by ASSOCIATED PRESS – A Kentucky state lawmaker criticized for trying to pass legislation that would have benefited his liquor store business has been cleared of a criminal charge filed against him earlier this year. Rep. Wesley Morgan was charged in April after police in Barbourville caught him moving alcoholic beverages between two of the four…
BY Justin Sayers, @_JustinSayers – Editor’s note: The Courier-Journal is chronicling the drug crisis gripping the Louisville region. Nine journalists spent 72 hours in April on the front lines of the fight against addiction, revealing the impact of the heroin and prescription pill crisis. Today, we launch an occasional series of stories on recovery that will continue into the fall.…
By Madeline Janicki Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes denied another request from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity to turn over Kentucky voter information. On Wednesday evening Grimes’ office said that Kansas Secretary of State, and the Commission’s vice-chairman Kris Kobach, sent another letter asking for information about Kentucky voters. The commission sent a…
BY Nick Storm @NStorm_politics Matt Niehaus, who served in Governor Matt Bevin’s administration as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Insurance and Executive Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Services in the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, has joined McCarthy Strategic Solutions. As Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Insurance, Niehaus oversaw the day-to-day operation…
By BORIS LADWIG – Solving Kentucky’s opioid crisis will require doctors to better educate their patients about the dangers of some prescription drugs, the Kentucky Medical Association’s director said. Dr. Nancy Swikert Dr. Nancy Swikert, the director, said the organization “will continue to emphasize physicians’ role in solving the crisis” at its annual meeting next month. More…
BY Grace Schneider – KentuckyOne Health delivered pink slips to two executives at Jewish Hospital – current president Joseph Gilene and the chief nursing officer – in what the top local executive says is a push to maintain quality while they prepare to sell the downtown Louisville hospital and area facilities. The move comes after the financially ailing KentuckyOne…
By LISA AUTRY – A group of Kentuckians tasked with setting up a framework for charter schools to operate is officially down to work. The Charter Schools Advisory Council held its first meeting on Monday and began developing regulations on how to implement the alternative public schools. One of the members is Dr. Gary Houchens, a…
By Brianna Clark – Kellie Russell was a victim of human trafficking. “I felt like I was crazy,” says Russell. “I felt like I wasn’t loved. I actually hated myself.” Now, Russell is a survivor. She and Carol Smith started Victory Through Grace Ministries, a local program helping other women who survived human trafficking. “So…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A sewer district spokesman says hundreds of fish have been found dead in a Kentucky creek. Louisville/Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District spokesman Steve Tedder tells The Courier-Journal that a few hundred fish died in Hite Creek this month. Ford Motor Co. spokeswoman Kelli Felker says a urea pumping system leaked at the…
by Matthew Glowicki – A convicted rapist on the state’s lifetime sex offender registry is the first person to be indicted as part of the statewide push to test old rape kits. The indictment is a long-awaited first for the initiative, which has already led to the testing of more than 3,000 kits from across Kentucky. “This really…