 Tonight, on EKB Evening News at 6, Attorney Eric C. Kahn is the subject of numerous allegations in court, even as some of his former clients get some good news. Good evening, I'm Cindy Mae Johnson. And I'm Gary Slang. Today saw a major development out of Washington concerning the disability suspensions that have created turmoil in our region since they came to light last week. This afternoon, U.S. Representative Hal Rogers held a briefing with reporters to announce that the Social Security suspensions have been lifted. That decision came after Rogers met with Social Security officials yesterday to demand that they rescind the suspensions. I was rather blunt that this was a matter of life and death, that we've had three apparent suicides by people who had been notified that their payments were to be cut off, made the point that these by-larger innocent bystanders to the fraud conspiracy that had apparently taken place, which included the hearing officer, a hearing officer for Social Security, and that the fair thing to do here would be to keep these innocent people whole while you seek out those few that apparently were fraudulent. Rogers said he was notified today that the Social Security administration would heed his request. As we have been reporting, 1,500 disabled recipients were notified in letters dated May 18th that their benefits were in jeopardy due to suspensions of fraud. Of those 1,500, 900 SSDI recipients had their benefits suspended immediately. Those who received letters will still have their cases reviewed for fraud, but no one will lose benefits unless it's determined that they are not truly disabled. In addition to lifting the suspension, Social Security also increased the time period to submit additional medical evidence from 10 days to 30 days. Now all 1,500 people who received the letters were of course represented by Stanville attorney Eric C. Kahn, and their determinations were based on medical evidence provided by one of four doctors. Today, in Floyd's Circuit Court, Kahn was the subject of a hearing in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the 900 whose benefits were previously suspended. EKB news reporter Shannon Deskins was there. This morning at a hearing in Floyd County Circuit Court, Attorney Ned Pillerstorf asked Circuit Judge Johnny Ray Harris to freeze $22.7 million of Eric C. Kahn's personal and business assets. Nearly two hours of testimony was heard from former employees of Kahn, as well as two of the 900 clients who recently received letters suspending their Social Security disability benefits. The packed courtroom was shocked several times throughout the morning, as various statements were made. He destroyed entire cloth files, everything, medical records, affidavits, the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income applications, everything. How'd you all destroy these documents? Burn or shred all. How'd you burn them? In the back of the building, there was a place that they always burned papers or any garbage or anything like that. How many documents were destroyed? I wouldn't know. There was a lot. A lot. Ten pages, a thousand pages. Thousands. Actually, there were a couple of people. I don't remember the guy's name, but one man called and complained about the smoke because it went on for days. It scorched a big part of the lawn behind the office. The testimonies about destroying clients' files, including their medical records, was especially painful for those in danger of losing their Social Security benefits to hear. I thought, how could you do that? You know, just destroy everybody's documents because they're actually mine. So he took something of mine and destroyed it and now any evidence that I had to back up my disabilities is gone. The courtroom was silent as Conn's former employees recalled hearing their former boss talk about fleeing the country if the threat of jail ever surfaced. I'm addressing the issue about whether or not Mr. Conn had ever any intentions of fleeing the area. Did he ever mention that to you? There were several of us in his office that he had stated that he never wanted to go to jail and that he wouldn't go to jail, that he would go to Cuba because he had stated that it was harder to extradite from Cuba to the United States. Did he mention why he selected the country of Cuba? Because he said that he couldn't be extradited from Cuba. Former Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice Joseph Lambert, part of Conn's legal team, said the true villain in this case is not Eric C. Conn, but the Social Security Administration. Mr. Conn's done nothing wrong. As you heard the witnesses say here today, clients came to Mr. Conn telling him they were disabled. He believed they were disabled, a claim was made, and a claim was won. I mean it really is unusual for a lawyer who successfully represents a client to later be sued because the benefit is subsequently withdrawn by some other person. This morning Judge Harris ruled that Conn's office can only spend money to pay employees and take care of normal operating expenses until he issues a final ruling. A second hearing has been scheduled for next Wednesday, June the 10th, in which Eric C. Conn himself has been ordered to attend. