While I'm not normally one to traffic in rumors it is after all the political season. And when in Rome and all that. The manager editor of
LEO, a local alt weekly,
blogged the following:
A source close to the Obama campaign in Kentucky told LEO today that
Clinton will use her appearance tomorrow night in Louisville to
officially concede the Democratic primary to Barack Obama. Bill and
Chelsea are planning to be here, and the word is the Clinton camp has
informed national media to send their big guns to cover a major
announcement in the Ville. Clinton's camp has denied it, of course.
I'm also not usually one to jump to outlandish conclusions. So I'll just point out that
Hillary Please Stop came from here and you can make up your own mind.
IdeaFestival, that bastion of innovative ideas and big thinking that happens each September in Louisville has announced that a brand new $100,00 design prize will be given away at the 2008 festival.
The Curry Stone
Foundation (CSF) has just announced the establishment of the
Curry
Stone Design Prize, an ambitious annual award of $100,000 for
"...exceptional emerging designers with extraordinary design projects or
ideas that contribute positively to living conditions for broad
sections of global humanity". This international award will be
presented beginning in 2008 at the annual IdeaFestival in Louisville, Kentucky. The Prize, developed in partnership with the University of Kentucky College of Design,
is being supported through CSF established by UK alumnus Clifford Curry
and his wife H. Delight Stone, of Oregon. IF is excited about the
establishment of the Curry Stone Design Prize, it's
involvement with the Festival and the opportunity it presents to
greatly expand the international design content at the event.
Continue reading $100,000 Global Design Prize to Be Awarded in Louisville.
OK fine the actual title of the article last month in
The Economist was
"Rise of the super-mayor" but Rise of the Rock Star Mayor would have been so much more fun. In any case the article talked about Louisville's mayor Jerry Abramson and the important work he's been doing.
JERRY ABRAMSON'S domain is six times bigger and contains twice as many
people as it did in 1985, when he first claimed his city's top office.
The longest-serving mayor in Louisville's history now oversees not just
urban areas, from the old rubber plants to the newly hip Butchertown,
but suburban subdivisions and farms. And still Mr Abramson's influence
grows. It now extends almost as far as it is possible to see from
downtown's National City Tower; it even reaches across the Ohio river
into southern Indiana.
What has he being doing that makes him a
rock star super-mayor?
streamlined public services and accelerated the redevelopment of downtown Louisville. The city's core is dotted with new museums. A planned cluster of towers designed by OMA, a fashionable architectural practice, will be Kentucky's tallest.
Louisville has just been crowned the winner of Bushmills Irish Whiskey's "Twin City of Bushmills in America" contest.
In celebration of its 400th anniversary, the whiskey company
searched for a city that resembles the town of Bushmills, Ireland, in
terms of pride in history and heritage, craftsmanship and hospitality.
Boston, Mass., and Portland, Maine, were the other finalists in the competition.
I knew we were hospitable and a city full of pride, history and the whole lot but I confess to being a little surprised that we won this. Boston has us beat in terms of size and the quantity of Irish and Irish-American residents so I'm pleased to see us, a little bit of the underdog, bring home the prize.
Bushmills master distiller Gordon Donoghue will present Louisville
Metro Mayor Jerry Abramson with a $40,000 grant, which must be used for
preservation and advancement of the city's traditions and culture, and
for programs that promote responsible drinking.
Well done Louisville.
Update: The
BBC gives a bit more information about the contest and Louisville's victory.
The city was picked after an online poll marking the 400th anniversary of the original licence to distill granted to Bushmills, home of one of
Ireland's famed whiskey producers.
More than 55,000 votes were cast, and Louisville emerged the clear champion.
