News: Sophia Rosing to spend year in prison for UK dorm attack; Senator Turner dies; Appalshop honored

Staff report

A former University of Kentucky student and Beechwood High School graduate has been sentenced to a year in the Fayette County Jail for an incident that occurred at a UK dorm in November 2022, involving an assault and racial slurs that made national headlines world.

Sophia Rosing, 23, pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault, one count of disorderly conduct and one count of public intoxication.

Fayette Circuit Judge Lucy VanMeter sentenced Rosing to 12 months in the Fayette County Jail, 100 hours of community service and a $25 fine.

Due to the nature of the crimes committed, she will be held in protective custody at the Fayette County Detention Center, said her attorney, Fred Peters. He also called the punishment “excessive.”

The charges stemmed from an incident in November 2022 in which Rosing physically assaulted and hurled racial slurs at Kylah Spring, a Black student who worked at the front desk at Boyd Hall, a British student residence. The incident was recorded on video and went viral on social media. It shows Rosing repeatedly punching Spring and kicking her in the stomach.

In just 10 minutes, Rosing used the N-word more than 200 times. The arrest report states that she then resisted arrest and bit a police officer who was dispatched to the scene.

The next evening, Rosing posted $10,000 bail and was released from custody. The university kicked her off its campus.

She was indicted by a grand jury in February 2023 and entered a plea for acquittal. Ultimately, she changed this allegation.

State Senator Turner dies from his injuries

Kentucky Sen. Johnnie Turner of Harlan died from injuries suffered in an accident last month when he and the lawnmower he was using fell into an empty swimming pool.

Turner, 76, was a lawyer and served in the U.S. Army as a medic. Republican. As of 2021, he serves in the state Senate, representing Bell, Floyd, Harlan, Knott and Letcher counties. He served in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2002.

Republican Senate President Robert Stivers said in a statement that “in recent weeks, his extraordinary determination and strength have filled the Turner family – and all of us – with optimism, making this loss even more difficult to bear.”

Stivers said “the loss is deeply personal to me” because he also knew Turner before they served together in the Senate.

“Johnnie spent his life lifting others – whether through his service in the U.S. Army, as a member of the State House of Representatives and State Senate, or in his private law practice. “His unwavering commitment to the people of eastern Kentucky – his constituents, his brothers and sisters in Christ whom he so affectionately called ‘his people’ – was at the heart of everything he did,” Stivers said.

Many other Kentucky officials, the governor and Sen. Mitch McConnell expressed their condolences.

Turner’s family includes his wife Maritza; his children Yazmin, Susie and Johnnie; and grandchildren.

Turner was running for re-election to the 29th Senate District after winning a contested Republican primary in May. He did not face any Democratic rival in the general election.

Kentucky’s Appalshop Award National Medal of the Humanities

Appalshop, a 55-year-old nonprofit media arts organization based in the coalfields of southeastern Kentucky, was among 19 winners of National Humanities Medals at a ceremony at the White House this week.

Recipients included Robin Wall Kimmerer, scientist and author; Jon Meacham, historian and author; Aaron Sorkin, playwright, screenwriter and director; Lavar Burton, actor and literacy advocate. Chef and author Anthony Bourdain was honored posthumously.

The National Humanities Medal honors an individual or organization whose work has deepened understanding of the human experience, expanded citizen engagement with history or literature, or helped preserve and expand Americans’ access to cultural resources, according to a National Humanities Medal news release. Fund for the humanities.

Applashop said in release that since 1969 it has “helped Appalachians tell their own stories through media such as documentary film, radio, music, theater and more.”

Appalshop’s new executive director, Tiffany Sturdivant, was joined at the ceremony by former executive director Alexander Gibson and longtime employee Tommy Anderson.