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Shannon Deskins. A Floyd County teacher has been accused in a lawsuit of making inappropriate statements to students. The complaint filed by parents of two former students against the teacher, Bernard Shane Wicker, as well as against the school board, teacher Paul Francis and board employee Pam Frazier, alleges Wicker offered the students special favors in exchange for seeing the students naked either in person or in photographs. The alleged statements date to when Wicker was a teacher at Allen Central High School. No criminal charges have been filed concerning the allegations. However, the complaint notes that the investigation by the state cabinet of health and family services found the claim substantiated. The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified damages. A Floyd County man is in jail, while police continue searching for another regarding the theft of a box trailer from a Pike County charity. The incident happened Sunday at Through God's Hand of Joy Ministry on Little Fork of Little Robinson Creek. Today, the Pike County Sheriff's Office arrested 29-year-old Jeremy Howell of Gretel. I made a 31st up a church on Little Robinson. There was a box trailer stolen. We have made one arrest. Jeremy Howell, but one of the subjects is still at large. Darvin Shepard, he's from Gretel. So if anybody knows anything about his whereabouts, please contact the Pike County Sheriff's Office. Most of the stuff that was in the trailer has been recovered. So, you know, but like I said, if anybody knows anything about his whereabouts, please contact the Sheriff's Office. Sheriff Scott said that if you have that information, call the Sheriff's Office at 606-432-6260. A Wolfpip man involved in an officer shooting last week is now under indictment. As we previously reported, police responded to a shooting complaint at the residence of 54-year-old Donald May on Wolfpip Branch Road. Upon their arrival, police say May allegedly opened fire on them. Police then returned fire striking May. May was taken to Pikeville Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Now, May has been indicted on four counts of attempted murder. The grand jury further determined that the use of force by police was justified. May is being held in the Pike County Detention Center. Coming up, police are seeking the public's help in locating a missing MacGuffin County woman. And a highway department worker was honored at a special ceremony today. We'll be back in two minutes. A MacGuffin County woman has been missing since Sunday. Kentucky State Police in Pikeville received a call requesting assistance in locating Tabitha Ann Dotson, who was last seen leaving her flat fork home on foot. Dotson is 40 years old, approximately 4 feet 11 inches tall, and weighs 195 pounds. She was last seen wearing blue jeans with holes, a black T-shirt with a flame design, and black boots. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kentucky State Police at 1-800-222-5555 or 606-433-7711. Callers may remain anonymous. Kentucky Highway Department District 12 has dedicated a bridge to remember one of its own. Family, friends, and co-workers joined together today at the Shelby Maintenance Facility at Drive Fork in order to be present for the dedication. East Kentucky Broadcasting Reporter Shelby Steele attended the dedication and filed this report. If there's one person a holiday needs, you know, deserves a holiday named after him, it's him, but, you know, this bridge is due for the time being. Kentucky Highway Department District 12 honored one of its own today by dedicating a bridge on Route 122 at Shelby in memory of Elmer Keithley, better known as Kibo. Keithley passed away unexpectedly after a short illness in August of 2012 at the age of 36. At the time, he was a heavy equipment operator and a timekeeper at the Shelby Maintenance Facility on Drive Fork. Sarah George with the Highway Department says that today was a big deal for District 12. This is the first time that Highway District 12 has ever asked for anything to be named. We don't decide what names go on roads and bridges. We process the requests, but this is the first time that we have ever asked the General Assembly to name something in honor of anybody. And it's so fitting that the bridge that he crossed every day to come to and from work is now the Elmer Kibo Keithley Memorial Bridge. Kibo's widow says today was very emotional for her family. This is a great honor. He would be so happy. Everyone here celebrating what he did and what he loves. Friend of Kibo, Adam Newsom says Kibo was like family to everyone that knew him and he would have enjoyed the celebration in honor of him today. I loved Bo and he was just a solid guy. I'm so thankful and God blessed me enough to have him in my life for almost 10 years. Kibo's niece Tara Hatcher says you can tell that Kibo was loved and she is overwhelmed with support from the community. It just means the world to me. I know you can't see when you look around there's probably 70 people here that he affected in some way, not just his family. This place that he worked, the District 12 Highway, it was his family too, second family. So having us all come together, I know he's at their smiling right now. Representative Leslie Combs introduced the