Kentucky Briefs

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky is using federal stimulus money to help create jobs and offer more training for elderly people.

Gov. Steve Beshear's office says Kentucky has received a grant of more than $451,000 in federal economic stimulus money for the Kentucky Senior Community Service Employment Program. The program is intended to help people age 55 and older get training and find part-time employment.

The money is expected to help create up to 47 new jobs for elderly Kentuckians.

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Ky. Parks Department to serve Derby breakfast

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Parks Department will be serving food at Gov. Steve Beshear's Kentucky Derby breakfast on Saturday at the state Capitol.

Food will be for sale this year, unlike in the past when it was served to visitors for free.

Fresh biscuits with country ham, sausage or chicken will be sold for $1 each. Homemade muffins and apple juice and orange juice will also be available.

Coffee and water will be free. The breakfast starts at 8 a.m. and runs until noon.

The breakfast also will have a farmer's market, entertainment and arts and crafts. Officials are asking people to bring nonperishable food items to benefit local food banks.

Facing state budget trouble, state officials have trimmed about $200,000 from the cost of the breakfast.

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KY GOP official prepares to run for Bunning's seat

WASHINGTON (AP) — A rising star in the Kentucky GOP is making plans to run for the U.S. Senate next year while incumbent Sen. Jim Bunning says he has no intention of retiring.

Secretary of State Trey Grayson has insisted he won't run unless fellow Republican Bunning decides to abandon his re-election bid, but he said Thursday that he has formed an exploratory committee, a move that allows him to raise and spend campaign money. A spokesman for Bunning released a statement saying that the two-term senator is still in the race.

"Sen. Bunning has every intention of running," said his spokesman, Mike Reynard.

Grayson said in a statement that he has "no plans" to run against Bunning.

"This exploratory committee will allow me to travel the commonwealth, meet with potential supporters and lay the foundation for a campaign," he said.

Still, Grayson is readying for a run. He has hired Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's pollster, Jan van Lohuizen, who confirmed the working relationship Thursday. Grayson filed for the exploratory committee "with Bunning's OK," van Lohuizen said.

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Soldier: Comrades wore 'ninja suits' as disguise

PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — After raping an Iraqi teen and killing her family, a former U.S. Army soldier placed a pillow over the young girl's face, then fired multiple shots from an AK-47, killing her, two former soldiers said Thursday.

Jesse Spielman and James Paul Barker, both one-time members of the 101st Airborne Division, told jurors in the trial of Steven Dale Green that Green, Barker and another soldier put on lightweight black long underwear, known to soldiers as "ninja suits," as a disguise before going to a nearby home on March 12, 2006.

Barker said he and Green discussed a plan to attack the family.

Barker, who is serving a 90-year prison sentence for his role in the attack, said part of the plan was "that Green was going to kill whoever was in the house."

The testimony came on the fourth day of Green's trial on more than a dozen charges related to the rape and murder of 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi and the shooting deaths of her mother, father and younger sister near Mahmoudiya, Iraq, south of Baghdad.

Green, 23, of Midland, Texas, has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say they will ask a jury to sentence Green to death if he is convicted. He's being tried in civilian court because he was discharged from the Army before charges were brought in the case.