Commentary
Did Kentucky legislators serve our common wealth?
In a republic, the form of government that the U.S. Constitution prescribes for states, the will of the people is supposed to be exercised through elected representatives. In Kentucky, we call our government a commonwealth, a term borrowed from our mother state, Virginia, meaning that it should serve the well-being of the people. The people’s […]
Undercurrent of racism propelled this legislative session
If there is a photo that defines Kentucky’s 2024 regular session, it is a smiling Secretary of State Michael Adams signing House Bill 5 — a sprawling, data-questionable, pro-incarceration bill with an unknown, sky’s-the-limit budget, overriding the governor’s veto — on the House steps, surrounded by more than two dozen applauding supporters and lawmakers. All […]
‘Gay Poems for Red States’ really for everyone
No matter how hard the viewer strains to see the shadowy face obscured by the words, “Gay Poems for Red States,” the silhouette on the front cover of this stunning collection is unknowable until you open the book and read the poems.? Starting with his own backstory, Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. chronicles his fall […]
No, America isn’t great. And, yes, many Biden voters know it
Briefly, ever so briefly, one man had me thinking that Donald Trump could win back the presidency. He wasn’t a political scientist crunching data to unveil a Republican path to victory. It’s too early for election forecasts to be reliable. Nor was he some Trump zealot spouting right-wing talking points while wearing a crimson Make […]
Privacy worries a smokescreen for hiding the public’s business
FRANKFORT — Long before there were text messages, email, cell phones or computers small enough to slip into a purse? — back in the Neolithic when public records were created on IBM Selectric typewriters — the Kentucky Open Records Act protected personal privacy. The Kentucky Open Records Act still protects personal privacy. No one is […]
Veto of mass incarceration bill gives Kentucky supermajority a shot at redemption
FRANKFORT — As I sort through the remains of this session, I keep returning to something I’ve heard said, only half-jokingly, about Kentucky: We waited until after the Civil War to join the Confederacy. It feels like the legislature is doing it again. White grievance and white supremacy animated this session. Republicans were out to […]
Taking stock one year after a bank staff meeting was turned into a bloodbath
April 10 marks one year since a mentally unstable 25-year-old walked into Old National Bank in Louisville and shot five people to death — Thomas Elliott, James Tutt Jr., Juliana Farmer, Joshua Barrick, Deana Eckert — and injured eight, including Nickolas Wilt, a young police officer who was shot in the head and miraculously survived. […]
HB 509 would destroy Kentucky’s long tradition of openness. And Beshear knows it.
Repeatedly in recent weeks, Gov. Andy Beshear has come out in favor of House Bill 509, a bill that would dramatically weaken Kentucky’s open records laws. The governor has tried to assure citizens the bill would result in more transparency, not less. The governor is wrong; this bill will inevitably lead to the public’s business […]
A trial balance on the legislature: Political agendas prevail
When the legendary Allan Trout was chief of The Courier-Journal’s Frankfort Bureau, he liked to work up “trial balances” on governors and legislatures, evaluating their performances in progress. With two days left in the 2024 General Assembly, largely to reconsider bills Gov. Andy Beshear vetoes, here’s a ledger on the current General Assembly. Economic conservatives […]
Life is nowhere near as simple as dehumanizing House Bill 5 makes it out to be
House Bill 5 — what some call the Safer Kentucky Act, but what I refer to as the Dehumanization Act — has been approved by both chambers of the Kentucky General Assembly and will almost certainly become law. HB 5 takes an outdated, disproven, tough-on-crime approach to public safety by delivering harsher punishments, mandating longer […]
What’s a girl to think?
A week before the end of this regular session, the Senate Committee on Veterans, Military Affairs, and Public Protection — commonly known as VMAPP and chaired by Sen. Rick Girdler — met for 21 minutes. I attended this meeting. After the prayer, pledge of allegiance and roll call, Sen. Gex Williams kindly introduced a little […]
Defending DEI against legislative threats is vital to the future of Kentucky
This commentary was written by the editorial boards of the College Heights Herald, the Eastern Progress, the Murray State News, the Louisville Cardinal, The Northerner, the Thorobred News and the Kentucky Kernel. Kentucky state legislators have put forth an attack on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the commonwealth’s public university campuses, failing to recognize […]