Saturday evening power update

Here's the latest outage numbers from the C-J:

As of 3 p.m., 122,000 LG&E customers were without power, according to E.On U.S., the parent company of LG&E. KU also had 122,000 customers without power throughout the state.

Here's a little known secret: The sidewalk clearing ordinance is not being enforced.

In neighborhoods across Louisville, most sidewalks are still covered with snow and ice four days after the storm hit, making it difficult for pedestrians to get around.

And many businesses and homeowners don't know that a city ordinance requires them to clear the sidewalk in front of their properties within 24 hours of a snowstorm. City officials haven't discussed sidewalks at their daily news briefings on the storm.

"We've got bigger issues to deal with than sidewalks," like restoring power, clearing roads and setting up shelters, said Chris Poynter, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Abramson.

The sidewalk law carries a fine of $25 to $100. But it would be impractical for the city to enforce it, Poynter said.

That's the least of matters, though there are some apartment building owners that don't clear their sidewalks either in Chicago.

Anyway, the numbers of schools without power are going down but here's the latest on both that and JCPS asking Gov. Beshear to waive the make-up days.

"We are dealing with an extraordinary situation," Berman said yesterday. "We've been hit with two of the largest disasters this state has ever had, and they both have happened in the same (school) year."

But Beshear's office said yesterday the governor doesn't have the power to waive make-up days until at least 20 are missed.

This week's ice and snow storm left as many as 69 public schools in Jefferson County without power and forced the cancellation of classes for four days.

As of yesterday afternoon, 25 public schools in Jefferson County still lacked power, and the district isn't certain classes will resume Monday. Berman said officials are doing "everything in their power" to get schools open.

Any decision to cancel classes likely won't come until early Monday morning, and hinge, in part, on "any more major snow or ice events," he said.

Getting the schools ready in time won't be easy, acknowledged Mike Mulheirn, director of transportation and facilities for JCPS.

"Restoring the power is the easy part, getting the schools ready to open again is going to be the hard part," he said.

The missed days come just four months after the remnants of Hurricane Ike left 110 of the district's 153 buildings without power and canceled classes for a week. So far, the district has made up just one of those days.

Unless the district is granted a waiver, the last day of school for JCPS students could well be June 2 rather than May 21. District officials say extending the school year that long would cause major conflicts for parents who have scheduled vacations, camps and other summer activities for their families.

Under state policy, districts that miss fewer than 20 days must make up the missed days or add minutes to each school day, said Lisa Gross of the Kentucky Department of Education.

State law requires students to attend 177 six-hour days of class each academic year. Gross said that while the state Board of Education deals with regulations, Beshear could direct the board to look into the matter.

Howeer, we all know that teachers don't teach for the last two weeks of the year, so what's the fricking point of making the days up anyway?