by BECCA SCHIMMEL – The International Center of Kentucky is hoping to reach their cap of resettling 300 refugees in the next fiscal year. Albert Mbanfu said keeping up with the different refugee bans imposed by the Trump administration has made it difficult to meet his group’s resettlement goals. Mbanfu is the director at the international…
by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – Kentucky’s Judicial Nominating Commission has announced the names of three nominees for an upcoming vacancy on the state’s Court of Appeals. The commission said the judicial seat for a district covering 22 eastern Kentucky counties will become vacant when Judge Janet L. Stumbo retires Dec. 31. The names of the commission’s three…
FRANKFORT, Ky. (WYMT) – Despite his efforts it appears Governor Matt Bevin will not call a special session. He wanted to put lawmakers in a position to tackle the failing pension system, but in Monday in Frankfort lawmakers say time ran out. A committee has been tasked with overseeing the state’s public pension system as lawmakers…
by Laura Ungar, Louisville Courier Journal – Stacy Usher became addicted to pain pills after a high school soccer injury in Wisconsin. Addiction would follow her through college. When she moved to Wolfe County, Kentucky with her family in 2014, she wasn’t aware of the drug issues in the area. Alton Strupp/CJ ZOE, Ky. – Andiria Tipton…
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…
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…
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The number of foster care cases related to drugs is ballooning as use of heroin and other opioids soars across the U.S. New foster cases involving parents who are using drugs have hit the highest point in more than three decades of record-keeping. New federal statistics show some 92,000 children entered foster care…
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…
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…
FRANKFORT — An updated analysis of Kentucky’s poorly funded public pension systems by PEW Charitable Trust indicates previous reforms of the system enacted in 2013 put the systems “on track to full funding provided the state continues to stay on the course charted in 2013.” The report’s authors also express reservations about the short-term costs…