It didn’t take long after the Courier-Journal reported the death of civil rights activist Rev. Louis Coleman for his enemies to start weighing in with comments on the C-J website.

Coleman was without doubt a polorizing figure when it came to issues of race in this community. And within an hour, positive and negative reaction to Coleman’s two-paragraph death notice had filled the C-J’s comments section.

The story will dominate the news cycle for the next 48 hours or so, and it will be interesting to see how many of Coleman’s opponents speak out. Of course, cowardly racists have already begun tearing down the man’s image online.

Congressman John Yarmuth was the first to come out with a public statement. An e-mail arrived from his office at 1:18 p.m.

“Our community and state have lost a tireless advocate for those whose voices were rarely heard and whose rights were often ignored,” Yarmuth’s statement reads. “Louis Coleman’s passing leaves a vacuum that will be impossible to fill. He often told me, in recent years, that he wished someone would step up and assume his role, but no one could. Now someone must.

“I will never forget his passion, his ferocity, his love, and something many people never saw, his humor. His legacy will be a lasting one.”

It’s becoming such a common public relations tactic that news organizations know that the hours right before a holiday are no time to relax. If there’s bad news that a company wants to release with minimum impact on the news cycle, the last business hours before a holiday break is a good time to do it.

It’s obvous that the good media folks at LG&E wanted to get their news out about jacking up your rates with the least impact.

We’ve learned that LG&E sent a new release on the topic to mainstream media (yes, we were left out) but embargoed all info on the rate hike until 4:00 a.m. That was an obvious favor to their pals at the Courier-Journal, who got a rare front-page story that hadn’t already been fully reported by TV stations and well, us.

I, along with at least four other media types, got an anonymous tip from a concerned reader about 1:00 yesterday, letting us know that a source inside the company had said that LG&E was on the verge of announcing the rate hike. Our tipster was upset about the prospect of another bill going up — he explained it was tough already with a family to support.

So I called the 24-hour media hotline over at LG&E. In the past, I’ve called and gotten a response within the hour. I left a message on the hotline indicating what my call was about. The LG&E media crew, headed by Chip Keeling, makes it clear that an on-call spokeperson will return media phone calls “as soon as possible.” I’m about 20 hours into my wait for a return call.

[Read more →]

It’s really hard to believe that Louisville football star JaJuan Spillman managed to get himself arrested - again - on most of the same charges we’ve been accustomed to seeing when Card football players make the police blotter: DUI, marijuana possession, carrying a concealed weapon and of course driving without insurance.

Spillman’s arrest in January 2007 marked the beginning of a slew of police problems in the Cardinal football family. But the former PRP star was given several second chances after his arrest, playing part of last season before being suspended. His 2007 case was finally dismissed in June, only because police couldn’t prove he’d been smoking the marijuana they found in his car.

Coach Steve Kragthorpe will undoubtedly be thrilled to hear another player he took a risk on has gone the other way. The coach is on vacation, and spokesman Rocco Gasparro said in a statement that the situation will be dealt with when he gets back this week.

Here’s the C-J’s report.

If that means anything other than U of L distancing itself from any association with Spillman, the Coach will be in for even more criticism than he’s already under for the low expectations football experts are giving his team this season. Remember, Spillman, who apparently has a load of talent and may be the fastest member of the team, has already been arrested for many of the same charges, except this time he was carrying a gun!

I’m already questioning Kragthorpe’s judgement of character for keeping this guy in the program after the first incident. I mean, the Coach couldn’t have actually believed Spillman was innocent, could he?

It smacks of an internal problem with drug use, something that a strong drug testing policy, accompanied by harsh penalites, might eliminate. Let’s hope Kragthorpe doesn’t think Spillman is the only guy on the team who enjoys a little blow now and then.

Anyway, we do have a soft spot for the Spillman story here at Full Signal. A year ago, it was the first significant story that we broke before the local media after Jake spotted Spillman’s name during a records search.

