Pension funding a top priority for budget session, says House Budget Committee chairman
07/08/2015 10:00 PM
Calling the state pension plans the “elephant in the room” House Budget Committee chairman Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, said that the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System pension fund in particular will be a top priority during the upcoming budget session. The Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System, KTRS, and the Kentucky Retirement Systems, KRS, are under shaky financial footing. Without a funding plan in place KTRS’s unfunded pension liabilities have ballooned from $14 billion to $21.6 billion, because of new government accounting standards... Read more 
RGA launches first TV ad linking Conway to Obama
07/08/2015 09:31 AM
The Republican Governor’s Association is launching its first ad of the gubernatorial campaign seeking to tie Democratic candidate Jack Conway to President Barack Obama. The ad titled: “Vague” is running statewide in what the RGA is calling a significant ad buy across broadcast and cable networks. In the spot the RGA follows a similar track that has been used against Conway in past Elections. The group attempts to tie Conway to Obama saying the two Democrats are similar in their “vague... Read more
KDP launches social media ads targeting Bevin as 'pathological liar'
07/08/2015 06:01 AM
The Kentucky Democratic Party has launched its first targeted digital ad against Matt Bevin piggybacking on U.S. Mitch McConnell’s 2014 GOP primary campaign’s efforts to label the Republican candidate a “pathological liar.” The KDP has strung together a video featuring news clips and interviews targeting Bevin on tax delinquencies; his attendance at a pro-cockfighting rally; claims that he attended MIT; and others. “Matt Bevin’s flagrant dishonesty, deceit and self-interested political agenda is exactly why Kentuckians cannot trust him to look out... Read more
As clerks fight back against same-sex marriage ruling Beshear says no special session needed
07/07/2015 07:33 PM
As the House Speaker contemplates the need for a special session and more county clerks are planning on speaking out against an order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples Gov. Steve Beshear says the issue has already been resolved and a special legislative session is not needed. On June 26, Beshear directed county clerks in the state to follow the U.S. and Kentucky Constitutions and issue licenses to same-sex couples regardless of deeply held beliefs. With a 5-4 to... Read more
Not all lawmakers confident in how compensation for engineers tabulated
07/07/2015 04:03 PM
FRANKFORT – Some lawmakers are defending raises for state engineers who are being edged out in compensation from their private sector counterparts, but not all members of a joint committee feel compensation packages are being tabulated in the correct way. The Kentucky Personnel Cabinet related to lawmakers salary break downs obtained from a January 2014 salary survey of public and private engineering salaries conducted by CompData, a national compensation survey firm, which showed Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineer salaries far below neighboring... Read more
Conway launches first ads of general election
07/07/2015 12:13 PM
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jack Conway is launching the first two spots of the general election cycle highlighting his successes in the office of Attorney General. Conway launched two ads, one highlighting his western Kentucky roots, and both focused on cracking down against Medicaid fraud as Attorney General. In a press release the Conway campaign said the ads will begin running on Tuesday as part of a “six-figure ad buy” in multiple media markets around the state. Conway is running is... Read more
With or Without Mercury and Carbon Dioxide Rules, Kentucky Electricity Landscape Will Change
from Erica Peterson
from Erica Peterson
Kentucky’s electricity generation landscape will look drastically different in the next five years, as coal-fired power plants retire or convert to natural gas. And these changes are likely despite a Supreme Court ruling last week that sent a lawsuit over federal mercury rules back to a lower court. The court ruled the EPA should have considered the costs to utility companies at an earlier stage in the rulemaking process. But the five utility companies in Kentucky planning power plant retirements and new pollution control equipment to comply with the law all said for now, they’re proceeding with the upgrades. Of the 56 [...]
Thu, Jul 09, 2015 11:11:00 AM, Continue reading at the source
57 Kentucky county clerks ask governor for special session on same-sex marriage licenses
from jbrammer@herald-leader.com (Jack Brammer)
from jbrammer@herald-leader.com (Jack Brammer)
FRANKFORT — Fifty-seven of Kentucky's 120 county clerks asked Gov. Steve Beshear in a letter Wednesday to call a special legislative session to address same-sex marriage licenses.Click to Continue » [...]
Wed, Jul 08, 2015 10:10:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
Clay County man dies in single-vehicle wreck five miles west of Manchester
from bestep@herald-leader.com (Bill Estep)
from bestep@herald-leader.com (Bill Estep)
Nelson W. Collier, 32, of Manchester died in a single-vehicle wreck early Wednesday. He was not wearing a seat belt.Click to Continue » [...]
Wed, Jul 08, 2015 9:29:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
Republican leaders in Kentucky are still figuring out whether a presidential caucus next year is feasible. A presidential caucus would have to be approved by the Republican Party of Kentucky’s full central committee. The vote is expected at the end of August. Before that, though, members need to see a plan for how this would work. Scott Lasley, chair of a special committee created by the party that has been tasked with coming up with a blueprint for a caucus in 2016, said it’s not a sure thing yet that this idea will get approved. “I think a lot of people are still waiting to [...]
Wed, Jul 08, 2015 9:02:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
Republican TV ad attacking Conway uses Mexican coal miners, Democrats say
from jbrammer@herald-leader.com (Jack Brammer)
from jbrammer@herald-leader.com (Jack Brammer)
The Republican Governors Association launched a TV ad against Democrat Jack Conway, whose campaign said the ad uses stock footage of Mexican miners.Click to Continue » [...]
Wed, Jul 08, 2015 8:18:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
A case over water pollution from Louisville Gas & Electric’s Mill Creek Power Plant is scheduled for a hearing in federal court in Louisville tomorrow. The lawsuit was filed by the Sierra Club and Earthjustice, after the groups collected a year’s worth of footage capturing images of a nearly daily release of polluted water from Mill Creek’s coal ash pond into the Ohio River. The environmental groups alleged that this was a clear violation of LG&E’s permit, which allows an “occasional” discharge. But both LG&E and the Kentucky Division of Water maintain that there are no numerical discharge limits in the [...]
Wed, Jul 08, 2015 6:57:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT –Americans for Prosperity, a conservative political advocacy group initially funded by philanthropist brothers David and Charles Koch, is giving a $50,000 grant to ProtectMyPayCheck.Org to assist in legal fees of Kentucky fiscal courts facing lawsuits by unions for passing right-to-work ordinances. “Our chapter has committed significant resources to ensure that Kentuckians have choice in the workplace, we believe we should also support the local governments that are standing up for worker freedom and creating a more prosperous Kentucky by passing right-to-work ordinances,” Julia Crigler, state director of Americans for Prosperity, said in a release. The grant comes after 12 [...]
Tue, Jul 07, 2015 10:11:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
By Jack Brammer jbrammer@herald-leader.com FRANKFORT –The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is going in the right direction in raising salaries of hundreds of engineers to curb high turnover and costly contracts for private engineers, several state lawmakers said Tuesday. But concerns also were raised about state pay to other professionals and skilled workers who are leaving state government to find better-paying jobs in the private sector. Sen. Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, said he was not begrudging better pay for transportation engineers but said he was concerned about pay for correctional officers, social workers, prosecutors, public defenders and teachers. “If we are going to start handing out increases in [...]
Tue, Jul 07, 2015 7:57:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
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