Lexington (Kentucky)

A Texas county judge is using the threat of a possible civil war if President Barack Obama is re-elected to argue for a tax increase to hire more sheriff's deputies.

A federal judge in Kentucky has allowed a gay couple to file jointly for bankruptcy. ??A federal judge in Kentucky has allowed a gay couple to file jointly for bankruptcy. It is believed to be the first such filing by a gay couple in the state. Bob Joles and Joey Lester, who have been together for 16 years, married on May 9 in Buffalo, New York, one of six states where such unions are legal. The Louisville couple lost more than $200,000 in a market in downtown Louisville, The Bodega at Felice. The couple was allowed to file a joint Chapter 13 bankruptcy in federal court because the Obama administration is no longer challenging such filings. Last year, a federal bankruptcy court in California ruled the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. DOMA is the 1996 law which prohibits federal agencies from recognizing the legal marriages of gay and lesbian couples. In an unusual show of support, 19 out of the remaining 23 judges of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of

A new points system will be used starting in 2013 to determine the 20 starters in the Kentucky Derby, replacing graded stakes race earnings as the way to decide which horses make the field.

Japanese equestrian Hiroshi Hoketsu, who is expected to be the oldest competitor at the London Olympics, insisted on Thursday he was still getting better at age 71 with no retirement in sight.

At least 10 people were injured overnight when post-basketball game revelry in Lexington, Kentucky, turned violent, The Louisville Courier-Journal reported Sunday.

(Reuters) - After hearing actor Morgan Freeman call Black History Month "ridiculous" on a television news show a few years ago, New York filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman set out to challenge the February tradition.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Autism tends to go hand in hand with a variety of other mental and behavioral conditions in kids, suggests a new study that highlights the fuzzy nature of autism diagnoses themselves.

LEXINGTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum made his closing argument on Friday to South Carolina primary voters: Vote for me because I won't leave you hot and I won't leave you cold.

(Reuters) - Southwest Airlines Co <LUV.N> said on Friday that its AirTran subsidiary would stop operating at six U.S. airports this year because of higher fuel costs.

PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (Reuters) - A group of descendants of Civil War soldiers who fought for the South sued a city in western Virginia on Thursday over a regulation that prevents them from flying Confederate flags.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - After disappointing results earlier this year, researchers say new study findings from Kentucky offer a bit of hope for ovarian cancer screening.

But a recent dig at an 18th-century house in Newton is a reminder that archeology is relevant everywhere - and that our own backyards can be rich with artifacts and history, authorities say.

A holiday service will be held by the nonprofit Visiting Nurse and Community Health organization's Hospice Care program Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Church of Our Saviour at 21 Marathon St. The service will include readings, music and the opportunity to light candles for a loved one. The service is designed particularly for those who are experiencing loss or other problems during the holiday season. The Arlington-based nonprofit agency is also raffling off a holiday quilt on Dec. 15 in remembrance of the home health, hospice and private-care patients it has served. Tickets for the raffle are $2, or $5 for three tickets, and can be obtained by contacting Lauren Shaughnessy at 781-643-6090, ext. 1206. - Brock Parker

Singers as citizens

The town has named two representatives to a biosafety committee being created by Dyax Corp., a pharmaceutical company that plans to move into Burlington, according to Susan Lumenello, environmental engineer for the Board of Health. She said the board's regulations require that any company planning to use recombinant DNA/RNA create a biosafety committee to ensure that it complies with National Institutes of Heath guidelines intended to protect the health and safety of workers, and the protection of the environment when such work is undertaken. Cambridge-based Dyax plans to relocate to 55 Network Drive early next year, according to Lumenello. The Board of Health designated Lumenello to serve as its representative on the biosafety committee, and selectmen appointed James Harrison to serve as the community representative. Harrison, a Burlington resident, is an environmental health and safety manager for a private company in Lexington with more 20 years of experience in the field, Lumenello

I READ Eric Moskowitz's ``No more free passes on T'' (Metro, Nov. 20) in disbelief and dismay. Cited for nonpayment of his fare, Orion Lexington promptly tore up the citation and claimed such a ticket was ``unfair.'' As a dean's list student at Northeastern, either Lexington is a master of irony or he has no sense of civic responsibility. His disrespectful behavior should not be tolerated.

A COMPUTER'S hard drive is the component most vulnerable to failure (``Romney staffers wiped out records in '06,'' Page A1, Nov. 17). Consequently, nobody would value a used hard drive for anything other than the information it contained. Moreover, very few people ever need or purchase new hard drives for use with computers they already have, and when extra hard drive capacity is needed, even fewer people purchase internal (rather than external) hard drives because the former are often difficult to mate to an existing machine.

BAY STATE (CAREY)

June Hatfield

617-266-1300