WKU Public Radio took home four First Place awards at the 2013 Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters Awards ceremony in Louisville, including a win in the category of Best Newscast. The win represents the combined on-air work of Dan Modlin, Kevin Willis, Lisa Autry and Joe Corcoran for 2012 in the non-commercial radio category.
Retired news director Dan Modlin also won first place for Best Enterprise/Investigative Reporting for his report on how some Kentucky senior citizens are losing their prescriptions to theft. Modlin also received an Honorable Mention for Best Public Affairs reporting for a report on the impact of ovarian cancer on Kentucky families.
Lisa Autry won first place in the Public Affairs category for her report on older kids in foster care needing homes. Autry also won a Second Place award for Best Hard News Feature for her story on the recovery of a Tennessee newborn following a heart transplant, Second Place for Best Political Coverage throughout the year and an Honorable Mention award for Best Radio Reporter.
Joe Corcoran received the first place award for Best Sports Reporting for his series of reports following WKU swimmer Claire Donahue on her way to the Olympic gold medal. News Director Kevin Willis received an Honorable Mention in that category for his report on WKU's new head football coach Bobby Petrino and an Honorable Mention in the Best Special Series/Documentary category for his reports on the impact of meth in our area.
The news staff also received a Second Place award for Best Website.
All of the award-winning entries can be found on-line by clicking on the reporter's photo or name on our home page.
The WKU Herald reports that WKU Provost Gordon Emslie is a candidate for the same position at the University of Alabama.
Emslie previously worked at the University of Alabama-Hunstville. Emslie took the WKU Provost position July 1, 2010.
The Herald report says Emslie refused to comment about his candidacy, but WKU President Gary Ransdell told the paper Emslie informed him of his interest in the Alabama job last week.
Gov. Steve Beshear has ordered that flags at all state office buildings be lowered to half-staff Saturday in honor of a Daviess County soldier killed in Afghanistan. Twenty-six-year-old Sergeant Michael Cable of Philpot died March 27 from injuries he sustained when he was attacked by a knife-wielding Afghan teenager.
Sgt. Cable was a member of the 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell.
Funeral services for Cable are being held Saturay at 1 p.m. at Haley-McGuiness Funeral Home in Owensboro, with burial services immediately following at Rose Hill Cemetery.
WKU’s director of basketball operations has resigned to pursue coaching opportunities. Jake Morton came to WKU in 2011 as an assistant coach, but was moved to the director of basketball operations job this past season.
Morton was an assistant coach at the University of Miami before he came to WKU. In February, WKU received word from the NCAA that Morton could be sanctioned for alleged violations that took place during his time at Miami.
The NCAA investigation of the Miami Hurricanes' athletic department from 2007 to 2009 involves a former booster who was later convicted of running a Ponzi scheme. The NCAA has accused Morton of accepting $6,000 from the booster, and providing transportation for the AAU coach of a top high school prospect Miami was recruiting at the time.
Tennessee is making progress in fixing problems with the computer system that is designed to track abused and neglected children. The $ 27 million system, known as the Tennessee Family and Child Tracking System, or TFACTS—has been wracked with problems since it was introduced in 2010.
The Tennessean reports federal monitors filed papers this week detailing progress made by the Department of Children’s Services in getting those issues fixed.
The statewide computer system was supposed to be able to handle the majority of DCS cases, including suspicions of abuse and neglect, as well as adoption and foster care cases. But the system has been blamed for numerous problems, including a failure to produce reports regarding children who died while in agency custody and an inability to pay Tennessee foster parents.
DCS caseworkers say TFACTS is difficult to navigate and frequently kicks them out of the system halfway through writing reports.
