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Governor Steve Beshear hasn’t embarked on a statewide tour to drum up popular support for allowing the casino issue to make it to the November ballot but did use his weekly video post on the Commonwealth’s website to make that point Friday. “A change to Kentucky’s constitution will require your approval of an amendment during the next general election in November. Before that vote can happen your senators and representatives in Frankfort will have to decide to put it on the... Read more 

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday narrowly approved the proposal to require Kentuckians to get prescriptions for cold medicines with psuedoephedrine in order to restrict access to a key ingredient in methamphetamine. Senate Bill 50 , sponsored by Senate Republican Floor Leader Robert Stivers, would exempt psuedoephedrine in liquid gel cap form. The committee voted 6-5 in favor of the legislation. Voting for it were Stivers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Tom Jensen, as well as their fellow Republican senators,... Read more 

Democratic Sen. Perry Clark of Louisville is pushing a bill to legalize medical marijuana and named it in honor of Kentucky’s most famous advocate for decriminalizing the drug, the late Gatewood Galbraith. Called the Gatewood Galbraith Memorial Medical Marijuana Act, Clark’s bill would legalize the sale of up to five ounces of marijuana a month to individuals who are prescribed the drug to ease pain. Galbraith, who died last month, advocated for the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. He... Read more 

Charter school advocates scored a small victory Tuesday by making their first arguments for allowing such alternative schools in Kentucky to an interested, if skeptical, state House panel. The House Education Committee didn’t vote on a Republican-sponsored measure that would allow charter schools. Instead, it heard from experts, proponents and public school educators, alike, and will take additional testimony later in the session. Republican Rep. Brad Montell, a Shelbyville Republican, sponsored House Bill 77 . He outlined the measure to... Read more 

Kentucky will get $58.8 million for homeowners facing foreclosure and underwater mortgages after Attorney General Jack Conway was among the last batch of attorneys general to join a national settlement with banks and lenders. The federal government and 49 states negotiated a $25 billion dollar settlement with five of the nation’s largest banks to provide relief to consumers who were foreclosed upon. Some of the money will be used for states’ ongoing consumer protection programs. Conway and other attorneys general,... Read more 

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Democrat from Prestonburg, told Pure Politics Wednesday that he would rather appeal the court ruling that threw out the new legislative maps. But he said he has told House members to prepare to run for re-election in their districts under the old legislative maps because such an appeal might not come soon enough. “Obviously the status of the law would be that, the members, those senators and representatives will run in the district from whence they’re... Read more 

Cabinet for Health and Family Service Secretary Janie Miller will resign effective Feb. 29, Gov. Steve Beshear announced through a press release Tuesday. Miller will step down to “pursue other opportunities.” But her resignation caps off a hectic few months marked by controversy and frequent flares of frustration from some lawmakers. Current Deputy Secretary Eric Friedlander will serve as interim secretary. Beshear is starting his search for the next leader of the agency, which oversees the Medicaid program, as well... Read more 

Percentage points, district divisions, zig-zags and strips are at the heart of the redistricting map challenges that will play out in court again on Monday. Attorneys for House Republicans and a Senate Democrat and those lawyers defending the maps will make their case to Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phil Shepherd. Sheryl Snyder, one Kentucky’s most prominent attorneys, will represent the Legislative Research Commission in defending the maps. And the case could go all the way to the Kentucky Supreme Court.... Read more 

Retiring Republican Senator Jack Westwood said the best way to prevent students from dropping out of school is to make sure that school districts have alternative programs to engage at-risk students before raising the drop-out age. A Senate committee on Thursday unanimously approved Westwood’s Senate Bill 109 that would allow districts the opportunity to raise to 18 the age in which students must stay in school. That’s different from the proposal pushed by Gov. Steve Beshear that would change the... Read more 

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, a Democrat from Prestonburg, told reporters Thursday that legislative leaders are close to agreeing on a compromise on a congressional district map. House and Senate leaders have been in discussions with members of Kentucky’s congressional delegation and their staffs as they tried to hammer out an agreement over the last several days. While Republican senators were somewhat reserved when describing the progress of the negotiations, Stumbo said he thought they were nearly there. In the compromise... Read more