While Jack Conway has been keen to publicly embarrass himself by saying the pill problem in Kentucky is going away? Uh, well, take a look at those indicted:

Jason Allen Ware, 34, Frankfort, Ky Debra Q. Baker, 61, Frankfort, Ky Jodi L. Ware, 38, Frankfort, Ky Jeffrey Keith Ware, 31, Frankfort, Ky Henry Earl Penn, 47, Frankfort, Ky Jeff Allen Carrier, 43, Frankfort, Ky Elizabeth A. Cummins, 57, Frankfort, Ky Jessie Taylor Quire, 34, Frankfort, Ky Artis Ike “Peter” Quire, 43, Frankfort, Ky William Risque Beeler, 43, Frankfort, Ky Jason Corde Smith, 40, Frankfort, Ky Willis Earl Bickers, 31, Frankfort, Ky Douglas Robert Smith, 22, Frankfort, Ky Kelly Ray Smith, 38, Lexington, Ky Andrea Sue Corman, 33, Frankfort, Ky Aimee Denise Hockensmith, 27, Frankfort, Ky John Charles Herman, 30, Lawrenceburg, Ky Jason Thomas Dezarn, 32, Lawrenceburg, Ky Brian Keith Bobbitt, 41, Frankfort, Ky Michael Lee Baker, 44, Frankfort, Ky Floyd Thomas Quire, 49, Frankfort, Ky Angela Michelle Shelton, 41, Frankfort, Ky Mark Allen Perkins, 43, Frankfort, Ky John Wayne Wiley, 43, Frankfort, Ky Joe Quire, 28, Frankfort, Ky Shelly L. Hopper, 37, Lawrenceburg, Ky Bronson Dwayne Masters, 34, Frankfort, Ky

Feeling frisky, reporters? Click here to see photos of many of those indicted.

Operation Untouchable was a six month investigation into the illegal sale of Oxycodone via the Florida pipeline. They estimate that 36,120 pills were illegally distributed in Franklin County by the criminal syndicate between December 2010 and January 2012. That’s 885,450 milligrams of Oxy. Something like $920,000 worth of drugs.

The name “Operation Untouchable,” though? Comes from the druggies themselves. They made t-shirts bearing the words “The Untouchables.”

What was that, again, about Jack Conway drying up pills in Kentucky? Because his office had nothing to do with what was going on in his own back yard.

Jefferson County Attorney Mike O’Connell says the board of the trust that receives and disburses state and local indigent care money to University Hospital hasn’t met since at least 2009 despite being required to meet twice a year.

-SNIP-

The trust is supervised by a nine-member board of directors, which consists of six members appointed by the U of L Board of Trustees or U of L staff. The other three directors are elected by the university trustees, two from a list of nominees submitted by the mayor and one from the Louisville Metro Board of Health, the financial statement says.

“It is operated and controlled by the University of Louisville,” O’Connell said.

We smell a massive audit in 3, 2…

Seriously:

Kentucky Retirement Systems corrects misreporting

Published at 3:04pm on January 09, 2012

-SNIP-

KRS was one of three founding institutional investors in the Darien CT based Arrowhawk Durable Alpha hedge fund, which currently utilizes 6 different diversified investment strategies. This fund was KRS‘s initial entry into Absolute Return investments.

-SNIP-

For the calendar year ended December 31st, 2011 Durable Alpha generated an estimated 1% net return, above many peer groups and indices, which ended the year in negative territory. This program has provided diversification and protected KRS capital during the recent difficult market environment.

-SNIP-

KRS continues to expect we will get our entire investment back in early 2012. As with all investments, this value is still subject to some fluctuation as the portfolios investments are sold in a cost conscious, risk minimizing, net asset value maximizing effort.

KRS Staff will be monitoring the transition continuously over the quarter to ensure that risk continues to be reduced in an appropriate manner and that KRS is treated equitably.

Do you smell the CYA going on?

Offering no examples of “misreporting.” And no explanation of a major discrepancy. As Kentucky Government Retirees said:

[T]he amount is being reported as $100 million. The annual report shows an investment of $104,174,000. We have contacted KRS to see about the discrepancy. Maybe the difference represents a commission?

And we still have no clue what kind of “misreporting” is going on. Because facts are facts. Just like those dollars used to issue that press release came from the taxpayers.

Completely bizarre release, no?

The KRS is attempting to claim that Arrowhawk needed $2 billion to remain in business. Unfortunately for KRS, we’re not completely brain dead. There are more than 8,500 hedge funds with greater than 90% of them with less than $2 billion in assets and they’re not going out of business.

A study (Warning: External PDF Link) from SMU showed smaller hedge funds actually performed better than the beasts. Of the 7,400 hedge funds the study examined, more than 80% were smaller than $100 million in size.

This paper (Warning: Another External PDF Link) from the Center for Institutional Investment Management and School of Business at the University of Albany indicates that the size argument is bogus.

