Judicial Employees To Take Unpaid Furloughs

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...To deal with cuts to the court system's budget, Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. said Wednesday that judicial employees throughout Kentucky will have to take unpaid furloughs for three days this year. The furloughs will mean courts will close statewide on August 6th, September 4th and October 15th to deal with $25.2 million in cuts made by lawmakers in a budget passed in April. Minton says the Legislature's appropriation is far short of what is necessary to operate the Kentucky court system for the next two years, and the furloughs are necessary because lawmakers cut the court system's operating budget by $16.2 million and transferred $9 million from the court system to the state's General Fund. To generate cash, Minton says the judicial system will start charging schools $10 for criminal background checks that used to be done for free. The charge will increase from $15 to $20 to all others seeking background checks.

Former Lexington Lawyer Sentenced

• {Lexington, Kentucky}...U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell in Lexington has sentenced former Lexington lawyer 48 year old Bryan S. Coffman to 25 years in prison and ordered him to pay millions of dollars in restitution for taking part in an oil- and gas-drilling scam that involved $36 million solicited from some 600 investors in the U.S. and Canada. A federal jury convicted Coffman and 59 year old Campbellsville businessman Gary Milby in May 2011 on charges of mail, wire and securities fraud. Coffman was also convicted of money laundering and money laundering conspiracy. Last month, Caldwell ordered Coffman to forfeit $3.1 million in cash, a yacht and a condo in South Carolina, saying Coffman either illegally took the money from clients of his business, American Oil & Gas Resources, or used funds of his own to disguise the ill-gotten cash. Coffman asked to be held in a medical center-type prison because he has diabetes and arthritis. He was ordered to report to the federal medical correctional center in Lexington on May 16th. Defense attorney Steve Romines says he will appeal. Gary Milby is set for sentencing Thursday.

State Police Collect Pounds Of Unwanted Drugs

{Frankfort, Kentucky}...During a four-hour event Saturday, Kentucky State Police collected 644 pounds of unwanted prescription drugs as part of the national "Take Back" initiative. The agency's 16 posts took part, among 4,000 across the country that participated.

Wildcats Going To The White House

• President Barack Obama has invited the University of Kentucky men's basketball team to the White House to celebrate its 2012 NCAA championship. The president will welcome the team at 4:50 P.M. Friday. Obama called UK coach John Calipari to congratulate the team after they won UK's eighth national title on April 2nd.

Federal Appeals Court Upholds Fen-phen Convictions

{Louisville, Kentucky}...Tuesday, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves  did not err in the case of 61 year old William Galliion and 57 year old Shirley Cunningham Jr., two former attorneys serving prison time for scamming clients out of $94.6 million from a $200 million settlement over the diet drug fen-phen. Galliion and Cunningham had argued the errors denied them a fair trial. Gallion and Cunningham were convicted in 2009 of scamming more than 400 clients out of millions they had won against American Home Products, now known as Wyeth, a subsidiary of Pfizer. The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals also ruled that Gallion and Cunningham Jr. were properly ordered to repay their former clients $127,678,834 in restitution, the amount the clients were entitled to under the settlement without any reduction for fees the attorneys were due. Judge Ronald Lee Gilman wrote for the three-member panel that the two now-disbarred attorneys agreed to take $22 million each in attorney's fees, but "concocted a fraudulent scheme" to take twice as much from their clients. Gilman aggressively questioned prosecutors during oral arguments in January. Fen-phen was pulled from the market in 1997 after users had heart problems related to the drug.

ARH Seeks Injunction

{Harlan, Kentucky}...A forum was held in Harlan Tuesday afternoon with ARH officials and eastern Kentucky leaders. Tuesday, attorneys for Appalachian Regional Healthcare asked a federal judge to issue an injunction ordering Coventry Cares to let its members keep receiving services through the hospital chain to avoid disruptions to patients and widespread layoffs it says will occur in the region unless a judge intervenes. Coventry Cares is one of three companies approved by the state to provide managed-care services to poor, disabled and elderly people throughout most of the state under Medicaid. Coventry said it would cancel its contract with ARH after May 4th. The termination, if it happens, would affect about 25,000 Medicaid recipients in the ARH service area. ARH has eight hospitals and other programs such as clinics and home-health agencies in eastern Kentucky.

Judge Says Cabinet Worker Improperly Fired

{Louisville, Kentucky}...U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II in Louisville found that the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services dismissed Milton Elwood Stroder from his job in 2009 for a violation of the cabinet's email policy, while letting Shannon Duncan, a heterosexual employee who committed the same infraction stay on the job. Stroder sued the cabinet alleging that his supervisors dismissed him because he's gay. The cabinet denied that it discriminated against Stroder and said it was coincidence that Stroder was fired as a probationary employee, and Duncan's case wasn't processed until a few days later, after she became a permanent employee and could not be fired because of additional rights afforded to such workers. Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said the agency "respectfully disagrees" with Heyburn's decision and is weighing an appeal. Heyburn gave Stroder until May 15th to file for damages or a remedy.