Matt Bevin

Could The Marijuana Fight Come To Kentucky?

An underground coal mine in Floyd County is among the first in the nation to be designated as having a pattern of safety violations under new rules, the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration announced Thursday. [H-L]

Can you imagine how Kentucky could improve if Steve Beshear had the guts to do something like this? Of course you can’t. Because he doesn’t want to harm his son’s political changes with the mountain blasters and environment killers. [HuffPo]

As we tweeted last night, here are the latest health stats in Kentucky: 21,342 have enrolled in Medicaid; 4,832 have enrolled in a qualified health plan; 1,607 have enrolled in a standalone plan; 51,482 applications have started. [Press Release]

Over the weekend, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began unveiling its effort to fix Healthcare.gov, the home for the federal insurance marketplace. Part of that was a blog post soliciting comments from folks who have tried the site. [ProPublica]

The teevee “news” folks in Louisville sure were spreading the stupid on thick yesterday. And you wonder why the general populace has no idea what’s going on in Frankfort. [The ‘Ville Voice]

“One of my favourite old Kentucky sayings is there’s no education in the second kick of a mule,” says Senator Mitch McConnell, with the homespun wisdom of a man facing re-election shortly. In Washington, DC, the worry is that lawmakers did not learn from the first kick. [The Economist]

Looky, Joe Gerth discovered the Bevin story and re-wrote an article about it. He could have gone a step further and speculated that the fire sure was convenient (how insensitive of us!) but he didn’t because that would have only been logical. [C-J/AKN]

More than 1.1 million students in the United States were homeless last year, a record high, according to new data released by the U.S. Department of Education. [Think Progress]

Basically, ever bit of this interview is hilarious. Senator Mitch McConnell is an outspoken critic of the Affordable Care Act, and up until last week it was keeping him from voting to end the government shutdown. [WBKO]

Tea Party and Republican leaders have been quick to condemn Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) for his recent comparison of the tea party and the Ku Klux Klan. But avowed racists involved in the white nationalist movement might beg to agree with the Florida Democrat. [HuffPo]

A group of Kentuckians waited 15 days too long to sue attorneys in Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky after discovering they had been shorted in a settlement involving the diet drug fen-phen, so they are barred from trying to collect damages, a divided Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday. [H-L]

We’ve reached the point where there should be no surprise if a major national politician embraces marijuana legalization. Without any large-scale campaign on its behalf, surveys show that approximately half of Americans now support marijuana legalization, including 58 percent in a recent, but potentially outlying, Gallup poll. Regardless of the exact support today, marijuana is all but assured to emerge as an issue in national elections—it’s only a question of how and when. [New Republic]

Matt Bevin Is Really Mad At The World Again

Kentucky has the most restrictive income guidelines and is one of only two states that has a freeze on applications for its child care assistance program for working parents, according to a new report released Wednesday. [H-L]

In the months since, intelligence officials, media outlets, and members of Congress from both parties all repeated versions of the claim that NSA surveillance has stopped more than 50 terrorist attacks. But there’s no evidence that the oft-cited figure is accurate. [HuffPo]

Kentucky is starting another pilot program. Remember when KERA started as a pilot program? Remember when Betty Stewart was all over KET talking about how amazing it was going to be? And then how it was, you know, bad news bears? [WFPL]

Republican Kentucky Senate candidate Matt Bevin failed to disclose tens of thousands of dollars in federal tax liens when he applied for a $100,000 grant from the State of Connecticut to use for the reopening of his family’s bell business, documents obtained by BuzzFeed show. [BuzzFeed]

Matt Bevin’s campaign dismissed a Wednesday afternoon report that said the Louisville businessman provided false information when filling out paperwork to receive a grant in Connecticut. [Bluegrass Politics]

While everyone was expecting October’s report, which will reflect the government shutdown and debt-ceiling wrangling, to be bad, the September numbers show that even before the Tea Party decided to scupper what recovery there was, job growth was actually slowing. [Time]

Some lawmakers are getting some heat from constituents about local government operations and what they see as too little oversight by the state. [Ronnie Ellis]

Over the past year, Americans’ support for legalizing pot has surged 10 percentage points. [NPR]

Yesterday, Adam Edelen’s staffers tried to pretend that they didn’t ignore what we revealed. The supporting documentation they sent us backed us up. Adam appears to be intentionally overlooking, editing or selectively auditing. That’s what all others in his job have done, so it’s not a surprise. Just as it isn’t a surprise that Adam went into panic mode when asked for comment on Jack Conway. [Page One]

The Republican chairman of a key congressional oversight committee has asked Google, Microsoft and three other U.S. companies to provide details on their possible involvement in a “tech surge” aimed at fixing a website implementing President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law. [Reuters]

A man who offered to sell a large quantity of 20-year-old Pappy Van Winkle at a Hardin County liquor store is wanted for questioning by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, which is investigating a heist of more than $25,000 worth of the bourbon. [C-J/AKN]

