An eight-year veteran of the Kentucky State Police has been recognized as Trooper of the Year. Trooper Charles J. Senters was singled out for the award Thursday. [H-L]
Something unexpected and newsworthy happened on the Senate floor Thursday morning during an otherwise commonplace argument between Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell over confirmations and the “nuclear option.” [TPM]
Officials with the state agency overseeing state financial aid say funds ran out earlier than ever before and most Kentucky students who are eligible for the aid programs will not receive funding this year. [WFPL]
You know you love you some Republican race-baiting in Warshington. Because that’s all Steve King is apparently good for. [HuffPo]
After clearing the scene of a single-vehicle crash Thursday that killed an elderly Tennessee woman on Interstate 65, firefighters found the body of her husband more than 970 feet south of the crash. [News-Enterprise]
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) equated the nursery rhyme “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” to the three controversies President Barack Obama’s administration is facing. [ProPublica]
Kentucky’s Transportation Cabinet and a Laurel County resident have been recognized for their efforts to restore rather than replace a landmark bridge. At least one good thing is happening in Laurel County. [WLEX18]
Two-thirds of American voters say that the nation’s economic conditions are poor, but optimism about the state of the country’s financial system is rising, according to a new poll released Friday. [The Hill]
A Louisville lawyer who passed out and caused a mistrial in a medical-malpractice trial may now be punished for it financially. [C-J/AKN]
New government figures add to evidence of a decline in teen pregnancies across the nation and point to a notably large drop in births among Hispanic teens. [NPR]
A Laurel County man who was working as a U.S. Postal Service officer was indicted Thursday for embezzling mail sent from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Way to go, Laurel County, you win the awful award week after week. [H-L]
Orders for long-lasting manufactured goods rose more than expected in April, a hopeful sign that a contraction in factory output could soon run its course. [Reuters]
Many people continue to ask where Mitch McConnell stands on immigration reform. Reality: no one ones, as he won’t answer questions. [Page One]
A strain of cockroaches in Europe has evolved to outsmart the sugar traps used to eradicate them. American scientists found that the mutant cockroaches had a “reorganised” sense of taste, making them perceive the glucose used to coat poisoned bait not as sweet but rather as bitter. [BBC]
Someone needs to teach Rand Paul how to pronounce chicanery. And maybe teach him about the legislative process and how his job as an elected representative works.
Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Shepherd denied a request by Gov. Steve Beshear to dismiss a Tea Party lawsuit challenging the legality of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange. [H-L]
After years of vilifying prominent religious and conservative leaders, gay activists on Wednesday turned their ire to an unlikely target: Democrats. [Politico]
The Louisville Metro Council on Monday approved a resolution urging Norfolk Southern Railroad to allow cyclists and pedestrians on the K&I Bridge, which connects the city’s Portland neighborhood with New Albany, Ind. [C-J/AKN]
The Boy Scouts of America have reportedly voted 61-38 to allow gay Scouts. According to multiple media sources, the scouting organization has chosen to eliminate sexual orientation as youth membership criterion. Under the new ruling, gay Scout leaders are still prohibited from serving. [HuffPo]
The Olive Hill Council met in regular session Tuesday night to accept the resignations of former Council members Tony Williams and Angie Johnson Fultz. [Ashland Independent]
Abrupt climate change in Africa helped trigger technological and cultural advances in early modern humans, according to new research. Archaeologists had long noted that the complexity displayed by human groups moved in fits and starts. [BBC]
Drivers will be hitting the roads in full force this weekend for Memorial Day which also means that the potential for accidents will increase. [WKYT]
Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday. [NBC]
Looks like Rand Paul is going bagging in Henderson on July 1. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a prospective candidate for president in 2016, will speak at a luncheon here this summer, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce announced Thursday. [Henderson Gleaner]
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blamed former President George W. Bush for the IRS’ targeting of tea party groups in the lead-up to the 2012 election. [HuffPo]
Wondering who in Frankfort causes the entire country to laugh at the Commonwealth of Kentucky? Start with Mike Wilson and his mind-blowing… click the clicky, you’ll see. [Page One]
Danger everywhere! Perhaps it would be better for concerned parents to just keep their children home every day, where they will be guaranteed a solid, no-liberal-claptrap education about how the earth is 5,000 years old, gravity is just a theory, Jesus chose America to be extra special, and the zombied arm of Harvey Milk cannot fondle them from the grave to make them gay. [Wonkette]
A Bourbon County chemistry teacher can remain in the classroom even though he violated state law by not disclosing previous misconduct investigations against him at the University of Kentucky, a state board has ruled. [H-L]
Edwin Oliva, a 29-year-old petty thief and drug addict, says he was a wreck as he sat in a chair in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office in winter 1995. A year earlier, he’d told police a lie that helped implicate a possibly innocent man in a murder. [ProPublica]
