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Today’s Lane Links

The recently retired chairman of Marker’s Mark has lauded Somerset as an ideal place to locate a microdistillery, reports the Commonwealth Journal.

Bill Samuels Jr., speaking Tuesday to the Somerset-Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce, apparently with tongue in cheek –– but maybe not –– said a lot of talent is in the area because our ancestors were experts in making moonshine. He did not give specifics, but said Somerset is well positioned in the state to benefit from its liberal stance in approving sale of alcoholic beverages.

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The same Western Kentucky bank that filed suit to foreclose on the Turfland Mall property in Lexington also has filed suit seeking foreclosure on Versailles Center, reports the Lexington Herald Leader.

The lawsuit was filed by Heritage Bank of Hopkinsville and names Rubloff Versailles LLC and Rubloff employees Gerald Weber Jr., Ronald Swen son and Robert Brownson.

The suit claims that Rubloff owes $6.9 million in unpaid principal, accrued interest, late fees and reimbursement for delinquent property taxes, the paper says.

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The $5.66 billion bet on U.S. thoroughbred racing in the first half of 2012 is up 2.38 percent over the same period in 2011, according to statistics released Thursday by Equibase, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The six-month increase was fueled considerably by a 6.99 percent increase in June, when $948.86 million was bet, over the previous June.

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A Kentucky coal mine targeted by federal and state safety inspections and under pressure to pay years of overdue fines has closed, The Courier-Journal has learned.

K and D Mining Inc.’s Mine No. 17 in Highsplint stopped producing coal June 22, according to the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Dick Brown, spokesman for the Kentucky Office of Mine Safety and Licensing, said K and D has not abandoned its mine license, but mine officials have notified Congress that it won’t be reopening, the paper reports.

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Sen. Perry Clark invoked the legacy of the late marijuana advocate Gatewood Galbraith on Thursday, announcing plans to refile legislation that would allow doctors to prescribe marijuana for medicinal purposes, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports.

The bill, called the Gatewood Galbraith Memorial Medical Marijuana Act, would reclassify the drug as a Schedule II substance available for medical treatment under a doctor’s direction.

It also would allow patients to possess up to 5 ounces of marijuana or cultivate up to five plants for their own medicinal use.

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