Prezzy O’Hezzy did not even catch that lady. He just sort of steadied her. If he is going to set someone up to pretend to faint, with a conspiracy of, like, dozens of people, shouldn’t he actually be the hero who catches her? [Wonkette]

Immigration Reform Suffers At Feet Of Economy

We think marijuana is gross and have never physically touched it but can’t figure out why on earth it’s so a boogey man in this story. As if weed made it okay for this person to be shot? Please. [H-L]

Drone makers are gathering to defend their much-maligned machines. This will make Rand Paul’s head spin. [ProPublica]

Trying to make up for cuts in state and federal funding, nearly half of Kentucky’s 173 school districts have increased local property tax rates as much as allowed — driving inequality among districts and turning school boards into political pariahs. [C-J/AKN]

Mitch McConnell isn’t charismatic. He’s not dashing. He’s not an amazing orator. He is, however, the most powerful Republican in Kentucky — and in the U.S. Senate. There’s one reason for that: He is his party’s best strategic mind. [WaPo]

Adoption of an ordinance created to bolster gender identity and sexual orientation equality will be brought before Morehead’s November city council session, Mayor David Perkins said earlier this week. [Ashland Independent]

A United Nations investigator has called on the US to make public its data about drone strikes and civilian casualties. [BBC]

The Franklin County Humane Society in Frankfort announced Monday the receipt of a bequest of the entire estate of Jean M. Gravitt in the amount of $284,985.42. [WLEX18]

Roughly half a million Americans have applied for health insurance through new federal- and state-run exchanges under President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, an administration official said on Saturday. [Reuters]

Addressing issues in an audit of the Harlan Fiscal Court, which has not been released to the media or public by the Kentucky State Auditor of Public Accounts, several actions were taken on motions made by Harlan County Judge-Executive Joe Grieshop during a meeting on Thursday. [Harlan Daily Enterprise]

Remember when all the oxyheads freaked out over the Google balloons in Eastern Kentucky? Here’s what’s actually inside the antennas of Google’s wild internet balloons. [Gizmodo]

The alleged Montgomery County nepotism we mentioned earlier? Turns out that it’s way worse and people there are beginning to freak out. [Page One]

While A Kentucky Newspaper’s remaining lazy “reporter” wets himself over Matt Bevin receiving an endorsement from a bunch of extremists, here’s a good look at the organization. They’re eating their own for profit and it is one hilarious disaster. [U.S. News]

The Fayette Circuit Courthouse will remain closed at least for the rest this week while work crews clean up and make repairs after the facility flooded overnight, court officials said. [H-L]

With the brutal fiscal fight now in Capitol Hill’s rearview mirror, immigration reform advocates from across the spectrum are ramping up the pressure on lawmakers to pass a far-reaching overhaul this year. [Politico]

Meemaws: Be A Better Homemaker. For Jesus.

The Asian tiger mosquitoes have come to the United States, and they’re spreading. [H-L]

Pollutants in the air we breathe have been classed as a leading environmental cause of cancer by the World Health Organization. It said the evidence was clear they cause lung cancer. [BBC]

Kentucky lawmakers are being pressed to return more of the state’s coal severance tax directly to coal-producing counties. [WKYT]

What is it with the lazy A Kentucky Newspaper “reporters” of the world allowing their hatred of Mitch McConnell to cloud everything they do? These teatards are the folks who jumped on the Christine O’Donnell wagon after the witch incident. They’re the wingnuts who jumped on the Akin train after his messes. They’re out-of-touch, don’t have boots on the ground, don’t have enough money to compete with the rest of the Republicans, period. [HuffPo]

Matt Bevin said he would have 200 people show up for the parade at Glendale Crossing. According to folks there, roughly 30 showed up – about 20-25 of them paid volunteers. [Ouch]

Today’s low-interest-rate environment has made the hunt for investment income tougher than ever. Many overseers of public pension funds, desperate to bolster returns and meet ballooning retiree obligations, have turned from traditional investments like stocks and bonds to hedge funds and private equity. [NY Times]

Kentucky authorities say they have cited U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s 20-year-old son on alcohol possession by a minor at a Kentucky racetrack. Seems like yesterday he was getting in trouble in North Carolina for the same thing. [WDRB]

Alright, if you were responsible for a 600-word weekly political column where would you begin after the circus of the last three weeks? [Ronnie Ellis]

James L. Hurley, Ed.D., was inaugurated Friday as president of the University of Pikeville. A graduate of the class of 1999, Hurley is the first alumnus in the institution’s 124-year history to serve as president. [WSAZ]

A London woman was arrested Saturday after telling police that her boyfriend told her to shoot him, and she did. [H-L]

Sign up now to learn how to be a better homemaker for Jesus. [Wonkette]