We just came across some information that just adds another twist to the complicated plot of the District 14 Metro Council race this fall.

Norman Pepper owns a bait store out Dixie Highway. The store has been the target of city inspectors, who have told him the giant fish sign in front of his store violates city codes. But Pepper doesn’t want government telling him what to do, and he’s fighting local officials on it.

So last year he filed to run for Metro Council as a Republican. It was subsecquently learned (apparently Pepper didn’t even know) that he was ineligible to run because he wasn’t a registered Republican. So Pepper decided to run as an independent in the fall. His name remained on the Republican primary ballot, however. The primary winner was Bob Hueglin, but he won by the closest of margins over farmer Gordon Ritchie — 520 votes to 490.

It turns out there were almost 300 more votes cast in the District — for Pepper. So even though he wasn’t eligible to win and didn’t campaign in the primary, Pepper collected 287 votes, enough to make a difference in an election decided by a 30-vote margin.

So what’s that mean?

[Read more →]

OK, so we noticed something different about WAVE Sunrise anchor Carrie Weil this morning. The flowing blonde hair was perfect, as usual. Pleasant smile and everything. But wait — what’s that on her left hand?

We’ve now confirmed that Weil married Dr. Doug Sharp last week in a private ceremony in Jamaica. The event took place at a resort, with only the minister in attendance. We just wish we’d have assigned a paparazzi photog.

The groom is a Clarksville chiropractor and former Olympic bobsledder, who’s a big enough deal he’s got his own Wikipedia page. The two have been dating, Weil said, for about three years.

Weil, who has been at WAVE since 1998, was previously married to WAVE weathercaster Kevin Harned, and used to use his last name on the air. They divorced in 2005.

Weil says she’s sticking with “Carrie Weil” on the air. We wish Mr. and Mrs. Sharp well.

We’re on Thursday because tomorrow is the 4th of July. Who knew? Anyway, the show is a little more exciting than last week (because some folks were afraid to talk about anything, you know, exciting) and the UofL-Felner story finally hit the airwaves. So watch it. Cause you never know what kind of scandalous dirt we’ll dig up.

Same Old Story: There’s a new dispute involving the downtown arena because a local contractor claims bids are being improperly awarded to an out-of-town firm. Sound familiar? This time it’s over a contract for excavation, utilities and foundry work, and Louisville’s RAM Engineering is lobbing the complaint. Our question: Now that the State Finance Cabinet is no longer overseeing the project, who’s holding Jim Host accountable? [C-J]

Question #2: Are all major contract awards this contentious, or is this one just getting special scrutiny?

Fresh Faced Candidate: OK, we’re playing along. Heard from Jack Wood out in District 14 again, and he sent along a picture of his daughter, who plans to run in the District 14 Metro Council race this fall as an independent. It’s certainly a more professional shot than the one we found on Facebook. Jack said he’s getting campaign materials together and he’s getting serious about Jennifer’s race. We wonder when we’re going to hear from the actual candidate. And he’s mounting “Wood 4 Council” signs on his vehicles.

Ellis Out, Racing Takes a Blow: The leaders of the horseracing industry seem determined to run the business into the ground. Now Ellis Park in Henderson is closing - permanently - and owner Ron Geary is blaming it on the dispute between horsemen and tracks over a tiny slice of the overall betting pie. We’re blaming the suits running the tracks, but whoever’s at fault, they’d better do something before track closings become an epidemic. [C-J]

Not Retiring: Rush Limbaugh signed a new $400 million contract and vowed to continue working until “everybody agrees with me.” Could be a long wait, but there’s no doubt attacking liberals pays on the radio.

