It’s silly to protest this North Carolina nutjob. He’s so crazy that a protest isn’t necessary. His words do all the work for you. [HuffPo]

The paper in Lexington felt it was necessary to run a NYT piece about the 4th District race. Instead of writing about it on its own, that is. [H-L]

Here comes Mittens Romney pretending that he knows a lot about and cares about public education. [Reuters]

The feds are cracking down on food stamp fraud. We’re left wondering when they’ll start cracking down on disability fraud, which is rampant in Kentucky. [NPR]

The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee has called on President Barack Obama to order an investigation into the case of Clarence Aaron, a federal prison inmate whose quest for a presidential commutation was the subject of a ProPublica investigation. [ProPublica]

Can you imagine what life would be like if rail travel was part of Kentucky’s reality? [Politico]

You can’t even beat somebody until their school fractures in Barbourville without being arrested these days. [WKYT]

Unemployment rates fell in 110 of Kentucky’s 120 counties in April, according to data released Thursday by the state’s Office of Employment and Training. Maybe because more people fell off the jobless rolls? [H-L]

The Kentucky Supreme Court today reversed the three murder convictions of Lloyd Hammond, who was sentenced to life without parole in 2010 for killing William Sawyers, Terrell Cherry and Kerry Williams. [C-J/AKN]

Yep, the wingnuts are all in a tizzy over the Creation Myth Museum not being the top most important vacation destination on the planet, amen. [Wonkette]

Yep, we know, the Times-Picayune is on its deathbed and is just cold producing fewer papers each week – just three days. Yep, A Kentucky Newspaper will soon be in that same boat. [HuffPo]

Senate appropriators voted 18-12 on Thursday to reinstate funding for family-planning programs abroad, setting up a clash with the House. You know Rand Paul will be losing his elfin mind over this. [The Hill]

The Environmental Protection Agency has concerns about the environmental impact of a 218-acre coal ash landfill in Trimble County proposed by Louisville Gas and Electric. [WFPL]

Way to go Carter County. You’ve done it again. An Carter County man was shot and killed by state troopers Wednesday after police said he pointed a rifle at them and refused to put it down. [H-L]

On a scale of 1 to 10, how sad will it be watching Andy Barr lose to Republican Ben Chandler one more time? [WTVQ]

It’s interesting that in stories like this one, it’s never mentioned how much Bill Bissett is paid to literally spin for the Kentucky Coal Association. That’s his job – to spin – not to provide facts or tell you anything based in reality. [C-J/AKN]

Hal Rogers continues to pretend that there’s some war on coal. Interesting that concern about a devastating practice (mountaintop removal) still equates to a war on every other form of mining in their feeble minds. [WKYT]

Public scholarship funds – meant for the needy – are benefiting private schools. Because that’s how the “conservatives” want it. [NY Times]

The Lexington-Fayette Urban County government has paid $60,000 to settle a lawsuit involving the July 2010 death of Dean Ferguson, a prisoner who collapsed at the local jail and later died. [H-L]

Here’s more of that fancy mainstream coverage about Kentucky. Voters registered a strong protest against President Barack Obama in Democratic primaries in solidly Republican Kentucky and Arkansas, while Republican Mitt Romney easily captured both states, according to unofficial election returns. [Reuters]

Is this maybe why America can’t have nice things? The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday moved forward with legislation to increase airline passenger security fees, beating back a GOP attempt to keep them at current levels. [The Hill]

Consultants paid for by the University of Louisville are saying exactly what UofL money-drivers have been saying. Imagine that! What a coincidence. [Business First]

This American Airlines pilot believes sluts should pay the price based on his backwater beliefs. [Wonkette]

Even Colin Powell says the gays should be allowed to get married. Which will cause a bunch of racist twits to freak out. [HuffPo]

A study finds that – yet again – Fox News viewers are the least informed of all. You’re so shocked, we know. [HuffPo]

Two top U.S. financial regulators said on Tuesday the issues around the initial public offering of Facebook should be reviewed, putting fresh pressure on the company, its lead underwriter, Morgan Stanley, and the Nasdaq stock exchange. [Reuters]

