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With 1,582 filings -- 9.34 percent less than a year earlier -- Kentucky was ranked 42nd among the states, with one filing for every 1,194 households.

The six-county Lexington metro area also bucked the national trend by posting a 26.1 percent decline in filings -- down from 207 in the first quarter of 2007 to 153 in the latest period, RealtyTrac said.

Lexington is too small to be ranked among the top 100 metro areas, but it would have placed 97th or 98th if it had made the list, the California foreclosure tracking firm said.

Ninety of the nation's 100 largest metro areas reported more foreclosures in the first quarter of 2008 than in the same period last year, said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.

And those are worrying signs for the already deteriorating economy, since eroding consumer confidence foreshadows weaker spending.

A widely watched measure of sentiment dropped to a five-year low in April, the fourth straight month of declines. The Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index fell to 62.3 in April, down from a revised 65.9 last month and 76.4 in February.

That was in line with the expectations of Wall Street economists, but leaves the index at its weakest point since it registered 61.4 in March 2003, ahead of the Iraq invasion.

"There isn't a lot for the consumers to be optimistic about," said Gary Thayer, senior economist at Wachovia Securities.

Fayette, which includes Lexington, saw permits plummet from 378 in the first quarter of 2007 to 138 in the latest quarter, the Knoxville firm said.

The Fayette decline was the largest factor in a 45.1 percent drop in permits for the eight-county area around Lexington.

The eight counties surrounding Louisville suffered a similar 46.6 percent decline, The Market Edge said.

Building permits are considered an indicator of future construction and housing demand.

The Fed action, announced Wednesday after a two-day regular meeting, pushed the federal funds rate down to 2 percent, its lowest level since late 2004. It marked the seventh consecutive rate cut by the central bank since it began easing credit conditions last September to combat the growing threat of a recession brought on by a deep housing slump and credit crisis.

The rate cut will mean lower borrowing costs throughout the economy as banks reduce their prime lending rate, the benchmark for millions of consumer and business loans.

The Fed move was in line with expectations. Wall Street believes this could well wrap up the Fed's rate cuts unless the economy threatens to fall into a worse slump than currently expected.

The Fed said it stood ready to "act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and stability." That phrase was seen as a signal that the Fed is as worried about weak growth as it is about the risk of higher inflation.

The country's economic growth during January through March was the same as in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The statistic did not meet what economists consider the classic definition of a recession, which is a retraction of the economy. This means that although the economy is stuck in a rut, it is still managing to grow, even if modestly.

Many analysts were predicting that the gross domestic product (GDP) would weaken a bit more - to a pace of just 0.5 percent - in the first quarter. Earlier this year, some economists thought the economy would actually lurch into reverse during the opening quarter. Now, they say they believe that will likely happen during the current April-to-June period.

"The economy is weak but not collapsing," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. "A recession can't be ruled out, although the stars are not lined up at this point to definitively say one way or the other."

Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the best measure of the country's economic health. Voters are keenly worried about the country's economic problems and so are politicians - in Congress, in the White House and on the campaign trail.

The Fed said in a statement the economy "remains weak" and that "uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high." Policy makers added, however, that "substantial easing of monetary policy to date, combined with ongoing measures to foster market liquidity, should help promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate risks to economic activity."

Most investors had expected the central bank to again lower its benchmark fed funds rate by a quarter point after lowering it seven times since last summer by a total of 3 percentage points. Still, many investors had also anticipated a strong clue that the Fed was nearing the end of its rate-cutting campaign - and Wednesday's statement did not indicate that clearly.

"The market had wanted to hear tougher talk on inflation, and some sort of talk that the easing has been adequate for a while, for the foreseeable future," said Scott Wren, equity strategist for A.G. Edwards & Sons.

With economic data coming in weak but better than expected in recent weeks, inflation has appeared to be the bigger threat due to news of rice rationing, crude oil hitting $120 and gasoline surging to new highs.

PAPER'S WEB SITE, BLOG FINALISTS

The Herald-Leader's entertainment Web site, LexGo.com, and staff writer Rich Copley's blog are finalists to receive major international online media awards. Copley's blog, Copious Notes, is one of five finalists for best entertainment blog, and LexGo.com is a finalist for best entertainment Web site with fewer than 1 million unique monthly visitors in the 13th annual EPpy Awards. Presented by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek trade magazines, the awards honor the best media-affiliated Internet sites. One of the Herald-Leader's first blogs, Copious Notes was launched in late spring 2006, reporting live on the annual Ichthus Christian music festival in Wilmore. It has since grown to report on a variety of art forms. LexGo was launched in January to be the home for the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com's arts and entertainment coverage. The EPpys will be presented May 15 in Las Vegas.

HIGH PRICES LESSEN PATRIOT COAL'S LOSS

Mine operator Patriot Coal says its first-quarter loss narrowed 74 percent due largely to soaring prices. Patriot said Tuesday it lost $3.1 million, or 12 cents per share, in the first three months of the year. The St. Louis-based company lost $12 million in the same period last year. Patriot was part of St. Louis-based coal company Peabody Energy before being spun off last October. Wall Street was expecting Patriot to earn 4 cents per share. Patriot says margins at its mines in Kentucky and West Virginia improved 35 percent in the quarter. While management credits changes made since the spinoff, Appalachian coal prices have climbed more than 100 percent from last year. For instance, Appalachian steam coal sold recently to utilities topped $95 a ton.

