. . . until the 143rd Kentucky Derby! That’s according to our exclusive 2017 Derby Countdown Clock™. Until then, here’s 2015 American Idol winner Jordan Smith of Harlan, Ky., and his then-fiancé Kristen Denny — now wife! — at this year’s first Saturday in May.
— Voice-Tribune correspondent Carla Sue Broecker in her “Partyline” social column in today’s issue. She’s describing an enormous Victorian house with 12-foot ceilings in Bardstown. Kentucky was a border state during the Civil War. Otherwise, Hammond’s luncheons might have been for the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Louisville Zoo officials were forced to euthanize Monty, a popular 38-year-old male Burmese python after he was recently diagnosed with cancer.
The giant snake hadn’t been eating well and was losing weight after developing lymphoma, an immune system cancer, according to a zoo statement. The veterinary and HerpAquarium teams decided the most humane course was to euthanize the python on Tuesday.
Texas Roadhouse stock (blue) outgunned the S&P 500 index over the past year.
TEXAS ROADHOUSE shares traded at a new record high today: $47.33, before closing slightly lower at $47.02, up 36 cents, or less than 1%. The company’s stock is up 24% from a year ago vs. a much smaller 4.2% gain in the broader S&P 500 index.
YUM‘s stock closed moments ago at $88.27 a share, up $2.53, or 3% on a better-than-expected second-quarter earnings report, released after markets closed yesterday afternoon. The fast food restaurant giant also raised its profit outlook for all of 2016 to 17% from an earlier 12%. Shares have been roaring so far this year, jumping 17% vs. a smaller 5% gain in the broader S&P 500 index (Google Finance).
KFC: The Kentucky Fried Chicken Foundation will award $1.2 million in college assistance to 600 hourly restaurant employees across the country this month (Portsmouth Daily Times).
FORD declared a regular quarterly dividend of 15 cents per share, payable Sept. 1 to shareholders of record July 28 (press release). The automaker also said it will release second-quarter financial results at 7 a.m. ET on July 28 (press release). Ford shares closed at $13.59, up 11 cents, or less than 1%. The current dividend yield is generous 4.4%.
AMAZON said it will hold a conference call to discuss its second-quarter results July 28 at 5:30 p.m. ET; the report itself will be released shortly after markets close that day (press release).
UPS: About 15 people gathered yesterday outside the shipper’s Maumee, Ohio, distribution center to protest two nooses (photo, left) found hanging in the building, after photographs circulated widely on Facebook and Twitter.
“We want justice. We want accountability,” Julian Mack told WTVG. “There’s no place for nooses in Lucas County.”
Company spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg said UPS had confirmed the nooses’ presence, and fired the worker responsible when he arrived for work Tuesday evening. Maumee is 18 miles southwest of Toledo. (Blade and WTVG).
Trump and Pence.
In other news, presumptive GOP White House nominee Donald Trump will choose Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, multiple media outlets are now reporting, including The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. The New York billionaire’s choice of Pence had been widely expected in recent days in advance of the start of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, starting Monday.
The latest crime news across the world of 48,000 restaurants.*
In Twin Falls, Idaho, 38-year-old Seth Samuel Brooks was arraigned Tuesday in County Magistrate Court on a felony count of aggravated assault after he reportedly threatened to use a wrench to beat and kill Pizza Hut employees he said had poisoned his food.
An employee said she was outside behind the restaurant on a cigarette break when a silver Mitsubishi Lancer “drove at her aggressively,” court documents said, according to the Times-News. Brooks got out of the car holding a large wrench and started yelling at her about poisoning his food, the newspaper said.
Brooks
A Pizza Hut delivery driver saw the altercation and approached Brooks, who turned and threatened him, too, the Times-News said. Brooks then got in his car and left. Called to the scene, police arrested him about three miles away.
Brooks admitted to being angry at the employees and told cops he went there to confront them, but said he didn’t think he committed a crime because he didn’t actually hurt anyone, according to the Times-News.
Taco Bell
A deaf New Jersey woman sued the Mexican fast-food chain today in U.S. District Court, claiming she was discriminated against at two separate locations.
The woman, Gina Cirrincione, says she tried to buy food Jan. 11 from a Taco Bell drive-thru in Pleasantville by writing down her order and passing it directly to an employee at the pick-up window. In her lawsuit, she claims she was “berated” by a manager before receiving her order, according to foodie site Eater.
On the second occasion, March 15, the suit says Cirrincione tried using a drive-thru in Atlantic City, but was refused service entirely.
Her complaint cites the Americans With Disabilities Act, which requires businesses to provide goods and services and “make reasonable accommodations” for individuals with disabilities.
* Yum has 43,000 KFCs, Pizza Huts and Taco Bells in nearly 140 countries; Papa John’s has 4,900 in 37 countries, and Texas Roadhouse has 485 restaurants in five countries. With that many locations, crimes inevitably will occur — with potentially serious legal consequences for the companies.
News about business and culture in Louisville, Ky.
In Twin Falls, Idaho, 38-year-old Seth Samuel Brooks was arraigned Tuesday in County Magistrate Court on a felony count of aggravated assault after he reportedly threatened to use a wrench to beat and kill Pizza Hut employees he said had poisoned his food.
Boulevard 