Justice
Challenge to Kentucky’s abortion ban ends after pregnancy becomes nonviable
Lawyers for a Kentucky woman challenging the state’s abortion ban asked that the case be dismissed on Monday, a week after the fetus lost cardiac activity.? This came a week after the Kentucky woman who sued for the right to abortion announced her pregnancy was no longer viable. At the time she filed her lawsuit, […]
Kentucky Supreme Court affirms voting districts in gerrymandering challenge
Kentucky’s recently redrawn congressional and legislative districts? will stand for future elections.? In an opinion published Thursday morning, the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate’s previous decision that the maps were a result of? “partisan gerrymanders” but did not find them unconstitutional.? “Regardless of how unusual or eye-raising it may be, we […]
Lexington leaders appeal for peace in Mideast, mutual respect at home
Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton on Tuesday released a joint statement with religious, civic and business leaders in Kentucky’s second-largest city appealing for peace in Gaza and Israel and respect for a diversity of views at home. Gorton, Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers and a group of Jewish, Muslim and Palestinian leaders in Lexington have been […]
John Rosenberg, civil and human rights activist, to receive honorary degree from University of Kentucky
John Rosenberg, a Holocaust survivor who worked as a civil rights attorney in the U.S. Justice Department and built a nonprofit legal aid organization in Eastern Kentucky, will receive an honorary degree from the University of Kentucky at the December commencement. Rosenberg will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters at the ceremony which begins […]
Judge rules Kentucky’s charter school law unconstitutional
A Franklin Circuit Court judge on Monday struck down a law allowing charter schools in Kentucky, ahead of an expected effort in next year’s legislature to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would allow public money to be spent on private schools. Judge Phillip Shepherd declared 2022’s House Bill 9 unconstitutional in a […]
Kentucky appeals court upholds governor’s ability to take legislature to court
Kentucky’s legislature acted unconstitutionally in 2022 by prohibiting Gov. Andy Beshear from spending public funds to challenge its actions, the state Court of Appeals ruled Friday in a unanimous decision. The appeals judges upheld an earlier ruling by Franklin Circuit Judge Thomas Wingate that had struck down the legislature’s attempt to block the governor from […]
Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice commissioner resigns?effective Jan. 1
Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Vicki Reed has resigned, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday.? Beshear, who will begin his second term Dec. 12, also announced that Jeremy Slinker, director of Kentucky Emergency Management, is leaving the administration to take a job with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Reed, who has been the target […]
AG-elect Coleman plans to target public corruption, drugs, violent crime, child exploitation
FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s next attorney general, Republican Russell Coleman, said Tuesday that combating public corruption will be one of his priorities but declined to speak specifically about London Mayor Randall Weddle’s use of “straw donors” to make excessive contributions to Gov. Andy Beshear’s campaign and the Kentucky Democratic Party. Flanked by his transition team and […]
Cash bail policies are under fresh scrutiny
States can’t figure out what to do about cash bail. The system — in which an arrested suspect pays cash to avoid sitting in jail until their court date and gets the money back when they appear — is deeply entrenched in the nation’s history as a way to ensure defendants return to face justice. […]
Kentucky ACLU appeals to U.S. high court for transgender minors’ medical care
The Trevor Project, which aims to end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth, also has trained counselors available around the clock. Reach them at 1-866-488-7386, via chat at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/get-help/, or by texting START to 678678.? The American Civil Liberties Union on Friday filed a petition for a certiorari asking the United States Supreme Court to overturn an […]
Kentucky’s ban on transgender medical care for minors headed to U.S. Supreme Court, ACLU says
Kentucky’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union says it will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the 2023 law banning certain gender affirming medical care for transgender minors.? This comes more than a month after the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to keep Kentucky’s ban on treatments like […]
Court: Texts about public business on officials’ personal cell phones can be public record
The Kentucky Court of Appeals issued an opinion Friday morning that says messages on personal cell phones are public records when they are created or used by government officials for government business.? The decision comes in a lawsuit filed by the non-profit Kentucky Open Government Coalition against the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources […]