From Kentucky Public Radio's Tony McVeighKentucky Governor Steve Beshear and Lt. Governor Dan Mongiardo are taking voluntary ten-percent pay cuts next calendar year. Beshear knows the cuts won’t do much to reduce the state’s projected $456 million deficit, but he hopes the move will send a message. "It’s a symbol by the chief executive of this state, that he understands what our people are going through. He knows what he’s going to have to ask of those people - more sacrifices, more pain. And that he’s willing to step up and share that pain and those sacrifices with them," Beshear said Monday.Beshear says several members of his senior staff have also volunteered to take ten-percent pay cuts next year. He says the actions will save the state around 100-thousand dollars. Later this week, Beshear will unveil the administration’s plan for dealing with the budget deficit.
Rick Howlett was midday host and the host of LPM's weekly talk show, "In Conversation." He was with LPM from 2001-2023 and held many different titles, including Morning Edition host, Assignment Editor and Interim News Director. He died in August 2023. Read a remembrance of Rick here.