well for panfish right now.”
Two of those lakes lie in Grant County, 92-acre Boltz Lake and 96-acre Corinth Lake, and both hold good bluegill populations. “Corinth rebounded from the shad eradication a while back and is doing well for bluegill,” Baker said. “We see them now up 8 ½ inches regularly. We are also seeing redear sunfish up to 10 inches in Corinth.” Redear sunfish are commonly called “shellcrackers” by anglers.
Baker said 158-acre Beaver Lake in Anderson County is full of 8-inch and longer bluegill. “Fish tight to cover and under the cedar trees for bluegill on Beaver Lake,” Baker said. “We also saw redear sunfish up to 12 inches at Beaver. They are out in the middle of coves on the mud flats.”
Elmer Davis Lake covers 149-acres in Owen County near Owenton. The lake is now refilling after a drawdown for repair work on the dam. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife conducted a shad eradication on the lake over the winter that Baker said will improve the bluegill and the redear sunfish populations in the lake over the coming years.
“Another good bluegill lake is McNeely Lake in Jefferson County,” Baker said. “It is right in the back yard of a lot of people in the Louisville area. McNeely also has a healthy population of redear sunfish.”
The smaller state-owned lakes offer excellent bank fishing for bluegill as do the 43 Fishing in Neighborhoods (FINs) lakes scattered throughout Kentucky.
If one has access to a boat, Kentucky Lake is arguably the best bluegill lake in Kentucky. The lake holds fantastic numbers of 6- to 8-inch fish with many larger specimens in the population.
Target the back reaches of coves in May on Kentucky Lake. Those with some flooded timber and an overhead canopy make the best spots. Look for freshly swept depressions in the bottom, indicating bluegill nests. You can catch bluegill all day long from spots like this on Kentucky Lake.
In addition to these lakes, farm ponds and subdivision lakes often hold good populations of bluegill. To check the bluegill population at a lake near you, check the annual Fishing Forecast.
Suspending a wiggling redworm impaled on a size 6 Aberdeen hook under a bobber still works extremely well for bluegill, as it has decade after decade. The rig will also fool any redear sunfish nearby.
Feather jigs tipped with a wax worm or a cricket suspended under a bobber also work well for bluegill. If bluegill get finicky, bottom fish a redworm impaled on an Aberdeen hook near weedbeds. You may also pick off a few redear sunfish with this presentation as well.
The bluegill are in the shallows spawning. For those who want to catch fish after fish, there is no comparison.
For more than 150 years, Louisville’s bourbon industry and Louisville Water Co. have produced two of the city’s most recognized products. Now, Louisville Water is partnering with a local distiller to bring awareness to the important and essential role that Louisville’s water has with the industry.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer joined representatives from Louisville Water and the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at Stitzel-Weller yesterday to unveil the new partnership at the distiller’s Shively location, 3860 Fitzgerald Road.
As part of the partnership, the visitor experience at Stitzel-Weller now includes an exhibit on how the bourbon industry benefits from water step-by-step … from the crops, the fermenting process and bottling, to how the bourbon is served.
Louisville Water, for its part, will expand its involvement in many of the community’s bourbon-related events and attractions where water is served. The company also will add a special tour at its WaterWorks Museum that highlights the bourbon and water connection.
“This new partnership is another part of the growth and evolution of Bourbonism in our city,” the Mayor said. And it reflects a very old alliance between two of Louisville’s most recognized products – bourbon and water.”
Louisville Water began in 1860, and by the 1880s, more than 10 distillers were using water, initially for cooling the equipment, fire protection and hydraulic elevators. Today, Louisville Water counts more than a dozen distillers among its customers.
Louisville Water’s history with Stitzel-Weller also is a long one. The company first provided fire protection to Stitzel-Weller in 1937 and then a supply line in 1944.
“The bourbon industry is an important part of our daily production of 115 million gallons of drinking water,” said Spencer Bruce, President and CEO of Louisville Water. “Our water’s great taste supports the bourbon flavor, whether it’s a drop of water or a rock in the drink. And water is the only ingredient that can be added to the bourbon once it leaves the barrel and goes into the bottle, so in that way Louisville Water is enjoyed by millions worldwide.”
For distillers, Louisville’s water provides a great base to start the distilling process.
“Beyond the distilling, we serve Louisville’s water in the tasting room. It’s a key ingredient as a visitor samples our bourbon – as air is to wine, water is to bourbon,” says Kevin Didio, manager of the Bulleit Frontier Whiskey Experience at Stitzel-Weller. “And beyond that, serving water alongside our great brands is part of our commitment to a socially responsible experience.”
Kentucky tangible personal property tax returns are due on Monday, May 15, 2017. Returns filed after May 15, 2017 are considered past due in accordance with KRS 132.290 and subject to penalties and interest.
Tangible property consists of physical property that includes, but is not limited to business furnishings and equipment, inventories, artwork, antiques, coin collections, and construction equipment. Answers to frequently asked questions concerning the assessment of tangible personal property can be found at http://revenue.ky.gov/Documents/TangibleFAQPamphlet.pdf.
Links to form 62A500-P and other useful resources are online at http://revenue.ky.gov/Property/Business-Personal-Property.
Returns filed by the due date should be mailed directly to the Property Valuation Administrator’s office of the county in which the property is located. Mailing addresses for the offices are included with the returns. Returns may also be filed with the Kentucky Department of Revenue.
Mayor Greg Fischer today joined PNC, the Louisville Central Community Centers and other partners to celebrate the grand opening of the pilot PNC Gigabit Experience Center in Russell.
The PNC Gigabit Experience Center, located in the Old Walnut Street development of Louisville Central Community Centers, 1300 W. Muhammad Ali Blvd., gives Louisvillians access to wireless super-fast internet speeds in a modern, collaborative setting.