resolution to name the bridge and the crew at Shelby Maintenance provided Kibo's favorite meal for lunch after the dedication. For EKB Evening News at 6, I'm Shelby Steele. Well coming up in just a bit, Andrew Joyce will be in with everything going on in the world of sports. But first, EKB Chief Meteorologist Layton Hopkins will be in with her forecast. We'll be back in two minutes. Gary Layton, is there any truth to the rumor you were dragged kicking and screaming into the studio because you wanted to stay outside? I promised I wouldn't tell. I wouldn't tell either. It was. It's a beautiful day. It's true. It's absolutely beautiful across the region. Very few of those pop up showers to deal with this afternoon or this evening. Doppler radar showing what's left, mainly across the far southwestern part of Virginia. Also a little cell there. It's popped up in Knot County and a couple in parts of western West Virginia. Other than that, things nice and quiet. Let's take you outside here with the satellite and radar composite first. And you can see across the Commonwealth of Kentucky, much of the Ohio Valley, Tennessee Valley, just dealing with partly sunny skies and rain showers. Still with that area of low pressure, you remember we started talking about that on Monday today's Thursday. Monday it was across our region. Here it is Thursday and it's just near the Virginia-Carolina border, still spinning, but keeping the rain showers to our east. Definitely good news there. Now I'm going to take you outside. Beautiful shot this evening. Downtown Pikeville, blue skies and just a few clouds to deal with. Temperature wise, not bad at all. 80 degrees. That's what it feels like outside. Humidity, not too bad at 52%. That will be on the increase though. As we head into the weekend, winds west about three miles per hour. And the pressure right now, steady as that area of low pressure continues to move away from our region. Elsewhere across the area, 83 degrees in Williamson, 80 Pikeville and Inez, 82 Prestonsburg, 81 in Painesville, we have 82 in Sowersville. A little cooler to the south, 76 in Weisberg, 78 right now in Weis Virginia. Officially, we hit 80 degrees today. Official low, 60 degrees. That's pretty much right where we should be this time of the year, the normal high, 79 and 60. Precipitation, nothing today at the National Weather Service Office, back below average for the month. Still about a little less than four inches of rain for the year above average. And the latest drought information out, we told you about this last week. Well, we are still in the abnormally dry category, the first category of the drought. This includes all of Eastern Kentucky, Western West Virginia, Southwest Virginia. I know folks in Southern Pike County, Ledger County after yesterday are saying, what? A drought? We had about four inches of rain yesterday, but that is indeed the case. And normally dry, this data was collected all the way through Tuesday of this week. All right, let's take a look at that pollen count, which as always, sponsored by Faith Pharmacy, Adams Plaza in Pikeville, for Friday, 6.6, approaching the high category, the same deal on Saturday. By Sunday, we are in the high category at 8.3. Seven day forecast time, taking the rain chance to a 20% for tomorrow. Not looking bad, much like what we had today, 83 degrees, 30% chance of rain. Saturday, Sunday, the best chance of rain holding off until early next week. But temperature-wise, we stay in the mid-80s all the way through Thursday of next week. And if you want another look at the forecast, you can check out tomorrow's edition of the Appalachian News Express. Let me ask, the chance of rain we've got coming in these coming days, could that affect our potential drought? It could. We need more of a widespread rainfall instead of this hit-and-miss stuff, but I don't see that in the forecast. Just the afternoon and evening stuff. Once we get past sunset, things will die down. Okay, thanks, Lathan. The Belfrey High School Robotics Team was recognized last night at the Pike County Fiscal Court Meeting. Known as the Pyrobots, the robotics team competed in the first robotics competition, an international competition where teams practice science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills. During the competition, the team earned the runner-up in the rookie division, placing 21st out of 47. This year was the first year the Pyrobots competed. They planned to keep at it. Team mates Ishwar Soma and A.J. Justice, along with coach Dr. Heridas Chandran, attended the Pike County Fiscal Court Meeting and accepted the recognition on behalf of the whole team. Not just smart kids there. I'm waiting on that robot that'll just get me dressed in the morning, take me where I need to go, do all those good things. We'll be back in two minutes with sports. Andrew Reds, Cincinnati. What more can we say? Wait a minute. I thought that was going to be a word association there for a moment. How about heart breaking? Oh, we're laughing. We shouldn't. It's a sad time. It changes tonight, perhaps. Major League Baseball last night, Reds in Philadelphia to face the Phillies after allowing Philadelphia to break a seven game losing streak Tuesday evening. We go to the top of the fourth inning, nothing, nothing