Free Republic

A cadre of state, local and federal officials — both Republicans and Democrats represented — got an up-close look at the Sherman Minton Bridge Saturday, agreeing on at least one thing: There’s still no telling how long it’s going to be closed. Indiana Rep. Todd Young was joined by Kentucky Rep. John Yarmuth, Sen. Mitch McConnell and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer for the tour. The bridge, which connects New Albany to Louisville over the Ohio River, has been shut down for more than a week after inspectors discovered a critical crack in a tension tie that previously could not be...

Amish men jailed for not displaying buggy safety signsBy Steve Robrahn | Reuters – 15 hrs ago LOUISVILLE, Ky (Reuters) - Eight members of a traditional Amish sect were behind bars on Tuesday after refusing to pay fines for failure to display orange-red safety triangles on their horse-drawn buggies. The eight were being held in the Graves County Jail, serving sentences ranging between three and 10 days for failing to pay the fines on religious grounds. Graves District Judge Deborah Hawkins ordered the men jailed Monday in Mayfield, about 200 miles from Louisville in western Kentucky. The defendants contend that...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered the immediate closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge on Friday evening. Transportation officials in Kentucky and Indiana were informed Friday of the discovery of two cracks in the load-carrying element of the bridge on Thursday. Officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation said the crack is in an arch support over the Ohio River. There are two archways on the bridge; the crack was found on the underside of the roadway, near the archway closest to the Ohio River. Officials called the cracks incredibly serious and potentially catastrophic. "I would not have...

The investigation is complete in regards to a Shelby County Sheriff's Deputy who shot a family dog while responding to a burglary call. That report says the deputy made the right decision to use a gun rather than a taser or pepper spray due to the dangerous threat. The dog's family says they didn't even know the deputy had been cleared, until we contacted them today. For the past two weeks, Renee Lewis says complete strangers have been reaching out to her family, after the death of their dog Daisy. There's plenty of photos of the Labrador retriever that the...

A tornado is currently tearing through Louisville, Kentucky. Early reports indicate that Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, has suffered damage.

The Big East's football expansion plans leave the conference with 17 universities, including non-Football members. That's a terrible number for scheduling; the only way the basketball teams can schedule an even number of games is if they play every other team only once. 18 teams would allow three divisions of six teams each. Any team would play the other five teams in its division twice, and one half of the twelve other teams in the conference. 18 sounds like worsening the problem of too many teams, but having three divisions could actually restore some rivalries, and return the conference to...

Dr. Paul DeBell believes that he was once a caveman. Not only that, he is fairly certain that his life as a caveman ended violently. “I was going along, going along, going along, and I got eaten,” said the psychiatrist. To his life as a caveman, Dr. DeBell adds his knowledge of previous lives as a Tibetan monk and “a conscientious German who refused to betray his Jewish neighbors in the Holocaust.” Dr. DeBell’s account is found in “Remembrances of Lives Past” by Lisa Miller of Newsweek magazine, published in the August 29, 2010 edition of The New York Times....

Louisville police said a mother waited two hours before calling for help after her 3-year-old son was shot on Tuesday. Police spokesman Officer Carey Klain told The Courier-Journal the boy was shot with a .45-caliber handgun after he was in the line of fire during an argument between his mother and a man. The mother, 28-year-old Laquisha Mosby, is charged with assault, criminal abuse, wanton endangerment and tampering with evidence. Police also arrested 34-year-old Shawn Martin and charged him with assault, criminal abuse, being a convicted felon in possession of a handgun, wanton endangerment and tampering with evidence. According to...

Peter Smith of the Louisville courier-Journal reports on Sarah Palin's appearance at the Women of Joy Conference: Sarah Palin told a Freedom Hall crowd of about 16,000 Friday night that she was there to inspire women in their faith, not to talk politics. But... Palin — now a best-selling author and headline speaker at tea-party tax protests — did plenty of both in the course of her nearly hour-long talk at an evangelical Christian women’s conference. “This nation needs you,” Palen told the women. “Know the facts. Stand for what’s right. Don’t be discouraged by the mocking of those who...

