Tased and confused: If you missed it, news channel WLKY did an investigative report on the use of Tasers by the Louisville Metro Police Department. The story revealed that officers have averaged one Taser incident every 48 hours. Besides the excessive use and small infractions, their study of the police data also showed African-Americans are disproportionately zapped and made up 54 percent of the people being shot with Tasers.
Radio talk of the town: Everyone’s anticipating the name of the new host of 84 WHAS’ mid-day show, which will be announced today at 3 p.m. The station has been looking for a replacement for WHAS-Radio personality Francene Cucinello, who died in January after a brief illness. Though there’s plenty of speculation about who the “strongly opinionated” new hire will be, it’s clear that it won’t be longtime radio personality and local favorite Joe Elliot, according to the folks over at Mojo.
Downtown Blues: With the new downtown arena scheduled to open later this year, the city is pressuring developer Todd Blue to sell the string of historic whiskey warehouses along Main Street. Right now the dilapidated buildings in the Iron Quarter are an eyesore that have been untouched since 2007, despite an ambitious multifaceted $50 million project. Mayor Jerry Abramson said the city wants to see movement, but Blue isn’t budging and says a recent report on salvaging the area isn’t close to being realistic.
Ways and means and ends: Though larger issues such as the health-care reform debate loom, the troubles of Rep. Charles W. Rangel (D-NY) do matter. The longtime congressional leader recently stepped down as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, pending the outcome of inquiries by the House Ethics Committee on a variety of corruption charges.
End these times: In a journalism on journalism piece, the Washington Post questions whether the comments that readers post discourages sources from coming forward. There’s not much information on this locally other than anecdotal observations. If you look at any news article in the The Courier-Journal, for instance a homicide, the conversation usually spirals into an ugly racial tirade.