By COLIN DWYER – The state of Ohio has sued five major drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, state Attorney General Mike DeWine alleges these five companies “helped unleash a health care crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in the State of Ohio.” Named…
BY: CHARLES A. MASON cmason@bgdailynews.com – U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie on Wednesday questioned the legality of the Paris global climate agreement negotiated by President Barack Obama. “I’m not sure it is legal,” Guthrie, R-Bowling Green, said. Obama didn’t bring a treaty back to the U.S. Senate for ratification, he said. Guthrie made the comments about the…
BY: Tom Loftus , @TomLoftus_CJ FRANKFORT, Ky. – An appeal is underway of the property valuation that is part of the controversy around the purchase of Gov. Matt Bevin’s Anchorage home. Bevin said Friday that the appeals process would show that the $1.6 million that Anchorage Place LLC paid for the mansion and 10 surrounding acres is a…
By Alison Kodjak, NPR – The U.S. Army is planning to grant an exclusive license to the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur, Inc. to manufacture and sell a Zika vaccine the Army developed last year. And that hasRebekah Gee, Louisiana’s secretary of health, worried about paying for it. “God forbid we have a Zika outbreak. We’re…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky’s Attorney General is keeping a close eye on scammers. Andy Beshear launched his ‘Scam Alerts’ Protection Initiative last year. Tuesday, he plans to update residents on how well it has done. He’s expected to lay out the success of its direct messaging program, efforts to return money to Kentuckians, and…
By LISA AUTRY – One of the state lawmakers tasked with reforming Kentucky’s retirement systems says if structural changes aren’t made, the plans can’t be salvaged. The public pension systems are facing a combined unfunded liability of more than 30-billion-dollars. State Senator Joe Bowen of Owensboro co-chairs the Public Pension Oversight Board. He anticipates less…
by Nick Storm, @NStorm_politics – Kentucky U.S. Rep. Andy Barr, R-Lexington, and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-New York, co-chairs of the Congressional Horse Caucus are introducing legislation to bring uniformity to medications within horse racing. The bill, filed on Thursday, is a revamped version of legislation brought in 2015. The legislation establishes an authority to create and implement…
by RONNIE ELLIS, CNHI News Service – FRANKFORT – When state lawmakers last spring signed off on Gov. Matt Bevin’s reorganization of the Kentucky Retirement System Board of Trustees, many thought that brought to an end a suit by a member of the board removed by Bevin’s earlier executive order. Certainly that’s what Bevin and…
by Ryland Barton – Two union groups have filed a lawsuit to try and block Kentucky’s new “right-to-work” law, which forbids employers from requiring workers to pay union dues. In January, Kentucky became the 27th state to pass such a measure, which supporters say makes the state more competitive when trying to get companies to move to…
BY: Morgan Watkins , @morganwatkins26 – The state government plans to close the juvenile detention center where 16-year-old Gynnya McMillen died last year, according to state Sen. Whitney Westerfield. Westerfield, a Hopkinsville Republican, told the Courier-Journal that the Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice gave him a call Tuesday afternoon and told him they are closing the…