News
Kentucky Horse Park seeking to exclude new hires from merit system, share in local ‘bedroom’ tax
The Kentucky Horse Park wants state lawmakers to approve legislation that would exclude its new hires from the state merit system designed to protect employees from political influence. It also is seeking enabling legislation to allow the park to tap into the transient or “bedroom” tax collected by hotels, motels and other providers of overnight […]
Price shocks could hit consumers without more oversight of grid building boom
An aging electric grid, fossil fuel power plant retirements and a massive renewable electricity buildout are all contributing to a boom in transmission and distribution wire projects by electric utilities across the country. In 2020, investor-owned electric utilities spent $25 billion on transmission, up from $23.7 billion in 2019, figures that the Edison Electric Institute, […]
Lack of bidders increasing costs to plug abandoned oil and gas wells in Kentucky
Contractors? have started plugging some of the thousands of oil and gas wells abandoned by the fossil fuel industry across Kentucky, using new federal funding. But a lack of companies able or willing to bid on the work is increasing costs, a Kentucky official said recently.? Kentucky received an initial $25 million grant through the […]
Happy cows, good food, more profits for farmers
NEW CASTLE?— For more than a century Henry County relied on tobacco to keep its farmers and its economy going. For most of the second half of the 20th century a federal program?stabilized the price of tobacco, guaranteeing those farmers a steady, predictable income. That all changed in the new century after Congress ended tobacco […]
Residential foster care in Kentucky is physically, mentally unsafe, say some who have been there
One young adult remembers taking a daily allergy pill upon entering a Kentucky residential foster care facility and leaving “on 13 medications within six months.” Another lost the privilege of calling their mother after a riot at their location.? These were among the experiences 46 young adults shared with Kentucky Youth Advocates’ researchers, who examined […]
Report: Biden says South Carolina should be first primary state, Michigan first in Midwest
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is recommending to the Democratic National Committee that South Carolina become the first primary state in the presidential nominating process in 2024, and that New Hampshire and Nevada follow a week later — leaving Iowa out of the early lineup, the Washington Post reported on Thursday night. Georgia and Michigan […]
U.S. Supreme Court to review Biden student debt relief plan in February
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday it will hear oral arguments in February over a legal challenge by six Republican-led states to the Biden administration student borrower relief plan. Until the arguments are heard and the court issues a ruling, the $400 billion Biden plan is on hold due to a nationwide injunction […]
U.S. Senate averts freight rail strike, but bid to include worker sick leave fails
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to codify an agreement the White House brokered between rail unions and freight companies in order to avoid a catastrophic rail strike, but fell short of enough votes to include paid sick leave for workers. The Senate backed the rail deal on an 80-15 vote and rejected […]
Stivers says Senate GOP will decide soon whether to change abortion ban
This article is published with permission from the Northern?Kentucky?Tribune, a nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism. “It’s hard to tell” if Kentucky voters’ decision last month against a constitutional amendment to eliminate abortion rights from the state Constitution means the people want abortion allowed in cases involving rape and incest, the […]
Jobs were hard to find in Dawson Springs. Then a tornado struck.
DAWSON SPRINGS — A long line of cars and trucks trails out of downtown, waiting to pick up bags carried by volunteers, cartons of eggs and more from a food pantry giveaway on a cold November morning.? The need is there, said Lisa Barnes, one of the volunteers loading food into each passing vehicle. As […]
What can Kentucky do to prepare for the next pandemic or epidemic? Experts weigh in.
Even as Kentucky reels and recovers from COVID-19 in what some have touted as the “new normal,” experts say there are systemic steps we could take now to prepare for the next big health crisis.? Chief of all, experts told the Kentucky Lantern, is building trust between the general public and health officials, the shortage […]
U.S. House Democrats make history electing first Black party leader in Congress
WASHINGTON — The three U.S. House Democrats who have led their party through four presidencies and thousands of floor votes formally passed the torch to the next generation Wednesday, when the party gathered behind closed doors to elect its top leaders for the 118th Congress.? House Democrats named Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, as their […]