The Kentucky State Fair grand champion country ham fetched $300,000 at a charity auction today.

Since 1964, the top ham has been auctioned at the close of the Kentucky Farm Bureau country ham breakfast.

This year’s top bidder was Louisville optometrist Dr. Mark Lynn.

"Louisville has been very, very good to us, we’ve been very lucky in life. We feel very fortunate. I’ve got four great kids, seven great-grandkids and a wonderful wife and it’s time to give back," Lynn said.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer’s review of Neighborhood Development Fund grants is complete and seven organizations have been called out for not being able to document how they spent taxpayer dollars. 

Fischer made a point to review nearly 200 local organizations last year after it was determined the city was not keeping track of how they were spending the NDF grants. Those organizations stand to loose any future grants including any written into the 2012 fiscal year budget.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer has unveiled his office's long-planned data tracking system, LouieStat.

LouieStat is meant to be the source for significant data on Metro Government. It's supposed to track everything from pothole locations to release rates at Metro Animal Services to overtime hours of public employees.

Governor Steve Beshear says he will appoint a new chief of staff soon, despite still being saddened by the sudden loss of his former chief of staff, Mike Haydon.

Haydon died suddenly of a heart attack earlier this month. Haydon worked in government for more than three decades, and had been Beshear's chief of staff since 2010.

Beshear called Haydon his “right arm,” but says the position needs to be filled.

Louisville's string of forecasted bad air days continues tomorrow with another Air Quality Alert--for the third consecutive day this week.

Elevated levels of ozone were also predicted yesterday (even though there was no actual ozone exceedence) and there's an Air Quality Alert in effect today. Tomorrow, the Air Quality Index is forecast to be 101, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Agriculture Commissioner James Comer says he is restarting the long-dormant Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission.

The General Assembly created the commission ten years ago to look into hemp's potential in the commonwealth, but it has never met. This morning, Comer announced that he is reforming the commission and, per state law, he will be the chairman.

Mayor Greg Fischer's office has released the findings of a review of grant funds given to local nonprofits.

About 200 organizations received grants through Metro Council members' Neighborhood Development Funds in fiscal years 2010 and 2011. After controversies about how that money was being spent, Fischer announced the review, noting that it's in line with a city policy that was not previously enforced.

The mayor's office released a statement this morning saying seven groups did not turn in the proper paperwork to show how their city grants were spent.

A Louisville doctor running for president as a write-in candidate is aligning with the so-called "birther" movement in a lawsuit questioning President Obama's citizenship.

Anesthesiologist Todd House is running on a ticket with his wife, and according to The Courier-Journal's Joe Gerth, he filed a suit on August 10 alleging Mr. Obama is not a "natural born" citizen and is therefore unqualified to run for president.

From The C-J:

About 20 similar cases have been filed across the country. All of the cases that have come to a conclusion have been rejected by judges — both in federal and state courts — and most have failed on technical reasons. Courts have rejected several of the cases, ruling that those who filed the suits didn’t have “standing” to bring them.

Embattled Louisville Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin, D-2, will face an ethics hearing.

The city Ethics Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to hold a trial-like proceeding on October 25 in response to a complaint filed by a state watchdog group.

It took the panel over an hour in private session to rule that it will hold a hearing to determine if the city lawmaker violated six separate provisions of the city’s code of ethics. Common Cause of Kentucky filed charges last month claiming that Shanklin used her office to benefit herself and her relatives.

Attorney Aubrey Williams is representing Shanklin in the case and objected to the commission deliberating in secret. He says the ethics panel has failed to properly explain its procedures, and is denying his client due process.

"In a court of justice—unless this is something other than that—when one party makes allegations, the court of justice allows the parties to debate and argue those questions," he says. "Why it is that the commission cannot allow argument and make rulings openly on those motions without going into executive session makes no sense."