56 year old Jerry Petry was arrested by the Kentucky State Police on Wednesday in Lincoln County after officers located and seized 1.125 pounds of processed pot, 80 Oxycontin tablets, 30 hydrocodone tablets, 19 Xanax tablets and 75 valium. Trooper Ryan Loudermilk says Petry faces a variety of drug charges.







Also arrested at the scene was 30 year old William D. Brock on an unrelated Pulaski County warrant.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Important changes are ahead for holders of a Kentucky Commercial Driver License (CDL) as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet implements a federally mandated database project aimed at improving highway safety.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires CDL holders or applicants to provide medical certification that they are healthy enough to drive. As of Monday, Jan. 30, the information is to be entered into a national database – the Commercial Driver License Information System (CDLIS).

“Highway safety has been, and continues to be, a high priority of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet,” KYTC Secretary Mike Hancock said. “It is in the public interest to do what we can to ensure that CDL operators are medically fit to drive. And it is important for these operators to be aware that the licensing process has additional requirements that are going to take more time. They should not wait until their deadline for renewal.”

For Kentucky CDL holders or applicants, the CDLIS modernization project means that critical information must be submitted to the KYTC Division of Driver Licensing in Frankfort before the CDL can be renewed or issued by a circuit court clerk.

The required information includes a license application and a valid medical card. It also includes, as a new requirement, a “self-certification” form in which drivers or applicants state whether they will be operating in interstate commerce or only within Kentucky or engaging in transportation that is exempted from driver qualification requirements.

Processing at the Division of Driver Licensing will take seven to 14 days. Circuit court clerks will no longer be able to enter medical information into an electronic record system.

The cabinet is trying to ease the transition. CDL holders whose medical certifications are within 60 days of expiration are being notified of the new process by mail. First-time applicants are being sent a packet of information that explains the new process and includes the license application, medical examination report and self-certification form.

Kentucky has about 150,000 CDL holders, including operators of commercial motor vehicles over 26,000 lbs, federally placarded hazardous material vehicles, school buses and other vehicles that can carry 16 or more passengers. Information is at http://transportation.ky.gov/Driver-Licensing/Pages/Applying-for-a-CDL.aspx.

An autistic man who lives at a residential care facility in Danville walked away from that facility on Thursday morning, and police later found him ready to take a swim in a nearby pond.. They got the call from Homeplace Support Services who said the man,who lives at their Madison Avenue facility had walked away. Because the caregiver was alone and couldn't leave, police set out to find the man. They did find him, disrobed and ready to take a dive. They instead called for an ambulance to take him to the hospital to be checked out. He was later released and sent home.

The Kentucky Office of Employmernt and Training reports that Boyle County's unemployment rate ropped to The jobless rate fell to 10.3 percent in December, down from 10.6 in November and 11.8 percent a year earlier.. Most Kentucky counties are reporting a decrease in unemployment. The jobless rate in Lincoln County fell to 11.4 percent in December.