In Wednesday’s final hours, Kentucky lawmakers passed the state’s two-year budget bills, voted to name a section of highway in Boone County after the late Charlie Kirk and moved dozens of bills, while leaving some controversial legislation on the table. Both chambers adjourned right before midnight. Lawmakers will return to the Capitol on April 14 and 15. […]
Author Archives: Kentucky Lantern
Posted inPolitics
GOP-controlled KY legislature gives final passage to $31B executive branch budget
The GOP-controlled Kentucky legislature gave final passage Wednesday to the state’s executive branch budget, allocating more than $31 billion in General Fund revenues and sparking heated debates between Republicans and Democrats over funding for education, Medicaid, and more. In the House, Democrats called the finalized state budget morally and fiscally short-shighted. The Republican chair of […]
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KY bill making sweeping changes to Medicaid adds copays (but they’re lower now)
The Kentucky Senate has lowered the copays Medicaid patients would have to pay under a bill that proposes a work requirement and other sweeping changes to the federal-state program. House Bill 2 proposed adding copays of $35 for inpatient hospital services and $8 copays for prescription glasses and contacts. In the Senate version, which passed the […]
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Crunch time: KY legislature has one day to finish big to-do list without risking vetoes
With just one working day before breaking for the veto period, the Kentucky legislature still has to approve a two-year state budget. Senate President Robert Stivers told reporters Tuesday night that a final version of House Bill 500, the $31 billion executive branch budget, could be published online later in the evening. “Documents are being drafted […]
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A Frankfort boy’s seven-year quest to make rescue animals Kentucky’s official pet
When Ethan Branscum was 6 years old, he saw on the news that Ohio had just declared rescue animals to be the official state pet. Even at that young age, he and his mom, Miche, regularly went to visit his local shelter, the Franklin County Humane Society, to take photos of adoptable animals and post them online. In […]
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Judge sentences ex-Gov. Bevin to jail that he can avoid by disclosing financial info
A judge sentenced former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin to 60 days in jail after finding him in contempt of court for failing to disclose his financial details in a year-long legal battle with his estranged son, Jonah Bevin. It is an extraordinary development for the one-term Republican governor who the judge said has resisted repeated […]
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Veteran suicide is preventable. $5 million grant aims to save lives in Kentucky and beyond.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. For the Veteran Crisis Line, press 1, text 838255 or chat online. For information on resources available to Kentucky veterans, visit this site. Donnie Distler, a 21-year Navy veteran who lives in […]
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Kentucky women sue to end ‘arbitrary, irrational’ sales tax on tampons, period products
For about half of every month, Alex Baldon and Skylar Davis are either actively bleeding or working through the symptoms of painful medical conditions related to their menstrual periods. Unlike most states, Kentucky levies a 6% sales tax on the tampons, pads and other products they need to get through the day. For Baldon, who […]
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House panel changes controversial provisions in bills affecting Kentucky energy planning
A Kentucky House committee advanced two bills expanding the membership of the state’s longstanding utility regulator and reshaping a relatively new energy planning agency, changing or removing language that had received strong pushback. The two bills, Senate Bill 8 and Senate Bill 100, unanimously approved by the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Thursday morning, […]
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House passes bill raising sports gambling age in Kentucky to 21
The GOP-controlled Kentucky House voted Thursday to raise the age to gamble on sports to 21 and ban proposition bets, or “prop” bets, on Kentucky college athletes. Rep. Michael Meredith, R-Oakland, the primary sponsor of House Bill 904, told a legislative committee earlier this month that the provisions had been worked on for months and […]
