You all know Sadiqa – she’s the woman directly responsible for most of the problems at Louisville Metro Animal Services.

So that’s why it’s time for a caption contest!

Have at it.

They’ve been driving up and down Brownsboro Road all morning illegally placing yard signs in rights-of-way.

A few shots:

We called Meeks’ office and Betty says he’s out of the office for the day.

Read the rest by CLICKING HERE…

Maybe Barbara Shanklin should have thought about both nepotism and her grandson’s shenanigans before hiring him. Her pleas fall on deaf ears at this point. [WFPL]

Check out this crazy guy who attacked a man in District Court with a three-foot tree limb. [FOX41]

Here’s a nice look at how Louisvillians will be screwed by the Louisville Water Company and Metro Sewer District. BEND OVER AND GRAB YOUR ANKLES! [C-J/AKN]

Louisville really is Possibility City. Because there’s a distinct possibility that you’re going to be found shot to death. [WAVE3]

Lexington is trying like crazy to be just like Louisville. That town has gone so far as to start killing pedestrians on a daily basis. [H-L]

What would you do if you found a strange man in your house at 4:00 A.M. only wearing a shirt? [WHAS11]

Is Thomas Massie a big time jobs creator? Not so much. And he’s following directly in Rand Paul’s hypocritical footsteps. [Page One Here & Here]

WLKY is playing captain obvious this week. The latest hyped up story is about how many uninsured drivers there are on the roads. [WLKY]

For real – Lexington’s financial future is called bleak. It’s absolutely trying to mimic everything Louisville does. [Business First]

Metro Animal Services says it wants to find who shot and killed this dog. We’re more worried about finding someone who can actually run Metro Animal Services without killing a thousand animals each month. [More FOX41]

If the state legislature approves this LWC-MSD merger? You can just start bending over right now. It won’t save consumers any cash but will certainly make it easier for people like Bud Shart… her… Schardein to pocket mountains of cash. [84WHAS]

Councilwoman Shanklin will be making a statement regarding the recent Courier Journal article at City Hall in the 1st Floor Conference Room at 1:30pm. She will not be taking any questions.

That’s in ten minutes.

Predictions?

UPDATE – Here’s her statement:

This would not be a conversation if there had not been a relationship. It is with great honor and respect that I have served this community. Unfortunately through bad decisions (poor choices) of my own admission I am faced with my biggest challenge to date. Sometimes when we see the potential in someone, we want to help them become better people and our desires to help override the reality that we cannot.

I have been in the dark on a lot of the things that have come to light, but I want you to know that I have raised all of my children to be accountable, and sometimes family can disappoint us more than the outside world. Sometimes people let you down. I want to acknowledge and apologize for any perceived lack of candor, or insight for missing the mark on keeping your best interests as a public trust. I believe that when you take a chance and you strive to improve your performance and learn from the decision.

I have worked hard to serve my constituents and this community and will continue to do so.

So, let it rip…

Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced a $24 million initiative to fund Innovation Delivery Teams that help mayors effectively design and implement solutions to pressing city challenges. The three-year initiative will fund teams, comprised of high-performing staff, in five cities: Atlanta, Chicago, Louisville, Memphis, and New Orleans. To meet each city’s impact goals in priority areas, these teams will generate innovative solutions, develop implementation plans, and manage progress towards defined targets.

-SNIP-

In Memphis and Louisville, the teams will implement new job-growth strategies.

-SNIP-

“My goal as mayor is to create an entrepreneurial culture in Louisville that focuses on innovation and breakthrough ideas,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said. “This grant helps our city make a giant leap toward that goal.”

Greg Fischer gave 25% of that money to Lexington and is allowing Jim Host to play with it:

Jim Host, a trusted and proven community leader, has agreed to chair the initiative. The mayors and Mr. Host are assembling a small board of directors composed of business leaders from both communities to oversee the project. Mr. Host has asked Paul Costel, president of Chase Bank’s Kentucky market, to chair an Advisory Committee which will help raise $250,000 to provide capital for the project. In addition, Mayor Fischer has committed 25 percent of the recently announced Bloomberg Grant for Innovation to the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement.