The center will have laptops available for use there, free of charge. The city, LCCC and other partners also plan to offer technology courses and related events at the center.
(Learn more about Louisville’s Digital Inclusion Strategy)
Mayor Fischer is urging all Louisvillians to visit the center.
“The growth of Louisville’s digital economy must be inclusive of all residents no matter their ZIP code — for the budding entrepreneurs and innovators of today and for the families of tomorrow,” Mayor Fischer said. “The PNC Gigabit Experience Center allows residents of Russell and the entire city realize the potential that technology has for the future of our community and economy.”
The pilot version of the PNC Gigabit Experience Center will be open through July, providing the partners an idea about how best to offer free super-fast Wi-Fi in the Russell neighborhood in the future. They’ll do that in coordination with Vision Russell, a neighborhood redevelopment project, funded through the $29.5 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods grant.
This pilot version of the Gigabit Experience Center will be open at LCCC from:
- Monday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Tuesday, 9 a.m.-8p.m.
- Wednesday, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
- Thursday-Friday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m.
- Saturday, 9 a.m. -2 p.m.
Thanks to the generous support of Heine Brothers, the center will provide free coffee for up to 50 people every weekday morning in the month of May.
“The Gigabit Experience Center will help attract entrepreneurs and support job creation strategies at the Old Walnut Street complex,” said LCCC CEO Kevin Fields. “We appreciate Mayor Fischer’s vision to bring this critical investment to our Center.”
The PNC Gigabit Experience Center is part of Louisville Metro’s digital inclusion strategy, which includes efforts to increase home internet access and train residents with fundamental skills of the 21st Century. Other efforts include the launch of free public Wi-Fi in the Russell neighborhood, an interactive data map and community dialogue on redlining, and the Kentucky Wired projects recommended in Mayor Fischer’s 2017-18 budget. The ultimate goal of the digital inclusion strategy is to create equity in access to technology and the internet for all Louisvillians.
The city’s Digital Inclusion Strategy, which was released today, can be found at http://digitalinclusion.louisvilleky.gov.
“The Gigabit Experience Center is the most recent step of many promoting equitable access to technology and the internet in Louisville,” said Grace Simrall, Chief of Civic Innovation for Louisville Metro. “We are excited to have gigabit access publicly -available in Russell and encourage the community to come to LCCC to experience this amazing space and gigabit speeds.”
Meanwhile, Louisville Metro’s efforts to extend super-fast internet access were boosted last month with Google Fiber’s preparations to begin construction in the city.
The Gigabit Experience Center was made possible through support from the PNC Foundation, Next Century Cities, Living Cities and the Louisville Metropolitan Housing Authority.
“Next Century Cities is proud to support the city of Louisville and Mayor Fischer as they open the Gigabit Experience Center,” said Deb Socia, Executive Director of Next Century Cities. “The Center will provide the resources, training, and internet access that Louisvillians need. It will help to build the city’s technology ecosystem and arm residents with the digital skills necessary for full participation in the 21st Century economy.”
Gov. Matt Bevin has made the following appointments to Kentucky Boards and Commissions:
Gregory Alan Yankey, Ron D. Gilkerson, Mark Burton Mangun and Stephen B. Sullivan have been appointed to the Kentucky Geological Survey Advisory Board.
- Gregory Alan Yankey, of Salvisa, is an engineer. He shall serve for a term expiring September 1, 2019.
- Ron D. Gilkerson, of Nicholasville, is an engineer. He shall serve for a term expiring September 1, 2019.
- Mark Burton Mangun, of Frankfort, is a professional geologist. He shall serve for a term expiring September 1, 2019.
- Stephen B. Sullivan, of Louisville, is a professional geologist. He shall serve for a term expiring September 1, 2019.
The Kentucky Geological Survey Advisory Board is charged with increasing the knowledge and understanding of the mineral, energy, water resources, geologic hazards and geology of Kentucky for the benefit of the Commonwealth and nation. The Board also conducts research, collects data, and serves as the state’s official archive for information on petroleum, coal, minerals, ground water, and topographic and geologic maps.
Councilwoman Marianne Butler (D-15) announces the Metro Council’s Budget Public Hearings are scheduled on May 10th and May 16th offering the public two opportunities to comment on the proposed FY 2017- 2018 Capital and Operating Budgets.
“The Committee encourages the public to attend and participate in the budget process;” says Butler. “Over the next two months as we review the proposed budget it is very important to have input and dialogue with not only the departments but the public as well.”
The May 10th public hearing begins at 6:30pm.
The May 16th public hearing begins at 6:00pm.
Both hearings are held in the Council Chambers, 601 West Jefferson Street, 3rd floor.
“Over the next two months the Metro Council plans to have nearly 30 hours of hearings with department directors,” says Kramer. “This is the opportunity for the community to engage with their elected representatives to convey which projects they support or ideas they have for making our budget work better for the people we serve.”
Signups for those wishing to address the Budget Committee begin one hour prior to the start of the hearings on the 3rd floor of City Hall. Speakers are called in order of signup and have up to three minutes to make comments. Written testimony can be turned in during the meeting and occasionally, speakers are asked questions by the Committee members.
The Committee is limiting one designated speaker for each non-profit group per signup. You do not have to be a member of a nonprofit group to speak. The Committee is interested in hearing from anyone in the community on budgetary issues or priorities for Metro Government in the coming Fiscal Year.
Speakers may use the Sixth Street entrance to Historic City Hall.
If you cannot attend but would like to comment on the budget, simply go to the Metro Council webpage at www.louisvilleky.gov and click on the link for the Metro Council Clerk, then click the Contact Us link.
To see the 2017 to 2018 Budget Hearing Schedule click here!