The real reason KRS is in a huff? It’s attempting to cover up the Securities and Exchange Commission investigation involving Glen Sergeon and the KRS itself. That’s part of what drove Arrowhawk out of business. That’s what the KRS desperately wants to cover up.

The audit said the financial firm invested MSD money in government securities but used a proprietary buying-and-selling tactic based on interest rate changes — and that board members were largely in the dark about it. Luallen said she would forward her findings to the Internal Revenue Service to determine if MSD investments were appropriate for a nonprofit agency.

The audit said the Yield Enhancement Program had generated $30 million a year during the past two years. But it also found that MSD had paid more than $10 million in fees in the past three years

Convenient, we know.

Because that tactic in the Yield Enhancement Program is “propriety” because it is illegal. The IRS will likely back fine much of that $30 million in profit made.

The tactic? It’s to game the system the Treasury put in place to help municipalities fund projects.

Those $10 million in fees will remain lost and wasted. Because MSD likely won’t be able to recover them because they involved sweet, sweet kickbacks for a couple people we’ve covered extensively the past few weeks.

There will be no accountability.

Or is the fact that he says the state is withholding too much information about child deaths a good thing when it comes to his potential decisions? [H-L]

The truth about the Keystone XL pipeline? Doesn’t look like the McConnell-Republican claim of jobs is based in reality. [HuffPo]

Kentucky ranks sixth in the United States when it comes to overdose deaths. Yet another statistic for the Commonwealth to be proud of. [WKYT]

Kentucky obtained $47 million to help clean up abandoned mine sites left prior to 1982. So how many mines will the state claim were abandoned after 1982? It’s been a common practice in Frankfort to claim something is much newer than it is to avoid responsibility. [H-L]

Gasoline prices jumped a whopping 40 cents over night and Jack Conway isn’t batting an eye. Price gouging? What? [WLEX18]

Economists are predicting only modest growth in state revenues. But the only thing they’re really certain of us more uncertainty on all fronts. [Ronnie Ellis]

Are charter schools really holding up their end of the bargain? Some are, some aren’t. You can go ahead and assume the right-wing ark park-type aren’t. [HuffPo]

Officials are split on a hands-free ban for drivers nationwide. Because that is clearly the most important issue facing this country. Cell phones. [Reuters]

This is truly the American way. Presiding over and knowing about the theft of millions of millions of tax dollars and getting rewarded with bonuses and raises worth millions. [Page One]

Your flourishing economy has contributed to the slowest population growth rate since the 1940s. Nothing to see here, though! Everything is puppies & rainbows. [NY Times]

300 Fort Knox soldiers have returned home to Kentucky for the holidays. Check out the slideshow. [FOX41]

Because you know we love causing heart attacks in Frankfort, here’s another taste:

Four months later, on Saturday, May 12, seven days after Laffit Pincay Jr. rode Swale to victory in the 110th Kentucky Derby, Raywick chalked up its third murder of the year when thirty-three-year-old Terry Williams shot twenty-seven-year-old Ronnie Ellis. Both men were in the marijuana business, although the killing wasn’t work-related at all; it was personal.

Ronnie Ellis had first made a name for himself in October 1981, when he and two other Marion County men were arrested in Atlantic City, New Jersey, while delivering fifty pounds of Kentucky marijuana.

It comes from this:

Because you love a good scandal, you should probably click here to pre-order the book. The better it sells, the more attention it gets outside the Commonwealth and the better a Kentuckian does in the end.

It’s a dang good read. I just finished it. You won’t want to miss it.

Also, sorry to cause Ronnie Ellis-related panic attacks. Everybody needed to wake up from holiday party sugar comas, anyway.

It doesn’t tell you that Patricia Poprick/First American Municipals was the “Investment Management Firm” that was paid $7.1 million. See page 68 (Warning: External PDF Link) of the audit.

The audit also doesn’t tell you that the firm is just a one person operation outside Philadelphia. Or that Kentucky seems to have an affinity for corrupt Pennsylvania folks, as the former head of Kentucky Retirement Systems CIO Adam Tosh is from PA. He came from a firm where a big dog is still serving jail time.

Who is Patricia Poprick? What’s the deal with her firm?

CLICK HERE to read the rest…

“The tragic explosion at Upper Big Branch left dozens of families without husbands, fathers, brothers and sons,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “I made a pledge to the families of those we lost, and the entire mining community, to conduct the most complete and thorough investigation possible in order to find the cause of this disaster. The results of the investigation lead to the conclusion that PCC/Massey promoted and enforced a workplace culture that valued production over safety, and broke the law as they endangered the lives of their miners. By issuing the largest fine in MSHA’s history, I hope to send a strong message that the safety of miners must come first.”

