Youth
Hundreds of thousands of parents died from drugs. Their kids need more help, advocates say.
Every day, 8-year-old Emma sits in a small garden outside her grandmother’s home in Salem, Ohio, writing letters to her mom and sometimes singing songs her mother used to sing to her. Emma’s mom, Danielle Stanley, died of an overdose last year. She was 34, and had struggled with addiction since she was a teenager, […]
Kentucky judge dismisses constitutional challenge to anti-vaping law?
Franklin Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2024 law banning the sale of some vaping products.? In doing so, Wingate sided with the lawsuit’s defendants — Allyson Taylor, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, and Secretary of State Michael Adams — who filed a […]
Healthy coincidence? Kentucky’s adult smoking rate, cigarette tax collections decline
Increasing state cigarette taxes has proven to be an effective policy to decrease smoking rates, and it appears that is also true in Kentucky. Nearly 30 percent of Kentucky adults smoked in 2011, two years after the legislature had doubled the cigarette tax to 60 cents a pack. Following a 50-cent increase to $1.10 in […]
Auditor says juvenile justice review shows ‘lack of leadership’ from Beshear administration
FRANKFORT — A review of Kentucky’s Department of Juvenile Justice found “??disorganization across facilities” and a “lack of leadership from the Beshear Administration,” Republican Auditor Allison Ball said Wednesday. However, an administration spokesperson said neither the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) nor the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet was given the opportunity to review the […]
Anti-DEI bill seeks to remove ‘trauma-informed approach’ for Kentucky schools from state law
FRANKFORT — A bill aimed at preventing education funding to go to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging frameworks in K-12 schools would also remove language protecting “trauma-informed” methods in Kentucky schools if the bill remains unchanged as it makes its way through the General Assembly.? Part of recently-filed Senate Bill 93 from Sen. Stephen Meredith, […]
Home not just for the holidays: Meet two Kentucky families who open their hearts to foster children
In Spring 2022, Brydie Harris and husband Xian Brooks got an email that would change their lives.? A newborn Kentucky girl, flown to Tennessee for medical care, needed a foster family soon.? “Xian started to read the email to me and was like, ‘would you want this newborn–’? and I was like ‘yes,’” Harris recalled. […]
School clubs for gay students meet uneasy future under Kentucky’s anti-LGBTQ law
OWENTON — During a school-wide club fair in this northern Kentucky town, a school administrator stood watch as students signed up for a group for LGBTQ+ students and their allies. After the club sign-up sheet had been posted, students wrote derogatory terms and mockingly signed up classmates, according to one of the club’s founders. The […]
Student absenteeism up as Kentucky schools recover from some hard years
Kentucky’s new School Report Card shows the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic on student learning. Interim Education Commissioner Robin Fields Kinney told reporters Tuesday that “a multi-year recovery period” will likely be needed “before school performance really gets back” to pre-pandemic levels. Kinney and other state education officials briefed reporters on newly released assessment […]
Kentucky’s youth are caught in the middle as Beshear-Cameron spar over transgender care
Ysa Leon is questioning their future in the commonwealth. The outcome of Kentucky’s gubernatorial race this November will be a deciding factor.? “I’ve told my family: Be prepared in November because that might change where I’m staying after I graduate in May,” said Leon, a 20-year-old nonbinary student at Transylvania University, where they are?president of […]
Kentucky Family Caregiver Program benefits restored
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story mislabeled the restored program. More eligible people who are raising their grandchildren will receive benefits through the Kentucky Family Caregiver Program, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Wednesday.? All 15 of the state’s Area Development Districts (ADD) will be able to participate in the program, Beshear said, thanks to […]
Juvenile justice would get more money, more scrutiny under bills approved by Kentucky Senate
FRANKFORT — The Kentucky Senate Tuesday unanimously passed two bills aimed at stemming what lawmakers called a crisis in Kentucky’s Department of Juvenile Justice. Senate Bill 162, sponsored by Sen. ?Danny Carroll, R-Benton, would allot more than $50 million for salaries, retention, new workers and security upgrades, including $30 million for workers in the adult […]
Kentucky juvenile justice reforms have multi-million dollar price tags, state budget director says
FRANKFORT — State Budget Director and Executive Cabinet Secretary John Hicks told lawmakers Tuesday that the price tags to support executive branch reforms in the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice are $20 million in the next fiscal year’s operating budget and $26 million in the current capital budget.? Amid discussions about Kentucky’s juvenile justice system, […]