Education officials meeting to discuss transfer opportunities
VERSAILLES (AP) — Higher education officials from across Kentucky are meeting in Versailles to discuss making transfer options between community colleges and universities easier for students.
A statement from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System says it is working with the Council on Postsecondary Education to bring together nearly 200 educators on Wednesday to participate in Transfer Summit 2.0 in Versailles. The statement says the event will focus on programs identified as areas of need in Kentucky such as engineering, nursing and logistics.
Goals include identifying agreements that could be expanded to other colleges, identifying potential new agreements and mapping new degree options.
Community and technical college Chancellor Rhonda Tracy says it’s important for students to be able to “transfer seamlessly” to all universities that partner with the system.
___
Man sentenced for posing as a real estate investor, embezzling funds
LOUISVILLE (AP) — A Louisville man has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for posing as a real estate investor and embezzling funds in Kentucky and Tennessee.
A release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Louisville says Eric Claxton must also pay $520,000 in restitution.
Claxton pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in October. Prosecutors say he admitted to defrauding the owners of Rangeland Manor, San Souchi and Capri Arms apartment complexes in Louisville in 2012. Claxton entered into a purchase agreement with the owners by using false documents. Prosecutors say while he managed the buildings, he fraudulently depleted the bank accounts.
The release from the U.S. Attorney says in 2014, Claxton committed an identical scheme in Kingsport, Tennessee, by misrepresenting his finances to the owners of Tuscany Villas.
___
3 aboard medical helicopter survive crash in Ky.
BEATTYVILLE (AP) — All three people aboard a medical helicopter survived after it crashed in eastern Kentucky.
Local news outlets report it happened Tuesday morning in the St. Helens community of Lee County, about 4 miles east of Beattyville.
Fire crews say the helicopter was approaching a landing zone when it crashed. Officials say the pilot and a crew member were able to get out of the helicopter safely.
Another medical worker was taken to the hospital with leg and chest pain.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
___
High school teacher charged with third-degree rape
HICKMAN (AP) — Police say they have charged a western Kentucky teacher with third-degree rape.
Kentucky State Police said in a statement on Tuesday that 25-year-old Charlotte R. Netz was arrested in Union City, Tennessee and extradited back to Kentucky on Friday. Police say Netz lives in Union City, but worked as a high school teacher in the Fulton County, Kentucky, school system. The charge involves a 17-year-old juvenile.
Netz is being held at the Fulton County Detention Center. Online jail records don’t say whether she has an attorney.
___
Lawsuit: Former Louisville inmates unlawfully detained
LOUISVILLE (AP) — Two former inmates at Louisville Metro Corrections are suing the department after they say they were unlawfully detained.
News outlets report the federal lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of Jacob Healey and Larry Louis Hibbs Jr.
It says a judge ordered Healey jailed for 72 hours with work release but instead he spent 85 hours incarcerated.
The lawsuit also states Hibbs wasn’t allowed to work for the first 10 days of his 30-day sentence. A judge had ordered extended work release because Hibbs runs his own business.
The men are seeking class action status as well as punitive damages.
Metro Corrections Director Mark Bolton is also named as a defendant in the suit. It wasn’t immediately clear if the agency had an attorney who could comment on the suit.
___
High Point to name new basketball court for alum Tubby Smith
HIGH POINT, N.C. (AP) — High Point University will name the basketball court in its planned new arena after University of Memphis men’s basketball head coach Tubby Smith and his wife Donna Smith, who met while they attended the school.
High Point said in a news release Monday that the couple is donating $1 million to support the new Nido and Mariana Qubein Arena and Conference Center.
The News & Record of Greensboro reports Tubby Smith was High Point’s team captain and was all-conference as a senior in 1973.
Since then, he has coached Division I basketball at six schools, including the University of Kentucky, with whom he won an NCAA title in 1998.
The basketball arena will be part of a new $100 million on-campus complex that High Point hopes to open in 2020.