The University of Louisville will be home to the state of Kentucky's Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship.

The center will be funded through a $20 million donation from U of L engineering school graduate Henry Conn and his wife, Rebecca Conn.

The center will be named the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship and will be operated at the University of Louisville's J.B. Speed School of Engineering.

U of L researchers will explore the use of wind, solar, geothermal and biomass resources, energy storage and logistics and distribution challenges presented by the use of renewable energy sources. Read more.

Nucleus, which is overseeing development of the planned Haymarket Research Park, has issued a request for qualifications from development, architectural and engineering firms that are interested in working on the project.

Part of the Haymarket Research Park would be built on the former Haymarket property in downtown Louisville.  

The Louisville Medical Center Development Corp. acquired the property for $4.9 million in 2003, and the deed for the property recently was transferred to Nucleus.

The entire park would encompass nearly two city blocks, a combined 10.8 acres. Read more.

The center provides resources for educators teaching financial literacy. It includes a library with up-to-date materials related to financial education as well as lesson plans that can be used in financial literacy classes. The center is open to both education students and practicing teachers. Read more.

The goal is to turn the prime real estate near the busy Shelbyville Road-Hurstbourne Parkway intersection into "a revenue-producing asset" for the university.

Revenue from any leases with a developer would primarily provide funds to advance U of L's academic mission, officials said. Read more.

The awards are part of a recent study by health care ratings company HealthGrades Inc. that addresses mortality and complication rates for 5,000 hospitals across the country.

Louisville area hospitals receiving the award were Baptist Hospital East, Jewish Hospital, Saints Mary & Elizabeth Hospital, and Norton Healthcare Inc.'s downtown, Southwest, Audubon, and Suburban hospitals, as well as Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services in New Albany. Read more.

"Ford's small-car strategy is anchored," Hinrichs said, "in three global car platforms ranging from the larger Fusion to the Focus to the smaller Fiesta."

Hinrichs declined to say what vehicle will be built at Louisville Assembly. But he did say Ford "is aligned" around the push toward offering a diverse array of cars as well as trucks. Read more.

And in the intervening 10 years, what was once a string of scrap yards and salt piles littering the riverfront has become a swath of green, recognized as one of America's great urban parks and an economic engine for downtown.
 

The third and final phase is hoped to be completed by late 2010. Read more.