The announcement comes as part of a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in West Virginia, the DOJ and Massey/its various company names. It includes nearly $210 million for remedial safety measures at all Massey mines, a trust fund for improvements in mine safety and health, payment of outstanding civil penalties for all former Massey mines and restitution payments for victims’ families. The agreement, according to the White House, resolves criminal liability for Massey/Alpha but doesn’t provide protection against criminal prosecution of any individuals.

From a release:

MSHA concluded that the 29 miners died in a massive coal dust explosion that started as a methane ignition. While the investigation found the physical conditions that led to the coal dust explosion were the result of a series of basic safety violations at UBB, which PCC and Massey disregarded, the report cites unlawful policies and practices implemented by PCC and Massey as the root cause of the explosion – including the intimidation of miners, advance notice of inspections, and two sets of books with hazards recorded in UBB’s internal production and maintenance book but not in the official examination book. The investigation found that the operator promoted and enforced a workplace culture that valued production over safety, including practices calculated to allow it to conduct mining operations in violation of the law.

-SNIP-

MSHA issued PCC and Massey 12 citations and orders deemed contributory to the cause of the accident, and nine of those violations were assessed as flagrant, which carry the highest possible penalties. Violations include illegally providing advance notice to miners of MSHA inspections; failing to properly conduct required examinations; allowing hazardous levels of loose coal, coal dust and float coal dust to accumulate; failing to adequately apply rock dust to the mine; failing to adequately train miners; and failing to comply with approved ventilation plans and approved roof control plans. MSHA also issued 357 citations and orders to PCC and Massey that did not contribute directly to the explosion, including 11 assessed as flagrant. Additionally, MSHA issued two contributory and two non-contributory violations to David Stanley Consulting LLC – a contractor that supplied examiners and other miners to work at UBB – for its examiner’s failure to properly conduct examinations. These violations carry penalties of $142,684.

MSHA conducted its investigation under the authority of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, which requires that authorized representatives of the secretary of labor carry out investigations in mines for the purpose of obtaining, utilizing and disseminating information relating to the causes of the accidents.

MSHA conducted the underground investigation in coordination with the West Virginia Office of Miners’ Health Safety and Training, the Governor’s Independent Investigative Panel and Massey Energy. The United Mine Workers of America participated in the investigation in its capacity as a representative of miners designated pursuant to the Mine Act, as did Moreland & Moreland l.c.

Click here if you want to take a look at the accident investigation report or any of the supplementary documentation.

What? Of course that raised our eyebrow. Particularly because we’re familiar with the scent of investment corruption due in large part to the shenanigans at the Kentucky Retirement Systems.

It appears that the Metropolitan Sewer District has purchased $78 million in similar interest rate derivatives for no legitimate reason that we can find. Could it be a move to line pockets and generate commissions for a broker? Maybe to make a little easy money for bankers? You tell us.

Something tells us you’ll want to CLICK HERE to read the rest of this story on The ‘Ville Voice…

Because we’ve uncovered evidence of meth offenders actually buying pseudophedrine without being blocked at the point-of-sale.

Some of these stories are no longer online but we were able to dig them up via Google’s cache.

Here’s one:

Bond was set at $20,000 Friday for a Dewey man for violating the Oklahoma Methamphetamine Offender Registry Act.

Jimmy Wayne Eutsler, 24, faces 31 felony counts of the charge after he allegedly obtained 75.84 grams of pseudoephedrine from local stores between Nov. 4, 2010, and Sept. 6 of this year, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case.

The affidavit states that on Nov. 1, 2010, the state enacted the Oklahoma Methamphetamine Offender Registry Act, which created a registry of persons convicted of methamphetamine related crimes.

The registry consists of persons who, after Nov. 1, 2010, have been convicted or received a suspended sentence or any deferred or probationary term, or who are currently serving a sentence or any form of probation or parole for a crime or attempt to commit a crime including unlawful possession, conspiring, endeavoring, manufacturing, distribution or trafficking of a precursor or methamphetamines, according to the affidavit.

Here’s another:

A 41-year-old Enid woman was arraigned Thursday on 11 felony charges of violating Oklahoma’s Methamphetamine Registry Act.

-SNIP-

The charges allege Wichert purchased cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine between November 2010 and April of this year while on probation for possession of methamphetamine, which is a violation of the Methamphetamine Registry Act.

The law, which went into effect in November, prohibits anyone with a meth-related conviction from purchasing or possessing any form of pseudoephedrine, the main ingredient of methamphetamine.

-SNIP-

In 2004, Oklahoma became the first state to place restrictions upon the sale and availability of over-the-counter medications containing pseudoephedrine.

The result was a lower number of meth labs in the state. However, a recent trend shows a resurgence of smaller meth labs that require less pseudoephedrine.

The newest law prohibits the sale of powered or tablet forms of pseudoephedrine but does not prevent those with meth-related convictions from buying liquid-form medications containing the drug.

Now it seems like both sides are responsible for misinformation. And people from other states are getting involved in Kentucky’s affairs by being less than honest.