So where is that Bloomberg money now? And why, exactly, would a city in such dire straits as Louisville give 25% of it to Lexington? Whiskey Row Preservation nightmare, TARC cuts left and right, city agencies operating in the red.

Will Jim Host tuck tail and run when the money runs out – just as he did with the arena?

Possibility City!

The 25 cities with the cleanest air? Don’t worry, Louisville isn’t one of them. [HuffPo]

Flash OMG urgent most important breaking news ever! Let’s freak out because the po-leece are still digging in that alleged serial killer’s back yard in Indianner. [WAVE3]

Here’s your daily ruh ro moment! A state watchdog agency has issued charges against the former chief of tourism, alleging that he misused state resources for his own financial gain. [Bluegrass Politics]

Clearly this man needs to be slapped in the face but the kid was 17 – not two. WTF? [FOX41]

Please, hold your laughter. What? The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet maybe did something corrupt and people want Jack Conway to deal with it? That’s not how it works with River Fields. [C-J/AKN]

Officials are considering proposed changes to the Jefferson County Public Schools student assignment plan. [WHAS11]

William Shatner is unveiling some kind of samurai sculpture in Louisville at the Frazier History Museum. [WKYT]

The faux family association mouth-breathers who love to pervert their religion in order to push their ignorant views (fat white guys complaining about the gays – which half of them are) are freaking out that we – along with half the country – dared bring up Rand Paul’s homophobic mess. [Page One]

They’ve spent a bazillion dollars hyping up this story about Louisville’s most dangerous road. [WLKY]

Didn’t take long for CoventryCares to resume coverage of that addiction drug. [Business First]

Kentucky has decided to maybe cut services for the visually impaired but can afford to drop $8.3 million on a $3 million piece of property because River Fields said to do so. [WFPL]

Here you go:

“After careful review of the recently released economic impact study on the Ohio River Bridges Project, I am still primarily concerned with the burden to Indiana taxpayers and worry that the proposed tolls will put undue financial strain on the people the project is designed to help,” said Indiana Sen. Ron Grooms, R-Jeffersonville, in a statement released last week. “It is important to look at every option available to lessen the financial burden southeast Indiana residents will face, either with some type of individual tax credit or one for employers who are willing to pay employee tolls.”

-SNIP-

“I would hope that the Ohio River Bridge’s Authority … perhaps they would look at this again,” he said. “I believe the financing plan … is something that can continue to be re-evaluated.”

And this:

Both the Clarksville Town Council and the Jeffersonville City Council took their opposition a step further calling for bridge planners to construct the east-end bridge first. Each council passed a resolution at their respective meetings Monday night urging the Federal Highway Administration to expedite the building of the east-end bridge and deny tolling of the Interstate 65 downtown corridor of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

The resolutions called for “delaying construction of the downtown portion of the Ohio River Bridges Project until a means of constructing the downtown bridge without the need for tolls on Interstate 65, the Clark Memorial Bridge, Sherman Minton Bridge, the Interstate-64, I-65 and I-71 connectors and ‘Spaghetti Junction’ presents itself.”

Both resolutions also cited the negative impacts of constructing and tolling the I-65 corridor would have on the Southern Indiana side of the Ohio River detailed in the economic impact study commissioned by the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Indiana Finance Authority.

Especially this:

“FHWA has concluded that the modified selected alternative is likely to cause a disproportionately high and adverse effect on minority and low-income populations,” according to the Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement. “Although the impacts would not be ‘predominantly borne’ by environmental justice populations, the impact would be appreciably more severe or greater in magnitude for these populations.”

Environmental justice populations were defined as low-income households, low-income neighborhoods and minority populations.

According to an Ohio River bridges users study, 36 percent of low-income populations and 57 percent of minority populations cross the Ohio River by car as heavy users, which includes every day or several times per week.

