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Westport Middle School, 8100 Westport Road, will host a “Dare to Scare” trick-or-treating event and Glow Concert, featuring the school’s orchestra, on Thursday, October 26, at 6 p.m. The event will benefit a local food bank.
Families with students (fifth grade and younger) are invited to trick-or-treat, make crafts, and participate in other activities at the school. Admission is $1 or a canned good item, which will be donated to Dare to Care.
At 7:30 p.m., the orchestra will perform its Glow Concert, which will feature special guest Ben Sollee. Sollee is a world-renowned cellist, songwriter, and composer. He will perform with Westport’s orchestra and the Rock N’ Warhawks, the school’s electric orchestra.
Last year, Westport students did a rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”
For more information about the Westport Middle School orchestra, visit www.westportorchestra.com.
Walking around Downtown Louisville the last weekend in October will be particularly intriguing thanks to “The Crane on Main” and the Louisville Downtown Partnership’s (LDP) Alley Gallery Walking Tour. Main Street will be completely closed to automobile traffic from First to Second Street due to the “Crane on Main,” but Main Street sidewalks will be open for pedestrian foot traffic and all Whiskey Row bars and restaurants will be open for business. Beginning on Friday at 6:00 p.m., lane closures will start at South Preston Street, with cars being detoured at Brook Street. Main Street is expected to reopen by 5:00 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 30th.
A tower crane – which requires an assist crane — was installed in the Old Forester Distillery project on Main Street in 2016 and required the same closure. “We are happy to report that great progress continues to be made on this project, and it is time for the tower crane to be dismantled and removed from the site,” said Rebecca Matheny, LDP’s Executive Director. The Old Forester Distillery project is slated to open in spring of 2018.
Old Forester is working with Whiskey Row bars and restaurants to design Old Forester cocktail creations with fun construction-themed names, like the “Road Block,” “The Hard Hat” or “Detour Ahead” for adults who venture Downtown to check out the assist crane on Main Street. “It truly is a surreal visual experience to see such a massive piece of equipment in the middle of Main Street,” Matheny added.
In addition to the “Crane on Main,” Duluth Trading Company will be holding their “soft grand opening” that weekend in advance of their official Grand Opening on Thursday, Nov. 2nd.
Alley Gallery Walking Tour
The work of local artists will also be featured in a 90-minute walking tour with Mayor Fischer and Councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith from 2 – 3:30 pm. The pedestrian tour of Alley Gallery doors will begin at Fourth Street Live! and end in the lobby of the Aloft Hotel at the corner of First and Main Streets across from Whiskey Row. “Participants can appreciate great local art in hidden places on the Alley Gallery Walking Tour, and then stop by one of Whiskey Row’s fine restaurants and bars to enjoy “Louisville’s hometown bourbon,” check out the giant assist crane in the middle of Main Street, and stop in Duluth Trading Company to experience their soft grand opening,” Matheny added.
Launched in mid-May of this year, Alley Gallery – a public art program organized by LDP – turns back-of-the-building and alley service doors into an outdoor art gallery featuring the work of artists from Metro Louisville. The images are applied to the doors in vinyl and are marked by yellow location signs and black title cards listing the artists, titles of their works, and sponsors.
A total of 70 doors have been installed thus far, 35 of which will be featured on the tour. To date, 73 artists have submitted almost 500 images for consideration. For more information regarding the Alley Gallery program, please visit: www.louisvilledowntown.org and click on the “Living” tab on the home page.
Today, the Finance and Administration Cabinet announced the results of a nearly year-long audit into financial mismanagement and improprieties under the prior administration involving the Commonwealth’s self-insured Workers’ Compensation Program.
The audit, requested by Personnel Cabinet Secretary Thomas B. Stephens, uncovered over $3 million in claims inappropriately awarded under the direction of the former executive director who served under former Personnel Cabinet secretary Tim Longmeyer who is currently serving 70 months in federal prison for bribery. The Workers’ Compensation Program, part of the Personnel Cabinet, provides medical and disability benefits to employees who may experience a work-related injury or illness.
Auditors found 23 claims improperly paid because of unilateral decisions made by the executive director against the advice of professional adjusters and legal counsel. In many cases, the decision to award death benefits was made over the objections of adjusters and before review of any evidence about the cause of death.
Other findings relate to the former executive director’s selection of private counsel to litigate disputed claims, a duty previously handled by the third party administrator.
Sec. Stephens explained that he and his staff first noticed irregularities in the administration of the Workers’ Compensation Program soon after coming into office. Certain classes of claims appeared to have been given preferential treatment, circumventing the standard review process.
