http://www.kentucky.com/210/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2008 Kentucky.com State Government 60 Sat, 19 Jul 2008 05:57:01 EDT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/465620.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/465620.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:37 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear took three planeloads of officials with him to Pike County on Thursday at a cost of more than $7,000 for the first stop in his six-week statewide tour of town-hall meetings.

That came just days after Beshear suggested ways state workers could conserve on fuel when commuting.

The trip's cost immediately drew criticism from political opponents who pointed to the state's budget crunch that Beshear and lawmakers have bemoaned all year. The administration defended the flights, saying they saved officials' time.

Beshear, joined by all but two of his Cabinet secretaries, presided over the meeting in the Eastern Kentucky town of Virgie to talk with constituents about issues and goals. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/463297.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/463297.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 03:12 EDT
FRANKFORT . Gov. Steve Beshear presented an $11 million check Wednesday for the building of the Kentucky Agriculture Heritage Center in Mercer County.

The center is a grass-roots project to preserve and promote Kentucky's agricultural heritage. It will showcase technology, provide workspaces and resources for farm organizations and interest groups, and contain educational resources, recreational activities and entertainment.

The state's agricultural history will be displayed through hands-on activities such as a walking farm tour, demonstrations, expositions and virtual agricultural experiences.

The center will be built on 50 acres of farmland at Anderson Circle Farm in Mercer County. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/462209.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/462209.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:17 EDT
FRANKFORT . The nearly 6,000 state employees who work in Frankfort and live outside Franklin County are keenly aware of the record-high cost of commuting to work.

Gov. Steve Beshear announced two initiatives Tuesday to help such state workers.

At a Capitol news conference, Beshear said the state is implementing a new carpooling Web site . www.kentucky.gov/carpool . to link commuting state employees.

And he is encouraging a more aggressive push toward flexible work hours instead of the traditional eight-hour Monday-through-Friday shifts. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/461314.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/461314.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:17 EDT
FRANKFORT . The officers in the brown cruisers who enforce commercial-vehicle regulations and safety laws on state highways soon will be working for the Kentucky State Police.

Gov. Steve Beshear has signed an executive order to abolish the Department of Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement in the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet and make it a division in the state police.

Beshear said the reorganization will allow the new division to expand hours of operation at weigh stations to increase the inspection and records checks of hazardous cargo and save $750,000 to $1 million a year through efficiencies such as reducing fuel costs and centralizing facilities.

He said the 240 or so rank-and-file employees in vehicle enforcement will keep their jobs, but Justice Secretary J. Michael Brown said the two remaining managerial or non-merit positions might be lost or changed. Greg Howard left the vehicle-enforcement commissioner's spot last month. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/460577.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/460577.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:32 EDT
It's hardly news that Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican State Senate President David Williams don't get along . or as Williams puts it: .I don't have any relationship with him..

But two of Kentucky's most powerful officials might be stuck with each other for at least three years, meaning that this fall's election season becomes a crucial juncture for the two men.

Williams will be working to keep his job as his chamber's president by helping Republican Senate candidates.

Beshear, the highest-ranking Democrat in Kentucky, also is expected to get involved on behalf of his party's Senate contenders in a bid to topple Williams. He has enthusiastically called for Democrats to .take back the Senate. in party rallies dating back to November. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/459180.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/459180.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:12 EDT
Facing potentially crippling jail costs, Kentucky's county judge-executives are looking to sue the state to recover the price of housing state criminals who are awaiting sentencing.

If they prevail, counties could save $60 million to $70 million a year, said LaRue County Judge-Executive Tommy Turner.

Members of the Kentucky County Judge-Executive Association, who are meeting in Lexington, voted unanimously Thursday to pursue a lawsuit, Turner said.

Specifically, they take issue with the state giving criminals credit for time served in county jails without reimbursing the counties for putting them up. County jails generally hold people charged with crimes until they are convicted and sentenced. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/458817.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/458817.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:07 EDT
The Kentucky Homeplace program, which helps rural residents get prescription drugs and other medical supplies, won't be ending its services in some counties after all.

The Department of Public Health, which provides the program's $1.9 million budget, is no longer cutting $80,000 from the program, as had been announced.

However, the restoration doesn't mean the program will be able to offer the same services as last year, said Fran Feltner, director of the lay health worker division at the University of Kentucky, which runs the program.

