Daily NewsBOWLING GREEN

SPORTS: KESELOWSKI DRAWS POLE FOR NASCAR’S RETURN TO DARLINGTON 1B

WWW.BGDAILYNEWS.COM Friday, May 15, 2020 SINCE 1854

PARK CITY

84 63SCATTERED STORMS

TOMORROW KENTUCKY LOTTERY: THURSDAYA.M. Pick 3: 5-8-8 A.M. Pick 4: 3-7-8-6P.M. Pick 3: 3-3-8 P.M. Pick 4: 1-5-7-8

5 CARD CASH: 8u 10u 9u 7♥ 5♠

Schumer should put politics aside, stop spreading lies.

IN OPINION 4A INDEXClassified 5BCrossword 7BDeaths 5AFaith 6ASports 1BSudoku 8BTV 8-9A

NO. 130, 18 PAGES, 2 SECTIONS INSERTS VARY BY AREA• FIND US ON /BGDAILYNEWS AND @BGDAILYNEWS •

$1 NEWSSTAND63¢ DAILY HOME DELIVERY

CASH BALL: 10-12-17-33, 5

By EMILY ZANTOWemily@wdnztv11.com

Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday that the state travel ban will expire May 22 and that gatherings of 10 people or less may also resume that same day.

“We realize that people are making plans for Memorial Day, and I trust that we can do this right, and we can do this safely,” he said during his daily briefing in Frankfort.

The previous date for resuming such gatherings had been May 25, which is Memorial Day.

The travel ban was put in place March 30 to restrict out-of-state travel except for work, groceries, caring for loved ones, health care rea-sons and when required by a court order. The order didn’t have an expiration date.

Beshear said he’s “got to live in the real world” know-ing that Memorial Day is three days after May 22. He said he is not seeing “the same type of exodus” in virus hot spots in other states

as he was before.Meanwhile, Beshear

announced 199 new corona-virus cases statewide, 32 of which are probable, bring-ing the total to 7,225. Of those, 2,712 have reportedly recovered and 385 are hospi-talized, 220 of whom are in intensive care.

The state’s death toll rose to 328 with two newly announced virus-related deaths.

The Barren River Area Development District’s COVID-19 Dashboard, which uses data from the state Department of Public Health, showed 1,185 cases Thursday in BRADD’s 10-county region. Those cases include 730 in Warren, 205 in Butler, 77 in Logan, 46 in Edmonson, 35 in Simpson, 34 in Barren, 33 in Allen, 16 in Hart, six in Monroe and three in Metcalfe.

The Barren River District Health Department announced 1,071 total cases in its eight-county area in a news release Thursday.

Travel ban will expire next weekBeshear: ‘I trust that we can do this right’

See TRAVEL, 9A

By WES SWIETEKwswietek@bgdailynews.com

Even as some city parks had a partial reopening Thursday, Bowling Green and Warren County aren’t planning to reopen government buildings Monday as allowed by state guidelines.

“We’ve started work-ing on plans for reopen-ing, not that we will,” Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson said Wednesday.

Under state pandemic guidelines, government offices are allowed to

Parks begin to reopen, but city and county hold off on government buildings

PHOTOS BY GRACE RAMEY/photo@bgdailynews.comAbove: Riley Miles of Bowling Green holds her daughter Juniper, 1, while playing Thursday in the field at H.P. Thomas Park after the city of Bowling Green opened some parks facilities. Below: Leah Denny of Bowling Green plays with Bindi, her Miniature Australian Shepherd, at the Bark Park at H.P. Thomas Park.

Jacob Boose of Bowling Green helps his daughter Leighla, 1, go down the slide Thursday at H.P. Thomas Park. See PARKS, 10A

By DON SERGENTdsergent@bgdailynews.com

Chin Mission Church, a Christian church started 10 years ago in Bowling Green

by immigrants from the Asian country of Myanmar, will now have a new home.

In a meeting held Thursday by videoconfer-ence, the Warren County

Board of Adjustments approved a conditional use permit application that will allow the church to move into an 8,000-square-foot building on a 1.17-acre lot

near Searcy Way and Airway Court.

The application and the church’s attorney, Mark Alcott, said Chin Mission Church was established in

2010 and has 20 members. Its annual report filing with the Kentucky secretary of state said the church’s head-quarters in Bowling Green is at 3407 Cool Springs Court.

The application for the conditional use permit on property zoned light indus-trial was made by Vanbiak

Board approves church building proposal on Searcy Way

See CHURCH, 10A

By AARON MUDD amudd@bgdailynews.com

The news that Western Kentucky University will make another round of deep budget cuts next year has left many faculty feeling burned – but some of their frustra-tions were eased Friday, when WKU President Timothy Caboni announced that proposed tiered salary reductions have been elim-inated from the possible options.

Last week, it was revealed that the university will aim to cut $27 million from its fiscal year 2021 budget, and the initial recommendations included the salary reduc-tions based on employees’ income levels.

During WKU’s Board of Regents meeting Friday – the day after a meeting of WKU’s Faculty Senate that

included sharp criticism of the proposed salary reduc-tions – Caboni said the sal-ary reductions will no longer be considered in an effort to cover $2.4 million of the overall total. Instead, cam-pus divisions will decide how to reach that spending reduction target on their own, he said.

No binding action will be taken until regents vote on the fiscal year 2021 budget next month.

Previously, WKU said it expected the largest fresh-man class in almost 18 years, fueled in part by its new scholarship offerings. That would have helped offset a projected modest decline in overall enrollment and basically flat state fund-ing, but the coronavirus has thrown those expectations

WKU takes tiered salary cuts off table

See WKU, 10A