Additionally, concerns came to light about the assignment of outside attorneys handling Workers’ Compensation cases for the program. According to the audit, “the previous executive director received basketball tickets from law firms, as well as a national workers’ compensation research firm, both providing workers’ compensation services.” The audit concluded that this created “a conflict of interest that may have influenced the selection of attorneys as counsel for the Commonwealth.”
In one example, the auditors found that the former executive director, in consultation with the executive director of the Kentucky Fire Commission, made the compensability decision knowing that the claimant had alcohol in his system and a preexisting condition. In another, the former executive director reversed a prior denial decision almost two years later without the benefit of any additional medical or factual evidence supporting reversal. Further, the former executive director requested the program’s third-party administrator to restrict communication with other Cabinet employees who raised questions regarding her preferential handling of certain claims.
“I was glad to have my Office of Policy and Audit work with the Personnel Cabinet on this audit,” said Finance and Administration Cabinet Secretary William M. Landrum III. “I commend our audit team for their work to ensure state resources are used appropriately.”
“This audit brings to the surface yet another example of the prior administration’s lack of oversight and complete disregard for the prudent management of a state program. We thank the Finance Cabinet and its audit team for their detailed and thorough examination of the program and these issues. We have taken their recommendations into account and are implementing policies and procedures to ensure that the program is operated in an ethical, transparent manner and in the best interests of the Commonwealth and taxpayers,” said Secretary Stephens.
A complete copy of the audit is available upon request by calling 502-564-4240.
Additional information is available here http://finance.ky.gov/
Mayor Greg Fischer, Councilwomen Vicki Welch and Cindi Fowler and other local officials joined staff from Louisville Parks and Recreation and Wilderness Louisville on Saturday, October 21 to unveil the newest addition to Jefferson Memorial Forest and the Louisville Parks and Recreation’s Natural Areas Division’s “Louisville is Engaging Children in Outdoors” (“ECHO”) Program.
The “ECHO Mobile” will take the ECHO Program on the road, allowing programming once held solely at Jefferson Memorial Forest to be available in neighborhoods throughout Louisville.
“In the past, we’ve been fortunate to be able to bring kids from nature poor areas in Louisville to the Forest for ECHO programming,” said Mayor Fischer. “Now, the program has come full circle. We can bring them to the Forest, and we can also bring the Forest to them. The ECHO Mobile is a great addition.”
Louisville ECHO provides youth education and out-of-school-time activities at Jefferson Memorial Forest and other community spaces.
Funded through a $30,000 Meet Me at the Park grant from the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and The Walt Disney Company, the “ECHO Mobile” is a mobile outdoor recreation and nature play unit to bring a bit of the outdoors to relatively nature-poor urban parks.
The ECHO Mobile will bring activities such as biking, archery and fishing, and a variety of natural materials and nature play opportunities to youth throughout the community.
“We’re excited to be unveiling the “ECHO Mobile” at the Wilderness Louisville Forest Adventure, but we’re also ready to hit the road and take it into the community starting in earnest next spring,” said Bennett Knox, Park Administrator. “It’s one more ECHO component that we can use to improve equitable access to nature for Louisville youth and families.”
Louisville residents are invited to bring unneeded documents and prescription drugs to be shredded and disposed of at a free event on October 28, 2017. The Drug Toss/Shredding Event is a joint operation of Metro Public Works and Louisville Metro Police.
Citizens can protect themselves from identify theft and divert unused medications from the waste stream or misuse by bringing items to:
Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center
Lot W Phillips Lane
Saturday, October 28, 2017
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Businesses may not participate in this event. All paper materials will be shredded on site and recycled. Shredding donated by the Louisville Branch of Shred-It Louisville. The Drug Toss will be done as a drive-through event.
Black out all personal information on all medication containers that will be tossed. For safety reasons, we cannot accept sharps, needles, lances, cosmetics, personal care or hygiene items. Medication products should never be flushed down the toilet or drain, burned in the open or thrown in the trash because they can contaminate the environment if they get into the drinking and ground water.
Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Officials with the Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH), within the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), announce the availability of an online weekly influenza surveillance report used to gauge current flu activity circulating in Kentucky. This new public service is an example of the Cabinet’s priority to strengthen data collection and analytics and then to make the information more easily accessible.
The Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report is compiled by DPH officials and provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as part of statewide flu surveillance efforts. The weekly report is located at http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/epi/Influenza.htm and will be updated each Friday before noon.
Influenza cases are broken down by specific age groups and counties, the number of deaths resulting from influenza and the current influenza activity level being reported in the state. The report consists of laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza that are defined by molecular virus testing and positive virus culture test results, which are reportable in Kentucky. Rapid positive influenza tests are not included in this report.
