News Briefs: June 25, 2009

OVEC gets library grant Librarians in public schools and county public libraries throughout the region soon will receive intensified training for collaboration with K-12th grade teachers.   The Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) in Shelbyville recently was awarded a Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to implement Project CATALYST (Collaboration among Teachers and Librarians Yields Successful Teaching).  Leon Mooneyhan, OVEC’s chief executive officer, expressed the organization’s excitement regarding the more than half-million dollar grant ($578,818).  “OVEC is honored to have received the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Grant.  The project will empower librarians and teachers to improve students’ literacy achievement.  Our member districts consider this program a valuable contribution to their professional development programs.”    OVEC, which administers educational programs for 14 school districts throughout 13 counties, submitted the grant through Carroll County Public Schools, and the project will serve six additional school districts, and including Shelby County’s Clear Creek Elementary, Heritage Elementary, Painted Stone Elementary, and Wright Elementary schools.  Project CATALYST will provide approximately 70 hours of professional development for 35 participating librarians each year.  Librarians receive stipends for participating in professional development, as well as professional resources.     Shelby unemployment falls Shelby County’s unemployment rate continues to notch downward. Figures for May show that 8.7 percent are unemployed in the county, down one-tenth of one percent from April and .9 from May of 2009. Unemployment rates fell in 93 counties between May 2009 and May 2010, according to of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.  Shelby County continues to have the third-lowest rate in the region, trailing only Oldham County (8 percent) and Franklin (8.3), who are among state’s lowest. Fayette County recorded the lowest jobless rate in the Commonwealth at 7.7 percent. Magoffin County recorded the state’s highest unemployment rate — 19.1 percent.  Unemployment statistics are based on estimates and are compiled to measure trends rather than actually to count people working. Civilian labor force statistics include non-military workers and unemployed Kentuckians who are actively seeking work. They do not include unemployed Kentuckians who have not looked for employment within the past four weeks.   FEI games to charge for parking It’s official: All parking for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington will be at a farm next to the Kentucky Horse Park on Ironworks Pike and will cost a minimum of $20 a car, cash only, officials said Wednesday. That scraps the original plan to allow free parking at Newtown Pike’s Coldstream Research Park in Lexington and shuttle people to the Horse Park. It also may renew concerns about traffic congestion near the Games. The plan eliminates any free ride to the Games and makes the lowest-cost option to get to the Games a LexTran bus at $5 per passenger round-trip or a $5 per day round-trip available at hotels that are preferred partners of the Games. The cost for those hotel shuttles will increase to $10 for the preferred hotels if bought after Aug. 1, and to $15 if bought during the Games, which run from Sept. 25 to Oct. 10.

 Parking is available near LexTran’s Vine Street terminal for the $5 bus shuttle, according to the announcement, which does not mention how much it will cost to park there or how many spaces will be available. A LexTran spokesman could not be reached for comment.