Economy
UAW, Ford reach agreement in Louisville averting possible strike
The United Auto Workers and Ford have reached a tentative local agreement in Louisville, the UAW announced Wednesday. “After months of negotiations over local issues, UAW Local 862 has reached a tentative local agreement with Ford Motor Co., averting a potential strike this week” at the Kentucky Truck Plant, the union said in a release. […]
Lawmakers pitched on economic, educational value of increasing state support for child care
FRANKFORT — Kathy Donelan doesn’t like the options facing her Northern Kentucky child care and preschool center if the state doesn’t put money into the child care industry this session.? “I could close,” Donelan told members of the Senate Families and Children Committee Tuesday as she testified in support of the Horizons Act, a $300 […]
When will housing affordability improve? Spoiler alert: It will take some time
Inflation is slowing and job growth has surged, but many Americans still feel the burden of expensive housing – fueled in part by high demand, low inventory and mortgage rates. Home prices across the U.S. rose 5.5% over the past year as of December 2023 and they are projected to increase 2.8% year over year […]
Bill loosening Kentucky child labor laws clears House committee
FRANKFORT — Some Kentucky teenagers could work longer and later hours —? something critics say threatens youngsters’ safety and success in life — under a bill approved by a House committee Thursday with Republican support. House Bill 255, sponsored by Rep. Phillip Pratt, R-Georgetown, would repeal Kentucky’s existing child labor laws and align them with […]
Biden administration picks airports for nearly $1 billion in terminal upgrades
The Biden administration will send close to $1 billion to airports across the country to upgrade terminal facilities, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced Thursday. The $970 million in grants will go to 144 airports in 44 states and three territories. Earmarked for terminal improvements, Buttigieg and other administration officials said the grants would fund projects […]
Despite bipartisan opposition, Senate passes bill changing sick-leave pay for teacher retirees
FRANKFORT —?A few Senate Republicans joined Democrats in voting against a measure that would change how Kentucky teachers are paid for accumulated sick leave when they retire, but the bill received enough votes to pass Wednesday.? Some Republicans argued Senate Bill 4 was necessary to ensure the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) can continue to pay […]
House approves easing educational requirements for substitute teachers in Kentucky
FRANKFORT — A proposal to lower the educational requirements to be a substitute teacher in Kentucky easily cleared the House Wednesday. Before voting in favor of House Bill 387, Democratic Rep. Sarah Stalker of Louisville warned that the need for the bill is a symptom of a larger problem: the state’s shortage of teachers and […]
House budget slams the brakes on future electric vehicle purchases by some state agencies
FRANKFORT — Auto manufacturers are investing billions in Kentucky to build electric vehicles, but some state agencies wouldn’t be able to buy them under a mandate from the Republican House. The two-year state spending plan passed by the GOP-dominated House this month would require various state agencies looking to buy new vehicles to purchase only […]
State budget support for airport at Bluegrass Station reignites local opposition
FRANKFORT — Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and House Republicans differed on plenty in their two-year state budget proposals but landed on one area of agreement: Supporting efforts to build a general aviation airport with a 7,800-foot runway and airpark at Bluegrass Station, a state-owned industrial park at Avon in Fayette County.? A local government attempt […]
Republican lawmaker seeks to put hope on horizon for early childhood, Kentucky parents
FRANKFORT — When Jessie Schook, the vice president of workforce and economic development for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, tells people she is expecting her first child in June, many want to know: “Are you on a (child care) list?”? The wait to get a new baby into a child care center can […]
Bill would save Kentucky consumers money, help independent pharmacies survive, says sponsor
Four years after leading the effort to cut corporate middlemen out of the prescription drug business for Kentucky’s Medicaid program, Sen. Max Wise now is taking aim at those same companies’ role in private health insurance. Noting his Senate Bill 50, enacted in 2020, resulted in millions of dollars in savings to Kentucky Medicaid, Wise, […]
Republican senator will ask Kentucky lawmakers to put $300 million into strengthening child care
Republican state Sen. Danny Carroll has announced his anticipated child care legislation will come with a $300 million, two-year price tag.? The ambitious proposal, called the Horizons Act, would have Kentucky spend far more than the $104 million over the biennium approved by the House for the child care sector and the $141 million that […]