Friday, July 31, 2009
State of the News
Downtown development projects, riverfront renovations, bridges, a road rage trial, a lawyer in a trash can… let it not be said that nothing ever happens on “the sunny side.” For this week’s State of the News we’ll turn our attention to news from across the river, and ask for your opinion on what’s new. We’ll also check in with our own Capital Bureau Chief Tony McVeigh on his way to Fancy Farm; he’ll give us a preview of what to expect from the political event of the season.
A local car dealer says he supports the expansion of the federal Cash for Clunkers program, but he would like to see the application process streamlined.
The program offers rebates of up to 45 hundred dollars to customers who trade in their cars for more fuel-efficient vehicles. Paul Caruana with Jeff Wyter Toyota in Clarksville says the program has been great for business, but applying for the rebates has caused some headaches.
“The way they have their website set up and the way they have the process of getting the money set up…they can’t handle it. They obviously don’t have the staff, their website is incapable of handling the traffic that is generated on their end and it’s been difficult for the dealer to get the money,” he says.
A $2 billion expansion for the program is currently working its way through Congress. The original $1 billion is nearly exhausted.
A new playground has been launched at the South Louisville Community Center in memory of Cezar Ivan Cano, the four-year-old who was murdered in the summer of 2005. Today would have been the child’s seventh birthday.
Cano was just a few days short of his fifth birthday when he disappeared from his Churchill Downs-area neighborhood and was found days later in the back of a garbage truck.
A man who lived near the child has been charged with his murder.
The first phase of a park in Cano’s honor was unveiled Friday. Community activist Christopher 2X also unveiled awareness pins with Cano’s likeness, saying it’s a reminder to fight crimes against children.
“You can say to yourself, ‘I don’t necessarily need a blueprint on how to talk about child safety. I just have to be conscious of it, and be about action with the children’,” says 2X.
A climbing wall and rocking horses are also planned for the playground, but planners are still raising private money for the $15,000 park.
Film producer and former Louisvillian John Paul Rice has returned to town for a special screening of his latest work.
The independent film is called “One Hour Fantasy Girl.” Shot in Los Angeles, it’s the true story of a 20 year old woman who takes a job acting out fantasies for clients, as long as they don’t involve sex or nudity and are legal.
Rice says he met the woman while doing research on runaways in Hollywood.
“I found it very interesting because of the boundaries that were set, and all of the other avenues that of course were available in that world. I called her up, I spoke with her and told her about what we were doing and i was interested in sitting down for a meeting with her, and it started from there,” Rice said.
“One Hour Fantasy Girl” is written and directed by Edgar Michael Bravo. It will be screened tonight at 8:00 the Clifton Center and Saturday at 3:00pm at the Comedy Caravan, where Bravo will also conduct a screenwriting workshop.
The events are sponsored by the Derby City Film Festival and the Louisville Creative Centre.
The Louisville Metro Council is requesting four public hearings be held prior to the creation of a bi-state authority for the Ohio River Bridges Project.
The meetings will be held in between the creation of a study group for the authority and the appointment of authority itself. Proponents of the legislation passed Thursday night by the council say those meetings could influence the council’s decision to approve or reject mayoral appointments to the authority.
“We’ll be able to present all of the information, all of the studies that’ve been done, what the traffic actually is and what the problems actually are,” says Councilman Kevin Kramer. “Then the public will have the opportunity, again, to say they’re interested in moving this community forward with better roads.”
Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh says the creation of the authority is being pushed through without enough direct public input, and she’ll soon begin looking for ways to make hearing that input mandatory earlier in the process.
“We will be working with the county attorney’s office to see if there is some legislation that can be introduced that requires or binds the Metro Council to these things and defines those,” she says.
Mayor Jerry Abramson now has the authorization to appoint a study group, as requested by the Kentucky General Assembly.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Kids & the Court System
Children can find themselves involved in the court system for many reasons – from witnessing or being the victim of a crime, to custody disputes in divorces. Because testifying in court and being involved in legal conflict can be traumatic, safeguards are in place to make sure there’s a neutral adult who is watching out for the child’s interests during the proceedings. This Thursday we’ll learn more about these measures and how they work.
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Covering Kids and Families of Indiana is encouraging Hoosier adults and children to take advantage of free health care options before school starts.
The organization is sponsoring health screenings and immunizations, and they’re also telling parents and their children how to sign up for S-CHIP or Medicaid insurance plans.
Organization Executive Director David Roos says poor health can lead to poor academic performance.
“If a child isn’t healthy then they might not even show up to school. But if they do show up to school and they’ve got problems with their eyesight, problems with asthma or problems with obesity they’re less likely to be successful in school,” he says.
Roos says there are more than 131 thousand children in Indiana who are uninsured, and many of them qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP.