Highlander: We just got our new edition of the Highlander (no web presence), and can’t help but be impressed by the neighborhood Monthly’s roster of freelancers and stories — There’s a Michael L. Jones profile of former LEO columnist Carl Brown (yes, Carl’s finally done at LEO); a food section produced by former WFPK DJ Leslie Stewart, and a literal grilling of John Yarmuth and Anne Northup by ex-LEO-ite Cindy Lamb. Northup’s photo is priceless - she couldn’t be bothered to appear to be actually cooking on the grill, while Yarmuth wore his “Real Men Can Cook” apron. Look for Lamb and Stewart bylines here or at Ville Voice Eats in the near future.

Scandalous Reading: If you’ve got a few mintues over the holiday, catch up on all the dirt on the University of Louisville scandal at Page One, where Jake just posted a new revelation — people were hating on Robert Felner so much they keyed his fancy car and stole his computer.  Somebody even poured a Coke on the Beamer.

Schedule Change: We’re doing our weekly CW segment on Thursday this week, as the show takes a break on the Fourth of July. 9:30 on the CW. Tune in.

It’s one of the world’s great mysteries that even the best reporters can’t solve — at the local level, why are there such fluctuation in gasoline prices?

The system goes against every tenet of business competition. If one gas station raises its price for gas, every other station in town follows suit, almost immediately. Even with competing stations. That’s gotta be illegal, right?
Here in Louisville, we’re paying at least a quarter more per gallon than neighboring counties. Now they’re not getting their product from a different source, so if defies logic why you and I are paying more than our pals in Bullitt County.

Never fear, though, Mayor Jer and Gov. Steve are going to use the power of government to get to the bottom of it. They held a press conference today to let everyone know that they’re going to ask the gas suppliers for an explanation. Beshear said he’s getting A.G. Jack Conway on it. to force suppliers to explain themselves.

Abramson said the local requirement to sell reformulated gas is not the reason. It should only add a nickel per gallon, whereas the price difference is more like a quarter.

We all know there are some bad guys getting rich off the gas price increases, but we just can’t figure out a way to pin the blame on anyone. Maybe Steve and Jerry can do it.

If you know enough about the ongoing story of the Wayside Christian Mission, it’s kind of laughable for Rev. Tim Moseley to write in this morning’s C-J that it was “difficult” to sell the property on East Market Street.

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect — after all, no one wants to be pegged as anti-homeless — Wayside just won the lottery.

Remember, Wayside had a $4.1 million building project for which it was ready to begin construction, which would have started this week with the demolition of its historic buildings on East Market. After it sells the property to what even Moseley calls a “generous” buyer for more than $5 million, it takes no financial skill to deduce that Wayside will have at least $9 million in the bank for new facilities, which it appears likely can be constructed on land it already owns on Jefferson Street.

There’s a lot you can build with $9 million. Moseley writes that it’s “difficult to give up ground that we had stood and defended for over 35 years.” For $5 million, I doubt there’s a non-profit in the city that wouldn’t gladly offer up its property in order to build newer, more efficient facilities to serve its mission.

The deal was seen by most as a win-win for the East Downtown Business Association, Wayside and the future of East Market. It not only provides Wayside with resources and options to serve its mission, it opens up for the city an opportunity for another attraction that could rival Frankfort Avenue or Bardstown Road for its “cool factor.”

There’s more reason to believe that Wayside’s operation is thriving. Its tax-exampt Form 990 from 2005 (the most recent year available at Guidestar.org) includes this eye-popping figure: $10,801,366.

That’s the amount given under “Net Assets or Fund Balances at End of Year.”

No one is questioning the important work being done by Rev. Moseley and the essential nature of the services Wayside provides. Whining about how hard it is to take the money and run, however, is a little more difficult to believe.

In the story of what we’ll call “Explo-Gate” — Metro Councilman Doug Hawkins has found a few friends on the Metro Council who want to join his crusade of questioning the placement of a bomb storage unit on property owned by the Louisville Water Co. in his district.

