FRANKFORT, Ky. — As Kentucky continues to lead the nation in cigarette smoking – as well as in cancer rates and tobacco-related deaths – health advocates are launching an effort to boost the state’s cigarette tax by at least $1 a pack, a move they say is proven to reduce smoking. “We are the cancer capital of the country,”…
Norma Hatfield had to read the budget line twice Tuesday night to make sure she saw it correctly. Gov. Matt Bevin’s budget proposal set aside money for Kinship Care, which provides financial assistance to relatives raising a child not their own. The program ended in 2013, and Hatfield has long advocated for its return. “I…
At least 50 people, two of them children, have died from the flu in Kentucky, according to a the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. In a release last week, when the toll was 36, Acting Department for Public Health Commissioner Dr. Jeffrey D. Howard called the loss of the children a tragedy. “Of the…
FRANKFORT — Members of the Attorney General’s Survivors Council shared their recommendations on how the state can improve to better support victims of violent crimes. Of the more than 50 recommendations, at least one has been filed as legislation in the state Senate; a bill which would increase the minimum age for marriage in Kentucky. Senate…
Bevin’s budget bill keeps per-pupil funding for Kentucky’s public education students at $3,981 per student, but chips away at support programs and requires local school districts to pay a larger share of student transportation costs. Administration officials say budget pressures created by the pension crisis has made it “harder to protect” public education from cuts.…
by Grace Schneider, Louisville Courier Journal – The healthcare insurer will offer employees 55 and older who meet certain requirements an early retirement package. Mary Ann Gerth/Courier-Journal/USA TODAY Network Humana will extend the offer new incentive pay and increase its minimum wage for employees, a move that it credited to federal tax reform. A note sent…
by DANIEL DESROCHERS, ddesrochers@herald-leader.com – FRANKFORT — A prosecutor for the Legislative Ethics Commission has a copy of a secret settlement that four Republican House members made with a legislative employee who accused them of sexual harassment. Garry Adams, an attorney representing the former legislative employee, said the prosecutor had already obtained the settlement when Adams met…
by The Associated Press – FRANKFORT, KY — Kentucky’s “adoption czar” has left Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration seven months into his appointment, without explanation. The Courier-Journal reported Monday that a Cabinet for Health and Family Services spokesman said the state contract with Daniel Dumas had been terminated. He didn’t provide more details, and Dumas didn’t respond…
By ASSOCIATED PRESS – The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville is starting its latest lecture series with a discussion about hunger in Kentucky. The center says state Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles will give a free, public talk on the subject on Jan. 24 at the Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium on the UofL campus.…
by DANIEL DESROCHERS, ddesrochers@herald-leader.com – FRANKFORT — Since 1895, Kentucky has elected its constitutional officers in odd number years. The legislature is hoping voters will change that in 2018. Legislators have proposed two bills, SB 4 and HB 2, that would change the constitution so Kentuckians would vote on the constitutional offices, like governor and attorney…