In Fulton, Hickman and Jackson counties, the offices will be open 75 percent of the time. In Warren County, the program will operate one to two days a week. Feltner hopes to .piece together ways. of covering offices in the northeast region. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/457138.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/457138.html Thu, 10 Jul 2008 06:01 EDT
SHEPHERDSVILLE . As Kentucky politicians stumble over themselves to tout a three-wheeled electric car as a financial boon to the state and their gas price-weary constituents, an industry analyst suggests they use caution.

Two Republican state senators urged Gov. Steve Beshear Wednesday to sign an executive order allowing the use of three-wheeled electric vehicles on Kentucky roads except interstates in hopes of landing a ZAP electric-car factory for Integrity Manufacturing in Bullitt County that might employ up to 1,000 people.

But some skeptics say the Santa Rosa, Calif.,-based company known as ZAP, which currently makes the Zero Air Pollution cars in China, has a history of over-promising and under-delivering.

ZAP strongly denies the criticism and claims it stems from its competitors. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/456924.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/456924.html Thu, 10 Jul 2008 03:07 EDT
FRANKFORT . In an effort to regroup from a rocky start to his term, Gov. Steve Beshear will embark later this month on a 12-city town hall tour that will take him from Pikeville to Paducah.

The circuit will be key, Beshear's top aide said, as the administration retools its agenda in the wake of uncertain economic times and a rough first go-around with the General Assembly this spring.

.The governor is going to talk about where we are, how we got to where we are and the challenges that exist before us,. said Adam Edelen, who took over as Beshear's chief of staff last week. .And we'll be talking about some of his ideas for going forward. But broadly this also is a listening tour..

Beshear will seek Kentuckians' input about steps the state should take to improve in areas of education, health care, economic development and infrastructure, Edelen said. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/454933.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/454933.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:19 EDT
FRANKFORT . Tuition at Kentucky's public universities and community colleges has shot up an average of 12 percent a year over the last five years, which is about four times the rate of inflation and the growth of the state's median family income.

That may be putting the cost of a college education out of reach for ordinary Kentuckians, worried state legislators and postsecondary education officials said Monday.

.Something's got to happen,. said Richard A. Crofts, the interim president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education.

.It can't continue, and we're going to have to develop a plan,. he said ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/451850.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/451850.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:38 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear appointed 10 Democrats and a Republican on Thursday to seats on the governing boards of Kentucky's public universities and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

All of the appointments are for six-year terms.

Beshear's lone Republican appointee was Cheryl U. Lewis, a Hyden lawyer, who was named to the Morehead State University Board of Regents.

At the University of Kentucky, C. Frank Shoop, a Lexington auto dealer, was reappointed; and Edward Britt Brockman, a Louisville doctor, was named to a new term. He replaces Billy Wilcoxson, a Lexington businessman and a Democrat, who was a trustee since 1987. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/451914.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/451914.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:38 EDT
Gov. Steve Beshear on Thursday reorganized the state panel that regulates horse racing in Kentucky, adding several new members that are major Democratic party backers.

Beshear said he was making the move because racing is .in crisis and immediate, aggressive action is necessary to preserve its integrity..

The move comes as Ellis Park, a Thoroughbred racetrack in Henderson, abruptly closed on the eve of its 44-day summer meet.

.Any state like ours who claims to be the .Horse Capital of the World' and has a signature industry like the horse industry needs to address these issues very quickly . the medication issues, the safety issues, all of the kinds of things that are creating the crisis that we have right now,. Beshear said. .We need to move on it quickly and I believe the group that I have put together will do just that.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/448401.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/448401.html Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:28 EDT
State public defenders filed a sweeping lawsuit Monday seeking a declaration that Kentucky's criminal-defense system for the indigent is inadequately funded and unconstitutional.

The Department of Public Advocacy filed a petition in Franklin Circuit Court asking a judge to order the state finance Cabinet to pay for private lawyers in cases where public defenders withdraw because of a $2.3 million budget cut in the fiscal year that begins Tuesday.

In the alternative, public defenders are asking the court to set a deadline for the General Assembly to allocate more money. If the legislature does not provide .sufficient. funds, then public defenders want the courts to dismiss all charges for poor criminal defendants who are denied public defenders.

.Not only are the lives and liberty of some of our most vulnerable citizens at risk, but the fairness, reliability and credibility of the criminal justice process are rightly in question,. Louisville's chief public defender, Dan Goyette, said in a statement. .We can ill-afford a loss of public confidence in our adversary legal system and with it respect for the rule of law.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/445871.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/445871.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:36 EDT
Officials at utilities regulated by the state Public Service Commission are being invited to what was advertised as a closed-door reception Monday to meet the PSC's new chairman, vice chairman and executive director.

The invitation posted on the PSC Web site pointedly says that the public is not invited, .because of time and space considerations..

But PSC spokesman Andrew Melnykovych said Friday that anyone who shows up will be allowed in for cake and punch.

The wording of the invitation was .probably an oversight on somebody's part,. he said, adding that .mistakes get made.. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444910.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444910.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:08 EDT
FRANKFORT . Reversing a decision by his predecessor, the new chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court will comply with a legislative budget mandate to spend $13.7 million the next two years on pay raises for deputy court clerks.

John D. Minton Jr., who will be sworn in Friday as head of the state's courts, also told a legislative panel Thursday that he plans to review the $562 million judicial budget for potential money to provide pay raises for other non-elected court employees.

That would cost $11.1 million.

.The unfortunate . and I trust unintended . consequence of the salary improvement targeted solely for deputy clerks is that it leaves out in the cold 1,700 other non-elected Court of Justice employees in courthouses all across the Commonwealth,. Minton told lawmakers. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444645.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444645.html Fri, 27 Jun 2008 06:38 EDT
Generating support for strong pre-kindergarten programs was the focus of two events in Central Kentucky Thursday.

At the Capitol Rotunda in Frankfort, the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence announced it has joined with a national group to recruit older adults as advocates for pre-kindergarten programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds. Jane Beshear, wife of Gov. Steve Beshear, and all of Kentucky's living former first ladies took part.

Later, in a ceremony at Lafayette High School, 31 children were awarded certificates for completing a pre-kindergarten program that stresses high standards, strong performance and parental involvement. Fayette County Schools Superintendent Stu Silberman made the presentations at the event, which was sponsored by Directors for Quality in Child Care, an organization made up of 14 area child care centers.

.We teach them Spanish, sign language, they get their sounds down, we have them reading ready, they learn proper social skills, so they're prepared for entering the Fayette County schools,. said Angela Shaw, owner of Shaw's Child Care in Lexington. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444149.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444149.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:46 EDT
FRANKFORT . Former House Judiciary Chairman Gross Clay Lindsay, a Henderson Democrat who was a key figure in modernizing the state's court system and criminal laws, died Wednesday at his home of natural causes, Henderson County Coroner Bruce Farmer said. He was 77.

.Gross had a history of heart problems,. Farmer said. .But I always knew him to be a most vibrant man who did a lot for this community and state. The commonwealth has lost a great leader..

Mr. Lindsay, who left the legislature in 2006 after losing a bid for re-election, was known for his keen intellect and love of the law. He was a longtime attorney in Henderson.

House Judiciary Chair Kathy Stein, D-Lexington, said Mr. Lindsay was .the finest legislator I've ever met, and I have served with many fine legislators. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444133.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/444133.html Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:30 EDT
The state's chief law enforcement official is a victim of America's fastest growing crime — identity theft.

“It makes you mad. It makes you feel incredibly vulnerable,” said Conway, who said his case is not getting any special attention from his investigators because of his position.

He noted that the U.S. Postal Service is leading the investigation because his mailing address also was misused.

Conway said he noticed the theft on a Saturday night in late May at his Louisville home when he tried to use his American Express credit card to buy the new album of acoustic soft-rock musician Jack Johnson on iTunes.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/434328.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/434328.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 02:02 EDT
The children had been identified as at-risk for being taken from their homes because of abuse or neglect. With the help of a two-year, $300,000 state grant, Brooklawn sent social workers into homes to help the parents become more successful.

"You kind of re-parent the parent," said Mike Schultz, vice president for development at Brooklawn.

But on June 30, the program -- which went two years without having a child taken from his or her home -- will lose its funding.

To comply with its share of the $179.9 million in cuts ordered by the General Assembly as part of the budget that begins July 1, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services cut $7.6 million from programs designed to help social workers keep kids with their biological parents or reunite them with their families.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/429231.html http://www.kentucky.com/210/story/429231.html Tue, 10 Jun 2008 02:05 EDT
Legislative leaders have reached a tentative agreement on a plan to overhaul the state retirement systems and appear ready for a special law-making session on the issue to begin June 23.

After several hours of closed-door negotiations Monday between House and Senate leaders, House Speaker Jody Richards and Senate President David Williams said leaders plan to contact lawmakers overnight to assess the plan and expect to announce its details Tuesday.

Neither leader would release specifics, but Williams, R-Burkesville, said he expects it will include a schedule to address the $26.6 billion unfunded liability in the retirement systems.

Richards said the plan does more than what Gov. Steve Beshear outlined, but Williams said it "falls far short" of past Senate proposals.]]>