Government

 Governor Steve Beshear  announced Dec. 19 that a project to replace two railroad bridges that are aged and deteriorated, yet vital to Fort Knox and countless freight customers, has been approved for an $11.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

 The process the Kentucky Public Service Commission follows in the review and approval of coal-related environmental compliance costs incurred by electric utilities is explained in a video available online.

The narrated slide show covers the legal basis for the recovery of environmental costs, the PSC’s review process and the environmental surcharge through which the costs are passed on to a utility’s ratepayers.

The video, which is about 10 minutes long, is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvGmPHRtdNk.

A short agenda marked the final meeting of the New Haven Board of Commissioners for 2011 on Thursday. Mostly routine business was discussed to include awarding the new garbage collection contract to Waste Management of Kentucky. Tim McNalley, representing the company, was on hand to address any concerns and explain a 5-percent rate increase effective until June 2013. Fees for New Haven customers will rise from $8.20 a month to $8.61. The city of New Haven simply passes on its cost to the customers taking only a small handling and postage fee of 0.275 cents of each bill.

LaRue County Fiscal Court gave its approval for the county jail to contract with a new provider, CorrectHealth, for medical services for inmates.

County Judge-executive Tommy Turner, meeting with magistrates at the courthouse in Hodgenville Dec. 14, said the new provider based in Georgia would offer more cost effective services than the current provider, Southern Health Partners.  CorrectHealth will begin its services in February.