By Mary Meehan, Ohio Valley ReSource Carey Ellis grew up just a few houses away from the Owen County Hospital in Owenton, Kentucky, so he knows the essential role a rural hospital plays in a small town. Ellis is Judge Executive of Owen County, a job his grandfather and great-grandfather had before him. So…
By Deborah Yetter, Louisville Courier Journal Life for Kentucky kids has improved in some areas — including fewer children in poverty and more children with health coverage, according to “Kids Count,” the annual state-by-state ranking of child well-being released Monday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. But both Kentucky and Indiana remained in the bottom half among…
NKyTribune staff Deaths from suicide, alcohol, and drugs have reached an all-time high, but affect states in different ways, according to the Commonwealth Fund’s just released 2019 Scorecard on State Health System Performance. “What we’re seeing is a regional epidemic when it comes to premature deaths from suicide, alcohol, and drugs,” said Dr. David Blumenthal,…
By BORIS LADWIG | June 12, 2019 UofL has abandoned plans to find a partner to buy Jewish Hospital and other local health care assets. | Photo by Tony Pacheco UofL has abandoned plans to find a partner to acquire KentuckyOne’s Louisville health care facilities, once again putting the future of Jewish Hospital in doubt. “We regret ending…
Tom Loftus, Louisville Courier Journal. Published 7:46 p.m. ET June 12, 2019 FRANKFORT — Gov. Matt Bevin told House Democratic leaders their approach to providing relief to quasi-governmental agencies from soaring pension costs would “kick the can of financial responsibility down the road … again.” In a sharply-worded two-page letter to the three leaders, Bevin…
By Kyeland Jackson If you’re arrested in Kentucky, whether you get out of jail before trial differs wildly depending on which county you’re in. That’s according to a new report by the progressive Kentucky Center for Economic Policy, which found stark disparities between counties for people offered pretrial release without financial conditions, as well as…
By Chris Otts FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) – Gov. Matt Bevin’s economic development cabinet wants to give an $8.5 million no-bid contract to a new nonprofit organization whose top officer is a high-ranking cabinet employee and whose board includes the recently departed secretary of the cabinet. But legislators on Tuesday balked when asked to approve the…
By STU JOHNSON The uncertainty regarding future pension contributions for Kentucky’s five major public universities is creating budgeting challenges. Kentucky lawmakers could still be called to Frankfort to enact pension reforms before July, the start of the new fiscal year. But if a legislative remedy isn’t forthcoming before the end of the month, Eastern Kentucky University…
By BRIAN MANN Two years ago, the drug company Insys Therapeutics posted a quarter-billion dollars in annual sales. But the Arizona-based firm’s fortunes plummeted so far that on Monday its leaders declared bankruptcy. It was the latest fall-out from the nation’s prescription opioid epidemic, which has killed more than 200,000 Americans and triggered hundreds…
BY DANIEL DESROCHERS JUNE 10, 2019 01:05 PM, UPDATED JUNE 10, 2019 02:00 PM Tim Longmeyer, a former deputy attorney general under Andy Beshear who pleaded guilty to political bribery charges, has officially become a talking point in the general election for Kentucky governor. The Republican Governors Association launched a television ad Monday criticizing…