Burlington
The Coffey County Republican reported that a homemade pipe bomb was turned into the Coffey County Sheriff’s Office recently. Officers took the bomb into their possession, placed it in a large barrel of water and neutralized it. They then contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is responsible for bomb disposal. The bomb was located in an old washtub that an individual picked up at an auction and had taken to a local recycler. The recycler brought the device into the sheriff’s office.
Burlington
The Coffey County Republican reported that the sales tax in Burlington will be increasing to 7.3 percent on Wednesday. Burlington voters approved the additional one percent city retailers sales tax on Nov. 4. Half of the tax will be used by the Burlington governing body to pay for street repairs and other half will be used to pay for additional utility expenditures due to a $12 million citywide sewer improvement project that will begin this year.
Madison
The Madison News reported that the county received $490,000 in federal stimulus funds to repair a portion of the Hamilton-Virgil Road. Cook, Flatt and Stroebel Engineering Firm was hired on Monday to begin the preliminary work on the road.