The UofL Indigent Care Board got its ass handed to it in the latest audit by Adam Edelen. [The 'Ville Voice]

Wonder why Republicans are having trouble with Hispanics this cycle? Maybe because they’re comparing immigrants to dogs. [Politico]

How rural America got fracked. The environmental nightmare you know nothing about. [Mother Jones]

You should check out the comments from this school psychologist. Nope, not racist at all. And you wonder why America is effed up the goat butt. [Wonkette]

The Kentucky State Police will add a new tool to help solve crimes and analyze crash scenes. [WKYT]

Pakistan has sentenced the doctor who helped the United States find Osama bin Laden. And the U.S. continues to throw millions at that jacked up country of awful. [HuffPo]

Let’s take a look at the conservative fantasy history of civil rights. Yes, mouth-breathers, this means you. [NY Mag]

Mittens Romney versus Liberty Christ Rand Paul in 2016? Rand wishes. He believes he is the chosen one. [NPR]

The US could fall off a “fiscal cliff” if tax rises and spending cuts due to take effect at the end of 2012 are not avoided, auditors have said. [BBC]

Four in ten Democratic voters chose someone other than President Obama on Tuesday in primaries in Arkansas and Kentucky. [The Hill]

http://www.propublica.org/article/billion-dollar-bait-switch-states-divert-foreclosure-deal-funds

States have diverted $974 million from this year’s landmark mortgage settlement to pay down budget deficits or fund programs unrelated to the foreclosure crisis, according to a ProPublica analysis. That’s nearly forty percent of the $2.5 billion in penalties paid to the states under the agreement.

-SNIP-

What stands out is that even states slammed by the foreclosure crisis are diverting much or all of their money to the general fund. In California, among the hardest hit states, the governor has proposed using all the money to plug his state’s huge budget gap. And Arizona, also among the worst hit, has diverted about half of its funds to general use. Four other states where a high rate of homeowners faced foreclosure during the crisis are spending little if any of their settlement funds on homeowner services: Georgia, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Maine.

And Kentucky is a part of it. Though, the funds aren’t rolling to the General Fund:

The Office of the Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Kentucky … shall direct the payment of $19,198,220 to the Commonwealth in a manner consistent with the terms of the Consent Judgment to which this Exhibit B-2 refers, such that any funds distributed by the Attorney General shall be used for purposes intended to avoid preventable foreclosures to ameliorate the effects of the foreclosure crisis, to enhance law enforcement efforts to prevent and prosecute financial fraud or unfair or deceptive acts or practices, to address the collateral consequences of such conduct, and to compensate the Commonwealth for costs resulting from the alleged unlawful conduct of the Defendants. Such payments shall include:

i) $5,048,220 in agency restricted funds to directly compensate the Office of the Attorney General for the reasonable costs of investigation and litigation of the alleged unlawful conduct of the Defendants, and to finance, within the Office of the Attorney General, ongoing consumer protection actions including, but not limited to, actions addressing any conduct similar to the alleged unlawful conduct of the Defendants by any entity not released by the State Release contemporaneously executed within this Consent Judgment; any civil and criminal investigations emanating from any allegedly improper conduct not released pursuant to the State Release perpetrated by any Defendant or any other person or entity; investigations and potential litigation pertaining to MERS or any related entity involving mortgage assignments in the Commonwealth; and claims of fraud or improper mortgage assignments in the Commonwealth; and claims of fraud or improper conduct relating to the pooling of, marketing of, or sale of any securities product involving or containing mortgage related payment streams; and

ii) $14,150,000 to be distributed at the express direction of the Attorney General to agencies, organizations or entities to avoid preventable foreclosures, to ameliorate the effects of the foreclosure crisis, to enhance law enforcement efforts to prevent and prosecute financial fraud or unfair or deceptive acts or practices, to address the collateral consequences of such conduct, and to compensate the Commonwealth for costs resulting from the alleged unlawful conduct of the Defendants, including, but not limited to, the following:

