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Kentucky jury acquits man in beating death
A jury in Kentucky Friday night acquitted 17-year-old Joshua Young in the beating death of his stepbrother, Trey Zwicker, two years ago.
Young also was found not guilty of tampering with evidence.
Josh Gouker, Young's father, pleaded guilty to murder in Zwicker's death, and was sentenced on July 26 to life in prison. But prosecutors said Young worked with Gouker to beat Zwicker as the teen suffocated in the mud of a ditch behind a Kentucky high school.
"Trey Zwicker was brutally murdered at age 14 ... because Josh Gouker is a control freak and because Josh Young wanted to impress him," prosecutor Elizabeth Brown told the jury in Jefferson County Circuit Court during Friday's closing arguments. She said Gouker was upset with Zwicker's mother after she aborted Gouker's unborn child, and he wanted revenge.
FULL STORYUConn women blow out Louisville for title
Connecticut's powerful offense scored almost at will Tuesday night as the Huskies blew out Louisville 93-60 to win the NCAA women's Division I basketball championship in New Orleans.
The title is head coach Geno Auriemma's eighth at UConn, tying him for the most all time with Tennessee's recently retired Pat Summitt.
The 33-point margin is the largest in the history of the tournament final.
FULL STORYSoldier held in Fort Knox shooting
A soldier has been detained for questioning in Wednesday's shooting death of a civilian employee at Fort Knox, Kentucky, according to a news release from the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.
The soldier, who was assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, was captured in Tennessee.
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Ware thinking of team, not leg
Kevin Ware's leg may be broken but not his spirit.
Not in the least bit.
Millions of television viewers cringed, when a bone punched through Ware's skin, protruding out of his leg after the University of Louisville guard landed hard from a jump to block a shot Sunday night.
It brought the Elite Eight game against the Duke Blue Devils to a screeching halt in the first quarter.
FULL STORYKentucky house fire kills 7
A fire swept through a single-story, wood-frame house in rural Kentucky on Saturday, killing seven people.
The victims included a woman who was 12 weeks pregnant and children ranging in age from 3 years to 8 months.
Sgt Jimmy Young with the Kentucky State police said no foul play is suspected in the house fire in Gray.
FULL STORYFreight train derails in Kentucky, sparking concerns about hazardous materials
A freight train carrying chemicals has derailed in West Point, Kentucky, prompting a level 3 hazmat declaration - the highest status possible, a Louisville emergency management spokeswoman tells CNN.
Emergency crews have shut down Dixie Highway in Hardin and Jefferson counties, according to Louisville Metrosafe spokeswoman Jody Duncan. FULL POST
Gotta Watch: Professionals of the Kentucky Derby
Today is the day for the 138th annual Run for the Roses. The race is more than mint juleps, elaborate hats and the most exciting two minutes in sports. The Kentucky Derby boasts legends and stars, human and equine alike. You've Gotta Watch a few of the professionals involved in one of the most watched horse races of the year. We've collected videos profiling a top trainer, a jockey making a post-recovery comeback and the stud farm that welcomes the champions after they've won the race.
Barbaro's trainer returns to Kentucky
Horse trainer Michael Matz will always be associated with one horse, 2006 Kentucky winner Barbaro.
Venezuelan-born jockey talks Derby
CNN takes a closer look at Venezuelan jockey Ramon Dominguez, just days before he races in the Kentucky Derby.
Breeding Kentucky Derby studs
Winning Post gets rare access to Darley Stud in Kentucky to find out more about the business of elite horse breeding.
A very indulgent guide to Louisville
Photos: The best Derby hats
Why the 'Run for the Roses' is so special
Doctor who planted 750K trees gets Arbor Day weekend salute
On this Arbor Day, when people are encouraged to plant trees, meet a Kentucky physician who has planted more than 750,000 of them on his own land.
Dr. James Middleton, 68, who also is a farmer and forester near Munfordville, Kentucky, began adding to his family’s land holdings in the 1970s, buying areas along the Green River that others had stripped of timber and abandoned. He’d plant trees such as oak and black walnut, and then harvest some of the wood, but replant.
iReport.com: Celebrate Arbor Day with us!
His sustainable management of 3,000 acres of woods not only makes money, but also reduces soil erosion along the river, preserving the river’s quality for communities miles downstream, the Arbor Day Foundation says.
On Saturday, the foundation will give him its annual Good Steward Award, which recognizes stewardship and conservation efforts on private land, in a ceremony in Nebraska City, Nebraska.
“All this was forest at one time. Mankind started farming it and opening it up, and now we’re trying to plant some of it back,” Middleton said by phone Friday.
Kentucky's Anthony Davis says he hasn't decided on NBA yet
John Calipari's Kentucky Wildcats are known as the "one-and-done" team because the squad's stellar young players are expected to go immediately from winning the NCAA National Championship into the NBA after one season.
But after Monday night's 69-57 win over Kansas, might Kentucky be a team that's one title down but not yet done? Is it possible that some players may surprise everyone and stick around for another season?
