http://http://www.kentucky.com/591/index.xml News, sports, and entertainment from Kentucky.com en-us Copyright 2009 Kentucky.com Editorial 60 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:41 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's Workbench webmaster@kentucky.com http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/650416.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/650416.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:07 EST
It's one of those deja vu moments: Fourteen years ago, Stumbo engineered the ascent of Jody Richards, whom he deposed on Monday.

Before that, Stumbo helped pick the late Joe Clarke to succeed disgraced Speaker Don Blandford. After a chaotic session, much like last year's, Stumbo helped dump Clarke in favor of Richards in 1995.

(More deja vu: At that time, Eastern Kentucky lawmakers ascended to plum committee spots, just as the region dominates the new House leadership team, holding three of five posts.) ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/650417.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/650417.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:08 EST
Williams knows better, of course.

He's just using the budget emergency to get in a little pandering. He's playing to that small segment of Republicans and soreheads who like nothing about the public schools and to a larger segment disenchanted with what they see as an overemphasis on testing.

The Commonwealth Accountability Testing System accounts for about 1 percent of the education budget or about $14 million. Kentucky is facing nearly a $500 million shortfall. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/650415.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/650415.html Thu, 08 Jan 2009 06:26 EST
Speaker: Rep. Greg Stumbo, 34; incumbent Speaker Jody Richards, 31.

Speaker Pro Tem: Incumbent Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, 47; Rep. Joni Jenkins, 18.

Whip: Rep. John Will Stacy, 33; Rep. Tommy Thompson, 32.

Caucus Chairman: Rep. Bob Damron, 34; incumbent Chairman Charlie Hoffman, 31.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/648918.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/648918.html Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:46 EST
Nothing.

Kentucky law sets stiff penalties for knowingly filing a false disclosure report. But the Executive Branch Ethics Commission plans no action against lobbyist Bob Babbage, who says he inadvertently omitted his business relationship with Adam Edelen when filing his report last year.

The omission came to light through reporting by the Herald-Leader's John Cheves. After Cheves started asking questions, Babbage was allowed by the ethics commission staff to file a corrected report.

That Babbage simply forgot is hard to believe, especially since he says he informed people within the administration of the partnership when Edelen became chief of staff last year.]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/647741.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/647741.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:11 EST
It's time to ask them out in the open.

For starters: What was the board thinking when it approved a compensation package for Gobb far exceeding that of directors of much larger airports?

Where was the board when the travel budget for fiscal 2007 was overspent by 62 percent? ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/647740.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/647740.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:11 EST
But there's plenty of evidence, in politics and business, that when people gain power for the first time, there's just more power. More energy to create, accomplish, produce.

That's how House Democrats, especially those elected to leadership posts today, should think of proposed reforms in House rules: A way to make the House stronger and more powerful, as well as more efficient and more respected.

So far the biggest obstacle seems to be a fear that the House could put itself at a disadvantage with the Republican Senate, especially during budget fights and other heated negotiations. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/646174.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/646174.html Sun, 04 Jan 2009 06:59 EST


To University of Kentucky football coach Rich Brooks, a Memphis Belle. Wash it down with a Quarterback Cocktail.



Toast UK hoops coach Billy Gillispie with The Impossible Dream for what it takes to satisfy the fans ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/644473.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/644473.html Fri, 02 Jan 2009 02:44 EST
It's not looking too good for them, though.

It took a week for the Tennessee Valley Authority to even issue a warning to avoid direct contact with the muck and to keep kids and pets away from it.

The official word is that the waste is not hazardous. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/642575.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/642575.html Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:21 EST
From Edison The Electric Chair by Mark Essig ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/642577.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/642577.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:47 EST
He communicated with Kentucky friends back home in London a lot, by telephone and through My Space. On the morning of Dec. 21, he exchanged jokes with one friend's wife on MSN Messenger.

Later that day, he was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the vehicle he was riding in while supporting combat operations in Iraq's Anbar Province. He was 19.

The war in Iraq, calmer now, has been pushed off front pages as other calamitous events unfold. But the end of the short life of Corporal Reilly, a young man not two years out of high school, must remind us that Americans are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan and that each death is a life shortened, a painful gap in the lives of the friends and families left behind. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/642576.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/642576.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:47 EST
This time in Frankfort, home to state government and the Administrative Office of the Courts that oversees this construction campaign. A proposed $30 million judicial center there threatens to crowd out significant historic landmarks in downtown Frankfort, including the current courthouse, built in 1835, and the 1850 Good Shepherd Church. The church's distinctive steeple is a Frankfort landmark, depicted in hundreds of historic photographs and in the works of 19th century Kentucky painter Paul Sawyier.