In the furious fallout from the revelation that the IRS flagged applications from conservative nonprofits for extra review because of their political activity, some points about the big picture — and big donors — have fallen through the cracks. [ProPublica]
Eastern Kentucky authorities are plagued with a series of jail inmate escapes this week. [H-L]
Non-shocker: Rand Paul’s math doesn’t add up. Sen. Rand Paul is still using an obsolete GOP talking point that Roll Call debunked back in March — and since then, he’s only gotten more wrong. [Roll Call]
County officials say the community service program at a western Kentucky jail has been severely reduced due to a new state law. [WKYT]
Lamar Alexander on Thursday likened Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to controversial Reagan administration official Oliver North. Because health care is just like Iran-Contra. [Politico]
A count of Kentucky’s homeless in January revealed the population is shrinking statewide, but locally the numbers rose, as projected by officials. The count, conducted on Jan. 30, found 2,392 homeless men, women and children in 118 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, excluding Fayette and Jefferson counties. [Ashland Independent]
A Chechen immigrant shot and killed during a violent confrontation with Boston Marathon bombing investigators was about to confess to other killings, officials have told US media. Ibragim Todashev reportedly admitted a role in a triple murder near Boston in September 2011 and implicated bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the crime. [BBC]
The University of Kentucky’s Gatton School of Business and Economics is ranked among the 10 most popular business schools in the country. [H-L]
The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week, pointing to resilience in the labor market despite belt-tightening by Washington. [Reuters]
If you thought other agencies weren’t getting in on the Kentucky Retirement Systems fun? Let’s just say you were living in a dream world. [Page One]
What is the case against Wisconsin farmer Vernon Hershberger really about? It depends on whom you ask. To hear the prosecution, it’s about licensing, not raw milk: Hershberger, a dairy farmer hailing from the town of Loganville, is on trial this week for operating without three licenses. [NPR]
Kentucky needs 3,790 more doctors, including 183 additional primary care physicians, to meet current demand for care — and those numbers will grow when more Kentuckians get coverage through a Medicaid expansion and health benefit exchange under health reform. [C-J/AKN]
Mississippi could soon jail women for stillbirths and miscarriages. Because that makes tons of sense. At least, it doesn’t in the most uneducated and poverty-stricken place in the country. [Mother Jones]
After you finish rolling your eyes at WKYT’s welfare drug queen “reporting” – take a look at how un-seriously their reporter, Kristen Kennedy, and her WKYT colleagues take it:
And how easily swayed and ignorant people viewing the story can be:
When you finish with that?
Take a look at this extensive NPR effort covering the rise of disability in communities like those that make up Eastern Kentucky. That’s newsworthy, unlike whatever it was WKYT decided to air.
The only thing newsworthy about that WKYT package is that it took Kennedy 4-6 months to complete it. 4-6 months.
Station officials have attempted to tell others in the media world that they’ve received nothing but praise for the story. While privately pressing us to stop discussing it.
The standards place substantial emphasis on teaching climate change and there is considerable discussion describing human activities as major factors in global warming. There has been barely any mention in the local papers about this issue that will have long-lasting impact on the way our children are educated beyond a self-important swipe from the C-J Editorial Board.
-SNIP-
The National Research Council appears to be carving out positions and expressing the beliefs of U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
There are those in the scientific field who question the beliefs of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
-SNIP-
Another area of contention is evolution. The standards make it clear that evolution is fundamental to understanding the life sciences. Generally, the standards focus on changes in gene pools, genetic mutations and effects of the environment on changes within species.
-SNIP-
As chairman of the Education Committee and someone who supported the goals of Senate Bill 1, I would ask that these requirements be thoroughly and impartially reviewed and vetted. Political correctness bears watching and should never be the arbiter of learning.
Wondering why Kentucky can’t have nice things?
It’s because of lunatics like this being the head of the Education Committee.
It certainly appears as if Eastern Kentucky University is attempting a Seven Counties Services maneuver.
In fact, here’s what Kentucky Retirement Systems SEC whistleblower Chris Tobe had to say about it:
They have to keep this secret because it is connected to the underfunded KERS pension. All of these 127 rank and files were in 27% funded KERS, whose payments are doubling next year thanks to SB2. EKU annual pension payments will go down as the number of actives in KERS goes down significantly. This effectively shifts the liability burden off of the EKU balance sheet back on to the states balance sheet.
Over time, they get rid of rank and file staffers, as they’re all a part of KERS. EKU does one of these mass layoffs every quarter or so and then subcontracts for janitorial and secretarial services. All until they’ve got no one in KERS and are effectively like Seven Counties post-bankruptcy.
KERS payments are about 40% of current payroll. So shrinking that payroll allows the burden to be shifted back to the state for the unfunded liability. All of the state’s mental health agencies are pulling this outsourcing stunt and now regional universities are jumping on board. And it all leaves KERS even more underfunded.
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