Government
Kentuckians invited to June town halls on helping families with substance use complications
Kentuckians with ideas to improve outcomes for children placed in foster care because of substance use complications will get the chance to share them during a series of town halls this June, the Administrative Office of the Courts announced Wednesday.? Registration is required for the four virtual town halls, which Citizen Foster Care Review Boards […]
21 states join Biden administration in bid to modernize nation’s aging grid
Twenty-one states, including Kentucky, are joining a push by the Biden administration to modernize America’s aging electric grid, which is under pressure from growing demand, a changing power generation mix that includes lots of wind and solar and severe weather. The administration, which has set a goal of a carbon-free power sector by 2035, announced […]
Celebrating new UK lab, McConnell calls for building up US industrial base, defense spending
LEXINGTON — U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell spoke about the need to “improve the country’s industrial base” during a ribbon-cutting at the University of Kentucky for a new research laboratory that will work with the U.S. Army.? McConnell, who graduated from the university’s law school in 1967, spoke on Wednesday about his support for […]
Grim toll tallied again after weekend tornado tears through some places hit in 2021
Sitting on her front porch surrounded by tornado damage, Tabatha Adams never imagined being on the other side of disaster recovery.? As the former president of her local Rotary Club, she helped her neighbors when Dawson Springs grappled with the devastating aftermath of an EF-4 tornado in December 2021. The Western Kentucky city of about […]
Attorney general sides with GOP lawmakers on voiding some of Beshear’s line-item vetoes
Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office ruled Tuesday that some of Gov. Andy Beshear’s recent line-item vetoes are void, upholding the General Assembly’s move to make all of House Bill 8 a law.? At the end of this year’s legislative session, Beshear issued two line-item vetoes on HB 8, a Republican-backed bill with wide-ranging provisions […]
Juvenile justice: ‘From nothing to something and then right back to nothing’
The mood was celebratory as Kentucky and federal officials crowded into the Capitol Rotunda on a cold January day in 2001 to announce the end of five years of federal oversight of the state’s problem-ridden juvenile justice system. “We’re never going to slide back to where we were in 1995,” said then-Juvenile Justice Commissioner Ralph […]
Kentuckians’ access to mental health care lags. Paying providers more would help, says report.
Kentuckians are far more likely to pay out of pocket for mental and behavioral health services than for surgical or other medical care.? This insight comes from a recent American Psychological Association report, which examined health insurance claims made by millions of Americans who sought care.? The report showed that as COVID-19 peaked in the […]
Beshear names Kerry Harvey, former justice secretary, to Kentucky Horse Racing Commission
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has appointed the former secretary of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet to the commission that oversees horse racing and sports gambling in the state.? Kerry Harvey, of Lexington, will succeed Naveed Chowhan, a Louisville-area doctor, whose term expired on the 15-member Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Beshear announced Friday the […]
What’s next for Kentucky’s Liberty Republicans??
Liberty Republicans see good signs for their movement in Kentucky after most of their incumbents won in Tuesday’s primary and a couple of challengers defeated more establishment-type GOP lawmakers. The successes came despite Liberty candidates being largely outspent. Looking ahead, Liberty Republicans are hoping to branch out across the state from their Northern Kentucky stronghold […]
Plans advance for corporate-funded expansion of Kentucky Republican Party headquarters
FRANKFORT — The Republican Party of Kentucky plans to expand its headquarters in Frankfort by adding a 6,800 square foot building designed to look like a “separate residential structure.” The new building will be built on a vacant lot adjacent to the current headquarters at Third Street and Capital Avenue. In addition to new office […]
Beshear makes Juneteenth a Kentucky holiday, protects natural hair in state workplaces
Gov. Andy Beshear on Thursday signed executive orders making Juneteenth an executive branch holiday and protecting natural hairstyles like braids, locs and twists from discrimination.? Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have tried and failed to pass bills on both of these issues.? CROWN Act stalls in legislature Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Fruit Hill, is among those […]
Hazard event kicks off campaign against what foes call the ‘voucher amendment’
Fresh off Kentucky’s primary election, opponents are launching a campaign against a constitutional amendment that will go before voters in November and would allow the General Assembly to fund nonpublic schools.? In the first of a series of “kickoffs” scheduled across the state, opponents of Amendment 2 gathered Thursday at East Perry Elementary School in […]