At a news conference after taking the national championship, the Wildcats were peppered with reporters' questions about the team's youth and whether their star athletes would say if they're ready to head to the big leagues. The team of big men and sharp shooters often has been compared to Michigan's famed Fab Five of the early '90s, who were all drafted in the first round of the NBA.
Anthony Davis has led Kentucky throughout the year. But Monday night, when he realized his shots weren't falling, he dominated on defense, racking up 16 rebounds, six blocked shots, five assists and three steals.
As the Naismith Player of the Year, Davis faced the most media inquiries about where he might be hitting the hardwood next year. One of the first questions was whether he was ready to come out for the NBA draft.
“No, I haven’t decided,” Davis said Monday night. “Coach (Calipari) says we have till April 29 to decide. I’m just going to wait till then, sit down with my coach, sit down with my family, see what the best decision is for me."
Davis is known as much for his tough play and dominating performances as his unibrow, which has become a rallying cry and point of pride for Kentucky fans.
SportsPickle.com: Ten best Davis unibrow tributes
It would be a big loss for Kentucky but a great gain for an NBA team, many analysts say, if Davis made the jump to the big leagues.
Outbreak of deadly tornadoes tear through U.S.
A powerful storm system rolled across the U.S. Friday causing at slew of tornadoes from Alabama to Indiana. The deadly tornadoes left a devastating path of destruction behind. This is something you'll have to see to believe.
‘Take it away from us’
A woman near West Liberty, Kentucky can be heard praying on camera as a huge funnel cloud forms over her house.
'This was time to take shelter'
A WDRB reporter and photographer got caught in the storm as they headed out to cover the severe weather in Indiana.
‘It’s heartbreaking’
Indiana was among the hardest-hit states.
Well built homes 'wiped' to the ground
Video captures the heartbreak as tornado survivors try and pick up the pieces from what's left of their homes.
Authorities: 2.5 pounds of pot sent to home of Bengals player
A package containing 2.5 pounds of marijuana was delivered to the Kentucky home of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Jerome Simpson earlier this week, drug enforcement officials in California said Thursday.
Authorities tracked the package from a mail distribution center in Sacramento to Simpson's home in the Cincinnati suburb of Crestview Hills, Kentucky, said Michelle Gregory of the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. The package originated in Eureka in northern California, she said, and was one of 40 packages authorities were tracking.
The California authorities notified those in Kentucky, who monitored the delivery. Aleen Smith, identified as Simpson's girlfriend, signed for the package, Gregory said.
A search of the home, to which Simpson consented, revealed six more pounds of marijuana along with scales, boxes and packaging materials consistent with a distribution operation, Gregory said.
On the Radar: Nurses' strike, Obama speech, Taiwan arms
Three things you need to know today.
Nurses strike: Almost 23,000 nurses at hospitals in northern and central California won't report to work on Thursday as they stage a one-day strike to protest concessions demanded by hospitals that the nurses say will hurt their role as patient advocates and cut their health and pension benefits.
The strike by members of the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United targets hospitals operated by Sutter Health and Kaiser Permanente as well as Children's Hospital in Oakland.
Among their grievances, the nurses say job concessions sought by Sutter Health would require them to report to work when ill, endangering patient health, according to a statement on the union's website.
At Kaiser, nurses are striking in sympathy with co-workers who face cuts in their health coverage and retirement plans, the nurses' union says.
Complaints at Children's Hospital include cuts to health care plans that would make it too expensive for nurses to bring their own kids to Children's for treatment, according to the union statement.
See a list of affected facilities.
Obama jobs speech: President Barack Obama head to Cincinnati on Thursday to pitch his $447 billion jobs bill – a combination of infrastructure spending, tax cuts and aid to state and local governments.
He'll speak with the Brent Spence Bridge as a backdrop. The span across the Ohio River carries one of the country's major trucking routes, but it is in need of $2.4 billion in repairs, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
The bridge links the constituencies of the top two Republicans in Congress - House Speaker John Boehner's district is on the Ohio side while Kentucky is home of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and winning Ohio's 18 electoral votes in 2012 could be pivotal to Obama's re-election.
Taiwan arms: China warned the United States Thursday that a multi-billion dollar arms sales to Taiwan will create "severe obstacles" between Beijing and Washington, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"The wrongdoing by the U.S. side will inevitably undermine bilateral relations as well as exchanges and cooperation in military and security areas," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said, according to Xinhua. Zhang summoned U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke to lodge a protest.
The $5.3 billion arms package includes upgrades to Taiwan's F-16 fighter fleet, a five-year extension of F-16 pilot training at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona and spare parts for the upkeep of three different planes used by the Taiwanese, according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. The deal is part of the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program.
Australian collar-bomb suspect ordered held without bond
The Australian man accused of strapping a fake bomb around the neck of an 18-year-old woman two weeks ago will remain in federal custody until at least October 14, a U.S. District Court magistrate ruled Tuesday.
The FBI arrested Paul Douglas Peters, 50, Monday near LaGrange, Kentucky, after a joint investigation with Australian authorities that traced him to the August 3 incident in the Mosman, Australia, home of Madeleine Pulver.
