Commentary
Kentucky lawmakers should heed lesson from Louisville mass shooting
The day before he killed five people and injured several others, the Old National Bank shooter wrote, “OH MY GOD THIS IS SO EASY. Seriously, I knew it would be doable but this is ridiculous. Walked in and bought a gun, 4 mags, and 120 rounds for $700. Got some glasses and earplugs…” On April […]
Climate grief and the stark choice that confronts us
If the five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, Americans can be found at all points along the continuum when it comes to global climate change and the environmental crisis that accompanies it. Like many who’ve contemplated a grim health-care diagnosis that seems to belie of how they feel in the […]
The only way to end abuse in children’s institutions is to end the institutions
Recent news stories illustrate both the terrible harm Kentucky’s “child welfare” system inflicts upon its most vulnerable children and the root cause. Until the findings in these stories are examined together the harm will never stop. The ultimate harm can be seen in the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting’s expose of how the state systematically […]
Remembering Rosalynn Carter and the challenges she overcame as first lady
As I write this, the airwaves, online news sites and print media are filled with tributes to Rosalynn Carter, the former first lady who passed away Sunday at the age of 96. It is likely that many are learning of her groundbreaking years as first lady and her post-presidential work — beyond building houses for […]
What a difference an Election Day makes
“People like me have no say in government. They don’t care what we think.” Such skepticism has long been a popular excuse citizens give for not voting. But if you doubt elections matter, pay close attention to the abortion debate in Kentucky — because Republican leaders have been singing a different tune since it became […]
The cost of free land and either-or history
Some white South Dakotans love to talk about their generational connection to the land. I’m one of them: a proud, fifth-generation descendant of Dakota Territory homesteaders. The federal government awarded nearly 100,000 parcels of free land to South Dakota settlers via the 1862 Homestead Act and successive rounds of related legislation. Modern South Dakotans celebrate […]
Studies, class-action suit link hair relaxers to cancer. Black women are at risk.
When I saw reports about a National Institutes of Health study that found women who used chemical hair straighteners known as relaxers were more than twice as likely to develop uterine cancer than those who didn’t, a sulfur-scented flashback zapped me back to my first experience getting my hair relaxed. I was 10 or 11, […]
What now? Child care in Kentucky faces a cliff as pandemic-era federal aid has ended
Rylee Dakota Monn’s salary as a day care teacher mostly went to pay for child care for her own two sons. “I was working full time but I wasn’t making any money for myself or making much of a contribution to the household,” said Monn, who works at Baptist Health Child Development Center in Lexington. […]
Union victories could spark new blue collar power in the Bluegrass
Is it possible that blue collar Kentucky workers could finally be reaching a turning point in the long slide in their standard of living? If so, history may credit the victories in the now-ratified new contracts of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Teamsters. After decades of stagnant wages and eroding job quality, these […]
‘Something wicked’ coming our way?
Bully Mullin, meet Bully Brooks. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., recently threatened to fight Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien during a Senate hearing on unions. On the Senate floor in 1856, Rep. Preston Brooks, D-S.C., nearly killed Sen. Charles Sumner, R-Mass, with a heavy cane.? Elected last year, Mullin is all MAGA all the time. He […]
What the veteran hears in the bugler’s call
Promptly at 5 p.m., every day, rain or shine, blizzard or heat, a volunteer? bugler wearing a period World War I U.S. Army uniform stands at attention near the flagpole at the National World War One Memorial not far from the White House in Washington D.C. On a brilliant autumn day, I watched as a […]
Where do Beshear, Cameron go from here?
Kentucky voters gave Andy Beshear another four-year term as governor. What will he do with it? The answers may conflict as he considers them personally, politically and governmentally. The latter two are already intersecting, as the Jan. 5 filing deadline for legislative seats approaches and prospective Democratic candidates look to Beshear for support — or […]