“It is an area of great concern,” said Jeffersonville NAACP President Antia Fields. “There are people that we know will not be able to afford those tolls no matter what they are.”

And this:

“Because members of the minority community appear to use the Ohio River bridges with greater frequency than non-minorities, it is necessary to determine whether the institution of tolling on the new Ohio River bridges will cause a disproportionately high and adverse effect on members of the minority community,” according to the final impact statement.

The annual cost of the tolls for an individual — based on a $2 round trip — would total $480 annually, according to the final impact statement. Based on the 2010 poverty threshold — for someone making less than $11,139 — paying for the tolls would cost them 4 percent of their annual income.

Also this:

To help mitigate the impact on low-income and minority populations, transportation planners from Indiana and Kentucky, as well as from the Federal Highway Administration, will look to implement enhanced bus service through the Transit Authority of River City that includes funding for new vehicles, additional park-and-ride facilities and extended routes and stops. In addition to enhanced bus service, the states will develop a process for adopting an overall tolling policy that will be sensitive and responsive to the environmental justice populations, according to the final impact statement.

Which must be why TARC is this one, right?

Your paper of record – which touts itself as the source for all the “news” – could never do a story like this without having its rear spanked by its daddy.

Tuesday, May 15

• 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. — Metro Development Center — 444 S. Fifth St.
• 1:30 – 5 p.m. — TARC Headquarters — Union Station — 1000 W. Broadway

Wednesday, May 16

• 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. — Beargrass Christian Church — 4100 Shelbyville Rd
• 5 – 7 p.m — Clarksville Town Hall — 2000 Broadway — Clarksville, IN

Thursday, May 17

• 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. — Metro Development Center — 444 S. Fifth Street
• 5 – 7 p.m. — Iroquois Amphitheater — 1080 Amphitheater Rd.

If you can’t make it to a meeting, you’ve got until Friday, May 18 at 5:00 P.M. Eastern to share your thoughts:

• Email: info@ridetarc.org
• Phone: 502.561.5112
• Mail: TARC, Union Station, 1000 W. Broadway, Louisville, KY 40203
• On the internets: Click Here

If you care about public transportation in the Metro area, you’ll likely want to chime in. Rate increases will be used to offset a projected $4.6 million budget shortfall in the budget that begins on July 1. The changes include the elimination of 10 (ten!) routes and restructuring in Southern Indiana.

Possibility City!

The public has until June 3 to comment on the environmental review of the Ohio River Bridges Debacle. Which means absolutely nothing. [C-J/AKN]

The only thing that’s sad here is that faith leaders from a community that has been on the receiving end of sickening oppression would continue advocating homophobia. [FOX41]

We’re not sure how horses have anything to do with Mother’s Day but whatever. The newspaper seems to think it’s a big deal. [H-L]

You can’t even live on Bardstown Road these days without an LG&E worker hitting a gas line. [WAVE3]

Three years ago, President Obama was rolling out an ambitious vision for high-speed rail in America. “Imagine whisking through towns at speeds over 100 mph,” the president said at the time. Today, there are a few Amtrak trains going that fast, but for the most part, the president’s plans for high-speed trains have slowed considerably. [NPR]

Churchill Downs is seeing its shortest spring meet since 1975 and some in the horse industry say the meets could get even shorter. [WHAS11]

Haha, so, funny story… A Kentucky Newspaper’s telephone system didn’t even work after it recklessly and confusingly announced paywalls and subscription price increases. Also, Wes Jackson is pushing the paper because of it’s “coupon savings.” These folks are doing a real disservice to the hardworking people employed by the paper and the community in general. [C-J/AKN]

Wondering about the latest Medicaid dramas out in the rest of the state? Here’s a look at one bit. [WLKY]

Everybody is freaking completely out over the latest news about Whiskey Row. [Business First]

The homicide of a Churchill Downs worker, 48 year old Adan Fabian Perez of Guatemala, the day after Derby has raised questions about the culture of backside work at racetracks. [WFPL]