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - A poem has landed a Louisville man behind bars. It’s a poem Secret Service agents say was about assassinating President Barack Obama. Federal authorities say Johnny Logan Spencer junior posted it on a white supremacy website. The arrest came as a result of a complaint filed by a Secret Service agent this week. The document says that Spencer knowingly made a threat against the president which he communicated to others in other states. His attorney , Laura Wyrosdick, says that while what Spencer said in the poem in question was offensive, it's not illegal. The original...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A jury has found Kenielle Finch guilty of two counts of murder in the hit-and-run deaths of two young girls in 2008. Finch was speeding away from police when he hit 5-year-old Claudia Wadlington and 4-year-old Riley Lawrence as they crossed Floyd Street in July 2008. Finch faces a maximum sentence of life in prison with a possibility of parole after serving 20 years.

Woo hoo!! The Freepmobile has been repaired and we drove all night to catch up to the Tea Party Express here in Memphis! We'll be rallying in Louisville, Kentucky at 5:30 pm tonight!! Next stop: Bloomington, Indiana tomorrow!! Woo hoo!! Thirty-five cities, thirty-five tea parties in sixteen days!! Be sure to check the tour schedule and join us when we get to a city near you: TeaPartyExpress.org!! And if you are going to DC for the big March on Washington and National Tea Party on 9/12, you won't want to miss our National Freeper Convention!! Click here to order your...

It was a Southern whine-fest of MVP proportions this week. On Wednesday, Louisville head basketball coach had a press conference to lash out at the media's apparent spreading of "lies" about his adulterous fling several years ago with one Karen Sypher. Rick Pitino had sex with Sypher in a restaurant. After she became pregnant, she came to him asking for money for an abortion (he said it was so she could buy healh insurance). Sypher essentially continued to extort money from Pitino for several years until he 'fessed up and she was arrested. The affair was in 2003; the details...

Here are several videos showing massive flooding taking place in Louisville, Kentucky today, after thunderstorms dropped over six inches of rain on the city in only three hours. Reports are it is continuing to rain there this afternoon. The clips below are from local station WAVE-TV in Louisville . . . . . . . (Watch Video)

Nuradin Abdi was convicted in 2007 of planning to blow up an Ohio shopping mall. Iyman Faris was convicted in 2003 of planning to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. Christopher Paul was convicted in 2008 of conspiring to use explosives against targets in the U.S. and Europe. All three terrorists worshiped and socialized at a small mosque in Columbus, Ohio, and, according to David B. Smith, an attorney for Faris, were part of a larger group of jihadists and extremists who frequented the mosque. The FBI now is investigating reports of links to that same mosque by Muslim-convert Abdulhakim Muhammad...

The Louisville Cardinals destroyed the Arizona Wildcats 103-64 to advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Louisville used pressure defense, hot three-point shooting, and great inside play to dominate Arizona from start to finish. The video above gives all the highlights of the game. . . . . (Watch Video)

LOUISVILLE (WAVE) -- Metro police and firefighters are on the scene of a plane crash near Bowman Field. The aircraft is down in the 2600 block of Valetta Road near the Seneca Gardens neighborhood. The 6-seater Cessna P210N went down shortly before 3 p.m. and police officials tell us it narrowly missed a house in the residential neighborhood. Emergency crews pulled two people from the wreckage. They were taken to the hospital. No word yet on their condition. We have a crew on the scene and we'll have the latest coming up on WAVE 3 News.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. --Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Kurtz was named archbishop of Louisville by Pope Benedict XVI, succeeding Thomas C. Kelly, who guided the archdiocese through one of its most tumultuous times amid a clergy sex abuse scandal. Kurtz, 60, has served as bishop of the 50,000-member diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., since 1999. Before that, he was a priest for 27 years in the Diocese of Allentown in Pennsylvania. Kelly turned 75, the normal retirement age for bishops, last July, but remained on the job until his successor was chosen. The Louisville archdiocese spans 24 counties with more than 200,000 Catholics....

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The owner of an upscale steakhouse in Louisville said he asked O.J. Simpson to leave his restaurant the night before the Kentucky Derby because he is sickened by the attention Simpson still attracts. "I didn't want to serve him because of my convictions of what he's done to those families," Jeff Ruby said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "The way he continues to torture the lives of those families ... with his behavior, attitude and conduct."

LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 24, 2007 – A senior Navy leader lauded Louisville for its “America Supports You” spirit as hundreds of sailors participated in Louisville Navy Week, April 16-21. America Supports You is a Defense Department program that spotlights and facilitates support for the nation’s servicemembers by the American public and the corporate sector. “The Navy and Louisville enjoyed a busy six days, culminating in Thunder Over Louisville,” a six-hour air show capped by the largest annual fireworks show in America, said Navy Rear Adm. Michael C. Vitale, who commands Strike Group Two aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. “Louisville...