Medicaid officials say they expect Congress to reauthorize CHIP funding

by Kevin Wheatley –  FRANKFORT — Officials in Kentucky’s Department for Medicaid Services have weathered a loss of federal funds for a program meant to provide health insurance for children in low-income families, and they told lawmakers on Wednesday that they expect Congress to refinance the program. Stephen Miller, the department’s commissioner, told the Medicaid Oversight and…

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Kentucky official blames governor for delayed opioid suits

by ADAM BEAM, Associated Press –  FRANKFORT, KY. — Kentucky’s Democratic attorney general says his efforts to sue companies that make powerfully addictive opioid-based painkillers have been stymied by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration. Andy Beshear’s office had awarded a contract to four law firms to assist with his plan to file multiple lawsuits against companies that…

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State, local police struggle to recruit, as pension reform prompts retirements

As state legislators debate what changes will fix Kentucky’s debilitated pension system, state and local police are scrambling to recruit officers. Louisville Police Chief Steve Conrad said nearly 100 officers left LMPD this year. Sixty-three of those, he said, are officers who retired because of Kentucky’s looming pension reform, prompting him to try to recruit…

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Gov. Bevin makes appointments to Kentucky boards and commissions

FRANKFORT, Ky. (Dec. 12, 2017) – Gov. Matt Bevin today made the following appointments to Kentucky boards and commissions: Cynthia Elaine Elliott has been appointed to the Statewide Advisory Council for Vocational Rehabilitation. Cynthia Elaine Elliott, of Frankfort, is an attorney and consumer ombudsman for the Kentucky Client Assistance Program. She will represent the Client Assistance…

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Novelis completes $2 million expansion project

Berea mayor Steve Connelly and representatives from Congressman Andy Barr’s office and Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office were among the dozens of people who gathered Wednesday morning to celebrate a recent expansion at Novelis, an aluminum recycling company in Berea. Despite the cold, attendees gathered outside the Berea plant as company representatives spoke of the company’s…

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Law which prohibits legislators accepting “anything of value” from lobbyists has been ruled unconstitutional by U.S. district court judge

FRANKFORT – Kentucky’s ethics laws, passed in 2014, which states a member of the legislature can take nothing of value from a lobbyist, has been struck down as unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman, who ruled in June 2017 that the laws were too vague to be enforced and violated lobbyists’ freedom of speech, issued a…

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