Kentucky

Democrat makes economy issue in race

At every campaign stop, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ben Chandler leaves little doubt about what he believes is the source of Kentucky’s economic woes: the federal government.

Republicans have responded by branding Chandler a “guinea pig” for national Democrats who want to gauge President Bush’s vulnerability in a contest considered a proving ground for the 2004 presidential race.

Kentucky is one of three states with a regular governor’s election this year, along with Mississippi and Louisiana. Bush carried the state by 15 percentage points over Al Gore in 2000, but Democrats think their chances are better at a time when unemployment is rising.

Florida

Sitter gets eight years for overdosing baby

A baby sitter was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday for giving a 3 1/2-month-old girl a lethal dose of Benadryl to quiet her.

Paula Burcham, 53, of Bartow, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the 2001 accidental death of Grace Fields.

The judge gave Burcham the maximum sentence allowable under a plea agreement, finding she covered up the death by not telling paramedics she had given the baby the over-the-counter cold medication.

An antidote exists to Benadryl and might have saved the baby had paramedics known to give it to her, Circuit Court Judge Dick Prince found.

The baby’s mother, Tracy Fields, said Friday she was satisfied by the sentence.