Justice
Hazard, some other Kentucky towns may enact restaurant tax, judge rules
A Franklin Circuit judge has given a legal victory to Hazard and several other Kentucky cities interested in imposing a restaurant tax. The tax, created by the legislature in 1980, is levied in about 50 of Kentucky’s 418 cities on retail sales of food and beverages in all restaurants in the city. The tax rate […]
Kentucky K9 officer will sniff out evidence in child exploitation cases
Kentucky’s Attorney General’s office is getting a pawfect new officer who will work in the Department of Criminal Investigations sniffing out technology in child exploitation cases.? Charity, a yellow lab K9 officer, is trained to detect cell phones, flash drives, micro-SD cards and other technology that the AG’s office said “could contain child sex abuse […]
U.S. Department of Justice investigating Kentucky juvenile detention conditions
The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a civil rights investigation into the conditions at eight of the youth detention centers and one development center in the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice.? “The investigation will examine whether Kentucky protects children confined in these facilities from harm caused by excessive force by staff, prolonged and punitive […]
Louisville judge hears arguments in Jewish women’s challenge of Kentucky’s abortion ban
LOUISVILLE — Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Brian Edwards heard oral arguments Monday in the case of? three Jewish women who argue their religious freedom is violated by Kentucky’s abortion ban.? Much of the arguments focused on in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the extent to which it overlaps with the state’s abortion ban. Several lawmakers […]
Retailer Warby Parker penalized for letting Kentuckians take online vision test
Warby Parker, an online retailer of prescription glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses, has agreed to pay at least $55,200 to Kentucky for allowing 69 Kentuckians to take its online vision test, contrary to state law, Attorney General Russell Coleman’s office said in a news release Friday. Coleman’s office alleged that from July to October 2021, […]
Loss of federal protection in Idaho spurs pregnant patients to plan for emergency air transport
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided in January to consider a case about whether a federal law regarding emergency medical treatment supersedes an abortion ban in Idaho, air transports out of state for pregnancy complications at one of the state’s largest hospitals have increased from one in all of 2023 to six in the past […]
Warnings ignored, says sex abuse lawsuit filed by former University of Kentucky swimmers
The first red flag was raised as soon as Lars Jorgensen was hired. On June 20, 2012, within hours of news breaking that Jorgensen had joined the University of Kentucky swimming program as an associate head coach, a former assistant coach at the University of Toledo messaged Kentucky head coach Gary Conelly and athletic director […]
Kentucky’s new anti-vaping law ignites constitutional challenge
Four vape shops, the Kentucky Vaping Retailers Association and the Kentucky Hemp Association have filed suit in Franklin Circuit Court seeking to strike down a new state law outlawing the sale of some of their products.? Greg Troutman, a lawyer for the Kentucky Smoke Free Association, which represents vape retailers, said he’s “hoping that we […]
Trump on trial: Former president faces criminal charges of falsifying business records
NEW YORK — The trial of former President Donald Trump kicked off Monday in a lower Manhattan courtroom, marking the first time in U.S. history that an ex-president has been tried on criminal charges. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, appeared in the state of New York courtroom, where he is charged with falsifying […]
Kentucky Republicans override Beshear vetoes
FRANKFORT —?The GOP-dominated Kentucky legislature easily overrode nearly all of Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes Friday on the next to last day of this year’s legislative session, cementing a number of Republican priorities into state law.? In total, Republican supermajorities in both legislative chambers overrode two dozen vetoes of bills and a resolution, including […]
Perry County prosecutor faces federal charges for allegedly trading favors for sex, drugs
A Kentucky prosecutor, who allegedly helped criminal defendants in exchange for sexual favors and methamphetamine, is facing federal wire fraud charges. Perry County commonwealth’s attorney Scott Blair, 51, of Hazard, was charged with committing honest services wire fraud in a federal criminal complaint Friday, according to a release from the U.S. attorney for the Eastern […]
Abortions are banned in Arizona after the Supreme Court upholds an 1864 law
The Arizona Supreme Court ruled to make abortion largely illegal in the Grand Canyon State, reinstating a 160-year-old law that forbids all procedures except those to save a woman’s life. Justice John R. Lopez IV, writing for the court in a 4-2 split decision, said that a 2022 law allowing abortions up to 15 weeks […]