At a Public Safety Committee meeting yesterday,  members were deadlocked 2-2, along party lines on an emergency amendment to prevent any funds from being spent on the project. Council Republicans on the committee — Hal Heiner and James Peden — were in favor, while Dems Mary Woolridge and Madonna Flood were against. Rick Blackwell, a Dem who has been an outspoken critic of Hawkins’ pursuit of the issue, wasn’t there.

Since it wasn’t voted down in committee, it’s certain to come up at the July 10 full Council meeting, where things may get. . . explosive.

We’re not sure why Blackwell wasn’t there, but he’s likely to regret missing the opportunity to bury Hawkins’ agenda. And we hear that Heiner decided to do some of his own research, finding that maybe Hawkins was making sense after all, when he found some more favorable locations for the unit.

No, Hawkins’ argument still doesn’t make sense, but he’s going to run the Mayor’s office through some hoops if it still wants to put the device on Fordhaven Road.  And now it appears he’ll be joined by some Republicans, and maybe even a South End Dem or two, in fighting this illogical fight.

We’ve got to hand it him, however kooky we think he is. Hawkins had made a name for himself on “Explo-gate” and is no longer the “lone wolf” on the council in paying attention to the issue.

Here’s the C-J’s report.

We weren’t the only media types recognized in the Best of Louisville edition of Louisville Magazine. So it’s kind of our duty to report and make snarky comments. They’re fun awards, but the media voting shouldn’t be taken too seriously. Here goes:

TV Anchorman: This category is really all about appearance, and WAVE’s Scott Reynolds is the choice of readers, and my Mom. And now that he’s in HD, well, look out. WHAS’ Doug Proffitt and Gary Roedemeier got plenty of votes. But the good journalism crowd knows John Boel is the only one likely to do something other than read the teleprompter.

TV Anchorwoman: LouMag readers must watch WAVE a lot, since Jackie Hays usually dominates, but gave way to Dawne Gee this year. Vicki Dortch finishes third. Our readers, based on comments we’ve heard, would surely put Carrie Weil and Jennifer Baileys at the top of the list.

TV Sportscaster: Fred Cowgill is a comfortable sports choice for LouMag voters, with Bob Domine (are you serious?) in 2nd, then Kent Taylor. If I want to know what’s up, I’ll take Kyle Draper, but don’t expect these folks to vote for a black guy. There’s not a non-Caucasian face in the whole 16-page section, with the exception of Gee. Editors should have done something about that.

TV Weathercaster: With all the publicity about his departure, it would have been nice for Ken Schulz to bow out of the TV business with a BOL. But he lost out to WAVE’s John Belski, and tied with WAVE’s Tom Wills for 2nd. We really don’t care about the weather.

Elected Official (Male): I just wonder where Doug Hawkins finished in the voting. Mayor Jer wins big, leading us to believe there were no votes cast within 10 miles of Dixie Highway. John Yarmuth and Tom Owen were distant runners-up.

Elected Official (Female): Kind of a weak field here, but Tina Ward-Pugh? Besting Bobbie Holsclaw and Crit Luallen says more about voters reluctance to elect female leaders than about Ward-Pugh’s Best-ness. We would have picked state Rep. Joni Jenkins.

Play-by-Play Announcer: Like picking the top DJ in town (no longer even a category), pickings are slim. But Rogers is a pro. Calling a college’s games is one media job that still seems to have some job security.

We’d like to suggest a few more categories to the editors, like TV Reporter (voters would pick somebody from WAVE, of course), Morning Show Host (because we love Dan Spangler at the CW) and Radio Personality (’cuz they still have radio stations here, don’t they?).

I’m sure Bruce Allar and his bunch at the LouMag HQ would appreciate some more suggestions, especially from their “Best Bloggers” site. So let’s hear something from you guys.

For a newspaper editor in the job just a few weeks, Stephen George has landed a whopper of a story and is bent on taking advantage of it. What higher praise for a newspaper column than for it to generate a major reaction from a candidate for Congress? The Anne Northup campaign, George writes, seems bent on attacking LEO, rather than actual opponent John Yarmuth. So George this week challenged Northup to a debate.

