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Attorney General Andy Beshear and the Kentucky Bankers Association (KBA) are teaming up to protect seniors statewide from financial exploitation by scam artists.
This is the latest in a series of partnerships Beshear has announced aimed at preventing scams targeting seniors. His office most recently announced a partnership with Kentucky’s faith-based community to help educate its senior ministries and the communities they serve on potential scams.
Through the KBA collaboration, Beshear’s office will work with member banks to host scam events across the state. Beshear’s office presented scam prevention information at KBA’s spring conference earlier this month. The AG’s Office of Senior Protection will present at the upcoming Owensboro Rotary Club on May 31 with South Central Bank in Daviess County; and will hold an upcoming training for bank tellers on the warning signs of scammers and financial elder abuse.
“Banks are an important line of defense in protecting seniors who may be in the process of falling for a scam and are requesting to withdraw large sums of money from their life savings at a bank,” Beshear said. “Now having bank employees on the front lines helping us monitor and prevent scams in their communities is monumental. I cannot think the KBA enough for its partnership with my office.”
“Senior Kentuckians are the bedrock of our communities,” said Ballard Cassady, president/CEO of KBA. “We are pleased to work with the Kentucky Attorney General to provide Kentuckians with the tools they need to prevent bad actors from taking advantage.”
“It is a privilege to bring this information to the Owensboro Rotary Club,” said David Fort, president/CEO of South Central Bank of Daviess County. “Seniors are a part of America’s Greatest Generation and through this program, we will help them guard against potential losses from those who will do them harm.”
Beshear is working to bring new solutions and ideas to address scams because of the severe harm they are having on Kentucky families. More than 3 million consumers were conned out of $765 million across the country in 2015. Seniors nationwide lose nearly $37 billion a year to elder financial exploitation.
To date, more than 100 nonprofit and retail organizations have joined Beshear’s initiative as a Scam Alerts partner, including Kroger, AARP of Kentucky, the Kentucky Council of Churches, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service, the Better Business Bureau and the United States Postal Inspection Service.
To protect seniors, Beshear launched Scam Alerts last year as the state’s first direct messaging service that notifies Kentuckians of financial schemes by con artists attempting to steal a person’s money or identification.
Kentuckians may sign up for Scam Alerts by texting the words KYOAG Scam to GOV311 (468311), or enroll online at ag.ky.gov/scams and select text message or email alert.
Attorney General Andy Beshear and his Cyber Crimes Unit today announced a Jefferson County man has been arrested for allegedly seeking sex with a minor.
Scott Louis Craven, 35, of Louisville, has been charged with one count of prohibited use of an electronic communication system for the purpose of procuring a minor for a sex offense, a Class D felony.
According to Beshear’s cyber investigators, Craven became the subject of investigation after seeking sex with a minor in a chatroom and sending sexually explicit photos of himself to cyber investigators.
Craven was arrested May 1 and lodged in Louisville Metro Corrections. Beshear’s cyber investigators were assisted by Louisville Metro Police Department, Third Division and Kentucky State Police Post 12.
The work of the Cyber Crimes Unit, a division of the Department of Criminal Investigations in the Office of the Attorney General, is part of Beshear’s core mission to keep sexual predators away from Kentucky’s families and children.
“The Attorney General is the chief advocate and protector for our Kentucky families, and it’s our job to ensure our communities are safe by taking off the streets anyone who would exploit children,” Beshear said. “I want to thank LMPD and KSP for working with my office on this case.”
Beshear’s work to prevent child abuse led to nearly 80 arrests, indictments and convictions of online child predators in 2016
Craven was to be arraigned in Jefferson District Court May 2. His cash bond is set at $10,000.
Kentuckians can tap into free resources from the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority (KHEAA).
“It’s Money, Baby,” a booklet about financial literacy, is available free from KHEAA.
The 32-page booklet includes sections about such topics as:
- Cash basics.
- Banking.
- Credit.
- Insurance.
- Fraud and identity theft.
To order a free copy, email publications@kheaa.com. Please include your mailing address. Only Kentucky schools and residents will be sent more than one copy.
An online version of the booklet is available on www.kheaa.com, while financial literacy videos can be found at http://itsmoney.kheaa.com.
In addition, KHEAA’s regional outreach counselors can provide “It’s Money, Baby” presentations for schools and other agencies. Call 800-928-8926, ext. 7577, to schedule a presentation.
KHEAA is the state agency that administers the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES), need-based grants and other programs to help students pay their higher education expenses.
For more information about Kentucky scholarships and grants, visit www.kheaa.com; write KHEAA, P.O. Box 798, Frankfort, KY 40602; or call 800-928-8926, ext. 6-7214.