Many Frankfort residents are concerned the project will end up destroying the church to make way for the new courthouse.

For the record, it seems unnecessary, bordering on ridiculous, to destroy or diminish even a less significant part of Frankfort's small historic downtown. If the political and civic forces are willing, a combination of available space, enlightened city planning and imaginative design could provide Frankfort with a new courthouse, if that's what it needs, while preserving, even enhancing, its historic downtown. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/641404.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/641404.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:36 EST
You want to throw up your hands and cry, "Can't we have anything nice around here?"

The story of the botched trail does offer some lessons:

The Beshear administration is shooting itself in the foot by allowing the continued perception that its highest priority for public lands is horse and ATV trails as part of promoting "adventure tourism." ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/641402.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/641402.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:35 EST
Blevins, elected from the 10th District in November 2006, and re-elected last month with no opposition, will be sorely missed at city hall despite his short tenure.

In two years on the council Blevins has impressed with his work ethic, intelligence, independence and willingness to take on big, tough issues. He's also demonstrated a quality scarce among elected officials: he only speaks when he has something to say and then succinctly.

An engineer by training, Blevins consistently brought careful questioning and thorough analysis to the issues that came before the council. Blevins took on one of the most essential but least rewarding projects the city offered up during his time on council: Crafting and passing an increase in the sanitary sewer fee to pay for the improvements we must have to stop untreated sewage from running on our streets, backing up into basements and poisoning our water. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/635906.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/635906.html Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:35 EST
The deal is structured so the family who owns the land would give the airport 15 acres for parking in exchange for the airport's endorsement of the hotel and gas station development. The airport would also get concession revenue from hotel and gas sales.

It's almost something for nothing. But it's not. Blue Grass is no ordinary airport and Lexington/Fayette County is no ordinary community.

The planning commission and staff must look beyond the airport's lovely renderings to ask tough questions about what this proposed development could mean to our entire community. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/635907.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/635907.html Tue, 23 Dec 2008 05:35 EST
It's said that Charles Dickens invented Christmas as we know it when he created the bitter skinflint who, shaken by supernatural visitors, is transformed into a free-spending lavisher of gifts and glad tidings.

Everyone from Lionel Barrymore to Mr. Magoo has played Scrooge as he rediscovers the joy of giving.

But, in this season of slumping 401(k)s, upside-down mortgages and lowered expectations, Scrooge's example of finding bliss by tossing around wads of cash may not be working so well. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/631910.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/631910.html Fri, 19 Dec 2008 06:18 EST
Bunning's priorities moved Time magazine to dub the former fast-baller the "Underperformer," earlier this year, saying he has "little interest in policy unless it involves baseball."

Bunning's Senate office is packed with memorabilia from his days on the mound. His Web site includes photos of various visitors, including Gen. David Petraeus, gripping and grinning with him in front of shots from the senator's previous career.

Now we have to wonder if some of those pictures carry price tags. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/630669.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/630669.html Thu, 18 Dec 2008 06:26 EST
We know, now, that she was right. Katelynn is dead.

Police allege that the toddler's 18-year-old live-in baby sitter raped and killed her.

What we don't know, and may never know, is how the state agency that's supposed to protect children responded to the day-care operator's warnings. ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/629376.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/629376.html Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:18 EST
McConnell's rationales for killing the proposed auto bailout were all very high-minded, except that they seemed to apply uniquely to huge American manufacturing concerns employing tens of thousands of organized workers.

McConnell wasn't bound by tedious consistency when he successfully pressed for a much larger bailout for big banks and other financial concerns not so long ago.

Consider some of McConnell's stated objections to the auto bailout: ]]> http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/629377.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/629377.html Wed, 17 Dec 2008 07:18 EST http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/628259.html http://www.kentucky.com/591/story/628259.html Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:34 EST
The Council on Postsecondary Education has hired . . . Brad Cowgill.

No, no, just kidding.

The similarities in resumes are striking. But Robert L. King's five years at the helm of the State University of New York gives him a decided advantage in experience and knowledge. ]]>