a. The Kentucky Housing Corporation, for purposes including, but not limited to, mortgage assistance to Kentucky homeowners, down payments and/or closing costs assistance for qualifying homebuyers, state and local foreclosure prevention and mediation programs, housing rehabilitation and anti-blight projects;

b. The Kentucky Homeownership Protection Center, to provide homeownership and mortgage-related credit counseling to Kentucky consumers;

c. The four federally-funded civil legal aid service organizations within the Commonwealth, to provide housing-related legal assistance to low income consumers;

d. The Commonwealth’s Unified Prosecutorial System (“UPS”), to support and sustain new and ongoing investigations and prosecutions relating to the foreclosure crisis and consequential criminal conduct plaguing local communities throughout the Commonwealth;

e. The Commonwealth’s Department of Financial Institutions (“DFI”), to assist in regulatory and educational efforts targeting financial services institutions subject to DFI’s jurisdictional oversight, and consumers purchasing products and services from such institutions;

f. The Commonwealth’s Department of Public Health, to support and maintain consumer safety and injury prevention programs, including but not limited to, lead abatement programs affecting low income individuals or communities; and

g. Within the discretion of the Attorney General, any other organization or entity substantially able to implement, manage, develop or support any program consistent with the aims of this settlement.

Funds directed to any agency, organization or entity by the Attorney General pursuant to the terms of this paragraph shall be appropriated, administered and expended consistent with terms of KRS Chapter 48, as applicable.

But that doesn’t mean those piddly millions Kentucky received won’t get gobbled up for other purposes.

This was a dumb idea in Lexington to begin with, right? Who comes up with something like that? [H-L]

OH GOD NOW RED CHINA IS JUST COLD TAKIN OVER THE MOVIES!!!1! A Chinese conglomerate announced Monday it will buy a major U.S. cinema chain, AMC Entertainment Holdings, for $2.6 billion in China’s biggest takeover of an American company to date. [NPR]

In a time when gay satan has plagued the churches with rampant homosexual battles, a breath of fresh air has been given to those on the side of good. This story is absolutely crazy. [Wonkette]

The Kentucky Democratic Republican Party will pretend this isn’t based in reality: Obama, as we’ve noted before, has performed especially poorly in West Virginia and Oklahoma, where he took less than 60 percent of the vote. (His top opponent in West Virginia was a federal inmate in Texas, while in Oklahoma it was an anti-abortion rights activist). Obama also took just 77 percent in Louisiana, where several other candidates split up the vote. In the same vein, the Arkansas and Kentucky primaries tonight are likely to include significant numbers of Democrats spurning the president. In the former, Obama faces a one-on-one contest against attorney John Wolfe , while in the latter, he faces the “uncommitted” option. [WaPo]

A rare slip-up by lawyers has helped shed some light on a high-profile legal battle, the details of which some of the largest Wall Street firms have been fighting to keep under wraps. [The Economist]

If you’ve spent much time consuming conservative media lately, you’ve probably learned about a slow-burning “race war” going on in America today. [BuzzFeed]

Election problems were minimal by the middle of the day because next to no one showed up to vote. [H-L]

Here’s an interesting look at Joplin a year later. Is this the future for Eastern Kentucky? [HuffPo]

Late last Friday, Buzzfeed reporter and Rolling Stone contributor Michael Hastings broke what looked like a big scoop: Congress was quietly planning to lift a 64-year-old law preventing the US government from using propaganda on its own citizenry. Before the House passed its defense budget bill Friday afternoon, Hastings reported, a bipartisan group of congressmen tacked on an amendment that would “essentially neutralize” a set of time-tested guidelines “that had been passed to protect U.S. audiences from our own government’s misinformation campaigns.” [Mother Jones]

A Washington-based watchdog group says an eastern Kentucky Baptist pastor violated federal law when he urged his followers to vote President Barack Obama out of office in November. [WKYT]

Attorney General Jack Conway announced the guilty plea today of a former social worker with the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to nine felony counts of tampering with public records. Sixty-one-year-old Margaret “Geri” Murphy entered the guilty plea in Anderson Circuit Court in connection with her role as a front-line worker investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect in Anderson County. Reports of child abuse and neglect are assigned to a social worker to investigate and file a report finding the abuse or neglect is substantiated or unsubstantiated. In all nine investigations charged in the indictment, Murphy documented that child abuse or neglect was unsubstantiated.