Authorities say they believe Peters strapped a black box around the Pulver's neck, claiming in an attached note that it contained "powerful new technology plastic explosives" that would explode if she did not follow his instructions - which included contacting an e-mail address for further details, according to a complaint for provisional arrest filed in federal court.
FULL STORYSuspect in Australia bomb hoax arrested in Kentucky
A 50-year-old man accused of strapping a fake bomb on an 18-year-old woman in Sydney, Australia, earlier this month was arrested Monday in Louisville, Kentucky, said Australian law enforcement officials.
FULL STORY
Lexington, Kentucky: America's most sedentary city, magazine finds
Amid news that sitting for long periods of time can shave years from your life, a new article in Men's Health magazine calls out America's most sedentary cities.
The city that moves the least is Lexington, Kentucky.
The magazine based its rankings on data from various sources. The publication considered how often people exercise, as calculated by Experian Marketing Services, and the percentage of households that watch more than 15 hours of cable a week and buy more than 11 video games a year, information gathered by Mediamark Research. The rankings also relied on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings regarding the rate of deaths from deep-vein thrombosis, a condition linked to staying in a seated position for a long time.
The remaining top four least active cities are Indianapolis; Jackson, Mississippi; Charleston, West Virginia; and Oklahoma City.
The most active city is Seattle, the magazine says.
On the Radar: Lohan, Afghanistan, captured fugitive, wild weather, Chavez
Lindsay Lohan ordered back to court - Lindsay Lohan allegedly failed a court-ordered alcohol test last week and will have to go before a judge for a probation violation hearing Thursday morning, according to a source close to the case. Lohan's failed test comes while the actress is confined to her Venice Beach, California, home after pleading guilty to stealing a necklace. The actress will appear before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner, the same judge who sentenced her, a prosecution spokeswoman said.
Fugitive captured - Accused Boston crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger is expected to be arraigned Thursday in Los Angeles. Bulger was arrested Wednesday by the FBI Fugitive Task Force in Santa Monica, California, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller. Bulger had been on the run since the mid-'90s after fleeing Boston as he was about to be arrested in connection with 19 killings, racketeering and other crimes. Bulger, 81, has been the subject of several books and was said to be the inspiration for the 2006 movie "The Departed."
Rescuers free 3 men trapped in Kentucky coal mine
Three men trapped who were trapped Monday in a Kentucky coal mine were rescued on Monday night, a state government spokesman said.
The miners were brought to the surface in Bell County at 8:22 p.m., Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet spokesman Dick Brown said. All three are in good shape and were being taken to a local hospital for evaluation and to be reunited with their families.
Communications had been established with the miners earlier Monday after they were trapped behind water in the Jellico No. 1 mine, U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration spokeswoman Amy Louviere said in a statement.
All day, emergency responders were speaking with the men every 15 minutes. Responders, meanwhile, used four pumps to remove water from the mine, according to Louviere.
The mine flooded after heavy overnight rain made a diversion ditch fail, filling the mine and trapping the miners 600 feet away from the entrance, according to a statement released by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet.
FULL STORYFriday's live video events
Watch CNN.com Live for continuing coverage on reaction and fallout to the death of Osama bin Laden.
Today's programming highlights...
9:30 am ET - Employment numbers hearing - We will learn this morning what April's employment numbers are. The Joint Economic Committee will meet to discuss those numbers and the country's jobs situation.
Storms tear through Southeastern U.S.
Northern Georgia took a beating from a fast-moving line of severe thunderstorms, as did the rest of the Southeast. Seven deaths were reported in three states. Here are reports from CNN affiliates and iReporters:
A father and his 3-year-old son were killed in Butts County, Georgia, southeast of Atlanta, when the storm hurled a tree into their home, WSB-TV reported.
Atlanta police said they found one person dead in a vehicle crushed by a fallen tree in northwest Atlanta, according to WXIA-TV.
Fallen trees and limbs were strewn across much of northern Georgia. Many of them fell on power lines, causing widespread power outages, WSB-TV reported.
Power was knocked out for more than 200,000 Georgia customers, 77,000 of them in metro Atlanta, according to WGCL-TV, which also reported a weather-related death in Dodge County and another in Colquitt County.
In southern Georgia, iReporter Rick Pennock of Quitman said, "The lightning was so intense it was like a red carpet event."
Tornado strikes Kentucky plant; other storms strike the South
[Updated at 4:35 p.m. ET] A tornado zeroed in Monday afternoon on a manufacturing plant in southwestern Kentucky, tossing pieces of the roof, collapsing part of the aluminum structure and injuring seven people, officials said.
Elsewhere in the South, thunderstorms caused damage, injuries and knocked out power.
About 184 employees were inside TGASK, a plant that makes automotive parts, when the storm arrived shortly after 1 p.m. (2 p.m. ET), said Paul Ray, spokesman for the Hopkinsville Police Department. The manufacturing plant is between Hopkinsville and Pembroke.
None of the injured had life-threatening injuries, said spokeswoman Jessica Beckham of Jennie Stuart Medical Center. Ray said the injuries were mostly bumps and bruises.
Did you witness the severe weather? Send your stories, photo and video to iReport.
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