Economy
GOP bill would ban KY cities from requiring landlords to accept Section 8 vouchers. None do.
Kentucky cities could not require landlords to take federal low-income housing vouchers, also known as “Section 8” vouchers, for rent under a bill passed out of a Senate committee Wednesday. Housing and tenant advocates, who strongly oppose the proposal, say it could potentially stop efforts by Kentucky’s two largest cities to prevent housing discrimination.? Bill […]
As more states add paid family leave, advocates say there’s a need for federal policy
When the Minnesota legislature was debating a paid sick leave bill last year, business owners argued that such a law would not allow them to provide as many employee “perks” or be as “adaptive” to employee needs as they say they would be without such a requirement.? But a half dozen witnesses made a case […]
Hoping to clear the air in casinos, workers seek to ban tobacco smoke
The instant Tammy Brady felt the lump in her breast in February 2022, she knew it was cancer. With no known genetic predisposition for breast cancer, she suspects 38 years of working in smoky Atlantic City casinos played a role. “I was just trying to make a living,” said Brady, 56, a dealer and supervisor […]
Kentucky Senate committee ponders coming crisis in child care
FRANKFORT — In a year when Kentucky’s child care providers are looking to the legislature for a financial lifeline, a Senate committee heard an overview Tuesday of what its chairman called “one of the most pressing issues” facing the General Assembly . Several members of the Senate Families and Children Committee, including chairman Danny Carroll, […]
The ABCs of Kentucky’s economy
As the Kentucky General Assembly gathers in Frankfort, lawmakers will be looking for ways to lift Kentucky’s workforce participation rate, attract employers and usher in a more prosperous future. They’ll likely consider tax policy, infrastructure subsidies and education’s role in growing an economy, making this a good time to look at the bigger economic picture. […]
December jobs report: Wages up, hiring steady as job market ends year strong
Friday’s jobs data showed a strong, resilient U.S. labor market with wages outpacing inflation — welcome news for Americans hoping to have more purchasing power in 2024. The December jobs report unveiled another unemployment rate below 4%, as it has for two years, at 3.7%, the same as it was for November. The economy added […]
States, Biden administration push efforts to aid renters, keep people housed
Maine’s housing authority received $35 million in 2023 — the first time in 54 years it has received a direct appropriation from the state budget — to help build more affordable rental housing for communities that have struggled to keep up with high housing prices. The state’s program provides funding to developers for affordable housing […]
Kentucky child care advocates say Beshear’s budget doesn’t do enough?
Gov. Andy Beshear is asking the legislature to spend $141 million over the next two years to stabilize the child care industry, but some advocates for children say that won’t be enough. Beshear’s budget proposal comes as pandemic-era federal assistance is ending, leaving Kentucky’s child care providers to face potential closures, tuition increases and wage […]
Frankfort commission voices support for city utility as state senator pushes to sell its telecom
The Frankfort city commission unanimously approved a resolution earlier this week offering “unwavering support” to its city utility in light of a Republican state senator’s efforts to force a change in control of its telecommunications business. The Lantern previously reported state Sen. Gex Williams, R-Verona, has been advocating for Frankfort’s utility, the Frankfort Plant Board […]
‘Smash-and-grab’ robberies fuel new laws, but critics question the need
Even before Virginia lawmakers passed a tough new law against organized retail crime earlier this year, Bradley Haywood, a public defender in Arlington, Virginia, challenged the rationale. The idea that retailers in the state had lost billions to organized theft was a myth manufactured by retailers themselves, Haywood argued. Now the outspoken lawyer has fresh […]
The US avoided a recession in 2023. What’s the outlook for 2024?
Next year is packed with potential shifts in the economy but many economists and investment analysts expect that the country will likely avoid a recession in 2024 even as growth slows in the first half of the year. States Newsroom talked to economists about their expectations for some key metrics as well as their concerns […]
Without help from General Assembly, Kentucky child care industry facing ‘scary’ 2024
BENTON — Children’s laughter wafts throughout the iKids Childhood Enrichment Center in this West Kentucky town, around midday.? Dozens of children, whom the center staff call “friends,” get their final bursts of energy out before the post-lunch nap. Then, they sprawl on their classroom cots and drift away to dream. This is a vision of […]