Memo to Anne: Don’t take the bait. You’ll lose. Unless it’s your goal to be the focus of a weekly column in a newspaper whose readers don’t buy into your dated campaign tactics. Not that you’ll do any better against Yarmuth.

Elsewhere in LEO: The cover story on bullying is by Phillip M. Bailey, who by now is off to Chicago at what sounds like a compelling camp for alternative journalists. Bailey’s a talented writer, and we’re hoping he really comes back to LEO as planned and doesn’t get a better offer.  Keep up with Phillip at The SOULution.

Jennifer Oladipo does an admirable job of playing catch-up on the Felner story at U of L, spotlight Page One’s coverage of the “no confidence” vote that other media apparently find irrelevant.  However, it pains us to point out the name of the U.S. attorney is David, not Joe, Huber. Joe was the patriarch of the Huber Family Farm, which gave us a hankering for strawberries.

Sara Havens is quitting her bartending job, a sure sign that she’s taking this journalism thing seriously. I’m still not sure about this Church Hopper feature, but the boys write about their trip to Second Presbyterian.

And there’s a new column called Suburban Turmoil, by Lindsay Farrier, who seems to have the proper balance of sarcasm and skepticism, as it relates to parenting.  And she was able to get the words “fuck” and “penis” into one column, plus inspired someone she offended to post a rare comment on LEO’s website. A good start.

In LEO this week, I put together a column about some of the troubles within the halls of Sixth and Broadway in the wake of the publisher’s resignation announcement and the long-time Metro columnist’s retirement announcement.

Most of the people I talked with for the story, both inside and outside the newspaper, are pretty much saddened by the direction of things. It’s not that the reporters and editors are lazy, it’s just that like every local operation owned by an out-of-town corporation, there’s little passion for the product any longer. They’re being asked to do more with less, and it just seems like there’s no drive for ground-breaking journalism. Before you folks at the C-J get all defensive, understand that it “seems” like that’s the case, and I know there are exceptions.

Then there’s the corporate-directed initiatives that are supposed to help the C-J remain relevant. KentuckianaPets.com? Seriously? This is where the paper is going — to a place where it’s going to get excited if a bunch of dog-nuts post pictures of their animals and meet up with other folks who want to talk about a new cute trick the new puppy learned? It’s the newspaper version of Reality TV.

One of the ideas I picked up from Bob Hill’s interview on KET 18 months ago was that he believed that people were getting fed up with being asked what they think of everything in the paper. He thought most just wanted to read what’s going on. Even Bob didn’t imagine the paper investing its resources so cat-lovers could have a place to post kitty pictures.

So while Gannett purges reporters and editors and cuts corners on coverage, it is investing in new Web pages devoted to pets.

Credit to the boys and girls over at Louisville Magazine - they sure got us all giddy about seeing our picture in the Best of Louisville issue and winning the Critics’ Choice as Best Bloggers. We just can’t figure out why we’re not on the cover.

That’s right, me and Jake, right there on page 63, with a photo by none other than John Nation himself.

The text, from LouMag intern Ben Phelps (how stingy of the editors - no byline) goes on about how clever and influential we are. Like this:

Now they are the odd couple of Louisville media, tackling everything from media criticism, to political news from a dual perspective.

Of course, Jake dominated the interview, which really was initiated by the magazine, and he’s the one quoted. In fact, in light of the story he’s been chasing, it’s an apt quote: “If there’s an issue, I’m going to go after it. You have to create conflict,” Jake is quoted as saying in the piece.

I guess threatening Ben with a harsh online review of his writing was a good tactic for us, since the piece is well-written, fair and makes us look a lot smarter than we are. Thanks, Ben.

We’ve been sitting on this information about the Bridges project for a few days, a delay we regret but believe you’ll understand, given the slow progression of action on the project in general.

