The case against a Bowling Green volleyball coach accused of having sex with an underage girl is headed to a grand jury. 

Twenty-eight-year-old Brian Gifford was in Warren District Court Friday and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. 

A Kentucky State Police investigation found that Gifford had sex on multiple occasions with a 15-year-old player that he met while coaching for the Barren River Area Volleyball Organization.  Warren County Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Cohron says the investigation is ongoing.

"Our main concern is to make sure that any children affected by this individual come forward, and if anybody does have information we would ask them to contact Kentucky State Police or the Commonwealth's Attorneys Office," urges Cohron.

Gifford remains in the Warren County Regional Jail.  His attorney Alan Simpson declined to comment Friday.

Twelve professionals make up the inaugural class of the Warren County Public Schools Hall of Distinguished Alumni.  It's a diverse group whose backgrounds range from the military and medicine to business and sports. 

School System Attorney Bart Darrell helped create the Hall, and he says it's as much for current students as it is for alumni.

"We certainly want our students here now to see the bar that has been set for them and realize there were some really great folks who came before them, and they need to try to live up to those standards," says Darrell.

Inductees will be honored in a ceremony Saturday evening at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green.  They include Amy Milliken, Jonathon Holland, Dr. Kenneth Bastin, Dr. Sharron Francis, Dr. Jenks Britt, Dr. James Lafferty, Dr. Jackie Lawrence, Daymeon Fishback, David Clark, Clemette Haskins, Charles Hardcastle, and Billy Ray Smith.

A coalition of western Kentucky businesses and residents has formed in hopes of minimizing the fallout of an electricity rates deal between Big Rivers Electric Co-Op and western Kentucky aluminum smelters.

The coalition is worried the deal will lead to higher utility bills for residents and businesses.

Aluminum prices have been low in the past few years, and across Kentucky, aluminum smelters have sought to save money on their electricity bills.

Earlier this year, Big Rivers cut a deal with two Western Kentucky smelters, allowing them to buy their electricity on the open market. The smelters said the change was necessary to stay in business, but the deal cost the electric company more than half of its customer base.

To make up for that, Big Rivers is asking the Kentucky Public Service Commission to approve a 30 percent rate increase for its remaining customers.

Industrial hemp legalization has failed to make it into draft copies of farm bills in the U.S. House and Senate.

The hemp issue enjoys the support of seven of the eight members of Kentucky’s federal delegation, and Senator Mitch McConnell had explored the possibility of inserting a hemp legalization provision in the Senate farm measure.

However, that provision didn’t have wide enough backing among Senators to make the farm bill draft.

A McConnell spokesman told the Courier-Journal that McConnell and Senator Rand Paul “continue to look at several options to move the hemp legislation through the Senate.” The spokesman said inclusion in the farm bill isn’t the only option for changing federal laws regarding industrial hemp.

Kentucky lawmakers this year passed a bill allowing farmers in the state to grow hemp if the federal government legalized the crop.

WKU Public Radio has contacted the office of Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer for any response to hemp's lack of inclusion in the draft farm bills. We will bring you any reaction when we receive it.

The Warren County Board of Education has named three finalists for superintendent.  A screening committee narrowed the applicant pool from 14 to these three:

- Allen Barber, Director of Human Resources/Secondary Education for Jackson County District Nine in Eagle Point, Oregon.

- Rob Clayton, Principal of South Oldham Middle School in Crestwood, Kentucky.

- Dr. Franzy Fleck, Superintendent of Burbank School District 111 in Burbank, Illinois.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam has signed into law a reduction in the state's sales tax on groceries.

Starting July 1, Tennessee shoppers will pay a 5% sales tax on retail food items. That's a reduction from the current 5.25% tax and down from 5.5% in the previous budget year. The regular sales tax is 7%, while local governments can add an additional tax of up to 2.75%.

he reduction in the sales tax on groceries was part of Haslam's legislative agenda and was approved in tandem with cuts to the state's taxes on inheritance, gifts and income from interest and dividends.

The new president of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College in Cumberland is F. Lynn Moore, currently the vice-president of student development and administrative services at Umpqua Community College in Oregon.

Moore's appointment was announced Thursday by Kentucky Community and Technical College System President Michael McCall.

Before going to Umpqua, Moore was dean of students and an adjunct instructor at Hill Community College District in Texas and supplemental education services director at Texas State Technical College.

Moore said in a  statement from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System that she is "honored and proud" to be selected for the post. She'll begin her duties July 8th after the retirement of President Bruce Ayers, who's led the college for 26 years.

Army officials say the manager of the sexual assault response program at Ft. Campbell has been arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post.

Lt. Col. Darin Haas turned himself in to police on charges of violating an order of protection and stalking.  A spokesman for the post said Haas was immediately removed as manager of a program meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity.

MSGT Pete Mayes said Haas and his ex-wife have orders of protection against each other. Sgt. Chuck Gill of the Clarksville police department said Hass's ex-wife said he repeatedly contacted her Wednesday night despite the order.

Allegations of sexual assault in the military have triggered outrage from local commanders to Capitol Hill and the White House.

Ibrahim Jadoon will graduate with honors this weekend from Centre College in Danville. His family left Pakistan and moved to the U.S. when he was three. When Osama bin Laden was captured two years ago just blocks from Jadoon's former home, he did a lot of reflecting.

"It was disappointing because, if people don't know, Pakistan is a relatively new nation," explained Jadoon. "I realize it was the Pakastani government's poor border security, it's inability to remove extremist militant groups like the Taliban, and it's general dysfunction that enabled bin Laden to stay hidden for so long."

Jadoon often thinks about how his life would have been different had his family stayed in Pakistan.

"The United States, for all of its faults we sometime talk about in the news, unequivocally houses the best institutes of higher education in the world," said Jadoon. "I feel lucky just to be in the U.S., but in about four days when I graduate, I will join the surprisingly seven percent of the world that actually has a college degree."

The Pakistani-American spoke to Lisa Autry about how his life may have turned out had his family had not left Pakistan, and what he thinks are the prospects for a democracy in his home country.