Kentucky Meth Fighting Tool Expands, But Cops Still Needed

If you buy psuedophedrine in Kentucky, there’s a computer system that keeps track of it. If you buy too much, the computer (and, more importantly, the police) decides you’re probably making meth.

Governor Steve Beshear has touted this program’s effectiveness, and now psuedophedrine manufacturers agree. They’ve helped put together the National Precursor Log Exchange, which helps officials track purchases nationwide, if state law allows for it.

The program might help identify possible meth dealers, but LMPD Sgt. Stan Salyards told the C-J that NPLEx is just one tool, and still requires police work and officers on the street.

 

Unkillable Rats!

Okay, so they’re not unkillable, but wild rats in urban environments are hard to eliminate. Cats don’t catch them very well and poisons haven’t been working, either. The urban rat is crafty, and apparently very likely to overrun Louisville.

From Smithsonian:

Glass – who started off studying cotton rats in the Midwest – traps the animals with peanut butter baits and monitors the diseases they carry. (Hantavirus, once known as Korean hemorrhagic fever, and leptospirosis – which can cause liver and kidney failure – are of particular concern.) Lately he’s been interested in cat-rat interactions. Cats, he and his colleagues have noticed, are rather ineffectual rat assassins: they catch mainly medium-sized rodents, when they catch any at all. This predation pattern may actually have adverse effects on human health: some of the deceased mid-sized rats are already immune to harmful diseases, while the bumper crops of babies that replace them are all vulnerable to infection. Thus a higher proportion of the population ends up actively carrying the diseases at any given time.

[edit]

Even the poshest neighborhoods are afflicted: rats, Glass says, gravitate to fancy vegetable gardens, leaving gaping wounds in tomatoes. (Celery crops, one assumes, would be safer.) Recent surveys suggest that the rat populations of Baltimore neighborhoods haven’t changed much since the Hopkins studies began in the 1940s.

Visualizing Last Words

About three weeks ago, State of Affairs did a show on the death penalty. Over a Depth Reporting, Mark has taken the last words of Texans put to death (the last words were posted on a government site?!) and run them through a visualization tool.

Check it out here.

The Future Fights Back

For your weekend enjoyment, we bring you a topic that dominated conversation in the newsroom Friday afternoon.

The Large Hadron Collider is operating again, but it won’t stop sabotaging itself from the future.

What’s that? Well, two well-renowned scientists say it’s possible that malfunctions at the LHC are caused by the future. They say the collider could do something that can’t happen, so it must be stopped.

For example, if the Higg’s boson is discovered and this somehow leads to (non scientific explanation) time travel, then someone could create a time paradox. To prevent this or any other scenario for the destruction of the universe, the LHC must not be allowed to continue. But no one is sure what the LHC will discover. No one (or thing) but the future, which is stopping the LHC.

If this worries you, then follow the LHC scientists on Twitter. That way, you’ll know when the universe crumbles as the result of an unreconcilable paradox.

Wrapping Up November 20

Here’s what we reported on today:

• Corrections Department Releases Cause of Northpoint Riot
• Republican Todd Lally Joins 3rd District Race
• U-of-L Football Team Faces USF in Tampa
• More Federal Oversight of Surface Mines Proposed
• Health Care Forum Fosters Reform Dialogue

A Costly Shot Of Bourbon

Are you the type of person to laugh at economic news? When Planet Money comes on the air, do you stuff $50s in your ears and light your cigar with a burning copy of James Surowiecki’s latest column? Ha! What recession?

Well, if you’re like that, or if you just love bourbon, retailer Neiman Marcus has a package you may be interested in.

From My Loueyville:

Specifically, the Maker’s Mark Masters Distiller package offered on page 58 of this year’s Neiman Marcus Holiday Fantasy catalogue. Here’s the description.

“Any whisky aficionado will tell you it is perfection in amber. Maker’s Mark® Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky is handmade in small quantities of just 19 barrels, each batch distilled and aged with the same exacting standards the Samuels family has passed down for seven generations. As Master Distillers for a day, you and a friend will have an all-access VIP experience like no other, with Master Distiller Kevin Smith as your host. You will participate in the unique whisky-making process step by step, for an insider’s look at how every detail makes every glass a special occasion. This gift experience includes a two-bottle memento of the rarest Maker’s Mark bottles ever: Two golden bottles will be etched with your likeness and dipped in gold wax with 24-kt. gold flecks. You’ll also get to hand dip six of your own 375ml Maker’s Mark bottles in signature red wax and take them home. The experience includes luxury accommodations in Louisville and a gourmet dinner hosted by Bill Samuels, Jr. (the top dog at Maker’s Mark).”

The cost? $7,500.

State Of The News

Today’s State of Affairs will feature…

From WFPL:

Rick Howlett

Stephanie Crosby

Me (Gabe Bullard)

From the C-J:

Dan Klepal

From LEO:

Phillip Bailey

Jonathan Meador

FourSquare Comes To Louisville

The popular location-based social network FourSquare is available in Louisville. How long has it been here?

You can join and earn points and badges (redeemable for web credibility) for visiting local businesses. Businesses in some cities have taken advantage of FourSquare’s devoted following by offering specials (discounts, free drinks, etc) to high profile users.

You can join FourSquare here. But will you?

Smoky Cityscape

This post comes from WFPL’s Stephanie Crosby.

Many of us frequent certain websites throughout the day to keep up with what’s going on in the world. Today, while browsing the featured stories on Yahoo.com, I saw a photo of that oh-so-familiar shot from Indiana: the Louisville skyline. Underneath those glistening buildings were the words “U.S. Cities With The Most Smokers”. And one click away was the information that was surprising and not-so-surprising.

According to the CDC:

The Smokiest U.S. Metro Areas % of Population who are Current Smokers

Wichita Falls, Texas 30.9

Hagerstown, MD/Martinsburg, WV 28.9

Huntington, WV/Ashland, KY 27.9

Louisville, KY 27.5

Winston-Salem, NC 25.3

That’s right. Our smoking rate is higher than that of a town sometimes referred to as “Camel City” because of the city’s prominent tobacco industry. And our friends in eastern Kentucky are smoking even more.

The CDC report also found that for the first time in a decade, the national smoking rate increased from 2007 to 2008.

Some silver lining? The smoking rate of young adults (18 to 24) fell 3.6%.

Senator Chambliss, That’s Mississippi

National Geographic has launched an interesting web feature. They asked senators to to draw their home state and point out at least three areas of interest.

Since Senators aren’t generally elected for their artistic abilities, it’s easy to forgive some inaccuracies. Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss, however, seems to have confused his home state for Mississippi, which is all the way on the other side of Alabama.

(via Wonkette)