First, some history. On June 19, the 8664.org organization surprised many bridge-construction followers by issuing a press release claiming that Gov. Steve Beshear was shifting money away from an East End Bridge. This action by 8664 surprised and outraged members of the state Transportation Cabinet, who quickly began calling media folks (even us!) to say that the 8664 release was baloney. Nothing has changed, they said.

Appearing before a panel of lawmakers in Frankfort a couple of days later, the Cabinet’s Mike Hancock repeated the company line — nothing has changed in the project and it’s a go for two bridges, and that the project is funded for at least two years. Fox 41 covered the action in Frankfort, and filed this report.

Fox41 reported that lawmakers wanted a “Plan B” from bridge planners, something the state is unwilling to consider until at least November, when it learns whether it will get $200 million in promised federal funding.

I asked the 8664 guys to make sense of all this confusing bridge talk. The organization’s Joe Burgan provided us with specifc responses to information in the Fox41 report. You won’t be surprised to learn that there’s some conflicting opinions.

[Read more →]

There’s a new city editor on board at LEO this week who will soon be able to tell the most familiar story in town:

“I grew up in Louisville, went to high school at ______, then left for college at __________ and had a series of important jobs, like _________ and ________. But I always wanted to get back home, and now I’ve landed at _________.

Sarah Kelley starts her job on Fourth Street at LEO’s News Editor tomorrow. She was hired by Stephen George, who says the fact that she comes directly from Nashville, where the paper’s new owners have media properties, is mere coincidence. Kelley has been in touch with George and LEO for some time, and George didn’t hesitate when he had the opportunity to bring in someone new.

In fact, Kelley worked at Nashville Scene, which has some prestigious sister publications in the alt-weekly world, like the Village Voice and LA Weekly.

In Nashville, Kelley has written recently about a homeless man, the disappearance of a child and Tennessee’s law on the death penalty. Serious, investigative stuff. She’ll have plenty of topics to uncover here. And she knows Louisville, having written this piece advising Nashvillians how to road trip to River City.

Maybe we can get her to fill in the blanks in the “typical Louisvillian story” above here on the V.V.

Hey, it’s July 1. Friday’s a holiday. Get to work.

All About Us: Thanks for making May and June record months for both the ‘Ville Voice and Page One. We’ve been at this almost a year now, and have exceeded every one of our expectations for traffic and audience. This is BIG! Click here to learn how to get your message in front of all those eyeballs.

P.1 Investigates: Think Robert Felner’s foibles at U of L are a first-time offense? Think again. Jake’s talked to a bunch of officials who knew the disgraced professor in the ’80s in Illinois, where he was asked to step down after all kinds of what are now familiar accusations surfaced. So how does a bad apple keeping getting hired in academia? Could it be because those who give references are afraid to tell prospective employers the truth? [Page One]

Heeb’s Back: And he’s got a lot to catch up on at his WHAS-TV blog. 11 posts in about 24 hours, all interesting stuff, but nothing about that bum knee that kept him out of our softball lineup Monday.

Fatal Short Cut: Turns out the young man decapitated at Atlanta’s Six Flags park was taking a short cut through the Batman ride, not trying to find a hat. Anybody else surprised that, given all the news around here about a ride accident at Kentucky Kingdom, that there’s been no additional local coverage? Wouldn’t you expect someone to go over to Kentucky Kingdom and see how hard it would be to get into a restricted area under Chang?