“Margaret Murphy had a responsibility to actually investigate allegations of child abuse or neglect assigned to her, to substantiate those that merited it and take action to protect children who are living in abusive homes,” General Conway said. “Murphy not only failed these innocent children, she failed her fellow social workers who work tirelessly to protect our youngest and most vulnerable citizens.”

In pleading guilty, Murphy admitted that she falsified her reports in all nine of the investigations conducted between April 2006 and October 2010. In one false entry, Murphy stated that a man alleged to have sexually abused a seven-year-old denied the abuse during an interview with police and passed a polygraph, when in fact the man was not interviewed nor did he take a polygraph examination.

In another report of sexual abuse, Murphy admitted that she falsely documented that a father accused of sexually abusing his 11-year-old child had passed a polygraph exam, when in fact the father was never interviewed on advice of his attorney, and had never taken a polygraph examination.

In a report of sexual abuse of an infant by the mother’s boyfriend that Murphy unsubstantiated, she admitted to falsely documenting that a hair found in the baby’s diaper was found to be a canine hair rather than a human hair. New allegations of sexual abuse against the boyfriend were made after Murphy unsubstantiated the original report, and police expressed the belief that Murphy’s inaction allowed the sexual abuse to continue.

In a report that parents were providing drugs to their child, trading Food Stamp access for drugs, and not providing enough food for the child, Murphy documented that she visited the home , found no evidence of drugs, and found enough food for two weeks, including meats, vegetables, and snack food. In pleading guilty, Murphy admitted she falsified the documentation and did not ever visit the home.

Prosecution of this case was handled by General Conway’s Office of Special Prosecutions at the request of Laura Donnell, Commonwealth’s Attorney for the 53rd Judicial Circuit representing Anderson, Shelby and Spencer counties. The Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) began investigating the allegations against Murphy after receiving a complaint from a citizen who had Murphy assigned to a court case involving her family.

All nine of the charges to which Murphy pled guilty are Class D Felonies carrying a penalty of one to five years in prison each. Anderson Circuit Judge Charles Hickman set sentencing for Margaret Murphy at 9 a.m. on July 24, 2012.

One bogus worker down, no telling how many to go.

At least something serious is coming out of that mess.

Of course Paul Patton is trying to figure out a way to get even more of your tax dollars to use at his private school. [H-L]

A super PAC’s abortive plan to launch incendiary, personally charged attack ads against President Barack Obama sent a sharp warning message to candidates up and down the federal ballot: This year more than ever, they are not in control of their own destinies. [Politico]

You could fill a baseball stadium many times with the people who experts say die each year from an error, injury or infection suffered while undergoing medical treatment. Many more are harmed. [ProPublica]

After emotional appeals from parents on both sides of the case, Dharun Ravi was this afternoon sentenced to 30 days in jail and three years of probation for bias intimidation and invasion of privacy when he used a webcam to spy on his gay roommate at Rutgers University in September 2010. [NPR]

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear an Obama administration appeal arguing that attorneys, journalists and human rights groups have no right to sue over a law making it easier for U.S. intelligence agencies to eavesdrop on foreign communications. [Reuters]

A retail renaissance? The internet and mobile phones are at long last turning boring old retail banking into an exciting industry, says Jonathan Rosenthal. [The Economist]

What’ll happen in those Whitley County elections today? Will the good old boy system further its network of corruption? [Times-Tribune]

Hal Rogers’ fancy little airport is once again coming under fire. The Feds are raising questions about services contracts at the joint. [H-L]

Nope, no one is going to vote today. Turnout is expected to be worse than, well, you can imagine. [C-J/AKN]

What happens in Laurel County when you try to break up a fight? You get hit with an ax. Obviously. [WYMT]

