by Nick Storm, @NStorm_politics – With the regular session in the rearview mirror lawmakers, advocates and others will now focus on the road ahead, which Gov. Matt Bevin has said will include a special session on tax and pension reform. Mark Sommer, an attorney specializing in tax law with Frost Brown Todd in Louisville, recently reviewed areas ripe…
BY BILL ESTEP, bestep@herald-leader.com – A judge has ruled that embattled disability attorney Eric C. Conn should pay $31 million in damages and penalties to the federal government and two former Social Security Administration employees who tried to blow the whistle on his fraudulent conduct, according to an attorney in the case. U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar…
by Kevin Wheatley – Legislation authorizing public charter schools in Kentucky isn’t exactly how Bluegrass Institute President Jim Waters envisioned, but he expects they will improve student achievement in a state where performance has lagged. Waters said he would have liked to see additional charter school authorizers in the final version of House Bill 520 considering some…
WASHINGTON (AP) – Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell has named a new chief of staff in his Senate office. Phil Maxson, his current legislative director, will be the new chief of staff, replacing Brian McGuire. McGuire has worked for McConnell for 10 years. McConnell says in a release that Maxson has worked “tirelessly over the years” on Kentucky’s interests.…
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT/WYMT) – A new study might have some Kentuckians stressed out. That’s because it found that the Bluegrass state is the 5th most stressed out state in the country. The study by WalletHub says the state is the most stressed about job security, divorce, sleep and their health. Other factors in the study were the number…
by Lisa Gillespie – Pharmaceutical company Bristol-Myers Squibb is looking to Kentucky to reach more oncologists and cancer patients to participate in clinical trials. The commonwealth ranks in the top 10 states for rates of breast, colorectal, cervical and lung cancers. And in Kentucky, deaths related to smoking are three times higher than deaths from drug overdoses. Clinical trials usually…
by Deborah Yetter , @d_yetter – Dr. Salvatore Bertolone, pediatric oncologist, talks about a smoking ban, e-cigarettes and a cigarette tax. Jessica Ebelhar, The C-J Encouraged by a poll that shows a growing number of Kentuckians support a statewide smoke-free law, a major state health policy group said it is ready to join the battle for such a law in a…
by RHONDA MILLER – Purple flowers that look like they could be a cover crop in many fields in Kentucky and Indiana are more than flowering weeds. An agriculture extension agent says those purple blooms are a sign of climate change the increasingly unpredictable weather that farmers have to deal with. Jon Neufelder is an educator…
By Antoinette Konz – LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Buffy Sexton has taught science to middle school students in Jefferson County Public Schools for nearly 15 years. She might be the sort of experienced teacher that a charter school would want to hire. But Sexton, who teaches at Myzeek Middle School, said she’d “never even consider”…
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – Gov. Matt Bevin has appointed a veteran prosecutor to serve as commonwealth’s attorney for a judicial circuit covering Adair and Casey counties in central Kentucky. Ronald “Brian” Wright of Liberty will be the top local prosecutor for the 29th Judicial Circuit. The governor’s office says Wright’s appointment fills the vacancy created by the resignation…