Verizon backs texting, e-mailing while driving ban
Verizon Wireless is lining up behind a proposed federal ban on sending text messages or e-mailing while driving. The company has announced support for legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate. In a press release, Verizon Wireless notes that it "broke from the rest of its competitors in the U.S. wireless industry by supporting state-wide hands-free driving laws as early as 2000. Since then, Verizon Wireless has been the only wireless company supporting bans on texting and e-mailing while driving."
Steptoe & Johnson law firm expands into Central Kentucky
The business-focused law firm of Steptoe & Johnson has expanded its regional footprint by opening an office in Lexington. The Lexington location will be the firm's eighth office, adding Kentucky to its current locations in West Virginia and Ohio. The firm's focuses are in the fields of energy, labor, employment and litigation.
Thelen Associates opens Lexington office Thelen Associates,Inc., a 38-year-old geotechnical engineering and testing firm headquartered in northern Kentucky, has expanded operations into Central Kentucky with an office on Trade Street in Lexington.
Thelen's featured projects include the Kentucky Speedway, Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ballpark.
Stimulus package funds UK tramadol research
University of Kentucky researcher William W. Stoops has received a $1.17 million, two-year grant from stimulus funding to the National Institutes of Health, funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Stoops, an assistant professor in the UK College of Medicine's Department of Behavioral Science and the UK Center for Drug and Alcohol Research, will study the pharmacological effects of tramadol, a synthetic opioid that does not appear to be abused at the same rate as other natural, semi-synthetic and synthetic analgesics derived from opium alkaloids. Stoops' research could help determine key factors needed to develop other opioid analgesics with reduced potential for misuse and abuse. The stimulus grant, one of the first funded through the National Institute of Drug Abuse, will support four current faculty and three staff members as well as fund three positions for either current staff or to-be-hired staff.
Businesses team up to fight hunger
What if you could do something meaningful for people in your community who are in real need and at the same time market your business in a way that brings potential customers into intimate contact with your product line? A Lexington pottery studio and a local restaurateur with a shared sense of social responsibility are pooling their resources to call attention to the nutritional needs of a particular segment of the homebound of Central Kentucky. Mudworks and Bourbon & Toulouse have teamed up in support of an "Empty Bowls" event on Saturday, August 29. For a minimum contribution of $10, you pick out a handmade ceramic bowl and fill it with a cajun meal. There will be an opportunity from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, August 11, to actually make one of those bowls. Mudworks will host a "Bowl-a-thon," a time when anybody can stop by the National Avenue studio and fashion a bowl for the event at the Euclid Avenue restaurant. "One of our vendors shipped us almost a ton of the wrong kind of clay and told us to just keep it. So we're donating that clay to Empty Bowls," explained Mudworks owner Link Henderson. "We hope to make 600-700 bowls." Bourbon & Toulouse will donate all of the food for the event. "We wanted to make it easy and we want to provide a variety so on that day whatever our menu choices are - we usually offer 13 but they vary a little from day to day - a person comes in, buys a bowl and we fill it with whatever they want from the menu," said co-owner Will Pieratt. "This is all on us," he added. "(Co-owner) Kevin (Healthcoat) and I are part of this community, and from the beginning we wanted to be involved, particularly with charitable events like this." Pieratt said he's also aware that by hosting such an event he can generate positive word-of-mouth buzz about his business. So, how will it work when the time comes for bowl to meet jambalaya? "Just show up any time for the lunch or dinner hours," Henderson explained. "There's a $10 minimum donation for a bowl. You can pick out the bowl that you want. We'll have a tent set up out back and as many of the bowls as we can layout will be on display. You can just walk through and choose the one that you like. And then you can order a scoop of anything off their menu." All proceeds after costs from the Aug. 29 event go to Moveable Feast, a tax-exempt nonprofit that prepares and delivers hot meals to homebound residents of the Lexington/Fayette county area who are living with AIDS and HIV-related illnesses. The organization also serves patients of Hospice of the Bluegrass. Those overhead costs include a poster to promote the event and, explained Henderson, "We're reimbursing Bourbon & Toulouse for paper bowl inserts. Because we thought about having 600 people touching every bowl, and you might not want to eat out of that. So we got a little liner bowl." Empty Bowls is a North Carolina-based grassroots movement with a mission "to raise money to help organizations fight hunger, to raise awareness about the issues of hunger and food security, and to help bring about an attitude that will not allow hunger to exist," according to its Web site. - Tom Martin
Talon Winery hosts Humane Society fundraiser The Lexington Humane Society's first annual "Bark to School" concert/food and wine fest takes place on August 14 at Talon Winery on Tates Creek Road. The event features music by The Torques. Event co-chairs Madison Carey and Alisa Oerther of the Lexington Humane Society said the event starts at 7 p.m., with gates opening at 6 p.m. Food vendors include Bourbon n' Toulouse, JJ McBrewster's and Great American Cookie Co. Wine will be for sale by the bottle or glass with a special "Bark to School" label designed especially for the event. The Torques will be selling and signing CDs and donating a portion to The Lexington Humane Society as well. Tickets are available online at www.adoptlove.net for $15 and will be on sale for $20 at Talon the day of the event. The Lexington Humane Society rescues over 5,000 animals a year and is currently caring for as many as 700 animals during these summer months.
- Mike Thompson
Nominations due for agricultural leadership program
Nominations are now being accepted for the next class of the Kentucky Agricultural Leadership Program (KALP). Funded by the Kentucky Agriculture Development Board, the Kentucky Agricultural Leadership Program (KALP) is an 18-month, statewide agricultural leadership program designed for young Kentucky agricultural producers and agribusiness individuals "who want to be on the cutting edge of decisions that affect agriculture, rural communities and society in the 21st century." The program focuses on leadership and management skills, in addition to highlighting economic issues such as trade, globalization, state and federal farm policy. It includes 10 seminars in Kentucky; a five-day study tour to Washington D.C., and a 10-day international study tour to a major agricultural competitor (previous groups have traveled to Brazil, Argentina and/or Mexico). Scholarships are available for selected participants. Program information and nomination forms are available online at www.uky.edu/Ag/KALP/. Nominations are due by September 1, and applications are due by October 15. For more information, call (859)257-7292 or email KALP-L@LSV.UKY.EDU.
McConnell to speak at Commerce Lexington luncheon
U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell will be the keynote speaker at Commerce Lexington's next Public Policy Luncheon, presented by Kentucky American Water. The luncheon will be hosted by the Keeneland Association on Tuesday, September 1, from noon to 1:30 p.m. The luncheon will give Central Kentucky's business community the opportunity to hear from McConnell just days prior to him returning to Washington from the annual summer recess, where he and his fellow Senators will addressing pressing national issues such as cap and trade legislation and healthcare reform. Doors will open at 11:30, and the cost of attendance is $35 for Commerce Lexington members and $45 for non-members. Tables of 10 are also available. To reserve your seat or table, contact Katie Hardwick at khardwick@commercelexington.com or by phone at (859)226-1608.