Economy
Families are taking a hit as pandemic aid ends, inflation continues
Forty million people in the U.S. are having difficulty affording household expenses, and a little more than 25 million people say they sometimes or often do not have enough to eat, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse survey data. The survey is designed to collect data on household experiences during the […]
Bill addressing Kentucky’s health care workforce shortages clears committee
A Kentucky bill drafted to address the state’s health care workforce shortages easily passed a House committee Thursday. The bill, which has bipartisan support, sailed out of the House Standing Committee on Health Services with 18 yes votes and one pass. No one voted against the bill. It now goes to the House floor. House […]
Food sanitation company fined $1.5 million for illegal child labor
A company responsible for cleaning meatpacking plants across the country has paid $1.5 million in civil penalties for making children as young as 13 work in dangerous conditions. The fine, announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor, followed an investigation by the agency into Packers Sanitation Services Inc., at 13 plants in eight states, […]
Beshear signs Republican legislature’s income tax cut into law
FRANKFORT — Gov. Andy Beshear has signed the Republican legislature’s top priority, another cut in the state income tax, although the Democratic governor said lowering the sales tax would have helped more Kentuckians. Facing reelection this year, ?Beshear said in a video Friday that he decided to sign the legislation, which most Democratic lawmakers had […]
Louisville students lobby legislature to exempt period products from state sales tax
FRANKFORT — Jessica Gross has had to leave school because she started her period and didn’t have menstrual products with her.? “It’s a panic situation,” said Louisville’s Gross, 16, who is a student at Mercy Academy. “It’s not the embarrassment of being on your period. It’s the way that people around you see it.”? That’s […]
Proposed federal rule would lower credit card late fees
As Americans continue to struggle with high credit card rates, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed a rule to help lessen some of their financial burden — in the form of lower late fees.? The new rule would limit late fees to $8. Currently credit card companies can charge as high as $41 — […]
Punitive Republican policies won’t whip Kentucky into prosperity
Why must someone laid off from a job be further penalized by the state? To be denied long-established unemployment benefits? To be pressured to take an available job rather than find one that advanced a career? Yet Kentucky lawmakers decided the state must become a harsh taskmaster, snapping a whip to get people back into […]
Staffing crisis worsens, immigrants can bridge the gaps
When Margarette Nerette arrived in the United States from Haiti, she sought safety and a new start. The former human rights activist feared for her life in the political turmoil following the military coup that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 1991. Leaving her two small children with her sister in Port-au-Prince, Nerette, then 29, came […]
Video will help Kentuckians understand new unemployment insurance rules
Kentucky legal aid offices have released a video to help people who are out of work understand changes to the unemployment insurance system that took effect Jan. 1. Katina Miner, advocacy director at Kentucky Legal Aid, says, “Unfortunately, this is not good news for people out of work. That’s why we want to make sure […]
Kentucky receiving an additional $182 million in federal funds for broadband?
Gov. Andy Beshear joined U.S. Department of the Treasury officials to announce more than $182 million in federal funding Thursday for broadband deployment throughout Kentucky, padding onto hundreds of millions of dollars the state has already invested in expanding internet access.? The federal funding, made available through the American Rescue Plan Act, is one of […]
U.S. Education Secretary Cardona visiting Hazard Thursday
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will travel to Hazard Thursday to spotlight new federal funding for Partners for Rural Impact, a “place-based partnership”?founded by Dreama Gentry that works to create student opportunity and success in Appalachia. Accompanying him will be Geoffrey Canada, president of Harlem Children’s Zone and founder of the William Julius Wilson […]
Kentucky House GOP plans to pass income tax cut this week
FRANKFORT — Republican House Speaker David Osborne says his GOP supermajority in the House of Representatives plans to pass a bill this week that would continue to cut the state’s income tax, a big priority that GOP leadership telegraphed well ahead of this year’s legislative session.? Osborne on the first day of the legislative session […]