Region Briefs, Jan. 30 [Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.]

Jan. 30--Cut-a-thon to benefit ill man set for Sunday

A cut-a-thon is set for 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at N-Style Hair Salon, 527 Emory Drive, to benefit Bill Hart, 52, who has encephalitis.

Haircuts will be $5 with all proceeds going to the Hart family for medical expenses.

For more information, call Theresa or Bruce Bennett at 993-3755, or 686-8585.

Hampton renovation will cost $2 million

The Hampton Inn of Owensboro at 615 Salem Drive is undergoing a $2 million renovation, the company that owns the hotel announced Friday.

The Malcolm Bryant Corp. said that improvements are being made to guest rooms and the lobby with new soft seating, sofa beds, easy chairs and desk chairs. New artwork, drapes, vinyl and wallcoverings will be installed in all hotel rooms. All rooms and the lobby will get new flooring. The lobby will get new seating, two 42-inch televisions, artwork, automatic doors and a new registration desk. An exercise room will be built off the lobby.

"This renovation demonstrates our commitment to providing guests with the most up-to-date and high quality accommodations they've come to expect during their travels," Meagan Magnus, the hotel's general manager, said.

The Hampton Inn of Owensboro is a three-story, 86-room hotel.

Hancock switching insurance providers

A change in insurance providers will save Hancock County about $30,000.

Hancock Fiscal Court approved changing its health insurance provider from Anthem to Evansville-based Welborn Health Plans at its meeting Monday evening in the Administration Building in Hawesville.

County employees will maintain the level of coverage they had last year under Anthem, Hancock Judge-Executive Jack McCaslin said in a phone interview later in the week.

Annual deductibles are $1,500 for single employees and $4,500 for the family plan, McCaslin wrote in an e-mail. Anthem's original price was $40,440.48 per month versus Welborn's $37,797.02 a month, he wrote.

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