The country's economic growth during January through March was the same as in the final three months of last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday. The statistic did not meet what economists consider the classic definition of a recession, which is a retraction of the economy. This means that although the economy is stuck in a rut, it is still managing to grow, even if modestly.

Many analysts were predicting that the gross domestic product (GDP) would weaken a bit more - to a pace of just 0.5 percent - in the first quarter. Earlier this year, some economists thought the economy would actually lurch into reverse during the opening quarter. Now, they say they believe that will likely happen during the current April-to-June period.

"The economy is weak but not collapsing," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. "A recession can't be ruled out, although the stars are not lined up at this point to definitively say one way or the other."

Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is the best measure of the country's economic health. Voters are keenly worried about the country's economic problems and so are politicians - in Congress, in the White House and on the campaign trail.

With 1,582 filings -- 9.34 percent less than a year earlier -- Kentucky was ranked 42nd among the states, with one filing for every 1,194 households.

The six-county Lexington metro area also bucked the national trend by posting a 26.1 percent decline in filings -- down from 207 in the first quarter of 2007 to 153 in the latest period, RealtyTrac said.

Lexington is too small to be ranked among the top 100 metro areas, but it would have placed 97th or 98th if it had made the list, the California foreclosure tracking firm said.

Ninety of the nation's 100 largest metro areas reported more foreclosures in the first quarter of 2008 than in the same period last year, said RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio.

Merideth, who lives in Winchester, earned an undergraduate degree in psychology from Western Kentucky University and a graduate degree in social work from the University of Kentucky.

In this position, Merideth will devote her time to expanding the Red Cross mission through the promotion of volunteerism.

She is an active member of the Central Kentucky Association for Volunteer Administrators.

The Internal Revenue Service started making the direct deposits on Monday with the goal of completing 800,000 payments each day over the first three days of this week. No deposits will be made Thursday while the IRS prepares a big batch of 5 million direct deposits scheduled on Friday.

The IRS had expected to begin the program in May but was able to start a few days earlier by utilizing a computer system that can process payments on a daily basis. The government's paper checks will start going out on May 9, a week earlier than previously announced.

The rebates, which are expected to reach 130 million households, range up to $600 for an individual and $1,200 for married couples plus $300 for eligible children younger than 17.

The rebates were the centerpiece of the government's $168 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February and are designed to bolster consumer spending and lift the economy out of the doldrums.

The cost of sending a first-class letter will rise a penny to 42 cents on May 12, but the Forever stamps -- currently selling for 41 cents -- will remain valid for full postage after the increase.

Forever stamps were introduced last year and since then more than 6 billion have been sold, with interest growing as the rate increase nears.

"We knew the Forever Stamp would be a big hit with our customers and we continue to replenish our stock to meet demand," said Postal Service Consumer Advocate Delores Killette. "We introduced these stamps as a customer convenience to ease the transition during price changes."

Unlike the Forever stamps, other 41-cent stamps will require additional postage when the new rates take effect. Postal officials said they printed an additional 1.5 billion 1-cent stamps in anticipation of the demand.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are walking a tightrope. They are trying to shore up economic growth and at the same time they are mindful that they can't let inflation get out of hand. It's a bit of an economic dilemma: The very rate reductions the Fed depends on to energize the economy can also sow the seeds of inflation down the road.

"It's a very challenging environment," said John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia.

In a nod to those conflicting forces, the Fed probably will opt for a moderate-sized rate reduction of one-quarter percentage point at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday, Silvia and other economists predict.

The Fed, which has been cutting rates since last September, turned more forceful in January and March, when housing, credit and financial problems took a turn for the worse, threatening to plunge the country into a deep recession. The rate cuts in January and March marked the most aggressive Fed intervention in a quarter-century.

The agency on Wednesday released a warning letter sent to Merck's chief executive, Richard T. Clark, that states FDA inspectors determined manufacturing rules are not being followed at the plant in West Point, Pa., just outside Philadelphia, which makes a number of children's vaccines.

The nine-page letter refers to what the FDA calls "significant objectionable conditions" found during repeated inspections at the plant between November and January.

Merck officials didn't thoroughly investigate when vaccine batches inexplicably failed to meet specifications, even if batches had been distributed, according to the heavily redacted letter.

The FDA also said that some drug components were tainted, and that the plant didn't have written procedures, tests or other laboratory controls to ensure "strength, quality, and purity" of products.

The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate 25 basis points to 2 percent.

Recent information indicates that economic activity remains weak. Household and business spending has been subdued and labor markets have softened further. Financial markets remain under considerable stress, and tight credit conditions and the deepening housing contraction are likely to weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters.

Although readings on core inflation have improved somewhat, energy and other commodity prices have increased, and some indicators of inflation expectations have risen in recent months. The Committee expects inflation to moderate in coming quarters, reflecting a projected leveling-out of energy and other commodity prices and an easing of pressures on resource utilization. Still, uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high. It will be necessary to continue to monitor inflation developments carefully.

The substantial easing of monetary policy to date, combined with ongoing measures to foster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate growth over time and to mitigate risks to economic activity. The Committee will continue to monitor economic and financial developments and will act as needed to promote sustainable economic growth and price stability.