The city has announced it has purchased the former Parkland grocery store located at Virginia Avenue and South 28th Street with plans to explore redevelopment options.
“The acquisition of this property is an important first component of the Parkland Neighborhood Plan,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “Our vision for Parkland in the future is of a vibrant, connected, and greener neighborhood with a commercial area along South 28th Street between Virginia and Dumesnil avenues.”
The city hopes to use the building as a catalyst for community economic development in the neighborhood. This property has been used as a grocery store and meat store over the years and holds a place of importance in the Parkland center.
“We are extremely excited about the acquisition of this property. Everybody agrees that this is in an important step to ensure that Parkland will continue to rise,” said Councilwoman Jessica Green (D-1). “I will be holding a series of neighborhood meetings about the future development of the site and I encourage all residents to come out and get involved in the process. This is a win for the Parkland community and for all of District 1.”
Other key activities happening in Parkland include the opening of Irma Dee’s restaurant, the Parkland Neighborhood Plan, and the continued growth of a community garden.
The public input phase of developing the Parkland Neighborhood Plan was completed earlier this year and the city expects to begin the formal adoption process in May.
Key recommendations of the plan include:
- Promoting the revitalization of the former Parkland Commercial Corridor as a place of health and wellness.
- Establishing cooperation and control of key real estate parcels identified in the Corridor Improvement Study Master Plan.
- Redeveloping and reconfiguring the vacant corner grocery and the associated parking lot.
- Creating destinations within walking distance of housing and workplaces. Preserving historic structures and encouraging first floor retail uses by restoring original commercial facades and transparency.
To learn more about the Parkland Neighborhood Plan, visit https://louisvilleky.gov/government/advanced-planning/parkland-neighborhood-plan
Photo: Kentucky Department Fish and Wildlife
The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources is extending the deadline to apply for a 2017 Kentucky elk hunt due to unexpected technical problems with the state-run computer network that processes applications. The deadline to apply for Kentucky’s elk hunts will now close at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern time) Wednesday, May 3.
Kentucky’s online application system shut down at 9:05 p.m. Sunday, April 30. It remained shut down past the midnight deadline for the elk drawing. Kentucky Fish and Wildlife officials extended the deadline for those who were unable to apply in the waning hours of the application period.
Those who applied prior to the network shutdown were not affected.
The application period normally ends at midnight, April 30. However, state regulation allows for this period to be extended if technical difficulties prevent applications from being accepted.
Hunters may apply only online at the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife website – fw.ky.gov. Those who previously applied for an elk hunt may confirm their application by checking the “My Profile” page on the website.
The elk lottery drawing for an elk permit is open to residents and non-residents.
Louisville Metro Emergency Services Officials are providing attendees of Derby Week events with a new safety tool designed to provide an additional layer of safety and security to measures already in place surrounding the Pegasus Parade, the Kentucky Derby Festival events, the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.
LENSAlert now allows citizens and visitors to text predetermined keywords to sign up for alerts at major events in the city. The system provides real time alerts and notifications and will inform event attendees of severe weather, hazardous material incidents and other emergencies.
Attendees are encouraged to Opt-In prior to the event, by texting to 67283 and using one of the keywords below:
Keyword / Event
Parade – for notifications at the Pegasus Parade
Festival – for notifications at any Kentucky Derby Festival event
Oaks – for notifications at the Kentucky Oaks
Derby – for notifications at the Kentucky Derby
DerbyWeek – to sign up for all of the above at once
Emergency Services Director Jody Meiman states, “Use of LENSAlert’s Opt-In feature will be coordinated through the Incident Management System from the Emergency Operations Center and is meant to communicate emergency information only and will be the trusted source of information should a major incident occur. We expect a safe and secure Derby Week but based on events that are occurring around the world, we would be remiss if we did not use tools such as LENSAlert to assist in safely securing the public.”
In the event of a major incident, Emergency Services, the Kentucky Derby Festival and Louisville Metro Police Department will post a LENSAlert Opt-In graphic on social media in order to direct inquiries to the LENSAlert Opt-In feature.
The Metro Waste Reduction Center at 636 Meriwether Avenue is closed due to equipment problems. We anticipate the facility will reopen on Tuesday, May 9. In the meantime, the following disposal facilities are available:
Rumpke
1101 W Oak St, Louisville, KY 40210
(502) 568-3800
Republic
4446 Poplar Level Rd, Louisville, KY 40213
(502) 638-9000
Waste Management
2673 Outer Loop, Louisville, KY 40219
(502) 966-0272