Search results for

Each week, members of the WFPL News team spotlight interesting stories weve read and enjoyed, for your weekend reading pleasure: Devin Katyama: Why are

The University of Louisville's music school and athletics department will share a $12.6 million gift from retired pilot and investor Max Baumgardner of…

State House Democrats will once again try to push through a bill that would allow the state to borrow $3.3 billion to shore up the ailing teacher pension…

After mocking the Tea Party while discussing the ongoing debt ceiling negotiations Wednesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Az., is being pummeled by freshman…

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell isn't the only Kentucky Republican facing Tea Party criticism for the plan ending the shutdown. Tea Party Leadership

Education Week, a national publication dedicated to education issues, has ranked Kentucky in the top ten on its annual Quality Counts report measuring education policy and achievement indicators.The improvement in ranking was praised Thursday by Gov. Steve Beshear and Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday who credits the ranking in part to Senate Bill 1 and the state’s new accountability system.As Kentucky is seeming to emerge from the recession, Beshear is pushing for continued momentum and steady funding in education policy-making."We are poised to really take off. We have got such opportunity in front of us but we need to address some basic issues and get those out of the way so we can really take off,” he says.While the state has tried to hold firm on not cutting education, Holliday says federal education cuts could be coming."We think we've solved the fiscal cliff two weeks ago. We did not. It is still a reality and we encourage our congressional delegation to solve this fiscal cliff issue called 'sequestration' for domestic cuts,” says Holliday.The 2013 report looks at six areas, each with subcategories:· K-12 Achievement· Standards, Assessments and Accountability· Teaching Profession· School Finance· Transitions and Alignment· Chance for Success (an index that combines information from 13 indicators that cover state residents’ lives from cradle to career)Kentucky received a B-minus grade, which beats out last year’s C-plus grade and the overall national average this year.Kentucky’s highest scores came in the Transition and Alignment category that considers early childhood education, college readiness and economy and workforce. The commonwealth got perfect 100 scores in the subcategories of school accountability and economy and workforce.Some lawmakers and education advocates are concerned that certain education initiatives may go overlooked in the current short legislative session, but Beshear believes that education will remain a priority for the legislature this year.Beyond Education Week, other organizations have given the state low rankings for its lack of charter schools and other progressive reforms, including parent trigger laws.

Cierra Twyman is still in pain four months after a bullet tore through the left side of her body while she was on the front porch of a Shawnee…

On Monday, the board voted unanimously to approve the increase — the largest the body can levy without Metro Council approval.

BOWLING GREEN — One of the country’s top public high schools will soon have a new leader. Western Kentucky University is looking for a new director of...

Figuring out how to finance a plan to shore up Kentucky public employees' pensions will be the General Assembly's greatest task in 2013, two legislative leaders said.A legislative task force has suggested several ways to brace state employee pensions, but passing legislation and paying for it will be difficult. Lawmakers' proposals include relying on existing economic growth and raising taxes on Kentuckians with higher earnings.House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he hasn't settled on a solution.“I think it’s going to require some sort of a dedicated funding source that is set aside just for the payment of those particular benefits," Stumbo said.Other ideas include using recommendations from the tax reform commission and allowing natural economic growth to be redirected.Meanwhile, State Sen. Damon Thayer said he agreed that addressing the pension issue will be legislators' most significant job in the upcoming session.Both Stumbo and Thayer have ruled out one funding source: Any potential earnings from gambling, if it's legalized this year.

FRANKFORT—As the 2013 Kentucky legislative session begins, Tea Party activists are encouraging lawmakers to abandon the implementation of the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — in the state because of fiscal and health care concerns.About 50 activists rallied in the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday; they wanted their state legislators to hear their concerns as the 2013 legislative session began.Kentucky can’t afford running its own health exchanges or to expand Medicaid, argued David Adams, a rally organizer.“It doesn’t take a forensic accountant to look at our fiscal situation and realize that we have no business getting into this sandbox whatsoever,” Adams says.Lexington businesswoman Kathy Gornik says the law puts too much bureaucracy between doctors and patients. And she advocated a return to a system that puts the patient in control.“A return to free market principles, where the patient is the employer of the physician and the physician is obligated only to the patient,” she says.So far, Kentucky has set up their own health exchanges under an executive order from Gov. Steve Beshear. But the governor has not decided on whether to expand Medicaid enrollment.

The Kentucky Senate will likely restore funding for state coal mine inspections. Currently, mines get six state inspections a year. A previous draft of...