by RANDY PATRICK, The Kentucky Standard – Dick Heaton is Bardstown’s new mayor, taking over after former Lexington police officer John Royalty was booted from the job. All five of Heaton’s fellow City Council members voted Tuesday afternoon to affirm the former mayor to serve once again as the city government’s chief executive for the remainder of the current term,…
FRANKFORT, KY (AP) –Republican House Speaker Jeff Hoover has appointed a task force of lawmakers to study how to improve Kentucky’s adoption and foster care system. The bipartisan committee will be led by Democratic state Rep. Joni Jenkins of Louisville and Republican Caucus chairman David Meade of Stanford. Hoover has asked the committee to have…
by JOHN CHEVES, jcheves@herald-leader.com – April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Unfortunately for Kentucky children, reports of abuse and neglect have increased dramatically in recent years, in part because of rampant drug abuse. These numbers illustrate the problem. 55% The number of substantiated child abuse and neglect findings in Kentucky has steadily risen from 9,934 in fiscal 2012 to…
by Don Weber – MOREHEAD – The Ronald G. Eaglin Space Science Center, on the campus of Morehead State University, is at the heart of the heart of MSU’s Department of Earth and Space Sciences, one of only five such programs in the nation where students and faculty have used the centers facilities to develop, test, validate and operate…
by ASSOCIATED PRESS – Some local leaders in Kentucky want to build a drug rehab center to hopefully reduce a county jail’s overcrowding problem. The Madison County Detention Center houses 400 inmates in a facility designed to hold 184. Judge Executive Reagan Taylor said 80 percent of the inmates are in jail for drug-related offenses. He…
Herald-Leader Staff Report – The University of Kentucky is to receive millions of dollars from the National Institutes of Health for a new center that looks at the links between obesity and cancer. Details will be announced at 11 a.m., according to university officials. The announcement is to be live-streamed at youtu.be/Di2HstXq0s4. Among those on hand will be…
by Kentucky Today – FRANKFORT — Having declared 2017 the Year of the Bible, Gov. Matt Bevin has now signed two bills into law to make clear to teachers and administrators that Scripture is welcome in Kentucky public schools. Bevin signed legislation into law on Tuesday to allow schoolchildren to take Bible literacy classes as electives.…
by Rachel Adkins, The Daily Independent – FRANKFORT — Gov. Matt Bevin signed a family court reform bill into law last week, bringing Kentucky a step closer to making shared parenting in instances of divorce the norm in the state. House Bill 492 received unanimous support in both the House (voted 97-0) and Senate (38-0)…
By Tanner Hesterberg | LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Thousands of dollars worth of hemp will go up in flames Thursday in Lexington. The Kentucky Dept. of Agriculture has ordered five barrels of industrial hemp that barely missed complying with government standards to be burned. But the frustrated owners of the hemp say losing the plants will hurt…
by JACK BRAMMER, jbrammer@herald-leader.com – FRANKFORT — Gov. Matt Bevin was adamant in two Louisville radio interviews this week that he will call lawmakers into a special session this year to overhaul Kentucky’s tax code and aid its financially-strapped public pension systems. The Republican governor also lashed out at the state’s media outlets, again accusing them of ignoring important…