DPH relies on sites such as doctors’ offices, hospitals and health departments to help track the level of influenza activity in the state and to identify which strains of the flu are circulating in Kentucky. These voluntary sites collect data and report influenza-like illness (ILI) cases according to age groups each week. This sampling represents only a small percentage of influenza cases for the state, but contributes to the ongoing assessment of flu activity in the Commonwealth and helps determine the weekly level of flu activity.
Kentucky’s current flu activity level is classified as “sporadic,” with 18 confirmed cases of flu being reported. Sporadic activity indicates that small numbers of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases or a single laboratory-confirmed influenza outbreak have been reported, but there is no increase in cases of ILI.
The CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends flu vaccine for all individuals six months of age and older. People who are strongly encouraged to receive the flu vaccine because they may be at higher risk for complications or negative consequences include:
- Children age six months through 59 months;
- Women who are or will be pregnant during the influenza season;
- Persons 50 years of age or older;
- Persons with extreme obesity (Body Mass Index of 40 or greater);
- Persons aged six months and older with chronic health problems;
- Residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities;
- Household contacts (including children) and caregivers of children aged ≤59 months (i.e., aged contacts of children aged)
- Household contacts and caregivers or people who live with a person at high-risk for complications from the flu; and
- Health care workers, including physicians, nurses, and other workers in inpatient and outpatient-care settings, medical emergency-response workers (e.g., paramedics and emergency medical technicians), employees of nursing home and long-term care facilities who have contact with patients or residents, and students in these professions who will have contact with patients.
Adequate supplies of flu vaccine are expected to be available for this year’s season. Only injectable influenza vaccine formulations will be distributed in the United States. Vaccination can be given any time during the flu season.
Infection with the flu virus can cause fever, headache, cough, sore throat, runny nose, sneezing and body aches. Flu can be very contagious. For more information on influenza or the availability of flu vaccine, Kentuckians should contact their primary care medical provider or local health department. Influenza information is also available online at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm.
For the third year in a row, Louisville has earned a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign scorecard, which says the city remains a “beacon of hope” in terms of ensuring that all residents are treated equally regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Municipal Equality Index (MEI) scorecard measures laws, services and leadership that promote the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. Louisville is the only city in Kentucky to receive a perfect score. Lexington scored 96, Covington at 74, Morehead at 59 and Frankfort at 52.
In a news release announcing the rankings, HRC lauded Louisville as being one of 41 “All-Star” cities that are fueling equality despite being in a state that lacks non-discrimination protections.
“This honor exemplifies our commitment to ensuring all residents have the right to fairness and equality, giving them the ability to reach their full human potential,” said Mayor Greg Fischer. “We are a compassionate city, and because of our inclusive nature, a diverse portfolio of companies of choosing to locate in Louisville.”
The Human Rights Campaign began in 1980 and is now the largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans
“Today, the MEI serves as a vital tool for business leaders and municipal officials alike when it comes to economic development,” Chad Griffin, HRC president, said in a news release. “CEOs know that in order to attract and retain the best employees, they must grow their companies in places that protect LGBTQ citizens from discrimination and actively open their doors to all communities. The MEI is the best tool to help these businesses make crucial evaluations about the welcoming – or unwelcoming – nature of towns and cities across the nation.”
Mayor Fischer said the impact of Louisville’s commitment to equality goes beyond being recognized as a model city of compassion. The HRC ranking also is a boost to the city’s economic development efforts, given that cities that are inclusive are increasingly winning in the competition for residents, businesses and employees.
“Louisville once again ranks among the best cities in the U.S. for LGBTQ people to live, work, and play, and it is leading the way for other cities in our commonwealth. It’s no surprise Louisville is one of the only cities in the South to score a perfect 100 for LGBTQ inclusion, as we continue the tradition begun in 1999 when Louisville became one of the first cities in the nation to enact a fully-inclusive anti-discrimination Fairness Ordinance,” said Chris Hartman, Director, Fairness Campaign. “We are proud of Louisville and Mayor Fischer for the incredible work to reach this milestone, and we look forward to many more firsts for our city.”
Louisville’s score was higher than some peer cities, including Nashville at 60, Charlotte, N.C., at 73, and Indianapolis at 88.
The Mayor added that Louisville Metro Government has worked to improve even further by implementing plans for implicit bias training for all employees. In addition, LMPD has partnered with Starbucks on the “Safe Harbor” initiative to reduce crimes and bullying against the LGBTQ community.
Earlier this year, the University of Louisville was named a top 25 LGBTQ-friendly university by Campus Pride. This recognition was given to school’s scoring the highest percentages in LGBTQ-friendly benchmarks for policies, programs and practices.
