Kentucky’s jobless rate rises slightly in July

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky officials say the state’s unemployment rate increased slightly in July.

The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the state’s seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 4.3 percent. The preliminary statewide figure is up slightly from the 4.2 percent rate reported for June. Officials say the July rate was down from the 5 percent unemployment rate in July 2017.

Mike Clark is an associate director of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Business and Economic Research. Clark says the number of people working also increased but the number of people unemployed grew at a faster rate.

Prosecutor: Defendant admitted to shooting detective

SCOTTSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky prosecutor says a man charged with the attempted murder of a police officer admitted to shooting the officer in recorded jailhouse calls.

The Bowling Green Daily News quotes Allen County Commonwealth’s Attorney Clint Willis as telling a jury that 31-year-old Ben Wyatt expressed no remorse.

Simpson County Sheriff’s Detective Eddie Lawson testified Wednesday during the first day of Wyatt’s trial.

Lawson said when he tried to serve an arrest warrant in 2016, Wyatt was highly agitated and told him he wasn’t going to jail.

The detective said when he reached for his pepper spray, Wyatt pulled out a handgun. An ensuing shootout left Lawson with serious gunshot wounds to his hip, leg and foot.

Public defender Pat Roemer told the jury there are several explanations for what happened.

Kentucky choir teacher charged with sexual abuse

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Court records say a Kentucky choir teacher has been charged with four counts of sexual abuse.

News outlets report three of the counts against 36-year-old Thomas C. Steuart involve a child under the age of 12. The teacher at Winburn Middle School in Lexington was arraigned Thursday on the fourth count.

Steuart has been placed on administrative leave.

Court documents say a group of children would sometimes go to Steuart’s house to swim and watch movies. Records say one of the children under 12 said Steuart inappropriately touched him twice while they watched movies. Another child said in an interview that Steuart took a group of children out to eat and inappropriate touching later occurred.

It’s unclear if he has a lawyer.

Newseum to honor legendary black journalist with statue

By TRAMON LUCAS, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — A pioneering black, female journalist is being honored with a statue in the nation’s capital.

A life-size sculpture of Alice Allison Dunnigan, the first African-American woman credentialed to cover the White House, will go on display next month at the Newseum, the nonprofit news museum in Washington.

Dunnigan, a native of Russellville, Kentucky, became head of the Associated Negro Press’ Washington bureau in 1947. In 1948, she covered President Harry Truman’s whistle-stop campaign tour, the first black, female journalist to do so.

Dunnigan also was the first black woman to obtain press credentials to cover Congress, the State Department and the Supreme Court. She died in 1983.