Rick The Splooge owes all kinds of money to his mouth-breathing folks, apparently. Is he still a thing? Why are we still talking about Rick Santorum? [HuffPo]

Robert Wilcher, one of two Kentucky Retirement Systems board members representing county employees, resigned today. The board gets to appoint someone to fill his term. [Deep KRS Shenanigans]

From the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet: As mandated by the Kentucky Legislature, uninsured motorists across the Commonwealth will begin receiving notices in June that registrations for their personal vehicles will be canceled if they do not obtain required insurance or show proof of existing insurance. [Press Release & More Info]

This ad against Gary Moore and Alecia Webb-Edgington from the teabagger kid in Texas is hilarious. Alecia missed some votes and Gary went on a work trip. Ha. [Joe Gerth]

State Rep. Tim Moore is currently in flight training as part of his duty with the Air Force Reserve. Maybe he should fly over West Liberty to reflect on his insensitive and gross remarks about political choices and deadly storms? He sure needs a reality check on that front. [Deep Frankfort Thoughts]

Where the heck was this Herald-Leader editorial writer as all this was going down? Oh, right, completely ignoring the political realities of Frankfort. [H-L]

Secretary of State Alison Grimes says no one is going to vote in next Tuesday’s primary election. [Press Release]

Mitch McConnell is really mad at the Democrats again this week. He’s so mad he could spit if he had lips. [The Hill]

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services has launched a new website it says will enhance customer service re: child support. Customers can make payments, update information and check appointments. [Press Release]

Even Fox News says President Barack Obama is ahead of Mittens Romney. And that’s from their poll. [Politico]

For the first time, racial and ethnic minorities make up more than half the children born in the U.S., capping decades of heady immigration growth that is now slowing. [NPR]

The Texas teachers’ pension fund invested in casinos and lost $99 million. Those casino owners who got the investment? They were Gov. Rick Perry’s donors. Sounds just like Kentucky! [Dallas Morning News Here & Here]

New claims for jobless benefits last week held at levels suggesting sluggish growth in hiring and factory activity in the mid-Atlantic region contracted in May, worrisome signs for a still-fragile economic recovery. [Reuters]

Now Steve Beshear has a good excuse to get rid of one of Daniel Mongiardo’s last guys, Jerry Lunsford. [H-L]

Teabagger Wendy Caswell still has not collected her illegal signs, though:

Because she’s a typical teabager.

At least Reggie knows right from wrong and understands the political consequences, unlike his opponent.

Mitch McConnell once again forgets that he is the pot calling the kettle black. [The Hill]

How badly will the Time Warner transition from Insight hurt? Will lubrication be necessary for customers in Kentucky? [H-L]

Kentuckians are already familiar with the damage that can be done with outside campaign money and activity. It’s the only way teabaggers can get elected. [NPR]

What? You mean your schools are selling out to big ag like Monsanto left and right? [Mother Jones]

Trader Joe’s is opening in Lexington at the end of June and that means Lexington hipsters are pooping their pants in excitement. [WLEX18]

Thomas Massie seems to have a problem with Kentucky Open Meetings laws and the Office of the Attorney General is sniffing around. [Page One]

This mess in Colorado where bond companies get involved in pushing school construction campaigns sounds a lot like what goes on here in Kentucky. With both schools and court houses, that is. [Denver Post]

A former supervisor of the KFC Yum! Center has sued the Kentucky State Fair Board, claiming he was fired after reporting “illegal and dangerous conduct” by board employees. Which sounds just right in Louisville and Kentucky. Whistleblowers always get fired and torn apart. [C-J/AKN]

Do you live in one of the most well-read cities in America? Of course not! You live in Kentucky. [HuffPo]

The last few years has been pretty much a nonstop ride of positive safety PR for the nuclear power industry, right? I mean, this is a technology that absorbed an enormous earthquake and tsunami and barely even killed anyone/left whole towns uninhabitable/terrified the world. Heh. [Wonkette]

Police in western Kentucky are investigating the fatal shooting of a woman who worked as a counselor in a middle school. [WKYT]