Gov. Beshear pardons 197, commutes sentences for six as his administration draws to a close
12/07/2015 09:11 PM
Hours before the end of his administration, Gov. Steve Beshear granted 197 pardons and commuted six sentences on Monday. Among those chosen for clemency are 10 women convicted of violent crimes against domestic abusers and several drug offenders, according to a news release from Beshear’s office. The outgoing governor received more than 3,400 requests for pardons during his eight years in Frankfort, the release states, noting that Beshear’s predecessor, former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, granted more than 100 pardons out of more than... Read more 
Arch Coal executive named head of Energy and Environment Cabinet by Gov.-elect Bevin
12/07/2015 05:53 PM
On the eve of his inauguration, Gov.-elect Matt Bevin appointed Arch Coal executive Charles Snavely as his next Energy and Environment Cabinet secretary. The move was announced by Bevin’s transition team in a news release on Monday. Snavely, a Prestonsburg native residing in Lexington, was president of eastern U.S. operations for Arch Coal and a former executive vice president of mining operations for International Coal Group, according to the release. He has more than 35 years in the coal-mining industry, the release... Read more
Craft brewers continue push to double current limits for annual production
12/07/2015 02:30 PM
FRANKFORT – As the 2016 General Assembly session approaches, officials from the craft brewing industry made another pitch to lawmakers to make two revisions to state statute to help the industry grow and produce increased tax revenue for the state. Adam Watson, president of the Kentucky Guild of Brewers and co-owner of Against the Grain Brewery and Smokehouse in Louisville, along with Daniel Harrison, co-owner of Country Boy Brewing in Lexington, told members of the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development... Read more
Brigadier General Stephen Hogan named Adjutant General
12/07/2015 10:08 AM
Gov.-elect Matt Bevin has named Brigadier General Stephen R. Hogan Adjutant General of the commonwealth. Hogan, a Hebron native, formerly served as Assistant Adjutant General for the Kentucky Army National Guard, according to a press release from the transition team. He served as Deputy Commander of the Kentucky Army National Guard from 2011 to June of 2014 according to his LinkedIn profile. “We owe our freedom and safety to the men and women of our military,” Bevin said in a... Read more
Decorated Army veteran will head Finance and Administration Cabinet under Gov.-elect Bevin
12/06/2015 10:57 PM
Gov.-elect Matt Bevin has named retired Col. William Landrum III as his Finance and Administration Cabinet secretary, his transition team announced in a news release Sunday. Landrum, of Greensburg, was most recently senior associate of the Booz Allen Hamilton Resource Management Consulting Support Team, according to the release. The firm provides consulting, technology and engineering services in the areas of defense, intelligence and civil markets for the federal government as well as work for private-sector clients. Landrum, a U.S. Army veteran, served... Read more
Bevin appoints heads of tourism, parks agencies
12/05/2015 06:03 PM
Gov.-elect Matt Bevin has named a former Kentucky Fried Chicken and Yum! Brands executive as secretary of the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, Bevin’s transition team announced Saturday in a press release. Don Parkinson, of Louisville, retired as senior vice president of KFC and Yum! Brands in 2005, beginning his career there in 1980, according to his LinkedIn profile. He’s a board member for the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, serving as interim president from August 2013 until February 2014,... Read more
Scores of Kentuckians, Hoosiers trek across new Abraham Lincoln Bridge ahead of Monday opening
12/05/2015 04:40 PM
After more than two hours in temperatures hovering near 30 degrees, the more than 10,000 pedestrians who bundled up on a foggy Saturday morning were eager to take a closer look at the Abraham Lincoln Bridge connecting downtown Louisville with Jeffersonville, Ind. But given the years it took to complete the Ohio River bridge, officials were just as eager to make sure everyone who helped make the project a reality received their due. “Hey, this is a once-in-a-lifetime time, so just a... Read more
Gov.-elect Bevin will headline fundraiser benefiting lawmaker who flipped to GOP
12/04/2015 04:44 PM
UPDATED: Gov.-elect Matt Bevin is tossing his support behind Rep. Denny Butler — a Louisville lawmaker who recently switched party affiliation from a Democrat to Republican. Bevin is headlining an invitation-only fundraiser in Louisville on Dec. 18, which will feature other prominent members of the GOP. Bevin was not immediately available for comment at the time this story was published. Mentioned in the invitation are two other Louisville GOP lawmakers, Sen. Julie Raque Adams and Rep. Bob DeWeese. Republican... Read more
Gov.-elect Bevin appoints former rival for GOP nomination to top Education and Workforce Development Cabinet post; other appointments announced
12/04/2015 12:02 PM
Once his foe in a four-way Republican primary for the party’s gubernatorial nomination, Gov.-elect Matt Bevin has named Louisville real estate developer Hal Heiner the next secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, Bevin’s transition team announced in a news release Friday. The incoming administration also announced that Tom Stephens, a Lexington attorney, and Steve Knipper, who unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state, will serve as Personnel Cabinet secretary and Lt. Gov.-elect Jenean Hampton’s chief of staff, respectively. Heiner, who finished... Read more
2016 candidate filing update: GOP beginning to mount major challengers to Democratic incumbents
12/04/2015 10:07 AM
Attention is already shifting to 2016 races as candidates for state House and Senate begin the process of making their campaigns official with the Secretary of State. The latest batch of candidates to file reveals some potentially major challengers to incumbent Democrats in Paducah- and Richmond-centric House districts and the beginning of a family-oriented primary battle to replace outgoing state Sen. Chris Girdler, R-Somerset. State House: 3rd — Republican Joni Hogancamp of Paducah has officially filed her paperwork to run for the... Read more
Organizers readying for Gov.-elect Bevin's inauguration next week
12/03/2015 11:36 PM
FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s military veterans will have a moment in the limelight during Gov.-elect Matt Bevin’s inauguration, with about 300 expected to march in the inaugural parade on Tuesday. That’s part of the overall theme of inclusivity in Bevin’s celebratory day, Kelly Knight, co-chair of Bevin’s inaugural committee, told reporters Thursday at the Capitol. “It’s very important to him to honor the veterans and also to make certain that the commonwealth knows that everyone is invited to participate,” she said. Inaugural organizers detailed... Read more
State employee pension drops to less than 18 percent funded with lowered investment assumptions
12/03/2015 10:19 PM
FRANKFORT — Financial prospects for the Kentucky Retirement Systems grew bleaker on Thursday after the KRS Board of Trustees lowered its assumed investment returns for the state worker and police pension funds from 7.5 percent to 6.75 percent. The move drops the Kentucky Employees Retirement System non-hazardous’s pension funded ratio from 19 percent to 17.7 percent, possibly making it the worst-funded public pension in the U.S., and the State Police Retirement System’s funded status from 33.8 percent to 31.4 percent, according... Read more
Gov.-elect Bevin names health attorney Vickie Yates Brown Glisson chief of Cabinet for Health and Family Services
12/03/2015 06:10 PM
Gov.-elect Matt Bevin has named Louisville health attorney Vickie Yates Brown Glisson as secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Bevin’s transition team announced Thursday. Glisson, a nationally recognized health and health insurance lawyer with Frost Brown Todd, will oversee an agency that was a chief focus of the incoming governor on the campaign trail. Bevin has pledged to shutter the state’s health exchange, kynect, created through the Affordable Care Act and apply for waivers from the Centers for... Read more
Sen. Thayer joins growing list of lawmakers calling for KRS director to step down
12/03/2015 03:04 PM
Funding pensions are among the major issues facing lawmakers when they return to Frankfort on Jan. 5 for the legislative session, but complicating matters is a huge funding request for teachers’ retirement, and controversy over the head of the Kentucky Retirement Systems. KRS Executive Director Bill Thielen has caught the ire of several lawmakers after accepting a 25 percent pay increase, and postponing his retirement. Multiple lawmakers including: Sen. Jimmy Higdon, R-Lebanon, Auditor-elect Mike Harmon, and now Senate Majority... Read more
A new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the rate of HIV diagnoses has declined nationally, but not among all groups of people. Annual HIV diagnoses in the U.S. fell by 19 percent from 2005 to 2014, according to the federal agency. The report cites dramatic and continuing declines among several populations including heterosexuals, people who inject drugs, and African-Americans, especially among black women. But unlike the national trends, Kentucky isn’t experiencing a decline in HIV diagnoses, state epidemiologist Dr. Kraig Humbaugh said. “We’ve had a pretty stable rate of new HIV infection. If you go back 10 [...]
Tue, Dec 08, 2015 12:55:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
This is the second in a five-part series. Read the others here. In Western Germany, only a 45-minute drive from the tourists milling around the iconic cathedral in Cologne, miners work in three immense lignite coal mines. Machines rumble, digging the soft, brown coal out of the ground and placing it on conveyor belts. (If you aren’t immediately taken to this story, go here.) [...]
Tue, Dec 08, 2015 12:07:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
Matt Bevin has taken the oath to become the 62nd governor of Kentucky during a private ceremony just after midnight in the state Capitol. Bevin succeeds Democrat Steve Beshear, who could not seek re-election because of term limits. Bevin is only the state’s ninth Republican governor in its 223-year history and the second since 1971. A full day of events is scheduled for Tuesday, including a worship service, a parade and a public swearing-in ceremony on the Capitol steps. Related StoryMatt Bevin's Inauguration Will Stick With Tradition — For The Most PartAn investment manager from Louisville, Bevin has never held public office. He [...]
Tue, Dec 08, 2015 12:01:00 PM, Continue reading at the source
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