An increasing number of U.S. workers, including thousands in Kentucky and Indiana, are finding their employers shifting to high-deductible healthcare plans that require employees to spend thousands of dollars on doctors and prescriptions before insurance starts paying the bills. [C-J/AKN]

The theft of dozens of cases of rare, high-quality bourbon worth more than $25,000 from a local distillery appears to be an inside job, a Kentucky sheriff investigating the case, said on Saturday. [Reuters]

All The UK News Is As Crazy As Rand Paul

An internal review of the University of Kentucky’s pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program does not address why the program was voluntarily shut down last fall, despite numerous calls for transparency from affected parents, some of whose children died. [H-L]

The last-minute bill to avert a potentially catastrophic U.S. default and reopen the government came in at a relatively skimpy 35 pages, but lawmakers still managed to pack in some special favors. [Reuters]

Judy Shepard, mother of Matthew Shepard, the Laramie, Wyo., college student whose 1998 murder inspired the federal hate-crime prevention act of 2009, will speak in Louisville for the first time at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Brown Theatre on Broadway. The event is free and open to the public. [C-J/AKN]

Elderly Americans are prescribed medications in inexplicably different ways depending on where they live, according to a new report from Dartmouth researchers. [ProPublica]

No matter what Jefferson County Public Schools’ spokesperson says, Louisville has a serious problem with school bus accidents. This crap happens on a daily basis and there are usually children involved. [WAVE3]

New research suggests that extreme weather events will keep people poor in many parts of the world. The authors argue that where disasters like drought are prevalent, they can be the most important cause of poverty. [BBC]

Laurel County is now deliberately trying to one-up itself with the craziness. A man is in jail after police in Laurel County say he exposed himself to a woman through her window. [WKYT]

If you hit the drive-through, chances are that the cashier who rings you up or the cook who prepared your food relies on public assistance to make ends meet. A new analysis finds that 52 percent of fast-food workers are enrolled in, or have their families enrolled in, one or more public assistance programs such as SNAP (food stamps) Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). [NPR]

Drivers were wrecking in Laurel County Thursday almost faster than authorities could investigate the crashes. Laurel County Sheriff John Root said Thursday night that his office had investigated 29 traffic crashes in the county over the previous 16 hours. [H-L]

Paying for roads in the United States was once straightforward. Petrol (gasoline) taxes, easy to administer and collect, were directed into the federal Highway Trust Fund. [The Economist]

A broken website imperils the largest expansion of the American safety net since the Great Society. More than two weeks into the disastrous rollout of HealthCare.gov, the website created by President Barack Obama’s health care reform law still isn’t working right. [HuffPo]

These are the people backing Matt Bevin. Unlike the Fraternal Order of Police, they don’t provide feet on the ground, legit direct mail or actual action during a campaign. [TPM]

Bevin Becomes Fringier & Crazier By The Day

An Eastern Kentucky man has been sentenced to two years in jail for stealing from a grave. Floyd County Circuit Judge John David Caudill also scolded Randall Vickers for the theft, telling him there’s “no excuse for this.” [H-L]

Theater producer Darrell Issa has discovered some new masturbatory material. He is going to investigate how the eeeeeevil Obama administration allowed Republicans to shut down the government and force the closure of national parks and memorials. [Wonkette]

Looks like somebody watched Steve Beshear’s ten-minute press conference about how he needs to help his rich pals with their new nursing home contracts. And they read his press release. [WFPL]

Matt Bevin said Kentuckians were “sold out” by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for negotiating a debt ceiling increase deal with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Because the teatoots believe it is a good idea to starve a million Kentuckians. [TPM]

A small eastern Kentucky town that has no city commissioners, no volunteer fire department and two lawsuits on its hands is facing an uncertain future. [C-J/AKN]

The Senate has once again reached an 11th-hour deal to avert fiscal disaster. And once again, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was at the center of it. [WaPo]

The Urban County Council will continue its discussions about how to spend the remaining $4 million of a $12.5 million surplus on Tuesday. [H-L]

U.S. Senate leaders announced a deal on Wednesday to end a political crisis that partially shut down the federal government and brought the world’s biggest economy close to a debt default that economists said threatened financial calamity. [Reuters]

For the third time in as many weeks, the House select committee looking into sexual harassment allegations against former state Rep. John Arnold, D-Sturgis, met Wednesday without much happening. [Richmond Register]

Conservative groups ripped into Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, accusing him of earmarking $2 billion for a famously troubled lock-and-dam project that would benefit his home state as part of the bill to reopen the government and avert a debt default. Note that President Obama apparently requested that earmark, so… [Politico]

Three Kentucky lawmakers were among the House and Senate Republicans who voted against a deal to re-open the federal government and avert a default. [WKYT]

A 41-YEAR-OLD native of Monaco increasingly looks to be to banking what Edward Snowden is to American surveillance. [The Economist]