score. Brandon Phillips hits a hard shot in the hole. That will bring in two runs. Reds up to nothing. Then to the top of the ninth. Joey Vado to the plate. And he'll add some insurance. With the two run shot. That is deep and that is gone. Cincinnati on top four, nothing. Then the wheels fell off. Closer or Aldous Chapman gave up a three run homer to Miguel Franco and the Phillies tie it. Go to extra innings. Then in the bottom of the 11th, Ryan Mathis can't handle this throw. From Joey Vado and the Phillies. Walk off with the win on the pitcher's error. Philadelphia 5-4 over the Reds. The two wrap up the series tonight at 7-0-5. Cincinnati will try to avoid the sweep in the series wrap up. And the University of Pineville. Coach Kelly Wells and his staff will be hosting a Wells Tough Boys and Girls basketball camp to help players improve the essential skills to develop on the basketball court. Coach Wells speaks of the camp's purpose. Well the biggest purpose is fundamentals. That's what we really try to strive for. All the kids like to play games. They like to do the fun stuff. But we try to fool them a little bit in the understanding basketball and learning concepts. But we do have a lot of fun. But we learn a ton of fundamentals. And it's a good service for us to give back. Have some of our players come back. All our coaches are there. And it's for boys and girls. The camp is designed for boys and girls from the ages of 5 to 14. If you would like to register or know of children that would like to be a part of this opportunity you still can. There's a discount available if you sign up before Monday at the UPI basketball office at the East Kentucky Expo Center. Registration is from 8-9 a.m. on Monday before the camp begins. The camp continues through next Thursday at the Expo Center from 9-12 30 daily. And the University of Pineville Women's basketball team is also hosting a basketball camp beginning next week. The camp will focus on guards and post players to offer them intense high energy and instruction that will be fun for all girls. Coach Joanna McNamee talked about the importance of summer camps to a player's improvement. This camp is our position camp. So it is for girls from ages 6 through 12 grade looking to get better at basketball. And we have our staff working this camp plus some of our outstanding players from the area. And we're just looking to not only grow the girls' love of the game but also really improve their game. And this is what most coaches call the off season but our staff calls it the workout season. This is where you improve. This is where you become a player. And it's really where young girls and girls approaching high school and that are in high school can really get better and when they're good they enjoy and they love the game. The girls' position camp will take place at the U-Pike Gym beginning next Monday, June 8th through Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. daily. Walk-in registration is available from 12.15 to 1 p.m. And the fight for the state title and Kentucky State Baseball tournament action is still on. In quarterfinal action, Highlands knocked off North Bullet 3-1 and 16th region champ Greenup County moved on with an 8-6 win over Collins. Highlands and Greenup County advanced to the final four tomorrow night at 6 p.m. In tonight's Elite 8 action featuring Scott facing South Warrant at 6 p.m. with E-town taking on West Jessamine in the nightcap. And the State Softball Tournament begins in Owensboro. 15th region champ Johnson Central's Lady Eagles will be taking on North Laurel in first round play of the 2015 Kentucky High School State Softball Tournament 7 p.m. first pitch at Jackfisher Park in Owensboro. Thanks, Andrew. I hope they have a huge turnout for those camps. Absolutely. Always a good turnout. Guys and girls for Coach Wells' camp and then Coach DeMagne focusing on position players for the girls. And it's truly, it's when champions are made in the off season. You know that rule about the 10,000 hours. This is when you can be getting that in. Exactly. And we'll be right back. Well, Lathan, do I need to bring out the garden hose for my tomato plants? Do you need water tonight or tomorrow? Are they do good water? Yeah, they're... You probably need to then. Okay. A couple of showers. Maybe tomorrow. I mean, the rain chances dropped from about 40% earlier in the week for tomorrow down to 20%. That's good news, especially if we can carry that over into the weekend. But unfortunately, we do not. Up to a 30% Saturday, Sunday. But temperatures each end every day. Low to mid-80s. And you'll also notice the humidity will be making a return. That's Kentucky. Oh, yes. Now, there's good stuff on EKB TV tonight. There's good stuff if you like sports. The sports guys tonight at 7, you don't want to miss that. And an episode tonight of full throttle videos. That'll be fun, too. So music or sports, you get it both. You get all you want. That will do it for tonight's EKB Evening News. Remember, you can give more local news anytime by listening to the radio stations of East Kentucky Broadcasting. You can follow EKB News and EKB TV on Facebook and Twitter. We're going to leave you tonight by taking a walk through the forest. Good night. Thanks for watching.