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A Fancy Farm gallery: Stump speaking and heckling. A Kentucky tradition is renewed.
The 143rd Fancy Farm Picnic — a feast for connoisseurs of barbecue and Kentucky politics — is in the history books. After a day of colorful personal interactions with voters and each other, Gov. Andy Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron must now return their attentions to raising vast sums of money to pay for […]
Calling all toadies: Kentucky needs a new education commissioner
Jason Glass became a target in the culture wars, but the real casualty is Kentucky’s public schools. Republicans ran off an education commissioner who openly challenged their anti-LGBTQ agenda. Under the circumstances, Glass’s announcement that he will step down in late September was not surprising. It does raise a troubling question:? What self-respecting educator will […]
Hal Rogers’ attempted glide path for federal prison in Letcher County draws flak
Opponents of a long-debated federal prison in Letcher County are criticizing U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers for using what they call a “strongman tactic” to “fast track” the project without public comment or an environmental review. Even the courts, opponents say, would be precluded from hearing legal challenges to the prison, under language that Rogers added […]
Sports betting will begin in Kentucky Sept. 7, mobile betting on Sept. 28
LEXINGTON — Gamblers can begin casting legal sports bets at racetrack-related locations across Kentucky on Sept. 7 and through mobile apps on Sept. 28, under emergency regulations signed yesterday by Gov. Andy Beshear at the Red Mile. The legislature earlier this year made Kentucky the 37th state to legalize sports betting. The U.S. Supreme Court […]
Berea College ‘will not waver’ on racial, social justice, says new president
BEREA — The day before Cheryl Nixon became Berea College’s 10th and first woman president, the U.S. Supreme Court renounced one of the principles on which the small but revered Christian, liberal arts college is built. “Our founder, the Rev. John Fee, was a staunch abolitionist and believed that there was a debt to be […]
As Kentucky’s first smoke-free law turns 20, there’s lots to celebrate, lots more to do
LEXINGTON — Hard to believe: Almost a generation of Kentuckians has never had to come home from a night out with their throats stinging and hair stinking from tobacco smoke. I’m thinking of people who grow up or go to college in Lexington, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Kentucky’s first-smoke free law on […]
Would locking up an extra 400 kids make Kentucky safer?
FRANKFORT — In a surprising move, Kentucky’s legislature earlier this year mandated up to 48 hours of detention for juveniles accused of certain serious crimes. Surprising because the decision flies in the face of decades of research. It also conflicts with efforts by many states, including Kentucky, to steer juveniles away from detention into community-based […]
Lexington Democrat kicks off campaign to become Kentucky’s first transgender lawmaker
LEXINGTON — Democrat Emma Curtis on Thursday kicked off her campaign to succeed the late Rep. Lamin Swann as state representative from a south Lexington district. Curtis, who would be Kentucky’s first transgender legislator, said she wants to be a voice for transgender youth but is equally committed to working for the 93rd District to […]
University of Kentucky safety researchers urge more training for delivery truck drivers
LEXINGTON — A University of Kentucky researcher is recommending more training for drivers of medium- and light-weight trucks based on a study of injury reports. Terry Bunn, director of the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center, said drivers of smaller trucks who were injured in crashes lost more work time than drivers of heavy trucks […]
‘Rise up. And build!’ rings out in Lexington at annual Nehemiah Action Assembly
LEXINGTON — It had nothing to do with horses or basketball, but Kentucky’s second-largest city had what I consider to be one of its best nights of the year as 1,500 people came together Monday to make some demands. The demands had been researched and discussed and were issued only after negotiations and the laying […]
Black Legislative Caucus calls on Kentucky Republicans to tackle ‘epidemic of gun violence’
Members of Kentucky’s Black Legislative Caucus on Monday implored their colleagues in the General Assembly to address what Rep. George Brown called “an epidemic of gun violence.”? On the heels of mass shootings in Louisville and Nashville, caucus chair Brown, D-Lexington, said, “We call on our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to […]
Searching for hope in a cruel political season
FRANKFORT — I was sitting at my desk a stone’s throw from the Kentucky Capitol googling Galileo. Was the father of modern science really shown the instruments of torture to make him renounce his belief that the Earth circles the sun?? The authorities had divined that it was the other way around, that God had […]