FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – A medical school faculty member has been hired as the new medical director for the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services. Dr. Gil Liu’s appointment was announced Tuesday by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Liu is a Louisville pediatrician and a faculty member at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. State Health…
by TAYLOR INMAN & EBONY CLARK – According to the latest Weekly Kentucky Influenza Report, there have only been 49 confirmed cases of the flu across the state of Kentucky this season. Head of the Calloway County Health Department Amy Ferguson said that number is low, but that it’s expected to grow during the winter holiday season. “Right now nationally…
by Andrew Adkins | The Daily Independent – FRANKFORT Boyd County would lose two of its four judges in district and circuit court, but gain a family court judge if the Kentucky legislature approves the first statewide judicial redistricting plan in over 40 years. The plan, revealed Tuesday, would go into effect in 2022 when all circuit, family…
By RYLAND BARTON – With commanding majorities in the Kentucky legislature, Republican lawmakers will try to find ways to fix the state’s ailing pension systems during the upcoming General Assembly. One proposal would make lawmakers’ pension information subject to open records requests. Owensboro Republican Sen. Joe Bowen says the public should know how much lawmakers are earning…
by Don Weber, @DonWeber_cn2 – UNION – Sen. John Schickel, R-Union, believes that the General Assembly has not done a good job when it comes to addressing the heroin problem in the state and feels that some of what has been done is largely ineffective. Schickel, a retired law enforcement officer who was first elected to the Senate in…
BY ADAM BEAM, Associated Press – FRANKFORT, KY. — Kentucky would shift significant resources to its growing family court docket under a plan that would overhaul the state’s judicial system for the first time in 40 years. Kentucky would get an additional 16 family court judges while losing 15 district and circuit court judges under a plan…
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky is one of the worst states in the nation where people die from a drug overdose. A new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report ranks Kentucky third in the nation for most drug overdose deaths. West Virginia comes in at Number One. New Hampshire is Number Two. There were more than 52,000 overdose deaths…
by Tom Loftus , @TomLoftus_CJ – Jeff Hoover, a Republican member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, and Robert Stivers, a Republican member of the Kentucky Senate, speak the day after elections. Scott Utterback/The CJ FRANKFORT, Ky. — In one respect, the job of directing the Legislative Research Commission’s 400-member staff is like that of a baseball umpire: If…
by LISA AUTRY – Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear says he will advocate for two drug-related measures when the legislature convenes next month. One bill would increase penalties for those who traffic in Fentanyl. Beshear says when the synthetic drug is mixed with heroin, it has deadly effects. “Fentanyl is at least 30 times more powerful than…
by Bowdeya Tweh , btweh@enquirer.com – Toyota will spend much of 2017 winding down its operation in Erlanger as part of the company’s relocation to Texas. In a layoff notice sent to Kentucky officials, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing said Monday it would shutter its Northern Kentucky headquarters by the end of 2017. Toyota, which is moving its…