Bevin budget: No funds for abortion

by Tom Loftus – FRANKFORT, Ky. – Buried within Gov. Matt Bevin’s budget bill are provisions that would repeal Kentucky’s prevailing wage law and cut public funding to Kentucky’s Planned Parenthood clinics. Bevin outlined the major aspects of his proposed 2016-18 budget in an hourlong speech to the General Assembly Tuesday night, but he did not mention these two items,…

Pursuit of $50M transit grant stirs questions

by Phillip M. Bailey – Advocates worry that Louisville’s pursuit of $50 million Smart Cities award is ‘hijacking’ local efforts. A coalition of transportation advocates is pressuring the city to be more transparent about its application for a $50 million award to revolutionize roadways. Louisville Forward, the city’s economic development agency, is preparing to jump in a national competition…

Concern mounts as budget day looms

by Tom Loftus – FRANKFORT, Ky. -Anticipation is building as Gov. Matt Bevin prepares to unveil his first state budget, no small matter to some since he has promised to shrink state government. Advocates for the arts, for instance, are worried that Bevin could propose cutting the nearly $2.8 million annual appropriation to the Kentucky Arts Council. “There’s…

Kentucky Senate President Suggests ‘Austere’ Measures In State Budget

by Ryland Barton –  Less than a week before Gov. Matt Bevin gives his formal state budget proposal, Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, Bevin’s ally, gave an ominous prediction. “I think this budget that will be introduced and proposed by the executive branch will be one of the most austere budgets that I’ve seen in my 20 years in the General Assembly,”…

Johnson files against party-switching Butler

by Joseph Gerth – In what may be the first firewall in the Democratic Party’s attempt this year to hold onto it’s 95-year majority in the Kentucky House of Representatives, Louisville Metro Council member Dan Johnson has filed to unseat state Rep. Denny Butler, who angered Democrats in November when he changed parties and became a Republican. Johnson, 57,…

Land for new Versailles hospital included in plan for Edgewood Farm along U.S. 60

by Greg Kocher, [email protected] – VERSAILLES — A proposed mixed-use development on the eastern edge of Versailles includes acreage for a new hospital as well as single-family homes, light industry and retail businesses. Most of the 400-acre development would go on Edgewood Farm — outside the urban service boundary of Versailles, although Versailles City Council expressed its intent in August…