Disaster almost always brings out the best in people, but it unfortunately sometimes brings out the worst.

Kentucky State Police have arrested four men allegedly caught stealing from storm victims in Laurel County. State Trooper Ryan Loudermilk arrested 51-year old Roger Smith and his two sons—32-year old Roger D. Smith and 30-year old Ricky Trenton Smith of Lexington in addition to 42-year old James Arnett of Lexington on theft, drug and trespassing charges.

The suspects were reportedly caught carrying metal to their pickup truck and later admitted to planning to sell it for scrap.

Trooper Loudermilk says he just happened to be patrolling the area when he noticed the suspicious activity.

An immediate sign that the men were suspicious was that they were parked in the middle of the roadway.

The four suspects were allowed in the area after they claimed to be there assisting with debris cleanup.

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03/08/2012/am

An early morning fire in downtown Cadiz did significant damage to two buildings.

Cadiz Police Public Information Officer Scott Brown said the fire began in the 40 block of Main around 2am, with a passer-by reporting flames coming from the building.

The two buildings dating back 110 years were occupied by Impressions Hair Salon, Oh My Antiques, the Rabbit Hole Café and three apartments in the upstairs area.

Officer Brown said the apartments were occupied at the time of the fire, but the residents were able to escape the scene without injury.

Main Street was temporarily closed from City Hall to the Cadiz Church of Christ while an engineer came in to check the structural stability of the building.

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03/08/2012/am

Hopkinsville Police investigated an alleged robbery on Glass Avenue last night.

The incident happened around 7:50 near the 1300 block, according to the report from HPD, which says a white female suspect in her 30’s took 290 dollars from 20-year old Michael Finley using the threat of physical force.

The report says the suspect had a weapon, though it does not specify what it was, other than it was not a firearm or knife.

The suspect allegedly got away with a substantial amount of cash.

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03/08/2012/am

Victims from last week’s severe weather that rolled through parts of Kentucky may qualify for tax relief from the Internal Revenue Service.
President Barack Obama recently declared Johnson, Kenton, Laurel, Lawrence, Menifee, Morgan and Pendleton Counties as federal disaster areas.
Residents who live or have a business in those counties may be eligible for tax relief.
According to the IRS, the declaration made by President Obama allows the IRS to delay certain deadlines falling on or after February 29^th and on or before May 31^st, to be postponed to May 31^st.
The postponement also reportedly includes the April 17^th filing deadline for individual income tax returns, income tax payments and 2011 contributions to an individual retirement account.

The IRS is also waiving the failure-to-deposit penalties for employment and excise tax deposits due on or after February 28^th and on or before March 15^th as long as the deposits are completed by March 15^th.
To make the recovery process easier for victims, the IRS is able to automatically identify residents who live in the covered disaster area and apply automatic filing and payment relief for those residents.

For those residents who live or have a business outside the covered disaster area, but were affected by the severe weather must call the IRS disaster hotline at 1-866-562-5227 to request the tax relief.
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Congressman Ed Whitfield says he is concerned about rising gasoline prices that’s affecting all Americans.
According to Congressman Ed Whitfield, gas prices have steadily increased over the years and reported that the average price of a gallon of gasoline in Kentucky is $3.66 compared to $3.47 last year.
Furthermore, Congressman Whitfield claims when President Barack Obama was sworn into office in 2009, the average price of gas across the nation was about $1.80 per gallon and in three years under President Obama’s administration, the average gas price went up almost $2.00 per gallon. 
Whitfield says he’s concerned that rising gas prices will have a direct impact on food and groceries and that the pocketbooks of most Americans have suffered enough due to the economy.
Congressman Whitfield, who is also the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Power recently held a hearing to discuss the issue of rising gas prices and what could be done to lower prices.
Whitfield also stated that if citizens wanted to see reduced gas prices, economic growth, job growth and a stronger national security, President Obama needed to support an all-of the-above energy plan, which would allow advancing domestic oil production in places like Alaska and off the coasts.
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