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Child advocates and day care center owners said at a public hearing in Frankfort Tuesday that the state is making a catastrophic decision to cuts to the child care assistance program, which provides day care assistance for low income parents, and the Kinship Care program. The Kinship Care program provides a $300 monthly stipend to family members who serve as guardians for abused and neglected children. It’s projected that the cuts will help the Cabinet for Health and Family Services... Read more 

Southern High School is among the half dozen persistently struggling high schools in Jefferson County that is trying to dig itself out of years of academic underachieving. But the school, which is in the heart of Okolona, faces a host of external challenges. More than one in 10 students is homeless. And more than 15 percent of families whose children go to the school live below the poverty line. Plus, the school’s population has been ravaged by academic flight, in... Read more 

Expected cuts to programs that help low-income families cover child care costs aren’t likely to be avoided by the time the new fiscal year starts on July 1, said Gov. Steve Beshear. Instead, the best hope now is that Kentucky can restore funding in time for fiscal year 2015 that begins July 1, 2014. That will come after the next General Assembly passes a new two-year budget and potentially after another round of tax reform measures, Beshear told Pure Politics... Read more 

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers announced on Monday that he plans to personally pay the $985 tab for meals for senators and staff on March 7 when the Senate session went until 11:50pm. The Lexington Herald-Leader’s Jack Brammer first reported on the expense that initially was charged to the Legislative Research Commission. It was the first time since 2008 that taxpayers’ dollars were used to cover food costs for senators during a legislative session, Brammer reported. All lawmakers receive a... Read more 

Kentucky mental health centers are cutting back services and struggling to assist patients the first time they’re admitted because of ongoing struggles with Medicaid managed care. At the same time, they’re losing out on federal grants because of red flags caused by their administration costs being inflated by increasing contributions to the public pension system. Such a one-two financial punch has slammed centers like the NorthKey Community Care Mental Health Center in Northern Kentucky. The agency serves eight counties in... Read more 

Legislative negotiators struck a deal on the bill to regulate special taxing districts Tuesday afternoon, solving an impasse over how much of a role fiscal courts should have in monitoring those entities. It requires special taxing districts to announce any tax rate or fee increases at fiscal court or city commission meetings. Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, had pushed for fiscal courts to have veto power over any fee or rate increase special taxing districts proposed. Such entities include health departments,... Read more 

As legislative leaders and the governor try to negotiate a deal on pensions, the leaders of the two chambers are ramping up the blame game for the impasse. Senate President Robert Stivers told reporters that if this seems familiar to look for the common denominator in this session and ones in the recent past. “The leaders of the chamber have changed on this side, but they have not changed on the other side. So draw your conclusions from that,” Stivers... Read more 

ELSMERE — Planned cuts to the state’s child care subsidy program will hurt more than just the low-income families who will lose the help paying for day care. The funding cuts also could close down day care centers and start an economic chain reaction, say some parents, advocates and day care providers. The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services announced in January that it was cutting funding for the program to help make up for an $86 million budget... Read more 

A bill to tighten the penalty for those convicted of criminal homicide cleared the Senate on Wednesday and now goes to the House. Senate Bill 15 would classify criminal homicide as a violent offense, which requires those convicted of such crimes to serve at least 85 percent of their sentences. The measure has become known as the Bryan Durman Act. It is sponsored by Sen. Alice Forgy Kerr, R-Lexington, and is named in memory of Lexington police officer Bryan Durman who... Read more 

Legislation aimed at making it easier for Kentucky military personnel stationed overseas and across the country to vote passed the Kentucky Senate on Tuesday. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, allows military members to request a ballot by electronic means. But the Senate bill still requires them to mail it back the old fashioned way, which goes against what Democratic Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes had wanted to lawmakers to do. The bill passed 36-0. Too... Read more