From Dan Conti, Kentucky Public Radio The retiring budget director of the Kentucky Legislative Research Commission has told state lawmakers that they face some tough choices when they begin their nexts budget session in January.Bart Hardin steps down at the end of this week.He says Kentucky's economy is growing and revenues are improving but probably not at at pace to keep up with rising expenses. “There’s a lot of fixed costs that are coming your direction that we’re going to have to deal with as you come back here in January. Retirement, we’ve got a big unemployment fix that we’re going to have to do something with even though the governor’s put a temporary fix I think in place. We’ve got the increasing cost of health insurance, and just fixed costs in general," he said. Hardin testified before a legislative budget panel. He'll be succeeded by Greg Rush October 1..
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.
