Commentary
Can we relearn how to trust?
Respect for authority is not a popular idea in our world. Our own experience quite often trumps anything we’re read. It is natural for us to distrust the authority of distant sources: It is not just Protestants who distrust Rome. Former President Donald Trump declared that he consulted mostly himself and his pretty big brain. […]
Has Joe Wright’s example been forgotten?
HARNED, Ky. – At the funeral for one of Kentucky’s greater public servants in living memory, no speaker said a word about his service to the state. Joe Wright, who was probably the most powerful member of a legislature he helped make independent from the governor, was remembered as a farmer and family man, always […]
A tiresome Kentucky threesome
A few observations about Kentucky politicians making national news lately: Abortion-rights advocates?are right to question whether gubernatorial candidate Daniel Cameron is seeking the power to prosecute — or just intimidate — women who seek abortions in states where the procedure is legal. If not, why sign onto?a letter with 18 other GOP attorneys general objecting […]
Beshear, Cameron feckless with political money
This is mainly about political money, and a little bit about taxpayers’ money getting political. Most of the recent action in the governor’s race has been about campaign contributions, and both Gov. Andy Beshear and Attorney General Daniel Cameron have some ’splainin’ to do. On June 20, my old friend and colleague Tom Loftus reported […]
When a truth-teller meets misinformation: ‘What you do matters.’
After spending a few days in Washington, D.C., recently for an editors conference, I found myself with a few hours before my plane back to Nashville and decided to go to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The museum opened in early 1993; two decades later, it was still packed, and that’s a good thing. […]
3 months after Louisville massacres, GOP silence echoes as gun violence keeps killing Kentuckians
Today, July 10, marks three months since the Old National Bank shooting in Louisville that killed five and injured eight, including a young police officer who was shot in the head.? And yet when was the last time you heard elected Kentucky Republicans, the ones who love to brag about their powerful supermajority, mention this […]
Workers at Kentucky’s largest employer could soon be on strike. Here’s what it means.
Intense contract negotiations between an emboldened Teamsters union and package delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS) are nearing a July 31 strike deadline. The outcome of this showdown has massive implications for every Kentucky worker facing inadequate wages, difficult working conditions and lack of respect on the job. That’s because Kentucky is ground zero for […]
A power disconnection crisis: In 31 states, utilities can shut off electricity in a heat wave
Millions of Americans have already been sweltering through heat waves this summer, and forecasters warn of hot months ahead. July 3 and 4, 2023, were two of the hottest days, and possibly the hottest, on satellite record globally. For people who struggle to afford air conditioning, the rising need for cooling is a growing crisis. […]
Open your heart to children trapped in a broken system
As a retired child welfare professional, I no longer spend my days working with abused and neglected children, but they are never far from my mind. Certainly not after the three excellent books about them that I’ve read recently. “Invisible Child” by Andrea Elliot is the journey of one smart and resourceful young lady living […]
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 […]
When homes flood, who retreats and to where?
After Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans in 2021, Kirt Talamo, a fourth-generation Louisianan, decided it was time to go. He sold his flooded home, purchased his grandmother’s former house on New Orleans’ west bank, which hadn’t flooded, and moved in. It felt good to be back within its familiar walls, but his mind was on […]