Missed it by THAT much: We were so busy last week we almost missed the Doug Hawkins news from the city budget hearings. Our favorite renegade on the MC voted against the city’s budget, remaining consistent in his “NO” position on city spending. He’s voted yes to a budget just once since taking office in 2002. Maybe Doug just likes the looks of any 25-1 vote, or has a knee-jerk reaction of voting against anything the Mayor is for. Good work by the C-J’s Dan Klepal to blog about it. [The Arena]

So Much for Quality: There’s plenty of job cut news and gas price news, but if you do have a job, and it’s at the Courier-Journal, be aware of the harsh reality presented by someone who may have been a Gannett shareholder on an industry blog:

“Gannett people, take a dose of reality. Between the two people you see to your left and right, one of you has to go! I am a shareholder of this stock and have been following this blog. It pains me to see such complacency. You are in trouble. Work harder and make more money for the company or lose your job.”

Friend, Let’s Go: Tonight’s the night for the Friend of Lou outing at Slugger Field. We’ll be anxious to see how many of you friends want to join us. Cheap hot dogs. Yummy.

Judging by its 11 p.m. newscast, the transition to HD at WAVE-TV went smoothly last night.

The difference in the quality of the picture on an HD set is remarkable, and anyone with HD capability has a new reason to watch the NBC affiliate. And with none of the other local stations planning to go HD in the immediate future, WAVE-TV has gained a decided advantage in the local news wars.

It will be interesting to see if the technology investment boosts WAVE’s news ratings in the short-term.

WAVE has managed to minimize the distraction of the picture-size changing each time it goes to dated footage. Its fresh footage, now being shot in 16:9 widescreen, provides viewers with a wider, clearer picture. When it does go to dated footage, WAVE is putting up blue bars on either side of the image.

As for studio shots, the picture is as advertised, clear and vivid.  You can see the gel in Dawne Gee’s hair, the detail in her earrings and each strand in Scott Reynolds’ perfectly-coiffed hair.

The station has a new “bug” (the logo you see at the bottom of the screen) for the HD program, but hasn’t yet begun promoting its HD presentation. You can rest assured that will start soon enough.

Looks like the District 14 Metro Council race has gone downtown. Check out the fancy GMC minivan we saw on Main Street during the lunch hour today. Emblazoned in pink and white block letters on the side:

“Wood 4 Council”

So the independent candidate, 23-year-old Jennifer Wood, must have herself a campaign vehicle - or just a really ardent supporter willing to decorate this vehicle for trips around town.

To refresh, Jennifer, a recent University of Kentucky grad, is running as an independent in the race for Bob Henderson’s Metro Council seat. Bob, the incumbent, won the Demcoratic primary over four opponents, including 2nd-place finisher Jack Wood, Jennifer’s father.

Another candidate, Rick McCoy, has been trading jabs here on the V.V. with one of Jennifer’s contemporaries, restaurant manager Michael Bowman. Bowman accuses McCoy of strking a deal with Henderson to split the primary vote in exchange for favored status should Henderson retire in office, a plot so impractical we’re hesitant to even mention it, except that it relates to the whole District 14 soap opera. You’ll find plenty of the give-and-take between McCoy and Bowman on this site, in the Comments section.

Bowman, meanwhile, who also ran in the Metro Council primary, says he’s a friend of Jennifer’s, but has decided not to support her, or anyone else, in the fall election, preferring to focus on the John Yarmuth Congressional campaign.

[Read more →]

Imagine coming upon this sign during a leisurely Sunday afternoon stroll. It happened to several poeple walking down Cherokee Road yesterday in the gay-friendly neighborhood of Cherokee Triangle.

Check out what Jake discovered in a brief Internet search about the landlord, one Billie Dixon, aka Billie Conley.

We called around and learned a whole lot about Billie — stuff that’s potentially more damaging than simply breaking the law in regard to the Fairness Ordinance.

Certainly there’s no proof that the gay-bashing written on the signs isn’t simple vandalism, but our sources tell us that the landlord in question has been accused of violating tenant rights by entering apartments without proper notice. She’s been accused of violations from the City’s Inspections department, and lost a lawsuit with neighbors over fencing.

This in a neighborhood of prominent, wealthy families. We’re learning more by-the-minute about the landlord’s questionable actions, so stay tuned.