By JOSH JAMES A controversial bill granting Kentucky law enforcement the ability to temporarily detain anyone who refuses to identify him or herself has been withdrawn by the sponsor, who says he was “personally threatened” after posting the bill. CREDIT JOSH JAMES / WUKY Under Senate Bill 89, anyone stopped by police on “reasonable suspicion” of criminal…
BY JOE RAGUSA | KENTUCKY FRANKFORT, Ky. – A House committee approved a $35 million loan to the University of Louisville for the purchase of healthcare facilities from KentuckyOne Health. The loan, branded in House Bill 99 as the “Direct Health Care Services and Research Facilities Operations Loan Program”, would help U of L operate the facilities,…
BY JOE RAGUSA | KENTUCKY FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky House passed a bill to create new standards for hemp testing and to establish standards for transporting hemp products. House Bill 236 requires farmers to keep the THC content, specifically delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, of their hemp below 0.3%. THC is the active chemical in marijuana and trace amounts can…
By STU JOHNSON A Frankfort boy’s idea to help bolster adoption of sheltered pets in Kentucky is moving in the general assembly. The piece of legislation received committee backing last week. Listen here. Seven year old Ethan Branscum has a suggestion to help more sheltered and rescued animals move into permanent homes. Giving those cats and…
By Katey Cook FRANKFORT, Ky. (WYMT/WSAZ)- For some Kentuckians, financial relief may be on its way. “There’s not a lot of jobs and the jobs that are here, they aren’t great paying jobs,” Boyd County teacher Kathy Cook said. Rep. Kathy Hinkle (D-Louisa) is leading Democratic lawmakers in Frankfort by sponsoring a bill that would raise the…
BY JOE RAGUSA KENTUCKY FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Department of Education laid out its timeline to hire a new education commissioner at Friday’s state Board of Education meeting. January 24, 2020 is the deadline for potential search firms to apply for the job. Three Board of Education members will score the bids and bring in finalists February…
By Ryan Van Velzer Researchers are beginning a new three-year study looking at elk reproduction and survival more than two decades after they were first reintroduced to Kentucky. Elk used to be native to Kentucky, but settlers’ unregulated hunting wiped them out before the start of the Civil War. In the late ‘90s Kentucky Fish and…
BY ERIN BILLUPS | NATIONWIDE Electronic cigarettes have been around for over a decade, but that’s a relatively short time in the world of science and medicine. So very little is known about the long term health effects, like what the flavors and propellants may be doing to the respiratory system. But as research picks…
BY JOE RAGUSA KENTUCKY FRANKFORT, Ky. — Responding to Governor Andy Beshear’s State of the Commonwealth address Tuesday night, Republican legislative leaders say they’re happy with the bipartisan tone, but they want to see more specifics about his agenda. House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said that includes items like criminal justice reform. “I don’t think you start with the…
BY JOE RAGUSA | KENTUCKY FRANKFORT, Ky. – A non-partisan group is pushing for reforms to the way Kentucky draws its legislative districts. The League of Women Voters of Kentucky wants a lawmaker to sponsor its Fair Maps Act. The current redistricting process allows the majority party of state government to control how districts are drawn. With…